The Illusion Of Neutrality
Sermon
Something's Coming ... Something Great
Sermons For Advent, Christmas And Epiphany
Charlie Moran, the old National League baseball umpire, always regarded himself and his decisions highly. He liked to make it clear to the ballplayers who was boss behind the plate. One day, in a very close play at home, the runner and the catcher eagerly awaited Charlie's decision. The umpire hesitated, and the catcher shouted, "Well, is he safe or is he out?" Moran pulled himself up to his full height, cleared his throat, and said to the catcher, "Mister, until I calls it, it ain't nothin' at all!"
Of all the illusions nursed by we modern people, none is more pathetic or dangerous than the illusion of neutrality. Neutrality is that notion that human beings can detach themselves from all crucial choices and decisions in life. Social neutrality straddles the fence of public opinion and refuses to come down on either side of the great social issues. Moral neutrality shows itself in broadminded tolerance which sees all matters of good and evil not in terms of black and white, but in terms of differing shades of grey. Spiritual neutrality chooses neither belief nor atheism, but leaves the matter of God's claim on our lives up in the air.
Picture, if you will, a person who tries to live under this dangerous illusion. Here is a person who works as a clerk in a big store and lives quietly with his family in a modest suburban home. "I am a peaceful man," he is fond of saying. He has no enemies, simply because he has no strong convictions about anything. He rarely involves himself in an argument, and when discussions do arise at work or home, he never takes sides. Nobody knows where this man stands politically, how he votes, or whether he votes at all. In conversation with neighbors about the great problems of the day, he is much like the man who jumped on his horse and rode rapidly off in all directions! Even this man's children cannot draw their father into helping settle simple disputes or make basic life choices. He does attend church every week, but he leaves quickly so as not to offend his colleagues who have no use for the church. Once there was an issue that threatened to divide his congregation, but this fellow kept his feet firmly planted in both camps. The man is a moral acrobat! In all of life's major choices, he straddles the fence, believing in nothing, caring for nothing, loving nothing, and remaining alive, only because he has nothing worth dying for in his empty life.
Our modern society has made a kind of virtue out of openness and neutrality, but how sad it is to meet someone who lives with this form of self-deception. I once met a woman who told me that she would not become a Christian because there were too many obstacles in the path of belief. "I'm not an atheist, you understand, but I'm not convinced that God exists, or that Christianity is the right religion, so I am going to withhold judgment and consider the matter impartially." I only hope that woman gets off the fence pretty soon. You see, she is 87 years old, and her so-called neutrality is fast becoming academic!
In many ways, that's the same message from God that Moses was giving to the people of Israel as they stood on the threshold of the Promised Land. Moses says that to enter into a covenant with the Lord is to make a decision, to commit oneself wholly to God and God's way. This is one of the most explicit calls for decision that the Bible presents. Whether you are a Hebrew from long ago listening to Moses, or a modern person encountering these words in worship or study, you cannot put them aside. The most fundamental choice of life lies before those who have come to this boundary line. Indeed, the choice is life itself - or death; blessing - or curse.
Moses' call for decision about the great issue of life exposes three fundamental truths about the illusion of neutrality in our modern world.
1. A Luxury For Which Someone Must Pay
First, neutrality is a luxury for which somebody has to pay the price. Think for a moment of the thousands of Poles, French, Belgians and others who died from 1939-41 while we in America hid behind the charade of neutrality in the face of Hitler's Nazi War Machine that was bent on all out destruction. Those men and women in a real sense paid for our neutrality and lack of decisive action.
A little more than 100 years ago the slaves in our country were declared free. Their freedom came at terrific cost, not only because some Americans favored slavery, but also because a great majority of Americans held no strong convictions either way. People in high places tried to maintain a discreet posture of neutrality. What saved the Union was the unequivocal partisanship of Abraham Lincoln who struck out fearlessly on this crucial issue of human rights. Even as a young man, Lincoln had taken a stand in New Orleans where he saw slaves chained and whipped at the slave auction. Lincoln said to his friends, "By God, if I ever get a chance to hit this thing, I'll hit it hard." Speaking later in his presidential campaign, Lincoln told a crowd in New York, "There is no use groping about for some middle ground between right and wrong or in having a policy of 'don't care' on a question about which all true men do care."1 Lincoln knew that neutrality is always a luxury for which someone has to pay. In fact, Lincoln is the one who paid with his own life, so that slavery might be eliminated from this nation.
