"Jesus came to bring violence, to bring a sword. So what does that mean for us today?" The question comes in from a listener in Egypt. Good morning Pastor John, I'm a devout Christian who reads the Bible every day. I struggle with these words of Jesus, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." That's Matthew 10:34. I'm wondering what Jesus meant and what does it mean for Christians today. Pastor John, what would you say? Let's read what Jesus said in the context of Matthew 10, 34 to 39. Here's what he said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth.

I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For," it's important to keep reading, "For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." So Jesus talks in this radical, shocking, one-sided way. Often he expects us to be startled, awakened, made serious, and then he expects us to put the proper boundaries around what he's saying by remembering what he said elsewhere.

Like he said, for example, "Blessed are the peacemakers. I didn't come to bring peace. Period. I'm not going to make war. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they should be called the sons of God." And the angel said in Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he's pleased." And Zechariah prophesied in Luke 1:79 that Jesus would give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.

And James said, "A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." And Paul said, "Jesus himself is our peace, who has made us both, Jew and Gentile, made us both one and broken down in his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility." And of course, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace.

So back to Matthew 10:34, Jesus expects us when he says, "I didn't come to bring peace." He expects us to be shocked, to wake up, to take seriously what he is saying, and not to generalize, to mean things he showed us he doesn't mean. He said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth.

I have not come to bring peace but a sword." And when he says "on earth," his point is to draw attention to his origin in heaven and his mission on earth. He's not your ordinary prophet. He has come from outside earth, outside the world system, and the message he brings is going to cut.

Like a sword, peace will not be the all-defining mark of his ministry. In other words, those who elevate peace to the all-defining mark—nothing can be done if it doesn't make peace—will go against this text. Far from it. There will be peace and unity, but not at all costs. That's what we're learning from this text.

Now how will he cut like a sword? So that's the alternative to peace. I'm going to be a sword, a cut. Well he explains immediately what he's referring to in verse 35. And it starts with "for." That's an explanatory foundational text about what I just meant. "For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person's enemies will be those of his own household." Really?

How will he set family members against each other? Verse 37 explains, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." In other words, Jesus enters earth, enters the world, and he lays claim now.

As a king from another kingdom, he lays claim on every human heart. I am worthy of greater affection, greater love, greater allegiance than any member of your family. If all the family members respond to Jesus this way, you've got peace. But if they don't, if there is anger because Jesus has become more important than family bonds and family affections, then a sword cuts right through the relationship.

We've all tasted this in some ways. And verse 38 moves the division from superior affections for Jesus, like he says, "You've got to love me more," to absolute following of Jesus. So he says, "And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." So the family not only does not have the supreme affection, it does not have supreme authority either.

The disciple loves Jesus above the preciousness of the family, and the disciple follows Jesus before the authority of mother or father. This is what Jesus meant by bringing a sword, not peace. It means he comes into the world as the supreme beauty and supreme joy and supreme value of the universe, and he comes with absolute supreme authority, and therefore he claims in every family and in every business and in every school and in every church and in every political party and in every nation, he claims, he lays claim on a superior allegiance, a superior love.

And so he cuts with the sword of his supremacy. He cuts every affection and every allegiance to family or business or school or church or political party or nation which would compete with him for supreme place in our hearts. So because I'm ending here because this is really where the question ended about does it have any relevance for like our day.

I said, "Whoa, are you kidding me?" So while the focus of the text is on family, that's the immediate focus, the application is pervasive. Jesus has come into the world to disrupt, this is what sword means, to disrupt all human allegiances that don't put him first. To be loved above all other values and to be followed above all other authorities, fill in the blank, authority in the nation, authority in politics, authority in church, authority in home, authority in business, authority in education, whatever, fill in the blank.

In other words, this teaching of Jesus is vastly relevant in our day everywhere. It sure is. Thank you, Pastor John, for that word. Well, whether you listen in the car, at the gym, or doing chores, thank you for inviting us into your day. If you have not yet done so, you can subscribe to Ask Pastor John in your favorite podcast app in YouTube or in Spotify.

And to find other episodes in our archive or to submit a question to us, go online to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn. While the prosperity gospel is alive and well, it seeps into American churches and then American churches export it around the world. It's still a problem, a problem we need to address, and we will next time on Wednesday.

I'm your host Tony Rehnke. We'll see you then. 1.5.1 Desiring God.org 1.5.1 Desiring God.org 1.5.1 Desiring God.org 1.5.1 Desiring God.org 1.5.1