Let us go to Proverbs and read 6:6-11, “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, 7 Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, 8 Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. 9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep- 11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.” This is an excellent passage for our application to be good workers in life to provide for earthly needs but we can also gain the application for spiritual activity in so-called “church work,” with perhaps a special view to the work of converting the lost of this world or simply standing for the truth.

Let us go back to ants for a moment. How many of us as children spent hours lying in the grass watching and completely fascinated by the activity of ants. There is always a lot going on close to an anthill. Ants are very tiny and their works seem inconsequential, especially to young children. However, as small as ants are they accomplish a tremendous amount.

According to NOVA’s (PBS-TV), Edward O. Wilson, PhD. in Entomology, the combined weight of all ants in the world is about equal to that of all the humans on the earth! That means that for every one of us, there are millions of them. Mostly unappreciated by us until maybe we are stung or bitten by them, their constant hustle and bustle actually alters the environment everywhere these creature thrive. Think about this: entire ecologies are shaped by the untiring work of countless worker ants that as individuals are never named or remembered as individuals. Thanklessly, without any notice they spend their entire lives working for the hive. The result of this remarkable industry is that ants are as numerous as they are. There is no worry at all that ants will at some point go on the endangered species list. Sometimes we actually worry that Christians may be on the endangered list!

One of my favorite observances concerning ants is a time I watched a single ant carrying a bit of straw that was several times its body length and weighed perhaps twice or more than the ant itself. It struggled under this awkward and mighty load but nevertheless the little ant diligently carried on. The amazing thing was that the ant came to an insurmountable fissure in its path and so it put down the load. The ant then walked up and down the length of the impassible chasm for a second or two as if trying to reason out what it was going to do. Then seeming to figure out this daunting conundrum, the ant once again grabbed up the straw and laid it across the deep crack in the earth. Then it simply and matter-of-factly walked across this self made bridge and once across, picked up its temporary bridge and continued its journey once again bearing the mighty load!

In our passage from Proverbs, which causes us to consider the nature of ants for a moment, the Lord wants us to make some applications that really can be wide ranging for us and can also help to correct some attitudes toward others.

1. Put a smile on your face! The prime thing is “to be of good cheer” (Matthew 14:27). Have confidence that in serving the Lord Jesus we have made the right commitment of our life and efforts, Romans 8:37, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Generally the child of God should always have at our very core the knowledge that our choice to serve the Lord was the best decision any person could ever make of all the choices in life. Therefore, be confident!
2. You can overcome whatever has hurt you! Now when we have done much in the Lord’s service it is possible from time to time to become even physically tired, spiritually discouraged and emotionally exhausted. We are only human. All the mature among us in the service of the Lord will eventually have friends in Christ who disappoint and hurt us (but remember to count the friends who have not forsaken you, Proverbs 18:24; Paul relied upon Luke and Timothy after Demas and others had forsaken him). We can have physical concerns and just simply our getting older that will begin to limit us and these can take time and patience to learn to deal with. We may lose loved ones and experience the awful longing of grief. These kinds of real experiences in life can deal us blow after blow that we actually feel doing us harm. After the beheading of John, Jesus exhorted those so obviously discouraged by saying, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). Sometimes we need a little time to “recharge our batteries” but we must not use what should be a very temporary condition to become a permanent and abiding attitude. Remember: We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us! There is a reasonable amount of time for every cause of discouragement to eventually be shaken off so we can continue faithfully our part in the cause of Christ. I think of the element of real hope in the woman with the issue of blood who thought within herself, “If I may but touch the hem of His garment I can be made whole” (Matthew 9:20-22). Faith! Remember Paul’s statement about his own goals, “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Peter’s exhortation is priceless: 1Peter 1:13, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
3. Get to work for the Lord! Someone has said, “Dig someone else out of his troubles and you dig a hole in which to bury your own.” Simply taking up the cross once again, we can actually make a new start. We want to join with Paul with no small amount of irony, “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel” (Philippians 1:12). With the knowledge you have gained from your experience remember what James said in his epistle, 4:7, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” No matter what your hurt may have been, just know that the devil cannot lay a glove on you!

The apostle Paul was a man who saw the need to respond to the Lord’s appeal for laborers. The extent of Paul’s concern for lost souls can be seen in all of his efforts and writings, but this article will focus upon the first few verses of his address to the elders of the church in Ephesus recorded in Acts 20:17-21.

