Spiritual apathy is a condition that can creep into our lives subtly, often unnoticed until it has taken a firm hold. It manifests as a dullness in our spiritual senses, a loss of passion, and a sense of detachment from the transformative power of the gospel. In this message, I want to unpack what spiritual apathy looks like, why it happens, and how we can wake up from it by fully embracing and embodying the way of Jesus.

The Encounter That Changes Everything

Let’s start with the idea of encountering Jesus. Many of us have had moments in our lives where we’ve encountered Him—times when His presence was undeniable and life-changing. But the reality is, encountering Jesus isn’t enough. An encounter is just the beginning; it’s the spark that ignites the fire, but it’s not the fire itself. You can’t just encounter Jesus; you have to embrace Him.

Embracing Jesus means more than just acknowledging His presence. It’s about letting that encounter transform you from the inside out. Think about the woman at the well in John 4. She didn’t just meet Jesus and walk away unchanged. No, she embraced Him as the Messiah, and it changed her life forever. She ran back into her village, telling everyone she could about the man who had revealed her deepest truths to her. The disciples did the same—they dropped their nets, left their boats, their families, and their livelihoods to follow Him. They embraced the way of Jesus fully, allowing it to reshape their lives entirely.

But why is this so important? Because without embracing Jesus, without letting Him into every corner of our lives, our encounter with Him remains just that—a single moment in time, rather than the beginning of a transformative journey.

The Danger of Spiritual Apathy

Unfortunately, for many of us, that journey gets stalled. We become apathetic. Spiritual apathy is a subtle, insidious thing. It doesn’t announce itself with fanfare; instead, it sneaks in through the back door of our lives, often disguised as busyness, routine, or even religious activity.

In Matthew 11, Jesus denounced the towns where most of His miracles had been performed because they did not repent. These were towns full of people who had encountered Jesus—seen His miracles, heard His teachings—and yet, they remained unchanged. They had become apathetic, indifferent to the extraordinary things happening right in front of them.

This is the danger we face as well. We can become so familiar with the idea of Jesus, so accustomed to the rituals of our faith, that we miss the extraordinary in our midst. We might see lives being transformed around us—marriages restored, addictions broken, people healed—and yet, we remain unmoved, clapping politely but feeling no real change in our own hearts.

Embracing the Way of Jesus

To counteract this apathy, we must move beyond mere encounter to a full embrace of the way of Jesus. Embracing Jesus means willingly becoming like Him, dying to our own agendas, and allowing His life to reshape ours. The Apostle Paul understood this deeply. In Philippians 1:21, he writes, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Who says something like that? Only someone who has fully embraced the way of Jesus, someone who understands that true life is found not in clinging to our own desires but in surrendering them to Him.

But embracing Jesus isn’t just about personal transformation; it’s also about embodying His way in the world. When we embody Jesus, we become a living representation of Him to those around us. We don’t just talk about following Jesus—we live it out in every aspect of our lives. We bring the kingdom of God into our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, and beyond.

Jesus told His disciples in John 14:12, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.” That’s what it means to embody Jesus—to continue His work in the world, to be His hands and feet, doing the things He did and even more.

Waking Up from Apathy

So how do we wake up from spiritual apathy? It starts with a decision to stop being indifferent. We need to recognize the areas in our lives where we’ve grown cold, where we’ve allowed the extraordinary to become ordinary. We need to repent of our apathy and ask Jesus to reignite the fire within us.

The writer of Hebrews gives us a sobering warning in Hebrews 6:4-6. He talks about those who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, but have fallen away. He says it is impossible for them to be brought back to repentance because to their loss, they are crucifying the Son of God all over again. That’s a hard truth, but it’s one we need to hear. When we live in spiritual apathy, when we reject the transformative power of Jesus in our lives, it’s as if we are crucifying Him all over again.

But there’s hope. Jesus is still knocking at the door of our hearts, waiting for us to let Him in fully. He wants to dine with us, to commune with us, to bring us back into a vibrant, life-giving relationship with Him.

A Call to Action

This is a call to action. It’s a call to wake up from spiritual apathy and fully embrace and embody the way of Jesus. It’s a call to live with a sense of awe and wonder at the extraordinary things God is doing in our midst.

So let’s be people who don’t just encounter Jesus but embrace Him with everything we have. Let’s embody His way in the world, living out His teachings in every sector of our lives. And let’s never grow indifferent to the power and presence of Jesus in our midst.

Wake up, Church. Jesus is moving. The question is, are we moving with Him?