Handle With Care: Iron Low Heat

Week 6 – Iron Low Heat

[Proverbs 1:32, Revelation 3:14-22]

 CARING WITHOUT COMPLACENCY

Romans 12:11 – Do not lack diligence (enthusiasm); be fervent in spirit (hot enough to boil); serve the Lord. [HCSB]

 

John Stott – The Laodicean church was a halfhearted church. Perhaps none of the seven letters is more appropriate to the twentieth-century church than this. It describes vividly the respectable, sentimental, nominal, skin-deep religiosity which is so widespread among us today. Our Christianity is flabby and anemic. We appear to have taken a lukewarm bath of religion.

Proverbs 1:32 – For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; [ESV]

Complacency – self-satisfaction, unawareness of deficiencies

 

Amos – Religion without Repentance (4:6-13), Religion without Reformation / No change (5:11-12)

 

Revelation 3:14-22 – Church of Laodicea – Had religion, lacking RELATIONSHIP

 

verse 18 – Buy three things (v. 17 notes “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked”)

• Gold purified in fire – Laodicea banking industry – know Jesus & be truly rich [FAITH]
• White clothes – Laodicea black wool industry – be dressed (shameful nakedness not exposed) [RIGHTEOUS]
• Ointment – Laodicea medical school famous for producing eye salve – spread over eyes to see [WORD OF GOD & ANOINTING OF HOLY SPIRIT]

 

verse 19 – God’s purpose of discipline – not to punish, to bring us back to Him

ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIP

 

Breakout Session Questions

1) Read Psalm 51:10-12. What is the cause of complacency in this passage? What can we do to fight the complacency?

2) Read Ephesians 1:15-16 and Revelation 2:4. What is the cause of complacency in these passages? What can we do to fight the complacency?

3) Read John 17:17 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17. What can we do to fight the complacency? Why is this so important?

4) Read Jeremiah 29:13. What can we do to fight the complacency? Why is this so important?

5) Read Acts 2:46-47. What can we do to fight the complacency? Why is this so important?

 

Handle with Care is a 6-week series focused on studying God’s Word and responding with care. The six weeks of messages may sound like instructions for laundry care — but you will soon find Handle with Care beckons you to examine within, to gauge how you truly love God and love others, and to grow inward and outward. Caring starts with the heart and pours out into the community.

• Week 1 – Stain Removal – Caring for God’s glory
• Week 2 – Do Not Bleach – Caring for Truth
• Week 3 – Add Fabric Softener – Caring like Barnabas
• Week 4 – Fasten the Zipper – Caring for Unity
• Week 5 – Empty Pockets – Caring for Treasures
• Week 6 – Iron Low Heat – Caring without Complacency