Jesus: The Great Divide

In Luke 12:51 Jesus says, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” But isn’t Jesus the “Prince of Peace”? That is what Isaiah 9:6 stated, over 700 years before the Incarnation. Micah 5:5 states, “And he shall be their peace.” But that is not what Jesus is saying. He says, “No, I came actually to divide.” When Jesus says, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division,” we must remember about whom he’s speaking. He’s speaking about those who reject and oppose him. To the one who embraces Christ by true saving faith, he most certainly does bring peace. He brings true, lasting eternal peace. He brings reconciliation with God, something we can never lose once it is established. And something we can never gain apart from him. He is the one Mediator between God and man. Romans 5:1 declares, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The peace we have with God through Jesus is a lasting, unbreakable peace. It’s not like human peace treaties which can be, and often are, broken. I remember the “Camp David Accords” of 1978. It was a peace treaty signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachim Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. It was heralded as bringing peace to the Middle East. Begin and Sadat shared the Nobel Peace Prize. It didn’t last. And it led to the assassination of Sadat by Jihadists in 1981. Jesus brings true peace to those who receive him in faith. He brings forgiveness of sin. He brings us into the kingdom of God. He brings us his supernatural peace, a divine peace which passes all understanding. But to the world, he does not bring peace. To the world, he brings conflict and division. The message of Jesus’ Kingship is not received well by those who are threatened by it. Jesus confronts mankind with the reality that man is not autonomous, and because they are threatened by this message, they will react, sometimes violently. Jesus never hid the reality that his people would face opposition. He never allowed any prospective follower to harbor the delusion that following him was easy. His words back in 9:23 made that clear. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Jesus is the great divide, and he was crystal clear about that. The Bible is clear in many places that true disciples of Jesus Christ will be opposed and even persecuted by the unbelieving world.  It is the inevitable consequence of defending God’s unchangeable truth and displaying true Christian character in a world that is built on Satan’s lies. The truth is that regardless of how we may try to make peace, there are some who will refuse to live at peace with us. There are many who will oppose us, revile us, and slander us. It is not because of who we are. It is because of what we believe. The world hates God’s truth because it calls man to account. The world reviles Jesus and those who follow him. Persecution is the inevitable result when two utterly irreconcilable world views collide. Jesus’ words do not mean that each and every Christian will face the sort of persecution that results in imprisonment and even execution. His words do not mean that we will be hated and reviled and scorned each and every moment of each and every day. But we may. Is that a price you are willing to pay? Or is the favor of man more important to you? Following Jesus may mean you will be excluded from mainline society. It may mean you will be excluded from the mainline church. No amount of niceness, civility, or winsomeness will pacify those who are determined to hate us and our Christian values. In today’s culture, Christians are required to check their worldview at the door. If not, expect the culture to unload upon you with both barrels blazing. But Jesus faced opposition, and we may as well. We live in a time that doesn’t simply reject the Gospel. We live in a time that greatly reviles the Gospel. Our culture isn’t simply a secular culture. It’s a militantly secular culture. And that animosity is growing as our culture drifts farther and farther away from God. Following Jesus is not easy. He was clear it would not be. We must be willing to follow him where he calls us to go and to do what he calls us to do. We must be willing to count the costs.  The costs may be high in this life, but what we gain in eternity makes that price awfully small in comparison. And there is not cost Jesus can ask of us that can come close to comparing to the price he paid to redeem us. Is the price of discipleship a price you are willing to pay? Jesus says we better be.