Complacent Christianity Kills

Del Fehsenfeld Jr. in Ablaze with His Glory said, "I do not know of any greater need in the church today than for the fire of God to fall. When we refer to the fire of God, we are talking about the manifest presence and glory of God. We are talking about the supernatural power of God. We are talking about services that are more than just nice meetings with nice music and nice preaching. We are talking about results that cannot be explained in terms of human effort."

To that I say, "AMEN!"

The church is in desperate need of the fire of God. And as I think about this subject the question that always comes to mind is, "Why don't we have it?" Even some of the most charismatic churches in our country aren't experiencing genuine revival. I hope to answer at least part of this dilema.

In Judges 16:20 we read that after Delilah cut Samson's hair she called out to him to say that the Philistines were coming. He awoke from his sleep and according to God's Word said, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord has left him."

How sad to think that even the greatest of champions can be lulled into complacency. You know - that self-satisfaction that seems to come over us at times. And according to the definition of complacency it's usually in an unreflective way and without being aware of possible dangers.

That's it! That's what is wrong in most of our churches today. We have become complacent. Pat Riley said, "When a great team loses through complacency, it will constantly search for new and more intricate explanations to explain away defeat." Maybe that's why we see so many church splits or church problems that aren't related to growth. We have become complacent in our faith so we no longer have a passion to reach the lost, change what we are doing as a church body, or seek out new ministry opportunities. And since we don't see anything wrong with us the problems are because of somebody else. We blame pastors, deacons, youth leaders, or music ministers for everything but can never see that our church isn't going anywhere because of our unrevived state.

Here are some lessons from Samson that can help us overcome complacency:

1) If You Play with Sin You will Lose (7,11)
The best advice that I can give you regarding sin is: Deal with sin while it is little.

2) Arrogance and Stupidity Go Hand in Hand (20)
William Pollard said, "The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow."

3) Failure is not an Option (28-30)
The good news about Samson is that he finally recognized where his strength came from.

Complacency is one of the biggest "Christian Killers" in the American Church. We must overcome this deadly evil in our lives if we ever hope to be more than pew warmers in the Kingdom of God.

Revelation 2:5, Jesus said it best, "Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works..."