Peace on Earth? (Mat 10:34)

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, we thank you for the teaching You gave to Your disciples of yesterday and today. Some of the news isn’t good, but the bad news is merely a warning of what we will encounter by following You. We pray You send the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in the true faith by this message, so that we can withstand the challenges we face, confident that we have inner peace because the Spirit lives in us, and confident that we have a peaceful place reserved for us in Your house. We pray this through You, Lord Jesus, who reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
2nd Discourse cont’d: Recall from last week, we briefly explored the five discourses from Jesus that the Apostle Matthew covered in his account of the Gospel. The 2nd of these 5 is the Missionary Discourse. This Missionary Discourse is all of Matthew ch#10. Within Mat ch#10, there are two groups of people who are addressed. The first group are the 12 Apostles (Mat 10:1-23). All disciples who have come about after the Apostles, including us here today, are part of the 2nd group (vv24-42). One common thread between us and the original 12 is that the perils they endured are perils we also face today (vv16-22). And with that recap, today, we finish an understanding of the Missionary Discourse (Mat 10:1-42).
Brought a dagger: The first words of our Gospel reading today may be shocking to you. Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to cast peace on the earth; I did not come to cast peace, but a dagger.”[1] This statement is shocking because of what the angels announced to the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks the night Jesus was born. They said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”[2] You may have learned the King James Version (KJV) of this verse way back when - Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.[3] That was an unfortunate translation of the KJV which led people to believe peace was being brought to all mankind because Jesus was born. No; the more accurate translation based on more recently discovered Greek manuscripts is the first one I read from the NASB95. The peace Jesus brought with Him from heaven above is a peace for those with whom God is pleased. That’s a big difference, isn’t it? Peace for all on earth versus peace for those who are enjoying God’s favor. We’ll get into how to determine being under God’s favor later in this message.
- It may be a sore point for many of us that Jesus did not come to bring peace to all mankind. Think of past discussions about Jesus you had with family or friends. In my first marriage, I had two sons from my wife’s previous marriages. As the boys grew older, it was increasingly difficult to discuss current events from a Biblical perspective. There was one Thanksgiving gathering I recall that became tense, because of an hour-long discussion I had with the eldest son. He had abandoned what he learned in Confirmation. He no longer submitted to God’s will. I suspect many here today have suffered tension with loved ones who will not submit to God’s will as expressed in His word.
  - With this in mind, perhaps you can agree, that because of Jesus, there is man against father, daughter against mother, in-laws against each other as expressed in Mat 10:35. The real zinger of a statement from Jesus is in v36 - …A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.[4] It’s one thing to have enemies on social media. They’re not anywhere physically near you, that would create a clear and present danger. But enemies in your own home? All because of whether people will or will not submit to God’s word? That’s getting personal, isn’t it?
- What’s interesting about these statements from Jesus in vv35-36 is something He originally gave to the Prophet Micah - For son treats father contemptuously, Daughter rises up against her mother, Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.[5]
  - I’ll digress for a moment to talk about the minor prophet, Micah. God sent Micah to call the Northern and Southern Kingdoms to repent (Mic 1:1). His ministry would have been around mid-8th century BC. That would have made him a contemporary of fellow minor prophet Hosea and possibly Amos. Additionally, he would have been a contemporary of Isaiah.
  - During that time, many false prophets were proclaiming peace in the midst of evil. The false prophets were claiming to represent the Lord when they spoke. I get ticked off when people attribute to me something I never said. Well, listen to the Lord about these false prophets proclaiming peace in their time - Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; When they have something to bite with their teeth, They cry, “Peace,” But against him who puts nothing in their mouths They declare holy war.[6] In other words, the false prophets were at war with God’s holy word all the while they proclaimed peace to a decadent, sinful bunch of people who only wanted to hear what their itching ears demanded.[7]
  - Ezekiel was another prophet sent by God to a bunch of stiff-necked people. He was sent to the 2nd wave of exiles from Judah to Babylon. Judah and Jerusalem were being governed by King Nebuchadnezzar, because God had enough of His people honoring Him with their lips, but their heart was far from Him.[8] You would think the exiles would have gotten a clue that they needed to pay more attention to God’s word and put it into practice after being deported from their life-long home. And yet, there were false prophets seeing false visions and uttering lying divinations.[9] The false prophets were preaching a feel-good message of “‘Peace!’ when there is no peace.”[10]
Difficult ministry: People back then didn’t want to hear God’s word in its truth and purity. We have this problem today. One example is prosperity theology where eloquent preachers talk feel-good talk instead of what God wants all of us to do – repent from our sins and follow Jesus regardless of the social costs. Getting back to Mat ch#10, Jesus implied in v37, put God first! If you’re loving father, mother, son, or daughter more than Him, you do not have your priorities straight.
