"I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against--or two in favor and three against. - Luke 12: 49-52 (NLT)
That doesn't sound very seeker friendly! I have come to set the world on fire! I wish it were already burning! While the church goes out of its way to fireproof itself! That is how we become lukewarm to Jesus! Just like in the story we looked at today, Jesus knows why we are here. He knows if we are pursuing Him or pursuing the things of this world, He knows if we are looking for works to justify our lack of true faith or if it is an outgrowth of our faith. He knows if we are just pursuing the next big thing. The next big show disguised as the Spirit of the Living God.
Beloved the time is growing short. Jesus is coming back for His Bride. There is work to be done between now and then. It cannot be about our show and pretense. It has to be about His kingdom and the unsaved. Not the unchurched - the unsaved. As the times grow worse God is telling us that the teachings must go deeper. We cannot sustain ourselves on spoiled spiritual milk anymore. If that is where we find ourselves today then we need to come out from among them. Come out from among those that are not truly serving God. This is not a game beloved. As the key verses state - many will desert Him as the teachings go deeper. They will not put up with sound doctrine. They will gather around them teachers to tell them what they want to hear. They will hold hands and sing kumbya until Jesus comes and they discover that they have been on the broad path that leads to destruction the entire time. As we stand here today watching the throng walk away from Him and desert Him we will find He still has the same one question for us today that He had for His disciples back then -
Are you also going to leave?
Don't take the question lightly. In order to stay with Christ we might have to leave our family. We might have to leave our church. We might have to leave the trappings of religion for the only relationship that matters. It is easy to say - I will not leave! That is what Peter said to Jesus and yet he still denied knowing Him three times. I pray that we all have the strength and conviction to stay with Him, no matter what else we might have to give up to get there. In Jesus name. Amen.
Reverend Anthony Wade - October 5, 2013
