Compassion vs Compromise (Sermon)

1 Thessalonians 5:22 and the Call to Avoid Evil

1 Thessalonians 5, 22. Avoid all appearances of evil. So the Word of God to followers of Jesus, this is the instruction for Christians to avoid or to abstain from anything that appears to be sinful. Right?

We agree with that? We see that in the text? Okay, so the title of this message is Compassion vs. Condemnation. Compassion vs. Condemnation. And I'm borrowing this title from Alistair Begg. He preached a similar sermon.

Actually, it's going to be a very different sermon, but it's the same title. And I'm addressing a controversy that's happening right now in the body of Christ. I realize some of you are familiar with what's happening, some of you are not.

But it is now being debated whether or not born-again, Bible-believing Christians should attend so-called LGBTQ weddings. So should Christians attend these ceremonies or should they not? Well, you probably know what I'm going to say.

And is this just my advice to say no, Christians should not go to that? No, I would point to this verse, avoid all appearances of sin or evil. In Ephesians chapter 5, marriage is a picture of Christ and His love for the church.

That's what marriage is. In the beginning, God brought together Adam and Eve. Marriage, according to Jesus Christ in Matthew 19, is between one man and one woman. None of this is revolutionary. The Christians have all understood this for 2 ,000 years.

So I'll say up front about this question, should Christians attend these LGBTQ weddings? I'll say up front, they're not weddings. They're not weddings. The Lord defines what a marriage is, what a wedding is.

Psalm 127 .3 says, Behold, children are a gift from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is a reward. A reward for what? I mean, God has ordained that a man and a woman come together. And the proof that God has blessed that is the child.

Children are a gift from the Lord. This is the Christian view. It's always been the Christian view for 1900 and some odd years. And it was the Jewish view long before that. Of course, we don't live in a Christian society, do we?

We live in a pluralistic, pagan society that has rejected the one true God. But here's the thing, as Christians, we all get influenced by this. We're all influenced by the culture. In some ways, we're not even aware of the influence.

The Difference Between Compassion and Condemnation

So this morning, I'd like to address, you know, again, several passages of Scripture that I think speak to this issue. John chapter 3, Mark 2, Luke 14. I'll also be reading from Psalm 1, but stay right there.

You're in John 3, right? We're going to focus on this first. But, you know, it's one thing to know what the Bible says. It's another thing to apply it to daily life. That's kind of the hard part, to actually make application.

So the bigger picture is how do we apply passages that teach the holiness of God, that Christians should be separate, set apart from sin, have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of darkness? How do Christians apply those passages in light of the fact that Jesus ate with sinners and ministered to sinners?

How do we find a balance between compassion and condemnation? And I don't even think condemnation is the right word because I don't condemn anybody. We don't condemn anybody. Can you condemn somebody?

Can I condemn anyone? Who am I? I am just a sinner who has been saved by the grace of God. Who can I condemn? I don't seek to condemn anybody, but the reality is there are people in this world who are already condemned.

Look at John chapter 3, 16 through 18. And we were these people, those of you who have known the grace of God. We were these people. John 3, 16 through 18. It says, But have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

He who believes in him is what? Not condemned. You believe in Jesus, you are not condemned. But he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

So all of that to say this Christians, despite what some people think we are not in the condemnation business. We are in the salvation business. Amen. All right. Now, let's turn to Psalm chapter 1. But again, the whole question or reason of why I'm doing this sermon is because a shockwave has gone through the evangelical world as of the past two weeks or so when Pastor Alistair Begg, who is a very famous pastor on radio.

He's known throughout the world. Alistair Begg gave advice to a Christian grandmother. He said this on the internet. So he said this publicly. He gave advice to a Christian grandmother that she should attend her grandson's quote-unquote transgender wedding, which I'm not even exactly sure what that is or how that would work.

But Pastor Begg said to the grandmother, as long as he knows or she knows or whatever, as long as they know that you're a Christian, you not only should go, he didn't say you can go, you know, I don't really like it, but okay.

No, he said you should go to the wedding and you should buy the couple a gift. He said because if you don't go, it's just going to reinforce what they already believe that Christians are just a bunch of judgmental, you know, we've heard it before homophobic bigots and all the rest.

So you should go. As the result of his advice, there has been a severe backlash and Pastor Begg has been kicked off of hundreds of Christian radio stations all over the US. He has been dropped speaking at conferences.

