“The Dangers of when Church becomes Comfortable”
Comfortable Christianity
By
Bishop M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
Once upon a time in the land called Feel Good there was a Church. This new Church was called "The Church of the Comfortable and Tolerant". Very recently this Church hired a new Pastor, Pastor Peace Keeper, who just graduated from the Seminary of Smooth Talking.
The congregation "of the Comfortable and Tolerant" loved the new Pastor's sermons. Some of their favorites were "God is happy with everyone", "Everything is fine and dandy", and "There is nothing but good times ahead".
Pastor Peace Keeper once made a terrible mistake. He wrongfully allowed Minister Conscience into the pulpit. Minister. Conscience did nothing but call human mistakes "sins" and called the good folks of the congregation to "repent". Minister Conscience had never been to the Seminary of Smooth Talking, and maybe he should have before attempting to preach. The congregation of the Comfortable and Tolerant were shocked at Minister Consciences audacity and arrogance. They said things among themselves like "who does this self-righteous legalist think he is coming and talking to us like that! Why should we allow this false preacher among us any longer to continue to persecute us?"
Pastor Peace Keeper terribly regretted letting Minister Conscience into the pulpit. Minister Conscience has betrayed the trust he had with the Pastor. So Pastor Peace Keeper asked Mr. Conscience to please leave the church, he was not welcome there any longer. Everyone was happy that Minister Conscience was asked to leave, except one member called Deacon Holy Ghost. So Deacon Holy Ghost and Minister Conscience left together and after a while nobody even noticed that they were gone.
Once things were back to normal, the way they had always been, everyone was happy once again in the land called Feel Good. Pastor Peace Keeper continued to sugar coat sweet and wonderful lies, I mean sermons that made everyone comfortable in their sins and heavily guarded his pulpit from abrasive truths. Who could blame him? You see, the Pastor loved his new home, his new church, and of course he loved his new income. He couldn't put such precious things on the line! So he absolutely guaranteed that "The Church of the Comfortable and Tolerant" were as satisfied and as happy as they possibly could be while they sat in their complacency.
They lived the rest of their days happily ever after, that is, until they were finally cast into hell.
We live in a world that is hostile toward God, Christianity, and everything Holy. Secularism, false religion, self-deification, the philosophy of do what thou wilt, and universalism are some of the weapons the enemy is using to spread the lies that lead to eternal damnation. All you have to do is turn on the television and see the abominations of homosexuality, pornography, perversion, pedophilia, witchcraft, Satanism, and the occult is promoted, pushed in our face, all in one television program. All of this while, our Christian freedoms and rights are being reduced by a government more concerned with itself than the people it represents.
Sadly this is taking place while many Christians sit by, comfortable, complacent, and unconcerned that the enemy is working hard. The Bible says in Psalms 11:2 “For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart”. The devil and his army are constantly working trying to devour the people of God. Yet many are content just the way they are, they are comfortable with routines and their form of godliness and are carelessly unaware of what is going on. 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”. In other words don’t become so comfortable that you forget you are in war.
Too many people today want to do the “Sunday Thing”, they come to church on Sunday, they pray on Sunday, they read their Bible on Sunday and they think that is good enough. It is because of this spirit of complacency that the church is becoming in-effective in society today. We are forced to watch and accept gay marriages, perverted television, practices of the occult, witchcraft and all other forms of abominations, but if someone says that is wrong and that it goes against what God has established they are punished for spreading hate, criticized, humiliated, and their reputation is destroyed. The President will call someone one the phone and congratulate them for coming out and admitting they are a homosexual, but when someone stands up for Holiness he will not even make mention of it and most of the church just sits by and says well that’s just how it is. Oh Zion what’s the matter now.
People of God we cannot sit ideally by and let hell just run amuck. We can’t hope that someone will make a change. The homosexuals have a united force, the media has a united force, the liberals have a united force, but the Christians are fragmented, separated, and mixed up by the spirit of complacency and mediocrity. It’s time to get out of our comfort zone and begin to RAZE hell.
