I think one of the greatest traps we can fall into as believers is the trap of compromise. Compromise with the culture and with the devil is often deceptive.  It usually comes in small incremental steps which allows us to create justifications for each small departure from biblical standards.  Typically, we fall into some kind of “the end justifies the means” thinking.  In extreme cases we can seemingly justify almost anything and declare it to be within God’s will.

Recently, I met with a young man who described himself as godly and spiritual but was battling depression and some traumatic events in his life.  He acknowledged that he was making a living selling marijuana on the streets in a state where it is still illegal.  In his mind, he was providing something good for his clients, like a doctor dispensing medicine and, therefore, his drug dealing was God’s will for his life because he was “helping” people.  After all, he noted that marijuana is legal in “enlightened” states and so that added to his justification. For him, selling weedhurt no one and was approved by some and, therefore, must be approved by God.  He had also made considerable money from his business and believed with all his heart that God was blessing him financially and that was more confirmation of God’s approval.  When I mentioned the command to obey the laws of the land, he simply said that he obeyed the laws of God, rather than men.  When I raised the possibility that the financial blessing he was experiencing might be from the enemy and not from God, he dismissed that as unlikely.  The fact that he didn’t sell heroin or cocaine gave him a sense of comparative righteousness and for him justified the compromise he had made with God’s word. Even though he had nearly been killed twice by people he met in his trade, he couldn’t see any misalignment with his lifestyle and biblical principles – many of which he could quote.

We find the same reasoning with believers who live together and share in all the privileges of marriage without being married. The justification is that they are in a committed relationship rather than sleeping around and so assume that God approves or, at least, gives them a pass on sex outside of the marriage covenant. They practice the value of commitment and, therefore find a way to ignore the standard of sexual purity outside of marriage.  The Christian gay community does the same thing by declaring that because they practice love and commitment – two biblical values – they have God’s approval for same-sex marriage.

Compromise treats God’s standards as if he grades on the curve and if we are living out some of God’s values and commands then we can ignore others and still get a passing grade.  To be sure, none us are without sin.  However, falling short of God’s standards out of weakness or even rebellion and then repenting is a very different thing from simply deciding that we will ignore or modify his standards that keep us from what we want while we offer him a justification for doing so.

When we do that we simply find ways to compromise with the world or the devil and still consider ourselves committed Christians. That is a dangerous place to be.  We can also ignore the standards of God in the name of tolerance and grace and explain away God’s clear commands in the name of acceptance and love.  When we do that, we give away our view that God’s laws are restrictive and punitive rather than life-giving.  We give away our view that some of God’s commands are unreasonable or outdated. Culture or the flesh wears us down so we begin to compromise in some areas of our faith while standing strong in others.  We are in danger when we begin to justify that compromise.  It would be better to simply acknowledge our sin or weakness while asking God to deliver us from that sin rather than deciding that our particular sin should not be considered sin at all.

King Saul lost his entire kingdom over the issue of compromising God’s standard and then justifying his compromise. “Samuel said to Saul, ‘I am the one the Lordsent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. This is what the LordAlmighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ … Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed…When Samuel reached him, Saul said, ‘The Lordbless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.’ But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?’ Saul answered, ‘The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lordyour God, but we totally destroyed the rest’”  (1 Sam.15:1-15).

Samuel went on to rebuke Saul while Saul continued to argue that the he had fulfilled the Lord’s command.  You get the feeling that Saul was thinking that doing “most” of what God had commanded was sufficient and should count as full obedience. He adjusted the standard that God had set to meet his personal sense of what the standard should have been.  As a result, God counted him as unworthy to rule and took away his kingdom.

One of the worst things we can do is to begin to justify our sin before God rather than simply acknowledging our failures and asking God’s forgiveness. When David sinned with Bathsheba, his heart was revealed in Psalm 51.  He had committed murder and adultery but as he sought God again he never blamed anyone else or tried to justify or minimize his sin.  He acknowledged his sin, took full responsibility, and then cried out for God’s mercy.  He was fully forgiven.  Saul, on the other hand, justified himself and blamed others for his failures. David found the favor of God again while Saul lost his kingdom.

I think each of us should ask the Holy Spirit on a regular basis to highlight areas of compromise in our lives and to show us places where we have begun to justify our sin.  Whenever we do that, we come into agreement with Satan and open a door for him to camp out in our lives. Ask others to watch your life is well to see where those small compromises and justifications are sneaking in to our lives.  When we discover those places of spiritual erosion, don’t ignore them, excuse them, or deny them.  Simply deal with them through the cross and renew your commitment to God’s word as his eternal standard for life.

We are looking at the “beatitudes” of Jesus that are presented in Matthew 5, the beginning of what we call the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus declared that a number of attitudes will bring a state of blessedness to our lives. As we reflect on the passage, we realize that these, like the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, are attributes of God that he wants to see reflected in his children.

In Matthew 5:8, Jesus declares, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  The word translated as pure is the Greek word katharos. It means clean, unblemished, unsoiled, and so forth.  At its root, it means unadulterated or unmixed – like !00% pure olive oil. It is comprised of a single substance with no additives.  God longs for our hearts to be unmixed and to be fully set on him.  In Psalm 119, this theme comes up over and over.

         Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.(Ps. 119:2).

         I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. (Ps. 119:10)

         You are my portion, O Lord; … I have sought your face with all my heart. (Ps. 119:57-58).

This theme of seeking God or serving God with all of our hearts or wholeheartedlycomes up over and over in scripture.  It stands opposite the idea of serving him half-heartedly. James refers to as being double-minded and says that a “double-minded msn” should not expect an answer to prayer.  I was a minister to single adults back in the day.  It wasn’t unusual to see a guy “sort of breakup” with a girl while he pursued another woman that he thought might “be the one.”  At the same time, he didn’t exactly finish the relationship with the first girl in case this second relationship didn’t work out.  He kept the first girl on a string as his backup plan. He was double-minded or half-hearted in both relationships and usually ended up loosing both girls.

Sometimes we treat God that way. We declare our hunger and love for him while still keeping one foot planted firmly in the world in case the world offers us something we think might be better than what God can offer.  How many times do believers compromise their faith for a relationship?  They do that because they believe the relationship offers more love, happiness, and security than God. How often do believers pursue career, wealth, fame or power so that their service to God and even their family is neglected?  It’s because they believe wealth or fame or career offers more for their security and happiness than God does.  While doing that, we still proclaim our love for God as we give him only the leftovers of our time and energy.

I ran across a valuable paradigm at a conference in Chicago one time.  It was the paradigm of aspirationalvalues versus actualvalues.  Aspirational values are those we aspire to have because we know we should hold and serve those values.  Actual values are the ones we actually pursue and they show up in what we do – how we actually spend our time and money or in the ways we treat other people.  The deception is in believing that our aspirational values are our actual values when they are not.  We can convince ourselves that we are loving God with all of our heart while we offer him our leftovers or keep him as our “backup” relationship in case our romance  with the world doesn’t work out.

The psalmist is clear that we will only see God’s face when we pursue him wholeheartedly with an unmixed, undiluted, or pure heart. Our wholehearted pursuit of God is what produces an unstained heart or a morally pure heart that God also desires. If we truly want to see God, then an assessment of our priorities is in order and probably some repentance.  We need to sort out our actual values over our aspirational values and make them the same thing. If we could stand back and think about what other people would assume our highest values are, based on the way we invest our time, our money, and our emotions, what would they say?  What if we asked the people who know us best what they think we actually value most based on our behaviors, what would they say if they were brutally honest? They would probably be right and most of us could stand to make some adjustments…myself included.  Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

Have you ever known or been a double-minded person? Many believers try to live with one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world, never quite giving themselves fully to either one – obeying the commands of God that are comfortable, but participating in the values and ways of the world that satisfy the flesh. The truth is that all of us have to fight the battle against double-mindedness because the natural man (the flesh) wars against the spirit and constantly pulls us in the direction of the world while Satan provides every justification for ignoring or putting off the things of God.

King Saul is a classic study in double-mindedness. Anointed by God and made king by no effort of his own, he served God from time to time but served himself more consistently, while all the time convincing himself that he was being perfectly obedient to the God of Israel. His tendency is never more apparent than in his dealing with the Amalekites.

We are told, “Samuel said to Saul, ‘I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys’” (1 Sam.15;1-3). Through the prophet Samuel, God gave a very clear directive to Saul. He was to be the instrument of God’s judgment on the Amalekites for their attacks on Israel. The command was to attack and leave nothing alive or standing.

We are told that Saul mustered his troops, attacked the Amalekites, and routed them. “Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed” (1 Sam.15:7-9).

Notice that Saul did much of what God had commanded, but held back on some things that stirred the desires of their flesh. The king of Amalek, Agag, was spared. I have no doubt that Saul spared him because he too was a king (professional courtesy, so to speak) and because it made Saul feel powerful and exalted for Agag to be indebted to him. They also spared the best sheep and cattle. I sense that they thought some of those animals might end up in their pens as spoils of war. The text says that they were “unwilling” to destroy them completely, even though God had given a very clear command. They were not willing to destroy the things they desired but did destroy “everything that was despised and weak.”

In the same sense, in serving God we are often unwilling to give up the things of the world that give us pleasure, but freely give up the things we don’t particularly value. In doing so, we convince ourselves that we are obedient servants of Christ. When confronted about his disobedience, Saul was confident that he was pleasing to the Lord. But the scripture says, “Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: ‘I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions…When Samuel reached him, Saul said, ‘The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.’ But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?’ Saul answered, ‘The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest’” (1 Sam.15:10-15). Saul’s first declaration was that he had totally fulfilled God’s command. When confronted, he blamed the miscue on his soldiers but imputed “godly” motives to them. “We spared the best for sacrifice.” In other words, Saul determined to serve God in ways that might profit him and on his terms while convincing himself that he had done all that was asked.