17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church.

18 And when they had come to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you,

19 serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews;

20 how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house,

21 testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul Endured Hardships in His Work

Paul’s work was not easy. He enjoyed much success in the three years that he was in Ephesus (v. 31), but he also endured great hardships. During this time, Paul shed many tears with them (v. 19). These tears were not for show. He sincerely cared for them, and for the fate of their souls.

In addition to the tears, Paul was also with them in many trials (v. 19). Paul was opposed in his work of spreading the gospel in Ephesus. Luke does not record these plots by the Jews in the book of Acts, but Paul alludes to them in his letters to the church in Corinth.

“If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts in Ephesus, what advantage is it to me?” (1 Corinthians 15:32).

“For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10).

The evidence of Paul’s concern for their souls is seen in the hardships that he endured for their sake.  No man would endure such hardships unless he truly cared for those who benefitted from his labors. What hardships have we endured for the cause of Christ and for the souls of men?

Paul Taught Everyone

Paul knew that the gospel was for everyone. While in Ephesus, Paul testified “to Jews, and also to Greeks” (v. 21). Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16). When Paul arrived in a new city, it was his practice to first go to the Jews, then to take the gospel to the Gentiles – to anyone and everyone who would hear it. Everyone has a soul, and so everyone was in need of the gospel.

We may not deal with the Jew/Gentile distinction which posed such a problem in the First Century, but many of us struggle with the way that we view people who are different from ourselves. Paul did not care about a person’s race, gender, level of education, economic or social status. He took the gospel to everyone who was willing to listen.

How about us? Is there anyone whom I would not want to be saved? Is there anyone whom I would rather not see as a member of the congregation where I attend? Do I realize that the gospel which has saved my soul is a gospel for all?

Paul Taught Everywhere

Paul’s teaching efforts were not limited to the pulpit on Sunday morning. He taught the gospel every time and place that he had opportunity.

“How I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house” (v. 20).

“Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (v. 31).

Paul certainly knew the value of public preaching (Romans 10:14-17, 1 Corinthians 1:21), but he also understood that this was not the only time and place that the gospel could be heard by those who were lost. Paul spoke the gospel in synagogues, schools, marketplaces, public forums, in houses, in governor’s palaces, on ships, and on the riverside.

Some brethren have the idea that they have “hired” a full-time preacher to do their evangelism for them, but the gospel was spread when the “rank and file” members went out preaching the word (Acts 8:4). Other brethren want to give their preacher office hours, but the gospel is not confined to a 9-5 schedule at the church building. Many souls have been saved due to efforts put forth around a kitchen table, in a living room, in the break room at work, etc. Are there times and places where you can talk or study with people? How about at work, school, enjoying a hobby or a mutual activity, opening your home for a Bible study?

Paul Taught Everything

Paul told the Ephesian elders that he had “kept back nothing that was helpful” (v. 20). The phrase “kept back” is translated from a Greek word that was used to refer to the act of lowering a sail. Paul did not hold anything back, but gave them everything that was needed to secure their soul’s salvation. In verse 27, Paul said, “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”  

Some people claim that John 3:16 is the “gospel in a nutshell,” suggesting that it is all that one needs. On the contrary, Jesus commanded that disciples were to be taught to observe all of His commandments (Matthew 28:19-20).

Others falsely claim that the only thing that Paul preached was the fact that Jesus was crucified (1 Corinthians 2:1-2, 15:3-4). This is not true, for Paul taught the same thing in every church (1 Corinthians 4:17), and in Ephesus he had taught the whole counsel of God.

Since all of the gospel is needed, it is the preacher’s task to declare the whole counsel of God. Balance is essential. Over a reasonable period of time (Paul was in Ephesus for three years) a church needs to hear all of the teachings of the Bible, and this teaching needs to be repeated for emphasis (2 Peter 1:12-15).

Do we insist that the whole counsel of God be preached? Are there any truths of God’s word that we try to “avoid” when talking to our friends? Are there any doctrines that we seek to “hide” from those who visit our assemblies? 

Paul Sought the Proper Response From His Listeners

The gospel is of such a nature that it elicits a response from man. For Paul, preaching was not an academic exercise, nor was he simply trying to win an argument. Paul taught with a purpose, helping his listeners towards a specific goal – “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 21).

