Drifing Away

Many churches today are struggling to survive.  Pastors and church leaders seem to get a lot of pressure when their churches fail to grow.  Churches are living organisms, and as such they are not intended to remain the same.  If they are nourished, they grow.  If they are underfed and neglected, they go the other direction and begin to die.  The church depends upon the condition of each individual member for it’s existence.  In all churches we find some members who really find the right nurturing and grow rapidly.  They get on fire and want to do what they can for the ministry of the church.  Yet we also find in all churches members that get to the point they become under nourished and begin to drift away from a desire to contribute to the body of the church.  This is not something new. This has gone on since the beginning of the Church.  The writer of Hebrews (commonly assumed to be the apostle Paul) addresses this very issue (Hebrews chapter 2).  In Paul’s earlier writings, he addressed doctrinal issues for the new Christians. Doctrinal issues were important for the Church in it’s beginning because of the rapid growth.  But at the time of the writing of Hebrews, approximately 65 years after the birth of the Church, Paul is addressing the fact that converts were drifting away.

What are some of the causes that cause people to drift away?

1. We are also made aware of Truth through experiences as it is applied to our lives and the lives of others. These experiences have to be the result of a relationship with Jesus.

In Old Testament times it seemed so simple. God had given laws and rules through Moses that regulated every aspect of life. When special guidance was needed God sent a prophet, authenticated by miracles.  Now, however, as the Hebrew Christians felt, the voice of God is certainly heard. The writer here understood. He moved to make one thing clear, that in Christ we have an even greater revelation than what Moses gave. Through relationship with Jesus, we have access to the very voice of the living God.

The writer implies that it is our duty to give heed to the things we have heard.   It is our duty because it is the 1st way we show our love to Christ and His Gospel.  It is the great concern of every one under the Gospel to give the most earnest heed to all discoveries of God’s Truth and to the directions that Truth provides.  It is also our duty because it is important to us.  God’s Word never fails!  It is our stronghold in time of trouble.  Earnestly heeding the things we have heard means to listen diligently to them in all the opportunities we have to do so;  to meditate on them closely;  to mix our faith with them and put the Truths into practice.

Not only is it our duty to heed the things we have heard, it is our priviledge.

1. In Christ we have been accepted into God’s family and are called by Jesus himself, “my brothers”.  This exaltation, vaulting us far above the angels to be Christ’s brothers in God’s family is also our deed to freedom. We are freed from the power of death that Satan holds.

1. It should be our desire to keep these things that God has so graciously given us.

What are some things we can do to safeguard the things God has given us and keep ourselves from falling away?

1. We need to focus on daily Bible study, to keep in remembrance of the Truth. We need to focus on daily prayer to thank God for His grace and wonderful gift of salvation.

We have been raised to a position in Christ.  Why would we want to give up that position?  Our share in Christ makes us the new men and women that we are.  Our share in Christ offers us a victorious life.  Our focus today is not to be on a list of do’s and don’t’s, or even the Bible’s revelation of right and wrong behavior. The primary focus for us today is, “Is my heart open to Christ?”  “Am I eager to  learn what God wants me to do?, and am I willing to do it?”