I would say the majority of believers from what I've seen understand see the problem with his advice. But at the same time, there are many who are defending him. And basically his response in a sermon, he doubled down, tripled down, defended his advice.

And in a sense, I don't think this is a stretch. He accused his critics as being a bunch of Pharisees. And that's really the divide now in Christianity. You have one group that says you should go to these weddings.

Another says that you shouldn't. And the group that says that you should are calling me and the majority of what I see evangelical. We're just a bunch of Pharisees, judgmental, all the rest. Their accusation sounds just like that of the world.

This needs to be rebuked. So when Pastor Begg said this, people were shocked. Why? Because he's considered to be a leader among whatever term you want to use. Conservative, Bible-believing, evangelical Christians.

I mean, someone might say, yeah, we've heard this before. I mean, Joel Osteen came out in 2012 or something and said the same thing. Well, that's Joel Osteen. We're used to him saying stuff like that.

Someone like Alistair Begg saying this, I mean, this literally shocked millions of people. Now, I want you to understand something. This is not a sermon against Pastor Begg. He has been a faithful minister of the gospel for decades.

I have the utmost respect for the man. But that's why it was so shocking because he has been so faithful in the ministry. I want to be careful not to say anything disrespectful towards him. But this is a big issue.

This is how churches get divided. This is how Christians get angry at each other. Start yelling at each other and break fellowship. And it's resulting as you know, from his advice. So now because of this, churches and Christians are wrestling having to deal with this issue in the way he laid it out.

It's compassion versus condemnation. What's the problem with that? It's like there's only two options. Either you have compassion and you go or else you're just condemning my friends. That's not true.

That's not true. So let's turn to Psalm chapter 1. We're just going to read the first verse. And then I'm going to go to Mark chapter 2 because Pastor Begg, part of his response, and this has been almost the universal response, that it's okay to go to these ceremonies or you should go.

After all, Jesus ate with sinners. I mean, this has been the biblical argument because Jesus ate with sinners. It's okay for people to go to these ceremonies. You in Psalm chapter 1? Okay, let's look at verse 1.

What does it say? Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. Okay, one translation puts it this way. Blessed is the man who doesn't stand around with sinners.

Or to put it in the modern vernacular, it's saying blessed is the man that doesn't hang around with sinners. I'm sure some of you can think back to maybe some friends you had in high school, in college, back in the day, and you knew they were kind of like, they were trouble or maybe when you got together with them, it was trouble, right?

And you realize now that I'm following Christ, I can't hang out with that crowd anymore. Do you love them? Do you miss them? Do you want to see them come to faith in Christ? Yes. Do you condemn them? No.

You care about them, but you realize there's just some places I can't go. As a Christian, there's some things I can't do. I can't hang around with that crowd when I know that that crowd is involved in this and on Friday night they're doing that.

You understand a Christian should be separate from that. Not a popular thing to say today, but I think it was understood for the majority of church history. Again, Psalm 1 -1, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners.

Jesus Eating with Tax Collectors and Sinners

Okay, now let's turn to Mark chapter 2 because we got to balance this. The psalmist basically saying, you know, keep away, stay separate. But then we know that Jesus was accused of hanging around with sinners.

Remember the accusation of the scribes and Pharisees. They said about Jesus that Jesus is a glutton, a winebibber, and a friend of tax collectors and sinners. This past week somebody sent me a message and this is the internet.

This is social media. So I don't put a lot of stock in what people say or you know what I read on social media, but somebody said, you know, Jesus when he went to the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus was hanging around with a bunch of drunk people.

He was having a good old time. He was hanging around and everyone at the wedding was drunk. And I didn't, my thought was, wait a minute. Where's that in the text? I don't remember reading that part. In the King James Version, I think it says, you know, after they had well drunk, then Jesus turned the water and to wine and that's how they, so sometimes people read things in the Bible and they're kind of inserting their own ideas.

Well drunk means they had probably two or three cups or two or three glasses of the wine, which you know, it's debated whether or not it's grape juice or alcoholic wine. Even if it is alcoholic wine, it was so watered down and diluted back then you were not getting intoxicated even off of three cups.

And the idea that these people were intoxicated in Jesus is feeding them more booze. Do you really think that's what he did? So, you know, there's all sorts of crazy things that people say on the internet.

