Whose Side Are You On? :: Luke 11:14-28
We live in a world filled with deep division. Everywhere, it seems, people are divided by ideology and theology, politics and economics. But there is not a bigger divide facing all humanity than the one we face today. It is more significant than whether you are a Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, man or a woman, adult or child.
Jesus said, Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters (v 28). It is the great divide.
So whose side are you on? Are you with him, or against him?
Are you a Christian, or are you an enemy of Christ?
Are you with the Lord, or do you serve Satan?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, there are no shades of gray here. Are you gathering or scattering?
WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?
That’s the question of our Gospel this morning, and our theme.
Our Gospel reading from Luke 11 this morning illustrates that truth for us rather plainly. A house divided cannot stand. Those who are against Christ call evil good and good evil, and they are destined for eternal punishment in the unquenchable fire of hell. Those who are with Christ are blessed by our heavenly Father; they hear the Gospel, and to them belongs the kingdom.
I.
You might think it’s easy to figure out on which side of the aisle we stand. But it isn’t easy. Just like in Jesus’ day, there are many people who say they follow Christ ... and therefore, they say they are Christian ... but they are in fact rushing to proclaim that there is no such thing as sin. They either deny God’s Word ... or embrace it. They either slice it and dice it to suit their every need, or receive it all with joy and thanksgiving. There is no third option.
Many people in our world today are rushing to say that it’s okay to live the way you want to live ... nevermind that God has clearly condemned this. Like many of those in the city of Ephesus, too, Saint Paul encourages us instead to become imitators of God, walking in love. That means giving up our immorality and obeying God’s Word, giving up our impurity and covetousness (which is idolatry). As Paul wrote, those who do such things have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ (Eph 5:1-9).
Which side are you on?
II.
To help us understand the division, let us consider our reading from Luke 11. It is helpful to know here that the calendar on Jesus’ life is beginning to wind down.
At this point in Luke’s narrative, Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem ... he has begun his exodus to the cross (Lk 9:51). Everywhere he goes, Jesus is being confronted by his opponents, those who hate him, those who stand against him. The scribes and Pharisees, in particular, stood firmly against him in spite of the fact that everywhere he goes, Jesus does indisputably good things ... you know ... like healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, freeing mankind from sin, death, and the devil, casting out demons. Who can be against that?
You shouldn’t be surprised that some people are.
When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, it’s by means of Beelzebul, the rule of demons, he casts out demons. Still others, testing him, continued to seek a sign out of heaven (vv 14-16) ... as if he hadn’t done just that ... once again.
It’s a ridiculous argument and ridiculous test of the will of God ... a test which Jesus passed with flawless logic. Seeing their thoughts, he said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls. So, if then, Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand (vv 17-18a)?
The simple truth Jesus presents to them is that Satan’s kingdom can’t stand if the demons are working against Satan. Are you with him or against him?
III.
It’s shocking to think that people will say anything ... however indefensible ... to oppose us ... which means, to oppose Jesus. They love the idea that Jesus taught us to love, but they ignore that he first taught us to repent. Like the Pharisees, they will call good evil and evil good. They will challenge Biblical morality and call it judgmental and uncaring. They will deny their sin. They will call faithful doctrine old-fashioned, unrealistic, uneducated. They will describe sound and faithful church practice as out of touch, uninteresting.
They will say, If we could just ignore the law ... if we could just stop teaching the morality of a bye-gone era and the mythic doctrines of an unenlightened past ... we could be applicable and relative to life in this day and age, and draw crowds like you would not believe.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to answer them the same way Jesus did ... with simple logic, the plain truth, and bold faithfulness. The simple logic is that the Bible hasn’t changed, nor has the sinful nature of man. When you stand against your sin, you stand against Christ. You cannot reject the Word of God you don’t like and still claim that the parts you like to be true and valid. Whose side are you on?
IV.
When people reject the truth, or the fellowship of those who stand in the truth, there is only one place for them to go ... whoever is not with me is against me; and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Error is the only place outside of the truth. Immorality is the only place outside of morality. “Against us” is the only place outside of “with us.”
Obviously, some people will not be entirely comfortable with that. It means that your friends who won’t make time to receive God’s service may actually be your enemies. It means that people who reject Biblical morality for one reason or another are not just “of another opinion” ... they stand with evil. Those who water down the doctrine of scripture are in fact scattering. They are preaching something that is contrary to the Word of God. As Paul continues to remind us, all scripture is useful because it enables us to repent and believe the Gospel. Brothers and sisters in Christ, confess the truth of God’s Word, and rest in the faith he provides.
Those who refuse may very well end up like the scribes and Pharisees in our reading, worse than ever before. Jesus had already gone to them and cleansed them. Many of them had even submitted to John’s baptism of repentance. And yet, the last state of Israel became worse than the first ... for now the Jews had rejected the Messiah. And all the demons and the desires of our sinful flesh and the world to maintain manmade tradition overwhelmed them. Israel became more polluted and less godly ... and Judaism became utterly unfaithful. It was not long after this that Saint John ultimately described Judaism as the synagogue of Satan (Rv 2:9, 3:9).
Christian churches and Christian people do the same thing when they rise up against the teachings of the Scriptures and deny the Word of God. Today they embrace sin and deny the sacraments. They ask you, how can water do such great things? They wonder how Christ can give his body and blood in the sacrament of the altar? And how these things can deliver the forgiveness of sins. We have even seen some in our own church body stumble from this path of truth and become little more than social clubs teaching another gospel, not that there is one (Gal 1:6-7a). Whose side are you on?
V.
There is only one Gospel: Christ is on your side. He has removed the strong man from your life. The devil, the world, and our sinful flesh have been overpowered by the stronger man, the Lord of Life, our Lord Jesus, who has lived, died, and rose from the dead for you (vv 21-22). He is not only with you ... he is for you. As Saint Paul told the Galatians, I have been crucified with Christ. I’m not the one who lives any more ... it is Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20).
Jesus is on our side. He has stood in our place. The Lord of Life, Jesus, fulfilled the promise in the garden. He was born of a woman, born under the law. Then, having fulfilled the law, he destroyed the Lord of Death, Satan. Jesus took your sin from you, and carried the curse of that sin to the cross so that it would die with him.
Talk about being a stronger man. He was then buried with your sin, so that it will never be heard from again. Finally, he rose from death to put an end to death. And now you, who are baptized, have received the promise of eternal life with him. He has given you his robes of righteousness so that you can stand before God, in full fellowship with him at his feast of forgiveness.
When you hear this Word of God and believe it, you are blessed (v 28). You can then stand with Jesus forever, holding it sacred and gladly hearing and learning it. His Word of his life, death, and resurrection provide us with an eternal blessing ... the forgiveness of sins.
Let us now stand with Jesus ... in his name. Amen.