Drift - Nolan Bechtel

Good morning to each of you, and I greet you in Jesus name.

The events like you've just experienced as a congregation here are worthy in the lives

of individuals and congregational. One of the things that Brother Dan mentioned in the

thoughts he just shared related to all of us, not just if you're standing

behind this piece of furniture on this platform, but all of us our vessels

modes of conveyance of God's truth, God's word, and that happens in a

lot of different ways. And I feel the I feel the privilege of that

this morning. But also just before we just before we came up front here,

the song we sang, see was it the third verse? Did that

catch any of your attention? We sung asking God, the Spirit of God

to move the stubborn sinner. I relate to that too, not only the

privilege of handling the word of God. I also relate to that humanity and

that stubbornness within my own heart that God chips away at. Probably you can

relate to that too. The subject this morning, that it's been on my

mind relates to the subject of looking at looking at this kind of in a

little bit of a broadway. The subject of drift. Now, maybe when

you think about drift, you right away and your mind comes a the picture

of a congregation, the picture of a of a church group, the picture

of change on a broad scale. And I would like to I would like

to just encourage us to leave that picture. Yeah, that's part of a

subject, maybe not so much a part of our subject this morning, as

to consider the more pertinent thing of what what is going on within my own

heart, within my own life, in the process of growth and direction.

And so I'd kind of like to examine this the subject just a bit.

Look at a couple of scriptures to begin with, and maybe a second part,

look at a couple of illustrations, and a third part if we have

time to look at some heart conditions, and we'll just see what we have

time for and where God takes us on this. But to begin with,

in relation to this idea of drift, so some of you, some of

your brethren, might own boats, and maybe some of you have a drift

boat. Some of you, I know are avid fishermen, some of you

like to fish, and probably some of you are fishermen that I don't know

as well. I've enjoyed fishing over the years a little bit, but never

got good enough at it to be very productive. And in my mind,

and you can tell that I'm not a true fisherman by this. In my

mind, the only good fishing day is if he at something. And for

you true fishermen, that's that's not the way it is, as I understand

you looking on, not as I understand from personal experience, because it takes

productiveness for me to enjoy it. A good fisherman can enjoy a day on

the bank or an afternoon in the boat without a bite, so it seems,

and that's that's also a show of patience and endurance. What else would

you call it, I'm not sure. Drifting Sometimes the only way on a

calm, easy flowing river, the only way you know that you're drifting is

by the change of scenery. You mark yourself on the bank. There is

that boulder, there's that willow tree, there's that bend, And the only

way you know that you've moved fifteen minutes later is that you've got to look

in the distant past to be able to see where you were. Otherwise it's

been pretty calm and pretty pretty easy. I think that there is value in

personal assessment in looking back to find the boulder, to find the tree,

to find the bend. Looking forward, looking back helps us to understand where

we've come from. I think often my perception, my perception of my movement

is not like your perception of my movement. I often do not clearly perceive

the easy changes in life that I've made. I often don't perceive those until

someone draws a picture for me of didn't you used to feel this way?

And now you feel this way? And we change, don't We? There

are good changes in life, There are necessary changes in life. But to

be able to understand some times, to be able to understand the drift within

my heart, I need to embrace your perspective of my life. Sometimes that's

the only way I clearly understand that, And so we need each other in

this process. Let's just examine a couple of scriptures that speak to us in

relation to some of this subject. I'd like to start with Ezekiel eighteen,

and you can turn to these if you will. I want to move through

them somewhat rapidly, but maybe through the eyegate is good for you as well

as I. Eseko eighteen, verse twenty four. So in this chapter of

Ezeki eighteen, we have these verses where there is a comparison about the wicked

and the righteous, a comparison between the two and the wicked who are moving

to righteousness and the righteous who are moving toward wickedness. And there's there are

a number of statement in relation to this. I just want to land on

verse twenty four for the moment E'zko eighteen twenty four, and we're just going

to draw quickly some lesson, some parallels and move on to the next verse.

