“Threat #2: COMPROMISE (2 Timothy 4:1-5)” | 1/17/2021
2 Timothy 4:1-5 | 1/17/21 | Will DuVal
As I was mapping this series out, I posted the question to Facebook: “What do YOU see as the greatest threat to the 21st c. American Church?” The response was overwhelming, even if some of the answers weren’t. Some of your answers were excellent. But the thing that struck me about so MANY of the responses:
White supremacy; Racism
NO IT’S Critical Race Theory
It’s Political Correctness
NO IT’S The blending of religion and politics
It’s False Teaching
Cultural Secularism
What they ALL share in common, is that they’re ALL just SYMPTOMATIC of a much deeper problem. Well, a FEW different problems. We discussed one of them last week: ignorance. Critical race theory does not itself pose a massive threat to the Church; the problem is our ignorance: we don’t know what GOD’S WORD says about it, so we are unequipped to respond properly TO it, from a biblical worldview.
And this morning, we’re going to discuss another one of those deeper issues: COMPROMISE.
Compromise of course CAN be a wonderful thing: Polly wants to watch “Downton Abbey”; I want to watch “The Office” (for the third time); so we compromise on “Everwood”. Good show.
But Compromise, in the sense that I’ll be using it this morning, can also be defined as “an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims or principles; a dishonorable or shameful concession” (dictionary.com).
And in that sense, when God’s Church adjusts HER “opposing claims and principles” to be in better “agreement” with the surrounding CULTURE, that is INDEED a “dishonorable, shameful concession”.
In fact, compromise is even worse than ignorance, as God’s word tells us: “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (Ja 4:17). The only thing worse than not knowing what God’s word says, is KNOWING it and failing to DO it, for the sake of compromise with the world. Ignorance of God is bad; IGNORING God is worse.
Remember how Jesus warned those in Capernaum: “if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”” (Mt 11:23-24) Capernaum: You have no excuse! You witnessed my miracles personally! SODOM may be able to claim ignorance, but not you.
This is why the Bible claims that “judgment begins at the household of God” (1 Pet 4:17); brother and sisters: we know too much! We have no excuse, not to obey the Lord. The apostle Paul says, “What have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church[b] whom you are to judge? God judges[c] those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”” (1 Cor 5:12-13)
That was another common theme of my FB poll: many of you rightfully commented that the greatest threat to the church is… THE CHURCH! But I replied: you’re gonna have to be more specific! All SEVEN of the threats we’re gonna cover in this series are more internal than they are external. We don’t have to look OUT THERE for our biggest dangers, church: we need to look in the MIRROR! As Os Guinness says, our problem is NOT “wolves at the door, but termites in the floor”. (A Free People’s Suicide)
Let me try and explain how this happens, how a church compromises its biblical worldview over time. Let’s say you’re planting a church, and your vision is to “reach all of St. Louis with the good news of Jesus.” That seems pretty biblical, right?
But what you’ll discover pretty quickly, is that all of St. Louis doesn’t WANT to hear about Jesus, but what they MAY join you for is… really good live music. A really funny, engaging, positive message. A sense of community - a place to make friends. But you’ll ALSO discover that there are certain things, certain TOPICS, that the Bible may speak to, but that a LOT of these folks REALLY aren’t interested in hearing about; in fact, if you bring them UP, it may actually be a STUMBLING BLOCK to them attending, and hearing the gospel. So you ask yourself: “What do they HAVE to know about Jesus and salvation, and what’s all the OTHER stuff in Scripture that’s really just getting in the WAY of that. Tripping people up. And you may not literally rip PAGES out of your Bible, but there develops this sort of de facto “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with many of those passages and topics.
And what happens is that over time, as the surrounding culture becomes more and more ANTI-biblical - Jesus said, “The world (is supposed to) HATE you, because you are not OF the world; I’ve chosen you OUT OF the world” (Jn 15:18-19) - but as the church instead makes concession after concession, for the sake of relevancy and supposed witness TO the world, over time the church becomes virtually indistinguishable FROM the world. The church compromises SO many of its principles and values and convictions that eventually, it can’t remember what it stood for in the FIRST place. A church that stands for nothing will fall for anything. And now you’ve got TONS of people coming, we’re reaching “all of St. Louis” - but what were we supposed to reach them WITH, again?
