DON'T FENCE ME IN

DON’T FENCE ME IN

 

Revelation 3:15-16

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could 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.”

 

       To put it in simple terms, it’s called, ‘sitting on the fence’.  I believe too many ‘Christians’ today are fence sitters.  They don’t want to make a full commitment to Jesus, because there are some things in the world they don’t want to give up.  They don’t want to be fenced in.  We are going to talk about some of the things in the Bible that you may need to change in your life if you want to get off the fence.

      One of those things is found in Colossians 3:8 “But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.”  Let’s start with dirty language.  You may go to church and tell people you are a Christian and believe in God, but remember Satan also believes in God and what is he doing about it?  What comes out of your mouth defines who you really serve.  These are the words Jesus spoke:  “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.”  Matthew 12:34-35                      
      Do you really want your children or grandchildren to speak the things you do?  The verse above clearly says how we should be talking and if you aren’t you are a fence sitter. 
      Fences were primarily built to keep some things from getting out and other things from getting in. Fences are made for protection.  This is why God wants to keep us safe by keeping us off the fence.  If we are teetering on top of the fence, we are neither hot nor cold for Him.  There is a chance we will turn cold and eventually fall into Hell.  Being fenced in is for protection, love, peace, direction, joy and self-control.  When we can’t make up our mind whom we will serve makes us lukewarm and God will spit us out of his mouth; meaning to cast us away from him.
      This isn’t a game folks; you can’t play games with God.  Either you are for God or you are against him; Jesus said in Matthew 12:30 “He who is not with me is against me”.  You may call yourself a Christian, but without that decision to serve God and him alone, you are not under God’s protection and care.
      A line in that old song, “Don’t Fence Me In” says “I can’t look at hobbles and I can’t stand fences” and another line says, “Send me off forever, but I ask you please, don’t fence me in.”  It might as well read as ‘Let me go God, to do my own thing and take away your protection and love because I don’t need it.’
     Another thing in Colossians 3:8 tells us we need to get rid of anger and rage.  “I’ll just pretend I’m a nice person and no one will ever know what I really feel about certain things.”  No!  God knows how you feel and he knows the anger inside of you.  What if you lose control someday and hurt someone, could you forgive yourself?  The answer to getting over anger is to give it to God and you do that by getting off the fence and giving your whole heart to Jesus.  Half-heartedness never gets the job done. 
     Behavior really sums up which side of the fence you are on.  When you act like a crude, dirty-minded low-life, irresponsible idiot, you probably are.  If you stop to think about it, God is watching you.  There is an old Christian song that goes like this: “His eye is on the sparrow and I know he’s watching me.”  He sees all the good in you and me as well as all the bad; I don’t want to disappoint him.  
     “Don’t Fence Me In” is a fun song but if you are planning a future in heaven someday, don’t tell God that. It’s either all or nothing with the Lord and being a lukewarm Christian isn’t acceptable to God.  Get off the fence and get going for Jesus.  You will never have regrets.