The same truth is evident when we consider the church in today's society. A majority of people apparently are not opposed to the church and what it stands for. They are neither for the church or against it. They would describe themselves as neutral. Of course, if everyone assumed that posture, there would soon be no church to support or oppose. The church, as we know it, would pass out of existence, and with it would go the mainspring of Christianity - the one insitution that keeps alive the redemptive power of God's revelation in Christ. Some people can afford to be neither for or against the church, only because others continue to be stubbornly and devotedly for it. Thank God for the sometimes faithful few, who have been willing to pay the price to keep the doors of a church open. Neutrality is always a luxury for which someone must pay the price.
2. The Refusal To Choose Is A Choice
Consider also that Moses' challenging words expose another fallacy about the illusion of neutrality - the refusal to choose does itself consitute a choice. Jesus put the matter of choice very simply when he said, "The one who is not with me is against me." Moses reminds the Hebrews that the good life which is God's gift will not happen automatically. The life offered in the new land must be lived out by consciously choosing purity of life, justice and fairness, the honor of parents, respect of neighbors, and faithfulness to God. To live every other way said Moses is to choose the way of death and catastrophe.
Not to decide an issue is often to make a decision. I recall a time when I was growing up when the issue of Sunday closing became a referendum in our little town. It was a touchy issue. Many politicians spoke out of both sides of their mouths. Many pastors seemed to lose their voices. When the votes were counted, a handful of voters had decided to end Sunday closing in that town while the vast majority of people, unable to make up their minds, or unwilling to take a stand did not even vote "Yes" or "No." They found that their refusal to choose did itself constitute a choice.
We cannot avoid making a decision about the basic issues of life. The ultimate questions of life have to be answered one way or the other. For instance, does life make sense or is it simply nonsense? Is life a meaningless struggle, or is it nurtured in the purpose and goodness of Almighty God? Are the love, kindness and generosity we show in our finest moments indications of the true nature of life, or are they so much sentimental weakness? What is more important - people or things, individuals or institutions? Do governments exist to be served, or do they exist to serve? Is God real or not? Was Jesus a dreamer and a psychopathetic fool, or did he know how life at its best should be lived? Two choices - God's way or the God-denying way. Life forces them upon us. Whatever we believe with our minds, our lives are committed to one or the other. There can be no middle ground, no neutrality!
3. God Does Not Recognize Neutrals
From beginning to end, the message of the Bible is clear:
God does not recognize neutrals. When it comes to the great moral and spiritual choices of life, God insists that we take a stand. In the dramatic scene in our scripture lesson for today, Moses stands before a people whose ancestors spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt until God led them out, divided the waters of the Red Sea, fed them manna from heaven, and gave them eternal laws to live by in a new land. In the light of all of God's dealings with them, the people must now decide once and for all whether to choose life or death, blessing or curse. From God's point of view, there is no neutrality.
No less dramatic is that scene at Shechem when Joshua again sets before the people the choice to serve the living God, or the pagan deities of Israel's new neighbors. "And if you be unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve ... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24: 14-15)." The same words are echoed by Elijah on Mount Carmel. Standing there before King Ahab and the 750 priests of Baal, and the uncommitted hosts of Israel, the crusty old prophet shouts, "How long will you go limping with two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him (1 Kings 18:21)."
If we ever had any doubts about how God feels about neutrality, the writer of the Book of Revelation dispels that doubt as he describes that large, successful, affluent congregation at Laodicea. From the description given, this is not a church at all, but a religious club to which the best people owe it to themselves to belong. On the great issues of the day, this congregation is neither cold nor hot, but sickeningly tepid. Therefore they made God sick! "So, because you are lukewarm," says the writer, "and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:16)."
One of Britain's great preachers, W. E. Sangster, went with his son to a cricket match between Surrey and Sussex. Before the start of the game, Dr. Sangster'said to his little son, "Now, my boy, let's have none of your nonsense about 'May the best team win.' I don't want the best team to win. I want Surrey to win!" Much later, that young man in writing about his father, described him as "vehemently partisan not only towards sport, but more especially toward the great issues of life." Sangster saw all of life as a crucial conflict between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan. He never nursed any illusions about being neutral. He wanted Jesus Christ to win.