Ultimately, God removed the kingdom from Saul and gave it to David. The idea is not that David was perfectly obedient in all he did. Bathsheba comes to mind. The difference was that David did not justify his sins, ignore them, or blame others. Whatever God called sin, David called sin. He failed to live up to those standards at times, but he didn’t dilute the standards and when he failed he took personal responsibility and felt genuine sorrow. Saul only feigned sorrow when he was caught. In fact, David was so concerned about the deceptive capacity of the flesh that he prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23-24).

We all live in danger of slipping into the double-mindedness of Saul. God’s blessings are very limited in that direction and he will be able to trust us with very little because we will want to do it our way and call it good. That approach to life is also an open door for the enemy because placing ourselves, our will, and our desires ahead of God’s commands constitutes idolatry in which we give ourselves greater standing than God. Some of our personal idolatry is subtle and hard for even us to detect, but the Holy Spirit is glad to make us aware if we truly want to know. David’s prayer is a great prayer for us to offer on a regular basis. Uprooting double-mindedness in our own lives is an essential key to seeing God do great things through us. It might be a valuable joint project between us and the Holt Spirit for 2018.

 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”                       2 Corinthians 6:14

Sometimes it’s very beneficial to go back to familiar texts to see what else the Spirit will show you. The word of God always has more and is layered with truths. Jesus said, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old” (Mt.13:52-53). Each time you study the Word, whether an unfamiliar passage or a very familiar passage, you find not only confirmation of truths you have already discovered but discover new truth as well. The passage above is a familiar passage but I felt prompted to consider it again. It will take two blogs to do it justice so I hope you will bear with me. It is a very important text.

The first verse is usually translated as the NIV translates it above saying, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. ” Some translations like the ESV say, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” The idea is rooted in Old Testament law. Under the Old Covenant the Jews were not to intermarry with surrounding tribes who did not worship Jehovah (Dt.7:3) or plow with different types of animals in the same yoke (Dt.22:10). There were a number of laws that reinforced the principle of separation and purity even to the extent of not weaving garments out of two kinds of thread or material. The idea that God’s people are to live distinct lives driven by kingdom goals and values without worldly influence is a constant theme in both the Old and New Testaments. The root word translated as yoked means to be in agreement with. It also carries the idea of being influenced or tied together by covenants. When animals are yoked together they are bound and the movements of one influence the other. Not only was Israel to never marry those outside the covenant but also was never to make any treaties with foreign nations. Of course, they violated that principle over and over and the inevitable outcome was that Israel compromised her values in order to maintain the alliance and as a result alienated themselves from God and his blessings.

The apostle Paul clearly tells us that we are to avoid relationships with unbelievers that yoke us together in any kind of covenant or alliance because there are spiritual implications to those relationships. The truth is that you cannot enter into that level of relationship with an unbeliever and maintain that relationship without compromising your spiritual values. Throughout his writings, Paul is clear that the unsaved cannot understand or agree with spiritual matters because they do not have the Spirit of Christ in them. To them, many of your values will seem quaint, naïve, or unreasonable because their thinking is darkened. To maintain a relationship will create constant conflict unless you compromise your values and perspectives to some degree. It cannot be any other way. Think about how hard it is to maintain relationships even with those who do have the Spirit of God within them much less those who do not. Those who do not have the Spirit of Christ are darkened in their understanding (Eph.4:18) and are blinded by the god of this age (2 Cor.4:4). They may say they agree with you but cannot and because of that, there will be a slow but steady pressure in the relationship for you to compromise your relationship with the Father.

These “yoked” relationships that Paul had in mind probably had marriage at the top of the list. In Ezra 10, as the Israelites were rededicating themselves to the Lord, all those who had married non-Jews and even had children by them had to put away those wives and children because they were defiled by the relationships. Even Solomon, toward the end of his life, was drawn into idol worship by foreign wives he had taken for himself. Many of those were products of foreign alliances in which he took the daughter of another king to cement an alliance. For all of his wisdom, he was still drawn into a seriously compromised spiritual position because he allowed himself to be yoked with unbelievers. Yoking brings us into agreement with another and whatever or whoever we agree with we empower.

In addition to marriage covenants these yoked relationships can also include political alliances, business partners, dating relationships, and best friends. It is also important to know that Paul was not just giving wise counsel but was giving a command to believers. Whether or not your friend, your partner, or your love interest are aware of it, your yoking with that unbeliever gives Satan power in your life. When you enter into a binding relationship legally or relationally with unbelievers, you are entering into an alliance with the one they serve. We need to think seriously about that before joining ourselves to others that do not belong to God. That joining can take many forms and we will consider those in Part 2.

When speaking about false prophets, Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them” (Mt.7:15-20).

This warning about false prophets suggests than men will come into the church with hidden agendas and, typically, try to draw followers after them for financial gain or to introduce heresies into the church. Jesus suggested that the fruit they bear will indicate whether they are from God or not. These false prophets apparently are intentional about their deception. Their fruit will be a watered down gospel, division in the church, immorality, and an unbiblical view of Jesus and salvation. These men must be recognized, warned, and dealt with by church leadership in order to protect the flock.

