Spiritual Complacency Can Lead to Apostasy

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. – Hebrews 6:1-12 ESV

Spiritual maturity is not the result of human effort, any more than our salvation was the result of anything we had done or deserved. When the writer tells us to “leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity,” the Greek word he uses is pherō and it has the idea of being carried along, like passengers in a boat. It is in the passive voice and so it does not convey the expenditure of effort as much as it promotes an attitude of reliance. We are to allow the Holy Spirit of God to move us by His power into further spiritual maturity.

That doesn’t diminish our responsibility or alleviate our need for effort, but it lets us know that the end result is the work of God and not man. The Holy Spirit indwells believers in order to assist them in their quest of becoming increasingly more like Christ. But clearly, there is an expectation that believers in Christ should grow up in their salvation. The recipients of this letter did not need further instructions on faith versus works or repentance from performance-based efforts to achieve a right standing with God. It was time to move on. It was time to grow up.

The author refers to washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. Each of these was a teaching or belief related to Judaism. They all had their counterpart in Christianity, but there was a need for the Jews to whom this letter was addressed to understand this foundational truth in a new way. Ritualistic washings, as practiced in Judaism, had been replaced by New Testament baptism – a one-time act that was symbolic in nature. The laying on of hands in Judaism was part of the sacrificial ritual, but it carried a new meaning in Christianity. The Jewish concept regarding the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment had been expanded and carried a clearer connotation ever since Jesus’ death and resurrection. All of these doctrines, while considered elementary by the typical Jew, would have required additional insight and instruction for the believer. There was no room for resting on your laurels or relying on old truths.

The real issue here has to do with spiritual stagnancy, which can result in the believer regressing in their faith. Earlier in his letter, the author warned his readers “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.” (Hebrews 2:1 NLT). He also told them, “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12 NLT).

He is clearly speaking to believers, those who had placed their faith in Jesus, but who ran the risk of regressing in their faith because they were not pressing on and moving forward spiritually. He knows the very real possibility of believers falling away and describes them as those who “have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come — and who then turn away from God” (Hebrews 6:4-6 NLT).

He warns that “it is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame” (Hebrews 6:6 NLT). It would seem that the writer of Hebrews is dealing with extreme cases of apostasy when believers turn away from and reject Christ. He is not referring to what many of us call backsliding or periods of spiritual doubt. The seriousness of his warnings conveys the idea that he is dealing with cases of an extreme nature. His point seems to be that if you fail to grow, you will leave yourself open to apostasy. You will be vulnerable to false teaching and the possibility of turning away from the truth. This was not uncommon in the New Testament. Paul warned Timothy not to follow the example of two individuals who had wandered from the truth.

Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior. This kind of talk spreads like cancer, as in the case of Hymenaeus and Philetus. They have left the path of truth, claiming that the resurrection of the dead has already occurred; in this way, they have turned some people away from the faith. – 2 Timothy 2:16-18 NLT

Paul also warned Timothy, “Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead” (1 Timothy 4:1-2 NLT). 

The author of Hebrews is legitimately concerned about the ongoing spiritual growth of his readers. Why? Because a lack of spiritual growth can have dangerous consequences. He is not saying that believers can lose their salvation. But the longer a believer wanders from the truth, the more difficult it will become for them to repent. And ultimately they will reach a point where they are living and acting as an unbeliever, and their return to Christ will appear as if His saving work was insufficient the first time. It will be like crucifying the living Lord all over again.

Apostasy makes a mockery of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. That is why we are commanded to grow. It is a non-optional expectation for all Christ-followers. But apostasy is the very real consequence of a life of spiritual complacency. Paul tells us that when the church is equipping its people and they are ministering to one another, the result will be the spiritual maturation of all the members. And spiritual growth serves as an antidote to apostasy and a protection against false teaching.

…we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. – Ephesians 4:14 NLT

According to the author of Hebrews, believers are to keep on growing in Christ-likeness, allowing the Spirit of God to use the Word of God to change them from the inside out. This divine process of transformation is meant to produce spiritual maturity and prevent spiritual complacency. But it requires the willful participation of each believer. That is why the author conveys his strong desire that each of his readers “show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end” (Hebrews 6:11 ESV). He wanted them to remain committed to the hope found in their faith in Christ. Their eternal future was dependent upon the saving work of Jesus, not their own attempts to keep the law or practice the rites and rituals and Judaism.

When it comes to the Christian life, you are either moving forward or going backward. There is no middle ground or state of spiritual immobility. A stagnant faith is a dead faith. It lacks power and will eventually result in spiritual regression. But those believers who maintain their hope in the promises of God made possible through faith in Christ will find all the power they need to avoid spiritual complacency and the risk of apostasy.

Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance. – Hebrews 6:12 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Our Multidimensional God.

