Comfortable Christianity

Comfortable Christianity

June 5, 2011 Morning Service

Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK

Rick Boyne

Message Point: God calls His children to be “on fire” for Him; not to a life of ease and comfort.

Focus Passage: Revelation 3:14-22

Supplemental Passage: And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20 NASB)

Introduction: Complacency is a blight that saps energy, dulls attitudes, and causes a drain on the brain. The first symptom is satisfaction with things as they are. The second is rejection of things as they might be. "Good enough" becomes today’s watchword and tomorrow’s standard. Complacency makes people fear the unknown, mistrust the untried, and abhor the new. Like water, complacent people follow the easiest course -- downhill. They draw false strength from looking back. (Bits & Pieces, May 28, 1992, p. 15.)

Background: Laodicea - This was a once famous city near the river Lycus, had a wall of vast compass, and three marble theatres, and, like Rome, was built on seven hills. (Matthew Henry) It was destroyed by an earthquake, a.d. 62, and rebuilt by its wealthy citizens without the help of the state [Tacitus, Annals, 14.27]. (Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown) The name comes from the combination of two words “people” & “I rule”. It conveys the sense “rule of the people” or “democracy”. Their wealth came from the sale of black wool for clothes, and they were well known for an eye-medicine developed at a nearby medical school. (Robert L. Thomas) William Barclay writes, “Laodicea was so wealthy that it did not even need God.”

I. We’re Not too Hot; Not too Cold

a. We are indifferent; we are lukewarm; we are complacent; we are comfortable

b. We tolerate sin (divorce, gambling, drinking, fornication, idolatry, horoscopes, etc)

c. We expect others to do “Kingdom Work”

i. We invite people to church, but never share the gospel

ii. We don’t want people to think we are fanatical

d. We complain instead of contribute

e. This makes Jesus sick enough to vomit.

II. We Have Everything We Need

a. God has blessed our nation (good)

b. We come to expect needs to be met by our own means or by gov’t (bad)

c. We don’t rely on God, but on our freedom; our heritage; and our perceived future.

III. We are Blind to our Own Condition

a. We are pride-full

b. We are spite-full

c. We are self-righteous

d. We ignore God’s Word in favor of pop psychology, astrologers, or common sense

e. We think we are better than the “evil doers” or “heathens” or “idol worshippers”

f. We are lazy

g. We are legalistic

h. We worry about what others think

i. We judge others without considering our own problems or insecurities

j. We look and act just like the world

k. We are ignorant AND apathetic!

Invitation: We MUST NOT BE like the church in Laodicea! We must do as Jesus says in V. 19: ’Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. (Revelation 3:19 NASB)

’Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20 NASB)

And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. (Luke 9:23 NASB)