Thefinal poison we will look at is really pivotal for your Christian life. Infact, if you get this one right, many of the other poisons are renderedpowerless… It's the poison of passionlessness.
Thisis another poison that just slowly but surely kills you. Little by little youwill find that your life fades away into mediocrity, and before you know it youwon't even recognise the person you once were.
Thepoison of passionlessness turns on fire Christians into smouldering wicks, fullon believers into quiet bac...
Thefinal poison we will look at is really pivotal for your Christian life. Infact, if you get this one right, many of the other poisons are renderedpowerless… It's the poison of passionlessness.
Thisis another poison that just slowly but surely kills you. Little by little youwill find that your life fades away into mediocrity, and before you know it youwon't even recognise the person you once were.
Thepoison of passionlessness turns on fire Christians into smouldering wicks, fullon believers into quiet backsliders and Holy Spirit filled powerhouses for Jesusinto dull, lifeless, boring religious bigots.
You see, Passion is what energises your life. It turnsthe impossible into the possible. If you don’t have any passion in your life,every aspect of your life will become boring, dull, routine and monotonous.
In fact, if you don’t have passion in your life youare not living. You are just existing.
God made you to live a passionate life and to serveHim and His people with vitality. With vibrancy. With energy. With enthusiasm.He wants you to have this in your life.
In John 10 Jesus said “My purpose is to give life inall its fullness.” God wants you to livea full life and a fulfilling ministry, which is the basis for a fulfilling life.If that’s true, the kind of life God meant for us to live is meant to beenjoyed, not merely endured, to be fulfilling, not just filling in time.
Sadly, however, countless thousands of Christians,even those in ministry and leadership, are simply enduring, holding on for theride and hoping to survive until they reach eternity without blowing it toobadly.
CAUSES OF THE POISON OFPASSIONLESSNESS
Passionlessnessis not something you pursue, it's something that pursues you by default. Tobecome infected with this poison, all you have to do is… Nothing!
Theloss of passion is the natural way any relationship goes, unless you decide tomaintain the passion. If you won't service you car, if you don't maintain yourhouse, if you never clean out your computer hard drive, trust me, none of theseis going to get better! They all run down over time, and so does anyrelationship if you don't actively work to sustain the passion.
Thisis often seen in long term marriages, where the passion died slowly as they ageand the couple is left with just living in the same house, going through thesame motions. I don't want to live like that. No one does, but it just kind ofworks out that way sometimes. I'd rather stay a newly wed all my marriage life,wouldn't you!
Inthe Christian life, just like in a marriage or friendship, passionlessness is causedby you just not valuing your relationship with God enough to maintain thepassion, but this loss of passion is hastened by a number of things…
1. SIN
Psalms66:18
If Ihad cherished iniquity in my heart,
theLord would not have listened.
Unconfessedsin will block your relationship with God. It's like putting a soundproof wallbetween you and Him, so you can't hear His voice any more, and He doesn'tlisten to your prayers.
Themost miserable person in the world is a backslidden Christian. You can't enjoyGod as He intends for you to do, and your conscience won't let you even enjoythe fleeting pleasure, the momentary fun of sin.
Beinga believer and choosing sin over God makes you miserable. No joy, no peace anddefinitely no passion. No future as well, so you don't want to be this personat all!
2. TOUGH TIMES
Mark4:16-17
Andthese are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word,immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, butendure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account ofthe word, immediately they fall away.
Whilesome people find persecution deepens their relationship with God, others fallaway and get mad at God for what He's “allowed to happen” in their lives.
Howdo you react when you face difficult circumstances? Do you collapse and screamout, “Not fair, Lord”? Do you feel like life, people, lousy circumstances andbad luck affect you and you demeanour?
I asksome people how they're doing, and they say, “OK under the circumstances.” Ithen ask them what they're doing under there! We should live above thecircumstances, right? Some people decide to constantly live in victim mode, andpassion dies.
