Many wary Christians, cautious and mindful of the big things that could take them away from the faith, seem rather oblivious to the gradual dangers. They aren't concerned because it hardly seems that anything of significance is taking place. "I'm OK. Don't worry about me. I'm as committed as ever," they say. But they are really drifting.

Introduction

(Read Hebrews 3:12-14)

A little girl got home from Sunday school, where she had been taught the verse: "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." She asked her mother, when she repeated the verse, what it meant. Her mom said, "Well, it means that when you are good and kind and thoughtful and obedient, you are letting Christ's light shine in your life before all who know you."

The very next week in Sunday school, the little girl got in a bit of a quarrel with another student that created quite an uproar - to such an extent that the Sunday school teacher had to go and find her mother to get her settled down. Her mother was concerned when she got to the classroom and said, "Sweetie, don't you remember about letting your light shine for the Lord before men?" The girl blurted out, "Mom, I have blowed myself out."

A story like that is cute when we hear it in the context of a little child - especially seeing the way such a little one expresses her condition so openly and accurately. Such a story among adults, however, is a much more serious matter.

According to the passage I just read in Hebrews, it is possible for a believer in Christ to "blow himself or herself out," that is, come to the place where the light of Christ has permanently gone out in their life. I'm speaking here of apostasy - falling away - a Christian coming to a place where he or she has completely left the Lord and the faith. "Take care lest you fall away...," says the writer of Hebrews.

Hebrews was written to Christian people who were in danger of having their lights go out for good. Some of them were deserting their faith. Because of numerous difficulties, some of them had already turned back. Others were gazing longingly at the things they had forsaken. The Hebrew writer says in Hebrews 10:38-39: "…My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul."

How many people do you know whose lives once burned brightly for Christ, today have no light left in them? They are apostate. They have fallen away and deserted their faith. It's a sad thing to contemplate isn't it?

In this message I want to point out to you Seven Things to Watch Out For So You Don't Lose Your Faith. My lesson comes from selected passages from the book of Hebrews. We'll take them in the same order as the Holy Spirit revealed them to the Hebrew writer. According to the writer of Hebrews, the first thing to watch out for is:

I. Drift

The warning comes from Hebrews 2:1.

(Read it)

Robert Edwin Peary led the first successful expedition to the North Pole in 1909. Interestingly, when Peary's party had traveled for some time, thinking they were making progress northward, they decided to check their position by the polestar. They discovered what is today in every Encyclopedia that has an article on the North Pole. Let me read the words from my own Microsoft Encarta:

"The geographic North Pole is situated in the Central Arctic Ocean in a region covered by drifting pack ice." ⁽¹⁾

What Peary discovered was that the entire ice-flow they were traveling on, though they could not detect it with their five senses, was drifting south and throwing them off course. Only through periodic corrections made by consulting their instruments could they arrive at their destination.

For the sake of discussion I looked up the definition of our English word "drift" and the one thing that popped up in every definition was the idea of something that happens slowly or gradually - often undetected. As the idea of moving was expressed, I read over and over words like "unhurriedly, gradually, smoothly, leisurely, without particular purpose."

Many wary Christians, cautious and mindful of the big things that could take them away from the faith, seem rather oblivious to the idea of gradual. They aren't concerned because it hardly seems that anything of significance is taking place. "I'm OK. Don't worry about me. I'm as committed as ever," they say. But they are really drifting.

The following words are not mine but they do describe something that is very true:

"Where one Christian is lost to the Christian life through a particular and special assault of evil, through one break down, there are a hundred who drift away from the life of worship and of faith. More drift out of Christian life than fall out of it."⁽²⁾

Notice the admonition of the Hebrew writer: "...we must pay much closer attention..."

How would you characterize your walk with God? Are you paying close attention to it? Remember, it is more often the little things that are barely detectable that will get you.

God has provided several disciplines that are intended to correct drift in the spiritual life: The Lord's Supper and daily prayer. When you apply yourself thoughtfully to weekly communion, you correct drift by focusing on your reference point (Christ) and examining your position in relation to Him. Then you correct. In daily prayer, you praise God for who He is, then confess any recent sin that has caused drift. Again, you correct.

If these two disciplines are weak in our lives, my friends, then we are probably drifting. This warning is for you. You need to look up from what you're doing and see if you need to correct, lest you drift completely away and your spiritual light go out.

A second thing to watch out for so you don't lose your faith is:

II. Unbelief

Does it seem strange that I would mention unbelief among a fellowship of professed believers? The Hebrew writer did.

The verse I want you to see is the one I have already quoted.

