There is the parable of the wild duck told by the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard. One wild duck was flying with his mates across northern Europe. During the flight this wild duck left the others to land in a Danish barnyard where there were tame ducks. He
enjoyed the corn. He stayed for an hour, and then for a day, and then for a week, and then for a month. He enjoyed the corn and the safety of the barnyard, so he decided to stay the entire summer.
But one autumn day when the flock of wild ducks were winging their way southward again, they passed over the barnyard, and their mate heard their cries. He was stirred with a strange thrill of joy and delight, and with a great flapping of wings he rose in the air to
join his old comrades in their flight.
But he found that his good life had made him soft and heavy that he could rise no higher than the top of the barn. So he dropped back again to the barnyard, and said to himself,
“Oh, well, my life is safe here and the food is good.” Every spring and autumn when he
heard the wild ducks honking, his eyes would gleam for a moment and he would begin to flap his wings.
But finally the day came when the wild ducks flew over him and uttered their cry, but he paid not the slightest attention to them. What a parable that is of how the soul can forget its high ideals and standards and be content with lower things!”
Clarence Macartney, Preaching without Notes
The greatest danger to a believer in Jesus is to become content with lower standards. The
danger is to become half-hearted in living for Jesus. Our message today is
entitled... The Curse of being a Half-Hearted Christian, or the curse of Indifference.
In the book of Judges we have a clear picture of what happens when God’s people settle for low standards, and become content with a life of compromise.
Let’s read Judges, chapter 1.
Judges 1:1 Now after the death of Joshua....
Do you remember this great Bible character, Joshua? He began his role as leader in the book that bears his name, Joshua. In Joshua, chapter 1:1-4 “After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua...my servant Moses is dead, now arise go over this Jordan, you and all this people to the land which I am giving to them...Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said
to Moses.....
Moses who wrote the first 5 books of the Bible
(Genesis...Exodus..Leviticus..Numbers..Deuteronomy) He led the nation of Israel (about 2 million people) to exit Egypt. That’s what Exodus means a departure. They left Egypt bound for the Promised Land...or the land of Canann. Why were they going to the land
of Canaan? It was their land. God had given it to them. He promised it to Abraham, who was the father of the nation of Israel.
Genesis 15:18-21
“In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great reiver, the river Euphrates: 19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites,
and the Rephaims, 21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the
Jebusites.”
Moses led God’s people out of Egypt (which represents the world). We have been saved from the world. That’s why the Bible says love not the world, neither the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (IJohn 2;15). This
world is not our home, our citizenship is in heaven. After Moses was dead, Joshua takes on the leadership position to bring the children of Israel into the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. But in Canaan, there were pagan nations. Wicked, Heathen nations inhabited the Promised Land. It was the responsibility of God’s people to take back their land and drive out the heathens. They make some progress. Do you remember Joshua leading Israel to march around the city of Jericho? They marched around that huge walled city and blew trumpets and shouted and the walls came tumbling down. That was the first city
to be destroyed in the land of Canann...the Promised Land. And then there were other cities they destoryed. The key word in the book of Joshua is “utterly destroy”. The campaign of destroying the wicked nations and taking possession of the land that was
rightfully theirs is the theme of Joshua. As you read the last chapter of Joshua, it is obvious that there is much more land to conquer. There are more pagans to drive out.
In Judges chapter one, Joshua is dead, and now the question is this. Who is going to lead the fight against the Canaanites? The Lord says, Judges 1:2 “Judah shall go up. Indeed I have delivered the land into his hand.”
The War is on...(see v.8) Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it;
God commanded Israel to destroy all their enemies in the promised land. Some people have a hard time accepting scriptures such as these. Killing off an entire population. Several things we have to remember. God had warned these pagan nations that they would be destroyed for their wickedness. They were totally corrupt. The time for their
judment had come. The bible is clear.
Psalm 9:17 “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget
God.” To not utterly destroy all the inhabitants of the land would be a direct violation of God’s command. Over 700 years earlier God had told Abraham that when the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the gross evil of the native pople would be ready for
Judgment (Genesis 15:16). But God was not playing favorites with Israel. They too would be punished because they eventually became as evil as the people they were ordered to drive out.
In the book of Joshua, the people were aggressively driving out the inhabitants. In the book of Judges that divine commitment began to fade away. They were not doing what God had said to do. They became half-hearted in their efforts.
That’s our message. The Curse of being a half-hearted Christian!
The curse of being a half-hearted Christian leads to Christians playing games with God.
We make a pretense of following the Lord, but deep down it’s only a half-hearted commitment. It’s not for real! Let’s look at the 4 games we play, when we are not really committed to being obedient to God.
