The Enemy Within: Indifference. Amos 6:1
INTRO.: Amos wrote about 760 BC. It was a time of great prosperity in Israel and also a time of great corruption. They often go together. The rich were getting richer at the expense of the poor. Injustice was everywhere in the land. Judges were bribed and justice was bought and sold.
Leaders were self-serving and indifferent to the needs of the people. There was a false sense of security based on the wealth and power of the nation.
Citizens were self-indulgent and indifferent to the claims of God on their lives. Thus Amos is sent to sound this warning: “Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come!”
This might apply to the people of America today. Many are complacent, indifferent to God and His Law. Even Church members are sometimes indifferent.
Indifference may be the best weapon in the enemy’s arsenal. Let’s consider its causes and effects.
I. What causes us to become indifferent to God’s claims?
A. Sometimes wealth will: either the possession or pursuit of it:
1. Pursuing, maintaining wealth is time-consuming.
2. Wealth tends to make us feel self-sufficient.
3. We may surround ourselves with comfort and luxury and become reluctant to leave it.
4. Physical pleasure and possessions tend to make us indifferent to the spiritual.
B. Familiarity may make us indifferent:
1. ILLUS.: as when we grow up in a locality and take the local beauty for granted.
2. Even music may lose its appeal with repetition.
3. New Church members are often more enthusiastic than more experienced ones.
C. Our customs may make us indifferent to the spirit.
1. Other customs such as Sunday morning outings, may supplant Church.
2. ILLUS.: it was customary in my family to neglect worship. This was a hard habit to break.
3. Children are easily trained to be indifferent. They see us neglect spiritual things.
II. What are the dangers of this kind of indifference?
A. We may become careless about our salvation:
1. The danger is drifting away. Heb. 2:1
2. Israel’s history provides a warning. I Cor. 10:12
3. Remember false security leads to a fall. Let’s not fool ourselves.
B. We may neglect opportunities for service.
1. The rich farmer had opportunities to serve others, but didn’t. Luke 12:16-21
2. James 4:17 - we sin if we neglect the good we know we should do.
C. There is the danger of temptation:
1. If the spirit is not properly cultivated, the flesh becomes strong.
2. We have a serious adversary out to destroy us.
3. We cannot resist temptation if we are indifferent to our spiritual needs.
III. We need to sound a warning to Christians of our day:
A. We are in a war for souls and indifference can cost us souls:
1. If the Church is indifferent to the needs of men.
2. Or complacent about her mission to spread the Word of God’
3. Or to the claims of God on our lives,
4. Or to the truth of His Word.
B. Indifference can destroy a Church.
1. A Church can’t exist without committed workers,
2. Nor without faithful financial support,
3. Indifference is the chief cause of Church closings in the U.S.
C. Indifference can cause you to be lost:
1. You may simply drift away from Christ. Heb. 2:1
2. You may pass up the opportunity to accept Christ,
3. Or, having accepted Him, allow yourself to drift away and back into the world.
4. So, we need to exhort one another to faithfulness.
CONC.: How do we avoid indifference?
Read and heed the Word of God
Attend Sunday School and worship
Join in work and prayer for the Kingdom and fellow Christians.
Exhort and encourage one another.
Let us never grow indifferent to the claims of Christ.
Close with poem “Indifference”
Indifference by G. A. Stoddard-Kennedy
When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged Him on a tree.
They drove great nails through hands and feet and made a Calvary.
Red were His wounds and deep, for these were crude and cruel days and human flesh was cheap.
When Jesus came to Birmingham, they simply passed Him by;
They wouldn’t hurt a hair of Him. They only let Him die.
For men had grown more tender and they would not give Him pain.
They only passed on down the street and left Him . . . in the rain.
Still Jesus cried, “forgive them for they know not what they do”
and still it rained the winter rain that soaked Him through and through.
The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see.
And Jesus crouched against the wall and cried . . . for Calvary.