The proper response to the gospel is for man to turn to God for salvation and accept it by responding to the conditions set forth by Jesus Christ. Man is free to accept or reject the gospel, but the preacher/teacher must encourage his listener to respond in obedience. He does more than just set forth the facts of the gospel, he encourages the proper response. “And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation’” (Acts 2:40).

Some of our brethren have actually stopped extending invitations at the end of their sermons, or they extend invitations that are so generic that no one would know what they needed to do even if they wanted to do it. This effort to make the gospel more desirable to the “un-churched” is actually a disturbing trend away from the distinctive kind of preaching that we can read about in the New Testament. Like Paul, we need to “persuade men” to obey the gospel and “implore” them to be reconciled with God (2 Corinthians 5:11, 20)

Do we encourage others to become Christians? Do we set a positive example of Christianity with our daily lives, or do we act as if our lives are miserable? Do we practice what we preach, or does our hypocrisy give sinners an “excuse” not to become Christians? Do we encourage our children to obey the gospel, or do we discourage their interest in spiritual matters by encouraging their involvement in worldly activities?  

Conclusion

Paul was perhaps the greatest evangelist of all time, but his success is not a secret. He was busy taking advantage of every opportunity to declare the whole counsel of God to everyone, calling upon them to obey the gospel. His care for the souls of men is shown in the fact that he was willing to suffer personally for their salvation. We must do the same.

Brother Ashhurst was telling me one day about a brother whom he was trying to strengthen through teaching and said to me, “brother Reed, helping this brother is like trying to charge a battery which has a dead cell – you can charge it, and charge it, and charge it, and it will still be dead!”  I thought then, and think even more today that our lack of effectiveness in providing strength, soundness, and knowledge to a great many of our brethren is being hampered tremendously by our having to try so hard to charge a battery which has a dead cell!

We have often heard that one of the most difficult tasks in life is trying to help someone who doesn’t believe that he needs any help or else he is just totally satisfied with what he is now doing and doesn’t want to be helped!  So we are therefore confronted with the task of getting brethren to recognize the tremendous dangers which threaten their faith, and to provide them with the teaching, exhortation, and strength to encounter the enemy – but we find ourselves charging and charging, and charging, and then ultimately having to realize that our lack of success is simply because we are working with a “dead cell” – a mind or heart which is not at all willing to receive the needed instruction!

There are so many brethren who just refuse to listen, and they refuse to open their eyes so that they can see!  There are so many who don’t even have the desire to examine any kind of spiritual issue.  There are so many who are being deceived and beguiled with smooth and fair speech!  There are so many who believe the falsehood being spread by the “union in perversity” brethren that “it just doesn’t matter what you believe, teach or practice – you can still remain in full fellowship with God and with your brethren!”  There are so many who want the kind of preaching which entertains them and tells them how really great and faithful they are!  We are really living in a generation where it seems that many of our brethren prefer to hear “smooth things” and “deceits” (Isaiah 30:9-10).

Yes, brother Ashhurst was right on target, “you can charge it, and charge it, and charge it, and it will still be dead!”  When a person wants so badly to follow his or her own selfish desires, and when one so greatly desires to believe and practice what pleases and satisfies his own personal whims in religion, it becomes very obvious that you have a battery which is definitely going to resist a “charge” (Matthew 13:10-16).  When you want to have fellowship with sinful doctrines and practices and still be justified in what you desire to do – then you have become as dead and useless to the Lord as any of our neighbors out there in the denominational world who are of that same persuasion!  And besides all of that, you may well have developed a whole vocabulary of derogatory names and remarks that you can make about those who would dare to question what you are teaching, practicing, or fellowshipping!  Those who refuse to come to the light will never receive the Truth (John 3:19-21) (1 John 1:5-7) (Ephesians 5: 6-14).

Yes, it is extremely difficult to drill through hardened material. We may well be trying to break through concrete walls, or we may well be plowing in rocky soil.  It is becoming more and more evident that we are diligently trying to charge some batteries which have dead cells!