1. We begin playing the game called “Let’s make a Deal?”
Caleb (in verse 12) said, “Whoever attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give
my daughter Achsah as wife.” v.13 “And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so he gve him his daughter Achsah as wife.” It may look unfavorable for cousins to marry cousins, but the point is that a deal was made. Instead of going out to
fight because God said so, Caleb added something else, his daughter in marriage.Let’s make a deal!
It doesn’t end there, Caleb’s daughter, Achsah wants Caleb to make a deal with her. She wants some well-watered land to go with this marriage. (See v.14-15) Give me also!
“Give me a blessing...” When you are indifferent in your Christian walk with God, you no longer experience the blessings of obedience, but you demand that someone give you blessings. Let’s make a deal!
Notice in v.22-26
The house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them. They went to spy out Bethel. It use to be called Luz. They saw a man coming out of the
city. They said, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will show you mercy.”
He did. They struck the city with the edge of the sword, but the man along with his family were free to go. That man wen to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day. Let’s make a deal! You give us what we want, and we will allow you to go on living! That was not God’s game plan! They came to Bethel, which use to be called Luz. The word “Luz” means “turning
aside” and the name Bethel means “house of God”. The changing of its name occured when Jacob slept on the ground, received a vision of a ladder with angels ascending and descending. God visited Jacob reassuring the covenant He had made with Abraham. This
land is yours and your people. Jacob called the city BETHEL...HOUSE OF GOD...
Now, when those spies allowed this man to survive...he left and went to the land of the Hittites (a pagan people who have been a source of misery for Israel for centuries). And he builds a city...He does not call it Bethel (house of God). He calls it Luz “turning
aside”.
YOU CAN’T MAKE DEALS WITH THE DEVIL’S CROWD.............YOU WILL LOSE EVERY TIME. You might get immediate, temporary benefits, but the long
run proofs only disaster!
Many Christians are playing that game....Let’s make a deal! Don’t give your whole life to Jesus, just part of it. Don’t live everyday for Jesus, just on Sunday’s....
Devil has preachers playing that game...Don’t preach on everything in the Bible, just the part that won’t get on anyone’s toes. LET’S MAKE A DEAL!!!!
Don’t preach on immorality! Don’t preach against sin! Don’t offend anyone in the
congregation! Hey preach! You want a big crowd, then LET’S MAKE A DEAL!!
What we ought to say to the devil and His crowd is NO DEAL! NO DEAL!
The devil came to Jesus and tempted Jesus while in the wilderness. The devil was saying “let’s make a deal” Turn stones into bread, cast yourself off the temple....
Jesus gave the DEVIL the Word of God......The Word of God says “NO DEAL”! Make no deals with the devil.
When we live half-heartedly for Jesus, we allow the door open to all kinds of temptations. We need to recognize the presence of the Lord. (as in vv.19,22) the Lord was with them. We are no match against the devil. No deals for the devil!
2. The second game we play is.... let’s settle for less.
vv.5-7
Instead of killing Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, they allowed him to live for a while, and they just cut off his toes and thumbs. They left him incapacitated as a warrior. They did not kill him instantly as God commanded, but they cut off a few toes and thumbs. Since that is what Adoni-Bezek had done to about 70 other kings, he needs to receive the same treatment. Here is a sign that they began to do less than what God had commanded.
They began to settle for something short of complete death. v.17.....utterly destroyed it v.19 the Lord was with Judah. They drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron.” The mountains are nice! Let’s allow them to have the valley areas, besides, those chariots of iron...we can’t deal with that. Those chariots can’t climb
up the mountains, but in the lowlands, flat lands they can run over you.
I can be happy with just the mountains! We can praise the Lord up on the mountains! We will allow the devil’s crowd run up and down the valleys and the
flat lands. That won’t be conquered territory. We will settle for what we’ve got.
That’s not what God said.
Joshua 1:3 “every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.”
God does not want you as a believer to experience victory in just 50% of your life. He wants us to know victory in 100% of our lives. He wants to be God over all! He wants us to not only to be God’s child on Sunday, but also Monday through Saturday!
Many folks have SETTLED FOR LESS...just Sunday morning Christianity!
Vance Havner calls them morning glory Christians! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY PREACHER? WE HAVE SETTLED FOR LESS!
Don’t want to get more involved than that. We’ve settled for less! Use to churches would go for weeks seeking God for revival....nowadays...we can only have no more than 3 days, and some churches have settled for a ONE DAY revival.
Many pastors of churches have settled for less. They only give a few minutes to prepare for a message. Sunday School teachers have settled for less. They devote just a few minutes to prepare. In the area of prayer we have settled for less. Just a little prayer
here and there. Let’s don’t get too involved, I might miss out on a TV show.
Let’s don’t get too involved in worship, we might stay longer than our 1 hour allotted time. Just a little of God, just a little singing will do, just a little of preaching will do, don’t put it on too much....we have settled for less!!!!
