Sermon Tone Analysis

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Complacency

Zoo animals in 2013 - wildlife legislation - Costa Rica began the process of closing most of it’s zoos in favor of wildlife conservation areas.

Releasing captive animals into the wild is tricky business.

Birds develop attachment to humans - some even see themselves as humans.

For most animals, life in the zoo makes them complacent around humans, makes them soft, the food is coming…and that’s detrimental to life in the wild.

So “Re-Wilding” an animal means teaching essential behaviors - how to hunt, avoid being eaten, attract a mate, interact with groups...

They have dedicated rehabilitation centers spending months meticulously preparing animals for release back into the wild.

Contrary to popular use, the biblical word for contentment does not primarily mean to be satisfied.

It’s because of this misunderstanding that leads people to confuse contentment with complacency.

Contrary to popular use, the biblical word for contentment does not primarily mean to be satisfied.

It’s because of this misunderstanding that leads people to confuse contentment with complacency.

Complacency: A self-satisfied state of negligence or carelessness, especially in relation to one’s personal situation.

Contrary to popular use, the biblical word for contentment does not primarily mean to be satisfied.

It’s because of this misunderstanding that leads people to confuse contentment with complacency.

Luke 12:13-

Complacency: A self-satisfied state of negligence or carelessness, especially in relation to one’s personal situation.

In a letter he wrote to his congregation in 1924, Rev. Ben Cleaver, one pastor in Ronald Reagan’s childhood church said, in an effort to encourage vigilance in their Gospel effort, “Mediocre or passable service for Christ is almost a crime.”

Since complacency of fools destroys them, complacency and mediocrity in the life of the believer is criminal at best, and wholly destructive at worst.

Christians are not called to complacency, we’re called to contentment.

And with it a calling to seek growth and renewal in Christ.

Contentment

Contentment: a state of mind in which one’s desires are confined to his lot whatever it may be.

To be content does not mean that we just sit back and do nothing because we are “satisfied” with the ways things are.

Contentment does not mean that if we don’t have a job, we don’t seek a job.

Being content does not mean that we refuse to set goals, work hard, or dream big.

Contentment is not tied to inactivity in our lives; it’s tied to trusting God’s activity in our lives.

The word used for contentment literally means to be sufficient.

Contentment is the attitude or mindset that who I am, what I have, and where God has placed me right now is sufficient to biblically fulfill the roles and responsibilities God has given to me.

Contentment is not tied to inactivity in our lives; it’s tied to trusting God’s activity in our lives.

The word used for contentment literally means to be sufficient.

Contentment is the attitude or mindset that who I am, what I have, and where God has placed me right now is sufficient to biblically fulfill the roles and responsibilities God has given to me.

Mediocrity in service to Christ is almost a crime.

How We Can Grow

Proverbs 2:

If you want to move from complacency to contentment while growing in Christ, this passage tells us how to move forward.

If you see a sign in front of a church, “Revival here next week,” you can be sure there won’t be revival there next week.

We can’t program God, we can’t control or predict God’s movement days or months in advance.

BUT, in this passage, like many, God shows us steps into that newness of life.

We want to change.

We want to get closer to him than ever before, ever dreamed of.

You can be renewed in God

Get real with God and God will get real with you and you will change.

“If … then...”

You may say, wait a second that sounds legalistic.

The grace of God is not conditional.

No, it’s not conditional.

We cannot deserve it or earn it.

But we must reach for it decisively.

Think of it like this.

You and I are standing on the brink of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

It is magnificent.

You are loving what your eyes have the privilege of seeing.

I am standing there beside you.

My eyesight is bad, so I put on my glasses.

But the lenses are dirty and smudgy and scratched and filthy.

I cannot enter into all that magnificence right in front of me.

So you say, “Ray, clean your glasses.”

And I say to you, “Now don’t get legalistic on me!”

You are not being legalistic.

Legalism is thinking I can do something to make God pay attention to me.

Legalism is thinking I can do something to deserve the grace of God.

Legalism is meritorious thinking.

But this passage is simply asking every one of us, are you paying attention?

Think of it like this.

You and I are standing on the brink of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

It is magnificent.

You are loving what your eyes have the privilege of seeing.

I am standing there beside you.

My eyesight is bad, so I put on my glasses.

But the lenses are dirty and smudgy and scratched and filthy.

I cannot enter into all that magnificence right in front of me.

So you say, “Guy, clean your glasses.”

And I say to you, “Now don’t get legalistic on me!”

You are not being legalistic.

Legalism is thinking I can do something to make God pay attention to me.

Legalism is thinking I can do something to deserve the grace of God.

Legalism is merit thinking.

But this passage is simply asking every one of us, are you paying attention?

Get real with God

How does God want us to pay attention to him?

And God will get real with you

And you will change

This passage begins with “MY SON [or daughter].”

This is our loving father calling us to take new steps of growth toward him.

Steps that are stretching not complacent.

Look how they escalate in intensity: “If you receive … treasure up … making your ear attentive … inclining your heart … call out … raise your voice … seek … search …”

See the point?

Wisdom is not automatic fo rus?

It is not our default setting.

We’ll never arrive by drifting.

You can’t become a significant person in neutral.

Hill climbing on the dirt bike, missing a gear and hitting neutral, blasts the gas, no go.

Sitting in neutral wondering how you’ll reach the pinnacle is complacency.

Yet God offers us a treasure infinitely worth seeking - more of himself, renewing you.

I don’t know your most personal need today, but I do know God is saying to you, “My child, I’m available if you want me more than you want a cozy predictable life.”

Your status quo.

Your happy place.

Will you today, give yourself completely to God? Will you say to him, “I am hurling myself into your arms.”

God our Father loved us enough for his only Son to get dragged down at the cross for us.