Meanwhile, when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Do not be afraid of them, for nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing is secret that will not be made known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what is whispered in your ear in private rooms, proclaim from the housetops.
I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body,[1] and after that have nothing more they can do, because they cannot kill the soul. But I will warn you whom you should fear: Fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body[2], who has authority to end them both in Gehennah. Yes, I tell you, fear him!
Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God, or falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. In fact, even all the hairs on your head are numbered. So do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man, will also acknowledge in the heavenly court before the angels and my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before people, I will deny him also before my Father in heaven and before his angels.”[3]
I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as wise as snakes and as innocent as doves. Beware of people, because they will hand you over to councils and bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, and flog you in their synagogues. And you will be brought before governors and kings because of me, as a witness to them and the Gentiles.
But when they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers and the authorities, and hand you over for trial, do not worry about how you should make your defense or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you must say. For it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.[4]
All the nations will hate (denounce, persecute[5]) you because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Whenever they persecute you in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.[6]
A disciple is not greater than his teacher, nor a slave greater than his master. It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. Everyone when fully trained will be like his teacher. If they have called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more will they defame the members of his household!”
I have come to bring fire on the earth—and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism (of suffering) to undergo, and how hard pressed I am until it is finished![7]
Do you think I have come to bring peace (wholeness[8]) on earth? No, I tell you, my arrival is bring disunion of opinion and conduct![9] I have not come (to help everybody smooth over their differences), but to wield a sword (of the Spirit, the word of God.)[10]
For from now on there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his household.[11]
* * * * *
There are multiple points to be made this week. Apply as needed :)
Guard against hypocrisy. I feel like we covered this last week.
We are sheep, not wolves. Watch out for the wolves; identify them, and don’t be like them. Jesus then identifies the wolves: councils, synagogues, rulers, authorities, governors and kings. Those with power. Religion has never done well when wedded with power; Judaism and Christianity are no exception. I think one reason is that it takes wolves to keep power – or maybe power makes us wolfish. God does not intend for us to go into hostile spaces and fight with the weapons of the hostile.
The Good Shepherd’s Sermon on the Mount is the template for us sheep. Poor in spirit; mourning our brokenness; meek/gentle; hungering for righteousness; merciful; pure in heart; peacemakers; willing to endure persecution. (Matthew 5) That’s how sheep go into the territory of wolves. It feels so opposed to what we want to do, but it’s the path the Good Shepherd gave to us.
Proclaim truth boldly, show wisdom/sensibility, and live blamelessly. Representing Jesus well calls us to a faithful attitude, a discerning presentation, and a righteous lifestyle. First, we ought not be embarrassed or cowardly about our faith. We don’t have to be obnoxious, but Jesus said, “Acknowledge me before others.” When we have light for the darkness, we make sure it shines. Second, we need to pray for Holy Spirit help to ‘read the room’ when we present or defend our faith. What do people need in the moment? Not every field is harvested the same way; don’t take a combine to a melon patch. Third, we need to make sure we live in habits of faithfulness and righteousness. If faith without deeds is a dead faith, surely the presentation of our faith without the commentary of our deeds to accompany it is equally problematic. Our actions and words should tell the same story.
Truth is divisive. Expect pushback and persecution. Your translation might say, “All the people will hate you.” I think the better translations use “nations.” Jesus’ language clearly wasn’t meant to apply to every individual. The early church grew very, very quickly. Jesus is simply noting that everywhere they go, there will be pushback and minimum and persecution at maximum from somebody. I’ve talked with some followers of Jesus who just assumed that the larger amount of people who disliked them, the more faithful they must be. That… might not be what’s happening. The early church exploded because so many people really liked what they heard and saw in the first followers of Jesus.
That sword Jesus brings is elsewhere called “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17) that “is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) The message and means of peace with God was a foolish stumbling block for some. (1 Corinthians 1:23) Just like the same light can illuminate or blind, the same truth can land very differently in the eyes of different people.
If God’s truth divides us from others or brings disdainful attitudes on us, so be it. Let’s just be sure we don’t give reasons other than God’s truth for those things to happen.