Sometimes, however, parts of the body of Christ have been too quick to label someone with whom they disagree as a false prophet who needs to be immediately run out of town. More often, the church has experienced well-meaning people with poor theology which they came by honestly. Lets face it, most of us were introduced to our view of scripture (theology) by those who brought us to Christ and by leaders in the group that became our initial spiritual family. Because we knew very little or no Bible, we received their teaching without any critical evaluation. We also held these preachers and teachers in high esteem because those with whom we had relationships held them in high esteem. If they taught something that we questioned or that seemed to contradict something we had read in scripture, we typically ignored our objections and accepted their theology because “they knew so much more Bible than we did.” That happens in generations of Christians who trust their teachers who trusted their teachers who trusted their teachers, and so on.

What we need to understand is that poor theology can be passed on by well-meaning and good-hearted people and that we can question their theology without questioning the faith or sincerity of those who hold it. I believe that a great deal of poor or inadequate theology has been passed down from generation to generation in the church and that one of the ways we can evaluate theology, like prophets, is by its fruit.

One of the major theologies that concerns me (okay – aggravates me) today has been around for a couple of hundred years but has really gained prominence among evangelicals in the past fifty years. It is the theology that states that the signs of the end times include the worsening of the world and the inevitable weakening and ineffectiveness of the church.   Embedded in this theology is the idea that this weakening and worldwide persecution of the church is God’s plan and is, therefore, inevitable. Since it is inevitable and since we are surely in the end times, we must simply resign ourselves to the decline of the church and the increase of evil until Jesus returns. Those who accept that premise, tend to give up on redeeming nations and cultures for Christ and settle for getting a few more into the kingdom of God before the end while mostly bunkering in and protecting what we have.

The fruit of that theology has been a defeatist attitude, pessimism, and a fatalistic approach to reclaiming our own nation. Many Christians feel helpless and weak in the face of culture and “big moves” of the devil. The only news that is reported about the church is decline and apathy and so many believers are bunkering in and waiting for the end. There is a problem with that view. Just because something is being reported by anti-Christian media outlets does not make it true or the whole story. The church is flourishing worldwide. Secondly, it is not an acceptable attitude for those who are more than conquerors. I was scanning Bill Johnson’s new book, God is Good, and appreciated what he had to say about that mindset. I thought I would share it with you.

“Vision starts with identity and purpose. Through a revolution in our identity, we can think with divine purpose. Such a change begins with a revelation of Him. One of the tragedies of a weakened identity is how it affects our approach to Scripture. Many, if not most, theologians make the mistake of taking all the good stuff contained in the prophets and sweeping it under the mysterious rug called the Millennium…I want to challenge our thinking and deal with our propensity that puts off those things that require courage, faith, and action to another period of time. The mistaken idea is this: if it is good, it can’t be for now. A cornerstone of this theology is that the condition of the church will always be getting worse and worse; therefore, tragedy in the church is just another sign of these being the last days. In a perverted sense, the weakness of the Church confirms to many that they are on the right course. The worsening condition of the world and the Church becomes a sign to them that all is well. I have many problems with that kind of thinking, but only one I will mention now – it requires no faith! We are so entrenched in unbelief that anything contrary to this worldview is thought to be of the devil” (Bill Johnson, God is Good, p.54-55. DestinyImage Publishing).

Can any theology that bears the fruit of futility, hopelessness, and weakness in the Church be good or healthy theology? How can our biblical identity of being sons and daughters of a triumphant King who has all authority in heaven and on earth, walking in power, doing greater things that he did with a co-mission to go out and make disciples of all nations (not just a handful of people within a nation), fit into that defeatist view of our times?

Jesus does not cower and hide away because the world is bleak. He has overcome the world. We are more than conquerors. Proverbs says that as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. As the church thinketh in her heart so is she. What a coup for the enemy that he has introduced a theology into a large part of the church that accepts decline and defeat for the church as God’s perfect and irresistible plan. The kingdom of God does not retreat. The Kingdom of God does not shrink. It is not the nature of Christ to cower. Whatever happened to the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church? Much of the church seems to be like Israel who hid in their tents when Goliath would come out to challenge them. In their own eyes they were defeated before the battle even started. What we need is a church full of David’s who envisioned holding the head of the giant in his hands because his God was way bigger than any Philistine strong man.

Isaiah declared of Messiah, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end (emphasis added). He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this” (Isa.9:6-7).

I see no parenthesis in the increase of his government. I do not see this occurring only in the Millennium. If that prophecy is confined to the age to come, then Jesus is not yet on the throne of David, not yet Prince of Peace, not yet Wonderful Counselor, and so forth. We can evaluate theology by its fruit and make biblical adjustments without calling those who promote it false prophets. If they are preaching their best current understanding of scripture with sincerity, they are not false prophets. They are simply men and women who need to reconsider their theology apart from the orthodox status it has among their denominational leaders. By the way, most of the churches who hold this pessimistic view of a languishing church in the end times are also cessationist churches that believe that God no longer performs miraculous feats on behalf of his people. Powerlessness, of course, breeds despair.

If you have felt despair and hopelessness in your life and your world because of this theology, you have my permission to reconsider your understanding. Anything that works against faith, hope, optimism, and a conquering spirit but instead produces fear and doubt cannot be of God. If the fruit of that view has produced good fruit in your life and church them hang on to it. If not, do some more study with a different set of eyes.

