Scriptural
Reference:
"For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge
of the truth,
there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins"
Hebrews 10:26
"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."
Matthew 6:24
"You cannot
drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake
of the table of the Lord and the table of demons."
1 Corinthians
"Do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good
and acceptable and perfect."
Romans 12:2
"You adulterous
people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with
God?
Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an
enemy of God."
James 4:4
Quotes:
We have no right to expect anything but the pure Gospel of Christ, unmixed
and unadulterated-the same Gospel that was taught by the Apostles-to
do good to the souls of men. I believe that to maintain this pure truth
in the Church men should be ready to make any sacrifice, to hazard peace,
to risk dissension, and run the chance of division. They should no more
tolerate false doctrine than they would tolerate sin.
J. C. Ryle
"The things
we profess to believe are of such a nature that we cannot be lukewarm
without practically denying them. Better be cold, be frozen. Better
abandon all profession of interest in sacred things than to pretend
to believe them and sing about them, and yet be lukewarm. We work far
more harm to our age by tepid character than by open denial of Christ."
G. Campbell Morgan
"I urge you
(not I, but the love of Jesus Christ), only make use of Christian food,
and abstain from the foreign plant, which is heresy. These people, while
seeming trustworthy, mingle Jesus Christ with themselves like those
who produce a deadly drug with honeyed wine, which the ignorant one
gladly takes hold of in evil pleasure, to his death."
Ignatius of Antioch
Reflection:
The word Compromise has been used to support the concept of a Win-Win
outcome. Yet it fails when applied to Christian faith and core beliefs.
As Christians we are instructed never to make any form of compromises
when it comes to the Gospel. For what part of the truth can we exchange
with lies and still believe we are saved?
Devout Christians
are at risk when they make compromises to their core beliefs. Such compromising
means giving in or adjusting for someone who doesn't adhere to a certain
set of principles or expectations. The Bible is explicit in stating
that God does not approve of compromising His standards. An example
of compromising is found in a story of a man who could not decide what
side he wanted to fight for during the Civil War in the US So, he put
on the coat of the North and trousers of the South, and guess what?
He got shot at from both sides! This is what happens to many Christians
and Churches today. There are so many who claim to be saved but live
worldly lives. Another story tells of a group of Christian churches
that aligned with a group of Islamic mosques. The aim was to counter
a growing LGBTQ+ group within their community. While this seemed to
be an area of agreement; the co-operation later fell apart when Muslims
started attacking the Christians over doctrinal differences.
The Bible is clear
that God does not approve of compromising His commands: "Be careful
to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to
the right or to the left" (Deuteronomy 5:32). Happy are those who "do
not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths" (Psalm 119:3,
NLT). God is holy, and His ways are right. God is good, and His ways
bring life. When it comes to matters that God has clearly addressed,
we do not negotiate, bargain, or compromise. Essentially a Christian
stands out from the world based on their agreement and commitment to
Gods' teaching and directions. To start giving in to worldly paradigms
will be to degrade and make Gods' word.
In the Bible we
can read of many cases where someone has compromised and how badly it
had turned out. King Jehoshaphat made a mistake by getting involved
with King Ahab, and it nearly led to his demise. While Jesus criticised
the church of Thyatira for allowing immoral teachings to spread among
them. It's important to remember that there are boundaries that should
never be crossed, and compromising in certain situations can be harmful.
Both to our lives and our salvation.
Or as G. Campbell
Morgan explains in the above quote; where any compromise creates an
untenable situation for the believer. It's suggested that it would be
better to be frozen or completely separate from our faith then to be
lukewarm. Such a state of ones soul is strongly expressed in Revelation
3:15-16 where God tells us "I know your deeds, that you are neither
cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you
are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth".
So in closing we
can consider the effect of any level of compromise to our faith and
our gospel witness. We need to stay true to our faith and to the word
of God. Not accepting any form of compromise. Such as accepting such
current trending social movements. Such as Transgender people, LGBTQ+
people, other religious and spiritualist beliefs and Political agendas.
Any compromise will lead us towards negative results in our lives. We
need to stay strong to our God and our Saviour.