But what are we dealing with? The question of, you know, whether or not Christians should go to LGBT weddings. I want you to know this. I don't have anything personal against, I'm not trying to single these people out.

I don't have anything personal against them. Again, we're all, those of us who are Christians, we're all sinners saved by grace. We're not condemning anybody, okay? You might ask me, well, pastor, would you go to a heterosexual marriage if there is something sinful going?

Let's say there is a man who cheats on his wife and he runs off with his secretary and he wants to marry his mistress. Would I go to that wedding? No, I wouldn't. If I was invited to a polygamist wedding, I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Would I go? No, I wouldn't go. If I knew there was a wedding and, you know, these are kind of, forgive me, ridiculous illustrations, but it does happen. Let's say I knew that people involved were getting married in Salem, Massachusetts and they were incorporating witchcraft into their, I know people who have done that.

Would I go to such a wedding? No, I would not. So, again, this isn't about singling anyone out. But I would go back to Psalm 1 -1, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners.

Okay, Mark chapter 2, we're going to read 13 through 17. This was Pastor Ben, and again, it's not about him really, it's about the bigger topic, but this is the main text that people are using as to why it's okay to attend these ceremonies.

They say, well, because Jesus would do it. Did Jesus ever go to one of these ceremonies? No, he didn't. But here's their argument. Mark 2, 13 through 17. It says, then he, Jesus, went out again by the sea, and all the multitude came to him, and he taught them.

As he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Altheus, sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, follow me. So he arose and followed him. Now, it happened as he was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.

And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to his disciples, how is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. Now, let me just ask you, was Jesus hanging out? Was he there just to hang out? Hey, I heard there's a good party over at Levi's house.

Let's go, guys. Was that what he was doing? No. He was there on a rescue mission to call them to repentance. If this grandmother went to the wedding and they reached that point in the service where, and I don't even know if they do this anymore, does any person here know of any reason why these two should not come together?

Speak now or forever hold your peace. If she went with the plan of, okay, at that moment she stood up and she said, well, then I think that might be, I don't even advise that, but we're not looking to be rude.

We're not looking to make a scene, but that you could understand that that might be similar to what Jesus did of hanging out or spending time with them and then calling them to repentance. That I can see, but just going and buying a gift.

I mean, this is, it's horrible advice, horrible advice. The worst advice I've ever heard from a pastor. Again, I say that with all due respect. So this question, should people go to the ceremonies time and time again?

The passage that's always pulled out is Mark chapter 2. How does this fit in? How does it fit in? Does it fit at all? No, it doesn't fit. It doesn't fit because Jesus was calling them to repentance. But what about this issue?

You know, if you don't go, you might run the risk of losing the relationship. I mean, the whole idea is if you don't go to this grandson's wedding, they're not going to talk to you anymore. My relationship with them will be broken and I can't abide.

I can't live with the thought of not being able to see my grandchildren. I mean, can you feel for the woman in that situation? I can. But at the same time, I think of what Jesus said in Matthew 10. Because if the relationship was broken, is the grandmother breaking the relationship?

Does she want to break the relationship? No, she doesn't. If it's broken, who would be the one breaking it? The grandchild. Here's what Jesus said in Matthew 10 when he talks about the cost of discipleship.

Matthew 10, 34 through 38, Jesus said, Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

A man's enemies will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me, or we could add those who love their grandson or granddaughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And he who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. That's a heavy passage. It's not easy. Well, that's what it says. That's true that we need to put God first. But when you're in a situation like that, that's really hard.

You know what I would recommend? I would say obey God and trust that God would work it out. But you cannot put people ahead of God. You know, there's a lot of difficult decisions we need to make in this life.

And part of having faith is doing things God's way, trusting in Him to work it out. Listen, if there's anyone here who's ever been to one of these ceremonies, you know, quite frankly, I don't want to know.

I don't judge you. Again, this isn't about condemnation. I understand this would be very difficult. But just caving into the culture is not the solution. As soon as the church, Christians, pastors, start caving in to the pressure from the world, I mean, we've lost it.

We've practically already lost it. I know there'll be people who say, well, see, this is why people don't go to church anymore, because churches take positions like this. I don't know if that's the reason or not.

