FROG Discipleship

Neutral Kills Growth

• Nick

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0:00 | 23:47
SPEAKER_00

Good morning and welcome to Frog Discipleship. Nick Withers here. Sorry, it's been a little bit since I've posted. It's been a good little bit. I do apologize. Life has been crazy, but we're getting back on track. A lot of new things going on. But today, I want to go ahead and just jump right into it. Frog means forever rely on God. So let us do that today. So Christianity, being a child of God, is meant for us to be fruitful. What does that mean to be fruitful? We are not meant to be in neutral, going nowhere, doing nothing, achieving nothing. When Scripture tells us to bear fruit, we have to produce. So Christians, Christianity was never meant to set still. We are meant to be producers of the gospel, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. But what I see in Christianity today, you have a lot of Christians, and for those that are listening, I'm using air quotes. They identify as Christians, but they are in neutral. They're doing nothing, going nowhere, achieving nothing for the kingdom of God, not even growing in their spiritual, spiritual health. And that's simply not biblical. In Ephesians 5:1, it tells us to be imitators of Christ as dear children. So what does that mean to be an imitator? It's no different than looking in the mirror. And as it's as your reflection, as your right hand goes up in the mirror, it's the same thing. My son is eight years old, and he watches me, and he mimics my mannerisms on catchphrases that I say different ways. I mean, he'll dress like me a lot of times. He's imitating me because I'm the example in which he sees and which he wants to be. That is what a Christian's life should look like. But in that analogy, we are like my son, and Christ is the example. So we are to look at Christ as the example, see what he has done, and try to be as much like Christ as we possibly can. Now, so let's get right into it. Why is this important? Well, when we go to Matthew chapter 12, verse 30, let me bring some clarity in. So let's go ahead and start as far as 22 and go to verse 30. It says, Then one was brought to him who was demon possessed, blind and mute, and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, Could this be the son of David? Now when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow does not cast out demons except by Belzebub, the ruler of the demons. But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolution, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Belzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judge. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me is scattered abroad. So Christ is talking about, all right, the question is, all right, this this man was healed, and they're saying, Oh, you did it in Belzebub, which is, you know, evil doing in the name of Satan, and Christ is saying, you know, house divided cannot stand, because he's he is specifically saying that, hey, we are doing this in the name of Jesus Christ, okay, because there is a difference. But then what I want us to focus on in verse 30, he who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me is scattered abroad. What does this mean? It means that there is a line. You are either for God or you are against God, you are either light or you are darkness. There is no in-between. No in between. A choice has to be made. The old has died and the new remains. The old dying is your dying to the sin, the old self, and the new remaining is you are being born again into Christ. There has been a change. When a change occurs, you are either for God or against God. When that change occurs, you are on God's side. You are for Team Jesus. Now it's time to act like it. There's a lot of people that profess Christ with their lips, with their words, but their actions say something completely different. Christian men and women are not meant to be in neutral. Think of it as a car. If you put your car in neutral, even though it's running, even though it's got a full tank of gas, even though all the tires on the car are brand new, you put it in neutral and you mash that pedal, where's it going? Absolutely nowhere. We are not meant to be in neutral and go nowhere and achieve nothing, but be comfortable while sitting still. That's not biblical. Simply put, that is not biblical. See, Satan has come in and said, Oh, you know, you can you can just share the gospel with your actions. Yes, you need to be visibly identified by your actions, that you are a good person, that your actions are demonstrating good Christian morals, yes. But what we forget in Romans 10, 17, so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. In order for someone to come to salvation in Jesus Christ, the gospel message has to be spoken, not just lived out. We must speak about Jesus, must speak and have godly conversations with other people. If faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, your testimony is your greatest weapon to share the gospel. Let people know what God has done in your life. Well, if you're in neutral, God's not doing much in your life because you're not actively pursuing Him. You're sitting still and hoping Him and saying, Hey, you just come to me, Lord, come to me. No, no, no. No, the creation, which is us, is never greater than the Creator, which is Christ Jesus, our Heavenly Father. Okay. So if you're in neutral, you're expecting the Creator to come to you and serve you instead of you, the creation, going and serving the creator and following him. Logically, that doesn't make sense. Okay. We have to be moving forward. If you're not moving forward, what you don't realize that you're doing is you're a neutral and you are choosing to be idle and not produce any kind of fruit for the kingdom of God. And what that means is you are on the wrong side of the fence. He who is not with me is against me. You can't be with God in