A Lukewarm Church

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Matthew 12, verse 30, Jesus says, He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad.

The Myth of Neutrality and the Black-and-White Claims of Jesus

And the title of this morning's message is, The Myth of Neutrality. The myth of neutrality. What does it mean to be neutral? To remain neutral means that you're not aligning yourself with either side.

You're not taking a stand. You're just kind of trying to stay out of it. To use World War II as an example, with the United States being at war with Nazi Germany, many nations got involved in the European theater.

But there were some nations that chose to remain neutral. They just wanted to stay out of it, stay out of the conflict. And you can imagine that some took a dim view of that. History does not look favorably upon such a thing.

It has been said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. And that was certainly true and is certainly true. But in this world, I have to say that there probably are some times and situations where it is wise to remain neutral.

But when it comes to spiritual matters, and that's what we're talking about this morning, when it comes to spiritual matters, there can be no neutrality. If we simply look at the words of Jesus here and take them at face value, if we're going to believe the Holy Scriptures, we see that there is the kingdom of light.

There's the kingdom of darkness. And again, Jesus said, if you are not with me, what?

You're against me.

You're against me. That's pretty clear. And if you are not gathering with me, you are scattering abroad. That's pretty black and white. All right. Now let's turn to Joshua chapter 24, continuing with this idea.

And you saw that that's what Jesus said. That's not what I said. That's what Christ said. It's very black and white statement. He who is not with me is against me. A while back, two local pastors were having a conversation about yours truly.

And I was told about this later on. One pastor said to the other, said, Pastor Grant, you know, with him, everything is just black and white. And I don't know that that was meant as a compliment. I mean, maybe it was, but I got the feeling it wasn't.

But you know what I say to that?

Amen.

Amen.

Because in this postmodern culture where confusion abounds, where you have all these people saying, going as far as to say that there's really no such thing as absolute truth, or you can't know what is true.

And everything is, you know, there's one side. Everyone wants to be in the middle and try to appeal to both sides. You know, they have no conviction. You know, we need more clarity. We need more black and white.

You know, sometimes it really is that simple that there's right and there's wrong, period. Now, admittedly, that's not always the case.

All right.

Believe it or not, I actually don't think everything is black and white. There are gray areas in scripture. There's plenty of things that we could talk about this morning that we're not going to, but there's plenty of things we could talk about where, you know, people have scruples about this or that.

People have convictions about one thing. Someone else doesn't have that same conviction. I did a whole sermon on this from the subject or from the chapter Romans 14, talking about gray areas. The sermon was titled, Why do you judge your brother?

So, you know, you can go back and listen to that. No, I don't actually think everything is black and white. But when it comes to those overarching issues, those clear statements and those clear defining teachings from Christ and his apostles, you know, a lot of things are black and white.

And this is one of them. There is no neutrality when it comes to the person of Jesus Christ. There can be no neutrality. Again, I'll say it again. I'll say it again after this. He who is not with me is against me.

And there's plenty of statements all throughout the scripture where it's very, very clear. Many non-negotiables when a person fails. And this is the problem. When a person fails to acknowledge that when spiritually a person is not abiding in these truths where they do want to try to carve out some sort of middle ground or remain neutral, they just want to stay out of the battle.

Really, by default, what they have done is they've sided in with the world, the flesh or the devil. So there is no neutrality when it comes to the kingdom of God. Now, let's look at a statement like this in the Old Testament.

Look at Joshua 24, Joshua chapter 24, verses 1 and 2. Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers.

And they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord God of Israel, your fathers, including Terah, who's the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwell on the other side of the river in old times.

And they served other gods. Now skip down to verse 13. This is what the Lord says that I've given you a land for which you did not labor and cities which you did not build. And you dwell in them. You eat of the vineyards and olive groves, which you did not plant.

Now, therefore, because of this, what does he say? Fear the Lord. Serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord.

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river or the God of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.