He's Eko eighteen twenty four. When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness

and committeth iniquity and doeth according to all the abomination that the wicked man doeth,

shall he live? Is the question, shall he live all his righteousness?

Notice the response here to the question all his righteousness that he hath done,

shall not be mentioned, in his trespass, that he hath trespassed,

and in his sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die? So

the prophet Ezekiel makes it clear here that from God's perspective, previous faithfulness does

not compensate for a present drift, a present change, a present walking away

from God's weight, from God's truth. Previous righteousness doesn't compensate for that,

I believe. Also, something we can conclude here is that direction carries with

it much more consequence than a previous position, no matter what that previous position

was, whether that was righteousness moving toward wickedness, or whether that was wickedness

moving toward righteousness. Thank God, in that case, for sure, the

previous condition has not the consequence that the direction itself has. All right,

you follow that. I think that's that's clear for us, and it's good

for us to latch onto that. That is a truth. That is a

perspective that God has, and it's good for us to have that perspective as

we mingle, as we interact as brothers and sisters, as we work with

people who who have never followed the Lord, who do not know the Lord

and are coming to understand truth. A previous condition, a previous position,

a previous life style, however you want to put it, does not carry

with it. The consequence is that the immediate direction carries all right, direction

is important. Turned to Luke chapter eight. Luke chapter eight. Here we

have a definition of this parable of the sower of seed, the different soils

that the seed fell on, And the condition of the soils is really the

point of this whole story. In actually, in Luke chapter eight, verse

thirteen, we have Jesus giving some definition to what he had said, to

the story he had told. Now he's giving some definition to this parable verse

thirteen. They and he's talking about the seed. They on the rock,

are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy? And

these having no root, they're on the rock, the seed that landed on

the rock, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation they

fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they which, when they

heard, they go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of

this life, and bring no fruit to perfection or to maturity. Is the

thought there. The fruit does not come to maturity. And verse fifteen.

But that on the good ground are they which, in an honest and good

heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patients.

The point that I would like to think about from this passage is the

condition of the soil, the condition of the soil of our hearts. And

there's number of conditions that are named here, not only in these verses,

but if you take the take the full all the way around, there's there's

a couple others as well. But it talks about desire, about lust,

It talks about we could sum it up as materialism. We could we could

also talk about worry, the cares of this life, pleasures. It talks

about the condition of the soil of our hearts, and then it also talks

about out. In verse fifteen, it talks about and alive spiritually, a

live condition, a desire to know and to follow, to obey. Having

heard the word, they keep it, they follow it, they pursue it,

and with and they bring forth fruit with patience. Jesus called that a

single eye. The condition of the heart, the condition of the soil of

our hearts, determines the longevity and the development of the fruit of our lives.

The condition the soil of my heart will determine the longevity of the fruit,

whether it will actually come to maturity. There's something here in relation to

this thing of having heard the word and keep it. Those who endure to

the end shall be saved. The Bible says James. One also talks about

he who comes to the word of God and looks into the mirror of the

word and sees himself being a forgetful hearer, not a doer of the word.

He moves away from that experience in the mirror and goes along just as

he always has. He moves along just as though he did not look in

the mirror. And so we can look in the mirror, and we can

see the smudge, and oh, I yeah, that's my freckles are showing

just a little worse than they usually do. And we can reason away the

smudge, and we walk away from it, understanding not that there's dirt on

my face, but that my freckles are a little darker than normal. Or

we look in the mirror, and we another mirror, and I look at

my back and I see something that needs attension. There a wound to scratch,

and I say, oh, no, that's a birth mark. That's

something that's been there from birth. And and I walk away from the mirror.

Forgetting about dealing with that infectious cut that needs some antibiotics, some antiseptics,

some cleaning out. We can do that in the natural sense. We

wouldn't do it in the natural sense, but we sometimes maybe find it easy

to do in the spiritual sense. We look in the Word of God and

say, no, that's just kind of the way I am. That's just

that's just kind of the way my personality is. And I walk away and

I forget about what the Word of God says because I have excused my I've

given myself some latitude. I've excused my laziness, I've excused my flesh.