OPENING:- This week something hit me like it never did before and that was the death of Uzzah. In 2nd Samuel 6:6-7 the Bible says “And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God”.
Now to the natural man and the carnal minded person would say that God was cold, unjust, or even mean. He killed Uzzah for trying to keep the ark from falling However, the rule in Numbers 4:15 says “And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation”.
THE QUESTION is what causes a person to forsake the rules and do what they want to do? It is something called comfortability or comfort zone. They become so comfortable to the point that it’s my will that matters and that’s it, it is irreverence.
EXPLAIN BISHOP:- OK I will – David wanted to bring the Ark to Jerusalem so they put it on a new cart to bring it to Jerusalem, which was not the way God had commanded the Ark to be transported. David went back and seen what the Philistines did but he didn’t go back far enough to see what God commanded. The Philistines sent the ark away from them with a cart, after all the trouble they had when they captured it from Israel in battle, but that was not the way God commanded it to be transported. David had it transported on a new cart and that was out of order. Even though there was praise, even though there was worship, even though they dance, it was out of order. When things are out of order God is not pleased. There are a lot of people that are so-called praising and worshipping God, but God is not pleased because it’s out of order. Because the transportation of the Ark was out of order, God caused the oxen to stumble because He was not pleased.
Uzzah didn’t recognize that God wasn’t pleased and thought the ark was going to fall so he took hold of it and died. Now in order to understand this we must go back 20 years before this.
WATCH THIS:- 20 years before this the Ark of the Covenant came to the house of a man by the name of Abinadab. Abinadab had 3 sons their names were Eleazar, Ahio, and Uzzah. These 3 boys grew up around the Ark in their house, they understood the Ark, they knew the power of the Ark, they were blessed because the Ark was in their house, for 20 years they were in the presence of the Ark, they became accustomed to the Ark, and this caused a level of familiarity that produces a level of comfort and it was in this level of comfort that Uzzah thought he could do what seemed right to him not realizing that the end thereof was death. The Bible says there is a way that seems right but the end thereof is death. So Uzzah thought he was right and with zeal he reach out in his comfortability and irreverently took hold of the Ark, which was his will and not God’s. If he would have realized that 20 years ago when the Philistines sent it away 2 cows pulled it on a cart and God lead them and didn’t let anything happen to the Ark, understand God is always in control even we it seems like things are out of control. Uzzah died because of his comfortability.
Sadly there are those in church today who are so comfortable that it’s all about them and not about God. Some people think well I came to church today so the pastor ought to be glad I even showed up; but you don’t have to show up as long as God shows up everything will be alright because it’s all about Him and not about you. To be honest sometimes it would be better if you didn’t show up because all the attitudes you come in church with would make the pastor’s job easier if you didn’t show up because he wouldn’t have to struggle with all those spirits of negativity, disgust, arrogance, pride, laziness, and many more before he got ready to preach.
Uzzah became comfortable and in his comfort zone he died. Comfort killed Uzzah because he was so comfortable that he neglected to obey God. His comfort and complacency cost him his life.
The dangers of when church becomes comfortable. The dangers of comfortable Christianity.
TURN TO:-Amos 6:1 “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came’.
“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion”
Woe is an expression of grief, regret, distress, indignation, trouble, or affliction.
At Ease is a military term that means to rest, relax, become comfortable
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Zion refers to the church world, God's people, and the body of Christ: Woe to those who are at ease in the church. Woe to God's people who are at ease in these last days. Woe to the body of Christ that is comfortable with church as usual.
Woe to God's people? Why? Because they are not concerned for lost souls, they are irreverent to God and the things of God. There is nothing that motivates or troubles them to get out of the comfort zone and fulfill the great commission of God. They are comfortable that souls are dying and going to hell as long as they are able to hear a message that encourages them and makes them feel good, that tickles their ears and doesn’t step on their toes. They care only about themselves and they don’t even care if God is pleased with them as long as they can remain in their comfort zone.
