What Side Are You On?

Luke 12:49-56

The Lord Be With You.

Here lies a parable …

There once was a man who would spend all his days and nights going into and out of his house. Other than the times he slept or ate, he was always seen walking out the front door only to then turn around and go back inside. You could watch him and this would happen over and over again. This made his wife and kids very distraught. When someone finally got him to stop for a minute and asked him why he did what he did, his response was that he just could not decide which was better, the inside or the outside, so he played both sides just in case he was wrong. When he was told that this would only lead to disaster because, invariably, he would have to choose otherwise his family would have to have him committed because his actions were viewed as crazy. But this did not stop him and he continued until the time that he was completely confined.

Here ends the parable.

The man in the parable seems a little bit strange, doesn’t he? We couldn’t possibly be doing the same thing the man is doing, right? Well, I’m here to tell you that we do the exact same thing as that man, it’s just not as apparent. Jesus is saying the same thing though in this Gospel otherwise this passage wouldn’t exist. Jesus addresses this inability to make a commitment to our spiritual life by pointing out that we cannot ride the middle of the road. We have to choose a side. Pick a side. Any side. Any side will do. Hopefully though, the side you pick will be the right one. I guess that may be why you’re here. To find out if the side you picked is the correct one according to God.

Jesus is saying that when we don’t make this commitment in our spiritual life we’re doing exactly the same thing as the man in the parable is doing by going in and out of OUR spiritual house. You know our house that we all feel protected by. Going inside on Sundays but coming back out on Mondays. Going in when we’re confronted by the outside world and coming back out when we can perceive that the danger has passed. Going in when our own personal idea of what a believer should think conflicts with anyone we have a conversation with, coming back out when everyone agrees with our thoughts or views. So, we really do as that guy does in the parable. It’s just not as noticeable and put in those specific words.

You know? We really work hard to avoid conflict. We shy away from it on every corner. It seems that, now a days, if you disagree with someone you’re immediately called names. Racist, xenophobe, hate monger. I know this because I’ve been called these things too. It’s a shame because the very truth that we all strive to get to is that truth that God has put in front of us and those who came before us for a little over 4000 years. It’s a truth that’s illustrated by Jesus in His consternation that those around Him can’t see the big picture. That they worry about the little things that they just can’t put their whole trust in the God that made them in the first place and, instead, put their trust in the thing altered by man to fit whatever the whims of the day happen to be.

But trust in God and Jesus seems to always be at the fore front and it becomes very difficult for you and me to have this trust because sometimes the answers to our prayers are not in line with our immediate gratification way of living. So our trust is very shallow and we are looking for another way without conflict. Sort of like this story I’m reminded of …

A man named Jack that was walking along a steep cliff one day when he accidentally got too close to the edge and fell. On the way down he grabbed a branch which temporarily stopped his fall. He looked down and to his horror saw that the canyon fell straight down for more than a thousand feet.

He couldn't hang onto the branch forever and there was no way for him to climb up the steep wall of the cliff. So he began yelling for help, hoping that someone passing by would hear him and lower a rope or something.

HELP! HELP! Is anyone up there? "HELP!" He yelled for a long time, but no one heard him. He was about to give up when he heard a voice. Jack, Jack. Can you hear me?"

"Yes, yes! I can hear you. I'm down here!"

"I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?"

"Yes, but who are you, and where are you?

"I am the Lord, Jack. I'm everywhere."

"The Lord? You mean, God?"

"That's Me."

"God, please help me! I promise if, you'll get me down from here, I'll stop sinning. I'll be a really good person. I'll serve you for the rest of my life."

"Easy on the promises, Jack. Let's get you off from there; then we can talk." "Now, here's what I want you to do. Listen carefully."

"I'll do anything, God. Just tell me what to do."

"Okay. Let go of the branch."

"What?"

"I said, let go of the branch. Just trust me. Let go."

There was a long silence. Finally Jack yelled, "HELP! HELP! IS ANYONE ELSE UP THERE?"

We have a lot of conflict. Conflict in our lives between choosing what we want to do and conflict between what the world teaches us and what the words of our Lord and Savior tried and continually tries to teach us.

