Jesus' Most Outrageous Sayings - Not Peace, But a Sword - Part 9

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
You know, at Christmas time, every year
untold, thousands of people goto hear performances of George
Frederick.
Handel's oratorio the Messiah.
And as part of the Messiah, oneof the most famous choruses in
is called for unto us.
A son is born and in this chorushandle strings together, a list

(00:25):
of biblical titles for theMessiah.
He says, wonderful counselor,the mighty God, the everlasting
father, the Prince of peace.
Now we want to pick one of thesetitles today and talk about it
because it forms the foundationfor one of the most outrageous
things that Jesus ever said.

(00:47):
Remember that we're in a seriesentitled, Jesus's most
outrageous sayings.
We're going through the newTestament and we're picking out
12 of the most outrageous,radical things Jesus ever said.
And then we're doing a messageon every one of them and asking
the question well, so what,we've already done.
Eight we're ready today fornumber nine.

(01:08):
And so if you brought your Bibletoday, I'd like to ask you to
turn with me to Matthew chapter10.
If you did not bring your Bibletoday here in the main
auditorium, you'll find a copyof the Bible, right under your
arm, rest of your chair, we'regoing to be on page six 88, page
688 of our copy.
Matthew chapter 10 in your copy.

(01:28):
And here in Matthew, chapter 10,we find Jesus sending out his
disciples.
But before we do that, let metalk to you a minute about this
term, the Prince of peace, youknow, handle got that name for
the Messiah right out of Isaiahchapter nine, verse six.
In fact, throughout the oldTestament, the Bible
consistently presents theMessiah as the person who is

(01:53):
going to bring true peace tothis planet.
Micah chapter four, verse three,the Messiah will judge between
the nations and settle disputesfor the peoples.
They will hammer their swordsinto plow shares and their
Spears into pruning hooks nationwill not take up sword against
nation, nor will they train forwar anymore.

(02:16):
Now you may know that this firstis actually written on the wall
of the United nations buildingin New York.
We call it the United nothing,but you can call it whatever you
want.
And um, but the verse isactually written there, but yet
it refers to the MessiahZechariah chapter nine, verse
nine, rejoice.
So daughter of Zion, behold,your King is coming to you

(02:38):
humble and mounted on a donkey.
His rule will be from sea to seaand he will speak peace to the
nations.
In fact, this concept of theMessiah that he would be the
Prince of peace was the dominanttheme of the Messiah at the time
of the Lord, Jesus Christ andknowing this helps us appreciate

(03:00):
how radical and outrageous whatJesus is about to say here in
Matthew, chapter 10 really wasand is so let's pick up here in
Matthew 10, Jesus, as I said, issending his disciples out to go
out and preach him to preachabout him.
And he's warning them here inthis chapter about the kind of
reception there were they'regoing to receive.

(03:22):
When they go out verse 17,Matthew 10, be on your guard
against men.
Jesus said for, they willdeliver you up to their, to
their courts and they will beatyou in their synagogues.
Verse 21, because of me, Jesussaid, brother will deliver up
brother to death and a father,his child, all men will hate you

(03:44):
because of me.
And I'm sure at this point,Jesus, his disciples must have
been a little confused.
I'm sure they were thinking, HeyJesus, you're the Messiah,
right?
Well, what happened to all thisPrince of peace people beating
their swords into plow, shares,speaking peace to all the
nations stuff, seeing theirconfusion.

(04:05):
Jesus said one of the mostoutrageous things he's ever
said, look with me at verse 34,Jesus said to them, do not
suppose that I have come tobring peace on the earth.
You say, what do you mean?
Of course you do.
Of course you, I I'm going tosuppose that.
Of course that's why you came.
You are the Prince of peace.

