Jesus Came to Bring Violence — but What Does That Mean for Us?
00:00:00.000 | "Jesus came to bring violence, to bring a sword.
00:00:08.040 | So what does that mean for us today?"
00:00:10.040 | The question comes in from a listener in Egypt.
00:00:12.840 | Good morning Pastor John, I'm a devout Christian who reads the Bible every day.
00:00:16.600 | I struggle with these words of Jesus, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace
00:00:21.500 | to the earth.
00:00:22.500 | I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
00:00:25.920 | That's Matthew 10:34.
00:00:27.760 | I'm wondering what Jesus meant and what does it mean for Christians today.
00:00:32.080 | Pastor John, what would you say?
00:00:34.360 | Let's read what Jesus said in the context of Matthew 10, 34 to 39.
00:00:40.440 | Here's what he said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth.
00:00:44.520 | I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
00:00:47.440 | For," it's important to keep reading, "For I have come to set a man against his father,
00:00:54.000 | and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person's
00:00:58.960 | enemies will be those of his own household.
00:01:02.240 | Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son
00:01:06.720 | or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
00:01:11.380 | And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
00:01:16.280 | Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
00:01:23.600 | So Jesus talks in this radical, shocking, one-sided way.
00:01:31.320 | Often he expects us to be startled, awakened, made serious, and then he expects us to put
00:01:40.040 | the proper boundaries around what he's saying by remembering what he said elsewhere.
00:01:46.400 | Like he said, for example, "Blessed are the peacemakers.
00:01:50.520 | I didn't come to bring peace.
00:01:52.000 | Period.
00:01:53.000 | I'm not going to make war.
00:01:55.240 | Blessed are the peacemakers, for they should be called the sons of God."
00:01:59.120 | And the angel said in Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among
00:02:05.400 | those with whom he's pleased."
00:02:06.840 | And Zechariah prophesied in Luke 1:79 that Jesus would give light to those who sit in
00:02:12.560 | darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.
00:02:17.800 | And James said, "A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."
00:02:23.720 | And Paul said, "Jesus himself is our peace, who has made us both, Jew and Gentile, made
00:02:30.320 | us both one and broken down in his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility."
00:02:37.480 | And of course, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace.
00:02:42.400 | So back to Matthew 10:34, Jesus expects us when he says, "I didn't come to bring peace."
00:02:49.640 | He expects us to be shocked, to wake up, to take seriously what he is saying, and not
00:02:59.720 | to generalize, to mean things he showed us he doesn't mean.
00:03:06.100 | He said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth.
00:03:10.680 | I have not come to bring peace but a sword."
00:03:15.280 | And when he says "on earth," his point is to draw attention to his origin in heaven
00:03:23.240 | and his mission on earth.
00:03:25.440 | He's not your ordinary prophet.
00:03:27.880 | He has come from outside earth, outside the world system, and the message he brings is
00:03:34.440 | going to cut.
00:03:36.040 | Like a sword, peace will not be the all-defining mark of his ministry.
00:03:42.280 | In other words, those who elevate peace to the all-defining mark—nothing can be done
00:03:47.640 | if it doesn't make peace—will go against this text.
00:03:51.480 | Far from it.
00:03:52.480 | There will be peace and unity, but not at all costs.
00:03:57.480 | That's what we're learning from this text.
00:03:59.880 | Now how will he cut like a sword?
00:04:03.520 | So that's the alternative to peace.
00:04:05.320 | I'm going to be a sword, a cut.
00:04:07.880 | Well he explains immediately what he's referring to in verse 35.
00:04:11.800 | And it starts with "for."
00:04:13.520 | That's an explanatory foundational text about what I just meant.
00:04:19.040 | "For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother,
00:04:23.760 | and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person's enemies will be those of his
00:04:28.000 | own household."
00:04:29.000 | Really?
00:04:32.200 | How will he set family members against each other?
