Allen Jackson - Compassion, Compromise, Conflict - Part 2
Now, the challenge in every generation is this issue of compromise. People of God don’t typically just say, «God, I want nothing to do with you». We don’t typically say, «I no longer want to be a Christian, I think I’ll be Buddhist,» or, «I think I reject Christianity. I’m gonna choose a New Age or Eastern mysticism, or some other form of occult practice». That isn’t typically the way we behave. It’s far more normal to say, «Well, I’m just going to add some things to it». In fact, politics is the art of compromise. Nobody gets all they want. It’s why I say I’m not interested in politics. I don’t want to compromise with evil. The 12-week ban on abortion is avoiding the issue. It’s a reflection of our hearts. It doesn’t matter to us.
Well, I understand incremental victory but there’s a heart issue in play. Compromise has been a part of the discussion with the people of God from the garden until the conclusion of the book of Revelation. Compromise brings us into conflict with God. We’re afraid of conflict in our world, in our relationships, in our places of business, in our schools. We’re concerned about conflict because we take a position with God. I would submit to you we should be more concerned about conflict with God because we have embraced compromise to avoid conflict in our present condition. You don’t wanna find yourself in opposition to God. It doesn’t work well. Because we don’t truly believe he will discipline us. We truly don’t think he’s just. We think his mercy is bigger than his justice.
So I brought you a passage or two for some people that have walked with the Lord. Ezra, do you know the book of Ezra? Ezra’s a priest. Ezra’s lived the bulk of his life in Babylon, serving in a foreign land to people who’ve been enslaved. And because of a change of authority, the people have been given permission to begin to migrate back to the land of Israel, even to rebuild the temple, much simpler, much more modest than what they had before, but nevertheless, and Ezra comes back to teach the people how to worship again. They’ve been living in a foreign country. They know more about Babylonian gods than they do the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And the people don’t come back all at once. It’s not like one big airlift. They come back over a period of years in waves, and Ezra comes back to see the people who are in the land. And this is just a snapshot.
«Ezra is praying and confessing, and weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God». The preceding verses say that when he comes back, he finds out that the people, the Jewish people, have intermarried with the peoples in the land, which they’ve been told not to do. They’ve intermarried, they have children. And when Ezra hears that, this is his response. «He’s confessing, weeping, throwing himself down before the house of God. A large crowd of Israelites, men, women and children, gathered around him, and they too wept bitterly. And somebody, one of the descendants of Elam, said to Ezra, 'We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there’s still hope for Israel. Now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all these women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord and those who fear the commands of our God.'»
I’m not suggesting there’s a parallel between them sending away their foreign wives in our current circumstance dealing with illegal immigrants. I am suggesting there’s a parallel between compromise in your life and my life and that group of people in Ezra. If we treat compromise shabbily, if we treat it as if it’s no big deal, if we think we can negotiate with God and he will lower the standards to embrace us, then we make a mockery of the crucifixion of Jesus. 'Cause if we can negotiate our sin, then we didn’t need a Savior. We just needed a class in negotiation. And I think we have been rather sloppy with our attitudes around repentance. And the people recognize, they changed their family systems. I can’t imagine the pain, the disruption, the conversation.
You see, we have such a casual attitude towards obedience to the Lord. «Well, you don’t want me to actually tell my children that they’re doing something that’s immoral». Well, I don’t know. Do you wanna talk to your children about matters related to God? Or do you just want to abandon them? «Well, those are difficult discussions». Understood. «Those could cause some significant breaches». I understand. We have tolerated in the church so much compromise that at the moment we’re getting more clarity and truth. It took a political figure who’s not a spiritual leader, a political figure, to say in our nation there are two genders. That message needs to begin in the church. And then I would hope that message would be echoed from the medical community.
But it has to begin in the church. Daniel, it’s a similar perspective. Daniel’s lived his life, the majority of his adult life, as a slave in Babylon. He’s been physically mutilated for the privilege of serving as a courtesan, serving the court to the Babylonian king. In Daniel 9, he’s no longer a young man. And he understands from scripture that the time for the return to Israel is about to approach, from reading the book of Jeremiah. Daniel was involved in the daily Bible reading plan. Now, for full candor, he didn’t read the Gospels, but he was involved. On his iPad every day. But in Daniel 9, when he discovered that, he began to pray. And I want you to hear his prayer. «I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands».