(04:27):
No Jesus said, I'm sorry.
Not in this age.
I'm not.
When I come back at the end ofthis age, Jesus says, when I
defeat the forces of theantichrist at the end of this
age, when I established themillennial kingdom at the end of
this age and rule that kingdompersonally from Jerusalem then,

(04:47):
and only then Jesus says, well,I function as the Prince of
peace.
But in this age, in themeantime, things are not going
to be like that.
He continues verse 34 continuesin this age, Jesus says I did
not come to bring peace, but asword in this age, Jesus said, I

(05:10):
am going to be a divisive issuein the world.
In this age, Jesus says, I amgoing to be despised by much of
the human race.
In this age, Jesus said, myfollowers are going to be hated
and abused because of me.
Jesus says in this age, if aperson decides to follow me, the

(05:32):
result will often be not peacein their relationships with
people around them, but rather asword conflict hostility,
rejection opposition, verse 35for, I have come to turn a man
against his father and adaughter against her mother and
her daughter in law against hermother-in-law verse 36 and a

(05:55):
person's enemies will themembers of his own household.
You know, it's interesting to mewhen the apostle Paul was riding
on the road to Damascus actschapter nine, and God knocked
him off his horse to the ground.
You remember the story.
And then he sent out a I as afollower of Christ to announce

(06:15):
DePaul Paul's call to theministry.
It's interesting to me what Godtold Anna Niaz to tell Paul
first, the first thing that Godannounced to Paul was not, Hey
Paul, guess what?
You're going to write.
48% of the new Testament.
That's not the first thing outof Naya said to him, the first
thing and I said to Paul isPaul, guess what?

(06:37):
You're going to start hundredsof churches and lead thousands
of people to Christ and an I isthe first thing out of his mouth
was not, Hey Paul, you're goingto change the history of the
whole Western world.
And by the time it's over,churches are going to put little
pictures up with you with alittle gold halo over your head.
That isn't what he says to Paul.
What was the first thing?

(06:57):
Anna Naya said, DePaul, onbehalf of God, he said, acts
nine 16.
I'm going to show you Paul, howmuch you must suffer for my
name's sake.
Jesus said, here's what I wantyou to know about everything
else.
Paul, if you decide to followme, it's not going to bring

(07:19):
peace to your life.
It's going to bring a sword toyour life.
Now the Bible repeats thismessage over and over folks.
Jesus himself said John 16 twoto his disciples.
He said, they will throw you outof their synagogues.
In fact, an hour is coming.
When anyone who kills you willkills.
One of you will think that he isdoing God.

(07:41):
A service.
Paul says second, Timothychapter three.
He said, Timothy, truly everyonewho wants to live godly in
Christ.
Jesus will suffer persecution.
First, Peter chapter four, Petersays, do not be surprised at the
painful trials.
You are suffering as thoughsomething strange were happening
to you.

(08:02):
Staying from knowing that thissame suffering that you're going
through as followers of Christis being experienced by fellow
believers throughout the world.
Friends.
What's the bottom line here.
The bottom line is that in thisage, it's going to cost us
something to follow JesusChrist.

(08:23):
And Jesus is looking for peoplein this age who love him enough
that they're willing to pay thatcost.
Look, when he goes on to sayMatthew 10, verse 37, he who
loves father or mother more thanme is not worthy of me.
And he who loves son or daughtermore than me is not worthy of me

(08:45):
and anyone who does not take uphis cross and follow me is not
worthy of me.
Now, folks, these are hard wordsand they are not words for
cowards.
That's as far as we're going togo in the passage for right now,
it's time for us to ask our mostimportant question.

(09:06):
And so is everybody ready forthat?
Okay, here we go.
Nice and loud.
Ready?
One, two, three.
You say lawn.
Yes.
So what say, so what differencedoes it make to me?
I don't go to synagogue.
They're not going to beat me upor throw me out of the
synagogue.
I don't go there.
What difference does any of thismake to me?
Well, let's see if we can bringit home to your life.

(09:26):
Shall we?
You know, there's a term that myboys used to use when they were
in high school, growing up.
When they in referring to otherpeople, they used to often call
somebody a weatherman.
Now, when they call somebody aweatherman, they were not
talking about a meteorologistlike Bob, Ryan, you understand
what I'm saying?
What they meant by the wordweatherman was a person who

(09:49):
goes, whichever way the wind isblowing a person who waffles, a
person who refuses to take astand or versa who has no
authentic convictions and nocore beliefs for which they are
willing to suffer and even die.
Now we all know people likethis, don't we, you say sure.
A lot.
I mean the U S house and Senateare full of them.

