There's a story that if you put a frog into hot water, it'll immediately jump out. However, if you heat the water slowly enough, you'll eventually be able to boil it as it becomes complacent and doesn't notice the change until it's too late. It's not a true story, apparently. In real life, as you heat the water, the frog tries harder and harder to get away. But this is an interesting analogy for Christians to think about.
Both Chad's and Duane's lessons last Sunday got me thinking about this. Duane talked about the compromises that Lot made that led him into the terrible problems he had in life. Chad talked some about where our idle minds can lead us. We can make a series of choices in life that might slowly lead us away from Christ...a position we never would have originally gone.
Rev 2
1"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
What happened to the church in Ephesus is a danger for any Christian. You start your life as a Christian, sure that you'll be fully dedicated to God. However, if you're not alert, you can slip back into your old habits or into the thinking of the world around you.
A good example of this was the story of Samson. If you look back at the beginnings of Samson's life, he showed promise. He was a great blessing to his mother who thought she couldn't have a child. This was a time when Israel was in the hands of the Philistines. Samson is blessed with great strength from God. We picture Samson becoming a great leader for the Israelites and ultimately triumphing over the Philistines with God's help. This is sort of what happens, but not in the way we expect. In the story of Samson, we see how he follows his whims. This was God's will in this case because God wanted an occasion to confront the Philistines. But still, the decisions Samson makes seem to be all wrong. Instead of finding a wife amongst the Israelites as he should have, he finds a Philistine wife who has no interest in God. Not only that, but he continues to seek Philistine women, to his parents' dismay. He gets into his own war with the Philistines as well, continually having his revenge against them. He does lead the Israelites for twenty years. But eventually, his dealings with Philistine women lead to his downfall and he meets a tragic end, bringing down the pillars of the Philistine temple upon himself and a bunch of Philistine rulers. The main thing I take from his life is that he never looked very far forward toward the consequences of anything. “Today I'll go down and find a Philistine wife.” But he didn't really consider what would happen if he did. He just did what he felt like doing. This is what happened to the frog in our story. He just sat where it was most comfortable and where it took the least effort. The lesson we learn from Samson is that we'd better be more alert and more active in our spiritual lives.
When we went to Virginia to visit Vanessa's relatives, they bought blue crabs It was interesting because I'd never seen how crabs are cooked. Apparently you just throw them into boiling water. That's apparently just the way you cook crabs. They weren't at all happy about it. They all tried to get away and if any of them escaped, they skittered across the floor. They snapped with their claws, defensively. This is more the way we need to guard our souls. Be on the lookout for influences in your life that are pulling you away from God. Be careful not to become complacent and give up the fight, so to speak.
Jesus had a parable about the choices we make about what we do with God's word.
Luke 8
11"This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
Maybe you've met the first one in the parable. Perhaps they are raised with an agnostic or atheist background and they never even give Christianity a chance. Perhaps they're immediately angry or defensive if you even start to talk about Christianity. Once, a coworker started talking to another fellow about absolute truth or some biblical idea. Immediately, the other guy's voice raised, “What is truth?” As Jesus said here, the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts. Then there's this second case...Christians without any real root. Perhaps they become a Christian for the wrong reasons...sometimes the desire to follow along with someone else, rather than a real need to follow Christ. When things get hard, they fall away. The next case is those who are choked by worries or pleasures and don't really get past the beginning stage of believing. This is the frog being boiled that we're talking about today. This is probably the most common danger to us as Christians...laziness...just giving up and not doing anything with the knowledge of Christ. Finally, Jesus mentions those that persevere as Christians until the end and work earnestly for God. We've probably all known someone like this who has faced difficult times in life that tested their faith, but they stuck with Christ rather than leaving him. There have been those in small congregations that remained faithful in the face of discouragement. There have been those that have been faithful through the loss of a loved one. That's our goal...to remain faithful to Christ, no matter what. We can reach this goal with God's help and the holy spirit working in our lives. We read more about how to reach this goal in...
Heb 10
23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Yeast in bread:
The church in Corinth had in their congregation a man who had his father's wife.
1 Cor 5
1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. 2And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?
[The water was boiling at this point. They'd let this go too far to the point that they were practically proud of this man's sin.]
3Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature[a] may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
6Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
Why did Paul tell the congregation to cast out this man so harshly and suddenly? They were the frog in our story, slowly being boiled, growing to accept this man's immorality. Paul could see this and he told them to wake up. As soon as the man started this immoral lifestyle, they should have approached him immediately...but they let it go for a while until it was going to be even more painful when they did approach him about it.
