How did I get here?
Introduction:
Have you ever did something wrong and wondered, how did get here?
You know what I mean. Life is great one day and then BANG your world is turned upside down.
Patrick Means wrote in his book, Men’s secret wars:
9 years ago my world turned upside down. I was at a Ministry Leadership conference in Central Europe when my supervisor called me in the middle of the night. “I need you to come to my room immediately, it’s important!” he commanded. The next 4 hours began the worse nightmare of my life after they discovered my extra-marital affair. This affair led to my immediate dismissal from the ministry, which I have had for 20 years, and eventually the divorce of my wife and loss of my family.
Patrick recalls this personal tragedy and the things he learned out of it throughout his book.
But there is something I want to point out to you today…
Patrick did not ACCIDENTLY fall into the SIN of adultery.
But rather, as in most cases of transgression, there is a slow, downward, decline that leads to the carrying out this act.
When it was all said and done, the question usually is, How did I get here?
What made this author, public speaker and preacher for 20 years risk the loss of his children, his career and his reputation?
I want to examine another man in a similar situation who is found in our bible:
Turn with me to 2 Samuel 11:1
1. Complacency
• I believe that part of the problem with David was that he got complacent with all of his success.
• Chapter 8 gives us part of the reason why David may have grown complacent:
• In verse 13 it says: And David became famous…
• The danger of having good success is that you grow complacent about your success
• Here David was: King of Israel, Mighty Warrior, everyone liked him, he was successful, and now the bible says he was famous.
• He had wealth, power and fame, the three most sought after possessions in most of our lives.
• One of the 1st signs of complacency is when you lose your passion for something
David said at one time:
Psalms 9:1 I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
Psalms 9:7 The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment.8 He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
• Complacency leads to stagnation, and stagnation breeds corruption. I don’t believe that it is an accident of nature that standing water creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes
George Barna suggested that the nation seems mired in spiritual complacency. "America certainly did not experience the spiritual revival that many Christians hoped would emerge as the new millennium began. In fact, Americans seem to have become almost inoculated to spiritual events, outreach efforts and the quest for personal spiritual development. There are magnificent exceptions throughout the country, but overall, Christian ministry is stuck in a deep rut. Our research continues to point out the need for behavioral modeling, strategic ministry and a more urgent reliance upon God to change people’s lives. Like the churches of Laodicea and Sardis, described in the Bible as distasteful to God because of their complacency and spiritual deadness, too many Christians and churches in America have traded in spiritual passion for empty rituals, clever methods and mindless practices. The challenge to today’s Church is not methodological. It is a challenge to resuscitate the spiritual passion and fervor of the nation’s Christians."
• There is danger in being complacent, or stagnant.
• David’s complacency led him to a careless relationship with God
2. Carelessness
• Do you remember when you received your car? You drove it almost everyday. You cleaned it, took care of it – wouldn’t let anybody eat in it.
• Now, a few years later you have coffee stains and it. Old French fries stuck between the cushions of the seats. What happened?
• You lost your passion for your car, or better yet, you got complacent about having it and became careless.
• Carelessness is usually a direct result of complacency. David was complacent about his relationship with God, complacent about his position in life
• We must never take the grace of Christ for granted.
• How do you become careless with your relationship with Christ? When you find yourself praying less, reading your bible less, spending less time with God you might have become careless.
• Now we don’t know about David’s relationship with God at this moment in our story, but it was David who said: “I will hide the word in my heart so that I don’t sin against thee.” Psalms 119:11
3. Compromise
• The first thing that I want to clear up is this: You don’t accidentally fall into SIN.
• There is usually a slow deviation from the cross of Christ.
• Careless treatment of relationships usually wind up in troubled relationships
• David’s sin was a spiritual compromise and a willful action
• We see here that one compromise usually leads to another, as in David’s case.
• From Lust, to adultery, to possible rape, to deception, finally to murder (starting to sound like a soap opera)
• When it was all said and done, David probably thought, “How did I get here?”
• Maybe you are in the same situation, it might not be adultery, but it is something. You have drifted away by a whirlwind of compromise and carelessness, and you are wondering what to do.
• Well, do what David did…
4. Commitment
In chapter 12:1-13, God sent a prophet to David to tell him that God saw everything.
- David Repented (vs13),
- Then he Rebuilt his relationship with God through prayer and fasting (vs16)
- He made a new COMMITMENT to the Lord
- Read Psalms 51
