Should Serious Christians Ever Compromise? (Acts 15) - The PursueGOD Truth Podcast

Nov 8, 2024

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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
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 Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question.

This isn’t a secondary issue. This is a core, doctrinal issue - how can one be made right with God?
There are times when we can agree to disagree - color of the carpet, how often to celebrate communion, what type of worship music to play - but there are essential doctrines that are worth fighting for. We need to protect and proclaim the Gospel.
There was a desire of the church in Antioch for truth.
If they were just looking for the answer that was most convenient or matched up with their feelings, they wouldn’t have sent a delegation to Jerusalem. They would have just said, “Paul and Barnabas preached that it is by faith in Jesus that we are made right with God and that’s all we need.”
They wanted to make sure they weren’t in error and so they sent them to appeal to the apostles and elders.
Do we desire truth? Are we willing to invite other, more mature, believers in to weigh in on questions and give us advice? Are we willing to follow the evidence, or do we put more stock in our feelings? Jeremiah 17:9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

Acts 15:4-6 (NLT) 4 When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them. 5 But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.” 6 So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue.

This was a legit issue, they all wanted clarity
First Peter shares
Acts 15:8-11 (NLT) 8 God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us… 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”
Peter reminds the believers that they couldn’t keep the law, their fathers couldn’t keep the law, their grandfathers couldn’t keep the law. No one could.. It isn’t just Gentile believers who are saved by grace, the Jewish believers were also saved strictly by God’s grace. Even though they had the law and practiced the law and traditions, that isn’t what saved them.
Then Paul (and Barnabas) shares
Acts 15:12 (NLT) 12 Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
Even though the dispute was sharp and the debate heavy, the believers were willing to listen to the evidence brought forth. We could learn many lessons from this. This is such a stark contrast to the way most disagreements are handled today where opposing sides just continually try to shout over one another or cut the other side down.
This is what’s amazing about Paul. He had been so zealous as a Pharisee!
What could have happened to him to change his whole outlook?
He really met Jesus. Total transformation.
This is the only hope for anyone struggling with the Fundamental Law of Legalism. Jesus changes people.
Then James has the final word
James, the brother of Jesus, declaries in verse 14 that God has taken a people for his name from among the Gentiles. The significance of this statement is probably lost on us. That is what Israel was supposed to be. Israel was the people God had taken for his name. James is confirming the previous testimony that God has also called a people for himself from among the Gentiles. This would have been such a shift in thinking for a Jewish believer and the believers who were Pharisees were having a difficult time accepting it.
James quotes Amos 9:11-12 - core value #1 We look to God and his Word in all we do. God’s Word would be the standard upon which the decision would be made. We should be able to point to God’s Word for the positions we take on any issue. For all of the hot topics of today; abortion, transgenderism, premarital sex, pornography, divorce - God’s Word is the framework from which I take my position.
Fallen tabernacle of David - Jewish nation
It will be rebuilt and restored
Why? - so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord. The so is the reasoning here. God’s plan all along was to use the nation of Israel to draw people from all nations unto himself. Amos is arguing that if we would just take the time to really look, we’d see that God has made his intentions known since long ago. It’s always been the plan!

Acts 15:19 (NLT) 19 “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”

“We should not make it difficult”
Legalism makes it difficult
Matthew 23:13 (NLT) 13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.”
No compromise on the good news
Saved by grace through faith, period.
But the next verse seems confusing
Maybe not what you expect:

Acts 15:20-21 (NLT) 20 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. 21 For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.”

What?! This seems legalistic! These things don’t save!
Two things help us understand this list:
ONE: It was an honoring God issue (no compromise)
These things were all related to pagan temple festivals
This represented their old life, idolatry
1 Corinthians 10:14 (NLT) 14 So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols.
Following Jesus means we live a new kind of life!
TWO: It was a unity in the church issue
Unity in the new Jew/Gentile church would take some compromise
Value: We give up things we love for things we love more, including preferences.
Are we willing to give up preferences for harmony within the body?
Do I complain or grumble when decisions are made that are contrary to my preferences?
(Enduring Word Commentary) These three commands had to do with the eating habits of Gentile Christians. Though they were not bound under the Law of Moses, they were bound under the Law of Love. The Law of Love told them, “Don’t unnecessarily antagonize your Jewish neighbors, both in and out of the church.”
This is where serious Christians must compromise
Imagine the chaos that would have erupted during table fellowship (sharing of meals) if the Gentile Christians insisted on celebrating their freedom in regards to all of the Jewish dietary laws. In a setting that was to promote unity and fellowship, only division and hurt feelings would have been sown.

1 Corinthians 10:31-33 (NLT) 31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. 33 I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.

Q. Should Serious Christians Ever Compromise?

No, when it comes to the essentials of the gospel
We are saved by grace through faith
That salvation means a changed life
Yes, when it comes to helping people pursue God
Free to give up our preferences for the sake of love