“Brothers Beware”

There is a ministry every saint is called to fully participate in – the ministry of “Beware!” The word denotes a cautious watchfulness for any sign of danger. Our call to the ministry of “beware” is found in Hebrews 3:12 – “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you and evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” The Greek word used here is “blepo” (to see); it is used in combination with another word meaning “not once”. This is why translators of the NIV used the phrase “See to it that there be in none of you.” A more literal translation might be rendered in this way – “Look so that not even once there will be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief.”

We are all called to the ministry of “Looking to it that not even once” there will be in anyone among us an evil heart of unbelief. What then are we to “look” for? How does one recognize the early warning signs that someone has begun to develop an “evil heart of unbelief?” Those who know the scriptures well will remember that the actual departure from the living God begins in an inner falling away from full devotion. Here is the record of the beginning of Solomon’s fall “”As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devotedto the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.” No one but God knew when Solomon left his first love, but it became evident eventually; apathy always precedes apostasy. When desire has conceived it gives birth to sin, (another love). Another love full grown leads to divorce.

What early signs are we to look for? How does internal unbelief manifest itself in external actions? Understanding the relationship between faith and love is a key to answering this question. Paul explained to the Galatians that “neither circumcision nor un-circumcision has any real power, but real power comes from faith working through love.” Seeing the connection between faith and love will help us realize that whenever there is an area of “unbelief” at work, the first area to be affected is our ability to love. Can we see when a person has left their first love for God? Not initially, but we can recognize the first result of a loss of faith and love towards God. The first sign that a person’s love for God has been compromised is that their love for other brothers and sisters has been impaired. “…he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

Those who are loving their brethren are “abiding in God and God in them.” They have crossed over from death unto life, from darkness to light. Those no longer abiding in God will not have the ability to continue to love their brethren. The first effect of not abiding in the love of God is the loss of the ability to walk in the light of fellowship. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another.” Without love, we cannot walk in the light, and darkness is the realm where those who think less of their brothers abide. “He who says he is in the light, and hates(literally –to think less of) his brother, in is darkness until now.” The first recognizable sign of an “evil heart of unbelief” is a loss of fervent love for a brother or sister in Christ. Everyone abiding in love is loving others as Christ has loved them. Only those abiding in God, living by faith and walking in the fellowship of light are able to do this.

Those who have developed an evil heart of unbelief, begin to walk in darkness and soon begin to have fellowship with the prince of darkness – “the accuser of the brethren.” The loss of faith towards God will nearly always first be seen in the loss of faith towards another brother or sister in Christ. When faith is working through love, hope and endurance never fail towards others. Faith is the evidence of things not seen, and faith enables us to see what the grace of our Lord will do in the brother or sister with whom we are having a difficulty. The heart of faith then works through a love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things, and the relationship does not fail because love never fails.

Those who have lost faith in God cannot keep faith in people. Unbelief in God manifests itself in impatience with others. The most famous unbelieving generation in the scriptures is the generation that God redeemed from Egypt but destroyed in the wilderness. How did their unbelief towards God always first manifest itself? – in their quarrel with Moses. Their evil heart of unbelief was first expressed by accusing the person they blamed for being responsible for their trouble. This is also what David’s men did when they were wrestling with the shock of having lost their wives and children to the Amalekites. They became so disheartened that their hearts turned against David and actually contemplated stoning him. An evil heart of unbelief towards God will eventually manifest itself in accusing and blaming others for our difficulties. Once faith has been compromised, love will always be crippled.

When we fall from the place of faith working through love, we will revert most readily into that which is not of faith – “the Law is not of faith.” Where faith has ceased to work the Law will begin to work. We have already stated that the person no longer abiding in God will end up walking in darkness. Darkness is the hour when Satan works, but his favorite tool to accuse is “the Law” and it only takes “a little leaven” of Law to pollute the entire perspective of an unbelieving heart. In order to justify the decision not to fellowship with someone, there must be a “legal” righteousness legitimizing the judgment. Whereas “love is the bond of perfection”, the Law is the “dividing wall of hostility.” Love covers a multitude of sins, but the work of the Law is to expose sin. When faith is working through love, mercy is rejoicing over judgment. When the leaven of the Law is polluting the heart of the unbeliever, partitions are built dividing one person from another.

The one in whom an evil heart of unbelief has begun to work will soon be on one side of an issue based upon the principal of being in the “right” and acting as an accuser rather than a reconciler. If we are not seeing our brothers through the eyes of faith working through love, we will see them through the leaven of the law working wrath. When we have fallen from the faith, having left our first love – we will not necessarily be “lawless”, we will likely become very legalistic and principled. – Pharisees.

If we find ourselves unable to walk with someone who we once considered a dear brother or sister because we can no longer overlook or cover their glaring faults, “Beware the evil heart of unbelief.” Those who eventually depart from the faith, take their first steps by blaming others for their inability to enjoy fellowship. Blame is the language of the law of seeing others as they are. Faith is the language of love seeing others as what they will be.

When we are being filled with all the joy and peace of believing, fellowship is always sweet and difficulties are a bearable and fruitful. Those being filled with joy and peace in believing abound in hope for others – “love suffers long and is kind.” The first sign of an evil heart of unbelief is an unforgiving readiness to expose sin based upon the righteousness of the Law. Love is the bond of perfection, the foundation of our fellowship in faith. The heart no longer of faith, backslides into the Law, and becomes the dividing wall of hostility.

So brethren “BEWARE” – WATCH - LOOK! The first sign that we have developed an evil heart of unbelief is when we are no longer able to love everyone just as Christ has us.