But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. Can you say that? Can you say that that as for me and as for my house, we will serve the Lord. And I hope you can. But obviously, many cannot say that.

And I would simply pose the question to them. If you're not serving the Lord, who are you serving? You're either serving the Lord. And I know this again, black and white. It's a bold claim. You are either serving the Lord or at the very best.

You are aiding in abetting the kingdom of darkness. You say, Pastor, that's pretty black and white. But that's what Jesus said. He who is not with me is against me. And let me point out again. I didn't come up with that.

That's what Jesus of Nazareth said. You see, my friends, there is no neutrality here. Spiritual matters. Neutrality is a myth. Either, and I think this is just basic logic. Either Jesus is the son of God or he isn't.

Either he rose from the dead or he didn't. Either he will come back to judge the living and the dead or he won't. And if these things are true, if the Bible is true, if the gospel is true, then your relationship with Christ, your standing before God is at the utmost importance.

If all of that is true, what could be more important? You know, the average lifespan in the United States anyways, and it's similar different places throughout the world. The average lifespan is somewhere between 70 and 80 years.

But eternity lasts forever. So hopefully you see what's at stake. Everything is at stake. There can be no neutrality when it comes to spiritual matters. So let's turn at this point to Revelation chapter 3.

The Lukewarm Church in Revelation 3

Revelation chapter 3. And you know, I think this message both applies to the unbeliever who has not decided for Christ yet. And of course, by not deciding, they have decided. They've said no. But it also applies to believers because there's a lot of Christians.

They profess faith in Christ, but they're kind of on the fence, not really doing anything. Not really willing to step out in faith. There's things in their life they know they should change, and they're not changing it.

So this can apply to both the believer and the unbeliever. So we're looking at Revelation chapter 3. And this of course is the letter to the Laodicean church. And some people have called the age that we live in, and you've heard terms like this, that we're living in the church age.

Well, I agree with that. We're living in the church age, the last 2 ,000 years. But some people have called the past 200 years or so, they've called it the Laodicean church age. You've probably heard that term basically in the last couple hundred years with the rise of liberal theology and higher criticism.

Basically where you don't believe the Bible's the word of God. I mean, the word of God might be in there somewhere, but the Bible's not trustworthy. That's what liberal theology and higher criticism says.

But that's been so prevalent the past couple centuries. This age, the Laodicean church age, if you accept that term, it's been marked by apostasy, lukewarmness. And that's what Revelation 3 talks about.

And really apathy, right? Just whatever. You know, you hear the word of God, and you get in your car and drive off, and you forgot everything that was said and done five minutes down the road. Three minutes down the road, maybe.

You say, not me, not me. And by the way, since I'm preaching this morning, and some of this is maybe a bold claim. You know, when we sit in church on Sunday morning. Let me just give a little free advice.

Sit up straight. Bring a pen.

Take notes.

Pay attention. If you don't think it's valuable, okay. I mean, I can't do anything there. But sit up straight. Pay attention.

Take notes.

It helps you to remember what has been said. And take something away from the sermon that you can apply later on today and this week. You know, if you're a visitor, hey, we're happy to have you. If you're watching online and you're a visitor, first time online, we're happy to have you.

But that's for church members, okay? You're a part of the, okay. Laodicean church. Let's look at verse 14. This is Jesus. He's giving the message to the apostle John, who John then is to relay it to the, what we believe is the pastor of the church.

He calls him the angel or the messenger. Verse 14 of Revelation 3. To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things says the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

So here's what, who's speaking here?

All right.

So Jesus is speaking. He's speaking to Christians. He's speaking to the church. He says, I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

Because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing. And yet you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. You see, no preacher could get away with that.

Jesus can get away with it.

But this is what?

A lukewarm church that is of no use to the Lord. In fact, their behavior, dare I say their neutrality. It makes the Lord sick. It makes him sick. I will vomit you out of my mouth. Thanks for listening.

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.