Sermon - Oculi 2019 - Luke 11:14-28

Do you like to walk the middle of the road? You know, carry the neutral position and not take sides? It’s the nice thing to do, afterall. I’ve heard a slogan just recently about being nice, it goes like this: “It’s so nice to be nice, and to let others see that you are nice.” I’ll agree that it is nice to be nice, and it’s nice to be around other nice people who are also nice to you. But you can’t always walk the middle of the road, nor should you. Especially when it comes to your walk of faith.

In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches us that there are two kingdoms: the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness; the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil; the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of hell. There’s no third kingdom you can dwell in, either you’re in the one or the other. You can’t walk down the middle of this road. You can’t straddle this fence.

For on the one side you have the kingdom of Beelzebub. In this kingdom the devil reigns supreme. Indeed, all mankind has been born into his kingdom of darkness. From birth “you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Our Lord Jesus Himself says that the devil is “a strong man, fully armed” and this strongman “guards his own palace.” His kingdom is neither humble nor small, since after the fall into sin he annexed this whole world for his realm. This kingdom of the devil is filled with every form of pleasure and ecstasy, every luxury and treasure. His kingdom is attractive and nice, his kingdom is welcoming and tolerant of all beliefs and opinions, in his kingdom everyone is right and everyone’s opinions are valid. 

Who dwells in the Beelzebul’s camp? Jesus shows us two groups of people who dwell in the devil’s kingdom: the first group cried out at Jesus “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” These are the people who either outright reject Jesus and denounce Him, or these are the people who simply live lives of manifest sin. These people are relatively easy to spot, and I would guess that none of us here fall into that camp, since as far as I’m aware none of us here are publicly speaking against Jesus. 

But the other group of people who dwell in Satan’s palace are much more difficult to spot, and oftentimes they include us nice church going folk. These are the people who cried out to Jesus “to test Him, and kept seeking from Him a sign from heaven.” These are people who claim Jesus, and yet say before they can fully jump on board with Him they need to see a sign. These are the people who walk the middle of the road and straddle the fence between God’s Kingdom and satan’s kingdom. 

Yet one thing is certain, Jesus says “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” You cannot remain neutral in this war between Satan and Jesus. The past couple of weeks we’ve talked about how the Christian life is a battle. You might be tempted to say that you just want to be a nice neutral party, one foot in either camp, this way you don’t offend anybody. You want to be able to stand in both the kingdom of this world and in the kingdom of God, this way nobody gets mad at you for taking a position. But it doesn’t work that way! You’re either in or out!

You are either with Christ, or you are against Him! You are either hot or cold! If you’re neutral in this matter, the Lord declares “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” You can’t walk the middle of this road.

So many Christians would like to be neutral, you and me included in this. God’s laws are just a bit too harsh and a bit too contrarian against the rest of the world. We don’t want to give up the pleasures and luxuries of the devil’s kingdom. It’s nice to have lots of money, it’s nice to have sex with who we please, it’s nice to get married or not with whom we choose, it’s nice to have friends in high places, it’s nice to be popular and well liked, it’s nice to be involved in all manner of earthly pride and gain, it’s nice to say we all believe the same thing, it’s nice to worship as one human race, it’s nice to say men and women aren’t different, it’s nice to say we worship the same god as the jews and muslims, it’s nice to accept everyone’s passions, it’s so nice to be nice, and to let others see that you are nice. 

You know, the devil being all welcoming is just fine with that. He has no problem with half Christians in His kingdom since he knows that they’re entirely in his camp and they just don’t know it yet. You can’t walk the middle of this road. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

So let us be found firmly planted in Christ’s Kingdom instead. Listen to what will happen to the devil’s kingdom: “when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.” You know how this battle ends. You’ve heard it already. Christ is the stronger man who, though He appears weak, is mighty and valiant and by the power of the cross He crushes Satan’s nice smiling neutral walking the middle of the road head.

There is one who can rescue you from the power of the devil and free you from His niceties and lies. That one is Christ. “If the Son sets you free you will be free indeed.” Christ has come along and taken away Satan’s armor in which we have trusted, He’s overcome him and given to us the spoils of the victory. 

What are the spoils of this war? None less than the Word of God! Jesus declares “Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it!” By the Word of God, by the finger of God, by the Holy Spirit, though it seems like such a small thing it has the power to crush satan beneath our feet! 

Satan might seem like such a powerful ruler who rules over this whole creation and whose servants are many and surround us. However the Word of God reveals the devil to be weak and spineless. Beelzebul means god of the flies, or to put it more bluntly and crassly, god of dung. Satan is no more than a fly buzzing around a stinking pile of poop. All of the riches and luxuries and niceties he tries to lure you with in this life are no more than what you might find in the sewer! The Word of God declares satan to be no more than a disease ridden pest and when you dwell in his camp it’s as if you’re dwelling in the bottom of an outhouse. Suddenly the Devil’s nice kingdom doesn’t seem so nice, huh.

Christ has defeated this beelzebub by the power of His almighty Word. Christ went to the depths of beelzebub’s kingdom for you when He hung on the cross. He rescues you from Satan’s palace when He sheds His blood for you. By the power of His Word He opens your eyes to the filth and stink of the devil’s kingdom, shows you that all of this niceness and walking in the middle of the road is no good thing. 

By the power of Jesus’ Word, He blesses you and makes you holy. God’s Word declares you to be good. He absolves and cleans you of your filthy sins. He covers you in His righteous garments of salvation. He shows you the truth and implants in your heart faith to come to the knowledge of salvation. So stop trying to walk the middle of the road, stop trying to be neutral, and just happily dwell in Christ’s kingdom. Maybe it’s not so nice to be nice and to have others see that you’re nice. Perhaps it’s better to just be good, even if it’s not always nice.