Comfortable Christianity

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Greetings to each one of you in Christ's name. I would like to notice a verse this morning at the outset of this message. Paul said this to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, verse 3, he said this, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ [00:00:32] I'm not sure this morning Well, I am positive Well, I think I'm positive I know why I was led to this message But I'm not sure how you would feel about it this morning If I would give you, each one of you personally, that admonition I hope you suffer a little bit this week For the cause of Christ Maybe that, well, I'm just not sure how you would feel about that. But I think that's exactly what Paul was telling Timothy. [00:01:06] I hope you suffer a little bit as a brave soldier for Jesus Christ. And we all know what the requirements are of a soldier, or at least some of it. We know that a soldier is supposed to be ready at all times to endure for the cause, to defend his position. And as soldiers of Jesus Christ, we have the same responsibility, each one of us that professes to be a soldier for him. It is our responsibility to make sure that I don't lose ground personally and that we don't lose ground as a church, as a soldier in Christ's army. [00:01:47] Maybe that makes us uncomfortable, I don't know. Jesus said this as well, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Deny himself. Paul says in Romans 12, 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And I want to note this morning that identifying with Christ must lead to following Christ. [00:02:18] And I know that the world encourages us today and has always encouraged us to pamper ourselves, to take it easy. But the Lord calls us, each one of us, to deny ourselves, walk a different path. And that's the topic that I've chosen to speak about this morning. I've titled this message, Comfortable Christianity. And I'm not sure if that's a good title or not. You can put your own title to it. But you know, any discomfort that I experience just somehow doesn't seem fair to me. It just doesn't seem right. We live in an age that promotes feeling good to the point where feeling good is on equal footing with right and wrong. [00:03:04] Truth versus evil, I guess you could say And we surmise that if I feel good about something If I feel good about the way I do things Then I must be alright spiritually because I feel good about it We just don't feel that we should experience any discomfort in our day We live in a day, I don't know, one writer said, we live in a day of feel-goodism, he said it. [00:03:41] And that's probably a wrong term. But we live in a society that bases how we feel on, or how we feel determines whether we are in right standing with God. Now, that's a pretty broad statement, but how does that affect me? How does that affect the church and our personal life? How does that affect us? You know, we like to go to church, but we want to feel good. [00:04:16] We don't want to deny ourselves. We don't want to, and there's a sense with which we can feel good. But let me say this, the early Christians had to rely on God for their every need But today, in the modern world, creature comforts, drive-thru mentality has made many Christians sluggish and complacent And I think we would all agree with that I don't think there's anyone here that would deny that fact [00:04:47] We can settle into a church routine We go to church Sunday morning Maybe Wednesday evening, but we feel a little uncomfortable to share a word of testimony for God But we still go to church, and we pray when the need arises We're willing to do that, but we want to enjoy life We don't want this thing to hinder us And it becomes very easy to let other people do the hard spiritual lifting We'll just stand back and let them do it [00:05:19] You know, if we are in this mode, the call of God to make disciples in every nation is but a faint whisper if we're even listening to it. And it can only cause some inconvenience and disruption to our lives. Now the question I would raise this morning is, where am I at in this comfortable Christianity? How do I find my way in a world that is strongly encouraging that I just feel good about my experience, maybe just an emotional experience? [00:05:57] You know, the message that Jesus had for his disciples is not a feel-good message. It just isn't. And we are, I think all of us are convinced this morning that the narrow way is not the most comfortable way, but it is the right way. It is the only way. Now what I'm going to say next is not a disclaimer to what I have been saying, but I feel like I should say it. Nevertheless, there are tremendous blessings in following the Lord. [00:06:30] There are, even if we endure hardness, even if we have to endure some things, if we have committed ourselves, we can experience blessing. Not just because it feels good to always do the things that the Lord asks us to do or wants us to do. But in order for us to experience those things, we have to get out of our comfort zone. We have to get out of the boat and walk like Peter did. We have to get our feet wet. And also I want to say this at this point [00:07:04] We cannot work out our salvation merely by making ourselves uncomfortable By some self-inflicted something that we do That is not Our salvation isn't worked out by making ourselves miserable I want to be clear on that Any discomfort that we experience in serving the Lord The Lord is merely a product of a devoted life in serving the Lord. [00:07:37] And I want you to remember that as I speak this morning. We are not, when we are miserable, just because I am