THE SPIRIT OF COMPROMISE

A New York family bought a ranch out West where they intended to raise cattle. Friends visited & asked if the ranch had a name. "Well," said the would-be cattleman, "I wanted to name it the Bar-J. My wife favored Suzy-Q, one son liked the Flying-W, & the other wanted the Lazy-Y. So [we compromised and] we're calling it the Bar-J-Suzy-Q-Flying-W-Lazy-Y." "But where are all your cattle?" the friends asked. "None survived the branding."

To compromise means to give up some principle/demand[s] so as to come to an agreement or to maintain peace. Merritt Malloy said, “Compromise is simply changing the question to fit the answer.” There are times when compromise is absolutely essential. For example, in a marriage compromise have to be made within reason. Otherwise, great conflict will arise or one mate will have to blindly follow the wishes of the other. Sometimes parents and children have to make compromises because sometimes a parent does not have anything to do with what their child likes to do. Obviously, if the child wants to do something that is not right, then no compromise can be made, but if it is something that is not wrong then a compromise might need to be made.

When it comes to Republicans and Democrats, they usually have some common ground to work from, but their solutions vary depending on the law or circumstance. If they ever hope to pass a new law or get something done for our country, they have to compromise or certain things that they might not agree with in any given bill to get the part they like to pass.

While there are many areas in our lives that compromise can be a healthy and good thing to do, one area that we cannot compromise one little bit is with what the Bible teaches on any given subject. Satan would love for all Christians to take on the mindset of society and learn to compromise with God’s teaches, but we cannot do this no matter how tempting it may be or how much peace it might bring. Jesus has warned us that living the Christian life and upholding His truth will not be easy:

Matthew 7:13 " Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 10:34 " Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. ³⁵ "For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; ³⁶ "and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' ³⁷ "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

John 15:18 " If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

John 16:2 "They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.

Acts 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."

I could continue producing verse after verse example after example that shows that as Christians we will face many difficulties as Christians. We we will face friends, extended family and our spouse and children who will challenge us to compromise God’s Word. I am not going to stand up here and tell you that is will be easy for you to stand your ground because when it comes to matters of the heart, it will test even the most faithful Chrisitan. No matter how heartbreaking it can become, we must keep our faith and trust in God in tact and not ever compromise His truth.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the things that can cause us to struggle as Christians, when it comes to being tempted to compromise God’s Word. I think it is important that we think about such things because if we know beforehand our weaknesses, we can start working today to start convincing ourselves that our weakness and no weakness must come between us and our God.

One reason Christians will compromise is because they want to fit in with the majority. Again, I am not going to stand up here and say it is easy to against the majority. In fact, almost seem natural to go with the thought of everyone else. Sometimes it does not even take a crowd, it can be one person that love, respect or even fear to cause you to agree with something wrong that they stand for. We have to be very careful when it comes to allowing others to influence us in this way because no matter how great they are or powerful they are, their thoughts and their ways cannot be held higher or equal to God’s Way.

Instead we should have the attitude of Paul who said:

Galatians 1:9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. ¹⁰  For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

We must resist the urge to conform with what is popular or what any individual thinks. Instead, we must conform ourselves with what God clearly teaches us in His Word. As Paul said:

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. ³  For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Not only we must be careful about following others, we must be careful that we do not make our own opinion so high that we make it equal to the Word of God. So, be careful are remember these key verses:

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. ⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. ⁸ It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.

Jeremiah 10:23 O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.

As I mentioned earlier another reason that can cause some to compromise God’s Word is family. Your family, especially your immediate family is dear to your heart. There is not much you would not do for them especially if you are talking about your spouse our your children because they are part of you and you are part of them. We are very protective of our immediate family as we should be. This loyalty and deep love for our family can create powerful urge to compromise God’s truth because we tend to view our family's actions through rose tinted glasses.

A good test to see if you are doing this is to ask yourself if someone else outside of the family was behaving or doing what my family member was doing, what would I think about it? Many times some of the ugly things our family members do are ignored or justified because they are family, but if someone outside our family was doing the exact same thing, we would have no problem calling sin sin.

I know that none of us what to see our children or our spouse in a negative light, but when they sin, we should not try and sugar coat it or cover it up by compromising God’s Word just because they are family. I have known several Christians like this in my lifetime that did this very thing because blood became more important that what God’s Word said. We cannot do this and be pleasing to God. Let us never forget these serious words from Jesus:

Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

The parallel passage that goes with this one is:

Matthew 10:37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

The point is this. If you compromise God’s Word to justify the sins of your family you are putting them first and loving them more than God, which means that you are not worthy of God and cannot truly be called a disciple. In other words, you put yourself in a lost condition and you are not helping yourself or your loved one, by calling something evil good.

Money is another common temptation that will cause people to compromise the truth. While money will serve us no purpose in heaven, it will allow us great power, influence, and even pleasure in this life. The desire to have riches and not have to worry day to day about how things are going to get paid can motivate people to compromise their morality and other Biblical principles.

For example, if you work for a company that seem legit, but then later you are asked to take a new position in the company that will increase your pay by 50%, that would be great as long as it does not make you compromise your Christianity. Let’s say that this new position requires you to lie and cheat. Would you be willing to commit these sins to have the 50% increase? Some would because the desire to have more money would override their commitment to God and His Word. A person in this position might even conclude that God put them in this position, so he will make the best of it.

