The cost of compromise
1st kings 9:1-9
After Solomon had finished building the temple and had dedicated it to the lord God had appeared to him and gave him instructions and a warning. If Solomon continued to obey the lord than he would be blessed and a strong dynasty of Kings would be established after him to sit on the throne of Israel. Solomon was very successful in his endeavors but with great success comes great temptation. And Solomon fell away from following the Lord and he compromised his values.
1. The compromised life-when Israel turn away from God and began to worship false gods again and melted with the culture of their day so that you could not distinguish between Israel and the surrounding nation God drove them from the land into captivity. They were now under the harsh rule of the Babylonians. Today the church has the same challenge to not prostitute itself by worshiping false gods, to not melt in with the cultures values and instead to stand out as something different. But unfortunately history repeats itself and we find many churches that profess to be Christian embracing the foolishness of the age in which we live. They compromise with a culture that says good is bad and bad is good. To attempt to remain morally straight is made fun of while sexual perversity is praised as being brave and bold. And to speak out or be concerned about the who is influencing your children in the public school is to be labeled intolerant or bigoted.
When we become Christians we are to follow Christ. The ways of Christ are different than the ways of the world. The world is in bondage to sinful ways that have not changed since we walked the earth. There is nothing that is new about human nature or the depravity of sin. For instance. The book of Leviticus is about 3500 years old. Notice the commands that God gave the Israelites before they were to enter into the promise land and see how they relate to the practices of our modern culture.
A. Nothing is new-
Leviticus 18:20-30 (NIV)
20 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.
we see adultery not only being approved of but praised on shows like “desperate housewives” It destroys families, break hearts and yet we consider it entertainment? What’s wrong with that picture?
21 “ ‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.
The Israelites were not to be involved in child sacrifice. That was something the pagan cultures did. Children where instead to be looked at as a blessing. In ancient cultures If a child was unwanted it was either killed or abandoned and exposed to the elements until it died. Today if a child is unwanted you go to a clinic and call it abortion. Different method and terminology but the action and the motive is the same.
22 “ ‘Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
Homosexual practices were common in the surrounding cultures of that day but the God’s people were not to engage in those same practices. There are at least 4 other references in both the old and new testament that condemn this practice. Again this is nothing new it has always been part of the culture but not for God’s people.
23 “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.
People today are just as perverse as people back then. Over thousands of years we have progressed in the knowledge we have acquired but we have not progressed morally. The secular culture is often regarded as progressive but nothing has progressed. It is the same old thing with new packaging. Why is that? Because we are in bondage to sin and the only way out of that bondage is through accepting Jesus sacrifice on the cross for our sins and believing that he rose from the dead and that through him we can be freed from this bondage.
If you were sitting in a jail cell with somebody and you told them that you would be able to get them out of there do you do you think they’d believe you? No they wouldn’t because your in the same jail there in. When we as Christians are in the same bondage to the same sins as everybody else how do we expect them to believe we have the key to freedom in Christ, how do we expect them to receive the good news of the gospel from us. We first need to experience the fullness of the spirit of God in our life that frees us from the bondage of sin, that gives us a passion to live our lives for Christ. Than we can talk from outside the cell and say look I have the key that can set you free and that key is Jesus. But if the church gets caught up into the same perverse practices and ways of thinking of this present culture how will God deal with us? Notice how he dealt with the Israelites
B) a warning-
24 “ ‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. 25 Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, 27 for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. 28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
29 “ ‘Everyone who does any of these detestable things—such persons must be cut off from their people. 30 Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord your God.’ ”
It doesn’t take much reflection to see the parallel between what the Israelites faced and what is happening in our nation right now. Notice though that he isn’t scolding the culture, he isn’t warning the unbelieving nations. He just wiped them out. No, he is warning the Israelites. The same goes for us. He is warning the church.
C) What about prophecy?- I receive a lot of emails and letters with prophecies or visions that people believe God has given them. I think prophecy has it’s place but what do you do when one person is prophesying the destruction of the country and another is prophesying revival across the land? Because I have received both kinds of letters. Do I get everybody pumped up and say that we are going to see unprecedented numbers of people come to know Christ or do I say run to the hills with your food, guns and gold and hide in a cave because Gods going to rain down fire on the nation just like Sodom and Gomorrah? As Christians this is what I believe our responsibility is. The same as its been throughout the ages. Whether we were being persecuted in Rome or living in the lap of luxury in the united states. As God’s people we need to clean up our act 1st, the bride of Christ needs to be prepared for the grooms return. And 2nd we need to be a people of hope and faith not a people of worry and fear. Let those who have hope only in this life run around like chickens with their head cut off but that should not typify the Christian experience. They should be looking at us like we are crazy because we aren’t running around in fear like they are. I will tell you why this is important. Because if we don’t have hope, if we don’t communicate hope. The younger generation won’t listen. As we get older it is natural to get into preservation mode and we can lose some of that youngness of heart. But have seen Christians that have gone into their 80’s that can still connect with 20 something’s because they never lost that hope in Christ that burns down all generational barriers. I pray that this is the hope that lies within us.
2. The consecrated life- Last week we learned that we are the temple of the Lord. It is hard sometimes to imagine that the God of the universe would want to come and live within my heart not just metaphorically but in reality. We are imperfect people we mess up, But God calls us his children and even though we have temptations in this world he gives us a way to withstand those temptations and go through the trials of life and come out on the other side a man or woman of God that has character and wisdom that the Bible calls the fruit of the spirit.
As Christians we are called to leave behind the old ways and put on a new kind of attitude a new kind of thinking. This means that we are going to clash with the culture on many issues.
Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV)
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
A lot of people have been attacking the Bible and criticizing Christians but that is not new they have been doing it for years. They say the bible is full of old and worn-out ideas. But this is what God says
Matthew 24:35 (NIV)
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
This world and all its man made ideas will pass away but God’s word is the one thing that will remain. We are here on this earth only for a little while and this is what jesus says to be while we are here.
Matthew 5:13 (NIV)
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element. Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor. When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride - common table salt - the substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor. Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine. Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various doctrines. On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, it can turn people away from the gospel. When truth and love are combined in an individual or a church, however, then we have what Jesus called "the salt of the earth" and we’re able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith.