Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“They came to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, “The whole congregation of Yahweh says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away today from following Yahweh, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against Yahweh? Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of Yahweh, that you must turn away today from following Yahweh? It will be, since you rebel today against Yahweh, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of Yahweh, in which Yahweh’s tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us; but don’t rebel against Yahweh, nor rebel against us, in building an altar other than Yahweh our God’s altar. Didn’t Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man didn’t perish alone in his iniquity.’””
(Joshua 22:15-20)

“Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way,
    he will fall into his own trap;
    but the blameless will inherit good.”
(Proverbs 28:10)

Moses had given them warnings as a nation, not a collection of tribes. Joshua had given them warnings as a nation, not a collection of tribes. They were to COLLECTIVELY follow the Lord. They were NOT to let it slide when someone among them chose differently. They were to bring that person before the elders and deal with it. They were to make sure that they did not let ungodly habits and practises build into worship of idols. They were not to let the cancer of rejecting God take root among them. Here we see them obeying that. Coming and challenging their brethren. Investigating the truth and willing to back it up with justice. Willing to go to war to cut out the cancer. As it turns out, there was no need. Nothing ungodly was being done. But they were obedient to the principle and willing to do whatever was needed in order to obey the Lord and keep Him first at all costs.

We are not to lead each other astray. Instead, we are to encourage each other in the Lord (Colossians 3:16). When we let things slide, instead of it only affecting the ‘other guy’, we too tend to get caught up. Maybe not in that exact thing, but in other things that we let slide since OUR thing isn’t as bad as THAT thing. If we let things slide, we are essentially teaching compromise. Compromise of our morals, compromise of our beliefs, and those inevitably lead to compromise of our trust in Jesus. We start thinking that what WE think is fine, just as good really, as what Jesus says. Oh, this is okay because Jesus didn’t have streaming services. Or because Jesus didn’t have the internet. Or because our culture is so advanced compared to the one Jesus dealt with. We start justifying our actions, our feelings, and our ideas. God’s truth is eternal. It is forever. The standards don’t change. Don’t alter. Don’t adapt. They don’t need to. We need to hold that line and refuse to compromise. Not only for ourselves, but for those around us – especially those who are young.

Summary

Compromise is not a word that should be in our vocabulary. It isn’t about what we FEEL. It’s about what God’s moral character says. We cannot take ignorance as a defense because God’s Word is VERY clear about what is right and good and true. “To him therefore who knows to do good and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). We MUST be willing to eliminate ANY thinking, ANY speaking, and ANY behaviour that we find is against the teaching of the Word. As we discover things in the Word, we need to humbly submit to what we find. We have a choice, that is absolutely true. But the APPROPRIATE choice is to align with Him. Anything else is slippery ground leading to rebellion, disaster, and wrong thinking.