"They come...they go..."
[This message is part of a series through the book of 1 John, entitled "Salvific Assurance Through Testimony," preached by Pastor Senter].
I believe people in churches have hurt us all. People we love and have grown to appreciate up and depart a ministry or church for some reason. Reasons vary for why this happens. At times, it is just a positive move for the individuals. It can help them become closer to Christ. They may need someone else, another style of leadership, preaching, or encouragement. At other times though, we have to face the fact that people may leave because they never belonged in the pew in the first place, they were not a brother or sister, they do not and may never know Christ.
In this section, we will begin to pull together everything we have learned to this point. Once again, review is essential in that we must remember what was happening while John was writing–the Gnostics were intruding, and he was addressing this situation. Equally, we must remember how he was distinguishing the Gnostics from believers–as those who claim to walk in the light, but walk in darkness. Finally, we must identify them for who they are–the antichrists. Read 1 John 2:19-21 with me please.
In the recent years during the war, the news agencies made it a point to highlight military personnel who are guilty of bad conduct. It is frustrating how they continually harp on these negatives; however we are not here to debate the inconsistencies of our media. A couple of years ago a man was making his rounds on the talk shows. He was a Marine officer who resigned his commission after he toured Iraq. The man did the patriotic thing, he was a Marine Officer previously, and when the towers were hit, living in New York, he was close to and helped in the action. He has a good testimony as far as I can tell, in that he is a Yale or Harvard business graduate, went into the Marine Corps, fought in Desert Storm in ’91, resigned his commission, and was successful on Wall Street making a ton of money. Then in ’01 he determined the country needed his services again and the Marine Corps took him back. As the story goes he came home September, 11th with a high-and-tight haircut, and his wife knew immediately what was going to happen.
While deployed this time in Iraq a Sergeant in his unit (whom he did not trust and had just been removed from a place of responsibility) accused him of murdering civilians. The facts bore out that he was innocent and that the Sergeant was attempting to redirect the focus of his problem. The Sergeant was incompetent for command because he did not operate within the code of conduct. He put men in harm’s way wantonly and without good cause. War is bad enough, but you never callously jeopardize the lives of those whom serve. The Lieutenant recognized this and took the appropriate action, then was falsely accused for it. This Sergeant was a false Marine. He did not live up to the code, he did not honor his leaders, he did not take command, and he did not honor the core values of the corps. These values are: Honor – to exemplify the ultimate in ethical and moral behavior; Courage – the mental, moral, and physical strength ingrained in Marines; and Commitment – the spirit of determination and dedication found in Marines. Because he was not a really a Marine, he just stayed with them for a short period of time. This Sergeant left the Marines, and you have to say it was good for the Marine Corps. Let us look at Antichrists in our lives today as we study ”You can know antichrists because they are made apparent to you,” and consider “You think antichrists are only really outside godly congregations, but they are among you.“
I. You remain with Him
The antichrists may very well be among us. You know, when you go through boot camp with people, you develop a bond. I know that the guys I originally went through with would not have thought for a minute that we would give up on one another. Some of you reading here, though you may not remember specifically those who you went through basic with, you know the camaraderie that was there. The stick-to-it-ivness that you experienced with one another. That you would have a turncoat among you would never enter your mind. I know that feeling. We want to think that people we think are Christians, Sailors, Soldiers, Airman, or Marines really are those people. We want to be able to have confidence in them. Here in these verses John is trying to give his people some encouragement while they watch the schism that is taking place. There are people in these congregations falling prey to this Gnosticism and others among them are being hurt because relationships are being broken. John knows it is imperative to encourage us to stay together, to know at some level what it is that we believe, and that we know and believe the truth. Unfortunately, Satan will attempt to divide us, we must hold fast to one another in Christ and hold fast to those relationships born in the truth that He is.
When we look at our scripture we find three areas of interest. People come, people go, and the ones who leave for the right reasons do not belong.
A. They come
If we are discussing people leaving the church, obviously people had to come to begin with. It is like the chicken and the egg. You wonder which one came first because you know you have both. People come to fellowship for a number of reasons. Some of you might fit into one of these categories yourselves. Some come because they truly seek the Lord Jesus Christ and to worship Him, to learn of Him, and to seek His redemption from sins. Other people come because they want to socialize and see other people, but they want to know the people with whom they socialize have morals and are honest. For this reason, they come to church. “Churchy people” are normally considered to be more moral and more honest. They cannot stand to be around liars, braggarts, or cheats. Yet others come simply because they want to find out what this is all about. Who is this Jesus that people talk about, what is He, and why do people talk about loving Him? Still others just want to know what church is about. They do not necessarily know they need Christ Jesus for their salvation; they just want to see what we do here. Moreover, there are those who, although they want to worship God and they may even know Jesus as Savior, they want to have fun doing it; therefore, they seek a church that will satisfy their need for entertainment. They see nothing wrong with worshipping God the way everyone else worships life. These people need to review 1 John 2:15 which we have already discussed.
