Truth that Divides

This sermon was preached by Pastor Ted Carnahan for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, August 17, 2025.

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

Fire is a destructive and cleansing force, but fire is also really cool. Ask any little boy, quite a few little girls, if you've got a good campfire going, what do they want to do? They want to play with it. They want to poke it with a stick. And if you can get the end of that stick lit on fire enough that it starts to make some smoke, you get to draw with it. It's a lot of fun.

But it's only safe to do that if a mom or a dad is around to keep an eye on what's going on because very quickly that flaming pointy stick can become a weapon or an accident waiting to happen. There must be a curb on playing with fire because it's beautiful and interesting. And useful as fire is, it can also be destructive.

And now today we run headlong into a teaching of Jesus where instead of Him telling us that He wants to bring peace on earth, goodwill to men, instead of us talking about the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, newborn infant baby Jesus, eight pounds, six ounces, don't know a thing, lying in the manger, (with my apologies to Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights.)

This is not that Jesus. Same kid, but he's grown up now and He is not just talking about gentle things. He's being harsh. He's talking about bringing fire and how He wishes it would already be kindled. He's ready to bring fire which burns. He's ready to bring judgment, which divides.

This is not the gentle Jesus that many of us have come to expect. He says, you think I came to bring peace on earth? No! That's not His purpose at all.

Context from the Preceding Parable

For some context, there's a passage immediately preceding our reading today. Jesus is explaining a parable and He says, that slave who knew what his master wanted but did not prepare himself to what was wanted will receive a severe beating.

Here He is talking about the difference between people who know what the Word of God is, who know that sin and judgment and redemption through the cross exist, and knowing that, don't take it seriously. He's talking about those people who know that what they're doing is wrong, know that they're in need of God's grace, and yet refuse to turn to God for mercy and salvation. They will receive a more severe punishment than those who simply acted out of their ignorance.

If you know what God expects of you and you don't do it, you will be punished more harshly. God does not count that as simply an oopsie-daisy, but it is sin which divides us from one another.

We are commanded to be faithful to God and to tell the truth. But this is where we run into the most problems, isn't it? The difficulty is not just in doing the right thing ourselves, but when we speak words of truth to other people, people who don't want to hear them because they don't want to be confronted. They don't want the division that Jesus is talking about here.

And frankly, we don't want it either. We're afraid to tell the truth because when we tell the truth, it begins to divide us. He says, from now on, five in a family will be divided two against three and three against two.

The gospel makes demands on us and some will answer those demands and say, yes, Lord, I believe your word and I will follow you. And some will not.

Let's be honest. We don't feel like telling the truth to friends or family. We would rather play along, get along, and pretend that we're not. We'd rather pretend that everything is sort of okay. We'd rather live in the land of Minnesota nice. It's not really nice. It's only sort of nice.

And we'd rather act like their unfaithfulness and the unfaithfulness that we see around us is just between them and God. And of course, Jesus won't allow us the luxury of that kind of disengagement.

The Nature of God's Peace

Here today, he tells us that he is coming to cast fire on the earth and how he wishes it were already kindled. He's calling us to be people of truth. Yes, we are to be messengers of God's peace. But what we mean by that is very important because the peace that the angels proclaimed over the newborn Jesus in the manger so long ago was not a peace between God and the earth so that the earth would go without judgment forever.

But rather, it was peace that God was calling his people to who had faith that he had provided his chosen Messiah. Not peace between God and the world, but peace between God and those whom God has called to faithfulness and love of God. That is what God's peace on earth looks like.

Not peace for all of the earth, but peace for those who trust in the gospel promises of Jesus Christ, who died for us on the cross and rose for our justification.

And that peace (and this is very important because we miss this all the time) does not come simply because God is giving it to everybody. As if it doesn't matter what we do, what we say, what we believe, it doesn't matter the choices that we make.

No. That peace and that promise only come from repentance and faith. Which means that those who believe God's word live differently because of it. That there is something you can see and touch that shows that you are living in a different way. And without that, we are merely the empty messengers of a false gospel.

So inevitably, there will be division. Because when you stand on the truth and you do what God calls you to do there will be division. It's going to make other people feel judged. And that's not your fault. That's just what sin does.

Examples of Division in Daily Life

If you've ever known somebody who's in recovery from being addicted to substances, you know that this is true. And the reason that that's the case is because if you've been through AA, and I've been around a lot of people who've been through AA or NA or other kinds of addictions, and if they spend time with the people that they used to drink with or they used to do drugs with, the relationship changes.

And those people feel judged because they see you clean or sober. And they say, "Well, why won't you join in with us? What's so wrong about what we're doing? Why won't you be like us again? You think you're better than we are?" They get a lot of flack for it.

In many cases, it is simply because the presence of righteous choices causes those who make unrighteous choices to be uncomfortable. The principle here is simple: When people see righteousness lived out and they won't choose that for themselves, they experience judgment.

There are other examples of this that I can point to. Here are a few:

• Try telling a sports-obsessed family that Sunday worship prepares them for eternity, while the sports that demand their loyalty on Sundays does not. And that one must be chosen above the other because this is what God calls us to do to honor the Sabbath day and to keep it holy. That's a hard word to hear when that's not what you want.
• Or try telling a busy parent that that one day off a week that you get, Sunday family time, where you say, "I'm not going to come to church because if I come to church, that's just taking time out of my Sunday family time." I've heard this several times recently. That's a lousy idol. And it's an excuse for not raising children in the knowledge and fear of the Lord.
• Try telling a busy retiree that when they travel, that worshiping the Lord on the Lord's day is not optional. "Pastor, that's not practical." I didn't ask you about practical.
• Try telling a wealthy man that his offering, while in absolute terms is large, maybe even larger than other people's, but because of his great wealth, is rather insignificant. It's not sacrificial according to the Lord's principles of giving in proportion to what you have. And I can tell you from first-hand experience in a past church, they don't like to hear that.
• Try telling the political radical that their views on abortion or euthanasia or immigration or social programs are a violation of the Christian faith. "How dare you? How could you possibly say that in church?"

