Luke 12:49-52

Baptized into living a new life and cleaving yourself from sin. Luke 12:49-52 49 "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. Last week we learned about baptism and how it relates to Thanksgiving. Is there anyone that remembers what we had discussed about baptism? We discussed what true baptism was and the life that followed. I ask you to reflect on this past week and see if you lived the life that bore the fruit of baptism. In today's passage we see that our Lord has come to bring fire. Then he says "But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!" Last week I had mentioned that there was a separate baptism of Jesus. "But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!" If the water baptism that we perform at church in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and also the other types of water baptism where we submerge the individual in water is a complete baptism and Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist, then why did Jesus need to go through a separate baptism? Is not the meaning of the water baptism and the baptism that Jesus will go through a different type of baptism? If that is so then is the water baptism that we go through a complete baptism? And if you say it is so then does it signify that you have been saved? Do you go to heaven because you were baptized? Are you complete once you have received your seminary degree? You may think that you have all the necessary tools to save souls, but why would Jesus need to go through a separate baptism? What is the difference? Then he goes on to say "Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division." And then he talks about the division within the family. Does this make sense? First he talks about fire then a separate baptism then division. The logic is difficult to understand. Mark 10:35-39 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask." 36 "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 37 They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." 38 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" 39 "We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, When Jesus is asking "can you drink the cup I drink would be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, He is letting us know that we must die. We must die to sin and be born into a new life. This is participating in the baptism. The final baptism of Jesus is death. He is revealing to us that he must die on the cross. There is a path that leads up to the cross. It is the path of suffering. Each moment he suffers He is drinking from the cup of suffering. To say that I participate in the baptism of Jesus is to suffer in my daily walk with him. In the daily life of faith there are many things that do not go to the way we so desire. But if in those moments I try to force my will upon the situation then it is I who lives. But rather than do what I desire and surrender myself and do what Jesus wants this is suffering. Conflict is suffering. Jesus suffered greatly for me. If I to am to suffer for him and participate in the baptism, though I do not suffer physically as he did for me the conflict which arises in me is the suffering to which I must surrender and die to. Only then can I say that I am living a life in participation with the baptism of Jesus. To say that you are participating in the resurrection without the death you are only deceiving yourself. Can there be resurrection without death? No there cannot. There is only glory in the resurrection of Jesus because he had died. This is how he has overcome the power of death. If this is so, then all the desires of this world must die within me in order to have a spiritual resurrection. If this is to be where must we put our focus? It is the cross. We must be at the cross where Jesus has died for me so that we do not lose focus and die with him. But our problem is we do not go to the cross. I use myself as an example. I try and teach you many things. But last week I was scolded many times. Do you know why? I fail to see that God was using the other person to show me my anger. For example my wife and I we were discussing many things. I used the excuse that because it was between a husband and wife that it must be according to my standards. Do you not do this amongst yourselves? The moment I hear what she has to say I get upset. The moment I hear what she says I have already made up my mind. The moment I hear what she says something is already stirring up from within me. Rather than see that God is using her to give me a message I try to appease myself by saying that I am the husband, the head of the household, and what not. By not seeing the whole picture at some point I come to realize that I am fallen behind in my walk. When it is between two people and it slowly accumulates it is possible that you are unaware. But when I had received a phone call from someone else I had made a judgment about them I got angry and realized that I was wrong. We fail to see that God is using someone else to show us the things that we need to change within ourselves in humility but rather than see things this way we react with our own thoughts and judgment. This is a problem. I read this article today. It said to be careful of your thoughts. Why? Because what we think comes out in our speech. What you think does not end with your thoughts eventually it will come out in what you speak. Then it said to be careful of what you speak because it will turn into action. Then it said to be careful in how you act because how you act will become a habit. It said be careful of your habits because it will form your character. Then it goes on to say be careful of your character because it will affect your life. By having one wrong thought it will change your entire life. Do you think so? We do not. We assume that it is okay to think any thought. But if we take what I have just read and reflect on our lives and where we are today we can see that it is our thoughts that have brought us here. If we take the children and instill in them the proper thoughts and attitudes to have dreams and goals to glorify God then when they get to be our age they can live a life that continues to glorify God. If we reflect on our own lives and see that we are not living according to the scripture it is because our thoughts are wrong and have been so since we were young. We do not realize that we have started off with wrong thoughts in our childhood. Then where do these thoughts come from? It comes from our environment. By environment we are talking about the family. If in the family you are not teaching your children and showing them how to live by example then your children will have be learning the wrong way to think. If this is what you are teaching them, then by the time they get to be our age that is where they will end up. Whose responsibility is this? It is the responsibility of the