I've I've given myself room to function the way I see myself functioning. All

right, To look into the word of God and to hear it, to

follow it with obedience is a sure antidote, if you will, for this

thing of drift. To understand what God's word has said, says, has

just said to me, and to commit myself in obedience is an important move

in this thing of dealing with drift in my own heart. Good Revelation Chapter

two. Revelation Chapter two, we have the beginning the opening of the Letters

to the Seven Churches, and this first one is to Ephesis, And here

it talks about these people in Ehesis who have left. To have left means

they were there, and it means they're no longer there. What did they

leave? Look at verses two through four, I know thy works, and

thy labor, and thy patience, And how thou canst not bear them which

are evil? And hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are

not, and hast found them liars, and hast borne, and hast patience,

And for my namesake, hast labored, and hast not fainted. Quite

a quite a list of commendation verse four. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against

thee because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore, from whence thou

art fallen? Remembered therefore from whence you have drifted where you have moved.

I doubt whether this thing happened with a choice, but it was probably a

series of events that took place for these individuals. We're not really given a

lot of details to what those choices were. But remember, he says,

you reflect on where you used to be. Remember from whence thou art fallen?

And repair pent and do those first works that were a result of that

first love. Do that, or else I'll come to you quickly, and

I will remove your candlestick out of its place, except I'll repent. It's

very possible to maintain the appearance of external consistency while experiencing internal drift. Do

you know what I mean? Have you felt that within your own humanity very

possible to maintain an appearance of external position and consistency. I think this verse

helps us, or this passage, this look of the spirit at the church

in Ephesus, helps us to identify a bit of what God considers very crucial

in relation to this thing of drift. And we talked about drift creating as

change of scenery as you go around the bend and see you see a change

of scenery along the bank. And maybe as we look at ourselves and we

look at other people, and we don't see that change of scenery, and

so we say all as well, all as well. I think the point

here for us is to have the correct perception. We also need a correct

analysis or definition of what this is a passion for God, for godliness.

To have God's love within my heart is crucial for us for a definition of

steadfastness. You see, it's not just all about the scenery along the bank.

It can also be about what's in the boat. And maybe you can't

tell that I've pulled the oars into my boat. Maybe you can't tell that

I'm not creating awake behind me by moving up street. But as the spirit

of God searches our hearts, while he's concerned about the scenery along the bank

and the external things that change along the way, he's primarily concerned and going

to look first for this. Thou hast left thy first love. Remember from

whence thou art fallen? Matthew twenty four. You can turn to that one.

Jesus takes this just a little bit farther, perhaps, Matthew twenty four,

Verses twelve and thirteen. Jesus here talking about the signs of his coming

and the things that would happen at some progressive steps towards the end of time.

Here we have these words, these reminders in verse twelve of Matthew twenty

four. And because in equity shall abound, the love of many shall wax

cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be

saved. Waxing cold in our love indicates the pressure of iniquity. Notice that

because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Iniquity abounding

is apparent. That's a change of scenery, we can see that. But

the waxing cold of love within one's heart is not a visual thing of it

for a while at least, it's not a visual thing. In fact,

by the time you understand that your love has waxed cold. I believe that

the Angel to the church at ephesis indicates that we are in a position of

danger countering encountering drift. In the process of encountering drift, you will always

feel that you're pulling against some resistance. You will always feel you get in

that boat and you just drift down and pull your line. That's all good

and fine and fun, but you're pretty glad for that motor at the end

of the day or the end of the afternoon or the end of the hour

when you need to turn around and you need a head back up street,

and you get out your oars and you start working and just leave the motor

out of fuel, if you will. You get out your orders, and

you begin to work against that drift. Boys, I remember a time when

I was the age of some of you here, and I was out in

Silot's Bay with my grandparents. And some of you know my grandparents, a

lot of you don't. On my mom's side, and my brother and I

were in the boat with grandma and grandpa, and you who know grandma,

my grandma. She was not a calm, cool, collected type of personality.

