Sunday Service – Today Jesus 91

14/5/06
<Luke 12:49-53>

I CAME TO BRING DIVISION

• Although we are always weak and lacking in faith, we know that God will work
when we put our trusts in Him
• God asks us to let Him become our conditions
• The inheritance that God want to give us are greater than what we have seen
or thought before
• He wants to give us all the blessings without holding back anything. Therefore,
how can we remain as a border Christian with one leg stepping in the world
and the other inside the church?
• A lot of believers today are half-hearted and lukewarm
• Therefore, when Jesus asked them “Who am I?”
• Their replies would be:
• “Elijah”. These believers only want direct and immediate answers to their
problems, always looking for miraculous signs
• “John, the Baptist”. These believers thought that Jesus only want to discipline
them, always emphasizing about repentance
• “Jeremiah”. These believers thought that Jesus came to earth to love, and to
shed tears for the pitiful
• In fact, Jesus is the Christ. He came to give us His entire life
• When Peter proclaimed “You are Christ, the Son of the living God”, Jesus told
Peter that he is blessed because Peter really knows who Jesus is. And this is
not revealed to him through his flesh. His flesh will not be able to understand
this.
• And with this understanding, God will build His church upon him and whoever
he binds on earth will be bound on heaven, and whoever he loose on earth will
be loosed in heaven.
• We might have known that Jesus is the Christ, but did it really mean a lot to
us? Or have you seen how is it related to you?
• Therefore, we need to get healed. It means we need to be demolished and
rebuild again.

Read <Luke 12:49-53>

v.49 Jesus very wish is that our lives will be burnt up so that we’ll be dead in
Christ and become a living sacrifice as Jesus Christ Himself

1. Bring fire on the earth

• Jesus Christ came to bring fire upon our lives, our families, even into our
weaknesses.
• Jesus Christ came to bring division to the world. Why is this so?
• If a couple is very loving, neither of them know God and yet not divided,
then they are finished
• If a family is always lukewarm towards God and yet always having peace
and blissfulness, then this family is gone!
• We might have mistaken that Jesus Christ came to earth as a king to unite
people. No, He came to divide people
• If we can become like Paul where our lives is burned by this fire, then we
will realise that there is nothing good in us. Are we really willing to be burnt
and restored Jesus’ life in us?
• Such a person will experience great miracles in their lives, their families, in
 the many things that they do. They will bring healing to many people.
• However, a lot of believers end up having more contradictions,
helplessness after knowing Jesus Christ. Because of following Christ, they
end up with all kinds of lacks, all kinds of quarrels, and ironies in their lives.
This is because they had remained as the border man.
• Some believers said that as a result of their serving in the church they had
failed their exams or failed in their careers or had faced problems always
with family members. All these are due to them remaining as the border
men, meaning they follow the lord half-heartedly.
• You can either remain “cold” and follow everything of the world to see if
you really belong there, or you must be “hot and burn with fire” and follow
God whole heartedly. If we are lukewarm, we will have more problems than
people of this world
• You must know the reason why you do need Jesus Christ.
• Is it because you faced earthly problems and need Jesus Christ to resolve it
for you? No!
• It is because the problems that is entrench in you lives comes from
<Genesis 3>
• Therefore, what you need is Christ, not other things else. You need Jesus
because He is the Christ!
• Jesus Christ is the Great Prophet
• He is the one who bring us the word and the spirit. We don’t live on
bread alone but by the word of God.
• A believer will fall when he does not have the Word of God, though he
can remain very well physically or financially.
• Without the word, we become flesh! And flesh gives birth to death!
• Why is it that we cannot understand the word of God? This is because
there are motives in us, there are worries in us, and there are idols in
us. And this is call flesh.
• Only the word and the spirit can bring us out from the state of flesh.
• Jesus Christ is the Great Priest
• Our problems are not a result of our weaknesses but a result of our
sins.
• As long we do not have peace with God, we are in the state of sinning.
• And together with sins, come accusation from Satan.
• Why do you fear of being in poverty, or fear that your family member
will meet with an accident? It is because you do not love God (i.e. you
are not at peace with God).
• We will have fears when our lives are separated (i.e. unplugged) from
God.
• And the most frightening thing is our fears come true!
• E.g. A person who fear death will surely die and will died eternally.
• E.g. A person who fear separation from his loved ones will definitely be
separate and its eternal separation.
• This is known as “spiritual self fulfilling prophecy” for fear brings curse.
• Therefore, only when Jesus Christ becomes our great priest will we be
able to be set free from the fears and its curse that follows after.
• Jesus Christ is the Great King
• A lot of people are under the bondage of Satan. When they are under
bondage, all their successes will turn out to be harming them.
• Their riches will cause them to be more ignorant of God and the
purpose of their lives. Their success will cause them to miss the
 greatest blessings of God.
• Therefore, they are living in full ignorance and purposeless life.
• Only when Jesus Christ becomes their great king will they be able to be
set free.
• Jesus Christ came with fire. What is fire then?
• What will be the reaction of a person who realised that he is on fire?
• Will he still react slowly or will he get the shock of his life?
• Fire is able to burn up everything. It will burn up our entire motives and
desire
• Therefore, all who are burned by this fire of gospel will have a ‘shock’ of
their lives! They will throw away their entire motives and desires and see
nothing in them worthy of keeping.
• During the early churches, the ordinary and helpless 120 disciples
gathered to pray, but they did so in fear. However, when the timetable of
God is up, the fire of God came upon them; they were lighted up and
proclaim the Word of God boldly, with words that are incomprehensible
even to themselves. 3000 people saw and believed in the Lord. They
accepted the gospel and were baptized. At the same time, they receive the
Holy Spirit and the Holy covenant of God. Since then, they had become a
different group of people and they love to be together, sharing the Word of
God.
• And this is a great fire that cannot be blocked by human might! When the
Jews put these people in prison, the prison is being set on fire. When these
people are placed in the lion’s den to be swallowed up by beast, those who
saw the scene were set on fire.
• Nothing can stop them. The people who prosecuted them in turn believe
too!
• And when Stephen (a deacon on fire) were set on fire, the stoning of him to
death led to great doors of the gentiles being opened. And his death
brought the calling of Saul, who was set on fire on the road to Damascus.
And for 3 days 3 night, Paul was unable to eat and drink.
• In that era, people tried very hard to put out the fire using the power of the
army. They did all sorts of things to prosecute the Christians, yet it only
made the fire grew.
• In the end, those who did the prosecution find that their own family
members are on fire. All these had led to the conversion of Rome to
Christianity
• Nobody can put out the fire!
• When the church and politics combined, churches and believers became
weak. But the seed of the fire nevertheless remain. The seed of the fire are
nonetheless the remnants!
• It is through these remnants that the spark of fire will continue to burn up
lives. God did it by using a lot of people through out man’s history. E.g.
Martin Luther, John Noax, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, Charles Finney, D L
Moody, etc
• All these things took placed and fulfilled the absolute truths in the Bible
• How can a problem in our family, relationship or so-called counter-biblical
evidence found by somebody able to wipe out the fulfilment of the Bible
throughout the whole history?
• Therefore, a believer who is on fire will never remain half-dead or half-
hearted, neither will he be too over-active (full of praise and thanksgiving
one moment, by troubled the next moment).
• How does the fire of God comes?
1) Fire actually means the Word of God which is a double edged sword
that divides the soul and the spirit. Therefore, a person truly on fire is
 one where the word of God replaces his thoughts, motives and desires.
If you do not love the word, if you have no conviction of the word, the
praises and thanksgiving offered are futile. “Man does not live on bread
alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”. The
person truly on fire therefore lives, judge, ponder from the word of God.

2) God’s Word is not to be believed in bits and pieces, because the whole
Bible is there to testify Jesus Christ. Is Jesus our Christ? The moment
Jesus becomes our Christ (our all problem solver), we are on fire.
Therefore, we must always re-examine our lives whenever we hear the
name of Jesus Christ. Many believers like to listen to deep and profound
truths, yet feel nothing about the name of Jesus Christ. They are in fact
not lighted up at all. Therefore, when anyone calls on the name of the
Lord and feels comfort and strength coming upon him, he is one truly
on fire.