But make no mistake, we are still totally confident that the gospel of Christ is the “power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16-17).  And we are absolutely resolved to never “grow weary in well doing” (Galatians 6:9) (2 Thessalonians 3:13).  But, brethren, we must be straightforward and candid about the problem which we are finding more prevalent with every passing day.  Jesus described it in these words as he quotes from the prophet Isaiah, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15).

We cannot just throw away precious souls as we would a battery with a dead cell, so we must therefore look at the sober alternatives involved.  Sometimes it may be as the Lord taught the disciples, “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, as ye go forth out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet” (Matthew 10:14).  Or it may be necessary to turn in another direction, “But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.  And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook out his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles…” (Acts 18:5-11).  Whatever the circumstances we encounter, we must continue to seek those who are “noble” enough to search the scriptures, “Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so”  (Acts 17:11).

I shall never forget the beloved brother who said to me, “you can charge it, and charge it, and charge it, and it will still be dead!”  Brethren, are you and I reacting to God’s Truth as if we were like a battery with a dead cell?  Are we in need of spiritual “eyesalve” to anoint our eyes so that we can see (Revelation 3:18)?  Shall we be like Israel of old and have our hearts so hardened that we will not believe (Acts 28:17-31)?  Shall we be so arrogant and so certain that we have complete vision that we are unable to see ourselves as we really are (John 9:39-41)?  Could it be that we are so selfish and enamored with ourselves that we are blind to the hypocrisy in our own lives (Romans 2:17-24)?

Please be soberly reminded, brethren, our willful blindness and hardness of heart  will cause us to lose our soul if we don’t “awaken” before it is eternally too late! “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

Editor’s Note: With this issue of Watchman, we welcome aboard brother Jeff S. Smith as our Solid Food columnist. Jeff is a very talented writer, and a studious man. In my association with Jeff, I have been impressed with his logical mind, his strong spine, and his quiet good humor. While he is just now joining our magazine on a monthly basis, he has written several good articles for us in the past. We look forward to his more regular contributions! If you don’t know Jeff well, be sure to visit our page of Biographical Sketches to learn more of him and his work for the Wonsely Drive congregation in Austin, TX. Meanwhile, here is his first article under the byline “Solid Food.”

We are more likely to hear about dull speakers and writers than dull listeners these days and certainly there are plenty of them to go around. What makes a dull listener? In this passage, dullness of hearing has nothing to do with one’s physical ability to hear, but one’s conscious ability to listen. As people who sit to close to concert speakers wind up with hearing troubled by an incessant buzzing in their ear drums, so do certain disciples find themselves unable to concentrate upon the preached message.

Many things contribute to dullness of hearing today, including all those stimuli competing for the attention of men and women. In my library is a copy of “Hardeman’s Tabernacle Sermons” which were delivered in a packed Ryman Auditorium in Nashville over three weeks in 1923. Each night, for three weeks, people thronged in that old theater to hear brother Hardeman speak. The photograph of this event is at once encouraging and disheartening. To imagine a time when a gospel preacher could fill such a facility with people hungry to listen is amazing. To understand how far removed we are from this era is heartbreaking. Some will blame television and movies, video games and the automobile and it is clear that all these inventions compete for people’s attention (2 Tim. 3:4). Too, the prosperity of this generation has made many self-assured and disinterested in a spiritual message that includes correction and sacrifice (1 Tim. 6:17).

Dullness of hearing is a particular problem even among members of the church of Christ. How many of us miss gospel meeting opportunities because we are more interested in doing something else? How often do some brethren excuse their absence from the regular worship service by announcing they will be attending a sporting event, concert, graduation or reunion?

Since I was in school, the authorities have been telling us that the attention span of Americans is shrinking. If you have read this far in the article, you have surpassed the expectations of many educators. Preachers are thus challenged: Do you give in to the shrinking attention span and switch to sermonettes or do you attack the problem and seek to improve it with challenging, yet accessible lessons? In many outposts, the dullness of hearing represented by diminished attention spans has been coddled and exacerbated. Sermons have shrunk in duration, scripture content has evaporated, gimmicks have been adopted. The result is that the Christian mind has been lobotomized—sermons of depth and challenge cause eyes to roll into the back of the head and minds to wander to happier thoughts, like the jokes we heard in last week’s sermon. Where the Hebrew writer chastises his audience’s dull hearing, many preachers today simply adapt and dumb it down. Shame on them.

