Should Serious Christians Ever Compromise? (Acts 15) - The PursueGOD Truth Podcast | Unveiling...
Welcome back to the podcast! Today's world is full of conflicting thoughts, ideas, and problems. In this episode, we'll be answering the question: should serious Christians ever compromise?
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Q. Should Serious Christians Ever Compromise?
Might seem like a weird question
Maybe you know Christians who never compromise
Draw hard lines everywhere on everything. Totally unbending
Ex: Halloween (www.pursuegod.org/should-christians-celebrate-halloween/)
Ex: Tattoos
The Fundamental Law of Legalism: Drawing a hard line in gray areas weakens the hard lines we draw in the black and white.
So we have to be smart about compromise!
Parents: could win the battle but lose the war
Our strategy: don’t make a big deal of these gray areas (even though we still drew boundaries) – so our kids would take us seriously when we drew the line on serious issues
A strange paradox:
Biblical Christians draw hard lines in some areas
And then they turn around and compromise in other areas
Today: We’ll see the first time the church wrestled with this
It was such a big question, they gathered in Jerusalem
First church council
Everybody was there! Peter, Paul, Barnabas, etc.
To answer: When do we fight vs when do we compromise?
I want to start at the end: where they landed
In the words of Paul, later, to the church at Corinth
It’s a great summary, and it shows you this is a thing
Compromise, that is, for serious Christians
Cause Pauls was serious, unbending
Yet look at where he landed on this ?
1 Corinthians 9:19-21 (NLT) 19 Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. 20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ…. 21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.
Hypocrite? No way!
Jesus-centered vs. rule-centered
Just wanted to point people to Jesus
Therefore willing to compromise
Heart issue
Pointed Jews to Jesus by using the law of Moses
Pointed Gentiles to Jesus without using the law of Moses
All along obeyed the higher law “of Christ”
Ie, not free to do whatever we want (antinomianism)
compromising on the Lordship of Christ
Last week: Acts 14, Paul’s first missionary journey
Proclaimed the gospel
Contextualized the gospel for Gentiles
Made disciples and commissioned them to make disciples
Returned to home base, Antioch
Now we have a blended church, and with that came questions…
Acts 15:1-2 (NLT) 1 While Paul and...
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/23985441?utm_source=youtube