theory. You can't just be a fan, you have to be a follower. You can't just be a fan, you have to be a follower. Kyle Eidelman wrote a book titled That Fan or Follower, something to that effect. Pretty good book. I encourage you to read it. But we have to get out of the bleachers and onto the field and start producing for the kingdom of God. You know, because that's what it means. So I heard this once and I thought it was really good. And it's about, you know, we you've heard you're familiar with the grass is always greener on the other side, right? So picture a field of grass, if you will, and there's a fence that cuts in the middle of it. And on one side of the field, this is this side belongs to Jesus. This is heaven, and this is this is being a Christian person. Then you have the fence, and on the other side of the fence is the world. You get to live for the world. So essentially, the world is the wide path, the other side of the fence, which is Jesus, is the narrow path. All right. Path that leads to destruction, and the path that leads to righteousness. Okay. Well, the person who is standing on the right side of the fence, if you will, they're like, okay, I want I'm I'm trying to make a decision. I want to follow Jesus. I like everything he has to say. I like what he represents. But the problem is I really enjoy the world. It's fun. I like to do these things. I like to do this and go here and hang out with these types of people and this, that, and the other. So they're like, okay, I got a great idea. You know, instead of choosing a side, I'm just going to sit on the fence. So they sit on the fence and they stay there all their life. And then they die. And then when they die, they're expecting, well, you know, I had one foot in on heaven, so that means I'm I'm saved, right? Then they then they die, and on their judgment, instead of getting entered into the kingdom of heaven, they meet Satan and they're like, well, what do you mean? I straddled the fence. I straddled the fence. I didn't choose you. And what Satan tells them is the fence belonged to me. The fence belonged to me. Have we forgotten that Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy? He wants you to remain in neutral. He wants you to set on that fence because the fence belongs to him. You are either for me or against me. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me is scattered abroad. And again, I can't tell you enough when it says, and he who does not gather with me is scattered abroad. Gathering, and what that means is being around your brothers and sisters in Christ. That is important. Why is it important? Because we are stronger together than we are apart. Christ sent the disciples out two by two because they're stronger together than they are apart, to hold each other accountable, to be the example, to encourage, yada yada yada. So if we are not gathering with God, okay, we are forsaking the assembly, and then what we are acting what we are actively choosing is not to be a true believer, okay? You cannot be a believer, a true believer, if you're sitting on the fence, because the fence belongs to Satan. You have to be on God's side. It needs to be obvious, it needs to be known in your actions, in your speech, in every aspect. We have to understand when you are in neutral, neutral is still a decision in which you are making. Now let's go to when Christ was standing before Pilate. Pilate didn't want to make a decision. You know, his wife comes to him and said, Hey, I've had many bad dreams of this man. So what does Pilate do? He decides to try to be in neutral, if you will, and say, he washes his hands and says, I'm innocent of this man's blood. And he turns, he he sends Jesus to be flogged and then turns him over to the to the Pharisees, right? He made a decision. What Pilate did in that moment when he washed his hands, when he was trying to be in neutral, he made a decision. His decision was to crucify Jesus. He is not innocent of the blood of Jesus. He is what contributed to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He could have stopped it, but he chose not to because he wanted to sit on the fence. Well, the fence belongs to Satan. A lack of decision is still a decision. A lack of movement is still a decision to say, hey, I'm not going to do anything. Standing still is spiritually harmful. When you are delaying your progress, you are creating a drift, a spiritual drift. Refusing to act is still a response. Your faith must be lived out and spoken. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Christianity is not meant to be silent goodness only. And what I mean by silent goodness only is just, hey, you know, I'm gonna be a good person. Let me tell you this there are a lot of good people that go overseas, go to Mexico or wherever and build schools. So so walk down this road with me. You have a group of people that go to Mexico and they build a school, they drill a well, and they do all these things, give them food and all this. Everything's great. And they're so grateful, okay, that that these kids now have a school for education, fresh water to drink, and food to eat. Now, that's a good thing, right? Are they Christians or not? We don't know. We don't know if they're Christians or not, because all we see is that they went and did a good thing. Yeah, I mean, feeding the poor and and doing things like, yeah, that's that's you know, good godly character, but we don't know for sure if they're Christians. Now, the same thing, a group goes, builds a school, drills a well, gives them food, but the whole time that they're doing this, they're sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because in that, that's the difference. Faith comes by hearing. You that's what the obvious difference between a believer and a non-believer is. There are a lot of good people that go to hell every day. Being good does not get you into heaven. Jesus Christ is what gets you into heaven. It's just like I