Is Often Asked? Why Are So Many Churches of Christ Going Into Apostasy?

Maybe it is because we as parents, Bible class teachers and preachers of the gospel, elders and deacons, and other members, are not showing them the proper respect for the mighty God whom we serve, so that the young (and old) may know Christ as the Lord of our lives! Many times, many young and old alike has turned away. Consider just a sampling of what God told us about securing faith and obedience in those that would follow Him.
Ex:18:20: Jethro advises Moses: "And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do."
Ex:24:12: "And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them." In order for them to remain faithful to Jehovah, these precepts were to be passed on to their children. Notice a few passages which place this awesome responsibility upon parents.
Deut:6:7: "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Deut:11:19: "And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Judges:2:7-11: "And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD."
Ps:71:17: "O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works."
Ps:78:4-11: "We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them."
Hosea:4:6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
We all know what happened to Israel, God's chosen people. Their "house was left desolate" due to their failures to do as instructed and because for the most part, they rejected their Messiah. Matthew 23:38; Luke 13:35; Romans 11:21.
In our day, we, too have grave responsibilities whether a parent, grandparent, guardian, aunt, uncle, cousin, preacher, elder, deacon, John and Jane Doe Christian even to those with whom we have no blood ties. We will be reading some of those passages later where we are to be influential in helping others see Christ.
Ephesians 6:1-2: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with promise: that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." This is quoted from Deuteronomy 5:16.
Like Israel of old, Christians who are parents in many cases, are the ones responsible for their children not being faithful to the Lord. We must be as Joshua who said, "...As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:14-15. As long as children are in our home, we must see to it that they attend the services of the local congregation as well as live daily in keeping with the principles of New Testament religion, the religion of Jesus Christ. If we allow their unfaithfulness with our approval, we are bidding Godspeed to their error. 2 John 9-11; Ephesians 5:11. The rules of the house of a Christian must be applied to every member in that household consistently.
Matthew 6:19-33: This context ends up by showing that kingdom business must be our most important consideration. Even as we pursue a livelihood to provide those necessary things which the Lord already knows that we need, when we allow the pursuit of those things to crowd out our spiritual activities or to take priority over them, we violate the passage which says ".. seek first the kingdom..and all these things will be provided."
Matthew 13:3-23; Luke 8:1-18: The parable of the "soils" indicated that unfruitfulness in the service of the Lord springs from getting too involved in the here and now, things that are otherwise fine, until they crowd out our spiritual advancement Where does "kingdom business" rate on your calendar of daily events?
Matthew 5:13-16: "You are the salt on the earth; but if the salt looses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." How is your light shinning to those in your house as well as to those in the "house of God," the church of our Lord 1 Timothy 3:14-15? Maybe we haven't behaved ourselves in God's house (church) as we should have and we are reaping the whirlwind! Remember that passage from Hosea 8:7? "For they have sown to the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind."
We are admonished by Paul as the Spirit guided him to write, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life" Galatians 6:7- 9. You do not sow corruption and reap purity! It is just that simple. Both in the physical and in the Spiritual realm, you reap what you sow. Period or exclamation mark!
We could easily add 1 John 2:15-17 in this connection. It isn't speaking of ungodly or immoral lifestyles necessarily, only not having our priorities properly set.
This is why Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18: "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, As God has said:
"I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people," Therefore "come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty." (See Isaiah 49:8; Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 32:38; Ezekiel 37:27; Isaiah 52:11; Ezekiel 30:34,41).
Romans 6:1-2,....23: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer therein?...our old man of sin was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin....Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God...Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?....But now having been set free from sin, and having becomes slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"
Respect for God and for His word was taught by severe examples of His immediate wrath upon some in times past as object lessons for us as his people not to repeat those mistakes.
Paul says those things written before were written for our learning and for examples (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11-12).
Both individually as well as collectively, we must respect Christ's divine authority for "all authority has been given unto Him" in our dispensation and when we disregard it, the day of reckoning will surely come just as surely as taught in these cases set before us from which we should take warning!
Cain: Genesis 4:3-7. Israel at Sinai: Exodus 32:1-35. Nadab & Abihu: Leviticus 10:1-4. Uzziah & the new cart: 2 Samuel 6:2-7. Naaman's "Behold I thought surely..": 2 Kings 5. Ananias & Sapphira: Acts 5:1-11.
In Revelation 2:5: Jesus promises the "removal of lampstands or candlesticks," referring to a congregation's identity as belonging to Him if they persisted in unauthorized or ungodly activities.
Revelation 3:14-19: He likewise showed that "lukewarmness" was so disgusting in His eyes that He says "I will spew you out of My mouth" or I will vomit you up to use plain language. Congregations get reputations with God as well as man. If we become a "do nothing, lazy, haphazard, rebellious, or disobedient people," we may keep a sign out front which suggest that the Church of Christ meets here, but He will say, "I have removed you from my list of faithful congregations of My people"
Acts 8:1-4; 1 Thess. 1:1-10; Heb. 5:12-14; 2 Tim. 2:2: Insurance companies know that if they do not get new "clients" they will go out of business! The Lord's people in a given community must also know that if we are not having bible study classes and we aren't getting visitors to our services who are likely to obey the gospel, we too, will, and in fact are in the process of dying out. It happens brethren. There are congregations of the Lord's people who have in the past, and some that are going out of existence! Do you want that to happen to this congregation? Do you what that for this community? If not, then each of us had better resolve to be doing what we can to reach and teach others the gospel of Christ (John 6:44-45; John 14:6; Romans 1:16-17; 10:9-10; 13-15, 17).
If you have yet to obey the gospel of Christ, you are in Satan's kingdom and working against the cause that costs the blood of the Son of God according to Jesus in Matthew 12:30. We are a servant of whom ever we are serving said Paul in Romans 6:16. Who are YOU serving? We extend to you the invitation which Christ Himself gives. "come....and I will give you rest"(Matthew 11:298-30). If you have come to believe that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God, we urge you to repent and confess His name before this audience and as soon as we can make the necessary arrangements, we will assist you in being buried with Christ in baptism for the remission of your past sins and errors.
If you are a "lukewarm" or an otherwise unfaithful erring child of God who desires to restore your relationship with Christ that has been severed by your sins, come repenting and confessing your sins and we will pray with and for you that you may be restored. Come now while we stand and sing the song selected.