STAGNANT
October 24, 2024
I recently went on an overnight backpacking trip with friends (Brian, Travis, and Bradley Sperl, Robert Treadwell) to Lost Maples State Natural Area up in the Hill Country. We knew in advance that because of the ongoing drought the streams in the park weren’t flowing. So, we all carried a good bit of water.
We did see water in some of the stream beds, but that water wasn’t tempting. It just sat there in small, shallow pools that were filled with gunk. The water was dirty, still, and stagnant. We were glad to have been carrying clean water in our packs.
I was thinking about that water when my Bible reading took me through the Minor Prophets recently. The prophet Zephaniah recorded the words of the LORD when He painted a picture of the Jews of Zephaniah’s day. The LORD described them as Lost Maples mud puddles.
He wrote,
[ZEPHANIAH 1:12] AND IT WILL COME ABOUT AT THAT TIME
THAT I WILL SEARCH JERUSALEM WITH LAMPS,
AND I WILL PUNISH THE PEOPLE
WHO ARE STAGNANT IN SPIRIT,
WHO SAY IN THEIR HEARTS,
‘THE LORD WILL NOT DO GOOD NOR HARM!’
Borrowing from the image of a stagnant body of water, to be “STAGNANT IN SPIRIT” is to be someone who is, spiritually speaking, motionless, powerless, progressless. The spiritually stagnant Jew didn’t draw unbelievers to God. His spiritual life was insipid. He had no expectations from God, no hopes in God, no passion for God.
The New Testament never uses the term “stagnant.” But Jesus got across the same thought when He called the believers in Laodicea “lukewarm.” (Revelation 3:15-16) They were not hot (passionate; on fire) for Jesus. Nor were they cold (antagonistic) toward Him, either.
They had become “meh” about Jesus. “Lukewarm” is a near equivalent to “stagnant.”
It is tragic when we who believe in Jesus become stagnant puddles or bottles of lukewarm water. No passion. No eager anticipation that God will do what only He can do.
It is tragic, but the danger is real. It happens.
I have been there more times than I’d care to admit. You may be there now. And if that is where you happen to be now, there is good news of a way out. Your lukewarm condition need not be terminal.
Jesus gave instruction for an escape from lukewarmth to the members of that Laodicean church.
The famous first step to resolving any problem is to admit that it exists. That principle holds for the problem of spiritual lukewarmness / spiritual stagnation.
Jesus told these first-century Christians in Laodicea to take a long, reflective look in the mirror and recognize that they were, spiritually speaking, [Revelation 3:17] wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
They thought that they were doing great, had no needs, were wealthy. They were wrong.
So, let’s assume that these Christians followed Jesus’ counsel and “owned” their spiritual sloth. They accepted that they had a problem.
Jesus counseled them to buy from Him: (Revelation 3:18)
REFINED GOLD. Not that they were to buy the kind of gold that buys goods and services. They had plenty of that. No, they were to buy from Jesus the invaluable treasure of knowing, loving, worshipping, and serving God.
WHITE GARMENTS. Not that they were to buy clothes that their material wealth allowed them to buy. They were to buy from Jesus garments of righteousness and purity.
EYE SALVE. Not that they were to buy pharmaceutical grade ointment. They were to buy from Jesus the ability to see themselves for who they really were, justified sinners, adopted sons and daughters of God, redeemed saints, through faith in Jesus.
I find it instructive – and encouraging – that of the seven letters the resurrected Jesus sent to the seven churches in Asia Minor (Revelation 2 and 3), only in His letter to the church at Philadelphia (the persecuted, evangelizing church) and to the church at Laodicea does Jesus refer to His love for them.
He loves us even at our lukewarm worst. He loves us so much that He holds out this invitation to an enriched intimacy with Himself.
[20] BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK; IF ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE AND OPENS THE DOOR, I WILL COME IN TO HIM AND WILL DINE WITH HIM AND HE WITH ME.”
Yours…His,
Dave