Push Me, Pull Me
“On the Fence”
August 21, 2016
By Ed Young
ILLUS: A mom looked at her daughter’s best friend and noticed an Asian tattoo on her back. And the girl said, “Well, yes. It’s brand new. But please don’t tell my parents.” The mom said, “I’m not going to tell your parents. But I’ve got to ask you. What does this Asian symbol mean on your back?” The girl replied, “Honesty.”
Push me, pull me. The back and forth life. It’s so popular these days. We’re convicted about not being convicted. On one hand we want a great marriage, but we’re not really willing to do the hard yards of the date night, of those conversations, of the forgiveness work, of the marriage counseling that needs to take place. Push me, pull me. “I want a great family and great kids who love God and who are obedient.” Yet, you come to church once every six weeks, now and then. You kind of do what you have to do. You don’t really want to do the tough stuff of drawing lines in the sand and dealing with discipline on the family front.
You’re a single parent and you’re say, “Hey,” as you look at your teenage daughter. “Remain pure until you get married.” Yet, you have numerous sexual liaisons in front of your kids, and they see how you live your life.
It’s a life of duplicity. It’s saying one thing and doing another. It’s being double-minded.
“God, I want you to bless my finances. I want just to do that and to be generous.” Yet, you don’t tithe and you don’t bring what is God’s to his House.
It’s amazing, isn’t it? One foot in, one foot out.
ILLUS: I had this idea for this sermon several months ago. I was speaking at a venue and back in the green room there was an NFL all-pro with his girlfriend. And I had met them before, and we talked a little bit. Then they left the green room and I was talking to a gentlemen who knows them and I said, “How are they doing?” He said, “Oh, it’s typical.” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Well, this guy is just riding the fence. One foot in the NFL lifestyle – the weed, the women, the parties; and one foot in the church.” I thought, “I’m going to a series on that, because that is a popular way to live.”
The Bible talks a lot about being double-minded; the dangers of being double-minded. In fact, God would rather you live like hell and follow the devil than have one foot in the church and one foot out. Remember the book of Revelation when we studied that? We talked about the church of Laodicea. They were lukewarm, push me pull me people. One foot in, one foot out. What did God say? “You make me sick. You make me want to throw up. You make me want to vomit.”
