Sunday school teacher was talking to a little girl who had recently been given a children’s Bible. The two of them were talking about the different books. And the teacher asked the girl, “What is the last book in the Bible?” The little girl responded, “The last book in the Bible is the Book of Revolutions!”
You know, that’s not a bad answer. Not just regarding the book of Revelation, but regarding the entire Bible. We serve another king and another kingdom. Our final loyalties are not in this world. And we are not here to preserve any kind of status quo.
In Luke 12:49-53, Jesus tells us what he came to do,
9 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Does that passage shock you? It should. It shocks me. If I’m honest I have spent a great deal of time with a Jesus who is there healing all hurts, helping all relationships and meeting all needs. And that is not a false Jesus. He does care about you and me and our felt needs. And he has much to say that helps us. But what do I do with the Jesus who calls down fire? … the Jesus who says elsewhere that if you don’t “hate father and mother etc.” you aren’t ready to be His disciple?
I believe with all my heart that these two Jesus are the same. He wants us to see that the gospel is bigger than our needs… That we are part of a mission that is bigger than each of us and bigger than our families. We are revolutionaries in the biggest revolution in history. The greatest heresy of our time is to get the doctrine right but to fail to see how big the gospel is… to fail to see the revolution… to make the gospel bland, to make it small.
Jesus prayer for the church is that we would be on fire, and that we would start a fire in our community… a fire that would transform the entire landscape. Jesus said that he came to bring fire. And the early church talked a lot about fire. They were an incendiary fellowship. They saw God burning up everything that was false. When Nero burn down Rome it was easy for him to pin it on the Christians. Christianity was dangerous.
Fire carries with it all sorts of implications. You can’t be on fire and be cool and calm. Fire is intense and passionate. Fire brings down the status quo. And most importantly it spreads powerfully and rapidly.
With all that is going on in our country and in our world, I believe that the spiritual tinder is out there waiting for the spark. I believe that our country and our community is ripe for revival.
Starting next month we are going to partner with churches all across the Dallas-Fort Worth area in a mission called Revive Texas. It will begin April 16, Easter Sunday, and run for 50 days to June 4…Pentecost. I believe this will be an amazing, transformative experience for all of us.
Will you join me in praying daily that God will bring fire to Singing Oaks and to Denton?
