Sin & Compromise
Pastor Matt Bell
Sermon Summary
In this sermon on Judges chapter 2, Pastor Matt issues a warning against the dangers of spiritual compromise and incomplete obedience, using the Israelites' failure to fully drive out the Canaanites as a cautionary tale. The message is anchored in two main principles: first, that small compromises with sin inevitably lead to a downward spiral of major spiritual problems, requiring believers to aggressively uproot sin before it grows; and second, that faithful, consistent worship brings the spiritual strength necessary to resist the enemy. By drawing parallels between Israel's history and the modern Christian's daily battles, the speaker concludes by challenging the congregation to prioritize weekly worship as a vital means of remembering Christ's saving work and securing victory against spiritual opposition.
Sermon Transcript
Introduction: The Book of Judges
If you have your Bibles this morning, you can open with me to the book of Judges. Judges is the seventh book of the Bible. Judges chapter 2 is where we're going to be this morning. We're continuing our year of the Bible where we're reading through the Bible together as a church, and every Sunday morning, I'm bringing a sermon based off of a passage that we read that week. Just the last couple of days, we finished the book of Joshua and moved into the book of Judges. In your handout, there are the readings for this week, and I would encourage you to join the church this week as we read through the Word of God together.
The book of Judges is a difficult book because it really is a warning. It's a book of warning to the people of God of what happens if you compromise with sin. It's a book of cautions and cautionary tales of things not going well. I'm going to lean into that this morning, because I believe that we likewise need to heed these warnings, to hear these warnings, and to live in light of them, recognizing that just because we're believers in Jesus, just because we're saved and on our way to heaven, it doesn't mean that the enemy is not still working in our life and trying to destroy our lives here on the earth, and to rob us of what God has for us. So we're going to lean into this this morning, and I believe it will encourage you and hopefully inspire you to live faithfully for the Lord.
The Historical Backdrop
Just a little bit of backdrop before we read Judges chapter 2 this morning. The book of Joshua, just one page over, ends with him gathering Israel, the nation, to himself. The people had been delivered from Egypt under Moses. They had entered into the land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God had brought them in under Joshua's leadership. Now, at the end of Joshua's life, he gathers Israel together and he says, "Guys, God has been so faithful to us, but are we going to be faithful to him? Who are you going to serve? Are you going to serve the Lord, the God who set you free from Egypt, the one true and living creator God? Or are you going to keep worshiping these idols that are among you, and the peoples that you live among? Are you going to worship their gods?" And the people say, "No, we will worship the Lord." And Joshua says good, and he has that very famous saying where we often quote it, and we print it, and we put it on signs in our house: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
That's how Joshua ends. Then the story continues on into this book of Judges. Chapter 1 begins by telling us that they were not faithful to the Lord. The people had been told that when they entered the Promised Land, they were not to make compromises with the people that lived there. God was judging the people that lived there because of their great wickedness and sin. The people there were idolaters, and they would even offer up their own children in child sacrifice—a land full of sexual perversion. God brought the children of Israel into that land to give it to them, but they were also to dispossess the people there as God's righteous judgment against that evil and that wickedness.
However, as you read chapter 1, it tells us over and over again that the people of Israel did not drive out the Canaanites, the people that lived in that land. If you have your Bible, you can look at it there in chapter 1. In verse 21, it says the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. In verse 27, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants; it says they put them to forced labor, but they did not completely drive them out. Verse 29, Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites. Verse 30, Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants. Verse 31, Asher did not drive out the inhabitants. Verse 33, Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants.
So the backdrop of chapter 2 is that they had not completely obeyed the Lord. As we move forward into the message that the Lord has placed on my heart for us today, we need to keep in mind that they had already compromised. They had already not fully obeyed the Lord. They had already taken the easy road and, instead of doing what God had asked them to do, had made peace with the enemy.
Scripture Reading: Judges Chapter 2
That brings us to chapter 2, and we're going to read all of chapter 2 here this morning. It gives us the complete picture. I invite you to stand with me as we read the Word of God here this morning. Judges chapter 2:
"Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, 'I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars. But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.' As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim. And they sacrificed there to the Lord.
When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers.
And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, 'Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.' So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua."
Father, we do thank you for your word today. Lord, I pray that you would speak to each heart that is here today. Lord, I pray that you would use your word. Lord, use it as that sword of the Spirit in our life today that can cut even to the deepest parts of our soul. Lord, use your word as that mirror that shows us who we really are and who you really are, and that you would help us to live lives, not of compromise, but lives of holiness, devoted completely and totally to serving you with all our heart, mind, and strength. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
You may sit down this morning.
Point 1: Small Compromises Bring Big Problems
I have two points for us this morning. Not three, not four, just two. The subject we're looking at this morning, the title, is "Sin and Compromise." We see that here in this beginning of the book of Judges. The people had sinned; they had compromised. They had compromised with the enemy.
