How Deep is Your Love?
Matthew 10:34-42 Text v.34
In V.34 Jesus say’s Don’t think that I came to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace ,but a sword.
i.e. I came to kill some things , to cut up some things, I came to fight, I came to dispute some stuff, I came to bring strife and contention. I don’t know whether you know it or not but there are going to be times in our walk with the Lord where we are going to have to engage in a war of words that are going to cause us to quarrel, that are going to cause us to dispute. But the bible say’s in Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: and then it say’s in v. 27 Neither give place to the devil.
You mean to tell me that I can get mad and not sin? Yes! But when it comes to the subject of sin we have to get angry we have to get upset. When Jesus came into the world he didn’t come to give His approval to the sin and evil in the earth. No He got upset. This is why he makes the statement he makes in v.34 He came to bring a sword to earth: to war against sin and evil and to destroy all the evil that is born within and without man. Jesus’ presence automatically caused a division because anytime a person is converted to Christianity and becomes one with Him suddenly there comes not long there after a sudden division both within and without. Now understand what I mean because within there is a fight between the old man and the new man and without there is a fight between you and those who choose to reject the Christ in you which is the hope of glory. One of the most powerful struggles I have found is the fight that takes place among those who are in our families and those who are our friends because they can become our greatest persecutors. You need to know this beloved that because of your commitment to Christ and His righteousness that often times because our loved ones live a worldly life style and don’t understand holiness, they will oppose you due to your beliefs. Oh you know, you may not get invited to participate in certain family functions. Because our family may have been brought up in a certain religion or church and you decided to get serious about your relationship with Christ your family think you done went crazy and lost your mind and now they won’t have anything to do with you because you decided to get real with God. I don’t know who I am talking to this morning but because you are saved every time you come around people including your family they should see Christ in you and your presence around them should make them so upset that they should be uncomfortable around you .As a matter of fact I expect them to get nervous, I expect them to try and get away from me, I expect them to get nervous when I say Jesus because if they aren’t maybe I have let my guards down and become comfortable with them so that now they don’t respect me because my sword has become dull. It’s so dull that I couldn’t swing it if I tried because it wouldn’t slice or thrust into anyone. Jesus came to give the sword of His Word . Hebrews 4:12 say’s “ For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The greek word for discerner is kritikos which means relates to judging, God is fit for judging, He is skilled in judging. This word kritikos comes from the word kree tace that word defined means one who passes judgment on anything in this case God casting judgement on man. The word kree tace comes from the greek word kree no which means to separate, put asunder, to pick out, select, choose to approve, esteem, to prefer to be of opinion, deem, think, to be of opinion to determine, resolve, decree to judge.
How many of us in here can say that we were judged according to the Word of God?
How many of us in here can say that we were separated from the world according to the Word of God?
How many of us in here can say that we were selected, chosen , approved by God according to His Word?
Listen God made some decrees over your life that you would be saved . He predetermined it. He resolved it and as far as He is concerned it is a settled issue. Yet after all you have been through to get saved and everyone should be glad now here comes opposition. And it’s not from without but from within. See Jesus came to create a messy situation. He came to create division, the believer against his family. Why are you so upset that your brothers or sisters or even your mother and father won’t talk to you because of what you stand for? Look at v.35 - 37
If you got a family member that is continuing to live in sin and walk in his or her own way. Don’t you dare to make any compromise or struggle with telling them that if they don’t get right they are going to go to hell. I don’t care if they do rebel against your efforts to win them I’d rather tell them than have their blood on my hands.
In Luke 12:12:51,52 Jesus said,
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
Listen, You have been called to a life of righteousness and to warfare against sin and evil. If a member of your family is engaged on the side of sin and evil, guess what? There is going to be a conflict. Stop crying about the fact that they cussed you out and made you cry. What did you expect? Get over it and get right back in there face and tell them the bible say’s in Hebrews 11:25 “There is only pleasure in sin for a season” I.e. Your Good thing is about to come to an end because it’s only temporary. Why settle for something temporary, something that’s only gone last for a little while, when you can have something eternal. Remember we should make them irritated.
When it comes to kingdom business Jesus is serious. He means business. He came and He intends for His purpose to achieve its end even if it causes division within a family. There is nothing wrong with loving your family but you are to love God more; He has to be first and foremost. Your loyalty should not be to your family but it should be to God. God should be number one.
Let me show you what happens when He is not.
1.) Without God a family will lack spiritual growth and strength, conviction and commitment, confidence and assurance, purpose and meaning for all eternity. There will be no prospect and no hope of eternal life, no assurance of anything beyond this life.
2.) Families cannot be looked after and overseen by God unless God is given His rightful place in the family. See if the family takes control over its own life by ignoring God and His control, then what happens to the family is in its own hands. God is put off to the side, excluded, and shut out. He is given no say so in the life of the family. So the family is left all to itself. And you can best be guaranteed that all kinds of trouble can and usually does follow.
The point is this : Read Matthew 6:33 and Romans 12:1,2
My love for God should be first and family second.
In Matthew 22:37
* Jesus said , “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. “
I know that nothing hurts more than having your family oppose you when you have made a decision to follow Christ but I don’t care how hard the opposition is against me I feel like the Apostle Paul when he said in Romans 8:38,39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. “
The sacrifice might be too great but it’s worth it.
God just may be calling you to some ministry, to some field of service you don’t have time to debate with God and tell Him Lord I think that may take up too much of my time. I think it might make too much of a demand on my family. Let me go and consult with them first. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 8: 18-22
18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. 19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
We need to stop making up excuses as to why we don’t want to follow Jesus.
When we allow our families to keep us from serving God and doing what we should, we are making our families the supreme love our lives. We are worshipping them, looking after them and their welfare first instead of worshipping and putting God first. When we put our families first, we are allowing our families to become our idols. I shared with my church that there are 4 things that be top priority in their lives and that these 4 things should always be on their minds.
1.) God should be first
2.) My Husband or Wife
3.) My Children
4.) My Church
When all is said and done I want to be counted worthy and not unworthy. Jesus should be my 1st love and if I place Him In that order. He will count me worthy of Him. There is a terrible loss for not loving Jesus supremely. If we love our family more than Christ, He will count us unworthy of Him. I want to be made worthy.
Jesus said , Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Mt.10:32,33
Jesus said, Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Mark 8:38
Paul said, If we suffer, we shall also reign with [him]: if we deny [him], he also will deny us:2 Timothy 2:12
So what do I have to do?
I need to take up my cross and and follow after Him. We all have “ a cross”.
The cross is a symbol of death. We must die to self daily because if I don’t I won’t be found worthy.
I ask the question?
How Deep Is Your Love?
Even So Come Lord Jesus
Bishop C. Jones
9/3/06