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That’s why at West Hills, and in God’s WORD, our vision is to make DISCIPLES who will go reach St. Louis with the good news of Jesus, baptizing them and “teaching them to observe ALL that Christ has commanded”. ALL? Even the stuff about wives submitting to their husbands? Even the Bible’s outdated, backwards, oppressive sexual ethics? Even the stuff about HELL?! Nothing shuts down a conversation like bringing HELL up - if you wanna reach all of St. Louis, you better NOT mention Hell, or SIN - the GOSPEL is offensive. Who you calling a “sinner”?! We’ll see if I come to YOUR church. So we make compromises.
Well, not at West Hills. Some of you might get upset by some of the topics we ARE gonna address this morning, topics that many churches ignore. “Not worth dividing the church over,” they’ll say: “Not a hill worth dying on”. Well, friends: God’s WORD is my hill. So I believe that any topic Scripture speaks to, clearly, is worth me speaking to, clearly.
What’s the CURE for COMPROMISE? I’ve got FIVE of them for you; actually, God has five for you, in His word. 2 Timothy chapter 4, vv1-5. That’s where we’re camping out. But as you’re finding it, let me give you your OVERARCHING, main point for the morning: all five points can sort of be summarized underneath this umbrella antidote: You avoid the temptation to compromise by fearing God more than you fear man. Proverbs 29:25 warns that, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” The apostle Paul reflected on this, in his introduction to his letter to the church at Galatia; Paul KNEW that what he was about to write - go re-read Galatians, he is HARSH - and he KNEW he was going to upset them. So he explains on the front end: “Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Gal 1:10) If I was a PEOPLE-pleaser, I wouldn’t call out your SIN! That’s NOT an effective way to make friends. But Paul says: I’m not HERE to make friends; I’m here to serve CHRIST.
So I’ll just admit to you, brother and sisters, as lovingly as possible: I’m not here to please you. I’m really not. Did you know my preaching is not for you. I preach TO you. But I preach FOR God. I do it for HIS glory. HE is my primary audience on Sunday mornings. I’m so grateful that God has freed me, for the most part, from the desire to please people. God knows I’ve got enough OTHER sins to keep me busy, without throwing that one in the mix. How exhausting! Especially in today’s world, as divided as we are, trying to get EVERYONE to like you?! I can’t even imagine. No thanks. I love y’all, I really do, but frankly, compared to what my GOD thinks of me, what you think of me pales in comparison. It’s not NEARLY as important to me. Cuz I won’t have to stand before YOUR Throne one day.
So I’ll warn you: I’ve got 5 points this morning, 5 cures for compromise. And in our application of each principle, we’re gonna acknowledge a specific issue on which the Church, maybe not West Hills, but MANY in the 21st c. American church, have compromised. And I’m telling you up front: some of you on the LEFT, might get offended by a couple of these issues. Some of you on the RIGHT, might get upset by others. But if your worldview is shaped more by Scripture than by your political allegiance, you’re gonna appreciate all 5 points, even if they touch a nerve. Even if it means YOU have to confess and repent of YOUR compromises. The Bible speaks clearly, to every ONE of these issues: Will you LISTEN? Will you SUBMIT yourself to God’s word this morning?
Would you stand… 2 Timothy 4:1-5
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
This is the word of the Lord… Let’s pray…
How to Avoid the Threat of Compromise:
#1 - Remember your JUDGE and your KING. (v1)
Paul opens this fourth chapter of his second letter to his disciple Timothy by CHARGING him - diamartύromai - it’s a STRONG verb in the Greek; I earnestly, solemnly ADJURE you, “in the presence of God” - Paul says, “Timothy, protect yourself from people-pleasing by remembering that you’re ALWAYS in the presence of almighty God. He is OMNI-present. He sees and hears EVERYTHING. And moreover, Christ Jesus, “who is to judge the living and the dead”. Not only is Jesus watching NOW, but you’re gonna stand before His Judgment Seat one day: 2 Cor 5:9-10 “we make it our aim to please Christ. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
So here’s an application point for you: let’s start with abortion. Why do so many churches today compromise on the issue of abortion? Why will the majority of even evangelical churches in our country NOT recognize Sanctity of Life Sunday, and not touch this topic with a 10-foot pole?
