SLIPPING DOWN THE LIFELINE – BUT NOT TO THE END (we hope)
Tales are told of people in rescue attempts trying to hold on to a rope in the stormy sea or raging river and over time their grip lessens and through fatigue they slip further and further down the rescue rope until they disappear. That is tragic. What could have become a lifeline and their final hope of salvation became their last connection with this life. Today I am not going to speak of salvation as such, because the lifeline I will consider is not the lifeline of salvation, but the lifeline of living.
A BRANCH HERE AND A BRANCH THERE – WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
{{John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. By this is My Father glorified that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”}}
The passage has caused concern for some people and problems for some theologians. I do not intend examining it exegetically for it is not this passage which is our main focus. Nevertheless a few comments. It is fruitfulness that is the focus here, NOT salvation. It is abiding in the Vine in order that you might be fruitful. It is not the gaining if a redeemed life in Christ – it is growth and sustenance of that redeemed life that is being spoken of by the Lord. It is the lifeline. It also involves a close communion with God.
EXPANSION: What is a productive and successful Christian life? There could be many answers but we want simplicity. Nothing could be more simple than that given by the Lord – “Abide in Me, and I in you - I am the vine, you are the branches.” It is all about dependence and resting. We have been looking at the Lampstand of recent weeks in the bible study and saw that there was one central shaft and branch, but 6 separate branches coming from the main shaft. That was total perfection as each branch played its part in supporting the 7 almond cups that contained the oil for the light.
Now suppose that you made your own light that worked on electricity and you had branches each with a small bulb attached as part of the whole branch. Now suppose that one branch with its light was faulty and gave intermittent light but generally proved unreliable. Then you’d have to replace it for another arm/branch that worked and was productive. You’d still own the faulty one – it is just that it is failing as a light giver. It is sad to say but God has many failed branches. They are intermittent in producing fruit and God has to set them aside regarding fruitfulness and testimony, but He still owns them.
The challenge we face today is, “Where are you to be found?” Are you a branch attached to the Vine, which produces fruit, or are you in a box labelled, “Discarded Branches For Fruitfulness”? Those in that box have slipped down the lifeline and some have let go so their Christian lives count for nothing when it comes to pleasing God.
EXAMPLES OF FAILURE THAT RESULTED IN SLIPPING DOWN THE LIFELINE:
We shall look at some examples found in the Bible of saints who have slipped down the lifeline but to God’s glory, they did not stay down.
NOAH – drunk, and that led to sin, and caused his own son to stumble. What caused this? We might say, lack of self-control or lust of the eyes resulting in sin. However he slipped down the lifeline but climbed up again.
MOSES – disobedience in the matter of the rock he was to speak to, but struck it out of frustration and anger. Some might think that is a small matter to hit the rock when God said he was to speak to it yet it was so serious that Moses was forbidden to enter Canaan. Moses slipped down that lifeline but soon after regained his position and held on tightly.
DAVID – adultery and murder. Let none of us judge David. In the matter of Bathsheba he slipped down the lifeline and continued to slip for quite some time over at least nine months. He succumbed to the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh, and to deceit and to scheming for the murder of another. After a visit from the prophet Nathan and full repentance in Psalm 51, he climbed that lifeline to know what it was to live with God, as a man after the heart of God.
ASAPH – it might be best to read this Psalm – (Read psalm 73 v 1-17. I have inserted the text of that Psalm at the end of this account.). This was a good man who let external pressures and happenings in the world get to him. His eyes had slipped from the Lord’s goodness and he began viewing the prosperity and “great life” of the wicked. In fact in verse 2 he admitted to being at the point of stumbling and slipping. What was it the raised him again up the lifeline? It was a renewed perspective in verses 16 and 17.
ELIJAH – burnout and depression. The pressures almost became too much for him. A great victory was followed by a slip in faith as Jezebel sought to find and kill him. It was a still small voice that enabled him to regain the hold on the lifeline.
PETER – this great Apostle denied what he so strongly avowed he’d never do. He denied knowledge of the Lord three times. It was through fear and the fear of man brings a snare. He was restored and became a power for God in the early Church.
