Compromise: A Church Killer

"One compromise here, another there and soon enough the so-called Christian and the man in the world look the same.” —A.W. Tozer

TAKE A STAND. PICK A SIDE.

I read a short anecdote by Pastor Greg Laurie that went something like this: During the Civil War, there was a man who was indecisive as to which side he would fight for—the Confederate or the Union. Since he couldn’t decide, he figured the best thing to do would be to fight for both. Why not compromise he thought. So, he put on the bottom portion of the Confederate’s uniform (the pants) and the top portion of the Union’s uniform (the coat). Needless to say that he got shot at from both sides. He chose to ride the fence, to compromise and try to please both sides. That never works!

To pick no side at all IS to pick a side. This, unfortunately, is the life of the compromiser. They want to have the cake and eat it too. But, for the believer, that’s no way to live. Jesus admonished the church of Laodicea with the following words found in Revelation 3:16:

“So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”

I understand that there are differing views as to the meaning of Jesus’ words to the Laodecian church. However, in that Jesus is addressing a church, I truly believe that Jesus’ reference was to that of the believers spiritual temperature. As Warren Wiersbe puts it:

“The lukewarm Christian is comfortable, complacent, and does not realize his need.”

What a perfect summary of compromise. I’ve seen much compromise in the church throughout the years that has led us to where we are today…divided, distracted, disheartened, apathetic, indifferent, listless and sadly enough, spiritless. It’s exactly where the enemy wants us. Why? Well, because it renders the body of Christ ineffective for its calling.

A LITTLE LEAVEN

A good example we can see in scripture is that of the Corinthian church. There was much sexual immorality, pride, arrogance and division that had crept up into the church. There was in fact willful sin happening within the church at Corinth. The sad fact is that though there was knowledge of such sinning happening within the church, not much was being done about it. Henceforth, Paul having to sternly address the issue(s) he encountered. And he does so specifically in his first letter to the Corinthian church as seen in 1 Corinthians 5:1-7:

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” (NKJV)

There’s much to be said about sin within the church and in the life of each and every believer. I love how Paul used the word picture of ‘leaven’ to describe the effects sin has upon the body of Christ and the individual believer as well. Recall the night of the Passover lamb, right before the exodus and the 10th plague, the Israelites were instructed by the Lord to make unleavened bread:

“Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” —Exodus 12:8 (NKJV)

And in Exodus 12:14-15 we read:

^“ ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.” (NKJV)

Leaven is a baking agent. It’s a type of yeast that aides the dough to rise via a fermentation process. Any dough that has leaven added to it will take time to rise. And, as far as I know, a leavened lump of dough must be left covered to aide the rise. Without leaven you get flat bread…think Matzah crackers. In like manner, leaven, in scripture, is a picture of sin. Sadly enough, sin, no matter how “trivial” or “small” we may think it to be, is an “agent” that if left unchecked, will affect every aspect of the believers life and eventually the “whole lump”—the body of Christ, the Church.

I find it interesting that in order for the leavened bread to rise properly, it should be covered by a clean tea towel or proofing cloth. This allows the fermentation process to work properly and unabated. I remember my grandmother doing this when baking bread in Argentina. Ironically, sin, in much the same way, spreads best and does it’s work while its deeds are hidden in the dark, away from the light that exposes it.

Much leaven has been allowed into the life of the body of Christ as of late. Much of the compromises, no matter how small or insignificant, that the church has partaken of have been allowed to “ferment” and have affected the ‘whole lump’.

JUST A LITTLE MORE

The church made a deadly mistake the day it began to trust more in its own “wisdom” rather than relying and trusting in God Almighty’s. That’s called pride! We have completely underestimated the scope of the enemies ‘wiles’ and ‘schemes’. We thought that we would be able to withstand them on our own strength.

Oh, but err we did…and greatly!

In 1 Corinthians 5:2 Paul says:

“And you are puffed up (or arrogant), and have not rather mourned,” (NKJV)

The church at Corinth, much like the church in America today, was filled with pride, they were ‘puffed up’. They had become arrogant. Instead of dealing with the issue of rampant sin, sexual immorality and sexual deviancy as seen in verse 1b…

“as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!” (NKJV)

…the church at Corinth decided to allow this ‘leaven’ to continue. To be open-minded and accepting of the sinful behavior until it ‘leavened’ (infected) the whole lump—the church. Tony Perkins, of the Family Research Council, came and spoke at my home church of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills a few weeks ago and said the following:

“Some people are so open-minded that their brains fall out”

We, the church of America today, much like the Church at Corinth, have compromised much over the past few decades and especially in recent years. The compromises, the concessions that the church has been making have been subtle and gradual. They’ve taken time. They’ve been allowed to be “covered”. And so the result is, much like A.W. Tozers’ quote says:

"One compromise here, another there and soon enough the so-called Christian and the man in the world look the same.”

What sort of example or testimony was the church at Corinth giving to the unbeliever living in the city? We often times don’t think in terms of our testimony to the world around us when engaging in compromising behavior do we? But, let me assure you that “they”, the world, is watching and listening to EVERYTHING you and I do and say! The church of America is not only guilty of the same, but I would go as far as saying much more. The prevailing attitude of the American church as of late has been one of much arrogance and pride. It’s embraced so much of the world that often times there is no distinction between the “church” and the world. What a sad state of affairs compromise has led us to.

Did the church at Corinth care at all? Do we?

When Paul admonished the Corinthian church for their “lack of mourning”, he was essentially referring and comparing it to the mourning of the dead…of a loved one that had passed on. A type of mourning that cuts deep. It’s one of much personal sorrow, pain and loss. A loss that caused much grief. However, the church wasn’t grieving for their sin. Quite the opposite! They not only accommodated it, but left it unabated. Oh what a grave error they and the American church have embraced!

