Apostasy Of The Christian Heart

Apostasy of the Christian Heart

When we become Christians, the Bible tells us that we receive Christ into our hearts. I believe that means that a Christian should possess a Christ-like heart; a heart that desires to please God and a desire to be obedient to God’s commandments and teachings. I believe that is accomplished by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the scriptures that give us the ability to not only have knowledge of God and God’s loving character but to assume a more loving relationship with God and with each other in spite of the fact that we are all sinners. I believe that the indwelling of Jesus empowers us to hate the sins any of us commit and give enough value to the sinner committing the sin to love them as well. After all that is the heart of God and the message that Jesus, God incarnate, gave during his ministry.

The title of this message is, “Apostasy of the Christian heart.

Many of you may have heard the word apostasy before and know that it is applied to an abandonment of the teachings of Jesus or denying the fundamentals doctrines of our faith and openly sustaining that opposition to those teachings and fundamental doctrines that confirm that Jesus was fully God and fully man.

So you may be asking what is Apostasy of the Christian heart?

To help us understand that concept better, I want to turn our attention to the scripture for some clarity. The scripture/parable that I believe is one of the best at describing apostasy of the Christian heart can be found in the gospel of Luke.

Luke 18:9-14 NASB

9 Now He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, crooked, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to raise his eyes toward heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other one; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Like this Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, I believe that Christians can have this kind of apostasy creep into hearts. If we look at what the prophet Jeremiah professes in the scripture found in Jeremiah 14:7, we can see that this isn’t some foreign concept to the word of God.

Jeremiah 14:7 NASB

Though our wrongdoings testify against us, Lord, act for the sake of Your name! Our apostasies have indeed been many, We have sinned against You.

I want to take some time to explain what the word apostasy means. If you were to look it up in a thesaurus, you’ll find words that are synonyms of the word apostasy.

As you listen these words and their definitions, I want you to apply them to commandments of God and the especially to teachings of Christ Jesus and then consider how easily it is to have apostasy creep into our lives and change our hearts and faithfulness to those commandments and teachings.

These are the words I found in the thesaurus.

Desertion - withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or responsibility;

Defection - abandonment of duty, allegiance, principles,

Violation - a breach, infringement, or transgression as of a law or rule:

Treachery – Willful and intentional betrayal of fidelity, confidence, or trust - which is the definition of perfidy which is another synonym of apostacy.

Heresy - an opinion or doctrine contrary to the orthodox tenets of a religious body or church and the act of maintaining such an opinion or doctrine.

Disloyalty – a violation of allegiance or duty

Backsliding - To revert to bad habits or lapse in religious practice.

Unfaithfulness - Not adhering to promises, obligations, or allegiances;

Falseness - Intentionally deceptive:

I think that there are different degrees of apostasy that Christians can succumb to in their lives and hearts and I also believe that it’s important for us to be aware of that fact because apostasy of the Christian heart can affect our relationships with each other.

In our next scripture reading, we find Paul experiencing some apostasy in the form of defection or desertion, disloyalty and unfaithfulness in allegiance to the teachings of Christ.

I believe it would be wise of us to understand and be aware of what causes apostasy of a Christians heart.