3) And when a person ponders on the word of God and receives the spirit
conviction, he is on fire. A person truly on fire is therefore one who
delights in the Holy Spirit’s conviction. In other word, he is one who
loves to pray. But many believers loves to sing, loves to serve, loves to
preach, yet do not like to pray. This is not true fire. Fire comes through
the filling of the Holy Spirit, when one hears and submits fully to the
spirit’s voice.

4) And the fire of God comes when we come together in the

congregation. When we comfort and encourage one another, share our
burdens with one another, the fire of God works through us, even in our
weaknesses.

2. A baptism to undergo
• This “baptism” means hardship and tribulations.
• In the past, the Israelites all thought that the Messiah will come as a king,
bringing glory and victory to his people. However, the Messiah came to die
for His people
• However, Jesus Christ came to the world, born in a manger, lives poorly,
work as a humbled carpenter, and he lives with the sinners and ordinary
people.
• And the final victory he would bring about is to go up the cross of Calvary.
• What Jesus Christ has done and taught for his whole lives are all paradox.
• Jesus Christ seems to be a loser in all things but in fact, He is the true
winner
• How can we live out the paradox of Jesus Christ if all the things that we
have are the best and everything we do are a success?
• We are in fact living in bondage when we want the best of everything.
• If you look at the society of this world – most of them are not successful,
people who failed, suffered from low self esteem, neither are most people
wealthy or famous.
• Don’t we have the heart/desire to live out the paradox of Jesus Christ when
we see the helplessness and heavily burdened life which most people
suffer?
• Most people come to Christ with a first motive, i.e. because of broken
families, relationships, poor results, loneliness, illness, worries for the
future, etc.
• But the first motive must transform to become the second motive:
• That is, seeing the eternal life, great power and glorious inheritance of
Jesus Christ, thus follow Christ.
 • That is, seeing our fundamental problem of sin and death, thus need
Christ.
• Yes, all of us like to have a blissful life and be successful in everything we
do, but for one who has undergone the baptism of Jesus Christ should no
longer have these as our main motivation.
• We must be like Peter. After he had caught a full load of fishes in his boat,
he let go and ran towards Jesus. He came to realise that all he need is
Jesus Christ, not riches, not one worldly success after another one.
• Are we like some people who rejoice at one moment when we receive
worldly blessings but fail to see God’s love and blessings when we loses
them?
• Do we not understand it is the Lord who gives and it is the lord who takes
away, all according to his goodness and his love for us?!
• Therefore, we must go through this baptism: The baptism of the Spirit and
fire. Our first motive must die to the cross and our second motivation must
be alive to Christ.
• And after we had got the priority right, we need to be baptised / cleansed
and use it daily. We have to die to ourselves daily, and be made and renew
in Christ daily.

3. Division
• The world will not be able to understand why Jesus Christ, instead of
bringing love and goodness to the world, he brings division.
• We cannot remain powerless all the time. We need to respond to God
• Just like all of you, there are also two laws fighting in me. There’s a war
inside me
• There are temptation and pressure within me, telling me not to love God
and the sheep, tempting me with all the goodness and convenience of the
world. However, there is also the promises of God that continue to give me
assurance and compelling me to love God and men.
• Whenever there’s a war in you and you choose to held on to what the spirit
desires, that war within us will have ended. The fire will come unto you to
burn up your weaknesses and helplessness.
• We must know: for us who are being set on by the fire, the division has
already come upon our lives, coz we are born with <Genesis 3> problem,
just like Paul who has a war waging on inside him. This is the infightings of
the spirit and the flesh.
• And when that fire comes upon you, you will naturally face division with
your family, your wife, your parents, and even with the church and pastor
(if they are worldly). This is only right.
• Only Christians cannot have the same stand as other religions
• It is normal to hear parents saying things like “you can believe in any
religion except for Christianity”
• Only the teaching of Christianity says salvation only comes from Jesus
Christ and all other religions are worshiping the devil! But this is the
reality!
• Only those who truly love and follow God will have be prosecuted and face
division
• However, we must know that many Christians either become an outcast
(or laughing stock) among their peers or they go in sync with the people of
this world (i.e. compromise)
• This is why we are always in agony because we are always powerless
against the culture of the world.
• Therefore, to win over the world, you will need to be on fire.
• You must be like Daniel. He always receives strength to overcome the
world no matter what his status is. As a captive, he refused to eat the meat
of the Babylonians but only ask for vegetables. He is able to do that
because he is not a border man. He experience miracles because he
follows the Lord wholeheartedly.
• Joseph always have the power too because he always see the evidences of
God is with him. Therefore, even pharaoh pay heed to him.
• A person who has true power will not be affected by others’ sneering; and
those who laugh at him will stop quickly; and God will eventually prove
that he is right.
• Therefore, how do we win over the world? How not to be a border man?
** We must have full assurance that we are already completely victorious
• We must have the assurance that God has already done everything
for us, His children
• We as children of the Almighty have already broke Pharaoh’s head
and came out of Egypt. Any enemies that pursue us will be wiped
out by the red sea.
• We must understand that this world can never win over us. Evil
Spirit can never triumph over the Holy Spirit. Falsehood can never
triumph over reality. Hatred can never triumph over love. Anxiety
can never triumph over peace.