(10:11):
Well, that's right.
You're right.
There you go.
And you know, when I was growingup, we didn't call these people
weatherman.
We called them fence sitters,people who sat on the fence and
they wouldn't go one way or theother.
Now whether you call them aweatherman or whether you call
them a fence sitter, the pointis that Jesus doesn't like these

(10:33):
kinds of people, no matter whatyou call and he doesn't want his
followers being these kinds ofpeople, listen to what he said.
He wrote the church of Laodicea,a church that existed in South
central Turkey in the time of,of the apostle John, when he
wrote the book of revelation.
And here's what he said to thischurch, revelation three 15.
He said, I know your works, thatyou are neither hot nor cold.

(10:56):
You're a fence sitter.
You're a weather man.
So because you are lukewarm, Iwill spit you out of my mouth,
very strong language, but Jesuswants to communicate something
very strongly to us.
He wants to communicate.
He's not looking for weatherman.
He's not looking for fencesitters.
He's looking for men and womenwho are willing to stand up and

(11:19):
be counted for him.
Regardless of the cost.
He's looking for people who willbe loyal to him above everything
else in this world.
People he can count on in afirefight.
Those are the kind of peopleJesus is looking for.
I ran into this little, um, Iguess it's a letter.
I don't know quite what to callit.

(11:39):
It's called the fellowship ofthe unashamed was written by a
young pastor in Zimbabwe who waslater killed for his faith.
And I want you to hear what hesaid.
He said, I'm part of thefellowship of the unashamed.
The dye has been cast.
I have stepped over the line.
The decision has been made.

(12:01):
I'm a disciple of his, I won'tlook back, let up, slow down,
back away or be still.
My past is redeemed.
My present makes sense.
My future is secure.
I'm finished in Dawn with lowliving sights, walking, smooth

(12:24):
knees, colorless dreams, tamedvisions, worldly, talking, cheap
living and dwarf goals.
I no longer need preeminenceprosperity position, promotions
plaudits or popularity.
I don't have to be right orfirst or tops or recognized or

(12:50):
praised or regarded or rewarded.
I now live by faith.
I lean on his presence.
I walk by patience.
I am uplifted by prayer and Ilabor with power.
By the way, you can get a copyof this back at the tech booth.
If you want it before you leavenow friends.

(13:10):
This is a young man who hascrossed over the fence.
This is a young man who isthrough with being a weatherman
and friends.
This, if you claim to know JesusChrist in a real impersonal way,
this is where God wants you tobe.
And where he wants me to be.
Now, I have found in my 35 yearsof being a believer that there

(13:32):
are three very common fencesthat people tend to get hung up
on three very common fences,where people get partway over
and then they have troublegetting over the road, the rest
of the way.
And so I want to talk to youabout those in closing, because
I suspect that if you're sittingon a fence here today, in terms
of your commitment to Christ,it's probably one of these three

(13:53):
fences.
We want you off the fence, butlet's identify what they are.
First.
The first fence that people tendto get hung up on is defense.
The Jesus talks about right herein Matthew, chapter 10, the
fence of family ties.
What did Jesus say here?
Matthew 10 verse 35.
He said for, I have come to turna man against his father and a

(14:17):
daughter against her mother anda daughter in law against her
mother-in-law.
And a person's enemies will bethe members of their own
household because of theirfaith.
In me, there is evidencethroughout the new Testament
that when a Jewish personembraced Jesus, when they openly
confessed Jesus as their Messiahin the first century that the

(14:38):
peoples, the peoples member ofthe members of their own family
became their worst enemies.
Well, you know, things have notchanged much over the last 2000
years, even in today's world,when a person chooses to follow
Christ, there is often a hugeprice to pay in a person's
family.
Jewish parents still holdfunerals for children who give

(15:00):
their life to Christ andpronounce them dead.
That's still happens today inMuslim families, often it's
people's own brothers andsisters and moms and dads who
turn them into the authorities.
When they confess Christ inJehovah witnesses homes.
Very often, when you decide toleave the witnesses and go
become an evangelical, it's yourmembers of your own family who

(15:22):
take the lead in pronouncing youanathema, never speaking to you
again, husbands many times walkout on wives.
When those wives come to Christand get serious about their
walking with, for Christ andvice versa.
Boyfriends often break up withgirlfriends.
When that girl comes to Christand says, I'm not having sex