No Christian can be neutral about Jesus Christ. We follow the most un-neutral person who ever lived. Jesus of Nazareth lived on this earth a life of perfect obedience to God, a life so completely committed to God's way, it inevitably brought him into conflict with those who opposed that way. It is the life God intends for us to live; and unless we are prepared to live it, and if need be to suffer for our commitment, then we identify ourselves not with Christ, but with those who nailed him to a cross. That is what Jesus meant when he punctured the illusion of neutrality by saying, "The one who is not for me is against me." Choose this day whom you will serve!
Of all the illusions nursed by we modern people, none is more pathetic or dangerous than the illusion of neutrality. Neutrality is that notion that human beings can detach themselves from all crucial choices and decisions in life. Social neutrality straddles the fence of public opinion and refuses to come down on either side of the great social issues. Moral neutrality shows itself in broadminded tolerance which sees all matters of good and evil not in terms of black and white, but in terms of differing shades of grey. Spiritual neutrality chooses neither belief nor atheism, but leaves the matter of God's claim on our lives up in the air.
Picture, if you will, a person who tries to live under this dangerous illusion. Here is a person who works as a clerk in a big store and lives quietly with his family in a modest suburban home. "I am a peaceful man," he is fond of saying. He has no enemies, simply because he has no strong convictions about anything. He rarely involves himself in an argument, and when discussions do arise at work or home, he never takes sides. Nobody knows where this man stands politically, how he votes, or whether he votes at all. In conversation with neighbors about the great problems of the day, he is much like the man who jumped on his horse and rode rapidly off in all directions! Even this man's children cannot draw their father into helping settle simple disputes or make basic life choices. He does attend church every week, but he leaves quickly so as not to offend his colleagues who have no use for the church. Once there was an issue that threatened to divide his congregation, but this fellow kept his feet firmly planted in both camps. The man is a moral acrobat! In all of life's major choices, he straddles the fence, believing in nothing, caring for nothing, loving nothing, and remaining alive, only because he has nothing worth dying for in his empty life.
Our modern society has made a kind of virtue out of openness and neutrality, but how sad it is to meet someone who lives with this form of self-deception. I once met a woman who told me that she would not become a Christian because there were too many obstacles in the path of belief. "I'm not an atheist, you understand, but I'm not convinced that God exists, or that Christianity is the right religion, so I am going to withhold judgment and consider the matter impartially." I only hope that woman gets off the fence pretty soon. You see, she is 87 years old, and her so-called neutrality is fast becoming academic!
In many ways, that's the same message from God that Moses was giving to the people of Israel as they stood on the threshold of the Promised Land. Moses says that to enter into a covenant with the Lord is to make a decision, to commit oneself wholly to God and God's way. This is one of the most explicit calls for decision that the Bible presents. Whether you are a Hebrew from long ago listening to Moses, or a modern person encountering these words in worship or study, you cannot put them aside. The most fundamental choice of life lies before those who have come to this boundary line. Indeed, the choice is life itself - or death; blessing - or curse.
Moses' call for decision about the great issue of life exposes three fundamental truths about the illusion of neutrality in our modern world.
1. A Luxury For Which Someone Must Pay
First, neutrality is a luxury for which somebody has to pay the price. Think for a moment of the thousands of Poles, French, Belgians and others who died from 1939-41 while we in America hid behind the charade of neutrality in the face of Hitler's Nazi War Machine that was bent on all out destruction. Those men and women in a real sense paid for our neutrality and lack of decisive action.
A little more than 100 years ago the slaves in our country were declared free. Their freedom came at terrific cost, not only because some Americans favored slavery, but also because a great majority of Americans held no strong convictions either way. People in high places tried to maintain a discreet posture of neutrality. What saved the Union was the unequivocal partisanship of Abraham Lincoln who struck out fearlessly on this crucial issue of human rights. Even as a young man, Lincoln had taken a stand in New Orleans where he saw slaves chained and whipped at the slave auction. Lincoln said to his friends, "By God, if I ever get a chance to hit this thing, I'll hit it hard." Speaking later in his presidential campaign, Lincoln told a crowd in New York, "There is no use groping about for some middle ground between right and wrong or in having a policy of 'don't care' on a question about which all true men do care."1 Lincoln knew that neutrality is always a luxury for which someone has to pay. In fact, Lincoln is the one who paid with his own life, so that slavery might be eliminated from this nation.
