I do not
understand the fascination parts of our society have with zombies, vampires,
and werewolves. The reality you have to face each day ought to be scary enough.
Somebody
shot a bunch of somebodies in California. A bunch of somebodies shot a bunch of
somebodies in Chicago. Three women were kept hostage for ten years somewhere.
Why fill your entertainment time with imaginary creatures bent on destruction
while living in that kind of reality?
Even scarier
than these undead things walking around us are zombie Christians. No, they
don’t have rotted flesh hanging off their bones, but I am amazed how much they
pay for ragged clothes hanging off their bodies! They don’t normally speak in
monotones. In fact they can be very animated and energetic. Their animation and
energy just don’t produce spiritual fruit.
Jesus spoke
with three of these zombie believers in one encounter. (Luke 9:57-62) They were
willing to become his disciples, but it would have to be on their terms. They needed
to fulfill family priorities first and offer the family the proper farewell.
They wanted to follow Jesus, but they needed to be socially and politically
correct.
In
politically incorrect terms, Jesus told them they couldn’t have life if they
kept holding on to death. A follower of Jesus could not be filled with the gift
of life he offered and still cling to a superficial, pseudo-spiritual
lifestyle. The three seemed to disappear from the story.
Zombie
Christians will tell you how many spiritual conferences they have attended but
can’t tell you the last time they shared the gospel with someone. They will
tell you the words to all the latest praise choruses, but they can’t tell you
the names of their neighbors or their spiritual condition. They act alive, but
they are dead.
The zombie
church in the book of Revelation shows this is not just an individual thing.
“You have the reputation of being alive but you are dead.” (Revelation 3:1-6) The
brief review Sardis gets in Revelation offers little in the way of positive
reinforcement. The threat is much greater than the compliment.
A dead
church can keep its doors open for generations. It maintains a calendar filled
with lots of varied activities. It has a budget the envy of every small
business in town. The morning service is led by professional musicians on pipe
organ and a thirty-five piece orchestra. The sermon includes quotes in Hebrew
and Greek with references to ten different commentators. The church is still
dead.
Almost every
activity on the calendar is geared toward church members. Only five percent of
the budget leaves the church campus, and that goes to some safe place in India.
The music makes the listeners feel good without casting a vision for missions,
and the sermon rarely calls for transformational life change. The church looks
alive but is dead.
Then there
is Lazarus, the close friend of Jesus who came back to life. (John 11) His
resuscitation was so dangerous to the Jewish leaders they wanted to kill him
again! (John 12:9-11) Here the dead came back to life, but instead of being
scary, for some people he was too much alive and a real threat to worldly power.
When a
seeker finds new life in Christ, the old passes away and all becomes new. (II
Corinthians 5:17) That is not someone becoming a zombie. That’s a rebirth! That
is why Jesus came. That is the eternal result of his resurrection and his life
in every believer. (Galatians 2:20)
Zombies fake
life and never enjoy it.
Zombies take
life and never offer it.
Zombies
destroy life and never renew it.
Zombies
exist for the moment and not for the future.
Zombie
Christians have claimed a name without surrendering a heart. Zombie churches
have claimed a position without surrendering to a mission. Zombies may be fictitious,
but their spiritual counterparts running around carrying the name Christian are
all too real and need to be told to get a life that counts with God.
