What If People Leave the Church?

Brad Pearce

Durbin Memorial Baptist Church

Order • Sermon • Submitted 3 months ago • Presented 3 months ago

1 Timothy 4:1–5

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Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an honor and joy to share the Word of God with the saints of Durbin Memorial Baptist Church.

I don’t know if you know this or not, but the first century church at Corinth was a mess. Mixing into the culture around them, member of the church were involved in horrid sins. At least one prominent member was participating in lewd sexual sin. There is quarrelling happening as members of the church try to promote their favorite theologian. They are taking each other to court to try to solve petty disputes. They are at one another’s throats over food sacrificed to idols. Some are following occultic practices in the ways they present themselves for worship. They can’t even take the Lord’s Supper correctly because some folks are missing out while others get drunk on the communion wine. They had showboats in the worship service, making everything about themselves. Some major doctrinal issues arose as it seems some denied the resurrection of Christ.

If you’re like me when you read through the first four chapters of Acts, you get a fond appreciation, even a longing for church planting and get fired up about what the local can be! It’s then a bit shocking when you get to a book like 1 Corinthians and see just how quickly things can go off the rails.

There is a two fold reality in which we find ourselves. First, the local church is beautiful and truly a gift of God, this is what we have been working towards and accentuating throughout our look at order in the church here in 1 Timothy as well as when we walked through Acts 1-4 just a few months ago. But the second side of our present reality, is that the church is full of saints who are being sanctified. That means that these saints, while set apart as God’s people, still sin. In fact we sin a lot. As I was walking through all the ways the church in Corinth was messed up, some of y’all probably thought it sounded like a typical baptist church! It takes quite a bit of effort and the complete grace of God to maintain unity in the church! All throughout the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul is addressing the problems within the church, while also urging the group to remain unified and continue on in the Work of the Lord! The church needs the urging, because doing life and ministry together with a bunch of sinners is very hard! It often leads to rifts!

Sometimes, many times, issues in the church, which find their root in the fallenness of man, cause us to divide the body of Christ. We don’t have to put a hand up, but I would venture to say that many of us can think of a few churches we know of that exist because of a split in the church. Sometimes over theological issues, other times over the color of the walls in the ladies restroom. There are divisions that come up and cause tension in the church, sometimes leading people to leave the fellowship.

This morning’s message is titled, “What if People Leave the church?” So we’re going to talk about that. But to do so properly we need to make a distinction between leaving the faith and leaving the fellowship. Our primary text this morning will explore what is happening when someone leave’s the faith that is they no longer claim faith in Christ as Lord, but for just a moment, I think it would be good for us to look at what we are to do when someone leaves the fellowship, that is they leave this church and join in with another group of believers.

First, we should seek reconciliation before the exit, whether the disagreement was our fault or the person who left. Christ teaches in His sermon on the mount, “If you are offering your gift at the alter and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the alter and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” If our church has wronged someone, causing them to no longer join our gathering, we ought to move mountains to make amends. If the other person has caused division, however, we ought to approach with love and truth seeking to provide an opportunity for reconciliation.

Second, we need to understand that separation from the fellowship does not mean separation from Christ. It would be very pretentious of us to believe we are the only place in which someone is capable of serving the Lord faithfully. Sometimes, people leave. It’s sad. We lament. We should attempt to rectify the situation. But people leave. Paul and Barnabas were as tight as brothers in the ministry could be. They got in an argument over this guy named Mark whom Paul did not want to take with them on a mission trip. Acts 15:39 says it was a SHARP disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Both Paul and Barnabas went from there on God-honoring missionary ventures. Their interpersonal dispute didn’t mean one or the other had left the faith completely.

Third, we should seek reconciliation after the exit. In our fallen world, there will be divisions and separations that pop up in the church. Christian brothers and sisters will not always see eye to eye, even when they hold the same faith. It is lamentable, it should be fought against, but it is the present reality. But when people leave the church, we should NOT write them off. We should desire their good for the glory of God and if that brings us back together again in the future, praise be to God. In the second letter to Timothy, Paul will write “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.” We don’t get to see exactly how things played out between Paul, Barnabas, and Mark in Scripture, but we can tell that reconciliation occured. Church, we ought to own our faults, call for repentance, and extend the grace that we have received ourselves.

When people leave the fellowship we should seek reconciliation before they exit, remind ourselves separation from the fellowship does not inherently mean separation from Christ, and seek reconciliation after the exit as well.

But this assumes that the one who leaves continues in claiming faith in Christ Jesus as Lord. What about Apostasy?