3. WORRIES
Mark4:18-19
Andothers are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, butthe cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires forother things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Caresof the world, worries about the future, the desire for riches or things, thesecan choke the joy and life out of you. They can suck the passion you have forGod right out of you, because they make you look away from Him and towardsthings, money or fears!
TheBible says
Philippians4:6
donot be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplicationwith thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Whydoesn't God want you anxious? Because it is lack of trust in Him, and itpoisons you with passionlessness!
4. DISTRACTIONS
1Corinthians 7:35
I saythis for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promotegood order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.
Thatword undivided in the Greek means “without distraction”. So many things in our modern life distractus, even if they are not bad in themselves. TV is a distraction, the Internetis a distraction. Facebook, football, mates or Mills and Boon, anything candistract you from what is really important. If it distracts you from the Lord,the passion dies.
Andthe crazy thing is, while we don't get passionate about God, we get reallypassionate about theses distractions. Look at football, for example, or whatabout watching your favourite show… Nothing deters you from this, and weusually choose the idiot box over spending time with the living God!
Remember,the poison of passionlessness is passive, meaning you don't have to do anythingto become infected by it, you just have to do nothing and it will seep intoyour heart.
Butyou have passion within you, and if you get overly passionate about the wrongthing, the passion for the right thing is overwhelmed. Choose what you arepassionate about, and how.
5. OVERWORK, OR OVER-MINISTERING!
Luke10:40-42
ButMartha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said,“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her thento help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious andtroubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen thegood portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Thold saying was, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, in other words,work makes people passionless.
Workcan also fill you with passion, if you are doing what you love. But work, evenin the church, can suck you dry of your passion, especially if you're doing itbecause you feel you have to rather than because you love it. In fact, this isone of the major sources of the poison of passionlessness and it is so sinisterbecause you feel like you're actually serving the Lord, even though you hate what you're doing!
Jesusdidn't say Martha was wrong or in sin, he said she was troubled and anxious, andhad chosen the lesser way. Spending time with God is the better way.
Nowof course, Jesus was not saying that no work needs to be done, because thereclearly is much to do in the Kingdom of God. He was simply saying that spendingtime with God should be your priority, not working yourself into the ground andworking yourself into a tizz, getting cranky at all the people around you whoare not working as hard as you!
Ihave experienced this, as has Fiona. We call it burnout! It can affect anyonewho works hard or serves the Lord in any area, and it can crash your entirelife. It even leads to changes in your personality. You become lethargic,uninspired and without passion for anything in life!
Overwork,burnout and being too busy is a sure fire way to allow the poison ofpassionlessness to infect your heart, and ruin your life and ministry.
6. RELIGION
Isaiah29:13
TheLord says:
“Thesepeople come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips,
buttheir hearts are far from me.
Theirworship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Religionis rules, and it's pretty hard to get passionate about rules. Some do though,and some of the great injustices in the world are currently being perpetratedby religious zealots like ISIS.
Listen,religion kills you, but relationship fulfils you!
Beingzealous about some religion is not the same as being in love and passionateabout a person. Don't confuse the two please! Zealous Religion, even Christianreligion, is not Holy Spirit inspired life, it's just not!
Youcan be as religious as you like, go to church twice on a Sunday and to Biblestudy midweek, and still go to hell! You can sound like a Christian, speak theright words and live a pious life. You can become a monk, live in the desertand eat Wild locusts with honey on toast and still not be saved. You can beultra religious and super nice, and you'll be the nicest guy in hell!
Salvationis not about rules, it's not about obeying a list of dos and don’ts… It isabout relationship, your relationship with Jesus Christ.
Goingto church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makesyou a hamburger!
Sayingprayers won't save you, otherwise prayer wheels would be all the rage. Beingkind to others won't even save you.
Onlya living, vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ, having Him as your Lord andSaviour, living a life filled with the Holy Spirit, can save you. It's nothingyou do, it's someone you know.