1) Since having the full assurance of victory, give in.

• When a person who has assurance give in fully, he will acquire
everything
• If a person gives in without first having the assurance, he is just
doing what the monk will do
• Except for God, Jesus Christ and teaching of the word, we should
give in all things, be it money, pride, or relationship.
• Satan fears those who already possess the victorious life of giving
in. Nothing can stop him from receiving true blessings.
• We must be like Abraham and Isaac
• When Abraham gave in fully to Lot, God has prepare to give fully to
Abraham
2) Repay evil with good
• We do that with the full assurance of victory.
• How can a living being fight with the dead?
• How can the adult fight with a child?
• The evil spirit can never win the Holy Spirit
• Similarly, how can we fight with the people of the world? How can
we fight with people who are still living in ignorance?
• Therefore, the Lord says: Vengeance belongs to me, it is I who
repay. But cloth your enemy when he’s cold, feed him when he’s
hungry, etc…By doing that, you are actually putting burning coals
(i.e. fire) on his head
3) Intercede (praying for others)
• Interceding is not praying blindly nor is it praying with many words
like: “Lord, change the situation; Lord, heal the person, change the
person, etc…
• We must pray like the prophet. Therefore, when we intercede, we
have to understand the person/situation with the word of God.
• We pray with the loving heart of the priest where we can forgive all
weakness.
• We pray with the heart of abundance and victory of the King that
 overlooks all pettiness.
• When we love and show concern over others with such a life, we
are actually praying for others
4) Wait
• There is a timetable for everything. Therefore, we have to learn to
wait. If not, we will end up delaying the work of God.
• The blessings and work of God is always in the waiting.
• The folly of men and wisdom of God is revealed through time. God
will execute His love and justice in time to come

• Therefore, let us be assured of our victory, learning how to trust and

submit to God in every moment and not lose heart in the process of
waiting.
• Let’s be serious towards God. We cannot be lukewarm. Either be totally
cold or be hot.
• If we really want to follow the Lord, do not give excuses. A person who is
wholehearted will not give excuses, nor will he be restricted by his own
limitations.

Prayer & Sharing Topics

1. The Lord says “I have come to bring fire on the earth”. Has the fire of
the Gospel been lighted up in my life yet? Ponder: “how has the fire
spread from Jerusalem to me?” “What sort of life can acquire that fire
and get lighted up?” “Does the fire in my life have enough power to
light up the neighbours beside me?” “How will this fire continue to
develop?”

2. The Lord says “I have a baptism to undergo”. How has the Lord’s
baptism got to do with my life? Everyone who wishes to follow Christ
has a baptism to undergo, have I undergo that kind of baptism
before? What is the relationship between that one baptism and my
current life? And what results will it bears?

3. The Lord says “I came to bring division on earth”. Have I ever

experience division with others? In the process of undergoing
division, have I acquired the secret to overcome and even bless those
who are divided from me?