But I'm not going to disobey God out of some strategy to try to get people through the front door. But it seems like that's what some people are doing. Now, as far as Jesus eating with sinners, time is flying.

I'm kind of glad because I want to end this soon. But Jesus eating with sinners. Okay, did Jesus eat with sinners? Yes. Do you have a problem with Jesus eating with sinners? The Pharisees took issue with it, right?

Do you take issue with it? I don't take issue with it. But there's something we have to understand about this term sinner. I think a lot of people are speaking past each other, because if we don't get our terminology right, then sometimes we're saying the same thing, but we're disagreeing.

And so we have to define our terms. So the term sinner in the Bible, someone right now is thinking, yeah, but we're all sinners. Like everyone in this room, we're all sinners. That is not how the term functions in Scripture.

Generally speaking, when the Bible or someone in the Bible uses the term sinner, it's usually in reference to an unbeliever and or someone who's living in open rebellion against God. That's usually how the term works, because Christians are not regarded as sinners.

Christians are regarded as what? Saints. So if someone in the Bible is being referred to as a sinner, that means they're an unbeliever or they're just living an openly godless lifestyle. So we've all heard, and I've probably said this too, you know, we're all sinners, right?

Well, let me use this illustration. Would you say, someone would say, people of Morris Corner Church, we're all just sinners. We're all just a bunch of sinners. No, you're not. You're saints, okay? That's the first thing.

To help you understand how this term is used, would anyone ever say the people of this church, we're all just a bunch of criminals? Would anyone ever say that? No one would say that, because you understand the term criminal has certain connotations.

Have you broken a law? We've all broken laws. Even if it's just breaking the speed limit. That doesn't really make us criminals, you know, using the term that way. So when the term sinner is used, you understand it's referring to people that you just look at their lifestyle, it's like, whoa, yes, these people are godless.

It was kind of obvious. So did Jesus eat with sinners? Yes. Now here's the curveball. Did Jesus hang out with sinners? No. Jesus spent most of his time with Peter, James, and John, and say, yeah, but they were sinners.

No, they were saints. For 2 ,000 years of church history, we have called them Saint Peter, Saint James, Saint John. Yes, they have sinned, all have sinned, and have come short of the glory of God. But our identity is that of a saint.

Amen? Jesus, believe it or not, and again, if you've said this, you're just repeating what everyone else says, so I get it. Jesus did not hang out with sinners. Okay, so with that said, I think that kind of helps.

And there's a lot more I need to say, but, you know, time is running out. So I'm saved, saved by the bell, saved by the clock. Oh, would Jesus go? Well, you say, well, Christians should go to these ceremonies because Jesus would.

Jesus would not go for the simple reason that Jesus said in Matthew 19, marriage is between one man and one woman. That's Jesus's view. Jesus would not attend these ceremonies. If he did, he would go there to minister to them, to preach, or call them to repentance.

Why Christians Should Not Attend the Ceremony

Here's a few reasons why people should not attend the ceremony. And I realize, you know, I'm a pastor. I'm not like the dictator or the king of, you know, you're not going to listen to me. Some of you might listen to what I say, but a lot of you, you're going to do your own thing.

The job of a pastor is to teach you the word so that you're all able to make your own decisions. So it's not about me telling you what to do because my opinion, quite frankly, doesn't really matter. What does the Bible say, though?

1 Corinthians 15, 33. Here's another verse. Bad company corrupts good morals. Jesus did not hang out with sinners. I don't think we should hang out with people who are living in open rebellion to God.

At the same time, Jesus ate with sinners. He ministered to them. He loved them. And we need to find a balance. Okay? Nobody's saying don't take them out. Nobody is saying don't love sinners. Nobody's saying don't reach out to them.

Simply saying should not attend the ceremony. Why not? Because a ceremony like that, here's what it is. It is a legally binding union. When people attend a wedding, do you realize? When people attend a wedding, they are there as a witness.

They're there as a witness. An official document is signed. They're there as they're bearing witness to the event. That's why weddings would have this part where if anyone knows a reason why these two should not come together, speak now.

As a Christian, you would have to speak up. Otherwise, you're complicit. You know, the whole idea is that the grandmother can go because in her heart, she's against it. You know, she's told the grandchild, well, I don't agree with this, but I'm going to go.

