Sermon from Sunday, June 21, 2026 · Pastor Rutz, Texts: Luke 12:49-59 and Luke 13:22-30.
"Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division."
Luke 12:51
How can a "loving" Jesus announce that he's come to set a fire, to turn children against parents, to split a household into two camps? Many Christians sidestep these verses because they're unsettling. Pastor Rutz, at Agape Church in Tokyo, takes Jesus's words seriously and helps you see why you sometimes have to go through division to reach true peace. This article faithfully follows her sermon from June 21, 2026.
1. Why Does Jesus Talk About Conflict and Division?
Jesus really is the God of love who came to reconcile humanity with the Father. That remains true. But on the road that leads to salvation, he announces that conflict will necessarily arise, including within families. Why? Because a heart that refuses Christ and a heart that accepts him can no longer live as if nothing had happened.
Rutz uses a medical image: if a tumor settles in your arm, you can apply an ointment and "wait for it to pass." Nothing will change. The only real path is to open it up, remove it, stitch it closed, and go through rehabilitation. It's painful, but that's what saves the life. Spiritual silence in a family is the ointment. It keeps a surface level peace going while the disease keeps spreading.
"Many people think: 'If creating conflict is what it takes, I might as well do nothing and stay quiet.' But Jesus says clearly: it's for that salvation that I go through division.", according to Pastor Rutz
2. Two Faces of Rejecting Christ: Korea and Japan
The pastor, Korean by origin and living in Japan, gives two very concrete cultural examples.
Korea: The Direct Persecution of Christian Women
Starting with the great Pyongyang revival of 1907, Korea was deeply visited by God. But Confucian culture left behind a heavy tradition of ancestor worship. In the 1960s to 80s, women who became Christians, especially daughters-in-law responsible for organizing the rites, found themselves on the front line. Saying "I can't perform this ritual anymore, I'm a Christian" was experienced as a betrayal of the family line. Many endured insults, contempt, verbal abuse, sometimes physical violence; some were thrown out of the house.
Rutz recounts that her own mother, a Christian married into a very strict Confucian family where her father was the eldest of the eldest, went through this battle. And yet, ten, twenty, thirty years later, many of these women saw their husbands become worshippers, their children come to love Jesus, their in-laws accept Christ, sometimes on their deathbeds. The initial conflict had opened up a path to salvation.
Japan: The Polite Tolerance That Smothers Faith
In Japan, there's practically no direct persecution. The culture favors non-interference: "Believe whatever you want, I go to my temple or my shrine, don't push anything on me." Family peace seems intact. Rutz warns: that peace is only surface level. If you're a genuine Christian, you can't be satisfied with never talking about Jesus to your spouse, your parents, your children, on the excuse that "it goes better this way." Because behind that silence lies the eternal question: where will they spend eternity?
"If you can live peacefully knowing that the people you love are heading toward destruction without you ever having spoken to them about Christ, that kind of faith is a false faith.", according to Pastor Rutz
3. The Image of the Basin: True Peace Requires Stirring Things Up
Rutz uses a simple image. Picture a basin of water: the surface looks clean, but grime is settled at the bottom. If you only change the water on top, you reassure yourself for a while, but the filth keeps rotting underneath. Cleaning means stirring, bringing it up, removing it, replacing it.
That's what Jesus does in a family, in a marriage, in a heart. The truth rises up, things get stirred, it smells bad for a while, you'd rather leave it all at the bottom. But false peace, by staying on the surface, leads to bitterness, spiritual death, and ultimately to destruction. True peace, on the other hand, requires going through the upheaval.
4. The Lesson of Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 16)
Rutz then broadens this to a wider principle: every time we take God's affairs into our own hands through our own wisdom, we introduce lasting divisions.
A Good Intention Carried Out According to the Flesh
Abraham and Sarah waited a long time for the promised son. Worn out, Sarah suggests that her servant Hagar give Abraham a child (Genesis 16). The intention seems reasonable, almost pious: "helping" God fulfill his promise. The result: Hagar despises the pregnant Sarah, Sarah blames Abraham ("the wrong done to me is your fault," Genesis 16:5), the couple is torn apart, Hagar flees. Ishmael will be born when Abraham is eighty-six, fourteen years before the time God had set for Isaac. This shortcut of the flesh will produce opposition that lasts through the centuries.
The Rule Without Exception
Rutz states it plainly: even the best idea in the world, if it doesn't come from God, produces conflict and disorder. Not because God is touchy, but because it isn't part of his plan. Our job isn't to "coordinate" God's action, but to wait.
As she puts it with some humor: when a great writer produces a masterpiece, no one imagines the pen taking credit for writing the book. The pen can be swapped out at any moment. We aren't indispensable, we're invited to be instruments. It isn't God who needs our help, it's we who need his.