WE’RE NOT WORSE OFF, RIGHT?

The answer to that question may vary, depending who you might ask. But, if we’re going to be honest with one another, the answer to that question is a resounding…YES. Yes we are worse off!

We can go all the way back to the German School of Higher Criticism were scholars, in their attempt to investigate the Bible’s authenticity, authorship, historicity, etc., ended up coming to their “scholarly” conclusion that the Word of God was not ‘God Breathed’ as we know it to be as it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction (training and discipline) in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (NKJV)

I agree with Dr. David Hocking who said that we can be educated beyond our intelligence. This is coming from a man with three doctoral degrees! Education is good, I’m not down on it, but, I believe we can allow our own “educated intellect” to trump the discernment of the Holy Spirit. The German School of Higher Criticism managed to do one thing, and that is to infect the seminaries of America back in the early 1900’s with the demonic idea that the Word of God was 1) NOT inspired by the work of the Holy Spirit, and 2) The Word of God was not inerrant as claimed.

This anti-God ideology began to lead the church down a dark road of compromise which eventually struck it at the very core of its foundation—God’s Word. Very reminiscent of a lie that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden…Genesis 3:1c:

“Has God indeed said,” (NKJV)

Once Pastors are indoctrinated with the idea that the Word of God “might” contain errors, these lies get disseminated in the church. They affect and infect the church and the outcome is a weak, fractured and compromising church. After all, if Satan can get the body of Christ to question God’s veracity and authority, then welcoming a little “leaven” is more appealing and “permissible”.

I cannot emphasize the fact that compromise is one of Satan’s WMD’s (Weapons of Mass Destruction) in the church. For those tempted to think that the church in America isn’t as far gone as some make her out to be, let me see if I can list just a few destructive ideologies the church has embraced (in no particular order):

• Sexual Immorality

• Replacement Theology

• Homosexual Ordination

• Acceptance of LGBTQ+

• Transgender Ideology

• No Fear of God

• Fornication

• Pornography

• Adultery

• Egotism

• Idolatry

• Social Drinking

• Beer And Alcohol Bible Studies

• Prosperity Gospel

• Social Gospel

• Social Justice Advocacy

• Abortion

• Seeker Sensitive Movement

• Purpose Drive Movment

• Hyper Grace Movement

• New Apostolic Reformation Movment

• Rampant Divorce

• Church Growth Movement

• Gambling

• Rampant Gossiping

• Hedonism

• Love of Wealth

• Pride

• Drugs

That’s just to name a few. Of course, this list is by no means exhaustive. But, if you want to see what the characteristics of the people in the last days would be, search no further than 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

SLOW AND GRADUAL

The body of Christ, individual professing Christians have been making small concessions in their walks. A little here, a little there seems to be the prevailing attitude and mindset of many professing Christians these days. They’ve been casting off restraints as a means to embrace the world and walk the proverbial fence.

The church has been compromising...a lot— big time!

This is a reason as to why we are no longer the Godly force the enemy is afraid of. We are so watered down in our everyday lives, our families, neighbors, friends and co-workers who don’t know the Lord embrace us as their own. Very much like we saw the lives of those in the church of Corinth. They see no visible difference between their talk and walk of life and ours. I’ll even go as far as to say that there are many churches that resemble a ‘social club’ more than they do a house of Worship. More often than not, the only difference between the world and the church is that of church attendance—that’s it. But in regards to lifestyle, there’s really not much difference. Again, this is the result of decades of small compromises made within the church.

I’m sure that I will be accused of being legalistic for this post. If that’s the case, well then, so be it. But I will say that not only are we seeing compromise within the church, but, we are witnessing the demise of the church.

So, the question remains: If the church can no longer fulfill its calling, then what's next? Who will take over the call?

Short answer, the 144,000. What does that tell me? That we are truly at the cusp of the Lord coming to Rapture His church away. The spiritual baton is poised to be handed off. The church age is quickly coming to a close. My hope and prayer is that we will take inventory of each of our lives and see if there be anything that is hindering us from pursuing the Lord and true righteousness to the full.

Ask yourself the following questions: Are you compromising with the movies you’re watching? Even if just a little bit? Do you find yourself excusing it by saying things like “It’s just a little bit of violence, murder, adultery, etc.” Does immoral and anti-Biblical content bother you anymore? Do you find yourself accepting and tolerating certain behaviors that are antithetical to your faith? Does it bother you when someone takes the Lord’s name in vain while watching a movie to the point where you’re willing to turn it off? Or, do you “let it slide”? Do your co-workers, family members and friends know that you’re a Christian? Does your talk match your walk? Or, are you a Sunday “Christian” only?

Friend, now is not the time to pretend or play “Christian”. Now is not the time to be walking the fence. Just remember that you may be fooling some of those around you, but, you’ll never fool the Lord. He sees the heart.

Much like the man who tried to fight for both sides in the Civil War, just remember that the life of a compromiser will only get you “shot at” from both sides. My advice to you is the same that Joshua gave to the Israelites at Shechem in Joshua 24:1 & 14-15:

“Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.” (v.1, NKJV)

““Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (v.14-15, NKJV)

Whom will you serve? Will it be the flesh and compromise that only leads to destruction? Or, will it be the Lord God Almighty that leads to redemption, forgiveness, grace, mercy, compassion, justification, salvation, life and Truth?

The words of Joshua are just as much true then than they are to us today, and, we should take heed of them…

Call to Action: Choose for yourselves this day who you will serve…

My hope and prayer is that our response would follow Joshua’s: But as for me and my house, we WILL serve the Lord!

Have a nice day!

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