Titus3:5
hesaved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit
7. TIME
Timeallows the poison of passionlessness to sneak in. This is far more common thanwe acknowledge and if affects us all. Time, that's all, simply time. We don'tdo anything, we don't change anything, we keep going to church, being involved,working hard, serving the Lord and our brothers and sisters… But time takes itstoll.
Beware,each of you, especially as the years roll on. When you've know the Lord for along time is dangerous. Let me ask you, is each year you spend with God gettingbetter, or are you looking back on the good old days?
(KJV)Habakkuk 3:2
OLord, revive thy work in the midst of the years,
inthe midst of the years make known;
inwrath remember mercy.
Thedanger time is when we have been saved for years. You don't walk away, you don't deny Christ,you don't stop loving God, you keep going to church, but you just grow cold.Church is mundane, the Same ol, same ol, stuff.
Thisis what I love about some of our seniors here… They don't retire, they refire,and that's the passion Jesus is looking for.
REMEMBERYOUR FIRST LOVE
InRevelation, Jesus says this to the church at Ephesus…
Revelation2:2-4
Iknow your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannottolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles butare not, and have found them false.
Youhave persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grownweary.
Yet Ihold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
Doyou remember your first love? I remember meeting Fiona for the first time. Howexcited I was about pretty much everything about her. The way she looked, theway she spoke, the things she did. That passion, that excitement, that firstlove…
Thetruth is that, over time, with all the ups and downs of life, it's easy to loseyour first love. It's hard to maintain the passion in the humdrum monotony oflife, but that's exactly what Jesus addressed the church at Ephesus about!
Thischurch was a faithful church, right in the heart of a city devoted to idolworship; a hard working church, a persevering church, one that on the surfacewas successful and doing everything right.
Youare probably just like that, attending things, involved, calling yourself aChristian. Doing everything right, and looking the goods for Jesus, but…
HAVEYOU LOST YOUR FIRST LOVE?
Haveyou, like the Ephesians, lost that intense, enthusiastic love for Jesus. Intheir church, after 30 years of diligent service, they had seen intense lovegive way to orthodoxy, religion and ritual.
Bill Newmanoften talks about 4 stages of church movement:
Man,movement, machine, monument,
Wholechurches become infected with the poison of passionlessness, just as any of uscan as individuals.
TheEphesians had not yet departed from their love for Christ, but they were well onthe way, and Jesus knew it! They were infected by the poison of passionlessness,and Jesus loved them enough to rebuke them.
Inthe Greek the word used for forsaken means to leave, let go of, disregard, omitor to keep no longer. Tellingly, it isthe Greek word associated with divorce, a man leaving his wife. Forsaking yourfirst love is tied to divorce and separation, as many will attest.
Myexperience is that, if you keep the first love, the passion, the joy of yourlove alive, no one is thinking about separation or divorce.
Andin marriage this seems to be harder as you grow older. Your partner gets wrinklier,chubbier and more familiar (and by the way, so do you!) Little irritationsstart to really get to you… They way he hangs his clothes up on the floor, theway she lets the washing pile up, the way he hogs the remote. Sometimes you don't feel as passionate.
Inmarriage you have to work hard to keep the passion alive. It's the same withyour walk with God. As you mature in Christ, as you work and serve in thechurch, you must not neglect the better way, the way of true relationship.
There'sno point serving the Kingdom and neglecting the King.
Jesuswas so serious about this with the Ephesians church that He told them “If youdo not repent I will remove your lamp stand from its place.” Revelation 2:5
Todayno church exists and Ephesus itself does not even exist, except as anarcheological site. They were infected by the poison of passionlessness, andthey lost everything. It's a sobering thought isn't it?
THEANTIDOTE FOR THE POISON OF PASSIONLESSNESS…
I'mgoing to take that passage in Revelation and reveal the antidote to the poisonof passionlessness..
