Spiritual Apathy

Follow Along with the Message

One the greatest threats to Christianity is spiritual apathy.

Spiritual apathy is a dullness or an indifference to knowing God, being with God, and having communion with God.

"The message of cultural Christianity is that God is merely good to us. The message of biblical Christianity is that God is good for us. The message of cultural Christianity is that we should seek God’s goods. The message of biblical Christianity is that we should seek God’s goodness. The message of cultural Christianity is that we should seek God so that he might provide for us. The message of biblical Christianity is that God is our provision. The message of cultural Christianity is that we should seek God in order to get things. The message of biblical Christianity is that we should seek God to get the highest thing - namely himself.”- J.T. English, Deep Discipleship

Competing Visions:
Cultural Christianity would have you believe that if it sounds good (morally), looks good (ethically), and may even feel good spiritually) - that it is inherently Christian.

What is cultural Christianity?

It identifies as Christian but is superficial, requires little to no change, and is primarily consumer oriented.

"Our problems of spiritual coldness and apathy in the churches would quickly disappear if Christian believers generally would confess their great need for rediscovering the loveliness of Jesus Christ, their Saviour."- A. W. Tozer


Spiritual apathy happens when we lack the desire to be with Jesus.

Reasons for our apathy:

1.

"Though our feelings for (God) come and go, his love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to him."- C. S. Lewis

2.

Proverbs 15:19 (NLT)- A lazy person’s way is blocked with briers, but the path of the upright is an open highway.

3.

4.

“We live in a world where you can have five hundred friends and still feel isolated and abandoned. Solitude is a gi from God. Isolation is not—it’s a tool of the Enemy. As a culture, the more connected we’ve become, the more isolated we’ve grown. This is our strange twenty-first-century paradox: we’re connected to more people than ever before and we’ve never felt more alone.”- Carey Nieuwhof

5.

“Some Christians need encouragement to think before they act. Others need encouragement to act a er they think.” - Kevin DeYoung

The “Colossian heresy”:

(1) The false teachers were apparently insisting on the observance of Sabbath and new moon festivals (2:16),

(2) They were preoccupied with following various rules, particularly pertaining to the body (asceticism)

(3) Their emphasis on spiritual beings was typical of many religious movements of the period.

The basic problem is clear: The teaching did not regard Christ as the center and origin of all religious experience.

Colossians 1:3–8 (NIV)- We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people —the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world— just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul encourages them to continue to grow in spiritual fruit:

Colossians 1:9–12 (NIV)- For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

Then Paul reminds them of the basic truths of the Gospel:

Colossians 1:13–14 (NIV)- For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

But then Paul turns his attention to the person and work of Christ.

Colossians 1:15–23 (NIV)- The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Paul is trying to remind the Colossian church that everything is about Jesus. 

You must be mindful that you are being formed at all times. Intentionally or unintentionally.

Unintentional Discipleship

•  we live by
• Over time through

How do we counter this kind of discipleship?

1. Myth = All you need to do is know the Bible.

2. Myth = You don’t need to do anything. It’s all God.

"Sanctification is not mystical passivity, as our use of the slogan ‘let go and let God’ has too often implied, but it is active moral effort energized by prayerful and expectant faith."- J. I. Packer

Intentional Spiritual Formation

“Spiritual formation in the Christian tradition is a process of increasingly being possessed and permeated by the character traits of Jesus as we walk in the easy yoke of discipleship with Jesus our teacher.”- Dallas Willard

Galatians 6:7–10 NLT “Don’t be misled— you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.”

1 John 1:7 NLT “But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

• Over time through the Hard  of Life

James 1:2–3 NLT “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.”

Conclusion:

Colossians 1:15 (NIV)- The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Never lose your awe of who Christ is, what he had done, what he is doing, and what he promises to do in the future. He is the image of the invisible God; he is the Creator of all things; he is the Alpha and the Omega; he sustains all things. He is the head of the church; he is the resurrection and the life; he is God almighty.

Discipleship is learning about Christ’s  over all things. It is truly  with Jesus through all of life.