Genesis 19-20, Matthew 10

So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. – Genesis 19:29 ESV

Too often, we avoid the Old Testament because the image it seems to portray of God is one we find uncomfortable and seemingly at odds with that of the New Testament. God comes across as harsh, judgmental, vengeful and angry in the Old Testament. Yet, from the more familiar stories of the New Testament, we have come to understand Him to be loving, kind, gentle and full or mercy. But the truth is, the God of the Old and New Testaments is one God, and the two testaments simply portray the multidimensionality of His nature. Together they reveal His divine character in all its glory. They also give us a glimpse into God's ever-changing and evolving relationship with mankind over the centuries. God does not change, but the manner in which He reveals Himself to mankind and the way in which He responds to their sin does change. God has already had to destroy the earth and all its inhabitants, except for Noah and his family – a devastating event He pledged to never repeat again.

What does this passage reveal about God?

But that does mean God was done punishing sin. He remained righteous and holy and, therefore, was obligated by His very nature to deal with the sin of mankind. God cannot simply tolerate sin or turn a blind on to the rebelliousness of mankind. Because He is righteous, He must always do the right thing. For Him to ignore sin would be for Him to cease to be God. So we have in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, an illustration of God's righteous and completely justified wrath against the sins of man. When Lot separated from Abraham and chose the rich valley of the Jordan for himself, we are told that "Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom" (Genesis 13:12 ESV). By the time we get to chapter 19, we find Lot "sitting in the gate of Sodom" (Genesis 19:1 ESV).

In chapter 18, Abraham was visited by three angels disguised as men. They informed him that God was going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, "because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave" (Genesis 18:20 ESV). Abraham, evidently knowing that his nephew and his family had moved into Sodom, intercedes on their behalf and begins to bargain for their salvation. As a result, God agrees to spare the cities if He can find tend righteous people living in them. What we have in the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is a vivid reminder of the inevitable state of man without God. Things had become so bad in these two cities that God was unable to find even ten righteous people. But He does spare Lot, his wife and two daughters.

This story is a reminder of God's well-deserved wrath against sin and His undeserved mercy toward mankind. It exists to teach us that God can and must respond to sin. As a righteous judge, He must judge righteously. But it also reassures us that God can and does show mercy. Peter tells us,  "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into helland committed them to chainsof gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment" (2 Peter 2:4-9 ESV).

When we read this stories from the Old Testament, they should reinforce for us the holy nature of God. They should remind us of just how wicked men can be apart from God. But they should also create in us a tremendous amount of gratitude for the grace that God has showered on us who have received His Son as our salvation from judgment. Like Lot, we have been spared. We have been rescued. Like Noah, we have been shown mercy and grace from God. The Old Testament portrays a less-than-flattering portrait of mankind as they continue to reject God and embrace the world. We see revealed a steadily growing stubborn streak, accompanied by an unhealthy self-sufficiency that causes mankind to live as if God does not exist. And the trend continues today. Yet, God also continues to show His mercy and grace to men by rescuing the godly from trials and preserving them from the judgment to come.

What does this passage reveal about man?

From the time Noah and his family stepped out of the ark onto dry ground, men spread throughout the earth, and with them, sin. God's merciful sparing of a few did not eliminate the presence of sin. So by the time we get to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, things had gotten progressively worse. Once again, God is forced to deal with the sins of mankind. The story of the destruction of these two cities is a reminder to us of just how wicked men can become without God. Left to their own devices, mankind will always degenerate into godlessness of all kinds. Lot, while obviously a worshiper of God just as his uncle had been, had chosen to become part of the world around him. He had moved in and gotten comfortable with the world. And while Peter tells us that Lot was uncomfortable with the sins being committed around him, he was not willing to separate himself from the situation. He chose to remain in Sodom, exposing his family to the constant influence of ungodly people. And while he was there, he had had little influence on the citizens of Sodom. Even his sons-in-laws to be refused to heed his warnings and flee from the judgment to come. Lot was far from salt and light in the city of Sodom.

Lot loved the world. He loved what the world had to offer. Even when given the chance to save his life, Lot begged the angels to let him move to yet another city. He enjoyed all the amenities of city life. In the time he had lived in Sodom, he had grown comfortable and complacent with the world. Yes, he was bothered by the sins around him, but not enough to do anything about it. Such is the picture of far too many of us as Christians today.

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

When Jesus sent out the twelve disciples on their first missionary journey, He gave them detailed instructions and told them to be highly selective in terms of the villages they visited and homes they stayed in. Jesus sent them to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." In other words, they were to focus their attention on the descendants of Abraham. They were to announce the coming of the Messiah. They were to tell them that the Kingdom of Heaven had arrived. But to those towns where this message was rejected, Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, 'it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town" (Matthew 10:15 ESV). The pagan, Gentile citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah had been destroyed for their godlessness. The Jewish inhabitants of the towns and villages the disciples visited would be guilty of rejecting the very one who was the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. The Jews knew the covenant promise made to Abraham by God. They had been expecting a Messiah for generations. But they would reject Him when He came. And their judgment would be far greater than that imposed on the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

I have been given a chance to become part of the family of God through the merciful gift of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been placed into the household of faith and grafted into the family tree of Abraham. And yet, like righteous Lot, I can find myself growing comfortable and complacent in this world, tolerating the wickedness all around me. And while I will be spared ultimate judgment to come because of my relationship with Jesus Christ, I can still suffer the consequences of love affair with the world. Like Abraham, I have been called to live a life set apart from the world. I am a sojourner here, just passing through on my way to someplace far better. I am not to "pitch my tent toward Sodom" and gradually settle into the midst of the wickedness all around me. I must be in the world, but not of it. I must live as salt and light, an agent of change and influence in the midst of the darkness that exists all around me. I must recognize God's hatred of sin, and appreciate His mercy toward me, a sinner. I am not to allow myself to grow comfortable and complacent with sin, any more than He does. My God is holy, set apart and distinctively different. So should I be.