Disciples of Jesus need not be afraid of the One who truly deserves their fear/awe/reverence.[12] Within the space of a paragraph, we read “fear God/don’t fear God.” I think that contrast is purposeful. We are supposed to wrestle with it. So here’s where I wrestled to J We are so used to being afraid of power, because so often power has been used to abuse. But God is Great AND God is Good (as we used to sing before meals). Jesus, right in front of them, is showing that God is using His power to save the world. Jesus is watching sparrows in person. The power is stunning; so is the love and provision. Peter will be a recipient of this. Even after denying Jesus and bringing on himself the punishment of a traitor, Jesus draws him back. When Jesus resurrects, he tells people, “Don’t be afraid.” He wasn’t on a revenge tour. He was there to seek and save the lost.
God’s Spirit will empower you. You don’t have to have perfect preparation or extensive training to represent Jesus. You just need to be faithfully present. Preparation is not a bad idea: “Be ready always to give a reason for the hope that lies within you, with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15) Just remember that when we are weak, He is strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9) We won’t ever stand in front of the Sanhedrin, but we will stand in front of family members, and co-workers, and classmates. Be wise and gentle, but be bold. God’s Spirit is with you.
‘Baptism by fire’ is part of God’s plan. It will purify us.
The fire of God is a beautiful and terrifying gift. The imagery is used generously throughout the Bible.
OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES[13]
· “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.” (Psalm 66:10-12)
· “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.” (Proverbs 17:3)
· “Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel…” (Proverbs 25:4)
· “I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.” (Isaiah 1:25)
· “The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: ‘Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?’ He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil.” (Isaiah 33:14-15)
· “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.” (Isaiah 48:10)
· “And it shall come to pass in all the land, says the LORD, that two- thirds in it shall be cast off and die, but one-third shall be left in it; I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God'” (Zech. 13:8-9).
· “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.” (Lamentations 3:22)
· “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10).
·“Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people?” (Jeremiah 9:7)
· “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver…. ‘So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.’ (Malachi 3:2-6)
NEW TESTAMENT EXAMPLES
· “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.[14] His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:11-12)
· “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)
· “ Their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work… If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire. ” (1 Corinthians 3:13-15)
· And have mercy on those who waver; save others by snatching them out of the fire.” (Jude 1:22-23)
· “Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns.” (1 Peter 1:7)
· “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
· “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12)
· “And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into Gehenna, where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ Everyone will be salted with fire.” (Mark 9:47-49)
So…. when the Bible talks about fire in this life, be it real or metaphorical, it always does two things: fire judges and purifies. The judgment of that which is evil also purifies the land or the person by getting rid of that which is destructive and evil.[15] The fire of judgment is a mercy to the victims of evil; the fire of purification a gift to the one doing the evil.
In the In the New Testament’s unveiling of the New Covenant, this fire seems to be two key things, both of which offer a judgment (by revealing what it pure and good) and a purification (since what is left is pure and good).
God’s Word
“’For what has chaff to do with wheat?’ declares the Lord. ‘Is not my word like fire,’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:28-29)
Foresters will occasionally do a “controlled burn” for the health of a forest. It gets out dead grass and trees, fallen branches, and thick undergrowth.
“By ridding a forest of dead leaves, tree limbs, and other debris, a prescribed burn can help prevent a destructive wildfire. Controlled burns can also reduce insect populations and destroy invasive plants. In addition, fire can be rejuvenating. It returns nutrients to the soil in the ashes of vegetation that could otherwise take years to decompose.
And after a fire, the additional sunlight and open space in a forest can help young trees and other plants start to grow. Some plants, such as certain pine species, require fire before the cones or fruits containing the seeds can release them. These cones or fruits need fire to melt a resin that holds the seeds inside. As a result, without fire these species cannot reproduce.”
Apply these principles generously to the fire of God’s Word in our lives. God’s word will bring life, but there will be a prescribed burn. It’s taking up our cross to follow Jesus. It’s “dying daily,” like Paul described his life. It’s being pruned. If God’s word does not at times feel like a fire burning away your sin, we aren’t taking the Bible seriously enough. Let’s try a couple verses.
“Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.” (James 1:26)
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)
“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” (1 John 3:17)
Trials/Tests
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)
Greek scholar, Kenneth Wuest, provides a beautiful illustration of God’s refining fire.