With whom does God keep his covenant of love? Those who love him and keep his commands. We have had the attitude that we don’t really have to love God, we can love everything else and we can kinda like God. We just call God when we’re in a really tight place. And we’re not really, you don’t want to be bound up with keeping his commands. We’re not under any legal system anymore. We’re under grace. Folks, the Bible, the New Testament says Jesus was the end of the law as a means of righteousness. It doesn’t say it was the end of the law. God didn’t go soft and then write Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or we wouldn’t have needed Jesus. But watch his prayer.
«God who keeps the covenant of love with all those who love and obey his commandments, we have sinned. We have done wrong. We have been wicked. We have rebelled. We have turned away from your commands and laws. We’ve not listened to your servants, the prophets». Do you remember the book of Daniel? On more than one occasion, God sends an archangel to Daniel to say to him, «You are highly favored by God». And yet, when Daniel begins to pray, did you see the pronouns? He said, «We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have been wicked, we have rebelled».
There’s no evidence in scripture that Daniel’s led a wicked, rebellious life, quite the opposite. He has great wisdom, the ability to interpret dreams. God trusts Daniel so much he gives him a preview of the book of Revelation. It’s a very unique status in the economy of the kingdom of God. And yet when Daniel prays, he said, «I have been a part of this». See, I think we want to stand apart from our culture and say, «Well, we haven’t done that». And I think we need a bit more of Daniel’s attitude. We have to be a little more willing to repent.
My time’s gonna slip away, but I just brought some examples of ways that compromise finds its way into our lives, and this could be a much, much, much longer list. This is by no means, but I wanted you to see how prevalent it is amongst the people of God in the New Testament. The examples in the Old Testament, perhaps, are a bit more dramatic, we know some of the stories. But it’s just as prevalent in the New Testament amongst the new covenant people, the people who’ve received Jesus as their Lord and Savior in city after city, in church after church.
In Galatians chapter 3, Paul writes to a church that he’s been very instrumental in seeing brought into existence, and he said, «You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you»? In case you’re not tracking, those are not complimentary phrases. «Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish»? In three verses he’s called them fools twice. «That after beginning with the Spirit, you’re now trying to attain your goal by human effort»?
One of the ways we compromise is with our own self-righteousness. We just think we’re so remarkable. We’ve checked the boxes better than other people have checked them. And because we’ve checked the boxes so well, there’s really very little left for us to consider. The best analogy I have for your spiritual well-being is very similar to your physical health. Most of us at about 17 or 18 were pretty healthy. My metabolism was a raging inferno. I could eat an entire pizza as an hors d’oeuvres. Something has changed.
Now I look at pizza and I get fluffy. But I’m still interested in paying attention to my health, so I’ve adopted different habits and different responsibilities. The Bible says that when you first become a Christian, you think like a child and you talk like a child. But at some point you’re expected to grow up. And in Galatians, they had decided they’d checked the boxes so well, they didn’t need to be dependent upon the redemptive work of Jesus. It’s compromise. Oh, it’s of a religious sort, but it’s every bit as much compromise. We’re better than everybody else. We look down our noses. Jesus told a parable about two men that prayed on a street corner. One was a Pharisee, and he said, «God, I thank you that I’m not like all these other people. I keep all the rules. I check all the boxes».
He said the other man was a very public, very well-known, the most notorious sinner in the community. And he said that man wouldn’t even lift his eyes to heaven. But he said, «God have mercy on me, a sinner». Jesus said that man went home forgiven and the other man went home in his guilt. Self-righteousness, it’s compromise. «We don’t need as much of the mercy of God. We don’t have as much business to do with God. I know some people that need to do some business with God, but it’s not me». Folks, my awareness in my life is as I continue to seek the Lord and serve the Lord, and he entrusts us with responsibility, we’re more dependent upon him than we’ve ever been. I had a conversation this week with a new parent. And their sense of responsibility has changed dramatically. It’s not just about me anymore. You understand we’re called to make an impact in this generation? It’s not just about my personal choice? Yeah, my page is all confused. Must be time for me to quit.
Look at 1 Corinthians 5, okay, we can do one more. This is the church in Corinth, and Paul writes to them. He says, «I’ve written to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people». He said, «I’ve told you this before, but I’m writing it to you now, not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral or the greedy and the swindlers or the idolaters. In that case you’d have to leave the world». He said, «I told you not to associate with sexually immoral people». He said, «I didn’t mean people who are outside the church». He said, «I’m not talking about the pagans». He said, «To stop doing that, you’d have to leave the world».