(15:43):
with you anymore.
It breaks things up very often.
And parents will often say tochildren who decide God is
calling them to serve him.
They will often say, well, look,I'm not going to be a part of
you throw in your life away.
If you want to go be amissionary somewhere, then
you're going to do it withoutany financial support or help

(16:04):
from me.
I want no part of it.
You're on your own Buster.
Jesus said, when you embrace me,it is liable to cause real
trouble in your family.
And many of us here know exactlywhat I'm talking about because
you've been through it now, whatdid Jesus say about this?
He said, let's remind ourselveshe who loves father or mother or

(16:27):
son or daughter or husband orwife or boyfriend or girlfriend
more than me is not worthy ofme.
Jesus says, I want you to offthat fence and over it, you know
, you may not know the name,rabbi Leopold, Cohen, rabbi
Leopold Cohen.
I just read his autobiographylast week.

(16:49):
I want to tell you a little bitabout this dear man of God.
He was a Orthodox rabbi inHungary in the late 18 hundreds.
And he developed an insatiablehunger to know who the Messiah
was.
He went to an older rabbi inHungary and asked, do you know
who the Messiah is?
And the rabbi said I don't, butif you go to America, I bet
somebody there could tell you.

(17:11):
And so he left his wife and hisfour children and he came to
America and to make a long storyshort, he bumped into a man on
the streets of New York city whohanded him a Hebrew new
Testament.
He read it and gave his life toChrist.
Now, when, when he gave his lifeto Christ and he wrote home and
told everybody, he had found theMessiah, his family immediately

(17:32):
branded him as an apostate.
And as a trader, first of all,the extended family refused to
let his wife and children leaveHungary and come to New York to
join him.
Then one uncle actually hired adetective to tail his wife and
make sure she didn't sneak outof the, finally, some of his
friends were able to sneak herin the four children out and get

(17:54):
them to New York.
When they got to New York rabbiCohen's extended family, tried
to hire people to kidnap themand take them all back to
Hungary.
And when all of this failed,every one of his relatives got
together and wrote him a letterwith a black ribbon in it and
told him that the black ribbonrepresented there, mourning him
as dead.

(18:15):
And as far as they wereconcerned, he was there.
Don't ever call them, talk tothem or contact them again for
the rest of his life.
So rabbi Cohen found himself inNew York city, family lists,
penniless and friendless, but hehad a passion for Jewish people
to bring them to Christ.
And so he opened a littlestorefront in Brooklyn.

(18:36):
You see it on the screen wherehe began preaching Jesus to
Jewish people.
Now he lived a hard life.
He lived on less than a thousanddollars a year.
Many times his family went tobed hungry.
His but his children were oftenbeat up by other Jewish children
in the neighborhood for theirfaith in Christ.
Nonetheless, that storefrontmission turned into the American

(18:58):
board of missions to the Jews.
Folks, you need to understandthat every Jewish mission that
exists in America today evolvefrom the American board of
missions to the Jews and thatlittle storefront that he
started in 1894 Jews for Jesus,friends of Israel, chosen
people.
They all came from rabbiLeopold.
Cohen's work.

(19:19):
You need to understand thatrabbi Cohen's example is what
convinced Gentiles here inAmerica, that Jewish people
could actually be reached beforerabbi Cohen Gentiles didn't
think any Jewish person could bereached for Christ to put it
another way.
Virtually every Jewish believeralive in the world today, all

(19:40):
60,000 of us on the human levelhave rabbi Leopold, Cohen defang
for our salvation.
But here's my point.
There would have been nostorefront mission.
There would have been noAmerican board of missions to
the Jews.
There would have been no Jewsfor Jesus.
There would have been noGentile.
Christians reaching out toJewish.

(20:01):
People had rabbi Leopold, Cohenloved his father and his mother
and his brothers and his sistersmore than he loved Christ, but
he didn't.
Thank God he didn't and friendssometimes saying yes to Jesus
Christ means saying no tofamily.
And Jesus is looking for peoplewho are willing to go over this

(20:23):
fence.
If you're here today and you'rea follower of Christ, he wants
you to be one of the people whogo over that fence.
Fence.
Number two, that often hangspeople off is the fence of
creature comforts, Luke chapternine, verse 57.
And as they were walking alongthe road, a man said to Jesus,
Lord, I will follow you whereveryou go.