I’M TALKING ABOUT THE CURSE OF BEING A
HALF-HEARTED CHRISTIAN.......
Let’s don’t get too excited......we’ve settled for less. Let’s don’t build a building yet, we’ve settled for less. Let’s don’t visit right now, cause we’ve settled for less. Let’s don’t read our bibles too much, pray too much...cause that will go against our game
plan...we’ve settled for less...
3. Another game that’s often played is called.....Let’s cash in.
vv.27-28 tribute
v.30 tribute
v.33 tribute
35 tribute
What good would these be if they are dead? Why not cash in? If they are dead, what’s in it for us? Let’s make something off of them. So they made them to pay tribute to them. They cashed in. They made money off of them. They forced them to become slaves.
They began to cash in and profit from their disobedience to God.
Their lack of commitment to drive out the inhabitants caused them to cash in on the
profits of slave labor. Their profits would be short-lived. They thought they were getting by. But allowing the Canaanites and their pagan lifestyles to coexist with their godly heritage proved to be a disaster. The Bible says there is pleasure in sin, but it is only for a season. There are profits to be made in a life of disobedience, but it is only short-lived.
Many Christians today are settling for a half-hearted commitment to Christ in order to pursue their goal to get rich. They desire to cash in on their life of compromise. Today, money is not the only thing
people desire to cash in.....more important today seems to be that invaluable commodity
called TIME.
HAVING THE TIME to do what you want, whenever you want, and with whomever you want is like having money in the bank! If there is one thing God demands of His people, it is TIME. The Bible says, “take time to be holy” It takes time to be what God desires
us to be. It takes time to listen and meditate on God’s Word. It takes time to pray. It takes time to go out of the way and share the gospel with an unsaved person.
The Israelites saw a better way of saving time. It took time to kill and drive out the pagan inhabitants of the land. It took time to bury them. It took time to conquer the land. It seems only reasonable to use them as slaves to help develop and conquer the
entire region.
It takes time to drive out that old Canaanite lifestyle that we all were born with. The work of the Cross takes time. The work of sanctification takes time. The work of training up a child in the way of the Lord takes time. The work of discipleship takes
time. Many Christians have cashed in on the Lord’s Day! They use the Lord’s Day to make
extra money! To get extra amounts of sleep! To take longer vacations!
To grab all the overtime they can not because they are in need, but to finance a selfish lifestyle.
Do you know what the number one shopping day is now in America? it is Sunday!
People are cashing in! Some folks attend church only to extend their business opportunities. Or to advance their political career.
Te Lord’s Day is no longer a day of worship. It has become a day of play. Instead of the
Lord’s Day, it has become MY DAY.........IT’S MY DAY OFF!!!!
I’ve got news for you....if you are a Christian...YOU HAVE NO DAYS OFF! Everyday
is a day of prayer. Every day is a day of witnessing opportunities. Everyday is a day of worship! Everyday is a day of self-denial, and everyday is a day to follow the Lord esus Christ!
Luke 9:23 “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY, and follow me.” Not take up his cross once a week. Not take up his cross on Easter Sunday. Not take up his cross whenever you get
the notion. Not take up his cross when it becomes convenient.
Whenever we become content to live a life of half-hearted Christianity, and are content to live in compromise....
4. We play another game......It’s called.....”things will get better”
Notice in v.33 “.....but they dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land...”
What is so bad about that verse? What is meant in the expression “they dwelt among the
Canaanites”? Look at 3:5-6 “they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their
daughters to their sons; and they served their gods.”
Things didn’t get better. It got worse! The people of God allowed their sons and daughters to intermarry with the pagans. Someone may say, well, my spouse is not a Christian, but he is not a pagan either.
In Corinthians...a Christian is not to marry an unbeliever! That’s what these folks were
doing...They were playing the game....things will get better. He will change. She will change! Young person, you never hang around wicked people and it not in some way affect you. Folks who are not saved, don’t get better. They get worse! If you are not
opposing wickedness, If you are not taking a stand against evil, you are compromising.
Compromise never gets better. It gets worse!
When we compromise, we always get burned. “Even though we rationalize around our weak decisions and tell ourselves that wicked associations really won’t harm us (‘They’ll get better, our good will rub off on their bad!”), we get soiled in the process.
If you put on a pair of clean white gloves on a rainy day and then go out into the back yard to the flower bed and pick up a glob of mud, trust me, themud will never get “glovey.” The gloves will definitely get muddy. Every time. In all my years on earth, I
have never seen glovey mud. Not once. In simple terms that is what I Corinthians 15:33 is saying: “Do not be deceived: bad company corrupts good morals.”
(From Dropping Your Guard by Charles Swindoll)