All the men we have just considered knew what it was to slip down the lifeline, but God dealt with each one and brought them to conviction and then to restoration. They were lamps whose lights flickered for a time but shone again with a renewed brilliance.
ONE MORE MAN. There is one more man I want to consider whose end we do not know about. This man slipped down the lifeline but did he end up in the box of “Discarded Branches” because he was of no use to God. The Apostle Paul deals with him in fewer than 10 words.
Colossians 4:14 “Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.”
2Timothy 4:10 “for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.”
Poor Demas. The world was just too much. The greater our love for God is, the lesser love we have for the things of the world.
DRAWING IT ALL TOGETHER
Now drawing all these together we see some of the issues that can cause us to sip down that lifeline.
(1). NOAH – Wrong desire and possible addiction, lack of self-control.
(2). MOSES – Frustration and disobedience, maybe lack of patience.
(3). DAVID – Lust which grew into sin, wrongful desires, scheming, fear of detection which led to murder. We might add too, abuse of his position as ruler.
(4). ASAPH - Looking in the wrong direction, wrong focus and desire, and a failing of faith in a faithful God.
(5). ELIJAH – Burnout and mental and spiritual battles, depression.
(6). PETER – Fear of identification, fear of arrest, not abiding in the strength of God.
(7). DEMAS – Worldliness, failure to understand the goodness of God and the seriousness of his calling.
In all those cases we considered with the possible exception of Demas, God restored His failing children because He does not want us to fail. We have a High Priest now in heaven who intercedes for us, but these Old Testament saints were loved by God, and His compassion did not ever fail them. Those who fail are tempted by the devil to do what Adam did – run away and hide from God. Satan does not want restoration for a sinful child of God. God is always reaching out for you in your failure, in my failure.
WHAT IS THE LOSS WHEN ONE SLIPS DOWN THE LIFELINE?
In every case we considered, we see that there is loss involved for those caught up, and caught out, in a walk away from God. THE FIRST LOSS IS FELLOWSHIP. A closer look will show us that in every case there was a break in fellowship especially with God, but with other saints of God, too. Fellowship with God means abiding in the Vine and being nourished through the Holy Spirit. Your values will change. You will become more like the Saviour having the mind of Christ.
THE SECOND LOSS IS A CERTAIN LACK OF BLESSING. The one who is not abiding in the Vine has turned to his and her own resources and is master of his and her own destinies. They are not living the God directed life. Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, etc.” A person out of the will of God may accumulate riches and what the world counts as blessings, but that person is spiritually poor before God.
THE THIRD LOSS IS PEACE. “Peace” is one of the most severe problems in this world. Not just lack of peace as in war and conflict, but especially that inner peace with God. It has been said that the most miserable people in the world are Christians out of touch with God. The more you slip down that lifeline the more miserable and discontented you will become. The windows of heaven become glazed over. In Psalm 51 David prayed that the joy of his salvation be restored to him. He had an awful loss of peace over many months.
THE FOURTH LOSS IS THAT OF SERVICE. Elijah was of no use to God when cowering under a gourd vine. Peter went out into the night. Noah was drunk out of his mind. Asaph battled with loyalty and priorities. Moses knew the bitterness of disobedience but at the end of his life, he was reminded all about that at the end of Deuteronomy so he bore that weight for more than 30 years.
In addition to all that, we let others down in prayer and promises. We fail to take up our portion of the load and put extra burdens on others. We are not faithful servants.
WHAT IS THE WAY BACK?
God is not pleased when a Christian slips, or fails, even badly as David did. However the Lord continues to offer the incense of prayer and intercession on our behalf on the Golden Altar of Incense in heaven. The Holy Spirit continues to convict the erring saint. He wants to support you that you slip no further, and lift up those weary and failing arms, and raise you up again.
RESTORATION is the way back. God used many means – in Peter’s case the Lord Himself met privately with Peter; for Elijah, it was the still small voice; for David, He sent the prophet Nathan; for Asaph, the Lord sent him into the house of God.