If we know who we are in Christ – sons and daughters, priests and kings, the temple of the Holy Spirit, seated with Christ in Heavenly realms, more than conquerors, ambassadors of Christ, healers, prophets, those who trample on snakes and scorpions, and those who will do even greater things than he did – then we cannot accept a theology that negates everything we are.

From time to time we need to examine what we really believe and what beliefs or theologies are influencing us. What has the fruit been in your life? If your theology or your church’s theology has been Christ-centered, empowering, encouraging, hopeful, demon-kicking, and transformative then you are in a good place. First of all, those qualities reflect the character and Spirit of Christ and any truth from him should bear that fruit in us. If, however, you are discouraged, fearful, dreading the future, and exhausted…that is not from Christ for we have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.

Check the fruit not only of prophets but also of theologies. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth and give you a greater understanding of who you are and who He is in these present days. After all, that us part of his job description and no matter what is happening around us, he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. Our Lord has already overcome this world and we already share in that victory… so be encouraged and blessed in Him today.

In his letters to the seven churches in Asia, Jesus affirmed many things but then called out five of the seven churches on issues that were hindering their relationship with Jesus. To the church at Pergamum, Jesus applauded their steadfast faith in the face of severe persecution. Even when one of the believers there had been put to death, they had not denied Jesus. And yet, even though they had never denied Jesus, he had some issues with the church.

Jesus said, “Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth” (Rev.2:14-16).

Pergamum was a church that had stood strong in the face of persecution but that had also compromised with the culture. They had begun to practice tolerance rather than holiness. Jesus declared that they were fellowshipping those in the church who practiced idolatry and sexual immorality and who were encouraging others to do the same. The Nicolaitans were a group who believed that since grace covered all sin, you could sin all you like. Jesus was not condemning those who struggle with sin. He was condemning those who don’t struggle against sin at all.

We are vulnerable to the same things in our culture. Perhaps, persecution had prompted them to be a little more tolerant of the culture and to not speak out so loudly against sin. Perhaps, they thought “fitting in” a little more might improve their outreach. The gospel of tolerance had taken over at Pergamum. That gospel declares that love is never judging others, never making them feel bad, never rejecting someone because they hold different views or understand God in a different way. The gospel of tolerance questions the clear meaning of scripture and makes the holiness of God take a back seat to his grace. What was once not tolerated in the church becomes tolerated, and then, at some point, is celebrated as proof of a love that doesn’t reject or judge sinners.

Jesus doesn’t reject sinners, but he does reject sin because sin degrades and eventually destroys. Being tolerant of weakness as people grow in the Lord is not the same as tolerating sinful lifestyles that are paraded about and that actively recruit others. Balaam’s strategy against Israel was simple. Draw them outside the will of God and let his judgment fall on them. I’m sure it began with the premise of practicing a little tolerance so that you don’t alienate your neighbors. One of Satan’s strategies is to draw churches and individuals out of the will of God so that they give Satan a legal right to really come after them while the sin blocks the blessings and move of God in their lives.

Even though the church at Pergamum had not denied the name of Jesus, they had compromised with the culture and invited idolatry and sexual immorality into the church. After all, that was standard operating procedure in pagan temples. The desire to be like those around us was not new to Pergamum. Israel wanted a king like the nations around them when Saul was chosen to rule. It took very little time for Israel to incorporate the idols of the surrounding nation into their worship of the one true God. In defiance of the Law of Moses, it wasn’t long until Israel made alliances with all kinds of unbelieving nations. Each of those compromises cost Israel dearly.

So what about us? Even though we wear the name of Jesus, have we compromised with the culture and brought the culture’s standards into the church rather than taking the church’s standards into our culture? Those who practice homosexuality are now welcomed into the leadership of mainline churches, even though scripture clearly calls it sin. Christians eagerly attend movies that only a few years ago were considered pornographic. But because culture is comfortable with what is portrayed, many Christians have become comfortable. Church discipline is almost extinct because we tolerate and do not judge anything, even though we are commanded to hold one another accountable to God’s standards. We could go on, but the church today is in danger of a rebuke from the Lord because we tolerate the active practice of sin – typically by our silence.

As a self-diagnostic, we need to ask ourselves if there are areas of compromise in our own lives because we have wanted to fit it with the world. What do we participate in so that we feel accepted at the office, at school, or with the team? What are we compromising for the sake of a relationship and has that relationship become an idol? What are we compromising for the sake of a career? What are we silent about that is wrong? When we choose not to speak out, we eventually rationalize our silence. That rationalization becomes tolerance and tolerance eventually becomes acceptance.

I’m not saying that we should go around condemning everyone we have contact with and point out his or her sins. Paul tells us that we are not to judge the world, but he is clear that we are to judge the church…not by our standards, but by God’s standards. We are not to judge self-righteously, but out of concern for a soul endangered by sin and the bondage or discipline it may bring. Love always acts in the best interest of another, and encouraging others to live holy lives is in their best interest.

