Jesus came into the world to cast a wildfire in the earth. This is a fire consisting of His kingdom spreading throughout the world. We have the privilege of co-laboring along with Him to advance that glorious kingdom in the earth!
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The Real Jesus Movement
Luke 12:49-53
In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s there was a mighty move of God which began on the West Coast of the United States and subsequently spread throughout the United States and into Europe. It was a movement that dramatically affected the hippie and youth subculture of America. It is probably no exaggeration to say that multiple tens of thousands of young people were converted in this revival. These new converts often became bold witnesses for Christ. They were called “Jesus People” and “Jesus Freaks” by others, but they wore these labels proudly. During this time it was very common to see people point their index finger to heaven as a way of saying that Jesus is the “One Way” to God. Very early on, the new hippie converts began to write Christian lyrics and put them to their own music, resulting in a whole new way of praise and worship, and resulting in the entire Contemporary Christian Music scene today. Chuck Smith and Lonnie Frisbee teamed up in Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, and saw many thousands of young people converted. You can go on Youtube and see video of ocean baptisms where Chuck Smith and Lonnie Frisbee are baptizing up to a thousand people in a single day. This was a genuine modern day Revival – heaven sent move of God. This movement started in 1968, and was starting to fade by 1973. Its zenith was Explo 1972, where 80,000 Jesus People met in Dallas for a huge Jesus festival for an entire week. Johnny Cash performed along with many others and Billy Graham preached six times.
However, this morning I want to focus your attention on the Real Jesus Movement. The Jesus Movement from 1968 to 1973 was just a tiny sliver of the True Jesus Movement that He started 2,000 years ago.
The passage we are going to study this morning has three parts:
- Jesus came into the world to start a movement.
- Jesus would kindle this movement by His death.
- Jesus promised that the result of being part of this movement would be division.
1. Jesus Came Into The World To Start A Movement 12:49
Jesus Came To Start A Fire
In verse 49 Jesus said, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth.” This is very revealing. Jesus is giving us here a purpose statement. He is answering the question, “Why did He come into the world?” Jesus gave many of these purpose statements. For example:
- Matthew 5:17 – not to abolish but to full the Law and Prophets.
- Matthew 20:28 – not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
- Luke 5:32 – not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
- Luke 19:10 – to seek and to save that which was lost.”
- John 9:39 – that those who do not see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
- John 6:38-39 – not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
- John 10:10 – that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.
- John 12:46 – that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.
- John 12:47 – not to judge the world, but to save the world.
- John 18:37 – to bear witness to the truth.
So, according to Jesus Himself, why did He come? He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, to give His life a ransom for many, to call sinners to repentance, to seek and save that which was lost, that those who see may not see and those who do not see may become blind, to do the Father’s will which was to save every one of God’s elect, to give abundant life, to bring people out of darkness, to save the world, and to bear witness to the truth.
However, there is one more purpose statement that we must examine carefully this morning. Here it is – “I have come to cast fire upon the earth.” Now, what did Jesus mean by that obscure statement? What does He have in mind by casting fire on the earth? We can’t be dogmatic here, because Jesus nor Luke ever tells us what Jesus meant. We are left to seek to interpret this metaphor ourselves. For this reason, commentators offer different explanations as to what this fire represents. Some say it refers to God’s judgment. Others say it refers to the persecutions and divisions that His coming would result in. After prayerfully considering these possible interpretations, I have rejected them.
Does “fire” here refer to God’s judgment? I don’t believe so, because in John 3:17 Jesus said, “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” No, Jesus didn’t come into the world to judge the world. Fire can’t represent God’s judgment.
Does “fire” here refer to the persecutions and divisions God’s people will experience? It seems very odd to me to say that the reason Jesus came into the world was so that His people would experience persecutions and divisions. No, the “fire” must have a higher meaning than that.
We also find Jesus saying “how I wish it were already kindled!” Did Jesus long for judgment to come upon sinners? Did He long for persecutions to come upon His people? This sounds foreign to other portions of Scripture.
I would like to offer a different explanation of what the “fire” represents. I came to my conclusion on my own, but was very pleased to find that John Brown in his commentary had come to the very same conclusion. I believe this “fire” represents a Movement. I believe Jesus is talking about the spread of His gospel and His kingdom throughout the world. Through His death Jesus would kindle that fire, and then it would spread like wildfire from one converted soul to another. In the very next chapter Jesus gives two parables that teach this same truth. In Luke 13:18-19 He gives the parable of the mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds, growing up into a great tree. There, something very small, grows into something very big. In Luke 13:20-21 Jesus gives the parable of the leaven hid in the flour, which spread through all the dough until it was all leavened. What are these parables teaching? They are teaching that Christ’s kingdom will start very small, but grow into something very large. It will be like yeast which will pervade and influence all kinds of people all over the world. Just as the mustard seed grows, so fire grows by burning. The influence of this holy fire will be felt all over the world.
