CHRIST BRINGS TROUBLE
H ave you ever thought of the fact that Christ brings trouble? In Matthew 10:34 we read, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not 40 send peace, but a sword.” This sounds like a paradox. Isn’t He the Prince of Peace? Of course He is, and yet we know He makes trouble in spiritually broken families. He is a divider. Jesus makes a tremendous divi sion wherever He goes. In John 6:66 we read of the division among the people because they ques tioned God’s sovereignty and His right to rule. Some walked no more with Him. Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” There is no one else for the true believer. The crowd always wants to pick out its own rulers. It is human nature to want to run things ourselves. In John 7:43 we read of a division among the people which was over His deity. Some said He was only a man, and others that He had come from heaven. Wherever the Christian goes there are those who deny Him. They may say He was a good man, a prophet even, but they deny His divinity. There needs to be the declaration of Thomas when he stated, “My Lord and my God.” In John 9:16 there was a division be cause of His power. Some said He used the power of the devil. What an awful thing. No wonder this was called the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Some said He had a right to do mira cles, and some said He was a faker. In John 10:19 there was a division because of what He said. Could He enforce His pronouncements? Did He have a right to make such statements?
People want goodness but with no God. Charity organizations everywhere are wanting to help people, but offer them no Christ. Bring in the name of religion if you will, but don’t mention the Lord Jesus Christ. It will make a division. When I was in Chicago as a medical student, I was on the board of charities there, serving the section around the stockyards. So many calls came for medical help. Every morning I would get some cards ready with the names and addresses of the families on them. I found they wanted medical aid all right, but when I offered the Gospel to them, they had no interest in Jesus Christ whatever. They wanted the kind ness that goes with Christianity, but they didn’t want the Christ that makes it all possible. They wanted to be good, but they didn’t want the One who makes them good. People like to get gifts, but they hate the Giver. It is like the .prodigal son, who said, “Father, give me the portion of goods that belong to me.” He was only interested in material things, not in his parent. As a result he foolishly lost it all. This is the rea son for divisions and splits. A judge may take a man who has been guilty of stealing and take pity on him, because he has a sick wife and four or five children. Because of the extenuating circumstances he lets him go, asking him to live a righteous life. But while he is glad for the freedom he doesn’t live like the judge told him. He wants what the judge can do for him, but he isn’t interested in the judge himself. That is exactly the way it is with so many people. They want for- 5
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