“THE DIVIDING LINE”
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 15)
August 14, 2016
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell
you, but rather division.”
Luke 12:51 (ESV)
The words of today’s sermon text are troubling to many people. They
are troubling because they seem to contradict everything that we have
always believed about our Savior. The One who we call the “Prince of
Peace” (Isaiah 9:6)--the One whose birth was heralded by angels as a
sign of “peace on earth” (Luke 2:14 TEV) [and] “good will toward men”
(Luke 2:14 KJV)--here tells His disciples that He has not come to
bring peace at all, but “rather division.” How could Jesus possibly
bring about division? He’s supposed to be the One who unites everyone
and everything. Worse yet, how could He blatantly deny that He came
to bring “peace on earth?”
This statement of our Lord is troubling to so many because most of
the world fosters an altogether false image of Jesus and His people.
The Lord and His Church are perceived by most people as being, for
lack of a better word, “wimps”--people who are the ultimate “nice
guys” who “finish last,” as Leo Durocher would put it. The general
expectation is that Jesus and His people will do anything for anyone
at any time under any circumstances without requiring anything--that
Jesus and His Church will let people walk all over them without so
much as a word of protest--that Jesus and His followers will say and
do anything necessary to keep peace and make everybody happy. This is
the Jesus and the Church that people look for and expect to find, and
when they find it to be something different, there is precisely that
kind of “division” that Jesus says He brings. It all boils down to
two different theologies at work in the world: the theology of glory
and the theology of the cross.
The theology of glory is basically the “feel-good” religion that is
so prevalent in our day--the religion that promises the whole world
and requires no commitment. This is the theology that says that it
doesn’t really matter what you believe, as long as you’re sincere.
It’s the theology that tells you that God wants you to be healthy and
prosperous, and if you’re not, it’s because there is something lacking
in your faith. It preaches what we used to call (back in my college
days) “the Gospel according to Jonathan Livingston Seagull”--the idea
that you can do anything you want to do if you really put your mind to
it. The theology of glory doesn’t say much about sin and evil and
death, because these things are negative, and the theologians of glory
want you to think positive. Even some churches have given in to the
theology of glory, and the preachers of this theology tell their
hearers exactly what they want to hear. They make them feel good, and
so the people come in droves and give in abundance. They’re not quite
sure what the message is, but they know that these preachers sure know
how to put on a good show.
The biggest problem with the theology of glory is that it’s a lie.
The glory to which the Christian is called is the glory of heaven,
which is not attainable in this life. I have seen many faithful
Christians get sick and not recover. I’ve seen faithful Christians
living in poverty. It wasn’t because they didn’t have enough faith;
it was because God in His wisdom willed it to be. I’ve seen good
Christian people who were convinced that they could reach lofty goals
fall flat on their faces as they tried to attain them. Again, it
wasn’t because of any lack of faith, but because of what God
determined to be best for them at the time. Many people in our world,
Christians and unbelievers alike, choose to ignore the negative things
in life in favor of the positive, but that doesn’t make the negative
things disappear. Denying that there is such a thing as sin doesn’t
stop a person from sinning. Believing that you will live forever in
this world won’t prevent your death. And, most tragic of all,
refusing to believe in the existence of hell won’t stop a person from
going there. The theology of glory presents a religion that is very
unrealistic, kind of like a fairy tale.
Our Savior offers something else--something that the theologians call
the theology of the cross. It teaches that the child of God lives in
this world always under the shadow of his Savior’s cross. Because we
belong to Christ, we daily deny ourselves and take up our crosses and
follow Him. The theology of the cross gives us a realistic
perspective of our life as Christians in this world. It reminds us
that, because we are in the world but not of it, we will constantly be
faced with difficulties and divisiveness. It lets us know that if we
take Jesus Christ and His Gospel seriously, we will be harassed and
tempted by the world in general, by our enemies, by our friends, by
our fellow Christians at times, by the members of our own family, and
most of all, by our own sinful nature.
Living the Christian life is not easy. It’s not supposed to be. Its
values are at odds with those of our world, our culture, and our own
selfishness. Living the Christian life causes “division.” When I was
in high school and finally got up the nerve to tell some of my friends
that I wanted to be a pastor, they’re reaction was more or less along
these lines: “Are you nuts? There’s no money in that! If you’re
going to spend that much time and money on college and graduate
school, why not go for something that is more lucrative and
respected?” It is far beyond the wisdom of this world that there is
something to be gained in life besides wealth and all of the status
that comes with it. Jesus tells us that if we forsake the glory of
this world because of our faith in Him and commitment to Him, we will
cause division, because the path of life that He leads us on is not
the path that our world promotes, and sometimes it’s not the path that
those dearest to us would want us to pursue. Following Jesus is a
rocky road. It leads to a blood-stained cross and a cold grave. But
beyond that lies the empty tomb, bursting forth with life and the
victory of resurrection.
No matter what the world craves or wants to think, Jesus Christ does
not bring “peace” as the world sees peace, because He tells people
what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear. The peace
that Jesus brings is something that this world will never understand.
It is real peace--“the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding” (Philippians 4:7)--the peace through which God in
Christ “was reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
This peace is contrary to the make-believe “peace” that the world
offers--the “feel-good” phoniness that pretends that everything is
always wonderful. Real peace between sinful man and his perfect
Creator could be established only through the violent death of the
incarnate Son of God. Real greatness can be achieved only by humility
and service. Real life can be attained only in death. All of this
causes “division.” It divides the child of God from the child of this
world. It divides commitment from complacency. It divides truth from
popularity. And it divides sacrifice from convenience. But this
genuine peace that God has given us in the cross of His Son is our
greatest joy in life, encouraging us and strengthening us to be
faithful to Him even if it means that we are perceived as being
divisive, because only His peace will deliver us from sin and
damnation and carry us into perfect peace and fellowship with Him and
with all who are His.
Amen.
May the Lord bless your hearing of His Word, using it to accomplish in
you those things for which He gave it. May you be enriched and
strengthened in faith that you may leave here today to go out into our
world armed with the whole armor of God, prepared to be able
ambassadors of your Savior Jesus Christ. He who calls you is
faithful, and He will do it. Amen.