If you have not already, open your Bibles to 1 Timothy 4. This morning we are getting looking at Paul’s warning to Timothy that people will leave the faith. Paul will be addressing a specific theological problem with the folks around the church at Ephesus and we will how people are led astray, who leads them astray, and what they are lead astray from. Then, if time allows, we will look at how our church should react to members leaving the faith, and conclude with our personal defense against apostasy.

So let’s not waste any time. We will begin looking at the how people are lead away from the Church in 1 Timothy 4:1

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

Thus far this morning we have looked at our response to folks leaving the fellowship, but now our attention is turned to those who are leaving the faith. Before we get into the specifics of how this happens, we first are shown that this is a real reality for life in the church. Notice that Paul write “the Spirit expressly says”. Now, at least in my neck of the woods, we don’t use the adverb expressly very often. For me at least, I found it easier to understand the CSB and NASB on this one. They rendered that word as explicitly. So, knowing that the Holy Spirit is the second person of the triune God, we can read this as Paul saying, “Hey Timothy, God literally said in later times people are going to depart from the faith.” Where did God say this? Well its possible that in this time in which the Spirit was working through the Apostles to complete the New Testament that this was a special revelation. The concept is certainly repeated numerous times in the epistles which we know to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. Its also possible was referring to Old Testament prophecies. But whichever is the case, we can take it to bank that God has told us “in later times some will depart from the faith.” It is a reality that we should be prepared for and ready to contend with. There will be those who once claimed faith in Christ that will denounce His Lordship.

This doesn’t come as a shock to us. I know I have seen many influential musicians and christian personalities from my childhood leave the faith. A quick google search of “Ex-vangelicals” will give you a long list of folks from band and authors who have left the faith. Those stories are sad and I hope that those folks will see that Jesus is worthy to be served, but when I hear about it from a celebrity, it doesn’t hit me with the gravitas as it does when its someone I grew up with in Youth Group. Church, when we read verses like 1 Timothy 4:1, its easy to think about people leaving the faith in a general sense or celebrities, but we need to be prepared to deal with it in our direct context! It is an uncomfortable concept to dwell upon but it is the reality of living in a fallen World and our Gracious God has warned us that it will happen. So how does it happen? How do people depart from the faith?

“by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.”

Now, I’ve spoke on this before, but this is a hard pill for us to swallow in our materialistic world. The reality that our modern society tries to reject is that their are spiritual forces of evil, demonic influences, and the devil is scheming against us. If those things sound wildly obscure to you, you’re problem is not with me but with the plain reading of Ephesians chapter 6. We are all taking part in a spiritual warfare beyond what our eyes can see. Now for the Christian, this ought not to scare us because first of all we are assured we share in Christ’s victory, and secondly because also in Ephesians 6, we see that God has equipped us and prepared us for this spiritual battle. But we are in battle nonetheless.

One of the battle techniques, the schemes of Satan, is to direct false teaching at members of the church. He wants to see folks make a “shipwreck of their faith” like Hymenaeus and Alexander from 1 Timothy chapter 1. Make no bones about it, false teaching is demonic in origin. Satan and demon constantly work deceptions that corrupt and pervert God’s Word.

This is why as a church, we must be vigilant in guarding the teaching of the church. We must approve everything we do by the Word of God. And we must realize with deep remorse that when someone leaves our church because they are departing the faith they once claimed, that that individual has fallen victim to the scheme of Satan. It should cause us to react not with vitriol but with compassion. We’ll come back to our reaction to apostasy in a bit.

Let’s look now at who leads folks away from the faith:

1 Timothy 4:2 ESV

2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,

This week I was having a conversation with a brother in the church and we were talking about dealing with conflict. The question was asked, “In this conflict do you think it’s happening because of the sin of the people, or do you think its because Satan is stirring things up.” My response in the moment was, “Even if we could perfectly define which one was causing it, would it effect how we respond?” Meaning that no matter what we are called to respond with grace and truth in any controversy. But in light of our text this morning, I guess I could have also said that in the midst of conflict. particularly in the context of the church, there’s likely to be a little bit of both. There is demonic origin, but there is also human origin.

Paul doesn’t tell Timothy to just blame it all on the demons so that humans bear no responsibility. He says some folks, seared in the conscience, have become numb to the truth of God’s Word, are insincere with their words and outright liars. They are deceiving folks to come alone with them in their rebellion to God. So that may very well be a scheme that Satan is employing, but the participants surely aren’t absolved from their responsibility!

This is where we as a church must be very careful! We read this and we say, “Of course we aren’t going to follow those insincere liars! Someone with a seared conscience? Mark and avoid!” It seems so easy when we read it in a simple verse.

