Take your Bibles with me and turn to Luke 12. Luke 12.
We've been going through Luke verse by verse. And we've come to a shocking passage today. Just a few verses, but a lot to unpack.
Let's read Luke 12:49-53
[!bible] Luke 12:49-53 - KJV 49. I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I if it be already kindled? 50. But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! 51. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: 52. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
As I have been studying this message this week, one word kept jumping into mind: the word dangerous.
Someone Amanda and I know died this week. One of the other parents on our swim team. He was driving home from work over by Decatur, it was dark outside and he drove past a tractor that was pulling an anhydrous tank. The tank had it's applicator out and it was sticking into the other lane. It was dark, he was tired, he didn't see it. Horrible, tragic accident.
Do you ever think how dangerous it is, just to drive?
A few weeks ago, my nephew Luke, who has been here a couple of times, was driving around with his grandpa and uncle and got t-boned by a drunk driver. Everyone lived, but all three of them had to have extensive surgeries.
Every time you get in a car you are operating a machine that weighs thousands of pounds, goes in excess of 70 miles per hour, moves by way of tiny explosions and has a large tank of explosive gas.
Dangerous.
I have a wood shop. I almost never get to go in there. But my wood shop has a radial arm saw and a table saw and a routing table and a bunch of other tools that could totally mess me up if not kill me in an instant. There is danger there.
Dangerous.
As a general rule - the more powerful something is, the more dangerous it is. We accept all kinds of danger into our life because we need the power that comes with it. Electricity - dangerous. Airplanes - dangerous. Gasoline - dangerous.
Now you might be thinking, 'Why don't we just go back to simpler times?' But those weren't safer—just different dangers. Freezing houses, horses that could kick your head in, journeys that took weeks through wilderness. (I'll take the dangers of modern life, thank you.)
I believe that the point of our passage today is that Jesus is dangerous. He's very, very dangerous.
This passage is a reality check. Don't get too comfortable. Don't let your guard down. Understand what you are getting into here.
Jesus was recruiting followers here. He wanted people to follow Him. But He didn't want people to follow Him on false pretenses. He didn't want to do a bait and switch. He wanted them to know what they were getting into.
If you are considering following Jesus, then you need to know what you are getting into. Jesus is powerful. Jesus is dangerous. Jesus will take over your life and cause you all kinds of problems.
One of my favorite books of all time is "The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert" by Rosaria Butterfield. Rosaria was a professor of "queer studies" at Syracuse University in the 1990s. She was a butch lesbian on the tenure tract at a public university with a committed partner, a lake house, a golden retriever and a Subaru. She was writing a book on how silly Christianity is.
And through her study and the providence of God, she understood the gospel and trusted Christ and God changed everything about her life. (Today she's married to a pastor and raising children.)
But consider this: do you think that transition was easy for her? Literally everything in her life got rooted up by that decision. She lost her partner, she lost her job, she lost her homes, she lost nearly all of her friends, she lost her whole identity. She described her first year as a Christian as a train wreck. (She would tell you today it was totally worth it.)
That is the kind of dangerous upheaval Jesus was talking about in this story.
Now there are three ways in these verses that Jesus shows that He is dangerous. Three specific dangers.
The first danger is...
1. Jesus longed to see a dangerous movement.
Look at verse 49 again:
[!bible] Luke 12:49 - KJV 49. I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I if it be already kindled?
Do you want to know what is dangerous? Fire is dangerous.
When I was sixteen, one morning my mom came into my room at like 6am in a total panic.
"Ryan, get up, the backyard is on fire."
"It's not in my room mom, I'm going back to sleep."
But I got up and sure enough, all the trees in our back yard were on fire. It was terrifying and dangerous. New Hampshire is basically a giant forest with some houses dropped in it - so it could have burnt down our whole neighborhood.
Do you know how it started? My dumb little brother - he was probably 9 at the time, found a magnifying glass and started using it to burn some leaves in the backyard. He caught one on fire ("Ooh, that's cool") thought he stomped it out and then went to bed. By the next morning, we had an inferno. (Those trees are still damaged and I look at them every time I go home.)