OH ZION If we're not careful, we can easily become too comfortable in the church. God has been so good to feed our souls with His Word, but if we're not careful, we may tend to become self-centered and selfish. As long as our soul is getting fed, we don't care about going out to reach the multitudes, who are in the highways and by-ways of life. We must be vigilant because there is a danger of getting so comfortable that we ease up in being concerned for others; we have no concern for others. All that matters is that we're getting blessed. Tell me how to get rich, tell me how to live in the big house, how to drive a big car.
F. B. Meyer in one of his commentaries said “The one thing that pierces the heart of God with unutterable grief is not the world’s iniquity, but the church’s indifference.”
When I looked around I see people sitting down, comfortable in their chairs, some singing, some not, when we say stand for the reading of God’s word and people just sit there irreverently. You say stand for the reading of God’s word and they sit there talking about I don’t feel like standing, I’m too tired, but they are the ones that stand around after church talking for 20 minutes about where are we going to get something to eat at. Something deep inside wonders Oh Zion what’s the matter now?
Now I am not saying that you have to be standing up to properly worship God that is not the case. You can worship him sitting, standing, lying, or any way that you are at the time you are worshipping. What I want to put across is the attitude heart! If the President came in here we all would be standing if for no other reason than to get the best look that we could get, if the Queen came in here we all would be standing even though she is not our Queen we would stand out of respect. However, when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords comes in some sit there like it’s all about me, Comfortable and Complacent and Irreverent.
Let me deal with the spirit of complacency – Complacency is a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc. Complacency is a terrible disease, like a leprosy it slowly eats away at you spiritually until finally you die. You start out by slipping into a pattern of laziness and then you find that you do not care or even see the point of doing things. We become comfortable with church as usual. We see nothing wrong with coming to church Sunday after Sunday, singing a few songs, hear a preach word, maybe shout a little and go home until next week. That is a spirit of complacency because we have become comfortable with church as usual.
We must be on guard against complacency in the Christian life. We must never be content, thinking we have done enough in serving God. We must never think it won’t matter if we don’t read our Bible for a day or go to church this Sunday. What happens is one day easily becomes two, than a week, a month, and before you know it, it is easier not to do than it is to get back into spending that time with God.
You should be praying. You should be fasting and seeking the Lord. You should be seeing what you can do to reach souls. Maybe you'll never be called to stand behind a pulpit, but you need to seek what the Lord would have you to do in reaching others.
One of the dangers of being comfortable in our walk with God is that over time comfort tends to begin to feel like something that God owes us. The songs are being sung and they say well I don’t know that song even though the words are up on the screen they sit there and will not move, comfortable in their complacency and mediocrity of praise. The Bible tells me that from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same the name of the Lord is to be praised.
LISTEN CLOSELY:- Because I am about to say something that is going to mess with your theology, it’s going to shake some of your foundation, it’s going to tease your traditions. Even I at one time was shaken by this. I said the mediocrity of praise. We often have said even me, that preaching is the most important part of the service. LISTEN:- that’s not exactly true, what are you talking about preacher. Preaching is the 2nd most important part of the service, the most important part is Praise. WATCH THIS:- Preaching is secondary cause of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned it placed a gap between God and Man. God sent his son Jesus to die on Calvary’s cross to redeem man back into a relationship with Him. So we preach the Gospel which is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to bring many sons and daughters into glory, which is the ministry of reconciliation. WATCH THIS:- Before man sinned God was praised. If man never sinned God would still be praised. In Heaven the angels cry HOLY HOLY HOLY because God is praised. When you become comfortable in your praise, when you give mediocre praise you are literally robbing God of what belongs to Him. Oh Zion what’s the matter now.
Another danger for those who are at ease in Zion is they are not being able to stand the storms and the attacks that threaten to sink their ship of faith.
Understand, storms will come that will threaten to undo the foundations of our security, but for those who are comfortable they will not even realize what is going on. Jonah in the midst of the storm was asleep in the boat, because he was comfortable in his disobedience.
Nebuchadnezzar was comfortable in his riches, so God caused him to literally loose his mind, to crawl around like a wild animal for 7 longs years, but when he realized God is God and deserves all the praise his situation turned around.
Don’t become comfortable in your Praise.
Matthew 24:37-39 says “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”.
So many times we try to make this real deep and mysterious, but what was really going on is that the people had become some comfortable in sin that it didn’t matter what God thought about, they were comfortable thinking that they didn’t have to give an account for what they were doing. So they lived anyway they wanted. They did whatever they wanted. They worship whatever they wanted. They became comfortable and in the comfortability God sent a flood, but not before he sent a warning. For 120 years Noah preached that the flood was coming, but because of comfort the people didn’t take heed to the words that came out of Noah’s mouth, then one the flood came. For years the word Jesus is coming again have been preached yet people in their comfort are not taking heed to the words that are being preached. There’s danger in being comfortable.
Uzzah died in his comfort. I believe his death is a message to us today about not becoming comfortable. When we look and see the desperate, deplorable, despicable, deprives condition of humanity that should motivate us to leave the safety of our comfort zones and deliver the message of salvation through Jesus. When we become comfortable when neglect the responsibility and miss God’s plan for your life and the opportunity to help build His kingdom.
Luke 14:23 says “And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that My house may be filled”.
This is the duty of all of God's children, without exception.
Acts 1:8 says : “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”.
This power is given to us that we might be witnesses unto Jesus. But we won't find it working in our lives if we refuse to go out where the lost and dying are and open our mouths to witness to them. That’s the power to complete the duty.
Mark 16:15 “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature”.
Get out of your comfort zone and make eternal things priority!!!!!!
Make Souls Your Priority!!!!!!!!
Make Praise priority!!!!!!!!!!
Isaiah 32:11 says “Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones”.
When you are comfortable in Zion you don’t tremble. Those who are at ease aren't trembling; they're comfortable and relaxed; whereas, those who tremble have something that troubles them, causing them to be uncomfortable. Praise service is dragging and someone is trembling, they stand up and say when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all He has done for me.
You who are at ease in Zion need to tremble a bit. You need to shake yourselves from lethargy, complacency, mediocrity and stir yourselves with the things of God. Begin to look at your life of ease and let it trouble you.
Look at where you've let down spiritually and let it shake something loose deep down in your soul.
Look at where you've disobeyed the voice of the Lord, tremble and turn to repent of your disobedience, just like Jonah did a run.
There's no time to rest and take it easy. We're living in the last days.
Don’t get comfortable but tremble for the Lord.
John 9:4 says “I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work”. Time is running out and we get afford to be comfortable.
Luke 12:18 – 20 says “And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided”.
Only what you do for Christ will last. Think about those words. What is going to last of all your inactivity in this life? How many souls have perished while you took such a complacent and comfortable attitude about the things of God?
When the night comes wherein no man can work, you'll wish you had paid heed that you had left your comfort zone while it was day. But it will be too late then to do anything about it. All you'll have to place at the Lord's feet will be regrets.
It’s sad when souls come into the church, and the people are too comfortable to go over and make them feel welcome. I try to come out of the pulpit every time someone comes into the church, because I can never become comfortable to the point where I take a soul for granted.
Take some time. You have plenty of time for yourself, don't you: time to get settled and comfortable, time to be at ease and let time slip by?
Take time to be busy for Jesus.
Take some time and effort to make those around you feel wanted and loved.
Take some time to encourage those who may be having trials and tribulation.
Take some time to help that young Christian get established in the Word.
And take time to tell others about salvation.
An effective church is one that poses a real threat to the Enemy.
They are a body of disciplined people who have been taught the truth of Scripture, trained for service, and helped to mature spiritually. But all this is accomplished for the purpose of going out into the world, not for becoming a comfortable and irreverent and to end up dead.
Uzzah had all the right intentions, his zeal to do the right thing, I believe that his heart was in the right place, but because he was comfortable he neglected obedience and it cost him his life. Don’t lose your life because you were stuck in comfort.