The danger is that we begin to believe that whatever cultures calls good or acceptable, God will call good or acceptable. Culture does not establish the standards for righteousness and so culture is not the measure of our life in Christ. God sets the standards and Jesus, unapologetically, calls us to those standards.

In our own lives, compromise damages our relationship with God and creates open doors for the enemy. Jesus called on Pergamum to repent of tolerating sin and he would say the same to us. These may be the hardest things to identify in our lives because they creep in slowly. We rationalize our involvement, or at least our decision not to stand against something, and we usually spiritualize that decision by calling it non-judgmental or an effort to build relationships so that we can share Jesus with someone later.

This isn’t a call to isolate ourselves from culture or the lost otherwise we can never affect them for Jesus. Somehow Jesus was able to spend time with “sinners” without compromising and without offending them. In fact, broken sinners were drawn to him. I think he simply was who he was and didn’t change that in any context. He did not excuse sin but neither did he make sin the issue among the broken and the shamed. He affirmed what he could and pointed them to the love of the Father. He did not compromise his standards, but simply demonstrated the attractiveness of godliness when it is wrapped in love.

In my own self-diagnostic, I need to ask the Spirit to show me areas of compromise, rationalization, and “buying in” to what the world is peddling. I need to realign my thinking with the Father and determine to maintain godly standards while loving those who are bound up in sin. As a church, we need to love broken sinners but stand against those who willingly sin as a lifestyle and who try to draw others in with them. The praise and acceptance of the world cannot be our goal, only the praise and acceptance of Jesus. Be blessed today and be aware of where you stand.

In the book of Revelation, Jesus issued letters to seven churches in the province of Asia. To Smyrna and Philadelphia, Jesus sent his affirmations and approval of their endurance and faithfulness in the withering face of persecution with a promise that victory was coming if they would just continue to hold on.

To Ephesus, he gave a mixed report. He began by listing what seem to be stellar recommendations. “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men…you have persevered and endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary” (Rev.2:2-3). This seems like the ideal church and yet, in the midst of those admirable traits, Jesus held something against them. “Yet, I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first” (Rev. 2:4-5).

If you have been a believer very long, you might recognize the reality that the response once prompted by love can cool to a response of duty, obligation, or simply habit. After a few years, we can become good church members living moral lives, caring for the poor, coaching little league, attending church, and so forth. A good Buddhist would do the same. The thing that makes us different is our relationship with Jesus. Many couples marry with a great passion for one another, but after a few years the marriage simply becomes “going through the motions.” The behaviors may mimic what was done the first few years of marriage, but the heart behind it is gone.

God is love and love tends to remain unsatisfied until love is returned. In addition, love motivates us to do what nothing else will motivate us to do. Duty, obligation or habit did not motivate Jesus to endure the cross for us – only love pushed him to Golgatha.

Jesus then asked them to remember the height from which they had fallen. He was not asking them to measure how low they had sunk, but to remember what life was like when they were in love with him. He called them to remember the exhilaration found in a loving relationship with the Savior.

I have to ask how I am doing in maintaining “first love” status. Has my ministry become a job that I do like any other? Is my Bible study to discover new truths or just to get a coherent lesson together? Am I doing what I do out of love for Jesus or just the habits of a Christian life? How are you doing?

He then said to the Ephesians, “Repent and do the things you did at first.” What did you do when you first came to Jesus? Did you pour over his written word with expectation? Did you hungrily seek someone who could help you grow in the Lord? Were you willing to serve in any capacity because you were simply serving Jesus? Did you share Jesus with everyone around you? The truth is that you did those things because you loved Jesus, but you also loved Jesus because you did those things.

Going back to the basics is not a bad thing. We tend to think that basics are for the immature or the amateur, but doing the basics well is what wins championships. Remember the thanksgiving that used to issue from your heart in response to what he had done for you and in response to how much had been forgiven? Remember how you longed for his presence and his voice? Remember the excitement of answered prayers and seeing the hand of God in your life?

His counsel is to remember how rich those days were and return to them. Return to the heights of your first days in the presence of a loving Savior. Pour over his word against with the expectation of discovery. Find a mentor to rekindle the coals and to take you to another level of relationship with the Father. Serve in simplicity. Share your faith again. Keep doing the good you are doing but do it out of love for the Master, rather than from the habits of a moral life. That love makes our Christian walk rich again. Blessings in Him.

More Revelation on Friday.

To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (Rev. 2:12-16).

We are continuing to look at the letters to the seven churches of Asia in the beginning chapters of the book of Revelation as an opportunity to check our alignment with the Father so that nothing hinders the flow of the Spirit in our lives. Frequent course corrections are usually needed for all of us if we are to stay aligned with our “true north.” These letters remind us that we can be on track spiritually in parts of our lives while being seriously out-of-step in other parts.

In his admonition to the church in Pergamum, Jesus acknowledged the things they had done that prompted praise from heaven. They had not renounced the name of Jesus or rejected the faith even in the face of brutal persecution. Within the city was a huge altar that was built for sacrifices to Zeus or Athena or both. Some believe this is the throne of Satan referenced in the letter. The city was a center for pagan worship. The bible is clear that demons rather than gods are the power behind any idol so that Satan had a stronghold within this city that warred against the church. The church had held its own when hell had broken out against them and even when Antipas was martyred for the faith. Jesus affirmed them for their faith that had been sustained in a demonic stronghold.