Father, You are a God of judgment because You have to deal righteously with sin. But You are also a God of love, grace and mercy. In Your love, You came up with a way to deal justly with sin and deal mercifully with sinners. Thank You for sending Your Son as the Savior of the world. Thank You for revealing Your mercy and grace to me. Show me how to live my life in gratitude for Your love by living set apart from the world around me. Help me live in this world but not become part of it. Amen.

No Place For Cockiness.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to e more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. – 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 NLT

There was a group of believers at Corinth who viewed themselves as having a superior knowledge. They had become a bit prideful and cocky over the subject of eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols. This was a common practice among the pagans in Corinth, but some of those who had converted to Christianity were continuing the practice even as believers. Their justification was that they knew that the idols to whom this meat had been sacrificed were not really gods at all – because there were no other gods besides Yahweh. They also seemed to believe that they were protected from any harm because they had a special relationship with God. From this section of Paul's letter, it would appear that they also believed that believed their participation in the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper provided some kind of supernatural immunity to them. So Paul gave them a brief history lesson, using the people of Israel as an illustration of what can happen when you let your guard down and assume you are immune from or impervious to temptation or sin. Paul recounted the story of the Israelite's days wandering in the wilderness after God had freed them from captivity in Egypt. He wrote about the pillars or fire and smoke that guided the Israelites night and day. He wrote about their miraculous crossing of the sea on dry ground. He recounted God's provision of manna and the water from the rock. He spoke of God's appointment of Moses as their leader and the requirement of the Israelites to follow him faithfully. In all of this, Paul was trying to compare the situation of the Corinthian Christians with that of the Israelites. Both had been freed by God. They had been provided leadership by God. Since baptism is an outward express of faith, the act of the Israelites walking through the sea, following the cloud and accepting Moses' leadership, were in essence a waterless form of baptism – an expression of their faith. The manna they ate and the water they drank from the rock were symbols of God's supernatural provision – much like the Lord's Supper. The bread and water were provided by God. The rock from which the water flowed was representative of Christ Himself. Just as the bread and the wine of the Lord's Supper represent the body and blood of Christ and His provision for our spiritual needs, the manna and water represented the supernatural provision by God of the Israelite's physical needs.

And yet, in spite of their status as God's chosen people and God's miraculous provision of food and water, the people ended up in idolatry. That was Paul's whole point with this little history lesson. He was warning the believers in Corinth not to get cocky and too sure of themselves just because of their unique relationship with God made available through Christ. Paul reminded them that "these things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as some of them did" (1 Corinthians 10:6-7 NLT). The Israelites were guilty of idolatry, immorality, unbelief, grumbling, complaining, and unfaithfulness. All in spite of the fact that they were the chosen people of God. They had been delivered by God. They had been led by God. They had been fed by God. But in the end. God was not pleased with some of them. They had rebelled against Him and they never made it to the Promised Land, having died in the wilderness instead. Again, Paul warned the Corinthians that "these things happened to them as examples for us" (1 Corinthians 10:11 NLT). Then Paul writes those memorable words: "If you think are standing strong, be careful not to fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12 NLT). Like the Israelites, believers will face temptations along the way. Despite their position as God's chosen people, they will find themselves facing all kinds of opportunities to rebel against God and practice both idolatry and immorality – either literally or spiritually. And when we become cocky and sure of ourselves, that is when we are the most vulnerable. Remember the Israelites. They had miracles, manna, clouds of fire and smoke, water from a rock, sandals that never wore out, and countless other signs of God's presence and power – and yet, they sinned. They turned away from God. It could happen to anyone. But God is faithful, even when we are not. He will not allow the temptations in our lives to be more than we can handle. He always provides a way of escape – an exit strategy. But we have to be aware of our vulnerability and susceptibility at all times. It is when we think we are "strong" that we are in the greatest danger. Self-confidence can be a dangerous thing for a believer. We must place our confidence in God, not ourselves. The Corinthian believers were running the risk of placing too much confidence in their position as God's chosen people. Like the Israelites of old, they were setting themselves up for a dangerous fall. No one is immune to idolatry or spiritual unfaithfulness. They are a constant threat to all believers – at all times. But we must always turn to God for help. We must recognize our own weakness and His sufficiency. He will show us a way out so that we can endure. Because He is faithful.

Father, never let me become cocky or complacent. Keep me fully aware at all times of my propensity and capacity to become unfaithful. I don't want to become so self-assured that I let my guard down and end up failing and falling. I don't want to take my position as Your child for granted or allow my eternal security to let me live carelessly in this lifetime. Failure and unfaithfulness is always a real possibility. But You are faithful. You provide a way of escape at all times. Thank You for that assurance. Amen.