Devotional:

“Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” — Luke 11:14-23

We are now 11 days from Easter Sunday and as we go through these last accounts of Jesus teaching and healing people from Galilee to Jerusalem, we see in this passage, and we will continue to see things escalate with the Pharisee’s hatred toward Jesus. And we will see people’s open expression of whom they believe Jesus is and the blinders that keep them from truly seeing Him as the Messiah.

It’s one thing to call Jesus a fraud or say He was just a magician or an illusionist. It is another to say He worked for Satan. Those were some bold claims the people and Pharisees made after Jesus had just healed a man from the bondage of a mute demon sent by Satan.

Jesus had cast out silent demons before, but this time, they were saying it was only by the power of Satan that Jesus could have done this. That makes no sense, if Jesus worked for the devil, why would He have driven out this demon? The whole point of Satan’s agenda was to get the demons in, not out. These naysayers and Pharisees were only there to test, judge and accuse Jesus when all He was doing was freeing this man from a demon who took away his ability to speak.

But sometimes, when people are so blind to the truth, they only look for reasons to judge and find fault and will say or do anything to prove a point. But Jesus was always two steps ahead and instead of walking away that day, He boldly stood His ground and claimed there was one way to the Father and it was through Him and they needed to get on board.

The people surrounding Jesus were critics, cynics and unbelievers. No matter what signs and miracles He did, they either completely denied Him or remained skeptical and neutral, continuing to question His authority as the Messiah. But Jesus wasted no time calling them out because He knew their hearts and could read their minds.

As we read further in this chapter, Jesus was very clear about the dangers of not choosing and the arguments between Him and the Pharisees grew more and more heated. But Jesus, on this day, was not going to leave that place until every ear heard the truth that He was the Son of God.

This reminds me a lot of our culture today; the spirit of neutrality has plagued our nation and our world. People question the Bible and pick and choose what they want to believe and what they want to leave out, saying it is outdated or irrelevant to our culture. So many are afraid to stand up for their faith in Jesus for fear of being culturally insensitive, intolerant or offensive. No one was more culturally insensitive, intolerant or offensive than Jesus was. He came into the Jewish culture, His own culture and completely turned everything they knew and believed upside down!

This fear of choosing truth over neutrality only comes from Satan and his top platforms that drive that fear are some of our favorite things; news, social media, the shows we watch, the music we listen to and any open forum that captures our attention and feeds us these lies.

Jesus wasn’t enough proof for them and today, people still sit on the fence, thinking their neutral stance is safe. I can’t imagine the sadness Jesus feels when He looks at us and sees how afraid we are to take a stand for the gospel. What are we doing? He literally died for us and we are too scared to face a little cultural warfare.

We even see this in churches all over the world. Watered-down gospel, just to fit the cultural norm. As a church and as believers, we are called to love others so much that we cannot sit back and let them continue to buy into the lies of this world. Walking in the truth and having eternal life is the only thing that matters and that is only through Jesus Christ.

Jesus gave two options; heaven or hell, with no in-between. In verse 23, Jesus says we are either for or against Him. There is no safe fence to sit on, no middle lane to ride in and no grey area. And at the end of verse 23, He went even further and said neutrality was even more harmful to the kingdom than openly professing our unbelief. It sounds harsh and is viewed by many as closed-minded and intolerant, but Jesus called us to be His disciples and to love others. As a disciple, we love others by showing them the truth and enduring all the questions, comments and ridicule that may come with it.

Here is the truth: John 14:6 says, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him. And Psalm 18:30 says God’s way is perfect, the Word of the Lord proves true and He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.

We want everyone at Eleven22 to feel loved and welcome, but we do not seek seat warmers and will not teach neutrality. We teach the gospel. We hope and pray that you will come to worship with us and bring your questions, fears and past hurts with you. We want to walk with you and show you a love beyond anything this world offers. We will lead from a place of love and desperation for you to know Jesus and live with Him in eternity.

Maybe you are riding that fence and are still fearful of what the world might think of you. Or, perhaps you have been riding the fence and are ready to step into the fullness of Jesus as your Savior. We would love for you to reach out to us, we want to walk through this with you. Join a disciple group and surround yourself with other believers you can trust and rely on to go alongside you through this journey. 

God, I pray against the spirit of neutrality. It is one of the most dangerous lies from Satan that this world has bought into. Instead of worrying about how we may offend people in this world, help us find ways to glorify You while loving others, so that they will come to know You as their Lord and Savior. Amen