Jesus goes on to say in Luke 13:29, “And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.” In other words, His kingdom will not be made up only of Jews from Palestine. No, it will be made up of people from the four points of the compass, from every tribe, people, tongue and nation of the world. This fire will start as just one tiny spark, but it will spread everywhere, and will cause its holy influence to be felt wherever it goes.
Don’t we see the history of this in the book of Acts? The kingdom was confined to Israel in Jerusalem for several years, but eventually it broke out into Samaria, then to the Ethiopian Eunuch who took the fire to Africa. Then it spread to Cornelius and his household in Caesarea. Then it went to Antioch from which Paul was sent out to plant churches all over Asia Minor, and finally in Rome. Acts is the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, even to the remotest parts of the earth.”
This is a movement in which one person’s heart is kindled by the Holy Spirit, and he gets “on fire.” He then comes into contact with another person and lights him on fire. That person comes into contact with another person and lights him on fire. The gospel and the kingdom advance from one person to the next to the next as we witness to the truth of Christ.
I want to challenge you to start thinking of yourself as a torch. A torch gives off light and fire. You give off the light of the gospel, and when you come into contact with others (stubble) you have the potential to transfer your fire to them. Jesus Christ cast fire on the earth. That fire spread from Him to His disciples to all over the known world in the first century. It ultimately spread to Europe and the British Isles, from which it came across the Atlantic Ocean and caught fire in America. It has been transferred down from one person to another from one generation to the next, until it caught you and I on fire. Now, it is our responsibility to bring that fire to others around us. When the Spirit unites with the gospel in a sinner’s heart, that person catches on fire. Our job is to bring the gospel to others and pray that the Spirit will ignite them. That’s why we are going out to homes and sharing the gospel with people on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. It’s because we are part of the Jesus Movement, and we have been lit on fire, and our purpose is to light others on fire as well. Are you passing your fire on to others?
Jesus Longed For The Fire To Be Kindled
Jesus said at the end of verse 49, “and how I wish it were already kindled!” You sense something of Jesus’ longing here. It’s as if Jesus were saying, “The reason I came into the world was to start a Movement, and I can’t wait for it to actually start!” Notice the exclamation mark (!) at the end of the sentence. There’s also another one at the end of verse 50. This shows how passionate Jesus was about what He was talking about. There is strong emotion in His voice. He longs for this Movement to begin. It is the reason He came into the world to begin with.
2. Jesus Would Kindle This Movement By His Death 12:50
In verse 49 Jesus used fire as a metaphor for the movement He would begin. In verse 50 He used baptism as a metaphor for His sufferings and death that would be the means of starting that movement.
Jesus Must First Experience a Baptism of Suffering
In verse 50 Jesus says, “But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished.” Notice, that He begins with “but”. I have come to start a gospel-kingdom movement, and I’m anxious for it to begin, BUT, I have a baptism to undergo. Jesus is saying that before He can start this movement, something else must happen first. He must undergo a baptism.
Now, He can’t be talking about water baptism, because He has already been baptized in water. In Mark 10:38 Jesus said to James and John when they asked to sit on Jesus’ right and left hand, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” Notice that Jesus’ baptism is linked with drinking the cup. Now, we do know what drinking the cup symbolized. Right before Jesus went to the cross He prayed, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, yet not as I will, but as You will” (Mt.26:39). The cup represented the awful sufferings Jesus would have to experience in order to save sinners.
Jesus used the figure of baptism to represent His sufferings. It was a fitting metaphor. Baptism is to be immersed or submerged into something else. When Jesus spoke of His sufferings as a “baptism” He was saying that He was going to be submerged under the wrath of Almighty God. Folks, none of us can even begin to really understand the horror of the sufferings of the Son of God. The physical aspect of His suffering was just the tip of the iceberg. The real suffering took place in His soul. He was made sin for us. The Father turned His face away from Him. Fellowship with the Father was broken. He took upon Himself the awful divine punishment due to us. He suffered the equivalent of what our suffering would be like in Hell for all eternity.
