Complacency

In matters of faith there are any number of reasons for doing things.

Some act out of habit, others expectations or personal desire.

Others, decide that there is time enough for such matters of faith - and live as they please preferring to delay considering God rather treating him like a life boat on a ship.

Speaking of lifeboats - did you know that there were lifeboats on the ship the Titanic enough to accomodate all the passengers but it was felt that they clutterred up the ship so half of them were dispensed with?

After all the ship was unsinkable - Complacancy didn’t slip in - it rushed in.

Here is another example from politics:-

"My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds." ATTRIBUTION: Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940), British politician, prime minister. speech, Sept. 30, 1938, Downing Street, London.

Today I want to talk about the final issue in our Prayer action Plan:-

Complacancy.

A dictionary meaning:- A feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy.

An instance of contented self-satisfaction.

The inward complacence we find in acting reasonably and virtuously. --Atterbury.

Others proclaim the infirmities of a great man with satisfaction and complacency, if they discover none of the like in themselves. --Addison.

Complacancy is a problem. It is a problem not only in our everyday lives but also in matters of faith - which if we are prudent will be everyday life anyway.

Let us read from Proverbs.

Prov 1:28-33 (NIV) "They will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat of the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."

Here we find three possible positions where we can live our Christian lives.

Only one of these positions is really a safe way where we can truly be at ease.

Let’s look at it using an Acrostic SAFE this morning.

The first position is:-

Simple:- The waywardness.of the Simple. . For the waywardness of the simple will kill them

LK 17:26 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

LK 17:28 "It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

Proverbs talks about the waywardness of the simple.

What were people doing in the days of Noah:- 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

These are the basics of life - "All I require." Someone says "Is a simple life!!"

Well if you look at the life of Noah we hear that people living like that were destroyed.

If you look at Sodom we hear the same thing - the result is the same - everyone destroyed.

Further Jesus moves forward to our own age

LK 17:30 "It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left. "

LK 17:37 "Where, Lord?" they asked.

He replied, "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather."

The question that comes to my mind what is the difference between a simple life and the life of NoaH?