Fire is dangerous. It spreads fast. It's uncontrollable and it burns hot. Here Jesus said He was coming to bring a fire to the earth.
That second phrase (what will I if it be already kindled) is hard to understand. But I studied it out and basically Jesus was saying He longed to see the fire get started. Another way to say it would be:
"and how I wish it were already kindled."
I believe Jesus was talking about the movement that would come after He ascended into heaven. Christians would be empowered by the Holy Spirit and Christianity would spread and burn like a fire across the whole world.
In a relatively short time, Christianity went from being a group of a few hundred followers in northern Israel to being the most dominant religion in the world.
The witness of Christ went out and thousands and thousands of people trusted Christ. It was a fire. A bright, hot, uncontrollable fire.
And it was dangerous. It exposed the standing order of Judaism. It turned the Roman Empire on its head. People died for their faith in Christ (and they still do in many parts of the world.)
I believe Jesus still wants Christianity to be like a bright, hot, uncontrollable fire, because even today, thousands of years after Christ - there are still people who have never heard the gospel, there are still lives that need to be changed.
Jesus doesn't long for Christianity to be some safe, respectable religion - the frozen chosen yawning through a boring sermon every week on the village square - He wants this movement to be a fire that affects the whole world.
So ask yourself: is my religion safe? Am I willing to be swept up in the fire and zeal for Jesus? Do I want to see this fire grow?
This fire was predicted by John the baptist back in Luke 3:16. He said:
[!bible] Luke 3:16 - KJV 16. John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
The word baptize is important there. It means dunk. Totally immerse.
Jesus didn't come to sprinkle us with the Holy Spirit. He came to dunk us in it. To drown us in this fire.
And that leads me to the second danger that Jesus spoke of in our text today.
First, Jesus longed to see a dangerous movement. Second...
2. Jesus accepted a dangerous mission.
Look at verse 50 with me:
[!bible] Luke 12:50 - KJV 50. But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
The first dangerous thing Jesus talked about was the fire, the second dangerous thing here is this baptism.
Jesus was bearing his heart here - he was saying "I'm under so much pressure until this baptism happens" or "I'm totally constrained until this baptism happens."
So what was this baptism? It couldn't be his baptism by John the Baptist, because whatever Jesus was talking about hadn't happened yet.
Almost every Bible scholar believes that Jesus was talking about the cross here. Jesus came for this mission - to go to the cross - and as the day of the crucifixion got closer and closer - Jesus was feeling the pressure.
Now why? I don't think it was the human torture. The cross was terrible and barbaric and awful. But I don't think that is what Jesus was talking about here.
I think it was this: on the cross, Jesus would become our sin. He who was perfect, who was sinless, would take on our sin and be judged by God for our sin.
As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says:
[!bible] 2 Corinthians 5:21 - KJV 21. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Jesus who was the only perfect and innocent man who ever lived was baptized into our sin and judged for our sin.
Listen, Jesus was baptized into sin. He wasn't sprinkled in it, He was fully immersed in sin. Absolutely drowned in the sewage of human filth and wickedness.
In one of my commentaries this week I was reading about Buddha. Buddha sat under his tree with his legs crossed and his eyes closed and said, 'He who loves fifty has fifty woes; he who loves none has no woes.' He achieved peace (supposedly)—but only by shutting the world out, only by keeping his eyes closed
But not Jesus. Jesus achieved peace not by keeping his eyes closed to the problems of the world, but by being baptized in them, immersed in them - by taking our sin, our perverted and wicked deeds and thoughts onto Himself, and being judged by a Holy God for our sins.
It was a dangerous mission - and He took it on for us. We cannot even fathom the agony this must of been for Christ. This is what He was praying about when He said "if it be your will, let this cup pass from me, but not my will but thine be done."
Jesus took the dangerous job of being baptized into our sin so we can be immersed in His righteousness, so we can have peace with God.
So if you want peace with God - you must trust what Jesus has done for you. And Jesus will give you peace with God. Peace from your sins.
But Jesus had one more warning for us, there is one more danger in these verses. We've talked about how...
- Jesus longed to see a dangerous movement.
- Jesus accepted a dangerous mission.
There is a third thing we see here and that is...
