Faith and Fire on Earth Luke 12:49-53; Jer. 23:16-29; Hebrews 11:17-31, 12:1-3

 

Grace, mercy and peace be with you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

Our message is based on our Gospel, verse 49: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 

 

We’re going to talk about faith and fire and peace on earth.

 

How we wish that there would be peace and unity on all the earth -- no war, no conflicts, no strained relationships, only love and harmony in all things. 

 

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”

 

While, as the children of God, we yearn for and work toward peace and harmony, it seems that conflict and discord are ruling the day. 

 

With the political events of this past week in our nation, the tension and conflict have gone up a notch, even though it already was very high.

 

After Adam and Eve sinned, and turned on God and on each other, God told them things would be this way from now on, fallen and conflicted. And history has certainly shown this to be the case, with war after war after war. 

 

God didn’t want discord and conflict and violence for Adam and Eve, nor for any of their offspring, including us. It’s not how He created the world to be, but is how we’ve corrupted it to be.

 

But don’t despair. God helps us through this conflicted mess of a world until we reach the perfect peace and harmony of the world to come. 

 

The way God helps us to deal with conflict and discord on earth, ISN’T by compromising… when that means compromising His Word. 

 

Compromising our own preferences and opinions, yes; sometimes they’re good and selfless compromises to make, but never comprising what’s right and true.

Nothing is gained if, for the sake of peace, we surrender to what’s wrong or evil. That’s a false peace, and it causes more harm than good in the world.

 

Jesus stood up for what’s right and good; He never backed down from evil, not against the devil, who tempted Him in the wilderness; not against the corrupt rulers, who conspired to kill him, not against sin and evil of any kind.

 

Jesus had the courage to stand up to the enemy, even to the point of dying, so that we might receive peace with God though the grace He won. 

 

Jesus stood up to the enemy unafraid. Courageously He saved us. But what a fire it caused.  

 

In our Gospel, Jesus said, “I came to cast fire on the earth… 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 

 

Jesus wants everyone to be at peace with God and each other, but He knew that when He came to earth to save us, it would cause turmoil and division. 

 

But it wasn’t His fault. Like the old Billy Joel song, “We didn’t start the fire”.

 

The fire Jesus kindled and the conflict that sprang up around Him, wasn’t His fault.

 

He was doing what His Father had sent Him to do, and what His love for us led Him to do, what He had to do to rescue us.

 

But the devil couldn’t bear to think of people being forgiven after he had worked so hard to mislead us, and expended so much hatred toward us; so he opposed Jesus with all he had.

 

Sin and evil can’t bear goodness and righteousness, and so Jesus was hated. He was opposed by the world, as were His apostles, and as, sometimes, are we. 

 

And that means we can expect the devil to stir up a fire against us as we follow Christ.

 

Sometimes the fire or the conflict is because of our own sin and selfishness -- us wanting to have our way in everything, inconsiderate of and oblivious to the needs of others. 

 

In that case, we truly caused the fire and conflict, and we need to repent of the harm we’ve done, and seek peace and reconciliation. 

 

And God forgives us fully; and helps to replace our selfishness with deeds of selfless love.

 

Other times the turmoil is caused by us standing up and speaking out against what’s wrong, and standing up for and speaking out for what’s good and true.

 

With the help of God, we do this in a spirit of courage and conviction, with love and compassion, but never with violence. 

 

Jesus never responded with violence against those who opposed Him, even though some of His followers wanted him to, and His enemies tried to goad Him into it.

 

Always in control of Himself, Jesus responded with words of truth and deeds of love… never backing down, always standing firm, until the day He stood up and walked victoriously out of His tomb, having defeated all that is evil and opposes God for all eternity.

 

While following Jesus may mean walking through a fire at times, in holy Baptism, God pours water on that fire, drowning and weakening its power to destroy us.

 

And filling us with the Holy Spirit, which is a fire far better than sin and far greater than death. 

 

As we say in the liturgical verse for Pentecost, Come Holy Spirit, and kindle in us the fire of Your love.

 

We fight the fire of this world with the greater fire of the Holy Spirit, God’s love and truth and power, through His Word and His Sacraments.

And we pray for true, godly, holy peace and harmony, in our world, our relationships, and in our hearts. 

 

This morning, God has brought dear little Annika Audrey into His saving peace. 

 

Through the sacred, gracious gift of Baptism, God has given His angels a command to watch over this dear child forevermore. 

 

In this fallen world, dangerous to our bodies, and even more dangerous to our souls, how comforting to know that your precious baby, Annika, is guarded by peace and power and love from above. 

 

I did a little research, and I found that since 2013, we’ve had, including Annika, 40 baptisms here at St. John, each baptism glorious and powerful with love from above, and each child precious to God.

 

We can’t help but wonder what kind of world these dear children will grow up in and grow old in. What will be the fires and challenges and the conflicts they’ll have to endure?

 

Many we’ve had to endure, and others.

 

As long as they endure them with Christ, whatever those fires might be, they will prevail in life and in faith, and we, who will be numbered among the faithful departed, will greet them with tears of love and joy, as they walk at last into Heaven’s glory.

 

What a beautiful baby Annika is, so dear and beautiful to God, and to her parents, and her family, and to us all, her dear, spiritual family. 

 

No matter what difficulties she may have to navigate in life, what a blessed and beautiful life she’ll have as she walks with Christ, growing in His redeeming love, steadfast in His truth. 

 

What a blessed life and extraordinary peace God gives to us and to all His faithful, baptized children, the peace that only Christ can give, we’re told in John 14:27, and that transcends all imagination, we’re promised in Philippians 4:6. 

 

This is the peace we hold onto as we pass through the fires and conflicts of this life, until we rejoice in perfect harmony in the glory of our life to come.

 

Until then, may God give us grace and courage to pass through the fires of life with faith and love; and as we’re able, to live in true and godly peace with others.

 

And as we do, the peace from above, which passes our understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, who walked through the fire to bring us into His glorious, everlasting peace. Amen.