Readings for today: 2 Kings 16-17, 2 Chronicles 28
Compromise comes in many forms. Sometimes it’s pragmatic. We compromise with those opposed to us because we know it will bring peace or some other greater good. Sometimes it’s political. Part of the problem we’re having in our nation today is the inability of our elected officials to come together and compromise to solve our problems. Sometimes it’s moral. We compromise our ethical standards to fulfill some sinful, selfish desire. Usually at great cost. Sometimes it’s religious and this is where it really gets dangerous because now we’re messing with the holiness of God.
Ahaz is under all kinds of pressure. He is being attacked on multiple fronts by his enemies. They are chipping away at his territory and one of them even successfully besieges Jerusalem. In desperation, he reaches out to the most powerful empire in the region - Assyria - and bribes them with gold from the Temple treasury to get them to intervene on his side. They sweep in and achieve a great victory and in the aftermath, Ahaz goes to meet with Tiglath-Pileser who makes a great impression on him. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and Ahaz comes back to Jerusalem with the goal of shifting the allegiances of his people from Yahweh to the gods of the Assyrians. So he builds a massive altar patterned after the one he saw in Damascus. Creates a whole new liturgy complete with burnt offerings for his people to participate in. He strips the Temple of it’s former furnishings - the furnishings designed by God - so that all reminders of Yahweh’s presence are now removed. And his hope is that by worshipping the gods of the Assyrians, he too will become rich and powerful just like Tiglath-Pileser.
It all sounds so strange and foreign to us until we start to reflect on how often we make the same mistake. A cursory glance at church history reveals how often we compromise biblical truth for the sake of cultural influence. Rather than hold fast to the gospel, we compromise just a little so we can make Christianity a little more palatable to our neighbors. It never works. I think about the number of churches who have radically shifted worship styles over the years in a never-ending search for relevance. Sure, they gather a crowd. Some may even come to saving faith. But discipleship is often a mile-wide and an inch deep. (And this has nothing to do with church size by the way. I’ve seen large and small churches make this mistake.) I think about the movement in church architecture years ago to remove the cross from sanctuaries and worship centers because of the offense it may cause. Thankfully, that movement was fairly short-lived but it’s yet another example of how we can compromise too much if we are not careful and thoughtful and prayerful. Does this mean we should never change? Of course not. God tells us frequently throughout the Scriptures that He is always doing a new thing. Putting new wine in new wineskins. So we have to be attentive to the Spirit. But the Spirit will never contradict Himself. He will not compromise His Word. He will never stop pointing us to Christ.
Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 13-17