3. Jesus demands a dangerous devotion.
Look at verses 51-52 again:
[!bible] Luke 12:51-52 - KJV 51. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: 52. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
There is a sense where Jesus did come to bring peace on earth. He is the Prince of Peace. When the angels sang at His birth they said "On earth, peace, goodwill toward men."
And as we've just talked about, it is through Christ's dangerous mission to the cross that we can have peace with God and peace from our sin.
But Jesus wanted us to know that, in another sense, following Him would not bring peace, but division. Following Christ with your life can be one of the most divisive things you ever do.
You see, Christ is the great divider. People either have Christ or they don't. They are either following the Lord or they are not. And when you follow Christ, do not be surprised if not everyone is happy about it.
I think if I were to ask most of the long-time Christians in this room if being a faithful Christian has ever put a strain on your family relationships, all of them would say yes.
I know it has for me. You trust Christ and people think you drank the cool aid. They think you've joined a cult. Then they don't understand why you do what you do.
When I told my unsaved family members that I was going to become a preacher - they lost it. I remember going to one of my dad's hockey games, and he had all of his team surround me in the parking lot and just tease me and mock me. He staged several other "interventions" - it just made no sense to him. For years that put a strain on our relationship.
Imagine how difficult this is when a wife or a husband trusts Christ - but their spouse has no interest.
Or parents faithfully serve God, but their children want nothing to do with Christ.
As hard as it is for us, it was much harder for the first few generations of Christians, especially the jewish Christians. Often, when a jewish Christian became a Christian, their family would literally hold a funeral for them. Their father would say "My son has trusted Christ and he is dead to me."
It is this way in much of the world today. Most of our missionaries have at least one if not many young people who have been totally disowned by their families simply for becoming Christians.
Jesus wants disciples. He wants followers. But He wants us to know that their is a cost. That there is a danger to following Him.
This isn't some casual thing. This isn't something to just put on a t-shirt and be your thing for awhile. Following Jesus is serious and dangerous business.
Conclusion
Now, remember in the beginning of the message when I was talking about danger - and I talked about how the more powerful something is, the more dangerous it is. How we are surrounded by these dangers everywhere in our modern world: cars, planes, gas, electricity.
But do you know what? They are worth it. Yes, there are occasional tragedies and accidents - but far fewer than the dangers they replaced.
Listen, if you follow Christ - it is a serious and a dangerous thing - but it is also far, far better than going on in your sin.
If you ask anyone who is faithfully following the Lord if it is worth it - they will all say an enthusiastic "yes."
The Apostle Paul gave up so much when He trusted Christ, his heritage, his respect as an up and coming Pharisee and much more - but he said he counted those things "but dung" compared to Christ.
Trusting Christ is dangerous, but do you know what is infinitely more dangerous: not following Christ and coming under the judgment of God.
You might lose relationships if you follow Jesus. You might face rejection, misunderstanding, conflict with people you love. That's real. That's painful. Jesus didn't sugarcoat it.
But if you don't follow Christ? You lose everything. You stay in your sin. You remain under God's judgment. You face eternity separated from God. That's not just dangerous—that's catastrophic.
So yes, Jesus is dangerous. He'll disrupt your life. He'll cost you something. He might even cost you relationships you treasure.
But He's also the only one who can save you. He's the only one who was baptized into sin so you could be immersed in His righteousness. He's the only one who brings real peace—peace with God, peace from sin, and ultimately peace that lasts forever.
The fire Jesus longed for—it's still burning. The mission He accomplished on the cross—it offers you salvation today. The devotion He demands—it's costly, but it's worth everything.
So what will you do?
If you've never trusted Christ, today is the day. Don't wait. Don't put it off. Yes, following Jesus is dangerous—but rejecting Him is deadly. Trust what He did for you on the cross. Ask Him to save you. Be baptized into His righteousness.
I know its a scary step - but it is so worth it. Why not follow Christ today.
And if you're already a Christian—stop playing it safe. Jesus didn't die on a cross so you could live a comfortable, respectable religion. He came to start a fire. Are you willing to burn? Are you willing to be part of this dangerous movement? Even if it costs you something? Even if people don't understand?
Let's pray.