The same truth is evident when we consider the church in today's society. A majority of people apparently are not opposed to the church and what it stands for. They are neither for the church or against it. They would describe themselves as neutral. Of course, if everyone assumed that posture, there would soon be no church to support or oppose. The church, as we know it, would pass out of existence, and with it would go the mainspring of Christianity - the one insitution that keeps alive the redemptive power of God's revelation in Christ. Some people can afford to be neither for or against the church, only because others continue to be stubbornly and devotedly for it. Thank God for the sometimes faithful few, who have been willing to pay the price to keep the doors of a church open. Neutrality is always a luxury for which someone must pay the price.
2. The Refusal To Choose Is A Choice
Consider also that Moses' challenging words expose another fallacy about the illusion of neutrality - the refusal to choose does itself consitute a choice. Jesus put the matter of choice very simply when he said, "The one who is not with me is against me." Moses reminds the Hebrews that the good life which is God's gift will not happen automatically. The life offered in the new land must be lived out by consciously choosing purity of life, justice and fairness, the honor of parents, respect of neighbors, and faithfulness to God. To live every other way said Moses is to choose the way of death and catastrophe.
Not to decide an issue is often to make a decision. I recall a time when I was growing up when the issue of Sunday closing became a referendum in our little town. It was a touchy issue. Many politicians spoke out of both sides of their mouths. Many pastors seemed to lose their voices. When the votes were counted, a handful of voters had decided to end Sunday closing in that town while the vast majority of people, unable to make up their minds, or unwilling to take a stand did not even vote "Yes" or "No." They found that their refusal to choose did itself constitute a choice.
We cannot avoid making a decision about the basic issues of life. The ultimate questions of life have to be answered one way or the other. For instance, does life make sense or is it simply nonsense? Is life a meaningless struggle, or is it nurtured in the purpose and goodness of Almighty God? Are the love, kindness and generosity we show in our finest moments indications of the true nature of life, or are they so much sentimental weakness? What is more important - people or things, individuals or institutions? Do governments exist to be served, or do they exist to serve? Is God real or not? Was Jesus a dreamer and a psychopathetic fool, or did he know how life at its best should be lived? Two choices - God's way or the God-denying way. Life forces them upon us. Whatever we believe with our minds, our lives are committed to one or the other. There can be no middle ground, no neutrality!
3. God Does Not Recognize Neutrals
From beginning to end, the message of the Bible is clear:
God does not recognize neutrals. When it comes to the great moral and spiritual choices of life, God insists that we take a stand. In the dramatic scene in our scripture lesson for today, Moses stands before a people whose ancestors spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt until God led them out, divided the waters of the Red Sea, fed them manna from heaven, and gave them eternal laws to live by in a new land. In the light of all of God's dealings with them, the people must now decide once and for all whether to choose life or death, blessing or curse. From God's point of view, there is no neutrality.
No less dramatic is that scene at Shechem when Joshua again sets before the people the choice to serve the living God, or the pagan deities of Israel's new neighbors. "And if you be unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve ... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24: 14-15)." The same words are echoed by Elijah on Mount Carmel. Standing there before King Ahab and the 750 priests of Baal, and the uncommitted hosts of Israel, the crusty old prophet shouts, "How long will you go limping with two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him (1 Kings 18:21)."
If we ever had any doubts about how God feels about neutrality, the writer of the Book of Revelation dispels that doubt as he describes that large, successful, affluent congregation at Laodicea. From the description given, this is not a church at all, but a religious club to which the best people owe it to themselves to belong. On the great issues of the day, this congregation is neither cold nor hot, but sickeningly tepid. Therefore they made God sick! "So, because you are lukewarm," says the writer, "and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:16)."
One of Britain's great preachers, W. E. Sangster, went with his son to a cricket match between Surrey and Sussex. Before the start of the game, Dr. Sangster'said to his little son, "Now, my boy, let's have none of your nonsense about 'May the best team win.' I don't want the best team to win. I want Surrey to win!" Much later, that young man in writing about his father, described him as "vehemently partisan not only towards sport, but more especially toward the great issues of life." Sangster saw all of life as a crucial conflict between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan. He never nursed any illusions about being neutral. He wanted Jesus Christ to win.
No Christian can be neutral about Jesus Christ. We follow the most un-neutral person who ever lived. Jesus of Nazareth lived on this earth a life of perfect obedience to God, a life so completely committed to God's way, it inevitably brought him into conflict with those who opposed that way. It is the life God intends for us to live; and unless we are prepared to live it, and if need be to suffer for our commitment, then we identify ourselves not with Christ, but with those who nailed him to a cross. That is what Jesus meant when he punctured the illusion of neutrality by saying, "The one who is not for me is against me." Choose this day whom you will serve!
