The Cost of Being a True Disciple

If you could poll the Christians and ask this one simple question, “Why did Christ come?” You might get some varying answer from “He came to save the world,” or “HE came to die on the cross,” or something similar but I doubt even few would respond that “Christ came to wage war.” That sounds strange to say or even hear doesn’t it? But in one regards that is exactly why He came. Better yet let me read exactly what Christ said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34).” Obliviously in contrasting peace with a sword Christ is insisting that one purpose for His coming was to wage war.

This war was not by accident or happenstance but rather was a purposeful and intentional choice. The phrase “I came” is really a fascinating phase when you think about the implications of it. How can one who is born determine the details of his own birth? You and I were just born we had no say so about the details of our birth, but not so with Christ. He determined who he would be born too, where he would be born, and as He stated here He determined the purpose of His birth. “I came not to bring peace” shows us insight into His eternal existence. It shows us Christ’s divine nature and most importantly that He came for a specific mission. His mission was to wage war.

Christ did not come into the world to give peace as the world would define peace. The world defines peace as a series of compromises until both parties can avoid conflict. But Christ came with no such intensions of compromise. Christ is not about to compromise with evil, or sin or Satan. The peace He came to bring was not peace as the world knows it – an absence of strife. No the peace that He came to bring was a conquest of sin, Satan and salvation. Christ came to bring peace between holy God and sinful man and for that to occur meant an all out war against evil.

There was an instance in life of Christ when He was ask to compromise on His war. Remember back in chapter 4 when Satan tempted Him – this was Satan’s attempt to get Christ to compromise on His battle. The cross is Christ’s answer to this notion of compromise.

However wars are not fought without conflicts, without inevitable divisions. Divisions between friends and as stated her between families must be expected. Christ wants no part of sentimentalism to Him. He wants your heart and because we are by nature sinful people who want nothing to do with Him Christ must wage war.

The peace Jesus came to give man was peace in his conflict with God but this did not mean that wars would cease, nor conflicts between unbelievers, or even that persecutions promised to His children would stop. In fact not only will Jesus not stop such conflicts but actually promises that what would ensure is hostility. Not exactly our first notion of Christ’s ministry.

But none the less we should not be surprised. A sword after all is constructed for one purpose – to divide. And Christ teaches us the as a sword divides flesh and bone, His war would divide neighbor against neighbor, believers  against world, and family against family.

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