(Read Hebrews 3:12-13)

Is it possible to have an unbelieving believer? Apparently it is. But how can that be? Let me explain.

I have tender feet. If I go outside with no shoes on, I'm a pansy. I tiptoe around. You may be that way, too. Have you ever been around a person who just walks around barefoot with no apparent effect? How did they get that way? By walking around without shoes on a regular basis! They have callused feet.

Your spiritual heart - the center of your belief - is like your feet in a sense. If you protect it, it stays tender. If you walk around unconcerned, intentionally walking in sin, you build up calluses on your heart. If it becomes too callused, the Holy Spirit's conviction cannot penetrate. You can become, as Hebrews says, "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" - an unbelieving believer (which is really not a believer at all).

I heard a haunting statement a couple of weeks ago that hasn't left me yet. It went like this: "The same heat of the sun that melts wax also hardens clay." The quote came in the context of the heat of trials and difficulties. When trials come, the hearts of some people, like wax, are softened and become more pliable to God's shaping. The very same trials, however, can harden the hearts of others like clay to the point that they cannot be penetrated by the conviction of God's Spirit anymore.

Later in the book of Hebrews we are warned of a state in which it becomes "impossible to renew them again to repentance." ⁽³⁾ How does a person get to that point? By the hardening effect of sin.

A third thing to watch out for so you don't lose your faith is:

III. Boredom

The passage I want you to see is Hebrews 6:1:

(Read Hebrews 6:1)

Boredom is not the cause of what is mentioned here but it is the result. The point is that some people never progress beyond the basics of the faith. Because they don't take things to heart, they must rehearse the foundations of their faith again and again. They are stuck on the rudiments, the first principles. They want only the milk of the word, that is, only the basics.

I don't know about you, but I would get tired of milk for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 365 days a year. I certainly would not look forward to meals if all that were ever served were milk. Yet because some of us refuse to apply ourselves and grow out of our spiritual infancy, the truth is, we in effect restrict our diet to only milk. By refusing to go beyond the first principles, we end up bored with our faith.

I could go on talking about spiritual boredom, but let me just say that this passage has four words that will deliver you from such lethargy. The key words are in verse 1. It says: "press... on... to... maturity!" That's what you need to do. Jump into learning about your faith. Take the initiative. Kick into a learning mode. Become a vacuum cleaner that sucks up spiritual truth whenever it appears. Wrestle with it. Meditate on it day and night. Let it challenge you.

A mother was downstairs doing her dishes late one evening when she heard a "thump" on the floor upstairs. She rushed up to find that her little boy had again fallen out of his bed. As she bent over to help him back into bed she asked what happened. He replied, "I guess I went to sleep before I got all the way in."

That is what happens to Christians who are bored. They go to sleep before they enter the vital place of spiritual growth. In so doing they fall out of more than just bed. They fall out of the faith.

This next thing to watch out for, in the order in which the Hebrew writer put it is:

IV. Laziness

(Read Hebrews 6:11-12)

The key word to look at in that passage is "sluggish." What is "sluggish?" That's the adjective that describes the activity of a slug. A slug moves s-l-o-w-l-y...

Someone has said, "Some men leave their footprints on the moon. With others, the only print they leave in life is the imprint in the Lazyboy in front of the TV."

Imagine how it would impact your spiritual walk if you substituted one hour of Bible study every night for one hour of TV watching.

You see, it isn't that we don't have time. It's that we have things we would rather do. We are lazy about spiritual things.

A fifth thing to watch out for so you don't lose your faith is:

V. Isolation

(Read Hebrews 10:24-25)

God never intended that his people would live life apart from their spiritual family, the church. This verse says, "not forsaking our own assembling together..."

Do you want to know the trouble with teaching from this pulpit on the subject of church attendance? The trouble is that so often those who need to hear it are simply not here.

May I say it clearly? Even if you have the best reason in the world for chronic absence from the assembly, if it continues too long, you'll soon be spiritually dead. You will have blown yourself out! Yes, I know that today there are many employers who are unsympathetic to the spiritual needs of Christians. They don't care that you want to be in church on Sunday. I also know that people need to work to live. You might be stuck at this moment in a situation where you feel you have no choice in the matter. I can understand that. But why not set yourself to prayer for God to help you resolve your situation? Why not call the elders to pray for you? Why not enlist your brethren to help you find a better situation. You may be stuck in an impossible situation at the moment, but does that mean you must stay there the rest of your life? Don't give up so easily!

