Comfortable or Uncomfortable Christianity
This month we are looking at The Holy Spirit in Everyday Living and tonight I have a message that God has laid on my heart for us...
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin.
Actually are you too comfortable?
Is your Every day life too comfortable?
Is your Christian life too comfortable?
The title of the message this evening is Comfortable or Uncomfortable Christianity
And the message tonight may make you a little uncomfortable.
I read an article this week on How to tell if we have become too comfortable in our Christianity
10 Signs that show if your Christianity Has Become Too Comfortable - as I read them out keep a tally in your head -
Don’t worry I’m not going to ask you to share your score with everyone else.
1. You do not attending church with a high level of expectancy. In fact the only thing you expect with any certainty is that the preacher will shut up eventually, the final song will be sung and you will be able to go home.
2. You no longer seem to be concerned about the spiritual condition of neighbors, family members, or your colleague.
3. You haven’t had a spiritual conversation with a non-Christian in a long time. In fact some of your friends don’t even know you go to church.
4. The Bible seems like a history book. It’s lifeless to you. You treat God’s word as something you can pick out the easy bits from, the nice bits about God’s love and forgiveness, and ignore everything about, Sin, Justice, Holy Living and Obedience to God’s will and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
5. Your happiness at a Sunday Service is more important than what it takes to reach the unchurched, the unsaved.
As long as you get your parking spot, sit in your seat, and hear the music you like, everything’s fine.
6. The plight of the poor doesn’t concern you.
7. Pictures of people suffering do not move you to action. The needs of others don’t even register anymore.
8. You do not give to God from the financial resources He has blessed you with.
Instead of regular giving to support God’s work - He gets the spare change from your pocket or the leftovers after you have done all the things you want to do.
9. Your prayers don’t seem to be making it past the ceiling. You just transmit and you don’t even listen for God’s answer.
10. It doesn’t even dawn on you that God could do something incredible and amazing and radical in your life at any moment today.
The miraculous is not on your radar - and if your honest you don’t want it on your schedule either.
If the Holy Spirit really moved tonight - if the building shook from His presence - if you let Him take control, then you might not be home in time to watch the 10 o’clock tv programme about the world’s ugliest dog.
10 signs of comfortable Christianity.
How many are present in your life?
Have you become too comfortable?
Is it time to leave your comfort zone and get uncomfortable?
Is it time for you to stop being the person you are comfortable being and become the person God has called you to be?
Is it time to let the Holy Spirit take control - not just for a couple of hours on a Sunday and a few moments during the week - is it time to allow the Holy Spirit access to your every day?
What can we do to get uncomfortable in our Christianity?
I want us to read some verses from Galatians 5. Galatians 5:1 and Galatians 5:13-16
Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. (Galatians 5:1)
For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 14For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. 16So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. (Galatians 5:13-16)
These verses make it clear that Christ has set us free, we are to stay free, we are to live in freedom.
There is a big difference between freedom and comfort.
All of us like the idea of a comfortable life comfortable in the way we live, comfortable in the way we worship, comfortable in the way we serve, comfortable in the way we pray, comfortable in the way we witness, comfortable in the amount we tithe to God, comfortable in the amount of time we give to God.
But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 14For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
God has set us free from Sin, Jesus set us free from the consequence of our Sin, and in that Freedom we are meant to serve God and love each other.
Our freedom calls us to be active not inactive.
That does not mean you never have a rest.
That does not mean duvet days in front of the TV are not allowed.
But it does mean that your life is not to be driven by selfish desires.
We must never place our comfort before obedience to God.
We must never place our comfort before living a life that brings honour and glory to God.
In the freedom God has given us - when God gives us the choice, we need to choose to be led by the Spirit and not pick the comfortable option.
In our world people seek comfort and freedom for different reasons - Freedom of expression, freedom for refugees, freedom to work, or not, freedom to choose to eat or not eat meat, freedom to go on holiday, freedom to spend money, freedom to get into debt, freedom to choose where to shop – Freedom.
But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.