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)
5. The Flesh, That "Frenemy" Arguing Against Obedience
Rutz then returns to Galatians 5:16-17: "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do." (Galatians 5:16-17).
She describes your flesh as a frenemy, an enemy disguised as your best friend. It whispers in your ear: "No, that's too hard," "You're already better than average," "Let this one slide, you'll deal with the next one," "Don't be a Pharisee about it, grace covers it." It uses Christian vocabulary to keep you comfortable.
Genuine faith, though, comes with action, sometimes doing, sometimes not doing. Peter spent a whole night catching nothing, and yet, at Jesus's word, he cast the net (Luke 5:5). It isn't your strength that's at work, it's the Lord's, and it shows up as soon as you take the first step of obedience.
6. Two Pious Sayings to Examine with Clear Eyes
"I Have Peace in My Heart" / "I Don't Have Peace"
This phrase can hide two very different realities. Peace from above (the kind Jesus gives) never opposes his will. The peace of the flesh, by contrast, feels good simply because it's convenient for you. Abraham and Sarah felt a certain peace when they decided to turn to Hagar: the solution seemed reasonable, quick, soothing. But that peace wasn't God's peace. So, Rutz says, you have to soberly discern the source of that peace, without letting pious vocabulary reassure you.
"I'm Praying and Thinking It Over"
Praying and waiting for the Lord's voice is vital. But Rutz observes that some people use this phrase without actually praying. They manufacture reasons not to obey, with a spiritual coating. Like Solomon, who, with the greatest wisdom ever given, managed to justify every departure. The lesson is unsettling: intelligence without humility becomes a machine for finding reasons to disobey. As soon as you catch this pattern in yourself, Rutz invites you to cut it short in the name of Jesus: "Get behind me, Satan. In the name of Jesus, be gone."
7. How to Practically Walk in This True Peace
- Name the false peace. If the silence in your family is built on "we just don't talk about it," recognize that it's an ointment, not a cure.
- Pray for the people in your home who don't know Christ. Persevere, set aside time, sacrifice an activity to intercede.
- Serve with love, be an example in daily life. Rutz insists: what opens the hearts of the people close to you isn't your speech, it's the character of Christ they see in you.
- Don't give ground on the essentials of the faith. Cooperate wherever you can, but hold the line on the points where the gospel can't be negotiated.
- Silence your flesh with the Word. Concretely confess the excuses it manufactures and ask the Spirit for wisdom, love, and courage.
- Wait for God's timing. Don't manufacture "reasonable" shortcuts like Abraham and Sarah; the promise arrives on God's schedule.
Key Takeaways
- Jesus came for reconciliation, but the road to that salvation passes through division between what accepts Christ and what refuses him.
- Family peace built on spiritual silence is a false peace that leads to destruction.
- Korea and Japan embody two forms of rejection: direct persecution and the polite tolerance that smothers.
- Taking God's affairs into our own hands through our own solutions (Abraham, Sarah, Hagar) always produces lasting conflict.
- The flesh is a "frenemy" that speaks to you in the first person and dresses up its excuses in Christian vocabulary.
- Phrases like "I have peace" or "I'm praying and thinking it over" need to be examined closely: do they come from above or from the flesh?
- True peace is won through concrete obedience, faithful intercession, and humbly waiting for God's timing.
This Week's Concrete Application
Take a moment alone and make two lists. The first: the people close to you who don't know Christ (spouse, parents, children, in-laws, a longtime friend). The second: what you no longer do for them in the name of a "peace" that's convenient for you (no longer praying, no longer sharing your faith, no longer serving). Choose one person and one concrete action this week: a faithful time of prayer for them, a conversation, a selfless act of service. Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom, love, and courage, not your own words, but his.
FAQ
Question: If I talk to my family about Christ and they reject it, have I failed?
No. Rutz is clear: each person will be judged for their own decision. Your role isn't to force a response, but to bear witness with love, to pray, to serve. What happens next belongs to the Lord. Don't let an initial refusal close the door for good: keep interceding and wait for God's timing.
Question: How can I know whether the peace I feel comes from God or from my flesh?
The question to ask yourself: does this peace push me toward what God is asking of me, or does it pull me away from a decision I know I need to make? Abraham and Sarah felt "at peace" when they chose Hagar: their solution was convenient for them. True peace never contradicts the Lord's Word.
Question: How can I avoid Solomon's trap, wisdom that justifies disobedience?
Notice when your reasoning is producing twenty good reasons not to obey something the Lord has already made clear to you. At that moment, stop the reasoning, shut the door on that voice in the name of Jesus, and take a first concrete act of obedience, even a small one, before the flesh gets a word in again.
Sermon from Sunday, June 21, 2026 · Pastor Rutz, Agape Church, Tokyo.
Texts: Luke 12:49-59 and Luke 13:22-30.
to take notes and ask questions.