- We show our priorities best when we take up our cross and follow Him (v38). It’s tough to always put God first. I remember holding my infant son and contemplating Jesus’ words about loving a son more than Him. If God had asked me to sacrifice my son as He asked Abraham, would I have been able to do it? To be clear, God would not ask us in 2026 to sacrifice our children physically on an altar. But Jesus’ words are nonetheless applicable today: will we be willing to sacrifice the relationship with our children who will not hear God’s word?
  - One can legitimately respond by saying if I cut off the relationship, he or she will have no one to present God’s word to them. You would be correct with that thinking. I think what Jesus means for us is that we not bend in our words and actions to please our wayward children. We must remain the beacon of God’s truth. That includes preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luk 24:47). And in doing so, we want to reflect the same mercy Jesus showed us when we were dead in our unbelief.
- Another cross to bear in this life is losing our life for Christ’s sake as mentioned in v39. I need to preface what I’m about to say with the fact that God found us. We didn’t spontaneously choose to follow Him. So, in the context of Jesus calling us as we sang in the opening hymn, we have found the Way, Truth, and (eternal) Life (John 14:6). In the process of this great find, we will lose our earthly way of life (Mat 10:39a). The Apostle Paul wrote - 3 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.[11] We were dead in our sins until Jesus came along. That deadness was going to continue throughout eternity in hell. But Jesus took all your sins and mine and nailed them to the cross. Now that we are alive in Christ, how should we act? Shouldn’t we take up the burden of our cross and follow Him, because of what He did for us?
Definition of peace: The title of this sermon is “Peace on Earth?” The title is posed as a question, because we need to ask which definition of peace do we use? I quoted from Luke 2:14 earlier and noted the slight difference with interpretation of the Greek. Is there peace for all on earth, or is there peace for just those who have found favor in God’s sight? The short answer is anyone who by faith given by the Holy Spirit believes in God’s word, and puts those words into practice by trusting in them, is someone who is under God’s favor. It’s people with this gift of faith and exercise it in all circumstances who have the peace declared by the angels at Jesus’ birth.
- The Apostle Paul wrote in today’s Epistle something that bears repeating - But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.[12] I hope you’re beginning to see what Jesus meant when you find your life, you lose it. True life is being at peace with God. That true life came when you died to your old life of sin. And we have peace by being freed from the accusations of the Law of God. That’s because through Jesus, we fulfilled the Law, because He fulfilled the Law for us. There shouldn’t be a voice in your soul scolding you about sins you’ve committed in the past. If there is, respond with, “Jesus took care of that sin. Therefore, I’m forgiven. The sin doesn’t exist anymore.”
- Peace is also found in Jesus still being present with us in 2026 (John 20:19,21,26). We experience His presence the most in the Service of the Sacrament. After the Words of Institution, that is the consecration of the wafer and wine with Christ’s body and blood, the pastor says – “The peace of the Lord be with you always.” The congregation responds with “amen”, confirming Christ’s real presence hidden in the wafer and wine (LSB p.197). We therefore have peace, because Jesus *is* present when we commune with Him here at this altar.
  - This understanding is a fundamental difference Lutherans have from other religions. The words, “remembrance of me” are a reminder of His real presence in this meal (1Co 10:16). It’s not mere symbolism. For people who believe the Lord’s Supper is merely a remembrance, they are being cheated out of the true peace that comes with knowing Jesus is present in His supper.
- There’s a lot more I could bring you regarding peace for those who have God’s favor. But I’ll finish this definition of peace with one more thought, also from Paul - Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.[13] Our sins no longer should dog our thoughts. When people we love scream at us in their unbelief, we can maintain an inner peace that cannot be taken from us by any human being.
Conclusion: King Solomon wrote by God’s inspiration - When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.[14] This is true for even those enemies in your household. One way to be pleasing to the Lord is to present His word with gentleness and reverence, and with not only words, but also actions.[15]
- Your biggest enemy, the devil, cannot touch your soul (Col 1:13). He can raise hell against you, but cannot mess with your soul any more than he could with Job of the Old Testament. It’s also refreshing to have this reminder from last Sunday’s Gospel reading - “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.[16] If you have any terror in life, let this be a reminder on who is to be feared.
- Being right with God through His justification of us, we have the peace which surpasses understanding. This peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.[17] Amen.