Revelation2:4-5
Yet Ihold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Considerhow far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you donot repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
1. REMEMBER
Rememberthe life you once had...
Remember the Feelings:
Don'tdeny your feelings. In church we often think feelings are unimportant, butwe’re wrong if we think that. Feelings are good and necessary, and they arepart of not a religion but a relationship. However, I challenge you to compare yourfeelings in a football match, or a chick flick to the feelings you probablydon't have in church.
Rememberthe Memories:
Memoryis a luxury only good men can enjoy.
Doyou remember when you were saved?
Isyour love today colder, more indifferent, is it self sufficient, sophisticated,is it a veneer, and if so, what is really underneath?
Weneed to remember our first love, our original passion, the passion that wasonce there when we first came to know the Lord. How grateful we were foreternal life, how the Bible came alive as we read, how we made great friendsand actually looked forward to and enjoyed Bible study or church
Rememberwhat you did:
Howyou spoke, how you read the Bible, how you told your friends... Is it still thesame? Is it still a thrill?
Fionaand I still go on dates. We still hang out, she is my best friend, but we haveto fight for it! I have to make sure I keep the passion alive for her, becauseover time everything breaks down and gets worse. You start with remembering what is use to belike once upon a time.
2. REPENT
Repentingmeans to turn around 180 degrees. Jesus calls us to repent, which means youneed to decide now to rekindle that first love again, the excitement, therichness, they joy of deep relationship with Jesus.
Repentingis making a decision to turn around. It's not veering to one side or the other,it's doing a 180. It's a decision I hope every one of you makes this morning toreignite your life for Jesus.
Acts3:19
Repent,then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times ofrefreshing may come from the Lord,
Timesof refreshing means joy, passion, being in love! But it is not enough to just repent, we needto finish the antidote properly with actions...
James2:17-18
Inthe same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I havedeeds.”
Showme your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
3. DO THE THINGS YOU DID AT FIRST
Thisis the key to defusing the poison of passionlessness… It's not enough to justfeel like you love Jesus, not enough to to make a great decision, you need toback that up with actions, because actions speak louder than words, and faithwithout works is dead!
Whatsort of actions neutralise the poison of passionlessness? Let me finish withsome practical steps to regaining your first love and being passionate forJesus again…
1. Make a decision today.
Decideright now that you want to be on fire for Jesus.
2. Commit to Studying the Word Daily
Commityours of to studying God’s Word every day. We have a Bible reading plan, it'sfree, and if I you follow it as many of us here are doing, it will transformyour life.
Forthose of you following the reading plan, keep up or catch up. Don't get slack. It's half way through theyear. If you're too far behind, just start afresh at today's reading. The planis there to help you, direct and guide you through the the entire Bible, notmake your life miserable!
3. Pray Daily
Youshould be praying every day, many times a day. Don't just say grace and thinkyou're being faithful, but live in the moment with the Lord… Pray continuously
4. Fellowship
Don'tneglect coming to church, whether you like it, love it or loath it. So manyChristians stop going to church, and in my experience it almost always drawsthem away from God, not towards God.
Hebrews10:24-25
Andlet us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, notneglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
As sinfuland incomplete as we are, the Church is God’s answer for a hurting world. Thischurch is your family, your friends.
It'sthe middle of the year, mornings are cold, life's busy, church is church, kidsare whining… I get it! I know some of you have other stuff on and church is alower priority. But I'm urging you to make fellowship a priority, because noman is an island, and together we can encourage and spur one another on towardslove and good deeds.
Find people in the church who are on fire for God andget with them so that they can inspire you and rub off on you. Don’t allownegative people to pull you down. Pretty soon, you’ll find yourself starting tothink like them. Hang with those who are contagious for Christ, and before youknow it, passionlessness will be a thing of the past.
But it all starts with you making the decision to rediscoveryour first love, to be on fire for Jesus, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, tobe passionate about the Lord.
