One time
Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find
time to eat. When
his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. But the teachers of religious law who had
arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.”
Mark 3:20-22(NLT)
It’s not
hard to imagine the aloneness Jesus experienced. The Pharisees thought he had a demon, and his
family thought he was daft…out of his mind.
The family wanted to take him home for rest…the Pharisees wanted a more
permanent solution.
And what
was Jesus’ crime? Doing the work of the
Father with all his heart!
There are several
motives here that are all related and tied together that caused both the
religious leaders and Jesus’ family to want to get him to chill-out. There is fear, apathy, complacency…all of
which are crippling to ministry.
While fear
may not be the kind of evil we normally associate with the Pharisees, it is
still the opposite of faith in God, and therefore just as damaging to our
spirit. It all says Jesus was wrong…and
that is blasphemy.
As we
learned last week, there is a pathway connected with sin (the opposite of
faith). It starts with a decision
against God’s will – like Jesus’ family figuring Jesus was out of His mind – or
the Pharisees diagnosing Him with a demon.
The decision is disobedience to God’s will and results in deeds which
you shouldn’t do…but also the lack of deeds that you should do. Whether it is complacency, apathy or fear,
the pathway ends in the same place…death.
It is spiritual death…the disconnect between you and God.
Your
spiritual life can stand a lot of assault; God has promised much strength
through His Word, Prayer and the support of fellow believers. One thing the Christian’s individual
spiritual health cannot live with is our own apathy, fear, or complacency. Here’s how the medical community describes a
person steeped in apathy, they have the:
lack of will to go on and the inability to care about the
consequences[2]
Apathy’s spiritual death looks like giving up, and not caring about it
at all!
Now for the hard part – churches can grow apathetic as well. The excuses are so many it just wouldn’t do
to list them all…I’ve used them, and so have you. The point is, if you can’t imagine why anyone
would give up on Jesus when he was deep into His Father’s work, just look
around and tell me about the people who have given up on Jesus’ church. And then tell me how that apathy, fear, and
complacency has crippled the church you love.
There were two apathetic churches in the final chapters of Holy
Scripture to which Jesus spoke a particularly harsh word of condemnation; the
first was the church at Sardis:
“I know all the things you do, and that you have a
reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what
is left is almost dead. I find that your
actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold
to it firmly. Repent and turn to me
again. If you don’t wake up, I will
come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.
Revelation
3:1b-3(NLT)
That was a dead church…they had lived on their reputation for so long
they couldn’t even tell they were as lifeless as an empty sea shell. Then there was Laodicea:
“I know
all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like
lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! Revelation 3:15-16(NLT)
This group of believers had grown so cold and indifferent, their
complacent apathy was sickening to Jesus.
I have found in my own life that discouragement, tiredness and having
plenty of excuses at my fingertips will lead to apathy and giving up.
But that is not the way of Christ.
Rather than being complacent, living on yesterday’s memories, chewing on
today’s excuses, we ought to be out of our minds in the same way Jesus was; we
should be about the Father’s business, stop complaining and give everything
we’ve got for the work of the Kingdom, no matter what anyone else is doing.
Out of our minds? Yes, exactly…out
of ours, and into the mind of the One who died for us. Paul put it this way:
Let the
same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:5(NLT)
Let the church say “Amen”!
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
[2] What is
the Example of Apathy ©Answers.com
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete