Confess Your Apathy
Passion is fueled by what’s most real. We all are passionate about something. And passion can look different person to person. If you don’t know what you’re passionate about, ask a friend! What we are passionate about can be seen in how we live, how we think, how we eat dinner, and how we sleep. When we are passionate about something, we can’t help but talk about it.
We tend to be the most passionate about things that feel the most real to us. The things that are the most real, fill our time, fill our conversations, and occasionally completely take over our lives. And sometimes, the thing that is the most real, that we should be the most passionate about, is something that we are apathetic towards.
Earlier this year, the thing that felt the most real was my need to finish our basement — with our fourth child coming, and we had been living in half of our house for three years. We needed to get some more space. Everything down to the concrete walls needed to be taken down, replaced the studs, filled some holes, added insulation and flooring. While I was working on this project, it felt like I ate, drank, and slept “basement.”
While at work, my mind would drift to solving the problem of old rotted sill plates. My phone screen time seemed exclusively the Home Depot and Menards apps. While eating, my mind would mentally form lists of “to dos” once the kids went to bed, constantly rearranging based off priority and necessity. When I finally drifted off to sleep, my dreams were tackling the next problem, running the electrical, cutting holes, and laying floors.
Any conversation I had with anyone was “basement.” The basement was never far from my mind. I confess, during a sermon, I lost focus and considered if some of my future cuts would be better done by a new saw.
How many of you, have had disruptive thoughts on a Sunday morning?
We tend to dismiss them, and consider them normal. Yet, how strange would it be if I came into the Sunday Gathering on a Sunday morning and when the reader says “hear the word of the Lord,” we hear the saw begin to cut 2 by 4’s How strange and disruptive would it be if we pulled aside the chairs in the midst of a worship song, and set up a game table?
Sometimes we mentally bring into the service things that feel more real than Jesus does.
For me the basement was so real, I couldn’t help but be consumed by it. The reality was, I was so passionate about the basement, that I was apathetic towards Christ.
The unfinished basement 8 miles away from this building, seemed more real than the reality of the Holy God of the universe, who created the world, and sent his son to redeem a people for himself, and called over 500 of them together on a Sunday morning to worship him. And, I wish that was the only time that has ever happened.
How often is that true in our lives, that other things feel more real than Jesus?
How often is it easier to get excited about anything else, than the Gospel?
How often, is Christ so real, that we can’t help but be consumed by a passion for him?
We ought to be passionate for Christ. We need Christ to be real, to be consumed by him. We hear throughout Scripture that we are commanded to “love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind.” Not some of our heart, not some of our soul, and some of our mind. And yet, we tend to relegate him to a short daily devotional or a single morning a week together here. And even then, we come into this building, occasionally more excited to talk to others, than hear the Word of the Lord.
During the service our minds can drift during songs and we sing half heartedly, our ears and eyes can glaze over when hearing the word, and we can think of something else during the time of silent confession.
How often does our mind mull over his words, memorizing and meditating on who he is, reflecting on the glories revealed in his words?
How often does our screen time reflect an eager and passionate desperate need to hear and read his word?
How often during dinner do we share our passion for Christ with our families, delighting in him all the more through his good gifts?
How often do we drift off to sleep reflecting on the goodness of our Savior?
Cities Church this brings us to confession. We are apathetic to Jesus, because he doesn’t seem as real to us. We need him to regularly disrupt our disillusioned hearts with the reality of his presence.
We need him to replace our heart of stone with a heart of flesh. To often, my affections for Christ are dry and dull. I confess, too often, I am apathetic to the giver of good gifts. The truth is, we are not as passionate for Christ as we ought to be. So, let us confess our apathy to the one who is not apathetic towards us.
Jesus, we confess our apathy, reveal yourself to be the most real to us. Father, forgive me that my passion for you has grown so cold. Forgive me of replacing the joy and wonder of you, with the joy and wonder of your gifts. Help me see you as more real through your gifts! Forgive us for how we have sought for satisfaction in all the wrong things. Satisfy us with yourself! Forgive our apathy that stands in estrangement from the wonders that you work.
Father, revive us again, let the joy of the Lord fill our souls. Awaken the wonder in our souls to the glory of your light. Pour out your presence on us to see and know that you are the most real in all the universe. Open our eyes to behold the awesome glory in your creation that points to you! Tear down the idols that cause us to be apathetic to you. And now Father, help us to search our hearts further and confess our sins in this time of silent confession…