parents. We do not think like so. We must realize how important this teaching is. But we fail to do so. There was a teaching that says when somebody tells you that you are wrong rather than getting upset reflect and look within yourself. If you search within you and fail to find any fault then you may ignore that person. But if you search within yourself and find that there is something that is wrong then all you have to do is change it. You must choose either one or the other. You must not get angry. But how do we react when someone tries to teach us or tell us that we are wrong? Do we not get angry and frustrated? This is wrong. If nonbelievers are teaching us wisdom on how we are to live our lives and we as believers are not living this life then we are wrong. Even if someone were to persecute us point fingers in anger at us we must have the attitude to move beyond that circumstance and to learn and grow from it. The one who can control their emotion no matter what happens in their presence is a wise person. From a Christian standpoint it is one who has died with Jesus. The one who has died cannot be affected by the things that they hear. Though I sit here teaching this to you I catch myself at times hearing things that arouse my anger. I am being shown that I have yet to die completely. When you are ready for it, the words are easy to catch and you are aware that you are being tested. If the devil wore a red suit and had his pitchfork and pronounced to you he was the devil then you can stand, fight, and be victorious. But if he wore the clothes of an angel then it is easy for us to be taken advantage of. Likewise it is the words that are subtle but provoke us to intemperance. This is one of the traps of the devil. This is why we are told to be careful lest we fall into the trap. The moment we decide that we are going to do better and walk out these doors we hear something that bothers us and we immediately get angry. This is showing us that we have not died completely in Christ and are being shown to acknowledge this. But rather than do so we remain stubborn and try to live. What did Jesus mean by baptism? There are many people who are on the verge of dying. Many will do whatever it takes to prolong their lives. Jesus on the other hand knew exactly the time, place, and manner in which he would die and he still continued on that path. He told his disciples exactly what would happen when he went up to Jerusalem. He knew about his death and his resurrection. He knew all about his physical suffering and he still walked that path. Imagine how difficult this must have been. As you live your life have you ever considered what Jesus must have felt knowing what he knew and still going through it? If you understood this even to the slightest degree and choose to be like Jesus then no matter who stands before you in your presence trying to make you stumble with their words, should you fall into that trap or should you stand up and overcome? You must decide for yourself. If I do not fall into the trap and stand up and overcome then I become victorious in my life of faith. But if I fall into the trap then I am the one to fall. It is not the other person who falls but it is me. It is my hope that you would understand this. If the other person beat me with a rod or prick me with a needle if I stumble and fall then I am the one to fall. In this world there is the victim and that the perpetrator. But in the spiritual world there is no perpetrator who stands between the Lord and I. The perpetrator will stand before the Lord for his sins. And if by the actions of the perpetrator I commit sin, then I will stand before the Lord for my sins. No matter what someone else does to me I will stand before the Lord for my actions. You must understand that how I react to someone else's words and actions will be what I am judged for. Then I will be able to stand firm and not stumble over someone else's words and actions. You must have this heart and be able to open your eyes. There are many wise teachings about how to live our lives here but these teachings are also applicable to our spiritual lives. To live like Jesus means that we are to live lives that reflect Jesus and not ourselves. Do I live the life where Jesus is reflected through me? If I do then I must control myself but if I am unable then are we truly living a life that has been baptized in Jesus? Why did Jesus come to bring division to the family? Why? Is a family in Christ truly divided? Should not the family that is in Christ be united? In the family that Christ is not the center there are many rulers. The husband wants to be king and the wife wants to be queen and the children want to be princes and princesses. Has any king ever been satisfied with one queen? They eventually get second and third wives. It is a life that seeks to satisfy oneself. If one can be satisfied with whatever he has, in satisfaction there is peace but when satisfaction is desired there is always trouble. This is the worldly family. Though there may seem to be peace the moment trouble happens there is chaos. Each lives to satisfy oneself. There is no hope without Jesus. In life there are always problems. If you live for Christ, and no longer to live your life to satisfy your desires, then the life you live the new life, the life of Resurrection, is not to live to be satisfied by your spouse, but it is to live in hope of eternity. If your spouse is no longer your treasure but Jesus is your treasure, then will your spouse whom you once lived for appreciate this change? There will be conflict. Is it any different for the wife who gives up her husband for Jesus? Will the husband be pleased? Rather than live for the flesh our Lord desires that we live in the spirit with the hope of eternity. And in order for us to have this life there will be much struggle. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit. And this is why Jesus came to this world. In order to break down the family and to build it back up in him. This is why the conflicts that arise within the family is granted. The division that arises because of Jesus is the separation from the hope of this world and all the selfish desires. If I have attained Jesus and my wife has attained Jesus and all my children have attained Jesus, would he divide us? No, he would unite us. Examine your life. All your problems stem from your perspective. You are dissatisfied because everyone does not meet your standards. Just like each finger is individual, how can someone else meet your standards when living their lives? Have you thought about this? I am over 60 years old now. If my children have children, then do I lower my standards to meet the child at his level or do I scold the child for not living up to my standards? What do you think? How can you scold your children for not meeting your standards as an adult when they are only children? Are you