Wednesday, September 29, 2010

September 28, 2010

"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' " 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' " Luke 16:27-31
This formerly rich man now found himself in hell tormented by the horrors of the place plus tortured by the regrets he had about not taking advantage of the opportunities to prepare his soul for Heaven. He was eternally lost and he knew it.
He was suddenly urgent about the eternal destiny of his five brothers who were still living. He wanted to save them from a similar fate.
How is your urgency toward the eternal destiny of people you care about?
He became too urgent too late to help the situation. We tend to do the same. Why?
What are some things that cause us to become complacent rather than feeling urgent? What should we look for? What attitudes can we resist?
In our last post we mentioned that success can lead to complacency. Another attitude that can lead to complacency is excess.
This rich man, in his earthly life, had all the necessities and many of the luxuries and he wanted for nothing. Good for him! We should be so lucky!
Unfortunately, that level of comfort can erase our concerns about other people. You can get so busy enjoying yourself that you lose touch with the needs of others. That insulation from the needs and conditions of others can make you complacent.
In addition, when you have all that stuff you have to guard it and maintain it and protect it and secure it and find time to use it and all that takes time, energy and focus.
I have to believe that this rich man's success and his excess causes him to become complacent. Enjoying and caring for his "stuff" robbed him of his urgency toward the needs of others.
It can happen to you as well. Maybe you don't have an excess of stuff but you can spend an excessing amount of time focused on it or working to acquire more stuff.
Understand that I am not anti-success nor am I against having a lot of stuff. What I am concerned about is whether that success or that excess steals your urgency toward the eternal welfare of your own soul and the destiny of others.
Don't be like this guy and become urgent too late. Have as much stuff as you can get but don't allow it to have you.

September 27, 2010

"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' " 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' " Luke 16:27-31



One of the things that has always plagued the Church is complacency. The Church consists of Christ-followers and Christ-followers are to be about the mission of winning converts and teaching them to follow Christ. There should be a sense of urgency about accomplishing this mission since it is the central reason for the church to exist.



But, it is easy to lose the urgency and fall into complacency. Jesus was speaking about that in this portion of Scripture and told a story about a guy who had done just that. Over the next few posts I want to deal with a few things that cause us to lose our urgency and lead to complacency.



Success can lead to complacency.



In the Jewish mind-set, success was linked to spiritual blessing. That is a mistaken notion but it has also found its way into some Christian thinking as well and it can lead to complacency because we can deceive ourselves into believing that because we are doing well materially we are also doing well spiritually. That may not be true. In the case of this guy it wasn't.



So, living under the impression that he was spiritually blessed had dulled his sense of urgency for reaching others or helping those who could have benefited from his generosity. That was illustrated by Lazarus, the beggar who laid outside his house in desparate need but was ignored and neglected by the rich fellow.




Having wealth and privilege should have increased his urgency to help and reach others but it caused him to be casual about it because he mistook his wealth for God's blessing. The truth is that when God does bless us materially He does it so we can bless others. People who do give to others do so because they have an urgency over the spiritual and material needs of that person. And because they give to those people, their urgency toward them grows.
I know human nature and I know that when I am having success it is easier to become content and complacent. You no doubt have struggled with that. It may be natural but it is not acceptable for believers who are called to do what Christ did and care for others. It may be human nature but it is not what called has called us to do. Our calling is to be Christ-followers who serve as the hands and feet of Jesus doing what He would do were He here.
Have you allowed yourself to become complacent? Has your comfort level taken the edge off of your urgency to reach others?
That question deserves an honest and urgent response.