Zombie Christians

Zombie Christians

Scriptures: Rev. 3:5-6; 15-16; Heb. 10:23-25; James 2:14-24

Since the start of the year I have been sharing with you how we are in a battle. I have focused on the spiritual battle that we are fighting against Satan but starting with this message I will be shifting to the battle we are waging within ourselves. I have told you before that Satan is not behind everything that is happening in our lives and that some of what we are dealing with is of our own making. This message serves as a precursor to the series I will be starting in two weeks on the Ten Commandments which deals with our internal struggles.

The title of my message this morning is “Zombie Christians.” When I discussed the title of the message with my brother Barry, we actually spent some time making a list of examples that we would consider to those with a mental state of a Zombie Christian. That list was too long for one message so I chose three that I think will capture the essence of most of that list. I know that many of you have probably seen a movie or read a book about Zombies so I will not bore you with a lot of details about these fictional beings. However, what I do want you to know is that historically the word Zombie came to suggest that “the vital, human force which makes us who we are leaves the physical body and is ultimately replaced by a creature, while human in form, lacks the self-awareness, intelligence, and soul of a real person.” Zombies can infect others through personal contact. Now before anyone goes off the very deep end, I want to clarify that I am not saying that I believe in Zombies or that I believe that Christians can become Zombies. However, for illustration purposes only, I am using Zombies to illustrate a state of mind that Christians can “spiritually” get into when we allow our guards to drop and our focus to shift. For the purpose of this message, I want to give you my definition of a Zombie Christian. A Zombie Christian is “someone who, although they have accepted Jesus the Christ as their personal Savior, is actually living a life that is void of the self-awareness, intelligence and power associated with being a Christian.” In other words, they are Christians without the intelligence or self-awareness to understand the spiritual power available to them through the Spirit of God.

This morning I will review 3 examples of someone in a Zombie-like state of mind and conclude with the dangers of letting this state of mind spread to others which it will do if we do not address and/or deal with it. The three examples that I will review this morning are: a person with low energy for God; a person who enters the Church but the Church does not enter them; and a person who spends a lot of personal time with God versus doing the things of God. As we examine each of these states of mind, I want you to also consider how they impact those around them.

Zombie Christians Have Low Energy For The Things Of God

The first sign that you may have the mental state of a Zombie Christian is you have low energy for the things of God. This appears in the form of boredom, no fire/excitement for what God is doing and the desire to get things done so they can be checked off a list. This person does not consider the eternal impact of the things they are doing for God. Their walk with God is a check the box exercise. Consider what Jesus said to the Church in Laodicea. Revelations 3:15-16 says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” In verse seventeen we find that this Church was not a poor Church as they had financial means. It was because of their wealth and success that they became very lukewarm. Their being lukewarm was based on “how” they did things in their service to God, not what they did. Jesus told them that He knew their deed and what they were doing was neither cold nor hot. There was no life behind what they were doing – they were checking a box. If you are doing things for the Lord but your attitude is one of doing it because you are supposed to do it because it’s your job, you could be experiencing a Christian Zombie state of mind. You have the Christian body but you are void of the power associated with being a Christian.