A lot of people have an image of Jesus that is not accurate. Some picture Jesus as some bandana-wearing hippie with a tie-dye t-shirt, sports a long hair and beard. He always wants to love and have peace.
Matthew 10:34 points to a different side of Jesus, which this generation paints Him to be:
“Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace but a sword.”
Wait that doesn’t fit my hippie, Jesus! It doesn’t, and the point here is that we begin to create Him in our image. We just assumed that he’s like us ordinary guys and that’s a form of worship. Jesus loves us, loves this world but He is also.
Jesus is looking to divide us from ourselves. What do we mean? What this shows is that when I come to Christ, He begins to change my heart. When I examine my sanctification process, everything that’s wrong with me comes down to one colossal principle, and I am selfish! I want everything now, and I want everything for me! So one of the things that Jesus does is He comes to divide me from me. Since I am sinful and ugly, He has to cleanse me. To disconnect me from myself, I start living and thinking like Him to be united with Him.
That’s actually what this entire Christian faith is about. We should be able to know and experience the presence of God. That’s what all I want. All I want is to know you and to love you forever. At the end of the day Lord, that’s all that matters.
When we look at this from the point of view of the concept of Christian suffering, you only get to suffer if you’re worthy. Only worthy people get to experience. In 2 Thessalonians 1:5, it says:
“And God will use this persecution to show his justice and to make you worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering.”
Suffering makes you worthy of His Kingdom. So congratulations if you’re suffering. We are not trying to take your daily pain lightly. We know it is hard, but I want you to take a look at it from another perspective. You are worthy to suffer for Jesus, and you’re worthy of His calling on your life.
Your suffering may be in the form of a relationship that breaks down because you had to be obedient to Christ. Whatever it might be, remember Jesus said, I didn’t come to bring peace, I came to bring a sword. So if it seems like you’re living in a lot of controversies, you’re living in a lot of friction, when you are serving Jesus, and you’re becoming separated from yourself, when your old flesh is dying, and your spirit is becoming new, the people around you will be convicted just by who you are and you’re experiencing the presence of God and it divides because it is offensive to them.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:5-6
“And God will use this persecution to show his justice and to make you worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering. In his justice, he will pay back those who persecute you.”
God is the Avenger, and he does it bigger and better than you could ever imagine. When the Lord Jesus appears from heaven, he will come with his mighty angels. Knowing all this, you get to do it with a quiet peace and endurance. It is not your role to get back at the prosecutors. You do not have to worry for vengeance is with God. He will make everything right in the end.
Rock Church serves the communities of Fargo, West Fargo, and Moorhead. We meet at West Acres Cinema, Sundays at 10 am. At the Rock, you can belong before you believe.
