The sin of indifference

‘T herefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” (Hebrews 2:1–4 KJV) (emphasis mine JT) The passage above has been called “the perils of drifting.” Of course, this problem of drifting away from the faith, the truth of God’s Word, and Christ and His church is no longer a problem. We have no problem of people being distracted by the cares of this world, slipping away from the hope they once had in Christ, and giving their souls to Satan for the temporary cares of this world. I wished we could honestly make that statement, but sadly we cannot!

The truth is that there are our members that have drifted, there are members that may appear to others as being faithful but the fact of the matter is though they be near to the body (physically) their heart is far from God. But why?

Why do people drift away?

What causes someone that has learned about Christ, what He has done on the cross, the church He has established, and the promise of resurrection and eternal rest with the Godhead, to drift away and give away everything that has been promised to them? The Sin of Indifference!

What is indifference?

Indifference is “a lack of concern or sympathy”.

Indifference is as the above text says, “let them slip” or “neglecting so great a salvation”. Indifference is when we allow the cares of this world come between us and Christ, indifference is when we neglect the spiritual cares and concerns of our lives and the lives of other, indifference is when we have slow but surely slipped away from Christ, we can’t explain exactly what happened but we do know for sure that something has happened.

Indifference is when we begin to worry about the number of minutes the preacher preaches, or the flower arrangements in the foyer, the song leader not singing the right songs, but we do not take one thought about the members that are absent from the service, or the members that are sick and in need, or the lost souls that we live among whether they be apostate members or alien sinners!

Indifference is neglecting the true work of the church (evangelism, benevolence, and edification) and worrying over matters that do not merit one bit to our salvation and the salvation of others!

What is the remedy for indifference? If indifference is the lack of concern, and the drifting away, then the obvious remedy for it is to make sure that your foundation is sure, strong, sturdy, and always able to tend to the “great salvation” that has been afforded to us. How do we do this? 2 Timothy 2:15, Acts 17:11, 1 Peter 3:15 all indicated that in order to have a sturdy foundation we must study the Words God has given to us. This involves falling in love with the Word and falling in love with the Author, have enough care and concern for God Almighty that you desire to have His Words in you and a guide for you. Next you need to have enough care and concern about the Christ and His church. This means that you must always have in the forefront of your mind the fact that we have died to self and are now living for the One that died for us (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21).

We must fall in love with Jesus and desire to serve Him in every way possible, but it also means that we must fall in love with His church. We must make it one of top priorities in life to be concerned about and care for the members of His body. This means being mindful of those that have drifted away, being mindful of those that are in need, being mindful of the work of the church, praying for the elders, deacons, and preachers, praying that the church may grow with leaps and bounds and then doing the hard work necessary to make sure that our hope is not in vain. The final way to remedy indifference is to have care and concern for those outside the body of Christ. We need to understand that unless the church makes an effort to seek and save those that are lost, teaching them the Gospel, and assisting them in understanding their need to obey, then the lost of this world will spend an eternity in hellfire because of a lack of care and concern on our part. How could we face Christ at His Judgment seat being confident that we will hear those words “well done, enter in” knowing that we have neglected to continue the great work that He died for?

A lack of care and concern has plagued the church for far too long! Let’s not let the sin of indifference cause us to drift away, but keep a sure foundation, and be faithfully doing all that we can to save ourselves and others!

Jeremy Thornton is Minister of Highway 77 Church of Christ in Marion.

Jeremy Thornton