Because it’s SO controversial and SO sensitive. We might have women HERE who have HAD an abortion, men who have encouraged one, perhaps even doctors who have PERFORMED them. And what about all the cases where it gets so complicated: rape and incest and the risk of the life of the mother? And what ABOUT the mother - what about HER rights, HER body, HER choice? And if we know some women are going to do it ANYWAY, isn’t it better to provide safe, legal options for abortion?
So we compromise, and allow the world to dictate our discussions on the topic, instead of going to God’s WORD for ITS answer to one very simple question. That’s the thing: the world has convinced many in the church that abortion is a complicated issue. It’s really not complicated at all; it’s very simple. Is it Easy? Hardly! There’s nothing EASY about unwanted pregnancy, about adoption, about being pro-baby AND pro-mother, and not just pro-fetus: it’s ALL difficult. But it IS simple. Straight-forward, not complex. Because the ONLY question that matters with regard to abortion is when does human life begin? If that fetus is just a clump of cells, no justification for abortion is even necessary. Go ahead - scrape it out. Suction it out. Poison it out. But if that fetus is a living, human child, then no justification for abortion is adequate. A woman doesn’t have a right to harm the child IN her womb any more than she does the child OUTSIDE her womb. It’s not about her decision with her own body; it’s about another person’s body that happens to be temporarily inside hers.
The Bible is crystal clear on this:
Psalm 139 “you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…
Your eyes saw my unformed substance…
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.” (vv13-16)
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you”
Exodus 21:22-25 prescribes the same penalty— death —for someone who takes the life of a baby in the womb as for someone who commits murder; God considers the unborn child every bit as human as a full-grown adult.
Ps 51, Luke 1, Gal 1… God’s word is clear: human life begins at conception, and that means abortion is murder. Plain and simple.
But one of Satan’s greatest tricks is convincing us that “SIN” is just the bad stuff we do. That’s only half of it. I’m convinced that when I stand before Christ’s Judgment Seat, I’ll probably have to answer far more for the good deeds I left UNDONE, than for the bad ones I did. Yes, 1 in 4 women will have to answer for her abortion. But 3 in 4 won’t. And FOUR in 4 men, won’t. But you know what we will ALL answer for? What we DID about it. Did you settle for voting for the candidate who claims he hates abortion as much as YOU claim that you do? Go ahead and vote. But if that’s the only answer you’ve got, when God asks you what you did personally about the most egregious form of evil in our society today; let’s call it what it is: the genocide of the most vulnerable segment of our population, if that’s your only answer: “I voted”, then I’ll be honest, Christian: I fear for you. Maybe not for your eternal salvation, but I can’t imagine you’re gonna hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” on the way in.
We’ve got to do more. Visit the ThriVe table on your way out. We’re gonna have a launch meeting for our new LIFE team this coming Saturday morning. Email me to get the Zoom link. We can do so much more; collectively as a church, we MUST do more. We WILL do more.
#2 - Second way we avoid compromise: PREACH God’s word always. (v2a)
Paul exhorts Timothy: “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season”.
To preach - kérussó - is to “herald” or “proclaim”. I’ll be honest, when I prepared the outline for your bulletins, I fully intended on exhorting YOU to go out and preach God’s word. Sure, Timothy was a “professional” preacher, but aren’t we ALL called to preach the gospel? I thought so. But a more careful word study of the New Testament reveals: NO. Most of you, are NOT in fact called to preach. Preaching is “the public declaration of God’s word by a commissioned agent of the church” (DeYoung, TGC, “What Is Preaching (And Who Does It)?”, Jan 8, 2020). We’re ALL called to “witness”, to “evangelize”, to “make disciples”, but not to preach. So perhaps you want to adjust your bulletin to read “BE Preached” God’s word always. You need to make sure you are HEARING God’s word heralded, proclaimed, regularly. Sunday worship is NOT optional.
And what do we preach? The WORD. What word? God’s word. Remember the context; just 3 verses earlier, Paul reminded Timothy that “All Scripture is breathed out by God”. We preach [this] NOT because it’s popular, but because it’s God’s WORD. Friends: if it’s really true that God has revealed himself, that He’s spoken to us in intelligible human language, then why on EARTH would we settle for anything less. A feel-good message that doesn’t upset anyone. Garbage! I want to hear from GOD! You deserve to hear from Him. Even when you don’t want to.
