Drifting Away , Heb. 2:1- 4, 1. Drifting along is fun. Drifting along in life appears to be fun because it implies no commitments, no attachments, and likewise no goals either. Recently my family and I took afloat trip down the Gascanade River in Mo. Two boats were used, a canoe and a john boat. Unfortunately, the john boat had only one paddle. We put the boat in the river at a point where the current was swift and shallow and immediately we were pushed under a tree and my hat was knocked into the water and I lost it. There were several times that the current rushed us toward a tree or embankment and were it not for my wife's quick feet to slow us we would have suffered from a few more scratches. Drifting down a river for pleasure is quite different from drifting down the river of life. We knew where we were going to get out, but life doesn‘t give us a definite rendezvous point. Life‘s exit may appear at any moment, and we are supposed to be ready for it. Our river float was a work of amateurs and we didn't have the necessary equipment. We should have had another oar and some instruction. In life we are frequently like this in that we drift without proper equipment and proper instruction. Our Scripture text talks about drifting in another context...drifting away! Hebrews (the rest of the books) was written to Christian people. There was persecution of Christians and many had taken a faithful stand in witness of their faith in Christ. These were--mostly--Jews who had become Christians and were wavering, wondering if being a Christian was worth it all. Similarly, we who are now Christians who were once pagans may sometimes ask the question: is it worth it all? There are many attractive features of paganism, and I use the term in its more glorious sense. The world of paganism is alluring with its attractive sensuality. Anyone alive and human cannot help but be attracted to the easy promiscuity of paganism. The world of business attracts for there is the competition, and the urge to display success, conquest, and wealth. Paganism has a tremendous attraction, although it is empty, temporary, unsatisfying, and leads to death and meaninglessness. In light of the temptation, the writer declares: God has spoken to man thru various means in the past, prophets witness to his message, the covenant witnesses to his mercy and judgement, and now finally, with great emphasis, has spoken--coming personally in the Person of Jesus Christ. God has done everything possible for man and even that which seems inconceivable, for man's salvation. Now if he has done all this, the question, “HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT A SALVATION?" I. Drifting Away from Christ is possible. l. This idea may upset you, or confuse you because Baptists have always talked about the security of the believer, or the idea that once you are saved, you are always saved. A young girl in Emporia had doubted this truth, until the recent plane crash involving the students from the Nazarene college near Kansas City. The young girl consoled herself—knowing the students who had been conducting a weekend revival that they were Christians and were now in the presence of the Lord. A woman who did not believe in the security of the believer commented, "Yes, if they did no anything wrong after the meeting on the way to the airport.” 2. The problem with this doctrine is this: all that we can ever say about anyone is: he says he is a Christian, she says she is a Christian. We never know for sure. In a practical way we see people who come into some relationship with this church who claim they are Christians, and now we do not see them anymore. I am not talking merely about a church split. Go over your church membership rolls. What can we say about the missing people? Where is the mother who came with tears in her eyes saying that she wanted to follow Christ and be obedient to him? Where is the Father who brought his famliy and united with this church, transferring his membership from out-of-state, and who pledged himself to serve God here? 3. Drifting along the river is a lesson or illustration. When we came to certain places the current had come almost to the snail’s pace and sometimes the snails were moving faster. Recently I talked with an attractive young woman who is in the process of being divorced. I was startled to learn that she was being divorced. I began asking questions like, is there another woman? has he lost his mind? are you involved with another man? or all those kinds of questions. Her simple response was: he doesn‘t love me anymore. He has not loved me for six years, and I didn't know it. A turning point in their lives came six years ago and slowly her marriage began to deteriorate and she wasn't really award of it. Drifting from Christ is the same way. Something happens to someone, the feeling of a slight, a cross word, a biting comment, a lack of love, and a person begins to drift away. 5. Thus the warning...if we drift away from Christ who is life, where can life can found? The Bible warns against drifting, check into your attitudes, loyalties, concerns... II. Drifting implies disbelief about destiny. v.2-3 l. My analogy of drifting has been one experience on a river But let's look at another kind of drifter. One occasionally sees people drifting across the country. A drifter is described as one who is on the go all the time. He has no roots, he has no home, his most immediate concern is his next meal or two, a place to sleep for the night, and decent weather to move about in. Where is he going? The season dictates this. During the coming fall he will move south to better climates and during the hot summer he is on the move to cooler climes. He may drift around the world seeing places and faces. But drifting is rather paradoxical: first, the drifter has no fixed destination, and second, he hopes for a destination that will bring contentment. 