TEXT: II Peter 1:1-11

SUBJECT: Spiritual Depression #9: Neglect

Derek Smith is the saddest man in the world.

Two hours ago at the breakfast table his wife of twenty-five years told him she wanted a divorce. At first, he thought she was kidding, but one look into her red and swollen eyes told him she wasn’t.

Derek had been faithful to his wife, he had never touched her in anger, and seldom raised his voice at home. He made a good living, paid his bills on time, and always treated his wife and children with courtesy. In some ways, it would be hard to find a better husband that Derek Smith.

But his wife was still leaving him.

Up to now, everything I said about the man was good. He did not cheat on his wife; he did not beat her; he did not abuse the kids; he was not grumpy in the morning and his politeness did not come off as sarcasm or self-pity.

With all these good qualities, Derek Smith was still a bad husband. In describing the man I used a word five times. Did you catch it? The word was not.

The man who did no bad things at home also did no good things.

Derek Smith is sad because his marriage is over, and his marriage is over because, for twenty-five years, he neglected his wife.

In spite of the story I just told, today’s sermon is not on marriage—either how to make it better or how to stay clear of divorce.

The topic is Spiritual Depression, and one of its major causes is neglect.

Negligent husbands and wives are not likely to have a good marriage, and without one, they’re even less likely to be happy and content. What’s true of this human relationship is also true of our union with God and Christ.

Both Old and New Testaments compare the Lord and His people to a husband and wife. Ezekiel 16 provides a long, beautiful and tragic telling of their marriage, from the wedding in the Red Sea to the Wilderness honeymoon, to the homecoming in Canaan…and then the wife’s betrayal of her dear and loving husband!

Most of us know Ephesians 5 better than the old prophet. After telling husbands to love their wives and wives to submit to their husbands, Paul says—

Do men need to spend time with their wives—‘quality time’ as the saying goes? Yes we do. Do we need to talk to our wives? Listen to them? Think about them? Feel for them? And love them in ways both practical and otherwise? We do. If we don’t can we have happy marriages? No we cannot. They may stay with us—and wives ought to stay with disengaged husbands—but to look for marital happiness by living separate lives is folly!

If you want to be a happy husband or wife, engage your partner, love her as you used to, be interested in him the way you were when you were dating!

If you want to get out of the pit of Spiritual Depression, stop neglecting the Lord and give yourself to Him in body and soul!

Having gotten your attention—I hope—let’s get to verses we read a few minutes ago, II Peter 1:1-11. The ninth verse describes a man for us in three ways. He is—

Peter is no doctor, and these are not medical problems. They are figures of speech, and refer to the man’s spiritual life. He is blind, an this stands for ‘confusion’. He cannot see far off, and this implies ‘he has no hope’. And, he has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. This means he feels guilty and fears the future.

Confusion, despair, guilt, and fear. Put these together and what have you got? You’ve got Spiritual Depression. This is what’s wrong with the man.

How come he feels this way?

It would be easy to say he felt this way because he was a hypocrite. He doesn’t feel forgiven because he’s not forgiven; he feels no hope because he has no hope. He’s depressed because he’s without God and without hope in the world—and no wonder!

The problem with this take on the man is it doesn’t fit him. To ‘forget he was purged’ means ‘he was purged’ from his sins. He is a saved man, and yet, he’s still confused, hopeless, guilty, and scared.

How come?

Maybe he has committed a gross sin. If you read Psalm 51, you’ll see David was none too jolly after taking another man’s wife and murdering a loyal soldier to cover it up. We shouldn’t expect to love sin and to feel happy at the same time.

But there’s nothing in our passage about ‘gross sins’ at all. Yet the man, who did nothing really bad, is really, really down.

Why?

Perhaps he has accepted bad doctrine, or been taught wrongly. Wrong views of God, ourselves, and the way of salvation can devastate the soul. What if you didn’t know God is love? How in the world could you ever believe your sins are forgiven or that your fit for heaven?

