FIGHTING COMPLACENCY
Revelation 3: 14-22
Zephaniah 1: 1-13

           Nineteenth century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard tells the story of an injured goose. Upon being injured, this goose lands in a barnyard that is already inhabited with chickens. As the goose goes through its recovery time, it begins to eat, sleep, and play with the chickens. After awhile, this goose begins to think that is, in fact, a chicken, rather than a goose. One day, this goose hears a familiar call. It looks up and sees a flock of geese flying overhead. In a moment of inspiration, this goose spreads its wings and takes a few hesitant flaps. The goose begins to rise upon the winds, but suddenly puts its wings away and settles back into the muddy barnyard. This goose was content to be less than it was! It was satisfied living as a chicken, rather than living as the goose it was created to be!

           This story might be a bit outlandish, but it is an accurate depiction of Zephaniah’s Israel. Israel had become complacent toward God! Reading through Zephaniah’s writing, we see there is not really a noticeable plot; instead, the Book of Zephaniah is an extended sermon on complacency that is aimed toward Israel. However, Israel was not always so complacent and indifferent toward God. We are told in verse 1 that Zephaniah is a descendant of King Hezekiah. In the days of Hezekiah, Israel was passionate about its relationship to God. Israel was zealous in its pursuit of God. To use a modern term, Israel was “on fire” for God—and burning white-hot! After awhile, though, Israel’s passion cooled and its zealousness waned. Israel became more and more complacent toward God; their relationship with God no longer seemed to be a priority. It was against this attitude that Zephaniah prophesied. It was against Israel’s complacency that Zephaniah spoke out.

           In fairness, though, it should be noted that complacency seems to come with the territory of being human; it is hard for us to avoid feelings of indifference at times. With all the busy-ness of life, our souls, and our bodies, become tired and fatigued. Are you in such a place as that right now? Is your soul tired? When we begin to feel tired in our souls, we are in danger of having feelings of indifference overrun us. We know there are things we can, or should, do, but we don’t. Why don’t we? Because there is this feeling of wondering if it will do any good (“what’s the point?”) and the feeling that if we don’t do something, there will be someone else who will come along and pick up our slack. I want to acknowledge that this is something each of us likely experience at some point. I also want to say that I am in no way passing judgment upon that. I think God also accepts that humans are subject to these feelings of indifference—that doesn’t necessarily mean God likes it though. Having these feelings every now and then, I believe, is not the big problem. The problem is when we choose to remain indifferent and complacent! While God might accept that we occasionally find ourselves indifferent, God does not tolerate us remaining complacent! Go back and reread the passage from Revelation. The message to the church in Laodicea is that they are neither passionate about God nor rejecting of God. They are somewhere in the middle; God calls them lukewarm. Have you ever taken a sip of lukewarm water? It is disgusting! And the lukewarm soul is disgusting in the mouth of God. God would rather we be one or the other; either white-hot or completely turned off from God. Obviously God would prefer we be passionate, but God cannot stand us being somewhere in the middle. The question then becomes, “how do we fight complacency? How do fight these feelings of indifference?”

           I believe the first key to fighting complacency or getting out of complacency is to recognize it. I know I’ve used the word “indifferent” as another word for complacency. Another simple definition of complacency is “satisfaction”. I don’t mean satisfied in the happy sense. I mean satisfied in the sense of not needing or wanting to pursue after anything else. Coaches warn their players and teams all the time against becoming complacent and satisfied where they are; either they think they are too good to practice or prepare or believe their competition is so far above them that no amount of practice or preparation will do any good. Relationship experts warn that relationships become the most vulnerable when those in the relationship become satisfied with things and there is no attempt to “keep things fresh”. Complacency has the power to control us to keep us from reaching our potential. Teachers, I’m sure, see this all the time. A student has the potential to work at a certain level, but they are content to work at a level below their potential. The same is true in the spiritual realm. Complacency will keep us from being all that God can enable us to be. If we are satisfied when our relationship with God reaches a certain point, or if we don’t care how deep we go in this relationship, we miss out on all that God has in store for us.

           The second key to fighting off or overcoming complacency is to admit when it might be creeping up upon us. Sometimes, this can be difficult. It requires some honesty with God, with our self, and with others. This can especially difficult if we perceive that we should be ashamed of this admission. It is nothing to be ashamed of! The first step to work through difficulties is to admit those difficulties are present. I will confess to you that there are times that I struggle with complacency! There are times when I’ve got more going on than I can handle and to stop and nurture a relationship with God sometimes falls to the bottom of the list. Because I am able to admit that, I can do something about it. If we do not or cannot admit when we find ourselves in a state of complacency, we have no hope of overcoming it; if, in our minds, we convince ourselves that nothing is wrong, then nothing can be done to “cure” the issue. We convince ourselves that everything is alright and we become satisfied with where we are.

           The final key I want to address in fighting complacency is…doing something about it. It is one thing to talk about complacency, to know what it is, even to admit that we might fall into it every now and then. It is an entirely different thing to do something to bring ourselves out of that feeling! When it comes to spiritual complacency, I know of no better weapon to use than the Scriptures; getting into the Scriptures will help us to fight off this feeling. You might be thinking to yourself, “wait a minute, you’ve preached on that before.” You are absolutely right! About six weeks ago, I preached on Scripture study as a means by which we experience God’s grace. If you are anything like me, though, you probably need a little guidance on how/where to get started in studying God’s Word. If you look in your bulletin (or on the website) you will find a sheet of paper that has a reading outline.    [ NT in 90 days]     My invitation to each one of us is to commit to journeying together through the New Testament between now and the end of the year (those that have already read my newsletter article will have read about this). My invitation is for each of us to get into God’s Word! My hope is that this might rekindle a passion for those who need it, that it might add more fuel for those already on fire, and might unlock more about God for those who simply yearn to know God more. As a way to help us along, and to keep myself accountable, I have also started an Internet journal, aka a blog, where, each evening, I will post a few reflections on each day’s reading. My hope here is simply to help stimulate conversation and discussion and give people a forum to ask questions about difficult passages, etc. (the blog address is jarrettwells.blogspot.com).

           An interesting thing happened just a few years after Zephaniah began prophesying. King Josiah ordered repairs made to the Temple; it had fallen into disrepair after years of apathy and indifference. Among the cobwebs and dust and clutter of the Temple was found a copy of a book. It was a copy of what we know as the book of Deuteronomy. This book was the law of God! It was then that Josiah got Zephaniah’s message! Israel had become so complacent that the very word of God had gotten lost among the dust of the Temple, the church. Israel had become so complacent that they had completely forgotten about God’s law and commandments! This set in motion an chain of events where Israel recaught its passion for God and began to take more seriously their relationship with God.

           Through Zephaniah, God was knocking at the door of Israel, trying to come in. For many years, God’s knocks went either unheard or simply ignored, and Israel remained complacent in their relationship and attitude toward God. What about us? Are we satisfied where we are in our relationship with God? Will we choose to go deeper and further, or are we content to remain as we are? AMEN.

Ninety day New Testament Reading Plan NT in 90 days

Praise "Shine, Jesus, Shine" 2173
Hymn "Marching to Zion" 733
Hymn "Spirit of the Living God" 393

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