Many people in churches today believe that a true believer cannot fail morally, at least not too badly. If such a person “backslides” for an extended period, it shows he is a false professor, according to their theology.
Those who understand the grace of God know that such theology is nonsense. The Bible teaches that a believer can fail in his Christian life––even fail miserably for a long time. This includes believers who had previously lived righteously in obedience to the Lord.
Demas is a well-known example. He had been a faithful servant of the church, working with Paul on missionary journeys. But then he fell in love with the world and abandoned Paul when he needed Demas the most (2 Tim 4:10). Peter also writes that a mature believer can fall (2 Pet 2:20-22).
Believers who fall do not lose eternal life. But what is the cost? Readers of this blog will be quick to give the Biblical answer. Such believers lose eternal rewards and expose themselves to the discipline of God in their lives. That is all true.
But there is another consequence of such failure. We don’t mention it very often. Such moral failures negatively impact other believers. I will use the word disappoint, but other words will also work.
When Demas left Paul and went to Thessalonica, what did the believers in that city think when they saw him? If they knew him when he was faithfully serving the Lord, what a discouragement he must have been. Unbelievers who knew his past would point to Demas and ridicule the Christians in Thessalonica. Unbelievers could say that Demas finally saw the light and showed how dumb it was to live righteously. They would say that Demas was a fool for following Paul around. The implication would be that the believers in Thessalonica who were serving the Lord were fools too. Demas had even had the privilege of working side by side with Paul. Unbelievers would say that he was wise to leave that kind of life behind. It would have been hard for the believers in Thessalonica to respond to such observations.
Solomon says the same thing in Prov 25:25-26. He notes how refreshing cold water is to the tired person. But there is another kind of water. What is it like to drink polluted water or water from a stream full of dirt?
Solomon compares the two. He says that drinking pure cold water is like receiving good news. It encourages us. It makes us happy.
Drinking polluted water is the opposite. It’s like receiving bad news. But Solomon is specific. He tells us what kind of bad news he has in mind. It is bad news when “a righteous man…falters before the wicked.” In a graphic illustration, Solomon says that when we see a righteous man fall, it’s like drinking water from a polluted well. Imagine going to a source of water looking for refreshment and finding it putrid. What a disappointment that would be!
We tend to think that our spiritual lives impact only ourselves. That is wrong. Our lives impact others. A believer—especially one who has been faithful and mature—who falls into sin negatively affects other believers. That would include his family, friends, and members of his church. When they see the failure of their loved one or friend, it is like drinking polluted water.
The Lord said we are to love one another, especially our fellow believers. We may not realize it, but a “backslidden” Christian is not loving others. He is thinking only of himself. That is what Demas did.
Bottom line: We have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let our lives be like a cool drink of water on a hot day. They will be if we serve our fellow believers and the Lord. Let’s not disappoint them.