One of the saddest things I sometimes witness is an older couple with their grown child, who because of a mental impairment, still requires constant supervision. Although an adult, he yet has many of the attributes and limited intelligence of a child. Such a one is not to blame, but deserves our consideration and compassion. The problem the Hebrew writer is exposing in chapter five is a self-inflicted spiritual retardation. Some who should be full grown by now are yet no more able than a babe in the faith.

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need some one to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:12-14).The elementary principles of our faith (listed in chapter 6:1-2) form the milk of the word which is the diet of babes in Christ. Many pulpits are adulterating this milk with junk food, empty spiritual calories, in the form of sermons short on scripture and long on anecdotes, grin inducing jokes and tear jerking tales. Whereas spiritual infancy should be a limited period, many never progress beyond it. They look like full grown Christians but would stumble and fumble if challenged to defend their “beliefs” (1 Peter 3:15).

The key to progressing beyond the milk of the word to solid food lies in grasping the scriptures and applying them. I have a friend who can apply a paint brush to a piece of canvas and produce something beautiful and precise. If I pick up the same brush, I simply make a mess. Not only do I lack the knowledge of his craft, but any experience in it as well.

As exercise builds bodily muscles, so the exercises of a sanctified conscience against temptation builds spiritual might (1 Tim. 4:8, Eph. 6:10). Sometimes dullness of hearing is best expressed when men are hearers but not doers of the word (James 1:21-25). They are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7), being led away by various lusts, against which they are practically defenseless due to their ignorance.

As the twentieth century slips into the shadows of history, the church of Jesus Christ is challenged to be more than the artificial churches around her. Rather than reflect a dumbed-down theology, she must restore her attention to the finer and deeper details of God’s blessed word. Christians must demand the whole counsel of God be preached and evangelists must refuse to provide anything less even when threatened with unpopularity or unemployment (Acts 20:27, 2 Tim. 4:1-5).

Lord willing, in the coming months, this column will mine the scriptures and seek to bring some of those “things hard to explain” into better focus. Only through challenging our minds and souls will we grow. If we fail to progress, we will regress or digress.

For the last several months, I have not made any contributions to the Watchman Magazine effort. Some of it was due to illness and most of the summer and early fall have been consumed with matters relevant to my recent move to Lafayette, Louisiana. I am thankful to God for the improvement in my health and for answering many prayers on my behalf. I am thankful to so many brethren who encouraged me with their kind words and their prayers throughout most of this year. I am especially grateful to Stan and Tom for their patience with me in allowing me to stay on the masthead of this great publication while not doing any of the work. There is much work yet to do, and I intend, with God’s help, to be a part of that work. Thank you.

In 2 Timothy 2:1, Paul exhorts Timothy, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Strength is commanded. How do we get strong? Certainly not by being apathetic!! 1 Timothy 4:8; “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come (NKJV).” The comparison here between bodily exercise and godliness necessarily infers that godliness involves not a bodily exercise but, rather, a spiritual exercise. Any muscle you fail to use will become unusable due to its inactivity. The brain is just such a body part. So is our spiritual heart. They must be used in order to be strengthened.

There is a condition in the church today characterized by these two words. I have seen it in too many places, and have been affected by it in more ways than one. Apathy stems from ignorance and people remain ignorant with no stimulation or motivation to correct their lives. For example, I know an elder in a local church who has worshipped with a man in the church, who happens to be a deacon in that church, for twenty three years, who, when I asked about the residence of the elder, the deacon said he had no idea where he lived. I worshipped with that man for four years and still do not know where he lives. This same elder asked in a Bible class if it was known for sure that Saul, in Acts 9, was the man who became an apostle. Does ignorance breed apathy? And does apathy keep people ignorant? I don’t think any other examples are needed, but I assure you they could be supplied.

Apathy keeps good hearted people from growing. Frustration sets in due to an inability to deal with and conquer the problems of life that a knowledge of the word would help overcome. What kind of church do you think would exist under such leadership as described in the previous paragraph? For one, that leadership was able to get me out of town. It is certainly difficult to stay in a place where the work of preaching the pure and simple gospel of Christ is negated at every turn by the elders. Such leadership makes the congregation apathetic thinking that their input is not only not welcome, but certainly would do no good. Again, apathy breeds ignorance and prevents the motivation from building up to stand for what is right.

