“Who also hath made us able ministers of
the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter
killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” – 2 Corinthians 3:6
Have you ever wondered why goldfish ponds have waterfalls? Or why fish can’t live in a bucket for more
than a couple days? Maybe you have,
maybe not, the answer: stagnation. Water
gets oxygen from the air through a process called diffusion. A disturbance in the water’s surface super
charges the effect and allows the oxygen from the air to integrate into the
water; without motion and movement in the water, the oxygen will eventually be
consumed by the life in it and that life will die. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it does
happen. A fish living in a stagnant pond
is a doomed fish.
Not many invite turbulence into their life. It is not human nature to volunteer for tough
times, or be the first in line to change their: thinking, habits, or
opinions. The Pharisees (in Jesus’s day)
were no different. Among the Jews, they
were the elite group of religious leaders.
They knew the law backwards and forwards, and worked to keep up an
appearance of keeping it. Jesus called
them whited sepulchers, the outside looked clean but the inside was dead men’s
bones. They drew nigh to God with their
lips, but their heart was far from him.
Inwardly, their relationship with God was cold and stagnant; as a
result, the preaching of that day was about the same. The Mosaic Law that was had dissolved into
practice and formality. People were just
going through the motions; sacrificing what was required in order to appease
the conscience. It was so deluded and
devoid of dedication that folks had actually set up shops in the temple so you
could buy your sacrifice right there on sight before you atoned for your
sin. The message that they were sending
to God was simple “I want salvation, at the cheapest price.” The Jewish church culture was a stagnate
culture, and the people in that pond were either dead or dying. Then Jesus comes on the scene and he calls
for righteous within that will produce righteousness without. He talks of a life giving Spirit that will
satisfy the thirsty soul. Jesus brought
turbulence and change to a stagnant and lukewarm religious climate. In America, we as Christians are threatened
everyday by the persecution of lukewarmness and stagnation. As a Christian, you can get by for a little
while under stagnate spiritual conditions, but eventually you are going to die
unless there is change. As a church,
your members can swim in the pond of stagnation, but eventually, the oxygen
will run out because the “letter” killeth.
It must be real inwardly or it will never be real outwardly. A stagnate spiritual life is a result of a stagnate
commitment. Without the resolve to
accept turbulence, adversity, or change in your life; without the resolve to
accept the will of Jesus in your life over your own will for your life, the
stagnation will continue. The same is
true in the church. You can change your
meeting times, your staff, and virtually everything else, but unless you change
your commitment to Christ and His word the pond has no oxygen and members
within will gradually die off. The death
is not them leaving the church, but leaving off obedience to the Word. It is the Spirit that giveth life, and the
Spirit doesn’t come without bringing some turbulence with it.
The oceans of our world are the most oxygen rich bodies of water
we have on this planet. When you stop
and think about it, it is amazing how much life our oceans support. It is abundant, alive, and…turbulent. The effect of the Spirit on a person is going
to bring turbulence. It is going to
bring obvious change, but it will also bring life! The moment you get God, is only after you die
to yourself. Jesus said “if any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” That is the way you get salvation and keep
salvation. That is the life giving
turbulence and the antidote for stagnation.
