Stating the Obvious #9. “Conviction or Compromise.”

There is a lot of truth in that expression: “You don’t have to go along to get along.” However, as a church growth strategy it has spelt death!

All is well until the lines between “getting along” and “going along” are blurred.

Churches must make choices as to what is right and what is wrong and stand firm for the right. For the last generation we have often been guilty of “getting along” with brethren who have chosen the wrong over the right.

Many brethren who have spoken up when false teaching has taken hold in congregations have been vilified for pointing it out. When asked to justify the presence of false teachings, churches have shrugged it off as being of no consequence to their standing with God or brotherhood. Being told that “allowing false teachers in their midst is indicative of a church that has fallen away” is met with incredulity.

I say none of this lightly. These are our brothers and sisters in the Lord. I love them and will always want the best for them. They cannot hurt themselves without the rest of us feeling pain. We are one body.

We must do all we can to confront false doctrine and drive it from our churches. This is never to be done with hate or hurt, but instead with love and tears. Tears of sadness and terror for the unrepentant, or tears of joy and gladness for those who return to the truth.

Truth keeps us free from the lies that bring forth death.

Lies do not flood a church all at once. They trickle in like rain through a sagging roof. Left long enough rot sets in and it becomes a dwelling unfit for truth.

Love of the truth brings forth conviction and conviction drives out compromise.

But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

John Staiger

Stating the Obvious

#9. “Conviction or Compromise.”

There is a lot of truth in that expression: “You don’t have to go along to get along.” However, as a church growth strategy it has spelt death!

All is well until the lines between “getting along” and “going along” are blurred.

Churches must make choices as to what is right and what is wrong and stand firm for the right. For the last generation we have often been guilty of “getting along” with brethren who have chosen the wrong over the right.

Many brethren who have spoken up when false teaching has taken hold in congregations have been vilified for pointing it out. When asked to justify the presence of false teachings, churches have shrugged it off as being of no consequence to their standing with God or brotherhood. Being told that “allowing false teachers in their midst is indicative of a church that has fallen away” is met with incredulity.

I say none of this lightly. These are our brothers and sisters in the Lord. I love them and will always want the best for them. They cannot hurt themselves without the rest of us feeling pain. We are one body.

We must do all we can to confront false doctrine and drive it from our churches. This is never to be done with hate or hurt, but instead with love and tears. Tears of sadness and terror for the unrepentant, or tears of joy and gladness for those who return to the truth.

Truth keeps us free from the lies that bring forth death.

Lies do not flood a church all at once. They trickle in like rain through a sagging roof. Left long enough rot sets in and it becomes a dwelling unfit for truth.

Love of the truth brings forth conviction and conviction drives out compromise.

But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

John Staiger