What if you were a witness to a crime and the people you saw were very rich and they offer you a million dollars to lie about what you saw? That would be the easiest money you ever made and some would justify doing this by saying, “well, it just one time.” I ask you, is any amount of money worth losing your soul over? I do not think so and neither does Jesus:

Matthew 16:26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

^ESV Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

If you find yourself being influenced by the power of the almighty dollar remind yourself about how you cannot take with you when you die and that it can keep you out of heaven. Let us never what Paul said in:

1 Timothy 6:6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. ⁸ And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. ⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Thinking about the future can also cause people to compromise God’s Word especially when it comes to being overly concerned about the future of the church. Sometimes when a congregation sees their people dwindle and the amount of funds they have to work with dwindle, they become concerned as they should. However, some take this concern to a sinful level and start thinking of unbiblical ways to ensure that growth occurs.

They will reason that simply teaching the truth is not enough, so they will play the game of finding ways to draw people with entertaining ideas. While their efforts may work, what they end up with is a worldly congregation that has blended worldly ways with the Biblical principle and the longer this goes on the more worldly it will be.

While it is tempting to grow a congregation numerically and see large numbers assembling it is a worthless effort if was not built upon the foundation of God’s Word. Our first goal no matter what the numbers is, is to grow spiritually based on God’s Word and then numerically, but never by compromising God’s truth. If you grow by compromising God’s truth, you will have created something different than what God has authorized. Even if that church has some resemblance of truth it at its best would be lukewarm and we all know what Jesus said about lukewarmness to the church at Laodicea:

Revelation 3:16 "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. ¹⁷ "Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' -- and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked -- ¹⁸ "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. ¹⁹ "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.

So having big numbers and plenty of money to work with is no substitute for following God’s way without compromise. So, let us never compromise God’s word to keep a congregation’s doors open because God can and will do great things with the few.

Some find themselves intimidated by fear. As we have been studying on Wednesday nights, fear is a tactic that true Muslims use to convert people to their ways. You are given the choice to either convert or die or pay a tax to continue to practice your belief. If you refuse to pay tax, you will die. In the first century the Romans tried to get Christians to deny Christ by saying they would not kill them if they would. While I am sure there were some Christians that gave into their fears, many Christians held onto to their faith with no compromise even when it meant their whole family would be killed. Sometimes it was death by burning, crucifixion or being fed to lions.

It is easy to think how you would react to fear, but until you are actually faced with it, you will not really know because fear of torture and death is more intimidating when you are going through it. As Christians, we prepare ourselves to the best of our abilities to not ever allow fear to cause us to compromise God’s Word even if it means the loss of our lives. We should be thankful every day for the country we live in because the chances of us having to face death for upholding God’s Word are slim to none, yet we allow ourselves to compromise God’s Word because we fear what someone might think about us or say about us.

It is pretty sad at what we allow fear to do us in this country as compared to the kind fears that Christians faced in the first century and in some countries that are hostile toward Christians. The next time feel fearful about what someone might think about you when you stand up for the truth instead of going with the flow of the world, think about those good men and women who were willing to suffer death for God. Remember these verses:

Matthew 10:28 "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Revelation 21:8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

Don’t be a coward when it comes to standing up for God’s truth. Don’ t allow anyone to intimidate you into compromising God’s Word. As Paul told Timothy:

2 Timothy 1:13 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

The last thing I want to point out that can cause some to compromise God’s truth is feelings or emotions in general. Many of the things I have pointed out already could be included in this point, but emotions in general can cause us problems. It does not matter if we are talking about love, fear, hate, etc if we allow our emotions to get out of control they can cause us to pervert the Word of God.

When we feel strongly about something or someone, we have the ability to convince ourselves that there is nothing wrong, when what is being done is very wrong. It is important we watch out for this in our lives because emotions and feelings are sneaky and cause us to lose sight of reality.

Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

Proverbs 28:26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.

In order to watch out for the effects of our emotions and feelings, we must continue to test ourselves and weigh our actions side by side with the Word of God. We must never forget that compromising God’s Word will never end well, so let us continue to strive daily to hold fast to God’s Word every day. There are many examples I could use from the the O.T. and from the N.T. to show what God expects from us, but I decided to close with the example Jesus gave us with His encounter with Satan himself.

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. ³ Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." ⁴ But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "

Even though Jesus was very hungry, He would not comprise with the devil and turn stones into bread. Instead, He told the ole evil that we must live by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Matthew 4:5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' " ⁷ Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.' "

Once again, Satan tries to get Jesus to compromise by testing God, but again, Jesus points him right back to Scripture, which says do not tempt the Lord your God.

Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " ¹¹ Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Though the devil promised Him all the kingdoms of the world if He would just compromise a little by bowing down and worshipping him, but Jesus was not willing and once again pointed him to Scripture, which said worship God only. Jesus serves as the perfect example of how we must never compromise God’s truth no matter how tempting it is. I hope, we can learn from Jesus’ example and the points I made in this lesson to never ever have the spirit of compromise when it comes to God’s truth because if you do, you put your soul in jeopardy. So, may you stand firm until the end of your life and be able to say the same thing Paul did at the end of his:

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.