Now, the Canaanites represent for us sin. They represent for us the abiding sin that's in our lives after we come to Christ. Just as God had delivered the children of Israel from Egypt—which is a type of the world and the oppression of the devil—and brought them through the Red Sea—which is a picture of baptism—through the blood of the Lamb they were delivered, the Passover. Just as Christ and his blood on the cross has delivered us and set us free from the power of Satan and the enemy, and we've been washed through the waters of baptism, there is now this question: Will the people of God compromise with sin? Or will they put it to death in their life and walk in holiness? The book of Judges plays out for us the spiritual realities that we read about in the New Testament. It plays them out in a physical, tangible form that we can see with our eyes, the realities of what happens when we compromise with sin.
The first point is simply this: that small compromises bring big problems. We saw in chapter 1 that they didn't fully drive out the enemy. For them, it certainly would have seemed like a small compromise. What difference does it make? Just let them live here among us. In fact, it'll even be better because we'll put them to forced labor. It'll be easier for us on both accounts: we won't have to go to war, we won't have to fight, and they'll serve us. It'll be better for us. This is the way the enemy works so often in our lives. He brings temptation to us and he disguises it as a good thing. He makes it look appealing. He makes it look rewarding. He makes sin look satisfying.
This, for them, would have no doubt seemed like a small compromise, because in Joshua's generation—this first generation that went into the Promised Land—they didn't bow down to those gods. They didn't serve those other gods. It says that they were faithful to worship the Lord. The writer of Judges is careful to tell us this, that all the days of Joshua's life, the people of Israel served the Lord. That's a good thing. And even all the elders who outlived Joshua, who were part of his generation, as long as they lived, the people of Israel worshipped the Lord. They served God. They didn't bow down to other gods. So they were faithful in their worship, but they did not fully obey the Lord.
The downfall that we read about later on in the chapter began with the small compromises that were made by Joshua's generation. It didn't start with that generation that ended up bowing down to other gods. It started with the small compromise in Joshua's generation. Yes, they didn't serve the other gods, but the compromise was enough to set the trajectory of where the nation was headed. The other gods became a snare to the next generation. What we see is that incomplete obedience by one generation sets the stage for full disobedience in the next generation. Incomplete obedience by one generation sets the stage for full apostasy and abandoning of God in the next generation. Small compromises bring big problems.
The Downward Spiral of Sin
Later on, when we read about how this sin takes effect and takes root and begins to produce fruit, in verse 19, it talks about how the Lord was raising up judges who would deliver the people from their oppression. When the judge lived, the people served the Lord, but as soon as the judge died, they turned back, and the people were more corrupt than their fathers. What was happening here was not a plateau of sin, but a downward spiral of sin. This compromise with sin, this unrestrained sin, brings a downward spiral in people's lives. There is no bottom to sin. It doesn't bottom out at some point. It keeps going. But it begins with small compromises.
The enemy never shows up and says, "Today, let's just commit adultery. Today, let's just blow up our family. Today, let's just go and flush everything down and ruin our lives." No, he starts with small compromises. A little bit of lust here, a wandering eye there, not putting in place the boundaries that we should have as men who love and serve God. The enemy doesn't just show up one day to people that are loving and serving God and have a thriving marriage and say, "Hey, let's just go divorce today." That's not how it happens. It begins with small compromises. A little bit of unforgiveness here, a little bit of resentment there. A little bit of disrespect here. And it begins to grow and grow and grow. Small compromises and unrestrained sin bring a downward spiral. God would bring a judge, deliver the people, and they would serve the Lord in those days, but as soon as the judge died, they were more corrupt than the previous generation because there's this downward spiral to the effects of sin.
In the book of James, the apostle James warns us of this. He puts it this way in James chapter 1, verses 13 to 15. He says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one." You can't blame God for your sin. In fact, later Paul will write and say, when we are tempted, God provides a way of escape. God will not allow us, he says, to be tempted beyond our own strength. So whatever temptation you face, God has provided you with the equal and more powerful power to resist that temptation through Christ. There's always a way of escape. I cannot say, "Well, God tempted me. It's his fault. He shouldn't have allowed this into my life." No, God will not allow us to be tempted beyond the spiritual strength that we have. So whatever temptation you are facing, you have the strength through Christ to resist it.
But he says in verse 14, "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." How wonderful it would be if, when we came to Christ, God would change all of our desires. How wonderful it would be if we were born again and gone through the waters of baptism, that all of our sinful desires would be flushed away. Wouldn't that be wonderful? But we're not in heaven yet. We're still here on Earth. As long as we are in these mortal bodies, we must fight the good fight against sin and temptation. This past Wednesday night, for First Wednesday, I shared on the daily battle, the daily wrestling that we must do to fight against sin. It is a daily fight.
We're tempted when we're lured and enticed by our own desire. We have desires that are not in accordance with the Word of God—these desires of the flesh. Then verse 15, this is the downward spiral: "Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin." Temptation comes and says, "Oh, wouldn't that be nice? This will make you happy. This will satisfy you." That produces in us this spiritual baby, and when we give in to that desire, that temptation, we're giving birth to sin. But it doesn't stop there. It says, "and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." It doesn't stop. Small compromises bring big problems. There's this downward spiral to sin.