This story of immorality within this congregation is also a lesson about the power of brothers and sisters to help each other stay alert and watch out for Satan and escape from that hot water when they otherwise might have succumbed. This role of Christian brothers and sisters is also mentioned in
Heb 3
12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
Paul talked about people who were dishonest in their teaching of Christ.
2 Cor 11
13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
There are those out there who are pretending to follow Christ, but are just leading people astray because they can make money out of it. At the time Paul wrote this, perhaps there were people pretending to be apostles so that they could help to destroy the church and bring in divisions. I don't know if these might have been Jews who were angry with the church or what. Anyway, this added a danger to the church that people might fall away because of these men. This also reminds us today that there are generally people who might try to convince us away from God's word, saying it's just a myth or saying there's no proof that God exists. It's just something we have to be wary of.
Paul, himself, had a danger of becoming complacent because of his pride...however, God handled this in an unexpected way.
2 Cor 12
6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
Paul apparently had some disability but he realized it was because he would have become conceited if it hadn't been for this disability. If it hadn't been for this, he might have returned to a position of prestige and self-glorification, just like his old life with the Jews. He might have been like the frog we keep talking about, but he himself has this sort of wake-up call, which keeps him humble and makes him remember that he works for Christ's glory...not his own.
Ephesians 5
8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
[As we talk about the fruitless deeds of darkness, we think about the world around us. As an example, think about the idea of marriage in the last 50 years in this country. It's gone from the idea that you ought to get married and shouldn't live together without marriage to “maybe you get married, maybe not.” And as people continue to move away from Godly ideals, marriage may eventually become a quaint little concept. If you don't believe in God, what really compels you to choose marriage over living together? And even someone who claims to be a Christian can ignore what God says about marriage to the point of trying to justify living together as though God approved of it. And so, unfortunately, as the fruitless deeds of darkness seem to take over the world, the idea of marriage becomes less popular. But Christians are not to take part in that.]
...
13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
[This is that idea we've been talking about. If you're like that frog and the water is getting warmer and warmer, you need to wake up. People in the world need to wake up to the fact that God doesn't approve of anything they feel like doing. God has a way that leads to salvation. That way is through Christ.]
15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
This passage ends by telling us how to jump out of the hot water if we're in it. Live wisely. Don't give in to every whim. Don't waste your time in life. Don't be foolish, but learn from God what wisdom is. Instead of filling your life with pleasures of the world. We should never assume that we are immuned to the pleasures of the world.
For example, one day, I found myself at work thinking, "Wouldn't a Dr. Pepper be good right now?"
"You're still really full from lunch. Be quiet!"
That's when I realized why I hate advertising so much. It works! Ask any kid in the toy or cereal aisle. Likewise, things around us have an influence on us whether we realize it or not.
So instead of immersing ourselves in the pleasures of the world, we should fill it with things that help you remember God's word. Give thanks to God through Christ.
Another passage that gives tips on avoiding the hot water is
1 Peter 5
8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Again we're reminded here to be alert. Avoid that complacency that might come after you've been a Christian for years.
It also talks about satan as a lion. If you think about how a lion hunts, it doesn't just run straight at the prey from the front. If it did, the prey would just start running immediately and tire out the lion, which can't run as long. Instead, it hides in the tall grass and tries to creep up from the side. If everything goes the lion's way, it's too late to start running by the time the lion pounces. We've got to stay out the tall grass and dark places in the world. Don't put yourself in those positions. Stay in the brighter places as do the better things we've talked about.
This sermon is directed heavily at myself. Chad talked about wandering thoughts in his sermon last Sunday. One day at work, we got an email from the boss to change our voice mail message in a certain way. I went to the internal corporate website to look up how to change the message. 15 minutes later, I didn't know how to change the voice mail message, but I'd found a bunch of interesting customer complaints. That wasn't my goal and I'd let my mind drift. Likewise, as we've studied, it does take some alertness to be a Christian that doesn't eventually fall away from the first love of a Christian as the Ephesians did. Sometimes we are kicked out of our complacency as Paul was. Before Paul became a Christian, he had prestige and security in his position with the Jews. But one day, he was confronted by Jesus as he was walking along a road. He left all that prestige and security behind and went totally to the opposite end of the spectrum. Instead of prestige, he had persecution. Instead of security, he never knew what terrible things might happen to him the next day. But he had done it. He'd jumped out of that water that had been getting hotter and hotter and he leaped into the unknown. And it's a good thing for the church that he did because he helped Christ's church a great deal. This is the lesson I want us to think about...Lets not just immerse ourselves in the dangerous hot water of the world, but let's leap out of it and follow Christ.