Awake O Sleeper

I have been reading a book given to me by a friend of mine who is leading a church through a time of revitalization.  The book is called “Rut, Rot, or Revival, The Problem of Change and Breaking Out of the Status Quo” written by A.W. Tozer.  It has been a great read so far…I’m only a few chapters in.  A statement in the book hit me today.  Tozer says, “It is perfectly possible for a good, faithful, loyal church member to be spiritually asleep­­­--- being in a spiritual state that parallels a natural state.”  He uses Ephesians 5:14 to show that the Apostle Paul understood this reality as well.  It says, in part, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”  Tozer points out that Ephesians was not written to “sinners”, i.e., the lost, but was in fact written to one of the greatest churches in the New Testament.

I wonder how many good, loyal, faithful Christians are attending church week after week spiritually dead?  If the members are spiritually dead, then the church is spiritually dead and it loses the focus of what church is all about…the Gospel.  If we consider church to be all about making us feel good or simply a place of fellowship with others, we have lost the true perspective of what being the called-out ones of God is really about.  Then, when someone challenges us in our spiritual slumber, and calls for us to wake up, we become disgruntled and grumpy, needing that spiritual cup of coffee to get us going. 

How are you?  Are you spiritually asleep?  Even if it is just that first stage of sleep where you are half in and half out, you may need to wake up to the reality of what Christ died for.  Not just so you may have a home in heaven one day and a place to go for a great pot-luck dinner; He died to give you life and purpose.  Wake up O sleeper.  Wipe the spiritual haze from your eyes and see that being a part of the ecclesia of God is not about you and your feelings, it is about Christ and the Good News of the Gospel.  Let others see the joy in you as you worship, as you serve, and as you tell others about the hope you have in the Lord.