Again, there’s nothing in our verses about ‘bad doctrine’. Peter was not against crossing doctrinal swords when he needed to, but here he didn’t need to. The man’s beliefs are fine. Yet he’s depressed.

Maybe others should be blamed. He may be going to a church full of legalists, picking at him all the time, and never reminding him of what Christ has done for him.

This is a common problem, but not his.

What, then, is the cause of the man’s depression? Is he just a flaky man or what?

I don’t know if he’s a flake or not, but we do know what’s wrong with him, and why he’s blind, cannot see far off, and has forgotten he was purged from his old sin.

Verses 5 and 10 tell us why he is the way he is—

In other words, people who are serious and zealous and hard-working in the Christian life are not blind, short-sighted, and forgetful of what the Lord has done for them.

In a word, the man’s lazy. Or, to tie it back into the marriage story I told a few minutes ago, he is negligent.

He’s not blaspheming God or teaching heresy; he’s not raping women or killing men or taking candy from a baby! As my dear old dad would say—

Some people are lazy and careless about everything. If they’ve got a job, they do as little as they can get away with. Their house is always turned upside down and you might mistake their lawn for the darkest jungles in Africa! Their cars are painted with bird droppings and upholstered in hamburger wrappers! And their relationships are seldom, if ever, tended to. You can read about this kind of person in Proverbs 24:30-34.

As far as we can tell, the man in our chapter is not this way. He may be a whiling dervish at home and work. But he’s an awful layabout when it comes to spiritual things!

If you re-read vv.5-7, you’ll see he’s lazy about two things: (1) knowing God and (2) growing in grace. He has faith, v.5 says, but he hasn’t added much knowledge.

These means he is slack about reading the Bible, hearing sermons, meditating on the Word of God, praying for insight, and talking things over with the brethren. And, because he seldom does these things, and when he does, he does them sloppily, he hardly knows the Lord at all.

This is mighty depressing. For, as the Heidelberg Catechism says—

If our only comfort is knowing Christ, and if Christ is chiefly revealed in His Word, it follows that, when we neglect the Word of God (read, heard, pondered and discussed), we will be depressed.

If this were the only thing Peter said, I urge you to be like me—a bookworm! But this is not all he says. He says, not only, knowledge has to be added, but others things too—

This means we have to be more than hearers of the Word, we have to do what we hear (and read, of course). How can ignoring the known will of our Savior make us happy? Even if we’re not really up to anything that bad?

There’s the rub: Since Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, not doing what He wants us to do is that bad! Even if we’re doing nothing to scare the horses!

Unless he’s bedridden because of his health, can you imagine a man lying in bed all day being happy? I cannot picture him. In fact, lying in bed all day is one of the most obvious symptoms of depression.

What’s true of material beds is also true of spiritual beds. If we never get out of them to serve Christ with energy and consistency, we will never be happy!

If you’ve been slothful in matters of the soul, you know: Bad habits are hard to break. But they can be broken, Peter says, because, vv.3-4—

If you don’t like doctrine, these verses are not for you, for they’re packed with it! I won’t go into much detail, but merely underline some of the main thoughts that a pertinent to my subject.

Firstly, God has given you the resources to serve Him with zeal. Secondly, He has given them—not to exceptional Christians only—but to everyone who believes. Thirdly, this power comes mostly from knowing the Bible, in general, and the Gospel promises, in particular. And, fourthly, God has freed you from the power and rule of this world.

Are you spiritually depressed? If you are, it may be because you have neglected the Lord, His Word, and His obedience. If He were a Hard Man without mercy I’d say it’s too late for you: you’ve hurt Him too often, and now He’s written you off.

But this is not what He is or Who He is. He is the Lord, just and intolerant of sin. But He is also full of compassion, mercy, patience, and grace.

The guilt you feel this very moment is proof that He loves you and wants to forgive and renew you. For the guilt doesn’t come from my manipulation or your neuroses, it comes from the Lord who is now making you sad, so that you will be happy fully and forever.

Do you want contentment in this life and joy unspeakable in the life to come? You can have it. By giving all diligence. And when you do that, you’ll see it wasn’t you at all, for—