Complacency

“Complacency”

By Joe Mack Cherry

I. Introduction

A. Not everyone who hears this message tonight is part of the problem we are going to discuss. However, we all as Christians are faced with the problems complacency causes.

B. What is its definition

1. First, he words complacent or complacency do not appear in all Bible translations; however, the idea and reality of complacency is scattered throughout scripture in all of them.

2. Def. – Showing smug and uncritical satisfaction of oneself or achievements.

3. It lends itself to arrogance. “I am self-sufficient and you are not; therefore, I am better than you.”

4. It is not a good state of mind in which Christians should remain.

C. Common among humans

1. Complacency attacks Christians at every level, none are exempt.

2. Some people figuratively call it “being fat and lazy”

3. Sometimes we take our eyes off the “Giver of all good things”, especially when things are going well.

4. We began to look at life in a more selfish way.

5. I have plenty of (fill in the blank) and I’m not worried anybody else.

D. God doesn’t play with those that feel no need for him!

1. God will not stand idlily by and be disrespected.

2. Amos tells the Israelites of the northern tribe that their summer and winter houses would be destroyed due to their complacency.

3. They were living in a prosperous time and lost sight of the need of God.

E. There are some serious sins that can rise out of complacency.

1. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

a. The story goes that a Canadian goose was flying by himself one day alone. He got lost and looked down and saw some geese of a different breed They were Toulouse geese. They get so fat that they can’t even fly. The goose says to himself, I think I’ll stick around a while. The old farmer’s wife feeds us every day and we don’t have to do anything (I’m complacent). He ended up staying until he died. The first few years when he heard his Canadian buddies migrating, he would think to himself, “Boy, I wish I was flying with them, again” but he never left the ground again. Finally, after years, he quit even paying any attention the Canadian geese (his old friends) as they migrated.

b. If we do not pay attention to God, we can drift away from Him just like the Canadian goose did from his ‘brothers” and find ourselves out of touch with God.

2. Look at the last part of Rom. 1.

a. The people mentioned here were sinful and even though they knew God, they chose not to obey Him.

b. God gave them over to a depraved mind because they made a conscious choice not to obey Him.

c. They committed many of the sexual sins that plague the world today. Is there a correlation to today’s times?

F. Complacency is tied to many things, so today I want to look at a couple and maybe we can escape the traps and help others to do so, also.

II. Body

A. Money

1. Truth is that money in and or of itself is not wrong or evil.

a. I Tim 6:10 – “The love of money is the root of all evil.”

b. Money can definitely be a false security.

2. Luke 12:17-20

a. … tear down my barn and build bigger ones.

b. I have stored up more than a plenty for me.

• “I’ll never see another poor day in my life!”

• “A poor man smells like a skunk to me.”

c. Eat, drink, and be merry.

d. Thou fool, tonight your life will be demanded from you.

3. Prodigal son got complacent in living what the bible calls a riotous life.

4. Church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22)

a. A wealthy town (Bankers and Black wool merchants)

b. An earthquake hit the country in AD 17 and it was built back without monetary assistance from Rome.

c. They had everything they thought they needed.

d. The angel of this church says, “Because you are neither hot or cold so therefore, I will spew you out of my mouth!” Rev. 3:14-22

5. Money usually slows down when we get complacent.

a. I have plenty and no one can take it from me.

b. A lack of ambition comes shortly after complacency.

c. Prosperity does not always maintain its momentum when we quit working!

B. Power

1. Nebuchadnezzar

a. Daniel 4:30 – “Is not this Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power, and for the honor of my majesty?”

b. Twelve months earlier, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream where he was warned of what would happen if he didn’t change his ways.