2. The drifter denies a future destiny. Jesus said that there are two ways in life: one that leads to life and the other to death. Our Hebrew scripture says also that there is judgement or that there is salvation. The issue is a simple, but profound one: Life--salvation--is found in Christ; death--judgement--is found without him. If you drift from Christ who is salvation and life, what can you expect to find? 3. lf you have a choice between eating gravel or steak which would you chose. If you have a choice between taking poison and a medicine that will heal, which would you chose? If you had a choice between sanity or insanity, which would you chose. These seem trivial questions, because the answers are so obvious. But if you have a choice life and non-life which would you chose. lt seems obvious. But now is Christ life or not? The witness of the Bible is that He is the Saviour? He holds the destiny of the future. Which will you chose? 4.. There is an unusual fact about this passage. God who is unseen comes near in the incarnation, and one may speak of God getting down on his knees and begging man to turn from drifting to his given destiny in life of receiving life eternal. III. Drifting implies a rejection of what God has done.3-4 1 Paganism has a view about life that God has done nothing. If there is life after death, and many affirm it, then existence depends upon myself. Socrates is an example of a celebrated death. In his dialogue Phaédo, Plato retells the death of Socrates. Socrates believes in life after death and argues for it, but the only way to the presence of the gods is by personal intellectual purity. Socrates says, "No one who has not studied philosophy and who is not entirely pure is allowed to enter the company of the gods but the lover of knowledge only.“ (n. f28-9 ) As glowing as these words sound, they must be viewed in light of the paganism of Socrates’ time when he and others practice and advocated homosexuality. 2. So much for paganism. The Bible declares that God has done something in the past, and is doing something in the present. The past becomes very important. That past records God’s choosing of a people in the Old Testament, the building of a nation, and the eventual coming of Jesus who died on the cross for you and me. These are past events and they indicate a covenant with man. The past events are part of the life of the people that all could see. 3. The facts are the basis of promise, not anything else. The importance of God‘s doing something takes away the guess work. Socrates didn‘t know what to expect in face of death. He hoped and argued for life, but he didn‘t know. But the fact that God has acted gives us a solid foundation for hope. I want to emphasize the importance of God‘s act, because there is considerable attention paid to feelings, and part of the problem of today is trying to live by feeling, emotion. Living on the basis of feeling is a sure way to become a drifter. I know of an employee who came to work when she “felt” like it. After she didn‘t feel like it while, she was canned. Living on the basis of principles gives stability to life. The real fact of Christian assurance is not what I feel like I am a Christian, but that I give my life to Christ, and I have his promise of life.(John l:l2). In this regard it is important to live by the Scripture and not by feeling. Drifting away most frequently means I ignore what God has done. I close the Bible. A closed Bible means I have no anchor point. God declares that we must wake up--He has acted, and therefore we are not to neglect his great salvation. Concl: l. Spiritual drifting is incredibly dangerous and we are to take note of the great question: how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation. Years ago in Minneapolis a newspaper plant burned. The fire was discovered in the basement, but there was not a whole lot to do except evacuate the building. On the sixth floor was the teletype equipment. Everyone left the building but a news man on the sixth floor. There in the teletype room he sent messages all across the country. The fire is on the first floor, I am on the sixth. A little later he sent a message, The fire is on the second floor, and I am on the sixth. The newsman planned to wait until the fire had gotten to the fifth floor, then go down the hall to the fire escape and escape that way. A while later he checked and sent the message, the fire is on the third floor and I am on the sixth. As he watched the crowds below he teletyped the information across the country. It came on to the fourth, and then as he sat at the teletype be tell that the fire was on the fifth floor, he got up and went to the fire escape and to his horror he found that the fire was not just on the fifth, but also on the sixth. The hall fire escape was blocked off. He went back into the newsroom and to the window. There was a cable running over to the other building of some 30 feet near the window.. He worked himself cautiously out the window and onto the cable. He hung hand over hand slowly across the 30 ft space. The crowds below were looking up breathlessly as he inched himself across hand over hand. In the middle of the distance, he lost his grip and plunged to the street below. There is a place for bravery and daring, for the right purpose But when it comes your spiritual well-being, the praises of men, the fame of a network, the adulation of the press, it cannot give you life. Neglect--Neglect of salvation because we drifted into church and out of church--that is tragic. 2. Are you drifting today? Are you neglecting today the greatest gift of God? If you don‘t have assurance of salvation, I want you to come this morning. If you are needing to follow Jesus in baptism, I want you to come. If you are drifting and need to rededicate yourself, I want you to come. 3. Prayer: Lord God, you know how far back we walk in following you. Help us to catch up. Give us a willingness to evaluate where we are and cease our drifting. I pray in Jesus name. 8-18-74 |