raising the five year old to be the five year old or are you destroying them? If you take a 10-year-old child and raise them as a 40-year-old what happens to the 30 years of childhood experiences that you have taken away from them? The lessons that God had desired to teach that child you have now stolen from them. How can God teach that child, guide that child and use him for his work? You fail to see that you are hindering God's work. If the child walks the path of this world, then we are to pray. God uses evil for his glory. We think as we are taught at whatever seminary, that we must go and do something. The Bible tells us that God has put those people in place. We are to pray to God and let him know what our circumstance is. We are to obey and pray to God. If your child does not please you, pray to God and let him know your situation. Ask him to show you what it is with in you that you must change. To be wise we must first be able to see ourselves before we judge others. What is it that God desires me to see within me that has caused my children to stray from the path? If God has put me in my situation today then I must be able to examine myself. This is a step towards the baptism of Jesus. I must be able to confess that I have been baptized in Jesus, only then can I say that I am a true Christian. We sang many hymns today before worship. We sang that we wanted to be a Christian, to have a loving heart, to be holy, and to be like Jesus. This can only be done if I die. "Are you able" said the Master, "to be crucified with me?" "Yea" the sturdy saints answered "to the death we follow thee." Are you a saint? Then as a saint you sang that you would follow Jesus to death. But if you are easily upset over a word that someone else speaks then your confession that you sing is wrong. Who will serve the Lord? He is not the one who seeks the world or its glory. He is the one who only seeks the Lord. We say he is the one who does not seek his glory but how do we pray? We ask God to solve our problems, to help our children be well, to have all our desires become reality. To ask for all my desires to be answered is seeking glory for myself. Who is proud when their child is well educated succeeds in life, marries well and has attained all that life has to offer? You are proud. Why do you become proud? In Christ, if my child does well then it is their blessing that they have received. I must surrender my child over to God. If I live to be proud of my child's success then I am living for the glory of this world. We sing that we do not bend knees to God without meaning. If the baptism of Jesus encompasses all the steps taken up to his death then our lives also encompass all the steps that we encounter towards our own death. What is it that you desire to attain when you come here before our Lord in worship? Our ultimate goal is eternal life in our Lord. Is this not so? Is it to be healed from our diseases, to make money. To live well? Is this why we believe in Jesus? If this is so that we must examine ourselves. If we truly desire a new life in Christ and this is why we believe in him and we desire to live a life in union with him, then just as Christ died and resurrected, I too must die and be resurrected. Romans 6:4 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. I must die to have new life. It is not a physical death it is a spiritual death to sin. We must cut all sin out of our lives at once. Mark 16:16-18 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." The one who has been baptized will be shown through their lives. If you have been baptized without having this life, then either you were baptized without having faith or you were baptized and still did not die to have a new life with Jesus. True baptism is confessing that Jesus is your Lord and living a life that reflects this belief. Examine to see if you are living the life wearing the clothes of Jesus. In first Corinthians chapter 10 it talks about how Moses and the Israelites passed through the sea and had received the baptism. Had they gone through the sea they would all have died. But after having gone through the sea they had forgotten that they had left their old lives in the past, and what did they do? They built a golden calf and worshiped an idol. If like the Israelites I confess that I follow Christ but upon examination I am worshiping idols and living in sin, what will our Lord say to me? Will he commend us? There will be nothing but suffering that will follow us. If I examine myself and see that there is no new life me in Christ then I must question if I have truly been baptized into the life of Jesus. If Christ has died for my sins on the cross and I do believe that I have died on the cross then the result must be a separation from sin. We must have this resolve. We must cleave ourselves from our habits of sin. We must repent and live a new life. If I could make a request to our True Light church members. It is because of Jesus' death on the cross for which God loves us. God does not love us because we are worthy. By putting my faith in Jesus who has died for me and participating in that death and living life as a new creation God embraces me with his love. If you truly desire to live the life of a Christian, then you must die with Christ so that you can participate in the Resurrection and receive the love of God. Please remember this. If you forget this and believe that God loves you, that he is love, that you are forgiven because Jesus died for you two thousand years ago, you must remember that God only forgives you because of the suffering that Jesus had endured for you. He does not forgive you for love. We can see this in the quiet time devotional that we do. If God expresses his love by forgiving us because of the suffering that his Son had endured, without our resolve to also live a life to participate in this suffering and think that we can receive God's love, then can we really receive God's true love? The baptism of Jesus was death on the cross. And if it is a baptism that the disciples could also participate in and drink from the same cup, then we to must also be able to make this confession in our lives. I too must drink from the cup of suffering. I must confess that I will participate in the baptism of Jesus. What is this baptism? It is killing all that arises in me that desire to live and to live a life that reflects Jesus. It is having the resolve to participate in the baptism of Jesus. Then you can be victorious in your life of faith. With this resolve no matter where you may go, what you may do, whether it is today, or the week, or the year, or your entire life, may you give an abundant offering to God through the fruit of your life. Give God glory through your life. Make your life be a witness and testimony of Jesus to others. Let us pray. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park Translation by Miguel Park