The special people of God in Titus 2:14 are described as people who are zealous for good works. What is a good work? What is zeal and how do they relate to our topic? Zeal is a motivating fire that moves us to action. It comes by faith. In Romans 10:10, Paul said that with the heart one believes to righteousness. Faith is the motivation to do what is right. Righteousness is revealed in the gospel of Christ, Romans 1:16-17. Do we know what the gospel of Christ is? That is the same question we asked about the good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches us that “all scripture” equips us to “every good work.” What good work is left out of this verse? Can we devise a “good work” that is to be found outside the scriptures? Is that man’s prerogative? Do we have that right? Absolutely not! Where does that conclusion take us? Right back to a knowledge of the word and the zeal to overcome the temptations of the world which keep us from studying it the way we should. That lack of study keeps us ignorant which breeds the apathy which keeps us there.

In last month’s Watchman, Larry Hafley’s correspondence with a Baptist preacher points out that those purveyors of the perverted gospel of “once saved, always saved” have no motivation to work out their own salvation (Philippians 2:12) and are apathetically willing to remain ignorant, not only of the gospel of Christ but also ignorant of Satan’s devices (2 Corinthians 2:11) which are actively working within them.

Is it ignorance or apathy that leads our modern brotherhood to accept the popular doctrines of a loose fellowship based on their perversion of Romans 14? What motivates brethren to be more concerned over educational credentials and the praise of men more than the praise of God which leads so many into muddying the waters about gender roles in the church and the facts found in Genesis about the origins of man? It is easy to accept the aged wisdom of a Homer Hailey under any circumstance. It is easy to accept the entertainment value of the positive approach to life as preached and taught by Christianity Magazine and its editors. It is easy to accept the educational credentials of the “Lord I Believe” program of Hill Roberts and associates of the Weatherly Heights church in Huntsville, Alabama, as so many feel inadequate to debate them on an intellectual level. It is easy to accept the Dean of Florida College when he goes to present his program on the fossil record and believe that he teaches true creation, when in fact what he teaches in that program does not sufficiently establish WHO that Creator is, nor brings the conclusion that the Creator gave His only begotten Son on the Cross of Calvary. After all, he has a PhD. When did we get to be ashamed of preaching the gospel? When did Hebrews 11:3 get cut out of the Bible? Ed Harrell used to preach against evolution on the college campuses where he was employed by citing Hebrews 11:3, and I hope he still does. When will the folks in Huntsville and Tampa start doing the same thing? Ed was right. In a sermon delivered in Pasadena, Texas, in 1985, he told the story of his encounter with the originator of the big bang theory. He recounted that as he sat and listened to this man lecture, all he could think about was Hebrews 11:3, and this man knew nothing of it. The word of God says, “by faith we understand.”

If we are going to go to Heaven, and if we are going to take anyone with us, we are going to have to do the work of studying, and contending, and preaching. In 2 Timothy 4, Paul makes some final remarks to Timothy which included the charge to preach the word. He knew the people would need preaching because the people would be drawn to teachers. I have long said that the worst thing anyone could say about me was that I was a better teacher than a preacher. God forbid. If I ever lose the ability to preach, I pray that someone will make sure I sit down and quit this great work of preaching the gospel. People have itching ears and teachers tickle those ears while preachers are charged to light the fire under those who hear us so that the zeal therefrom will produce righteousness.

The conclusion, then, is an easy one. If we are going to have the zeal, which is the opposite of apathy, we must find the igniting source of the fire defined by the word zeal. Apathy is the absence of caring which produces very little if any activity. The lack of caring naturally comes about due to a lack of knowledge, interest, exercise, and effort.

If you care and don’t know, we can solve that problem by studying the Bible. If you know and don’t care, may I say to you that you need to repent. If, by the absence of the knowledge to care you do what comes naturally, nothing, may I plead with you to come and learn of God through a study of His word. Armed, then, with that knowledge, you will have all that is necessary to believe and obey the Lord, become one of God’s children, and then live your life caring, believing, loving and obeying the Lord with zeal to the salvation of your soul. To my brethren who have compromised their knowledge or their zeal for an apathetic approach to life and an attitude that just anything will do, please sit down and be quiet. God does not need you to speak, but to repent, and God’s people will be lost by your ignorant apathetic ways.