But I'm not, I'm there, but I'm not celebrating. I'm at the celebration, but I'm not celebrating. How many of you, your kids were out? You told them, don't go to that party. I know what's going on at that party.

Do not go to that party, and they went anyways, and you found out. Well, I was there, but I wasn't partying. It's the fact that you're there. Here's an illustration, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Remember the three Hebrew children?

They're told by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, when the music starts, you need to bow before the golden image. And if you don't bow, you'll be thrown into the fiery furnace. Why do we regard them as such great men of the faith?

Because they didn't bow. How easy would it have been for them to say, well, I'm going to bow, but in my heart, I'm not bowing. I'll go, but I don't really want to. I'm there, but I don't really agree with it all.

The fact that you're there is the approval. When people see Christians at these ceremonies, you know what they're thinking? These people are starting to come around, and you know it's because they are.

Now, they're starting to come around from their point of view. From the biblical point of view, it's compromise. It's compromise. That's what it is. You can't go because you are a witness. We are called not to be partakers of sin.

Just going back to that verse, 1 Thessalonians 5, 22. Avoid all appearances of evil. All right, let's turn to Luke 15. We're almost done. This is the last thing. I want to end on a good note, showing the mercy and compassion of the Lord, and the fact that as Christians, we need to have this same compassion.

The Prodigal Son, Repentance, and the Father’s Mercy

Luke 15 is the parable of the prodigal son. This was actually the text that Pastor Begg used. Luke 15, starting in verse 11, Jesus speaking. Then he said, a certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.

So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and journeyed to a far country. And there he wasted his possessions with prodigal living, or wasteful living.

But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in the land, and he began to be in want. And then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

And, you know, for a Jew, the idea of feeding pigs is just the worst thing you could do. Verse 16, it says, he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate. Why? Because no one gave him anything.

He wasted his father's inheritance, riotous living, you know, hanging around with people he shouldn't have been hanging around with. Wasted it all, and now he's looking at the pig's slop, and he's thinking, that looks pretty good, because I'm so hungry, I have nothing.

This isn't popular, but sometimes people need to reach rock bottom before they wake up. Verse 17, we're always trying to save people from that. Children, grandchildren are going to hit rock bottom, we're trying to save them from that.

They need to do that. Verse 17, but when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare? And I perished with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired servants. Let me point out, I guess the obvious, the prodigal son repented. This is the difference between the advice that you should attend this ceremony, the grandchild had not repented.

The prodigal did. And then it goes on to talk about the older brother. When the prodigal came home, and the father embraced him, and put the ring on him, and the robe, and the fat calf, and held the party because your brother, my son, who was once lost, now he has found the older brother was angry, and he wouldn't forgive, he wouldn't accept him back.

And that older brother does represent the Pharisee, the person who is unforgiving and will not accept the penitent sinner. Again, the whole problem with the advice, the people were not penitent, doesn't apply.

What if, what if a person commits whatever the biggest sin is in your mind, they do something that is just beyond the pale. What if there's a person, that's their whole lifestyle, and they finally hit rock bottom, or maybe they don't, maybe just someday they decide, this is wrong, this is wrong.

Isn't that our prayer, that people would realize, this is wrong, and I need to change and come back to the father who represents God. Isn't this our prayer for sinners? You know, the more we compromise, you know, we're saying, we're saying it's no big deal.

That's the message we're sending to the world, that, well, I don't like it, but it's not that big of a deal. People need to know, just like we at some point knew, that our life, what we were doing was wrong.

And we came back to the father, and did God accept us? Will Jesus turn away any sinner who comes to Him by faith? Not a one. That's the grace of God. But, something about this word, repent, it sometimes gets lost.

A person needs to have that recognition, that we have all sinned before the father, but when we come to faith in Christ, all is forgiven, full and free. And that's the message of the gospel that we preach.

Let's pray. And Heavenly Father, I pray that everyone involved in this situation, even the onlookers who are trying to sort this out for themselves, Lord, I don't expect every person to fully have it all reconciled in their own mind.

I think we all have an idea that this maybe isn't the best setting. This probably isn't the best thing to do, and others realize that it's wrong to go here and to do this. But Lord, wherever someone is, let us all remember, first and foremost, that we, yes, we are sinners saved by grace.

Help us to be charitable. Help us to be understanding. But Lord, help us not to compromise your word. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.