Are You Drifting?
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"ARE YOU DRIFTING?"
1. Billy Norris writes of a tragic event that resulted from "drifting": "Two young men were fishing above a low dam on a river near their hometown. As they were concentrating on catching fish, they were unaware that they had drifted until they were not far from the water flowing over the dam. When they realized their situation, the current near the dam had become too powerful for them to keep their boat from going over. Below the dam the water was dashing with strong force over great boulders and through crevices in the rocks. Caught by the swirling waters under the rocks, they never came to the surface. After days of relentless searching, the divers finally found one body, and then, two or three days later, the other."
too often we find ourselves drifting away from the Lord
“drift” - a gradual shift in position; an aimless course; to become carried along subject to no guidance or control
In He 2:1, we find a warning against drifting
For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
Brethren, "Are You Drifting?" Would you know it if you were?
Scripture is full of examples of men and women who started out strong in their faith, but drifted toward the end.
Samson was a judge of Israel, gifted with great strength, yet he was spiritually weak and compromised
Solomon began his reign with humility and dependence upon the Lord, but the more wives he accumulated, he drifted
Joash was seven when he became king, was faithful but drifted
Demas, a one-time faithful comrade of Paul and partner in the gospel, fell in love with the things of the world and drifted away
Why is drifting so easy and dangerous?
SPIRITUAL DRIFTING REQUIRES NO EFFORT...
1. Just stop trying, and putting effort into learning and growing. Begin to relax and kick back and take a break and the next hing you know you will drifting out to sea.
Drifting happens because we fail to pay attention.
Spiritual drifting IS AN UNCONSCIOUS PROCESS...
1. It is possible to drift unaware
a. Many individual Christians have slowly drifted away
b. Many churches have gradually drifted into error -- Only one day to find themselves far removed from the Scriptures
This is why the Hebrew writer urges us to “pay much closer attention to”
Ray Stedman—“This convinces me that the writer of this letter, whoever he was, was a preacher. There is nothing more heartbreaking than preaching to people week after week and to see certain ones constantly exposed to truth that you know could change their lives, set them free, transform their very existence and bring them out into a realm of experience they hardly believe existed; you know this, and yet you see them, week after week, lose the whole effect of the message simply because they do not pay attention.”
WE NEVER DRIFT UPSTREAM OR AGAINST THE TIDE... Pay closer attention
Charles Stanley—“When we lack direction, we don’t simply stagnate. We continue to move, usually in an unhealthy direction.”
1. Faithfulness to the Lord is like oaring upstream
2. You must constantly be "adding to your faith..." - 2Pe 1:5
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
3. You must continue to grow - 2Pe 3:18
-- The moment you stop growing, you start going backwards or downwards
THE SPEED DOWNSTREAM INCREASES...
IT IS DANGEROUS TO OTHERS...
1. A ship, just drifting, is a hazard to all other vessels at sea
2. Parents who are just drifting, will soon loose golden opportunities to teach their children - Ep 6:4 When we stop learning and growing we Ep 4:14
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
IT ENDS IN SHIPWRECK...
For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,
how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
How do you know if you’ve drifted? You know that you are drifting when God’s Word is collecting dust, when you can’t remember the last time (if ever) you got alone with Him in prayer, and when your worship life is dry and routine.
COMMON SIGNS OF DRIFTING
A. DIMINISHING DESIRE TO STUDY GOD'S WORD
God’s Word is powerful & is filled with knowledge and wisdom from above. In the Bible we find the answers to our origin, purpose , and our destiny. We find warning and encouragements, and it leads us to salvation. it provides direction fro living useful productive enjoyable life
I think often times the reason we loose interest or drift away from the desire to study God’s word is because we treat the Bible in one of three ways?
we treat it like a self help book. We try and get out of it what we want, instead of letting God tell us what he wants. we have list than man has compiled of scriptures to help us when we get into all sorts of situations. Often times those scriptures are only the scriptures that make us feel god but don’t really lead us into spiritual maturity.
we treat it as a casual reader - that book that we pick up every once in a while when we have nothing better to do, or we need a little distraction from the going on’s of every day life
table top book - that book that sits on the table and pleasing to look at, we may casually thumb through it but its really there to make an appearance only, it;s just pleasing to the eye.
God’s Word for a lot of us never leaves those stages so we never feel like the Psalmist does
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
so we never have good roots and we never bear fruit, and we are tossed away by every wind or doctrine that comes our way.