Jesus Was Distressed Until the Baptism was Accomplished
That’s why He says at the end of verse 50, “and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!” Again there is an exclamation mark. We see Jesus experiencing very strong emotion here. His sufferings would be unimaginable, and He was distressed beyond measure until it was over. That’s why in Luke 22:44 it says, “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” This word “distressed” carries the idea of a great mental and emotional pressure. In Luke 4:38 it means to “suffer.” In Luke 8:37 it means to be be “gripped.” In Luke 8:45 it refers to the multitude “crowding” and “pressing” in on Jesus. In Luke 19:43 it refers to their enemies “hemming” them in on every side. In Luke 22:63 it refers to the men “holding” Jesus. So, the word has to do with suffering, gripping, crowding, pressing, hemming, and holding someone. It refers to the mental and emotional pressure Jesus was experiencing as He anticipated the cross. I imagine there was hardly a moment when the Cross was not looming large in His mind. He knew that He had come into the world to die for sin. He knew the kind of suffering He would have to experience in order to atone for sin. And He was distressed until it was accomplished.
This would be like you knowing that a year from now, you would be going through the most horrific suffering imaginable by being captured by a cruel enemy and tortured until you died a very slow and lingering death. You know that it is going to take place on June 17, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. There is nothing that can be done to stop it. You would also say, “how distressed I am until it is accomplished!” The anticipation of the horrors He would experience would only add to His great sufferings.
Jesus came into the world to start a Gospel Movement, which would spread all over the world, lighting hearts on fire. But that Movement would only begin after He went to the cross to atone for our sin.
3. Jesus Promised That The Result of Being Part of This Movement Would Be Division 12:51-53
In verse 51 Jesus says, “Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.” Jesus’ ultimate reason for coming into the world was not to bring division. Rather, He is saying that the result or consequence of His coming into the world will be that people will be divided from one another.
This should once and for all destroy the popular theory that Jesus came to unite all humanity into a single “universal brotherhood of man.” No, Jesus didn’t come to bring all of mankind together, but to split mankind apart!
We see this in His explanation in verses 52-53. There He speaks of the members of a family being divided, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and mother-in-laws against daughter-in-laws.
What is He talking about? He’s talking about what takes place when some members of a family start to follow Jesus, while other members do not. When some members of a family repent and forsake worldliness, and the other members of the family continue to embrace sin and worldliness, there is going to be a clash! It is a very strange thing that many unsaved people would rather have their son or daughter a drunkard or immoral person than an all out follower of Jesus Christ. They will say, “Oh, it’s OK to be spiritual or go to church. Just don’t become a religious fanatic.” In other words, they’re saying “don’t take your faith seriously.” Yes, it’s okay to go through the motions, and observe your religious rituals, but don’t actually start applying the truths of God’s Word in your daily life. And, by all means, don’t start meddling in my own affairs!
In Galatians 4:29 Paul writes, “But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.” The apostle John wrote in 1 John 3:13, “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.” Don’t be surprised! We should expect this. We can’t go along with our family and friends in sin any more. We can’t party, and get loaded, and sleep around, and use God’s name as a curse word, and lie and cheat. In 1 Peter 4:3-4 says, “For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. In all this they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you.”
My friends, in order for you to follow Jesus, you are going to have to accept the backlash that will come from friends and family. You may be called names. You may be spurned. You may be maligned. You may even be disowned. But Jesus is worth it! He is worthy of any suffering we endure for His sake. We should be the like the apostles who “rejoiced that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41).
Conclusion
Let me give you a few lessons that come from this text as we conclude.
- Long for the advancement of Jesus kingdom! A disciple should have the same desires as his Master. Jesus said “how I wish it were already kindled!” Do you long to see Jesus’ kingdom grow and advance? We should desire to see His fame spread everywhere through the world. We should no just be interested in seeing the kingdom grow here in Sacramento, but in unreached people groups around the world. We should be using our money to see His Movement spread everywhere. Are you zealous for His kingdom?
- Praise God for the cross! The cross is the reason you are part of His Movement in the world. If it were not for the cross, there would be no Jesus Movement. You would be lost and outside His kingdom for all eternity. We should say along with the apostle Paul, “but God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal.6:14).
- Endure suffering for His sake! Show your love for your Master, by patiently enduring and accepting any sufferings, and persecutions you receive joyfully. Show how valuable Jesus is to you by rejoicing that you have been counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.
- Take your fire and light others with it! If you are a Christian, you are on fire! You are a lit torch. This world must catch fire or it will perish forever. Your purpose in the world is to cause that holy fire to pass to others. Join with us as we go out on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Start to dedicate some of your time to obeying the Great Commission. Refuse to be a couch potato Christian any longer. Dedicate your life to obeying Jesus Christ.
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