Short Take #5: Breaking Down What Leads To Compromise

Here is another short take from the Christian Worldview with David Wheaton. Welcome, David. Welcome, David.

Welcome, David. If we were to wrap all that up, though, into one concept, it's to ask the question, whom do you fear? Whom do you regard more than anyone else? Whose word will you listen to? Whose approval do you seek?

Do you fear God or do you fear man? And I think in all those scenarios that you just listed as what leads to compromise, I think the fear of man, fear of God is the issue. You see in the church growth seeker movement throughout the 80s, 90s, into the 2000s, that was a fear of man movement. They sent out surveys, tell us what you want in a church, tell us what kind of sermons you want to hear, tell us what topics we should be covering. You set the agenda for us.

Why are they doing that? Again, your comment about desire for a bigger ministry. In today's world, with the sexual revolution and the way that all the 40 and unders are thinking about the world, thinking about sexual ethics and everything else, the message of Christianity, of what the Bible actually teaches is so radically unpopular.

It's not just quaint anymore and outdated. Now it's dangerous. Now that is making people feel unsafe. So if you're going to try to hold on to a big ministry and attract a lot of people, well then you've got to fear man and you've got to follow, let the people do what they want.

Same thing comes into play in personal relationships. I think it's Deuteronomy 13, where it says if your spouse or your son or your daughter or any of your relations say to you, hey, let's follow a foreign God, your hand should be the first to stone them as you bring them before the community for examination for leading people into idolatry. If your spouse or your son or your daughter leads you into idolatry, your hand has to be the first to throw the stone.

That's shocking. But what that passage is revealing in Deuteronomy 13 is that God wants us to fear Him above all others. A lack of the fear of God. And in a nation, as David Wells has so clearly said for many years now, the weight of God falls too lightly on the church. God is there, but He's toothless. God is there, but He's powerless.

He's like a benign grandfather. And when that is the predominant view in so many churches, when that's the vision of God that they're being given in the pulpit through the preaching, well then nobody fears that God. Nobody fears that false misrepresentation of God really. And so of course they're going to fear everyone else. They're going to fear the culture. They're going to fear reputation.

They're going to fear loss of relationship and all the rest. This has been a short take from The Christian Worldview with David Wheaton. To find out more about The Christian Worldview, order resources, make a donation, become a monthly partner or contact us, visit thechristianworldview.org. You can also call us at toll-free 1-888-646-2233 or write to us at Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. That's Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331.