00:04:36.080 | Verse 37 explains, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
00:04:42.840 | and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."
00:04:45.840 | In other words, Jesus enters earth, enters the world, and he lays claim now.
00:04:52.600 | As a king from another kingdom, he lays claim on every human heart.
00:04:58.520 | I am worthy of greater affection, greater love, greater allegiance than any member of
00:05:07.120 | your family.
00:05:09.600 | If all the family members respond to Jesus this way, you've got peace.
00:05:14.700 | But if they don't, if there is anger because Jesus has become more important than family
00:05:22.340 | bonds and family affections, then a sword cuts right through the relationship.
00:05:28.300 | We've all tasted this in some ways.
00:05:31.420 | And verse 38 moves the division from superior affections for Jesus, like he says, "You've
00:05:37.120 | got to love me more," to absolute following of Jesus.
00:05:42.200 | So he says, "And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me."
00:05:49.020 | So the family not only does not have the supreme affection, it does not have supreme authority
00:05:56.260 | either.
00:05:57.540 | The disciple loves Jesus above the preciousness of the family, and the disciple follows Jesus
00:06:06.380 | before the authority of mother or father.
00:06:09.780 | This is what Jesus meant by bringing a sword, not peace.
00:06:15.080 | It means he comes into the world as the supreme beauty and supreme joy and supreme value of
00:06:24.060 | the universe, and he comes with absolute supreme authority, and therefore he claims in every
00:06:32.780 | family and in every business and in every school and in every church and in every political
00:06:39.860 | party and in every nation, he claims, he lays claim on a superior allegiance, a superior
00:06:47.820 | love.
00:06:49.020 | And so he cuts with the sword of his supremacy.
00:06:53.260 | He cuts every affection and every allegiance to family or business or school or church
00:07:00.280 | or political party or nation which would compete with him for supreme place in our hearts.
00:07:09.820 | So because I'm ending here because this is really where the question ended about does
00:07:14.500 | it have any relevance for like our day.
00:07:16.460 | I said, "Whoa, are you kidding me?"
00:07:19.100 | So while the focus of the text is on family, that's the immediate focus, the application
00:07:26.300 | is pervasive.
00:07:28.060 | Jesus has come into the world to disrupt, this is what sword means, to disrupt all human
00:07:36.460 | allegiances that don't put him first.
00:07:41.060 | To be loved above all other values and to be followed above all other authorities, fill
00:07:49.060 | in the blank, authority in the nation, authority in politics, authority in church, authority
00:07:53.820 | in home, authority in business, authority in education, whatever, fill in the blank.
00:07:59.020 | In other words, this teaching of Jesus is vastly relevant in our day everywhere.
00:08:06.220 | It sure is.
00:08:07.820 | Thank you, Pastor John, for that word.
00:08:09.180 | Well, whether you listen in the car, at the gym, or doing chores, thank you for inviting
00:08:13.060 | us into your day.
00:08:14.060 | If you have not yet done so, you can subscribe to Ask Pastor John in your favorite podcast
00:08:18.020 | app in YouTube or in Spotify.
00:08:20.900 | And to find other episodes in our archive or to submit a question to us, go online to
00:08:24.820 | DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:08:29.900 | While the prosperity gospel is alive and well, it seeps into American churches and then American
00:08:35.100 | churches export it around the world.
00:08:37.940 | It's still a problem, a problem we need to address, and we will next time on Wednesday.
00:08:41.940 | I'm your host Tony Rehnke.
00:08:43.340 | We'll see you then.
00:08:44.220 | [END]
00:08:46.220 | 1.5.1
00:08:47.220 | Desiring God.org
00:08:48.220 | 1.5.1
00:08:49.220 | Desiring God.org
00:08:50.220 | 1.5.1
00:08:51.220 | Desiring God.org
00:08:52.220 | 1.5.1
00:08:53.220 | Desiring God.org
00:08:54.220 | 1.5.1