“The picture here is of an ancient goldsmith who puts his crude gold ore in a crucible, subjects it to intense heat, and thus liquefies the mass. The impurities rise to the surface and are skimmed off. When the metalworker is able to see the reflection of his face clearly mirrored in the surface of the liquid, he takes it off the fire, for he knows that the contents are pure gold. So it is with God and His child. He puts us in the crucible of Christian suffering, in which process sin is gradually put out of our lives, our faith is purified from the slag of unbelief that somehow mingles with it so often, and the result is the reflection of the face of Jesus Christ in the character of the Christian. This, above all, God the Father desires to see. Christlikeness is God’s ideal for His child. Christian suffering is one of the most potent means to that end.”
Why did Jesus bring a fire to the earth? Because the fire of God produces purified men and women of God. Because God is a Good Father, he desires the best for His children. He desires us to flourish as transformed image bearers living in the path of life, expanding the Kingdom of God wherever we go.
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[1] In 4 Maccabees, a first-century Jewish text about the martyrdom of a man named Eleazar and his seven sons, we read, “Let us not fear him who thinks he is killing us... . For if we so die, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will welcome us, and all the fathers will praise us.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds of the New Testament)
[2] “The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.” (Isaiah 8:13)
[3] “Before that glorious throng of heavenly beings, whose existence was a part of the creed of every true Jew; before the mighty angels, the awful seraphim; before that countless crowd of winged and burning ones who assisted at the awful mysteries of Sinai, would they who witnessed for him, and suffered because of him, be acknowledged by him. Their sufferings…would be recounted before the angels by the same King of heaven, when he returned to his home of grandeur and of peace in heaven.” (Pulpit Commentary)
[4] An example is seen in Peter’s testimony in Acts 4:8-12.
[5] https://biblehub.com/greek/3404.htm
[6] How could this happen in their lifetime? Many commentaries agree with the ESV Reformation Study Bible: “The ‘coming’ refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70 as an act of judgment against the nation of Israel. This understanding retains the note of urgency and fits the experience of the church prior to a.d. 70… That event was terrible in intensity and fell on what had been the central visible symbol of God’s presence, the temple.
[7] “If Jesus refers here to the “baptism” with fire he may be suggesting that he will first experience the judgment in others’ place.” (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)
[8] “Wholeness, i.e. when all essential parts are joined together (HELPS Word Studies)
[9] Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. This is the only time this word is used in the New Testament.
[10] Ephesians 6:17)
[11] “The passage recalls Micah’s description of the social disintegration in Israel leading up to the Assyrian conquest, when “a man’s enemies are the members of his own household” (Mic. 7:6). The rabbis interpreted this Old Testament passage with reference to the great time of crisis before the coming of the Messiah, when “children shall shame the elders, and the elders shall rise up before the children.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds of the New Testament)
[12] The Greek word for “fear” can mean the obvious “afraid”, but also “awe and reverence”. We can see which meaning is intended based on the context. Luke 12:4-7 is Jesus telling the listeners to whom they ought to owe allegiance; instead of revering human rulers, who do not control the afterlife, we ought to obey God, who does. (Expositors Bible Commentary)
[13] Moses saw a burning bush from which God spoke. (Exodus 3:1-3) A pillar of fire led the people of Israel from Egypt. (Exodus 13:20-22) A fire hovered over the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:38) – the same fire that hovered over the converts in Acts, identifying people as the temple of God.
[14] Probably a reference to the event in Acts when the Holy Spirit appeared like “divided tongues of fire… and rested on each one of them.”(Acts 2:3)
[15] “It is difficult to determine the precise meaning of "fire" because the word can signify either judgment or purification. The immediate context suggests judgment; while Jesus came to bring salvation rather than judgment (Lk 4:19; Jn 3:17), his coming also meant judgment (Jn 9:39). But it may also signify purification. John the Baptist promised that Jesus would "baptize . . . with the Holy Spirit and fire" (see comments on 3:16). It is possible that this fire was to be "kindled" by the baptism of the Spirit (Ac 2:1-4), something that could only occur after his own "baptism" of death (v.50), the thought of which distressed him greatly.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)