And we were out there and we were fishing, and the boat was

turned off, and before we knew it, we understood that something was happening

with the tide. The tide was going out and it was drawing us toward

the mouth of Silot's Bay. What it was time to crank up the motor

and move back in and continue our fishing. So Grandpa went to the back

and he turned the key and nothing happened, and we couldn't get the boat

started. But the tide kept going out and the boat kept trippedy, and

my grandmother increased in everything from worry to prayers. So while my grandpa was

working on the boat, my brother and I weren't very big. We were

big enough to handle the oars, but this was a fiberglass boat, and

it was a heavy boat, and it wasn't a fun boat to row.

We got out those oars and and it was we were headed for the wrong

shore. We weren't headed for the shore that we wanted, but it was

close to shore, and we were going for the closest beach just to see

if we could get there before the tide pulled us on the other side of

the well, you know where they're at Silot's Bay where the seals always set.

They're on that big sandy part over on the opposite side of Moe's Restaurant.

We managed to beach the boat over on that other side, and my

grandfather had a very long walk, a very long walk, to go for

some help. After a couple of hours he came back with another boat.

But by then our boat was so far up on the sand that we couldn't

couldn't get it back. Well, we were able to. We pulled it

with the other boat. Between pulling and pushing, we were able to get

it back into the water. All right, But you go to rowan and

it's work to row, isn't it. It's work to move these things.

And I believe Jesus is indicating that here he that shall endure unto the end

shall be saved. And folks, we won't get to that place of achievement

if you will maturity of fruit, finality of life, and be saved without

the effort of the oars in the water. If the oars are in the

boat it isn't going to happen. So notice Hebrews chapter six, Hebrews Chapter

six, Versus eleven to fifteen, And notice these Notice the terminology here.

These verses bring Abraham into the picture again, as he came into the picture

in our Sunday School lesson. Here he's used for another example Hebrews Chapter six,

verse eleven. And we desire that every one of you do show the

fill in the words for me. I'm going to leave out the words of

intent and effort, and you fill them in for me. Do you show

the anyone same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that go

ahead, be not slothful, but followers of them who, through faith and

patience inherit The promise says, for when God made promise to Abraham, because

he could swear by no greater, he swear by himself, saying, surely

and blessing, I will bless THEE multiplying, I will multiply THEE. And

so after he had what patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Faithfulness in

our lives is a result of intentional effort. It's a result of diligence.

It's a result of endurance, diligence, be not slothful, patience, faith,

personal discipline. You will never float upstream, Jesus said in Luke twenty

two Versus thirty one thirty two Simon. Simon, behold, Satan hath desired

to have thee that he might sift you as wheat he's desiring you. But

Jesus says, I have prayed for you, I have prayed for you,

that faith fail not. There's two things for us to take to heart here.

One is is that Satan's intent is for real, and he desires to

have every one of us. He's desiring to have us. The other is

is that Jesus too desires to have us, and he reassures Peter with this

wonderful promise, this wonderful reassurance that I have prayed for you, that your

faith will fail not. I pray for you, and you know, and

I know that Jesus is yet interceding on our behalf before God. Jesus knows

the battle, this spiritual battle that rages in the heart of every believer at

some point in time and at different points in time, and he cares about

that battle, and he's intent on bringing us through in that battle. We

are not alone in that battle. We do not fight this battle by ourselves.

If you continue in my word, then are you made disciples. Indeed,

ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

We encounter this pressure of drift on many different levels. We encounter it in

our homes, and we could look at Deuonomy. We won't turn there chapter

six. But generational departure from the faith is a default. That's a default.

Generational departure from the faith. That's what happens when I bring my oars

in as a father. That's what happens when I bring my oars in as

a as a young person. That's what happens when I bring my oars in

as a minister of the gospel. Generational departure. And so we are we

are encouraged to teach to hold the truth high. A couple of you,

brothers may recall this illustration from a minister's meeting session at one point time,

quite a number of years back. But I'd like to just share the illustration.

The message perhaps is a little bit different, but we're talking about the

subject of drift, and I'd like to just illustrate a couple of things here

in relation to this subject of drift. We all know that that we've got

these things called ditches on side of our roads. And we're going to name

a couple of the ditches here. You know the song keep in the Middle

of the Road. I've always liked that song. There's there's purpose for that

keeping in the middle of the road fifteen year olds. This isn't about driving

habits, now, this is about living life. But you have a road,

and you have a slope. You have a slope of the road,

and and maybe if your vehicles aligned properly and you get on that slope right

in the center of the road, you can take your hands off the wheel

and you can kind of kind of go right down the center, stay in

the in the center of the road. But I wonder how often, as

individuals we travel this road of life with one set of our wheels in one

ditch or the other. And I'm just gonna label I'm gonna label the ditches

here beside the road as Pietism and traditionalism. You think of the pietistic movement

out of the sixties and seventy, the sixteen hundreds and seventeen hundreds, and

some of you are better historians than I am by a long shot. But

that reform movement with the in Germany, with the Lutherans, initially at least,

that began to stress personal piety instead of just simply a religious formality.

They brought devotion to the life of a believer instead of just orthodoxy. There

were a lot of good things that came out of that movement. So I

want to I want to say that so that you understand me and what I

say next in relation to Pietism and traditionalism, I would like us to define

these two things just for the point of ourt. You don't have to accept

my definitions, but I like us to define them just for the point of

discussions, so you know how to how to understand me in this. I'm

going to say that Pietism is a strong emphasis on the inner life in a

weak emphasis on practice. And I'm going to say that Traditionalism is a strong

emphasis on outward practice and form and a weak emphasis on personal conscience and spirituality.

And we have a lane. We have lanes on this road where where

it is good for us to drive and so on. On the Pietism side,

I'll just say inter spirituality. And on the traditionalism side, I'll say

outward practice application, if you will. It seems that in life it's easy

for us as individuals to travel with one set of wheels in one of these

ditches or the other, and to maybe kind of bounce back and forth from

generation to generation because of what we call reactionary driving. So you know what

reactionary driving is in relation to natural driving. You hit the gravel and you

oversteer, and you end up not just hitting the gravel on the other side,

you actually land in the ditch right potentially depending on what kind of oversteering

you did. But from the vantage point of my ditch, with one set

of wheels in here and the other on the road, from the vantage of

my perspective, I can clearly see the disadvantages or the weaknesses, the fallacy,

the error of the other ditch. I can clearly understand and see that

all the while miring down in the ditch him in because I can see the

negative of the other ditch. In fact, how often have you in a

conversation with your father, with your grandfather, or with somebody who is grandfather

lee, how often have you heard someone reflect on one of these ditches in

their experience, and it can be either ditch, and in that reflection is

giving you teaching about the other ditch. I think we can learn, We

need to learn, We must learn because history will repeat itself. Reactionary living

produces what we're talking about this morning, drift. Reactionary living produces drift.

And maybe we could also illustrate it this way. M And so we have

branches in the tree, the tree of the church, the tree of life

our lives here, not the tree of life in heaven. But we use

this figure of speech all the time that you know, just we go out

on a limb. You know what it means to go out on a limb,

And so often going out on a limb has to do with the thing

we're talking about here, this reactionary driving. And so your brother states a

position in relation to anything, and he's he's sitting here on this limb,

and you you understand what he's saying, but you know there's another perspective,

and you're sitting on this limb, and so you bring your perspective to bear.

And if brotherhood happens as God intends for it to happen, we turn

toward each other instead of away from each other, and we say, you

know what, you're exactly right, You're exactly right. There's there are two

sides to this discussion, and there is balance to this discussion. But reactionary

living tends to when when this brother makes this comment, this one then makes

another comment, and almost without fail, it's just a little farther out on

the limb this brother than you know, we just can't have things going that

way. I'm going to have to take a little stronger position in order to

get him to understand that there is another side. And in that out he

goes, and out he goes, and in this position and this position,

the heart of this man is not comfortable with where he's at because this is

where he started and this is really where he's at. But he's out here

only to balance this thing so the tree doesn't fall over, because his brother's

gone clear out here. And this brother actually doesn't feel exactly like he's saying

either. He really feels like he expressed here, but he's gone to the

extreme to try to help slow this brother down. Reactionary living, when really

we need to come down here to the basics where we can actually reach around

the tree and we can meet we've got some common ground to meet him.