Paul says, “Preach it in season and out of season”, in other words: “whether it is convenient or it’s inconvenient” (Hughes, p269) Whether I want to preach it or not, and whether YOU want to hear it or not. There are many messages, many passages, frankly, that in my sin, I’d rather not preach. I suspect there are many that you’d rather not HEAR preached. Doesn’t matter; preach the word.
How much of it? Can I at least cherry-pick the parts I like best? Not if ALL Scripture is God-breathed. That’s why Paul says, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27) Yes, even the parts we don’t like, maybe ESPECIALLY those parts.
Here’s some application for you: There’s been a lot of cherry-picking going on in the evangelical American church over the past 4 years. A LOOOOOT of compromising. A lot of justifying and rationalizing, and excusing... Of SIN. I’ve heard a lot of Christians argue, “Well, God worked through Nebuchadnezzar. And he was a pretty bad guy.” And my response is: “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean if you were an Israelite you should have VOTED for him.” Sure - God can work through ANYONE - God works in Scripture through hard-hearted Pharaohs, and talking donkeys (we pray he’ll even work through one of those these NEXT four years…) - but that’s all beside the point. That just proves how awesome our GOD is. The question for US, brother and sisters, is what do we EXPECT of those who would govern us? I know what we USED to expect. Not perfection; every candidate is imperfect. Just like every pastor, every PERSON. But I can take you to the “whole counsel of God” and show you what I think USED to be the minimum expectation of evangelical Christians for a candidate running for the highest office in the land:
A person of Integrity, Proverbs 10:9
Who is truthful, Proverbs 12:22
Not sexually immoral, 1 Corinthians 6:18
Not proud, Proverbs 8:13
But shows remorse for his sin, 2 Corinthians 7:9
One who is kind, Micah 6:8
And Selfless, Philippians 2:4
Who loves righteousness, Psalm 106:3
What I’m saying is that Character used to matter in public office. And it doesn’t anymore. And the so-called, self-professing evangelical church is as much to blame for that as anyone. We compromised. I’m honest enough to hold up the mirror of God’s word and admit it: are you?
#3 - We avoid compromise by Being EXHORTED fully. (v2b)
Paul admonishes Timothy to, “reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” What do you notice about all 3 of those imperative verbs?
Reprove = elegchó = means “to correct, expose, show to be guilty”
Rebuke = epitimaó = to “reprimand”
And Exhort = parakaleó = means “to urge or caution earnestly”; literally it means to "make a call" from being "close-up and personal;” To tell someone what to do because either you know THEM so well (“close-up and personal”), or you know GOD so well, or both.
The thing that stands out to me is that NONE of them sound particularly fun to be on the receiving end of! Do you ENJOY being corrected? Reprimanded? Exposed, as being guilty? Being told what to do?
Any PARENTS in the room? How many of your kids LOVE being reproved? Being disciplined? Being told what to do? The Bible’s got a word for the thing in them, that causes them to HATE it; it’s called SIN, and guess what: it lives in you too. It’s the same reason YOU hate it being corrected and challenged too.
Proverbs 12:1 says “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.” Is that direct enough for you?
Proverbs 6:23 “...the reproofs of discipline are the way of life”
Proverbs 9:8 “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.”
So I’m gonna give you an opportunity to LOVE me this morning; I’m gonna assume that you all want to be WISE, not stupid, so let me reprove you. Exhort you, maybe not with COMPLETE patience and teaching, as Paul calls for, but I’ll do my best.
I think that what the world needs most from the church right now, more than ever, are believers willing to listen to those we disagree with, LOVE them the way Jesus loved the tax collectors and prostitutes, and more than anything, willing to PROVE that love by laying down our lives in service to others, especially the kinds of people the Bible draws special attention to time and time again as the “least of these”: the poor, the orphan, the widow, the sojourner.
“THIS is religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27) Yes, even during a pandemic! Wear a mask. :)
Isaiah 1:17 “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.”
Deuteronomy 27:19 ““‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, [‘Amen.’]”