In Restoration we have “4 Rs”. The Lord said to Peter, “When you are restored . .” The people we looked at were restored, but there is a way back. It involves REPENTANCE. Repentance follows conviction. There must be RECOGNITION of our failure. We must know the heights from which we have fallen. I was reading this morning the parable of the Lost Son and these verses rang out as suiting this message – {{Luke 15:17-19: “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men,”}}
There needs to be a REDEDICATION of our lives to the Saviour in humility. Lastly we need to have a REALISATION of the traps. When you abide in the Vine, God makes the way clear to you. Go deeper into God. Study the lives of the people in the Bible and learn from them. I want to share three verses from the Old Testament about traps -
{{Proverbs 6:5 “Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.” Psalm 91:3 “For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper, and from the deadly pestilence.” Psalm 124:7 “Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper. The snare is broken and we have escaped.”}}
Satan has many attractive traps and snares to catch out God’s children and he uses them very cunningly. All Christians are caught in some device some of the time and he who says he is perfect is a liar. The most important thing is that we do not stay trapped and snared because God is at hand to rescue us as soon as we put out our hand for help. Turn from that sin and be restored to the Lord who loves you. Under this, is a poem I wrote about Satan’s traps. I have used this poem before in a message.
BEWARE THE FOWLER
Beware the fowler in the way,
The schemer with his traps adept;
That cunning trickster who will lay
Ensnaring nets where he has crept.
The fowler knows his craft so well -
Each habit and routine discerns.
The ways of birds expertly tell;
Entrapment plans so well he learns.
To map his prey so cunningly,
And plan with subtle art his haul,
The fowler works strategically.
An expert he, the best of all.
Now Satan has his fowlers trained -
His followers in his control,
Whose traps are set, the cords are strained,
To catch God’s children, is their goal.
Each subtle means will be employed:-
The lust of flesh, the lust of eyes,
To cause God’s work to be destroyed;
To capture saints by wicked lies.
Beware the fowler’s changing guise;
His trickery is most refined.
On every cunning trick relies
To cause God’s own to be maligned.
Deliver us from fowlers’ snares.
On every path these nets are laid.
Direct us, Lord, for our God cares.
Our trust’s in Him. On Him we’re stayed.
[Poem may be used for Christian ministry. It is copyright – acknowledgement is all that is required}
God has given us great hope in failure for He understands our frame and knows the weaknesses of His saints.
COMFORT IN RETURN FROM FAILURE
When a Christian has slipped down the lifeline and comes back in repentance, there is always a sense of failure but there should not be. We feel that because we let the Lord down and betrayed our own values. What we must remember is this marvellous verse – {{Psalm 86:15 “but You, O Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness and truth.”}} God is always compassionate to a child of His who has fallen in the way. The Lord wants to embrace His people and give them His comfort when they return to Him. He ever remains the tender and vigilant Shepherd. {{Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you shall find rest for your souls, for My yoke is easy and My load is light.”}}
OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST – He serves us day and night as Mediator and Intercessor. He draws us back to the Shepherd’s side, and cares for us when we stray, even tracking into the desert. We are not always faithful but He is faithful forever. {{1John 2:1 “My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin and if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Hebrews 2:17 “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”}}
GOD IS FAITHFUL AND RIGHTEOUS. {{1 John 1 v 8-10 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”}}
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
=======================================================
The Text of Psalm 73
Psalm 73:1 “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart, but as for me, my feet came close to stumbling. My steps had almost slipped for I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Psalm 73:4 for there are no pains in their death and their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace. The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness. The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock, and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue parades through the earth. Therefore his people return to this place and waters of abundance are drunk by them and they say, “How does God know and is there knowledge with the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked, and always at ease, they have increased in wealth.
Psalm 73:13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence, for I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” behold, I should have betrayed the generation of Your children.
Psalm 73:16 When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God. Then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.
Psalm 73:21 When my heart was embittered, and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant. I was like a beast before You.
Psalm 73:23 Nevertheless I am continually with You. You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You, and besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Behold, those who are far from You will perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You, but as for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord GOD my refuge that I may tell of all Your works.”}}