Diminishing Desire to Pray
2. Prayer is a wonderful blessing - an avenue to communicate with God!
a. Jesus, who loved His Father, often prayed - Mk 1:35; 6:46
He expressed concern that His disciples not grow weary to pray - Lk 18:1
Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,
This is probably where I struggle the most. I Pray but not nearly as much as I should. It almost becomes a burden sometimes. It can even be depressing. Maybe that's because the is more to pray about than just people who are sick, or our problems.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
How often do we meditate on the greatness and goodness of God, how often do we acknowledge his holiness, and all the characteristics of God.
How often do we give him thanks?
B. DIMINISHING DESIRE TO WORSHIP WITH GOD”S PEOPLE
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
I constantly hear all sort of excuses when it comes to why people don’t come to worship
When you don’t want to go to worship, don’t blame the song-leader or the songs, don’t blame the preacher, or the other people attending. The problem isn’t someone one else it is you. You are drifting away.
NOTE: a lot of times our worship is sleepy, and boring and that's our fault.
Worship is what you put into it. The more energy and devotion, excitement, passion you put into the more lively and impactful can be.
A lot of times our desire to worship diminishes because we forget what or maybe I should say who it is all about. If you come to worship and all you think or desire is what I can get out of it you are missing the point.
Worship is about God first of all &
it’s about others
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Ro 14:19
So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.
He 3:13
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
-- When a Christian prefers the companionship of people of the world, rather than fellow Christians, he is drifting toward the rocks of spiritual destruction!
C. DIMINISHING DESIRE TO SHARE THE GOSPEL...
1. When one obeys the gospel, he knows God has blotted out his sins, made him a new creature in Christ, and he wants to tell the world about Jesus - cf. Ac 8:4; 1Th 1:8
Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.
2. When a Christian no longer has the desire to take the message of salvation to others, he is drifting!
INCREASING THRILL OVER THINGS OF THE WORLD...
1. Such as greater thrill over worldly honors; for example: Parent s and the excitement over worldly matters 1Jn 2:15-17
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
2Ti 3:4
treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
If we reach the point when we find more pleasure in some worldly activity than meeting with others to worship God, we definitely are spiritually adrift!
II. REMEDIES AGAINST DRIFTING
A. KEEP ROWING/ PAying ATTENTION to what we have heard
We should preach the gospel to ourselves every day we live.
Jerry Bridges—“The reality of present-day Christendom is that most professing Christians actually know very little of the gospel, let alone understand its implications for their day-to-day lives. My perception is that most of them know just enough gospel to get inside the door of the kingdom. They know nothing of the unsearchable riches of Christ.”
to understand and experience the unsearchable riches of Christ means you have to work and diligent effort into it
1. Spiritually speaking, this involves diligence - 2Pe 1:5,10
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
2. It also means to keep abounding in our Christian graces - cf. 2Pe 1:5-8
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. There is no place for "retirement" in living the life of a Christian! - cf. Php 3:12-15; 2Co 4:16
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
B. WATCH OUT FOR UNDERCURRENTS...
1. We must always be on guard for undercurrent of temptation
2. For we have a fleshly nature which wages war against the soul - 1Pe 2:11; Ga 5:16-18
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
C. EXPECT TO GO AGAINST THE TIDE...
1. There are many tides to sweep us away
a. Popularity, peer pressure, the praise of others
b. Modernism, skepticism, humanism
c. Denominational-ism - false doctrines of all kinds
d. Liberalism and worldliness in the church - probably the greatest enemies of the church in our lifetime
e. Neglect -- indifference, apathy, lack of interest and concern
D. WE MUST HAVE STRONG ANCHORAGE...
1. Rooted and grounded in Christ - Col 2:6-7
Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
3. Possessing an unshakable hope - cf. He 6:18-19
so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,
4. Rooted and grounded in the love of Christ - Ep 3:16-18
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
CONCLUSION
1. Brethren, are we drifting?
a. The danger is real, we would be foolish to say otherwise
b. Many have drifted away from the Lord, we would be arrogant to say it could not happen to us!
2. Are there signs of drifting in your life? Honestly ask yourself:
a. Is my desire to study God's word and pray diminishing?
b. Is my desire to be with God's people not what it has been in the past?
c. Have I lost my desire to save those who are lost?
d. Am I too much enamored by the things of the world? If in any way we must confess that we are drifting, then may we encourage one another to give earnest heed as warned by the writer to the Hebrews:
For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,
how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