However, their faith wasn’t all that it could be. The real issue among the “faithful” of Pergamum was tolerance. Apparently they tolerated men and women in the church who still participated in idolatry and immorality and who were enticing other believers to join them. In a city with so much demonic influence and immorality it may have seemed that what these individuals promoted was “not so bad” compared to the culture around them and yet Jesus taught that a little leaven will eventually affect the entire loaf. In essence, the culture was impacting the church rather than the church impacting the culture. A little tolerance and a little political correctness may seem to buy the church a little acceptance by the culture but it is offensive to the Spirit. True alignment always seeks the praise of the Father over the praise of men.

Compromise with the culture misaligns us with the Father and his heart. That is true for churches but just as true in our personal lives as well. When we are surrounded by a demonic and debase culture it is easy to compromise with the flesh and the culture by engaging in things that seem “more moral” than what the culture at large is practicing.  After a while, the “more moral than the culture” may become a standard in our lives rather than biblical standards of righteousness. My guess is that this compromise shows up most in movies, television, books, magazines, and web sites that believers frequent.

For instance, many believers feel no hesitation to go to a PG-13 movie because our culture considers the content to be fairly tame. However, what is seen in PG-13 movies now would have been R-rated or even X-rated 50 years ago. The standard for each of us should not be not what the culture considers harmless but what the Spirit finds unoffensive.

Many of us watch television shows that promote homosexuality, adultery, premarital sex, or greed as an acceptable lifestyle with no thought of those things being sin and being highly offensive to the Spirit of God. Compromise with the culture, even in what we watch or read, dulls our spiritual sensitivity to the things that are unholy. They also dull our sensitivity to the things that are holy.

Undoubtedly, when we are committed to live by biblical standards of righteousness we will seem fanatical or prudish to most of the people around us – even to other believers. And yet tolerance and compromise are the very things about which Jesus warned the church at Pergamum. The more aligned we are with the Father’s heart, the more of his Spirit we will experience. Alignment is about saying yes to the things of God and no to the things of the world. May we choose well today so that the power of heaven can flow easily in our lives and may we ask for a spiritual sensitivity to the things that please the Spirit or that grieve him.

As we continue our walk through Luke 11 and the sorrows Jesus pronounced over the Pharisees we need to continue to check our own hearts to see where we stand with the Lord in these areas of faith.

The Second Woe

“Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces  (Luke 11:43).

Again, we need to remember that when Jesus said “Woe” he wasn’t pronouncing a curse but more of a warning for impending sorrow and even destruction if their hearts were not realigned with the Father’s heart.  The diagnosis given by the great physician here was that these men who presumably loved God, loved the admiration of men even more.  Jesus spoke to that issue on numerous occasions.

Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets (Luke 20:46).  Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ (Mt.23:5-7).

In the Kingdom of God motives matter.  These religious leaders were more motivated by the praise of men than the praise of God.  It’s not that they weren’t doing good things.  They were certainly solid citizens who lived moral lives and frequented the synagogues and temple on every occasion.  More than likely they gave generously to the temple and even gave alms to the poor. But Jesus nailed them on their motives for doing good things – “Everything they do is done for men to see.”

The Achilles heal of these religious leaders was that they wanted to fit in.  They wanted to be well thought of.  They wanted status and standing and invitations to the best events.  In a sense, they assumed that if they were pleasing to men and if they were given the most honored seats at the table then they must be pleasing to God as well. Without knowing it, they gravitated to the desires of the flesh and in doing so became insensitive to God’s leading.  Ultimately, their desire for the praise of those closest around them eventually moved them into a compromised position with the culture at large.  In order to maintain their standing among men – which included fine houses, fine clothes, and invitations to state events – they became politically correct in their proclamations and even in their theological positions.

Undoubtedly they justified their compromise with the thought that they had to meet the Romans halfway in order to stay in their leadership roles and they could only protect the faith and the faithful by continuing in their positions as leaders. They could only cash in on their political and business connections for the “sake of the church” if they continued to move in those favored and powerful circles.  In the end, they crucified Jesus for those very reasons.

Jesus is clear that man cannot serve two masters.  We cannot be friends with the world and friends with God. There will be many times when we can’t please both men and God – we will have to choose and the choice is the thing. John tells us that, “among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:  For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (Jn.12:42-43).

In our own hearts it is easy to slip into compromise with the world for the sake of getting along and even for the sake of maintaining relationships. Jesus does not ask us to go around picking fights with everyone and everything that doesn’t line up with the Bible. What he does ask is that in our own hearts we make the decision that when forced to choose, we will always choose Jesus and be obedient to him even when that choice will cost us favor at work, potentially damage friendship, or even a end a romantic relationship if you are single.