So we’re gonna go to work and live next to and engage with people who are engaged in all sorts of ungodliness. But he said don’t associate with them as brothers and sisters in the Lord. Look at what he says: «Now I’m writing that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother, but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, or a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man don’t even eat». «Well, I don’t wanna be judgy. Remove the plank from my own eye before I talk to others about the specks in theirs».
We know all the scriptures that give us license, or many of them. But I’m not trying to make you self-righteous and hypocritical, but I do want you to understand the degree to which we have compromised. And we do life with people who lead very ungodly lives, imagine themselves to be Christ followers, and we avoid the conversations. I believe we’ll be held accountable. We have business to do with God. We’re back to those simple conversations again. It isn’t easy. «God, I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be angry. I don’t wanna be judgmental. I don’t wanna push people further away. How do I help them, Lord? What is the right response? What do I say? God, I’m not going away on this. I’m concerned. I don’t want to forfeit my opportunities with you because I don’t want to have an awkward conversation».
It’s not one size fits all. It’s not like a prayer I can write for you to take to everybody who’s struggling with immorality, we have to have enough concern, enough compassion. God, I don’t want to compromise my integrity with you. I watched us when we thought COVID was a real threat, we changed our whole lives. We changed our kids' work schedules, we changed their ball game schedules, we changed everything about our lives 'cause we didn’t want to get infected. We treat sin like it’s no big deal. It’s far more deadly than a virus from Wuhan. It’ll not only destroy your body, it’ll destroy your soul. Jesus warned us. We have some business to do with the Lord.
«Lord, we need to talk. God, there are people in my life that I love, I care about, I do life with, and they’re leading ungodly lives and I’m blessing it and it’s gonna bring your judgment on me, Lord. Help me to understand how to talk, what to say». It may be nothing more profound than, «I’m concerned for you. I want God’s best for your life, and I don’t know how to reconcile that with some of the choices you’re making». «Well, who are you to judge me»? I’m not judging you. I’m telling you we have a standard from the Lord. And with all the… as much as I value our relationship, I don’t want you to lose sight of that standard. I don’t want you to think that I don’t imagine it matters 'cause I think it does matter. I’ll walk it out with you, but let’s not ignore it. Compromise.
Ezra knew what it meant to experience the judgment of God, so when he saw the people compromise, he lost his mind. He made a scene. He said, «We can’t do this». And the memory was fresh enough in the people’s lives that they disrupted their family lives. They changed everything. And when I look at the landscape today, and I see people in the political class who we don’t imagine to be spiritual leaders willing to embrace more truth and tell more truth than typically is told in the churches. The reason it’s not told in the churches more frequently is that the people who speak to the churches don’t imagine that people will tolerate it. Let’s just start with us and say, «Lord, we’re sorry. We want to do business with you».
I wonder if we could pray that prayer tonight. Could we tell the Lord we’re sorry that on our watch, millions of children have been lost? That on our watch, immorality has been normalized? On our watch, marriage has been redefined? On our watch, our schools have deteriorated? On our watch, our universities are more about propaganda than education? On our watch, we’ve lost the imagination of work? Do we tell the Lord that? The Lord will do, he is doing something. He’s moving in the earth. We gotta out-change the politicians. Hmm, can’t we just do a Bible study on the Pharisees? We could, but we would forfeit our opportunity. We would forfeit our opportunity. I’m pretty sure when David showed up at the Israelite camp and heard Goliath and he said, «I can do that,» that there were people in their tents having Bible studies. Let’s say to the Lord, «We’ll go be David,» amen? Let’s pray.
Father, thank you. Thank you for your Word and its truth and its power. But we don’t want to just be hearers of the Word. We want to give expression to it in our lives. And Lord, we come tonight because we know there’s business to be done with you. Lord, we’ve been quiet in places where we should have had a voice. We’ve been distracted in days and we have had many things that we have loved more than we’ve loved you. And Lord, we ask you to forgive us. Lord, we’ve imagined ourselves to be self-righteous, and we’ve been smug and certain and unconcerned. We come tonight to ask for your mercy in our lives. We come to your throne of grace. Because we know in our own, Father, that we have nothing. But in you, we have been given a great gift. We pray for our generation. Lord, give us understanding hearts. May the fear of God grow within us. May we have a greater desire to please you and to honor you than we do to please or honor anyone or anything else. We thank you for it. Holy Spirit, help us. If there are places individually that we have business we need to do with you, I pray that you’ll stir our hearts to see and understand. That you might bring health to our bodies and peace to our minds and that you would write a future for us that would be for your glory. We thank you for it. For we ask it in Jesus’s name, amen.