Do you see the thing of drift in that picture? Reactionary living produces drift.

Reactionary living takes us place as we didn't tend ongoing reactionary living. There's

just a whole lot better premises to build on than reactionary living. There's a

whole lot better premise upon which to build. Maybe your father was a Protestant,

and maybe you wanted something more than he had. But to react to

your father's background will send you on a journey from which you will need to

retrace your steps at some point in time. Maybe your father was ultra conservative,

and maybe you needed something a little more balanced than what he had.

But to react to where he was, or to where he is, whatever

the case may be, we'll send you on a journey from which you will

need to retrace your steps. If you're going to stay on the straight,

narrow path, if you're going to keep it in the middle of the road,

if you will have fruit that will endure until the end, what is

the end of both of these? What is the end result? Finally,

I don't know what you would say. Where do these ditches take us?

I say that the ditches take us to the very same place. You may

end up with all the conservatism that is even at your potential, but that

without God in your heart is worldliness. You may end up depending upon the

external things to guide you, to keep you in the middle of the road,

to bring you to maturity. But if you've left your first love,

if your heart is cold, if there isn't spirituality, then the condition of

your heart is that of worldliness. It's without God. And you can be

a spiritual you want, and as light of the spirit as you want.

And you don't need your brother and sister to tell you what to do.

You don't need your mom or dad to guide you. You don't need the

preacher to say what the word of God says to you. And you can

be as spiritual as you want to say. You will do as you want

to claim until you throw out all of what God has intended for you.

The condition of your heart is a sin, it's working, it's without come,

it's plan. I believe that if we're going to rest the thing of

drift within our own hearts in relation to this thing of reaction, and not

all drift is a cause. Is come stems from the source of reactions.

But there's enough drift that happens in our lives that is because of reaction that

I feel like it's worth spending a little time if you start thinking about the

things that make you, the things that motivate your decisions, the things that

make you change for better or for worse, for righteousness or for unrighteousness,

for godliness or for worldliness, the things that motivate you to change, How

often do they tie back into the thing of reaction? And maybe you need

to move this direction or this direction, and maybe the reactions do make you

go that way, And so you say, well, the reactions are okay

then, because it's at least taking me in the right direction. The heart

of what I'm saying is is, no, the reactions aren't okay. We

must have another foundation or why we move one direction or the other other than

reaction. Reaction will take us beyond the path of the road and into the

ditch on one side or the other. We mustn't be reacting neither inter spirituality

for outward practice. Neither one of these these are on the road. Neither

one of these are a ditch until you take the other one out of the

equation and When you take interspirituality out of the equation, outward practice becomes a

ditch in traditionalism. And when you take outward practice understanding the word of God,

following the word of God in practical obedience, you take that out of

the equation, your inner spirituality is becoming is going to become a ditch.

Of pietism, you will lack. Neither one is a ditch until the other

is missing. And that's what creates the ditches. Neither in her spirituality or

a form of practice, make the other one unnecessary. Neither one of them

can compensate for the other. Each need the other well. So much for

the third part of the message, Jesus said, in relation to love,

mercy, truth, and all of the things that the Pharisees had in their

form and their practice, Jesus Us looked at that thing, and he said,

of love, of mercy, justice, these things ought you to have

done, but not to have left the other undone. See, Jesus was

teaching about reactionary living. Right there. May God help us as we think

about our lives, our walk, our personal devotion to God, our commitments

to Him. Put your orders in the water, Keep them in the water.

There'll be lots of pressures that will face. There's lots of current,

but don't react. Don't react. May God bless you as your journey with him.