Leaving Jesus does not happen overnight. Yet, leaving Jesus is what is happening in so many who once professed Him as Lord. What do we make of this? Does this "leaving" mean that they have lost salvation? Of course not. God cannot lose a Christian (John 6:39; John 10:38). The truth is, as John states elsewhere that those who leave or fall away do so as proof that they never were united with Him (1st John 2:19). How, then, does this happen?
A familiar story regarding the golden calf, found in Exodus 32, provides some insight into what happens in a heart before it leaves God, Jesus, Christianity. I will not elaborate on all the specifics in this passage but highlight what I see as foundational affections of defection. There are certainly more than the two I will offer, but these two a central. Two signs that my affection is defecting from the Lord are as follows:
First: When God And His Leaders Are Not Worthy of My Patience. We are told that when the people saw that Moses was delayed to come down from the mountain they told Aaron to cook up some gods for them. Moses was taking too long and they were ready for what they wanted (Exodus 32:1-2). It is a sad and tragic day with the patience of God becomes the impatience of my soul. Part of being human is that, even as believers, we have to situate our hearts to accept the timing of the Lord, even when this timing feel like delay.
On the other hand, when we get fed up with God and begin to craft plans, schemes, ideas, (in another word, "gods") as a way to hurry His plans, we are on the brink of a kind of disaster. This may not mean one is defecting, but if one does not fight against the pride of being god, they are on their way to defecting. Be careful about questioning God's timing.
Second: When We See Alternatives To God As Being Synonymous With God. A factor missed in this passage is the deceptive way in which the flesh proposes alternatives to God. When they asked Aaron to craft them some gods they were not thinking they were rejecting the true God, but only have some representation of Him. This is what the flesh teaches us. It teaches us that we can have God and what we want as long as we do not verbally speak of worshiping another god. This is what we do. We create alternatives to God, mainly those things we "craft" with our own minds because more than the true God we want what we want, which is actually false gods in the place of the true. But our minds keep telling us that this is okay because we still go to church, read the Bible and pray to the true God, even though we are actively trusting the gods we craft.
The Hebrew 3:10 says of the children of Israel and all of us, "They always go astray in their hearts...." Before there is physical defection away from God there is always, first, heart defection away from God. When the alternatives of our minds and heart become that which we follow, we may not be defecting away in apostasy, but if there is no correction and repentance, we will defect - drift (Hebrews 2:1ff) away from truth. That is apostasy.
Third: When You Follow Leaders Who Allow You To Want What You Want Without Correction. Aaron, my man, Aaron is a picture of a leader whose lack of strength is the reason why people follow him. Admittedly he was second in charge but he was nonetheless a leader and Moses' right hand man. Who, better than Aaron, knew what was at stake in all of this? Yet, they go and tell him to cook up some gods in the first and Aaron, at least as we see in the text, offered no resistance at all! Instead, he started cooking! The leader was being led by people who were being led by their flesh. Bad combination!
Yet, this is what happens too often in the church. Leaders, some of them are in place exactly for this reason - they do and say what the people want them to do and say because they have itching ears (2nd Timothy 4:3). Thus, when the people sin or when they are bound to live in the flesh, such leaders are reticent to speak, not so much because they are in agreement with such activities, but because their fear of loss takes precedence. Let's not fool ourselves into thinking we could never be that way as a leader. We have been there (I can speak for me), and we will be tempted to be there in the future. But what God's people need are not men and women who advocate for sin and flesh, but those who, with full knowledge of their own weaknesses (Galatians 6:1) speak truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).
On your watch: Where are your affections? Are you seeing others defecting and allowing them to want what they want or are you speaking the truths of the gospel to them?
Pastor, very true words, sometimes the flesh leads us and we don’t even realize it. Thank you.