Sermon for March 19,2006

This is the last sermon in this series.

The Faith Full Family:
The Idol of Complacency
Revelation 3:14-22; Amos 6:1-6

Introduction: You have probably had the experience of losing your electricity. This would often happen to us in Kenya and we would light candles and lamps. Your eyes adjust and the light seems more than adequate after a while. That is until the electricity comes back and suddenly you realize how dim those little lights were.
There are two concepts that are very similar. One is good and the other can be trouble. The good concept is “contentment”. Scripture often encourages us to be content with what we have. The other concept is complacency, the idea of being self-satisfied.

I. Discontent and Complacency
It might seem that these two ideas of discontent and complacency are two opposite ends of the spectrum and contentment is right in the middle. Yet when we really consider it these are two sides of the same coin.

If we look at discontent we see people who are never satisfied, people who think that “more” will make them more whatever “more” is. Discontent affects our relationship with God. As one person wrote, "The person with the discontented heart has the attitude that everything he does for God is too much, and everything God does for him is too little."[1] That certainly seems to be the case with discontented people in scripture. We see the Israelite people refusing to enter the promise land because God has not made it easy enough for them. Discontent says, “God needs to give me more to be happy, content. I don’t deserve these problems, this sickness, or this relationship. Why doesn’t God do anything?” Discontent is focused on self.

While it may seem that discontent is a big problem in our society, I came across an interesting statistic. A survey done in 2003 asked people in America, “How satisfied are you with life?” I found it amazing that 57% answered “very satisfied”. Only 8% said, “Not satisfied”.[2]
It may seem that complacency is at the opposite end from discontent. A complacent person is someone who is satisfied, their needs are met, they just don’t want anything to change because any change would be to the worst. It is this attitude that we see in Laodicia in Revelation, “You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.'” Revelation 3:17. Complacency is an idol of the rich whether it is rich in money, pride, or self-righteousness.

This is why I feel that complacency is an idol that is dangerous to us as American Christians and as American families. We are a materially blessed people and we often thank God for those blessings in our prayers, and that is good and proper. While we have some members in our church who are struggling with various economic issues we have adequate shelter, food and clothing. We have access to things beyond the basic necessities; in a word we “do not need a thing.” But like the Laodicians complacency leads to blindness.

Sometimes the blindness comes from the insulating power of wealth. I believe this is part of the problem with the rich man in the story of Lazarus (Luke 16:19-21). The rich man is not evil in the sense we often think, he is just blind to Lazarus, the poor man living at his gate. It is easy to forget about the problems so many people face just a few miles from our church building. It takes a concerted effort on our part just to see such people let alone help in any way.

Complacency has a numbing effect also; we call this apathy. The word “empathy” means to feel with another person. Apathy is to not feel. An example of this is the apathy many white Christians feel concerning racial issues in our society. Our response is, “I don’t have a problem.” While the civil rights movement helped to answer some of the inequalities in our society many problems still remain. Yet white churches often ignore the issues. It has come to be referred to as “white apathy”, in other words we don’t care, we don’t feel with our non-white brothers and sisters.

Complacency impacts churches in another important way. Why don’t we reach out to our friends and neighbors with the gospel? There are lots of excuses, no time, embarrassment, don’t know enough, etc. But maybe part of it is we like our church the way it is. New people can be disruptive, just ask a family with a new baby. Growing families are a lot of work and so are growing churches.

The biggest problem with complacency whether it is in people, families, or churches is that it shuts the door on Jesus. The picture of the Laodicia church is one where Jesus is standing outside, knocking and wanting to come in. “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me,” Revelation 3:20. He has to keep knocking because the people inside are a sleep.

II. Waking Up
Casting out the idol of complacency is not easy because it is so comfortable. When we read some of Jesus harshest words he is confronting religious complacency or greed. You have to knock loudly to wake the sleeping.

Jesus has some advice for the complacent, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see,” Revelation 3:18. We have to change our perceptions in order to see what we are missing. Complacency does that to us, we become content with what is dim, what is ragged, and what is ultimately worthless.

Complacency leaves Jesus outside of our lives, our homes, and our churches. That is what the Christians at Laodicia did not realize. It is what we may discover if we look at our lives.
The other remedy is one we may not like, rebukes and discipline. As a man I used to dread those words that Diane would say to me occasionally, “We need to talk.” My automatic thought was, “What have I done now?” Diane’s ultimate concern was for our relationship and those talks led to changes that have made me a better husband and father and deepened our relationship. When God’s rebukes and discipline comes into our lives it is God saying to us, “We need to talk.” God wants our attention; he wants to deepen our relationship. Casting out this idol requires us to examine our hearts and attitudes. It requires us to wake up and see things as God sees them.


Livonia Church of Christ: March 19, 2006

[1] Don Kistler, Tabletalk (9-18-01), p.15.
[2] Shannon Reilly and Keith Carter, USA Today Snapshots; source: Harris Interactive, April 1-15, 20.