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The Consequences Of Spiritual Apathy Series
Contributed by Robert Robb on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: Identifying the consequences of Spiritual apathy among God’s People
The same is true in respect of the relationship between parents and children. There can be a breakdown in that relationship as a result of disobedience on the part of the child. The objective relationship does not change – the child is still the son / daughter of those parents, they are still his/her parents but something of the closeness of the relationship is lost while the child remains in a state of disobedience. The relationship is not what it should be. Well something similar was happening here in Haggai’s day. Their spiritual apathy, their indifference to God’s Work, their self-centredness, their worldly-mindedness, their ungratefulness, had kindled God’s anger against them resulting in a marring of their relationship with Him.
When a person is born again of God’s Holy Spirit and through faith in Christ adopted into God’s family that person is brought into a very special relationship with God. God becomes their Father, they become his child. And one of the marvellous truths of the gospel is that that objective Father/Child relationship cannot be broken and will never be dissolved. However the Christian’s subjective experience of that relationship can be marred as a result of sin in the life of the Christian. When the believer sins and refuses to face up to, confess and turn from their sin and chooses instead to live in a state of known disobedience to God, the closeness of their relationship with God is adversely affected. God is still their Father, but there is something of a distance, something even of a coldness in the relationship. There is much less of a felt sense of God’s fatherly love. The close sweet intimate fellowship that the believer once enjoyed when he or she was living in obedience to God’s will disappears. The relationship becomes marred as a result of sin. And it will remain that way until the believer turns from their sin. That was David’s experience in the aftermath of his sin with Bathsheba. His sin, terrible as it was, did not dissolve his objective relationship with God. He was still God’s child. What it did do however, was mar his subjective experience of that relationship. He didn’t have the same sense of God’s love for him. He didn’t have the same sense of God’s presence. The joy of his salvation was replaced by sorrow. He felt as though God’s hand was heavy upon him, which it was, because God instead of blessing David was chastening him. And it was not until David faced up to his sin, it was not until he confessed it unto God, it was not until he cried out in repentance “have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving-kindness; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me…” It was not until David came to that point of genuine confession of and repentance from sin that the broken, marred, relationship with God was restored.
Let me ask you this morning, as a Christian, do you feel that God is somewhat at a distance from you. Have you in recent months lost that sense of God’s nearness to you and love for you that you once enjoyed? Is your fellowship with the Lord not what it used to be? Do you find that you cant speak to the Lord as you once did, that your relationship is not as close as it once was? Does there seem to be some sort of barrier between you and the Lord? If so then, perhaps its because there is some sin in your life that you have been unwilling to face up to and deal with. Some sin that you have been unwilling to forsake and that you have been indulging for some time. Maybe like the people in Haggai’s day you have fallen into a state of spiritual apathy over the past months. Maybe you have become less disciplined in your Christian life. Less disciplined in your attendance at worship, less disciplined in your reading of the scriptures, less disciplined in prayer, less disciplined in your speech, in your conduct. Maybe you have allowed other things to become more important to you and take preference in your life over the things of God and the work of God. Maybe over this past year or over these past years you have been slowly but surely pushing God from the centre of your life where he should be and wants to be, to the fringes, and you have been giving God the leftovers of your life. Brethren if such is the case, is it any wonder that you that you have lost that sense of communion and personal fellowship with God that you once enjoyed. Is it any wonder that you feel that God is at a distance from you? Your sin has marred your relationship with God. Your sin has caused God to withdraw the sense of his nearness and his love from you. And until you confess your sin and truly repent of it your relationship with God will remain marred.