You see, it isn't the act of non-attendance that is the real problem here. It is the effect. The church is God's choice provision for your faithfulness! The church is the pillar and support of the truth. Without it, falsehood will enter your life like weeds in a garden. Do nothing about them and soon your spiritual life will be like an overgrown thicket of falsehood. You cannot live your Christian life isolated from your brothers and sisters and the admonition of those who teach the Word! That is the warning of this passage in Hebrews 10.

The sixth thing to watch out for so you don't lose your faith is:

VI. Self Pity

(Read in Hebrews 12:3-4)

Some people wear their feelings on their sleeves, out where they get hurt every time someone bumps them. May I say very frankly, if you do that you won't be long in the faith, because someone is bound to bump into you. It's the law of averages combined with the unreliable nature of human beings. It is going to happen. It would happen on a deserted island where you lived with only one other human being. It is certainly going to happen in church of hundreds.

The church is a family. As members of that family, we must work hard to get along with each other. There must be a lot of give and take. If you're one of these who thinks that the church is a perfect place where no one ever has any problems and they always do what is right in the clutch, you need to wake up and come to reality. No, I'm not making excuses for it. Neither am I saying that we should not deal with it. I'm simply trying to get you to realize the truth. The church is a family. How long would your earthly family stay together if members left every time someone got offended instead of sticking around to work things out? The church is no different. Yes, it's work. Yes, it's hard sometimes. But that is the way it is supposed to be. And, may I add, that is the way it is everywhere else as well.

Don't be so touchy! Learn to give grace. Where that isn't appropriate, learn the Biblical art of confronting so you can clear up any misunderstandings and bring repentance where it is necessary.

The point of these verses is that Jesus didn't give in to the temptation to quit even to the point of shedding His blood for us. If He can do that for our sakes, can't we endure just a little bit of bumping once in awhile for His sake?

A seventh and final thing to watch out for so you don't lose your faith is:

VII. Misunderstanding

Were you ever disciplined by your parent and felt like they were being unfair with you? Perhaps you got the blame for something that someone else did or maybe, though you did the deed in question you felt you had a good reason that wasn't considered? Be honest now. Did you ever say in your mind, "You just wait! One of these days I'm going to run away from home! Then you'll be sorry! I'll fix you!" There probably isn't a person here who has passed through adolescence who hasn't at least thought those words.

Sometimes we misunderstand a parent's discipline. Sometimes parents may even make a mistake.

It is that kind of misunderstanding that the Hebrew writer had in mind when he wrote Hebrews 12:5-7.

(Read it)

God never makes a mistake when He disciplines us. Earthly parents do, but He doesn't. If He allows trials or in some way denies us something we really want, it is for the sake of discipline. He has a very good reason and can be trusted. Sometimes though, like the youth that doesn't understand his parent's discipline (and who sometimes even feels he's smarter than dear old dad or mom) we misunderstand God's intent. We say, "I don't understand why this is happening to me. I think it's unfair and if it doesn't stop pretty soon, I'm going to run away!" Sometimes people do run away from God under such circumstances.

My word to you this morning, though, is this: God can be trusted. Unlike an earthly parent, He never makes a mistake. Whatever you may be going through at this moment, God has carefully considered it and reviewed it and deemed that it is just what you need at this moment. It is a part of His great design. He may be the cause of it. He may have simply allowed it to happen. Whatever the case, I can guarantee He doesn't want you to run from it. Rather, He wants you to confront it and deal with it in a godly way. You won't always understand what's going on or why He allows certain things. That's where faith comes in. Don't turn away because you've misunderstood what God intends for you. He has your best interest in mind - always.

Conclusion

An old man once told a story of when he was a small boy and lived on the coast. On a certain morning after a big storm he looked out on the beach and saw an old ship stranded. Damaged and deserted by its crew at some point prior, the storm had blown it in. He said that often, when the tide would come in strongly and surround the old ship, it would almost be loosed from its moorings and go out. He stated that often he would go and stand by the old ship and hope it would go out. He would say, "Go out, old ship; go out with the tide." But it never did. Finally, one morning after a severe storm he went down to look at the old ship, but the storm had torn it to pieces. Only the floating pieces of the old wreck were to be seen. It had many opportunities, but never went out.

Sadly, that story could be a metaphor for the life of so many backsliders. The tide comes in again and again - God's sending people and circumstances in order to break them loose and get them out of their mired condition. It surely seems that they will go out, but they just settle back in and never go out.

If I am speaking to you this morning, then I strongly exhort you to go out while there is still time.

1. Microsoft Encarta 95 [Back]
2. Author Unknown [Back]
3. Hebrews 6:6 [Back]

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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