1 Corinthians 10:23 reminds us: You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial.” (1 Corinthians 10:23)
In the new covenant, we live under grace not by the law - Christ paid the price for our freedom, and when we repented and accepted Jesus as Saviour all of our sins - past, present and future were and are forgiven.
But that does not give us a licence to sin - it does not give us a get out of jail free card that we can play whenever we feel like using it.
You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial.”
We can become comfortable in the freedom God has given to us and in that freedom we will often choose to sin rather than serve.
Freedom used as a license to sin is no freedom at all, it enslaves, it corrupts, it binds, it destroys, it stops us being all that God has called us to be.
It causes us to retreat into our comfort zones and stay there - and when we get comfortable we start to believe the lies that we will not be able to do what God has called us to do.
Or it causes us to become curious, to see just how far we can push it, and we think we can hide stuff from God.
We don’t consider the Consequences.
We just do it - because God forgives, because God loves.
Because... we will always find a because to justify our actions and our inactions.
Because...
But that isn’t what our freedom is all about it’s not the freedom to see how far we can walk in our own ways.
It isn’t the freedom to ignore God’s will for our lives.
It isn’t the freedom to ignore God’s word and commandments.
It isn’t the freedom to ignore God’s promises.
It isn’t the freedom to ignore the Holy Spirit prompting and leading and guiding.
It is not the freedom to do anything we feel like.
==========
Paul tells us that both grace and freedom provides us with the Power not to sin.
We have freedom.
Jesus paid the total price for our total freedom.
We are 100% free from the penalty of our own sins and we need to act in that freedom and live for God and not ourselves.
We can’t do it in our own strength we need the Holy Spirit to help us Every Day.
Let’s look at Galatians 5:1 and Galatians 5:13-16 again: Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. (Galatians 5:1)
For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 14For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. 16So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. (Galatians 5:13-16)
But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.
Why do we do things that are against God’s will?
Why do we do things that are opposite to the teaching of God’s word?
The simple answer is “Because we choose to” or because “we want to”
We can blame circumstance, we can blame temptation, we can blame external influence, we can blame the government, we can blame climate change, we can blame the double dip recession, we will blame anything and everything except our own freedom of choice.
Someone once said there are two types of freedom, false freedom where a person is free to do what they like and true freedom where a person is free to do what they should.
Don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.
Is Jesus just your Saviour, or is He your Lord, is He your Master, your leader, your all in all.
Maybe you have accepted the free gift of eternal life but you struggle against God working in your earthly life.
Maybe you struggle against God using you in the lives of others.
Maybe you love the idea of others serving you but the thought of serving others does not even enter your mind.
Maybe its time for you to let God be God.
Maybe its time for you to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to transform you,
to change you, to empower you.
Maybe its time to let the Holy Spirit guide your life.
As I close, let me ask you: Tonight, right here, right now, are you willing to allow the Holy Spirit to take control?
Are you ready to do what God has called you to do?
Are you ready to stop being comfortable?
Are you ready to serve others, love others, be a blessing to others?
What can you do tonight to serve someone else?
What can you do tomorrow? Every Day?
Will you ask God to show you?
Will you ask the Spirit to lead you?
We need to walk by the Spirit, we need to sense His presence with us, He needs to fill us with His strength, refresh us and help us to live in freedom.
Are you going to continue in your own human effort, or are you willing to allow God to take control?
Will you allow the Holy Spirit the freedom to work in your life every day?
Will you allow Him to deal with your attitudes?
Will you allow Him to softening your hearts?
Will you allow to do more than just sand down your rough edges - will you allow Him to chisel lumps and imperfections away?
Will you let the Holy Spirit guide your life?
Will you live by the Spirit and cooperating with His work within you?
Tonight don’t fool yourself by saying “I can’t help myself... that’s just the way I am.”
Be led by the Spirit.
Cooperate with the Holy Spirit, let Him lead you, let Him help you to hear and obey God’s Word.
Allow the Spirit to help you discern between your feelings and His prompting.
Live every day guided by the Holy Spirit.
Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free - let the Holy Spirit guide your life.