can't go to a concert without a ticket. You can't get into heaven without the ticket that Jesus gives you. Alistair Begg said this, you know, I'm gonna say it the best way I can remember it in regards to the thief on the cross. Well, the thief on the cross stands before, and again, this is just an example, you know, stands before Saint Peter. Yeah, I know Peter hadn't died yet, but neither here nor there. You know, this is what he's saying, stands before Saint Peter and and and all the other saints, and they're saying, well, you know, how are you here? Why are you here? How'd you get here? They're shocked. And they're like, Do you know theology? The thief is like, no, I don't know theology. Do you know apologetics? No, I don't know apologetics. Do you know this? Do you know that? Asking them all kinds of theological questions. And the thief on the cross says, I don't know any of what you're talking about. And they said, Well then, how did you get here? And the thief on the cross says, The man on the middle cross said, I can come. The man on the middle cross said I can come. Because Jesus gave him a ticket. That ticket allowed him to be able to enter into the kingdom of God. Period. You can't get into heaven without your ticket. Jesus is that ticket. In order to have Christ in your life, action is required. Well, what action is that? Nothing that you can do, but it's a spiritual action that takes place in your being by the gift of the Holy Spirit. The old has died and the new remains. You are reborn into the kingdom of God, dying to self and submitting and surrendering to the Lord. We were created to add value and serve others. In the book of Titus, chapter 3, verse 14, it says, and let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. I'm gonna read it again. And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. If you are in neutral, not going anywhere, moving, staying stagnant, stuck in comfort, you are not meeting anybody's needs. You're not maintaining a good work, you are being unfruitful. That is not what Christ has called you to be. He has called you to be ambassadors, to be people that are adding value and impacting lives. Love requires action. And what I mean by that, if you say, Oh, I love Jesus, he's my savior, it needs to be obvious. My kids tell me they love me, and people can tell that they love me because they give me hugs, they communicate with me, we we travel together, they enjoy being in my presence. It's not just, oh, okay, my daughter's 16. Even though she's 16 and, you know, you know, she's a teenager in all that way, she still loves me by giving me a hug, enjoys being in the presence with me, having conversations. Yeah, she's growing, she's trying to find her own way and everything like that. But she is, she doesn't just tell me she loves me by words, she shows me in her actions. She listens to what I have to say, and then if it applies to her life, she will implement it. If not, she'll be like, I appreciate it, Dad, but I don't think you understand. You see, you see where I'm going with that? As a Christian, if you if you identify as a Christian, it needs to be obvious. You can't be in neutral, going nowhere, doing nothing, achieving nothing. If you're not reading your Bible, you're in neutral. If you're not praying, you're in neutral. If you're not seeking first the kingdom of God, you are in neutral. If you're just focused on being a good person but not sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, you're in neutral. Because faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. And that's why it says in James chapter 2, thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. If you do not have works, it's dead. Faith without works is dead. Well, what does that mean? Well, okay, I'm doing, I'm, I'm, I'm going and I'm building the school, I'm drilling a well, and uh, I'm I'm feeding the poor. Well, that's great. But part of that works, faith without works is dead. Part of your works is audibly, audibly speaking, sharing the gospel. That's part of that works. The gospel literally means good news. If you are a Christian, you are called to impact lives, not stand idly by and expect someone else to do it. God saved us not only to know the truth, but to carry it into the lives of others. Who is better because Christ is working through your life right now? You are better because Christ is working through your life right now. That is why Christ needs to be shared verbally and in your actions. If Christ coming into your life has made you better, why wouldn't you want to share that? Why wouldn't you want to let people know what has transformed your lives? A Christian in Neutral may appear active but produces very little. And what I mean by that is there are a lot of people that are busy but not productive. A lot of people are busy but not productive. There are a lot of people that go to church every time the door is open, but they know very little about Jesus Christ. Their actions are, hey, I'm at church. But their relationship with Christ is at a distance. They're not close with him. You know, Christ calls us to move, calls you to move in love, in service, in truth, in purpose. If your faith is real, it should move you. Not someday, not when life is slow, but now. Your relationship with Christ should, should your faith, if your faith is real, it should be moving you in the direction of Christ right now. You should desire to know more about him. Well, maybe you're like, well, hey, Nick, I messed up. What do I do? Well, you start now. Repent and start looking towards Jesus in everything. Pursue Him. He is there. Are you moving in His direction? He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's the best thing about Christ. He is consistent. But now it's up to you to consistently pursue Him in your life. If you didn't do it yesterday, do it today. Now is the only time that you are guaranteed to have use it wisely. Thank you for listening. God bless.