Their response always, in each of these cases, will always be, you can't say that because that's not very Christ-like.

Yes, it is.

Because what we do when we tell the truth about these things, it causes division. Not division because we want division. No, we would rather have all people know Jesus Christ and Him crucified and raised for our justification. We would rather all people come into a loving, positive relationship with the Lord our God.

But the reality in this sinful and fallen world is that it isn't that way. It's the day that He knows that that's the case. And He came to bring division between truth and falsehood, between hope and false security.

Not because we're trying to build ourselves up as better than the people around us. No, if you're here today, it's because you know that you are a sinner who needs a Savior. You just confessed that you are "captive to sin and cannot free yourself" and you "deserve God's present and eternal punishment." I hope you meant those words because they're true.

We're not trying to build ourselves up as the righteous ones, but we're trying to point to the One whose righteousness covers all our sins.

But there is false hope in these choices that are made in order to secure our family time or live our best lives.

To speak to the matter of sports, I'm here today to tell you that they still would not be worth it. What do I mean by that? The chances of a child growing up to play professional sports is quoted as 0.03%. That's one in 3,300, which happens to be about the population of Jackson. Which means in an entire human lifetime, maybe one kid goes on to play professional ball.

But here's the thing, folks. Because everybody wants to hope and believe that their kid's the exception. And I get that. But let's say for a moment the chances weren't one in 3,000, but one in three. It still wouldn't be worth it to put Christ second.

What does it profit us to gain the whole world and forfeit our lives of faith in Jesus Christ? Because I can give you another statistic, one that should ring in the hearts of every parent and grandparent in this room. The chances of our children and our grandchildren standing before the Lord God in judgment on the last day are 100%.

All of us, every single person here, needs to have a well-developed relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is no new problem that we face. This is a reality that's been an issue for hundreds of years.

Luther's Wisdom on the Fourth Commandment

In fact, Luther's explanation of the fourth commandment in the Large Catechism... By the way, how many of you have at one point looked at the Small Catechism? The small catechism is what you should have been taught Confirmation through. If you weren't, your pastor failed you.

That's the one that's for kids, for children. The Large Catechism is for grown-ups. It's longer. It's a little more complicated. I would love to study it with you. If there was a group of people who wanted to study the Large Catechism, I'd be all in for that.

Here's a quote from Luther's Large Catechism explaining about the Fourth Commandment. And here he gives us something which is difficult to hear. But I think it's true.

Therefore let all people know that it is their chief duty — at the risk of losing divine grace — first to bring up their children in the fear and knowledge of God, and, then, if they are so gifted, also to have them engage in formal study and learn so that they may be of service wherever they are needed.

So he actually is saying here, first, if you're going to raise kids, at least have them go to church and learn the gospel and then maybe send them to school. How's that for priorities?!

He continues:

If this were done, God would also bless us richly and give us grace so that people might be trained who would be a credit to the nation and its people. We would also have good, capable citizens, virtuous women who, as good managers of the household (Titus 2:5), would faithfully raise upright children and servants. Think what deadly harm you do when you are negligent and fail to bring up your children to be useful and godly. You bring upon yourself sin and wrath, thus earning hell by the way you have reared your own children, no matter how holy and upright you may be otherwise. Because this commandment is neglected, God also terribly punishes the world; hence there is no longer any discipline, government, or peace.

And here's the kicker:

We all complain about this situation, but we fail to see that it is our own fault.

Wow. I think Luther is right here.

Yes, it is our responsibility to raise children and grandchildren in the fear of the Lord. Yes, it is our responsibility to make what we do in worship on Sunday, where God's word is poured out for us, where it is given to us on our lips and in our hearts, where we're reminded of God's word poured out upon us in holy baptism, that these things are not optional, but they are of primary importance.

Because what they do for us is they produce Christian hope. Not hope which is of a secular nature, hope that things will get better, hope that if we just work hard enough that things will improve, but Christian hope.

Rooted in Repentance and Faith

And that hope is not rooted in God's general care for people, but it is rooted in repentance and faith. And that hope is not rooted in God's general care for people, but it is rooted in repentance and faith. He covers us with His grace.

This is true Christian hope, rooted in repentance and faith, that says, yes, Lord, I understand that there will be division. In fact, I have been divided from You, and yet You have poured out Your mercy on me. You have bridged the gap. You have done for me what I could never have done for myself.

This is true Christian faith. This says, I will be inspired by the great cloud of witnesses. Not just those mentioned in our reading from Hebrews, that long reading talking about all these people who endured all of the suffering so that we could still be faithful Christians in this era, but also surround myself with the great cloud of witnesses that are gathered here in the flesh today. And the great company of heaven that gathers around God's throne as we come to commune with Christ.

This is true Christian love that speaks the truth even when it's hard, that says, come, friend. Come, family member. Turn with me from our idols and follow Christ with me. Let us live forever.

This is what it is to stand firm in the faith. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ, for the God who has promised is faithful and will redeem and will call you and love you and direct your days and your deeds in His peace.

As we begin the program year here in a few weeks at the church, center the Lord Jesus Christ in your life and your family. Grow in His grace, for He pours out this grace for you abundantly.

And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, hearts and minds strong in Christ Jesus our Lord to life everlasting. Amen.