Consequence of Jesus First

Okay, what a crazy picture for a sermon teaser!  The story is that several years ago, while on a road trip with family, my mother-in-law dropped her phone down what looked like an unreachable water drain.  My ever faithful father-in-law did everything he could to retrieve it which he did!  This picture therefore has always represented marital servanthood and blessing and is one of my favorites!  

Yet, our passage from Matthew today seems so contrary to all that.  Jesus in Matthew 10:35-36 says:  “I have come to turn a man against his father, daughter against mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-a man’s enemies will be members of his own household.”   Yikes! What on earth did Jesus mean?  Isn’t Jesus called the Prince of Peace?  Today we will discover a deeper meaning of what it this passage means and the consequences of keeping Jesus first in our lives, our marriages, our families and our church and culture.