But Jesus is saying that there’s no real peace because of an absence of conflict. We can only choose the cause for which to fight and the commitments that are worth holding on to. We simply cannot ride the middle wave. The middle of the road. “I have come to bring fire on earth, and how I wish it were already kindled” speak to His wish that His followers would have already grasped the concept of that fiery passion for the truth and the mission of the Christ Himself. When He’s talking about the fire, He’s talking about the pursuit of spreading the word that He has come. Cause He has come indeed. When He’s talking about that fire of purpose, He’s wishing that it was already kindled rather than Him having to restart it each and every day. He’s talking about you and me living in His presence in an active way.

A way that shows those we meet and associate with and have lunch or breakfast or dinner with that our passion is the one that Jesus put forth and it kindles deep within us from the moment we wake up to the time we close our eyes. He’s saying that the kindle of the fire that should be in all of us is the one that’s constantly smoldering, dangerously close to breaking out and engulfing everyone around us. It’s just like that, you know. It’s catchy. It’s something that can easily be lit in those we walk with because HIS word and HIS life and HIS presence is the truth. But the truth is NOT just something that can be put on the shelf and taken down when it serves us conveniently but must be put on the workspace of our lives so that it becomes a part of everything we build, whether that be relationships, friendships or even when we’re alone in the world just thinking and pondering about life. The truth of the Christ is always there kindling deep within our very souls waiting to break out and inflame everyone and everything around us. We just help light that torch.

But the truth has a strange way of alienating those we love. Those we hang around with. Those we work with. Truth has a way of alienating everyone and everything if those very people are dead set on living according to whatever is popular at the moment. Whatever notions that this world has decided is politically correct. Whatever fads are currently in vogue. But the truth will always cut through that stuff and engulf it because the truth will always prevail no matter what and all the lies of this world always get exposed and then we look back and wonder how in the world did we get here.

When Jesus is speaking about one person against another, He’s reiterating what Micah wrote centuries before in chapter 7 verse 6, “A man’s enemies are the members of his own household.” Micah wrote then what Jesus said in this Gospel because Jesus is saying that we must make those choices. Do we stay on the side of the road that says no one is wrong or do we stick to the side that declares the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Man, if only those we hear every day would serve God rather than themselves wouldn’t it be so much more honest? Because Mark goes on with this Micah idea by declaring in Chapter 10, verse 27, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

You see the truth, the truth of God as declared by Jesus, is not fluid and it doesn’t yield to the times because it is, quite simply, timeless BECAUSE it’s the truth and will forever remain constant just as God and Jesus are constant in their declarations. Brothers and sisters, this passage points us toward the inevitable that when we stand with God we will not ALWAYS be popular. Those whose agenda is to secularize the culture to the point that God is forbidden from every sphere possible and our youth are no longer taught what is the basis for all morality, have sided with those that assert that there IS no such side to begin which results in the moral relativism that pervades our cultures today. The truth, the truth of Jesus, is measured against the whims of societal construct. That truth, the truth of God, is measured against the measurement which the times deems non-judgmental.

The real truth of the matter is that no matter what you and I want it to be at any given moment, we only have to go back to the scriptures themselves, which have existed for over 4000 years, and look at what the prophets spoke about and open our eyes to see that what comes around goes around. That what those writers cautioned us against then keeps happening today. And, if we are truly honest with ourselves, we’re NOT required to be OK with everything that’s written but that doesn’t make it any less the truth.

Jesus is saying, folks, that because He is the truth, the light, and the way, whether we want to agree with what He’s saying is beside the point because you and me do not have the final say in the matter. Only Him. Jesus is telling us that because we have to make a decision, because we have to choose which side of this world we will reside in, because of all that, there’ll be many others who’ll reject us because they simply wish themselves to be God. They want to determine what is real and what is moral. They want to change what the scriptures say to fit with an all-inclusive moral agenda that has no condemnation but only love and acceptance regardless of how you feel or believe or even preach. Jesus is saying just the opposite and He’s saying that because there’s no truth to moral relativism, that pure fact is what will set one brother against another, one sister against another, and one parent against their child. That to equate love with this moral relativism is really just another way to not have to face consequence for our actions. All roads do NOT lead to heaven because Jesus said it himself in John 14, “I am the way the truth and the light. NO ONE comes to the Father except through me.” In other words, no one gets to heaven without going through Jesus first. It’s just that plain and simple. And this will cause division between friends, love ones and acquaintances, like no other.