miserable doesn't say that I'm saved. Because I was miserable before I was a Christian. Very miserable. And there are scriptures that speak about resting in the Lord, about the security that we have in Him. The Bible speaks about being comforted, and we all need comfort at times. And Jesus says in Matthew 11, 29 and 30, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. [00:08:11] For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And I suppose we could surmise that looking at that, it should be just easy. But he doesn't say there's no yoke to carry, no burden to bear, but it becomes light, It becomes easy when my heart is surrendered to doing exactly what the Lord wants me to in His order. And I don't know, we all have different experiences in becoming a Christian. Some of us became Christians at a young age and we have different things that drew us to that point. [00:08:47] And I hesitate to share this a little bit, but I remember something. There was, becoming a Christian for me wasn't necessarily for ease. In fact, I knew that I had a rough road ahead. I had some difficult confessions to make. I had some things to set in order. But my decision was based on, I knew that my, I was going the wrong way. [00:09:20] and the destination I was headed for was not where I wanted to be. And I would not want any of you to go there either. But as far as my comfort, I do not remember that I felt that life would be easy now that I've done it. The burden on my heart then this morning is simply that we get so comfortable with the way that things have always been. We've just always done it this way and with our money and our job and you can fill in the blank that we lose ground spiritually. We lose out. We need to be able, we need to be willing to get out of our comfort zone if we want to follow Jesus the way that he calls us to. [00:10:07] Now I would like to look at a scripture in Matthew 10 and I'm going to be reading quite a bit of this scripture this morning. Matthew 10, I'm going to start at verse 16. You may follow along if you like. And I'm going to read to the end of the chapter and just maybe a brief something here. Jesus is speaking to his disciples before sending them out. And I'm not going to be commenting on a lot of this. I'm just going to read it for your consideration. [00:10:40] He doesn't give much hope of an easy road. If we are his disciples, we cannot count on having things fall in place for us all the time. Maybe we'll stand to read this. This is quite a lengthy passage or portion to read. Matthew 10, verse 16. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the consuls, [00:11:13] and they will scourge you in their synagogues, and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child. And the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. [00:11:47] and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake but he that endureth to the end shall be saved but when they persecute you in this city flee ye into another for verily I say unto you ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come the disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord it is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? [00:12:21] Fear them not, therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light, and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. and fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father [00:12:54] but the very hairs of your head are all numbered fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. [00:13:26] For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. [00:13:57] He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. and whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward. [00:14:29] Now I'm sure that you could probably preach a number of messages in the passage I just read but I wanted to read enough so that we could see at least two things. The first thing, and there's many things that we could talk about, but in verse 22 it says, And ye shall be hated of all men. Brother Daniel said, we just don't fit in the world anymore. Do we fit? How well do I fit in this world? [00:15:01] If I am comfortable with the things of the world and what goes on in the world, I am of the world. I would just think we're safe to say that. But then he says, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved And there's a second thing that I notice here Further down, and there would be a number of scriptures that would indicate the same thing Where he talks about the sparrows Jesus, in all our hardships, knows every intimate little detail about our lives [00:15:33] And he is right there, through our most difficult times, he's there He's there. So we're not left alone. And there's more to say. There's this ultimate. He talks about being willing to forsake everything for the cause of Christ. Everything. Now, there's more that could be said about that. I'm just going to leave that for your consideration. [00:16:03] But comfortable Christianity, our flesh does not like what I just read Being hated of people, serving among people that would chase us out, would like to get rid of us And I don't think we have probably not enough of that in our community, in our lives And I say that with a grain of salt because I am with you I don't suffer enough. There are people that have been in prison for their faith and have come to the United States and have said that our persecution has a totally different form. [00:16:45] We are persecuted by our peer pressure, by our ease, by our comfort, and they are persecuted physically. So I would guess this morning that comfort is a tool that Satan uses to get his foot in the door of many a church, maybe an individual's life. Now, if you think of comfort, this is one of the things that just weighs down on me so heavily. 