Brothers and sisters: It’s not okay that the world thinks of the Church as being pro-fetus but not so much pro-single mom trying to now take care of that baby on her own. Are we pro-fatherless? Pro-orphan and widow? Sure, we can debate the politics and the policies around this stuff - I’m as skeptical as ANYONE of the welfare system and the government’s desire to and aptitude for caring well for the “least of these”. But all the more reason that the CHURCH needs to step up and fill in the gap! Go ahead and vote for “small government”, but what are you doing personally, then, what are we doing collectively, as a church, to make sure we’re caring for our neighbors. And I don’t mean the nice family in the 3,500 sq. foot house across the street; I mean like JESUS’ definition of “neighbor” in the parable of the Good Samaritan: the person who makes you feel uncomfortable. Who lives in a place you wouldn’t be caught DEAD - if West County is our Jerusalem, East St. Louis is our Samaria - That’s who you’re being called to love and serve.
Church: be EXHORTED this morning: The world doesn’t need more keyboard warriors; it’s got PLENTY of those. Talk is cheap; type is even cheaper. What are you doing to tangibly serve the least of these in the ways Jesus did?
#4 - We avoid compromise by Bewaring our ITCHING EARS. (vv3-4)
Paul foretells: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”
And it’s not just that “a time will come”; the temptation to compromise may only get stronger as the culture gets grosser, but we need to understand that this is how it’s ALWAYS been! Remember Ecclesiastes: “There’s nothing new under the sun”. God decried His people’s itching ears 2,600 years ago, through the prophet Jeremiah: “the prophets prophesy falsely, and… my people love to have it so” (Jer 5:31)
In our SIN, we want to listen to those who will tell us what we want to hear, “suit our own passions”. And we’re willing to turn from the truth and wander off into myths in order to hear it. We discussed this in depth last week, primarily in the context of politics - secluding ourselves to our echo chambers, our news channels that give us the truth we WANT to hear; and I’ll remind you once again: this is not a right- or left-wing issue: The Democrats invented “Not my president” 4 years ago before the Trumpers borrow it this year. But let’s just quickly consider a few even more DANGEROUS myths masquerading as “truth”. Let’s turn from the political to the theological.
If God is truly merciful and loving, He will make sure that EVERYONE makes it to heaven, regardless of their faith: Universalism
God is SO loving, that He has promised to bless you with health and wealth and happiness in this life: the prosperity gospel
Let’s bring it even closer to home, for some of us: If God is truly Sovereign - God’s the one who decides who will trust in Him - that means I don’t really have to worry about sharing my faith with others. Some of us were “converted” to Reformed theology out of evangelical LAZINESS. If God predestines and elects people, that gets ME off the hook! And we can believe the right things for the wrong reasons, and with the wrong consequences; Calvinism, rightly understood, makes for the MOST passionate, dedicated evangelists.
But friends: whatever it is that your itching ears want to hear; you need to beware. Reproof, rebuke, exhortation aren’t always fun. But God assures us that “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline” (Rev 3:19). Correction is good for you. Being told what you WANT to hear, most often, is not.
Lastly, #5 - Expect CONFLICT. (v5)
We avoid compromise by EXPECTING conflict.
Why does Paul encourage Timothy to “be sober-minded, endure suffering, [in order to] do the work of an evangelist, [and] fulfill his ministry.”
Because Paul knows the gospel is OFFENSIVE! He knows when you preach it, you better expect to ruffle feathers!
1 Cor 1:23 “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,”
Jesus already PROMISED us that the world is gonna hate us, for standing for him. (Jn 15:19) But he also promised, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:11) And let’s put it in perspective for a minute, friends: we have brothers and sisters all over the world DYING for the sake of the gospel; being unfriended by a few high school acquaintances who don’t like your Jesus posts is NOT persecution. If we aren’t willing to make things a little awkward with the next door neighbors by sharing our faith, just remember, Jesus warned: “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 10:32-33)
I don’t know about you, but that’s a compromise, I’M not willing to make.
Listen: no one likes being told they have cancer. But you can’t fix a problem you don’t know you HAVE. Friends: we’ve got the CURE, for this terminally fatal sickness of sin. But how will they believe in him of whom they’ve never heard. Will YOU tell them? Or will you compromise?
Let’s pray...