(20:45):
Jesus said, really?
Okay, well, foxes have holes.
And the birds of the air havenests, but I don't have a single
place to lay my head.
Jesus said, really?
You want to follow me whereverI'm going to go.
Well, I just need to tell yousomething, son, it's going to
cost you in terms of yourcreature comforts.
You know, I, I, let me tell youwhere I'm going.
I'm going to Jerusalem.

(21:06):
That's where I'm going.
And I'm not going there to stayat the Hilton and ride on air
conditioned, tourist buses andeat gourmet meals and walk the
via.
Dolorosa taking pictures with myNikon.
That's not why I'm going there.
I'm going to Jerusalem to go tothe cross.
Do you understand that?
And in the meantime, I don'teven have a place to lay my
head.

(21:27):
I don't even have a place tocall home.
I have no fancy clothes to wearand no fancy meals to eat.
You follow me.
Jesus says to this guy, and it'sgoing to cost you something in
terms of your creature comforts.
Well, this is the second fencethat a lot of people get hung up
on my friends.
Their question is, what's itgoing to cost me in terms of

(21:48):
creature, comfort, to followJesus Christ.
And I'm here to tell you it'sgoing to cost you something in
this age.
Maybe it'll cost you lowergrades in school because you
can't cheat like everybody elsein the class, maybe it's going
to cost you loss of his socialstatus with your friends,
because you're outspoken aboutyour faith for Christ.

(22:08):
Maybe it's going to cost you abig business deal because you're
not able to lie and misrepresentthe facts.
Cause you're a follower ofChrist and the deal gets lost.
Maybe it's going to cost youmoney in your pocket because you
got to tell the truth on your 10forties.
Maybe it's going to cost.
You're driving an old car andwhere in old suits and sitting
on old furniture and using oldgolf clubs and walking on old

(22:33):
carpet, because you've committedyourself to giving sacrificially
to the work of Christ here onthis earth.
Maybe it's going to cost youleisure time and sleep because
you're dedicated to servingChrist with your life.
Folks, listen, Jesus is notagainst us enjoying the good
things of this life.
Don't you ever believe that solong as so long as when he asks

(22:57):
us to put him ahead of thosethings we are willing to do so
without hesitation, these arethe people that Jesus is looking
for.
People who love him more thanthey love stuff.
People who are willing to goover the fence of their
creature, comforts to serve himand walk with him.

(23:18):
And if you're a follower ofChrist here today, this is the
kind of person Jesus wants youto be third.
And finally fence.
Number three is the fence of ourpersonal independence.
Acts 17.
When Paul showed up in festivalAnnika, here's what the people
in that town said.
They said, these men who haveturned the world upside down

(23:40):
have come here.
Now they are defying.
Caesar's decree.
How look by saying there isanother King, one called Jesus.
These people understoodperfectly what Paul was
preaching.
He was preaching that Caesar isnot King of this world.
Jesus is King of this world andfriends not only is Jesus King

(24:01):
of the world, but he's King ofevery single person's life in
this world.
Now we as Americans, don'tcotton very well to Kings ruling
over us and telling us what todo.
We as Americans, in fact, don'tcotton very well to anybody
telling us what to do.
We'd like to be our own bosses.
We like to determine our owndestinies, who we like to set

(24:23):
our own boundaries.
And we like to do what we feellike doing.
That's why people drive thespeed they do on the beltway
because they don't care what thespeed limit is.
They want to do what they wantto do.
And I'm afraid I'm one of themsometime.
But, but anyway, that's thepoint.
That's who we are now.
Listen, Jesus is looking forpeople who are willing to go

(24:44):
over the fence of their personalindependence.
Jesus is looking for people whoare willing to crown him as the
King of their life period.
And what does it mean to crownJesus as the King of your life?
It means that you and I seek tolive every single area of our
lives in obedience, to the wordof God, in obedience, to what

(25:08):
God tells us in the Bible, notin obedience, to what we feel
like doing.
We give up that personalindependence and we submit
ourselves to the kingship ofJesus Christ over our life and
our behavior.
Now this applies to every areaof our life, to our sex lives,
our dating habits, ourattitudes, our language.

(25:29):
It applies to our thought lifeand our business ethics and what
we watch on television and themovies we order in hotel rooms.
It applies to the way we treatour spouses and the way we treat
our children, it applies to theway we talk about other people
in the way we spend our money.
And whether we forgive peoplefrom our hearts.
Now we may not always get itright, but people who are under

(25:53):
the kingship of Christ arealways trying to get it right to
the best of their ability.
This is a huge fence that peopleget caught up on the decision
that God is number one in ourlife.
The decision that how he tellsus to live in the Bible is the
authority for our life.
Not the way we feel and not whatwe want to do.

(26:16):
And if you're here today andyou're a follower of Christ,
this is a fence.
God wants you going over thefence of your personal
independence.
And so let's summarize, what didwe learn today?
Well, we've learned that in thisage, Jesus said he is not the
Prince of peace.
We've learned that in this age,Jesus said, following him is

(26:39):
often going to bring a swordinto our life.
Not peace.
It's often going to bringconflict.
It's often going to bringopposition and rejection and
hostility into our life.
And we've learned that in thisage, there's a cost to following
Jesus Christ.
And the Jesus is looking forpeople who love him enough, that

(26:59):
they're willing to go over thefences and pay that cost.
What are the fences that we'vetalked about?
Fence?
Number one is defense of familyties, loving Jesus more than we
love our family.
If it comes to that, Jesus islooking second of all for people
to go over the fence ofcreature, comfort.
People who love Jesus more thanthey love stuff.

(27:21):
And third, the fence of ourpersonal independence.
Jesus is looking for people wholove him more than they love
doing what they feel like doing.
And I'm here today to challengeyou to be this kind of person
I'm here today, to challenge youto be a person of conviction and
a person of courage and a personof commitment.

(27:43):
I'm here to challenge you to dietoday, to come out of the murky
shadow lands of churchianity togo over these three fences once
and for all in your life and tobecome a true disciple of Jesus
Christ.
I call on you to be this kind ofperson, because friends, these
are the kind of people God canuse.

(28:05):
These are the kind of peoplethat God can make a difference
in the world with.
He can't do it with people wholive in the shadow lands of
churchianity, but he can use itwith disciples.
He can use them.
And so my challenge to you todayis come out of the shadows of
churchianity and live in thelight, live in the light as an
unashamed follower of Christ.

(28:27):
And if you're hung up on one ofthese three fences that I'm here
to call on you today to go overit today and say, Lord, I'm over
it.
And I'm staying over it becauseI'm going to put you first in my
life.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
Let's pray together

Speaker 1 (28:44):
with our heads bowed and our eyes closed.
If you need a moment to talk toGod about one of these three
fences or something else, whydon't you take it?
And you talk to him and ask forhis help right now, Lord Jesus
we're reminded in John chaptersix, where Jesus said some very

(29:06):
hard things and demanding thingsthat the Bible tells us.
Many people who followed him,went away and followed him no
longer.
And the Bible says, then heturned to the disciples, Peter
James, John, and said, will youleave me also?

(29:26):
And Peter said, Lord, whereshall we go?
You are the one who has thewords of eternal life or Jesus,
uh, remind us today.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
And

Speaker 1 (29:42):
many times you have hard things to say to us, things
that are demanding.
And yet you expect us as yourdisciples to say what Peter
said, Lord, where else would wedare go?
Where yours?
I pray today.
That that would be our responsethat we would hear what you've

(30:02):
said and that we would rise tothe challenge and say, yes,
Lord, we will pay the cost likerabbi Cohen did.
We will pay the cost because youare first in our life.
And we love you more than ourfamily.
We love you more than stuff.

(30:24):
And we love you more than weeven love getting our own way.
Lord challenge us to be thosekinds of people.
And for folks who told you todaythat they're going over a fence,
that they've been hung up onhonor that and help them.
God used us in this town to makea difference for Christ, make us
part of the fellowship of theunashamed.

(30:48):
And we pray these things inJesus' name.
God's people said,

Speaker 2 (30:54):
amen, thanks for being here today.
Bless you guys.