Misplacement Of Concern
If I were asked to expound upon the one thing, in my opinion, that posed as the most grievous sin confronting God's people today, I should immediately preach on the subject of apathy. It is obvious on every hand that our people lack the zeal, interest and desire that made it possible for Paul to say, concerning the apostles and the early church, "their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." (Rom.10:18). Indifference is defined as "apathy, insensibility, lukewarm, lack of interest or attention, lack of importance, unconcern, insignificance, no feeling for or against, not mattering much", and is characteristic of one who is completely disinterested in the subject at hand. Because of this many Christians are in danger of losing their soul's salvation. (See Heb.3:12,13; Amos 6:1; Matt. 24:12, & 36-42; Rev. 3:15,16) Institutionalism, denominationalism and immorality are grievous sins and dangers that face the Lord's church today. But if these win the victory, it will be because too many are simply too unconcerned to face the foe head-on in the battle of Babylon!
Yet, as these things are true, we find at the same time that this issue of apathy is a kind of paradox. People are always concerned about something, if not the spiritual, it must be material. Who'll win the pennant? Will the boss give me a raise? Will Red China enter the Viet Nam conflict? And others that might be mentioned. Surely these things, at least to some degree, are points of interest to us all, but the point I'm making is that we're over concerned with incidental matters (and our mental institutions can well testify to this fact!) and manifest a complete attitude of unconcern and indifference to things of eternal importance. It should be the other way around.
It might be observed further, this same type of thing is many times manifested in those of us who should know better. Let me illustrate what I mean: One time we published a bulletin with first principle teaching for non-members of the church; as a result of the criticism from those quarters, I began to feel the undertow of concern for "the good name of the church"! I could cite many such instances. Watered down preaching to the point of compromise can be the only result. We would do well to strive to please God and to be less anxious over trivial matters. Paul's concern was that the gospel might be preached and the saints edified (Phil, 1:3-18); it seemed to matter little to him that the Word was every where spoken against (Acts 28:22) nor that they were accused of turning the world upside down. (Acts 17:6) What would you or I do if accused of being "a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes"? (Acts 24:5)
It's good to be concerned, but only with the proper perspective. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." (I Cor. 15:58)