But we must make a choice. A decision. A division. It’s inevitable. E. Earle Ellis, the founder of the Institute for Biblical Research, once wrote, “The call for decision is a call FOR division.” What he’s saying is just what Jesus said “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” That’s a call to decide for ourselves which side of the road we want to be on. Which side of the truth do we want to be on? But it’s also a call to us to not only decide but to take action. Action that brings others to the word of God and the words of Christ that can bring them back to the reality that Jesus is not sitting around a campfire singing kumbaya but is active in every part of every day in all of our lives. Whether we can see Him or not is beside the point that He’s still there. Helping us through those tough times. Guiding us in decisions that we make that we think we’re doing on our own. Leading us through small events to a bigger picture than even we can imagine for ourselves. Jesus is there waiting for us and constantly calling to us to put the world down for just a minute, sit for a minute, begin to hear for just a minute, and open our eyes to all that He has provided for us to help us to relook at where we are now and where we think we want to go and Jesus is there the whole time trying to speak in our ears so that we can hear the truth that is real and block the false notions of this world forever.

Back when I was growing up in Austin, I had a chance meeting by the High School gym with what we commonly called at that time a young Jesus freak. She tried to talk with me but I wasn’t listening. Then in the youth gathering I was forced to go to when I was a freshman, we had the obligatory altar call. Then I think back to the times that I rode on the back of a motorcycle with this college guy that lived with us and had to stay home and wrap my brother’s birthday present. The young guy was hit that night by a car and was left in a comma for many, many years and then passed on. I think back to the attitude that was so prevalent then that only the proper people were allowed to be outspoken about their faith. That hearing it cause so much uncomfortableness. People kinda moved away from them at parties. I guess the positive part was that they then had a clear shot at the food table though. I remember walking down the streets in downtown Austin and hearing all the bible thumpers as we liked to call them. You know those street preachers. We always seemed to cross the street to avoid them like the plague. That’s how I grew up.

You know? I wish I had just a possibility to go back in time with what I know now. I would’ve sat with that young girl in high school and talked with her for hours about the kingdom of God. Helping us both to understand all the mystery that we have been shown and helping us both to experience much fuller the beauty that Jesus spoke when He talked of the two greatest commandments. I would’ve drug a couple of the young people up with me at that youth gathering because I know that no one fully understands the gifts that God gives us but going up there might have opened all of our ears just a little more. I would’ve cautioned the guy living with us to not live just for today because God has so, so, much more in store for us to experience. I would’ve engaged all those street preachers to get them to really reach deep down for the word that they were to tell others in the hope of opening the hearts of all that could hear what they were saying. And I would’ve sat with the bible thumpers and opened to the pages of the bible myself and begun to reread all the rich tapestries that are presented with them. I wish I had just a possibility to go back. I don’t. We don’t. We only have the here and now. We only have this moment because, folks, tomorrow may never come. Not something we can count on. We have no control.

So what if you’re sitting there a year from now. Five years from now. Ten years from now. Will you be looking back and wishing the same as I have? Will you remember the possibilities? The missed moments? Will you continued to go in and out of your spiritual house never inviting anyone in? Jesus is saying to take a chance. Take a side. Be not the hypocrites that concern themselves with the weather on the here and now  but those that concern themselves with the forecast of the kingdom to come. That’s what He’s saying and that’s what He shows us in all He says and does. Be the kingdom now and hereafter.

Can we pray? …

Father in heaven, we know we live in the here and now. Sometimes we believe we have no choice. Help us to see the real truth of your words so that we can wear them as a badge so that others can see that truth too. Give us the knowledge to know from whence those words have come. Help us to discern the push from this world against the pulls of your heaven. Father, we are in your hands and we pray for your grace and your mercy which you so freely give. Father, help us in all that we do for your kingdom. We ask all this in you name.

And all God’s people said – Amen?!