2nd generation Christianity gets so comfortable [00:17:18] we don't remember what it took to bring us to this point and we get so comfortable that we lose the vision, we lose sight when you think of a comfortable church in scripture where does your mind go? the Laodicean church in Revelations But there's something else, and it's called the lukewarm church, and I don't think I'm going to read that for time's sake this morning [00:17:50] But if you do a study of all the churches, there was one church that was alright The church at Philadelphia, I think it was And I'm saying that off the top of my head, I didn't check on that But there's something that I noticed, and I want to point this out this morning It is entirely possible that we can sit in a church. We can go to church every Sunday. These people were doing it. They were going to church and they felt comfortable. [00:18:22] They felt alright. But there was something wrong. And when God put His finger on it, He judged them for it. I will spew you out. Let's be very careful. Let's not get so comfortable that we have been saved back here and we just keep going on that experience but we don't remain current with our experience with the Lord. It's so important. If we think about the future of our churches, our church and the churches around us, [00:18:53] what is the most important thing that we could stress? That's a question, I'll leave that. I'll leave that for your consideration. But he pronounced judgment on these people They were comfortable They probably reasoned that we've just done it this way And we're probably alright They had need of nothing They were rich They had need of nothing [00:19:24] But God could not stand by Now, the question for us And I ask this question. This is a question that goes with me. Can I afford to relax if my children and grandchildren and my brothers and sisters in church may inherit a church that is at best maybe lukewarm, not on fire? [00:19:55] We cannot afford to relax. We cannot afford to get comfortable. There's more areas that we get comfortable in. And I would like to look at Luke 10, verse 30 to 37. This is the story of the Good Samaritan. You may turn with me to that if you like. And I'm just going to read a portion there. And I always thought this was a parable, and maybe it is a parable. I'm not sure, but Jesus just said the story, so evidently it must have happened. [00:20:29] Well, nevertheless, it's in Scripture. A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. and likewise a Levite when he was at the place came and looked on him and passed by on the other side [00:21:00] but a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds pouring in oil and wine and set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him and on the morrow when he departed he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him take care of him and whatsoever thou spendest more when I come again I will repay thee which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves [00:21:36] and we could go on but I'm going to leave it at that the question here was who was the neighbor that was the question But what I would like to notice here is the ministry of kindness. There is something about the ministry of kindness, and I have failed in this probably, and that's probably why it came to mind, but I think all of us have to struggle with this. The ministry of kindness takes me, takes us out from our comfort zone. [00:22:14] It takes us to places where we feel uncomfortable. We have to leave our work. We lose money. We, and you fill in the blanks. We lose sleep. We go places. We get out of our comfort zone. But it is the ministry that Christ promoted. And it is each one of our call, if we profess to be Christians. You know, the lowly Samaritan was the true neighbor that day. [00:22:47] He gave up personal comfort, he gave up valuable time, and he gave of his energy that he had. He got out of his comfort zone, the least likely of the three. But you know what? That priest did what I sometimes do to my shame. I see something, but it's easy to just walk away. I'm not comfortable. And it can be anything. You don't have to do a big thing. But maybe there's a brother or sister that is hurting. [00:23:19] Maybe there's a brother or sister in the church that just has a little different flavor. And it's just hard to relate to him. But we need to get out of our comfort zone and help where we can Share an encouraging word, share a testimony The Levite did the same thing, he walked away But I didn't read verse 37 and I'll do that And he said, he that showed mercy on him That doesn't really fit But I want the last phrase [00:23:50] Then said Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise Guys, that is a command that I can take personally. That is something that all of us can take personally. We can leave our little corner and we can help people that need help. In this case, I'm not sure it cost. He gave him money. He didn't ask for money, but he gave him money. I think two days worth of income or something like that. I may be wrong on that. [00:24:20] I think one coin was about a day's worth of income. Nevertheless, Paul instructs us the same way. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. And Jesus said this also, and I'm not sure, I don't have the reference, I just have the, I wrote it down. If someone wants to take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. [00:24:52] Is there anything that makes you more uncomfortable than that? There might be. I don't know. But there are times when we are faced with situations where people are seemingly taking advantage of us and it's uncomfortable, but it's what God called us to do. It's our responsibility. Going the second mile goes against the flesh. You know, I hear this statement sometimes and I've made it myself in business that if a man takes advantage of me one time, then it's then all right. [00:25:32] But if he does it the second time, then it's my fault. We'll make sure that doesn't happen. Is that going the second mile? I'll just leave that for your consideration. there is a man that came to mind as I was thinking about this and you all know the story about Dirk Willems there he was running for his life just barely making it crossed the ice and then he heard his pursuer fall down back here and at that moment I am sure that he [00:26:05] I probably would have breathed a sigh of relief good, I'm safe But you know what? He was already out of his comfort zone, but he got out just a little further and he walked back, or ran back. He went the second mile and he saved the person that was about to get rid of him. Now that's a powerful lesson. What is our response to mistreatment? It makes us uncomfortable. You know, we have this feel-good mentality that it's just not right, but it's what God calls us to do. [00:26:44] This thing was going through my head, and maybe this is a little more personal. It is for me. I was sitting in my truck one morning trying to have devotions, and on and on through my head, I kept thinking about the situation I was facing at work. And I thought to myself, here are these people and ungodly men and it's unfair. And I thought, God, they don't even deserve our kindness anymore. [00:27:16] They don't deserve it. But as time went on, there was some other thought that entered my head. What about kindness? What about getting out of our comfort zone? There was a man that left the glory of heaven so that I could have the glory of heaven. Couldn't I be just a little uncomfortable for just a little bit? And I think that's what we're called to do. But if we get so comfortable, we just don't have a word to share anymore. It just makes me, it's not fair. [00:27:50] It is fair. It is fair. Now, there are many examples in the Bible, and I'm not going to, we don't have time this morning to look at all of them. But it has always been this idea, since the fall of man, we've always had this idea that we insulate ourselves, we put our money in the bank and we make ourselves comfortable here. But it's not the message that Jesus had. [00:28:20] If we don't belong in this world, we don't have need to do that. If we were to stay here, if that was our goal, staying here forever, then that would be what we would need to do. But if we belong to another kingdom, this is temporary. And my mind went to the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus, if I say his name right, you can read that in Luke 16. You know, the rich man lived sumptuously. He was comfortable. [00:28:51] He did everything for his comfort. He wanted to do whatever it took to make himself comfortable. Lazarus merely wanted the crumbs off the rich man's table. And I don't know if he even got that. But look at the difference in the destination. Would to God that we would give up just a little bit of our comfort for another person. The wise fool that built the barn and said, take ease, drink and be merry. Let's be comfortable. And I don't know, maybe I'm carrying this a little too far, but I wonder sometimes if I don't, if we don't get too involved in some of these things. [00:29:34] We want to be comfortable, we want to go to church, we want the two to blend. And I think, let me reiterate, there are blessings, there is security in being in a brotherhood, and I encourage that, but let's be careful. Comfortable Christianity is a minimum standard Christianity. It is a Christianity that is always looking for the minimum standard that I can, the minimum that I have to do to be accepted by a church or to still get to heaven. [00:30:10] But you know what, if we are this morning looking for a cross with a wheel at the bottom I doubt if it's going to roll into glory I'm afraid it won't Comfortable Christianity despises accountability It goes against what I want It goes against what feels good to me And there would be much more that we could say about characters in the Bible I thought of Joseph and I read the account and I'm not going to read it [00:30:41] but when Potiphar's wife wanted to get him to do shameful things with him there he was in a dilemma and I don't know if any of us have ever faced anything like that it didn't happen one time but I noticed it happened day after day until finally he had to run he had to flee from that sin And then, he was in an uncomfortable situation. What do we do when we're tempted just a little bit at a time? [00:31:13] But he chose the right thing. And it cost him time in prison. It cost him unfairness. About as bleak as it could be, he had to get out of his comfort zone because he had made a commitment to serve the Lord. Paul did not complain. He was in prison, uncomfortable as he could be, but he was at the same time joyous because he wanted to serve the Lord. [00:31:45] His heart, he had committed himself fully to serving the Lord and getting the gospel out to the unsaved. Now, just as a closing statement, I would like for us to consider this. There may be times, there may be difficult times in our life If we have committed ourselves to serving the Lord It may at times make us a little uncomfortable [00:32:15] Sometimes very uncomfortable But I assure you this morning that there is probably nothing more fulfilling nothing more joy producing than following the Lord.