COMPLACENCY IS OUR ENEMY!

I'll be speaking about complacency this Sunday, so when I read the following words from Max Lucado's first book - ON THE ANVIL - they registered with me:

We're complacent to God.  Churchgoers pack the pews and sing to the back of someone's head.  Fellowship is lost in formality.  One, two, three times a week people pay their dues by walking in the door, enduring a ritual, and walking out [this book was published in 1985, who goes to church three times a week today?].  Guilt is appeased.  God is insulted.  [p.32]

This might not have impacted me quite so much except for what I read just moments before from Richard and Renee Stearns' book, HE WALKS AMONG US.  

There I read the story of Roth Ourng who is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia in the 1970's.  Needless to say, he was suspicious of World Vision workers who showed up in his community in the 1990's.  They set up a tuberculosis clinic, worked with the children in school, and taught farmers new agricultural techniques.  But Roth did not trust them.  

Eventually, he questioned the program director and demanded to know why he was there.  The answer: "We are followers of Jesus Christ, and we are commanded to love our neighbors."   Then the man gave Roth a Bible in the Khmer language.  

In Genesis, Roth discovered the God "I had always wondered about, the God who created the world."  Eventually God led Roth and a friend to a Cambodian pastor who explained the gospel to him.

Stearns comments: "When I met Roth, he was the pastor of a little house church with eighty-three members.  When I asked him where he had found so many members, he answered, 'After I discovered Jesus, I had to tell everyone I knew.  These are my sheep; this is my flock.'"  [pp.123-125]

This is the opposite of complacency!  Look at the love in those eyes!  

No pews - just passion!  

Lord of the harvest,

Help us to break the bonds of complacency and discover the joy of sharing You with our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers!

Help me to be responsible for many who will enter the Kingdom of God through doors that I open as a result of my love for You!  

FOR THE KINGDOM'S SAKE!

AMEN!

WATCH OUT FOR COMPLACENCY!

 I just read I Corinthians 10:1-13 (NIV - 1984).

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. 

Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did--and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did--and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did--and were killed by the destroying angel. 

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

This passage is full of Old Testament references.  Paul intends to use the ancients to teach a lesson to the moderns.  

The ancient Israelites who escaped Egypt with Moses as their leader were all given the same opportunities that Moses had been given:

• they lived under the cloud (and pillar of fire) that represented God's presence.
• they all passed through the sea and witnessed the miraculous protection and provision of God.
• they all received a type of baptism by passing through the sea and experiencing the cloud of God's presence.
• they all ate the same spiritual manna.
• they all drank the same spiritual water provided by their God - the Rock (a pre-image of Christ)!

However, God was not pleased with most of them and their bodies ended up scattered all over the desert.

Paul is clear in indicating that these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did (v.6).  

Then, he moves to specifics:

      1. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were...(v.7).

What does it mean to be an idolater?  In its simplest form, it means to put ANYTHING/ANYONE before God!  Paul doesn't illustrate, so I won't either.

      2. We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did...(v.8).

         

Paul doesn't extrapolate here except to remind us that 23,000 Israelites died because of their immorality [see Numbers 25:1-9].

      3. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did - and were killed by snakes...(v.9).

Again, Paul doesn't illustrate, but I'm thinking of Annanias and Sapphira (Acts 15:1-11), and the Israelites in Numbers 21:5-6, where they were rebellious with God and Moses because they were hungry and homeless.  Testing God seems to be failing to have faith in God's plan and refusing to trust God to work on our behalf.

      4. Do not grumble as some of them did - and were killed by the destroying angel...(10).

In Numbers 16:41, the Israelites complained that God and Moses had caused the death of 250 of Korah's men who had rebelled against Moses' leadership.  If you've read Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, then you know that the main sin of Israel during this period was complaining/grumbling.

Paul then makes it clear that these things were written down as WARNINGS FOR US on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come (v.11 ) [that's Jesus]!  

Then, in verse 12, he talks about complacency:  ...if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall.  

Paul ends his mini-message with words that many of us memorized when we were young.

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.    (v.13)

There's the word for the day:

You cannot and will never face a temptation that can't be resisted!  God will ALWAYS BE THERE and He will always offer you a way to escape!  And in the words of Barretta, "You can take that to the bank!"