We have entered an era in America when Biblical Christianity is not popular or acceptable in many circles…even among many who claim to follow Christ.  In our culture, declaring that Jesus is the only way to heaven rather than one of many ways will place you in the camp of the intolerant.  To stand in a classroom and make a case for creationism will place you in the camp of the ignorant. To take a stand against abortion will cast you in the role of the oppressor trying to take away the sacred rights of women.  To speak out against homosexuality will define you as an opponent of civil rights and since you oppose civil rights you must also be a racist.  In the face of cultural condemnation we will, like numerous politicians, be tempted to compromise or water down our statements to avoid offense.  We will be tempted to speak in generalities and talk around clear biblical truth.

At each of those moments we will simply have to make a decision – will we seek the praise of men or the praise of God?  If you want the grace and the power of God to flow through you then check the biblical record.  God worked in powerful ways for and through those men and women who would not compromise with the world or bow the knee to the idols that kings had commanded them to worship.  Moses, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Daniel, the prophets, and the apostles were all politically incorrect and inevitably placed themselves at odds with the culture they were trying to win for the Lord. But consider what God did through them.  They turned the world upside down.

We must all check our hearts from time to time to see whose approval we truly desire the most.  When we fail to speak to someone about Jesus, fail to pray for the blind woman in Starbucks, fail to seek our prayer language because our family might think it is weird, or fail to speak out against sin in our culture…it is simply because we fear man rather than God or want man’s approval more than the approval of our King.  We have all given into the impulse and we all have to guard against it for “woe” to us when we do things primarily to be seen and accepted by men.  When I know I have given into that fear then repentance is the key.  Recommit to live without compromise and ask God for the boldness to live with him as the audience we care about.

Father, give me a heart that desires to please only you and the boldness to act on that desire.   In Jesus name.   Amen

Late last night I was working on a revision of our Free Indeed manual that we use at Mid-Cities for our eight week study on Freedom in Christ and our weekend of healing and breaking the power of the enemy.  That’s the curriculum from which Born to Be Free was developed.  As I was going over the manual I was reminded how patient and subtle the enemy can be in getting us to compromise our faith so that we compromise our effectiveness and slowly quench the Spirit within us.

No doubt the enemy sometimes comes at us with a full frontal assault in an effort to overwhelm us.  When that happens we quickly recognize what is going on and call up the troops for prayer. Those can be exhausting moments or seasons but we usually draw closer to the Lord and become more aggressive in our faith in those seasons. Sometimes the more destructive strategies of the enemy simply are seasons of relative peace during which we drop our spiritual guard and become susceptible to his subtle influences.  Those not-so-noticeable influences can gradually accumulate in our lives and lead us to compromise in ways we barely notice.

Think about movies today. Most Christians feel pretty good about attending PG or PG13 movies today while drawing the line at the R rated flicks.  However, what is PG13 today was R rated or even X rated just a few years ago. Television has normalized partial nudity, bad language, violence, adultery, homosexual relationships, and so forth. When we see something everyday it becomes “the norm” and whatever is “normal” seems to take on an air of acceptability because it doesn’t shock us anymore. Satan is fine with taking twenty years to move us from a perspective of sin being repugnant to it being normal and then to “maybe it’s not all that wrong” and, finally, to acceptance or approval.

As believers we are prone to think that because we have become comfortable with sin or have become callous to it that the Holy Spirit has become comfortable with it as well.  Paul counsels us not to grieve or quench the Spirit within us.  Sin grieves the Spirit and our choices to ignore the conviction he brings us as we watch, read, or participate in things offensive to him tend to quench the Spirit within us.  Satan presents those things slowly but persistently so that we find the sin barely offensive.

It’s almost like an enemy putting a small piece of tainted meat in your stew.  As you eat it you notice that an occasional bite seems a little odd or distasteful but the rest seems fine so we eat away.  If we eat that stew everyday, we don’t even notice the subtly odd taste anymore. It becomes the “normal” taste of stew for us.  Then the enemy can increase the amount of tainted meet again.  After a year or two we may believe that there is nothing wrong with the stew because it tastes “normal” although by then 90% of the meat is tainted. Even when we find ourselves feeling sick every day we don’t think that the stew is the problem because it tastes “okay” to us. In fact, we may not even recognize that we are sick because the fatigue and body aches have become our norm as well.

Satan introduces sin and compromise in the same subtle ways.  There were times when Israel would go up on high places and worship idols (demons) and then immediately go down to worship Jehovah in the temple at Jerusalem.  After a while, Israel placed idols in the temple itself and worshipped both false gods and the one true God at the same time. My guess is that it took years of worshipping idols before it was comfortable or “normal” enough to set them in the temple of the living God.  The culture had become so full of idolatry that even the priests seemed to accept the presence of demon worship in God’s holy temple as somehow permissible. They fell into the trap of believing that if they were not offended then surely their God was not offended.   However, God was offended and eventually his presence left the temple altogether.

My question is, “What has subtly become the “norm” in my life or in my mind that has slowly taken on an air of acceptability to me that is in no way acceptable to God?  Ultimately, I believe the tainted meat the enemy introduces slowly into my life is more dangerous than the frontal assaults of the enemy.  May the Lord give me wisdom to detect those areas of compromise and correct my compass so that his Spirit is neither grieved nor quenched in my life.  I pray the same for you.  Be blessed and aware today!