But we must understand that these “insincere liars” look a whole like, and give off the impression of being faithful Christians! They assimilate into church culture. They may be known for their piety, they may be gifted communicators. They may be talented musicians willing to serve in the band. They may be witty entertainers that the youth gravitate towards. “They give a public impression that puts congregants at ease and draws them in. But they are not really who they are pretending to be.” They are dangerous. 2 Cor 11:14-15

2 Corinthians 11:14–15 ESV

14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

We will come back to our more detailed reaction to apostasy later, but I do want to say briefly that my intention in this presentation is not to make us all suspicious about everyone around us. Rather, to encourage all of us to be grounded so that we aren’t deceived. If we aren’t paying attention we’ll things will change around us before we ever notice.

*CHECK IF SCREEN IS GREEN* To illustrate this just look at the screen. It might be easier for our folks at home, but I’d guess that many people didn’t notice that the color of our background slowly changed from blue to green over the last 10 minutes.

When we don’t expect change, we don’t look for change. Things can subtly sneak beside us. Influences gradually amass and we find ourselves in a new setting before we know it.

Let’s look now at what those who left the faith in Ephesus were leaving behind and see how it applies today:

1 Timothy 4:3–5 ESV

3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Verse 3 shows us that the particular problem in the Ephesian church at this time was that people were leaving the faith to follow a form of asceticism. If you’re unfamiliar with that belief system it can basically be summarized as self-denial to earn self-righteousness. It is a merit-based view of spirituality that says if I deny giving myself *fill in the blank* then I will earn my righteousness. In this case some have been forbidding marriage and enforcing dietary restrictions. We aren’t given the fuller context to know why these things were chosen. We know that singleness and fasting can both be good things done for the glory of God. But the perversion of truth occurs when these things are presented as means of righteousness.

This is corrected with an appeal back to the creation account. Just as Paul appealed to Genesis when it comes to complementary gender roles in chapter 2, he does here with regards to marriage and food. These are good things that God gave us! God planted the garden and the trees in it were pleasant for sight and good for food. It was not good for man to be alone so God created marriage. We are to enjoy these things with thankfulness in our hearts to God.

This is why it is good to pray and give thanks before we eat. In eating, we are enjoying God’s good gift for us. We should resist the temptation to make a prayer of thanks a simple ritual, but consistently dwell upon the goodness of God to provide for us. Now, praying for our food at every meal may be in less fashion than it once was, but it is still something we are familiar with. Something less common, that I would encourage you to do in light of this section of Scripture is that, if the Lord has seen fit for you to find a husband or wife, give Him thanks EVERY day for that person. If you are single, give God thanks for that gifting. In whatever situation you are in, pray and give thanks to the God who is faithful.

Verse 5 says what we receive is “made holy by the word of God and prayer.” I want to make sure we’re on the same page with what that means. It doesn’t mean that in our prayer we mystically transfer holiness to whatever we receive, like they become a relic or something. Rather, it means that these things, marriage and food, are “holy” as in suitable for use. One pastor wrote, “made holy [is to be] set apart or dedicated to God for holy use. This means … thankful prayer and an understanding that the word of God has set aside the temporary Mosaic dietary restrictions [allows us to eat anything with joy to the Lord]. Contrast the unbeliever whose inner corruption and evil motives corrupt every good thing.” It’s the basically a different way of saying whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give Him thanks!

The underlying principle behind the ephesian apostasy is the same underlying principle behind all apostasy. Deceivers call evil good and good evil. They put darkness for light and light for darkness, bitter for sweet and sweet is bitter.

Apostasy is rooted in a twisting of God’s Word. God saves by grace and blesses His children with marriage and food, apostates say one is saved by their ability to abstain from marriage or food. Jesus says if you love me you will keep His commands. The apostate says if you love me you will give me no commands. The Bible tells us Jesus is the Word in flesh. The apostate denies the incarnation of Christ and the inerrancy of the Word.

Deception can come in all shapes and sizes. The serpent is crafty and we may not see it slide in our midst. Our best defense against apostasy is to recognize that it happens so that we are quick to approve all we hear by God’s good Word.

In these five verse we have seen how apostates are led astray, who leads them, and what they are led away from.

Before we conclude this morning, I want to provide a framework for how we as a church should respond when it is one of our members, maybe someone we have grown up with, one of our dearest long standing friends even who have left the faith.

Our first response towards our apostatized friend is pray. Pray that God would open their eyes to the truth of His goodness. Pray that they would learn of the error of their thinking. Pray that God would renew their repentance. We all know someone who has gone through a season of disbelief but the Lord has brought them back to His fold with fervor, pray that that would happen again. Pray that you would have front row view of God playing back the story of the prodigal son. We’re shown in 1 Timothy 2 that the first step of an orderly church is to pray and pray specifically for the ability to share the gospel in this dark world. So pray that God would use you to be His mouth piece and break through to your wandering friend.

Next, while we continue to pray for our friend, we should not affirm their decision. Our friend has become our mission field. They must be called to the only gospel that can save. And if you think I sound a little too intense, we must understand that our friend who leaves the faith has no assurance of salvation. The most loving thing we could do for them is not to cling to their baptism 20 years ago and let them slide off the deep end. The most loving thing we could do for them is call them to repent and believe for the Kingdom of God is at hand! If we know someone among us has rejected the faith we must loving follow corrective discipline outlined in Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5. When we remove someone from the membership of the church they are welcome to attend, but we are in essence saying that we cannot from our limited perspective affirm their right standing before God. So with a heavy heart and compassionate concern, we let the person know we care about their repentance.

Third, while they have become an opportunity for evangelism, we must guard ourselves in our conversations. We must ensure that as we hear their burdens and point them to Christ, that we are seeking to influence them and not allow their error to influence us. Stand firm upon the Word of God. Wage the good warfare holding faith and a good conscience. Don’t let your preaching of the gospel become muted by the false preaching of the world.

Forth and finally, keep a deep love that is ready to restore your brother or sister. We want to see our friends and family serving the Lord. We should celebrate. Invite them to church. Smile when they show up, and Lord willing should they repent and seek to be restored cry tears of joy! May we not be a church full of prodigal son’s brother turning our nose because of the someone’s past sins. May we desire to see restoration and reconciliation in the church.

So if someone in our midst leaves the faith, we will respond with prayer, discipline, guarded evangelism, and a genuine desire for joyous restoration.

But if you’re like me and sometimes feeble in the faith, talks of apostasy always lead to some consideration of what if I’m next? Can I be deceived? I thought I could never lose my salvation?

As we conclude our time this morning I’d like to paraphrase a bit of the London Baptist Confession of faith chapters 17 and18 to address those concerns.

‘It is true that temporary believers and other unregenerate people, may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in God’s favor, that is falsely believe they are saved for some time, but their hopes shall one day perish. But for those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus, those who love Him with sincerity, who desire to walk in good conscience before Him, they may have deep assurance that they have received God’s grace and can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Such hope will never make them ashamed.

Our assurance of salvation is not rooted in conjecture or probable arguments based on some fallible hope, but rather an infallible assurance of faith is founded upon the blood and righteousness of Christ Jesus. This has been revealed to us in the gospel. There is inward evidence of God’s grace. We have been promised assurance in Scripture. We have been adopted into sonship by the very Spirit of God. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is seen in our lives and keeps our hearts humble and holy.

And though we may, through temptation of Satan and of the word, the prevalence of corruption remaining in us, and the neglect of stewarding our lives for the glory of God, for a time continue on in sin, whereby we incur God’s displeasure, we grieve the Holy Spirit, we have our graces and comforts impaired, our hearts may be hardened, our consciences wounded, we may eve hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon ourselves, EVEN STILL we shall renew our repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end.’

If you found all of this hard to follow let me break it down like this.

When I fear my faith will fail: Christ will hold me fast.

When the tempter would prevail: Christ will hold me fast.

I could never keep my hold, through life’s fearful path. For my love is often cold. Yet, He will Hold Me Fast.

Church, when we fear we are on the cusp of losing our faith remember our faith is in our strength, but in His. He will hold us fast.

In a moment we’re going to have a hymn of response. I hope that a few things happen in that time. If you know the Lord as your Savior, I hope that you would use that time to praise His name and give Him thanks. If there have been interpersonal divisions growing in our midst, I hope that we would love one another and the Word of God to use even that time to begin to make amends for the glory of God. If you have been waffling in the faith, surrounded by doubts, I hope that you would use that time to reach out to me or someone around you, that we could encourage you to press on in the faith. And if you have never before seen your need of a Savior, or Christ’s sufficiency to be that Savior, I hope that you would use that time to make that known. I would love to answer any of your questions.

Church, this gathering, while a beautiful, loving grace of God, is not always sunshine and roses. Sometimes people are going to have disputes. Sometimes people are going to leave the faith. But may we thank God that though we may be feeble and fleeting, that He will hold us fast.

Let’s pray.