Shame In Shechem Series

My dear friends, these are the world’s viewpoints, and they are wrong. And yet, I hear many Christians saying, “Oh, pastor, don’t be so negative.” I even hear myself saying it sometimes, because I too struggle with wanting what this world has to offer. Just like Jacob, I like its money. I desire its pleasures, and I sometimes forget that compromise with the world can be destructive to my own soul.

The Bible says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Satan, the god of this world, is no friend to the Christian. Please, don’t let him devour you. Don’t even sit down to talk with him. Don’t compromise with him one bit, or he will consume you and your family.

Then, instead of hating the world, you will begin to hate those who warn you of its dangers. & Just like those Stockholm hostages, you will begin to hate your Rescuer, who for us is Jesus Christ Himself.

James 4 says, “Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

He opposes God. We don’t influence our culture; our culture consumes us if we compromise with it. It doesn’t happen overnight. It happens gradually and ever so subtly.

D. A. Carson says, “We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated. (D. A. Carson, quoted in “Reflections,” Christianity Today, 7-31-2000; www.Preaching Today.com)

My dear friends, Don’t let it happen to you. Don’t drift towards compromise. Don’t compromise in your commitment to the Lord, and don’t compromise with the godless culture that surrounds us, lest you be consumed by it.

You say, “Phil, I’m already consumed by my culture. I’ve made compromises that have hurt me and my family. What can I do?”

Well, you can do what God told Jacob to do. Look at Genesis 35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel…” (which means “the house of God”).

If you’ve drifted away from God, God Himself calls you to come back to Him. That’s all you need to do. Come back to your Lord and Savior and let Him rescue you from your sins.

Rise up, O Church of God!

Have done with lesser things;

Give heart and mind and soul and strength

To serve the King of kings. (William P. Merrill, altered)