There are a number of reasons people may think they want to come to church. However, they come never the less. I would only encourage you to do the same, keep coming, regardless of why. Here, you will hear why you should come, and you will learn things in God’s word that many others will not teach you. You will learn the Bible and what is in it.
If people come, then they must also go. They are going to leave for a variety of reasons too.
B. They go
The scripture here says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us.” Clearly, this is a situation where people left not because they found a better place to be fed spiritually, that is a good reason to leave. No, they left because they did not belong there. There is a difference. People can leave a church for a number of reasons just as they arrived for a variety of reasons. One reason is a personal conflict with the pastor. I pray this may never happen here, but it could. I am not likeable to all people; but thankfully, I am likeable to a degree. I enjoy fellowship with many of you anyway, and I have certainly enjoyed your company. Not everyone is going to like me though. I know this; I hope you understand this too. Please do not be hurt–I am not–just understand that it is so, and accept it. Good people leave in this situation without fuss or pomp. They just transfer their membership to another good ministry if there is one available.
People also leave because they feel slighted. I pray this never happens. I pray I am not too busy or end up making someone feel they are an inconvenience or that they do not belong or something. This would be a travesty. I want to personally connect with each of you in some way. I am a hunter and fisherman so I know there are a number of men, and women, with whom I can connect. I have to be sensitive for other things too though, and because of my imperfections I look for your gentle, loving guidance where required to accomplish this. My wife helps me with this tremendously. This is certainly one reason God gave her to me.
People also leave because they are not getting what they want. This is a complicated problem, and most of the time falls on some sin in their lives. Ultimately it is usually pride. People feel they have been inappropriately dealt with when they themselves have not taken steps to accomplish all that they could do to affect their fellowship. They are seeking an attention that is inappropriate or unavailable in a God-fearing, carefully guided ministry. Maybe they came to gain business contacts or achieve some appearance for social status; in either case they leave because we come here to worship our Lord God, not to participate in a social club.
Then there is the group that we have here: unbelievers. The scripture clearly tells that these people did not belong to the fellowship. When people leave, therefore, for reasons that are outside the actual scope of the leadership of the ministry, or because they have permitted Satan to convince them that Christ is not sufficient, then they do not belong here anyway. We should still love these people; there is no call to be antagonistic. We need to treat them as the lost sinners that they are, loving them in Christ Jesus, witnessing to them, and giving them the Gospel.
When we see and deal with individuals in this last category, we treat them like the lost. Take tracts with you and hand them to the individual. You should only associate with them on rare occasions, and only when a function puts you in the same place, or you purposefully go to witness to them. This guards your testimony.
When people leave a ministry for good reasons, continue to love them as a brother or sister. When they leave for the wrong reason, they have put themselves outside of fellowship. When they leave as unbelievers, love them in Christ and give them the truth that you know can lead them to salvation.
C. They do not belong
Look at our next piece of scripture. Read the next phrase of verse 19 with me please.
“For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” We should consider the fact that if we preach and teach the truth, if we preach and teach Christ Jesus saves souls, if we preach and teach He is the Light of the world and in Him is no darkness at all, if we hold Christ Jesus up before all who come into these doors, we show His love and His salvation in our life. If, in fact, we love God as He first loved us, then when they leave it is plain that they were not of us at all. The word “manifest” is a perfect choice for translation of the Greek here. If you look up the word “manifest,” it means “clear or obvious to the eye or mind.” It is plain that when people who do not belong leave, they should have gone. You might ask, how do we love them? What about the relationships and fellowships we had? What about our love for them, how do we deal with the loss of a loved one? Brethren, they never belonged here. It is difficult to push emotion aside and consider the truth and totality of the statement. These people never belonged here with you. They were not in the right place; they needed to be somewhere else. They were antichrists – remember fakes – impostors. They played the part of Christians, but they were not really the Christians you thought they were. They do not belong here.
There is another lesson here. I do not see this happening with this congregation, but I have seen it happen in other congregations. Strife at business meetings and other functions where emotions can be high and tempers can flare. How many of you have experienced it? Now, if those people who cause this strife stay with the church, they belong there. You have to find a way to love that brother or sister and help them through their troubles. When a business meeting is experiencing some unusual tension, you should sit in your pew and pray. Pray for the Pastor to have the patience and strength, and pray for the individual’s heart to be softened and their rhetoric to be more Christlike. Pray for an opportunity to help your brother in Christ. Pray brethren, pray.
There will be strife among even the closest of congregations and groups. If the instigators stay, they belong; therefore you must love them. You will not know until they leave.
John takes a turn from encouraging the heart of believers who may be hurt because of the loss of relationships that they greatly enjoyed. He turns to encouragement for the soul. We’ll look at this in the next post.
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