It starts with temptation. The Lord has given us the tools to resist temptation. Jesus himself was tempted, yet without sin. When Christ was tempted, what did he do? He used the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit. He quoted the Word of God, the law of God from Deuteronomy: "Man shall not live by bread alone. You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." He had the Word of God in his heart, and when he was tempted, he was able to use it with his mouth. The Lord has provided his Word for us to be a sword to fight against temptation, that we might not give in to this desire, so that sin might not be conceived and brought to birth in our life, and that when sin is fully grown, it would not bring forth death.
Putting Sin to Death
There is no such thing as a small sin. Why? Because small sins grow big. They don't stay small. They grow, and they don't stay isolated in one area of our life. They grow and they bring death and decay to every area of our life. We have a real enemy, an enemy of our soul. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He comes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The way he devours and brings destruction to our life is through compromising with sin. This is how Satan can destroy even the lives of believers in Jesus: through compromising with sin.
So, what sin are you tolerating in your life today? What sin are you compromising with in your life? What sin are you, like the children of Israel, surrendering to? Not fighting against, not battling, not pressing up against with the Word of God and with prayer. What sin are you making peace with? It will bring forth death. Sin always brings forth death. Unless the sin is uprooted through repentance and confession, that sin will continue to grow and it will destroy your life.
I don't have this verse on the screen, but Colossians chapter 3. If you want to flip over there with me in your Bible, Paul is speaking about the battle against sin. I want to look at verse 5, but verse 1 is important. It says, "If then you have been raised with Christ," which is all of us who believe in Christ—we've passed from death to life, we've been born again, our baptism is a picture of that resurrection. Since we have been raised with Christ, we must "seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." There's coming a day when we will be completely transformed and sin will be no more, and on that day when he appears, we will also appear with him in glory. What a great and glorious day that will be.
But until that day, we must set our minds on things above. We must make every thought obedient to Christ. We must, as he says in verse 5, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you." And then he goes on to list what is earthly, or worldly, or fleshly, or sinful: "sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." He goes on to outline the things that we must put on—the fruit of the Spirit, essentially.
We must put sin to death by the power of the Spirit. We must do it. We must uproot it. Again, how do we do it? It's through repentance. It's through repentance and confessing our sin to God. That's why I think it's so important that we observe the Lord's table every Sunday. It's an opportunity for repentance. It's an opportunity for confession. It's an opportunity of making ourselves right with God again, of renewing fellowship. Whatever the sins were of the week—and we've all sinned this week—have we confessed those sins to God? We say, "Well, it wasn't that big. I didn't kill anybody. I didn't steal anything. I didn't break any of the Ten Commandments, so to speak." Friends, there's no such thing as small sin. There's no such thing as small compromise. Where are you compromising? Where did you sin this week? Confess it to God. Repent of that sin. Don't nurse it. Don't let it take root in your life. Don't tolerate it. Don't tolerate a little bit of pride in your life. No, confess that sin to God. Lay it before the cross. Don't tolerate a little bit of lust or a wandering eye. When you find that in your life, confess that sin to God. Repent of that sin immediately.
If you will do that, it's much easier to kill sin when it's a baby than when it's full grown. What's easier to do, take out a little midget? I'm sorry, I know that's not politically correct. A little small something? I'm sorry, please understand, that was not meant to be in any way against anybody. I'm just trying to make an illustration. It's much easier to take out somebody small than somebody big. Before it grows big, kill it, uproot it, defeat it. Why face a big giant tomorrow if I can defeat a small sin today? That's what Paul is telling us. That's what Judges is warning us of. They didn't defeat the enemy when it was weak, and they allowed the enemy to grow strong. And then the enemy defeated them.
Don't tolerate a little bit of pride. Don't tolerate a little bit of lust. Don't tolerate a little bit of bitterness, or anger, or wrath. Don't tolerate a little bit of disrespecting your husband, wives. I've been going after the husbands a little bit on the lust; I'm gonna go after the wives here a little bit. Don't tolerate disrespecting your husband, even in your heart. Husbands, love and serve your wives as Christ loved the church. Wives, submit to and respect your husband. Don't tolerate any ounce of disrespect of your husband in your heart. Why? Because it will grow, and it's much easier to deal with when it's small than when it grows big. Where are you tolerating sin? Where are you tolerating being unfaithful to God? Where are you not fully obeying God's Word? Deal with it today before it grows big.
Going back to Judges chapter 2, verse 10, it says there arose after Joshua's generation died another generation who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. This is a sad situation because God had done so much for Israel. But for whatever reason, that generation did not hand down the faith to the next generation. There was Moses' generation that came out of Egypt and died in the wilderness. There was Joshua's generation that came into the Promised Land, and this is the children of Joshua's generation. We read about that just a few weeks ago when we were in Deuteronomy chapter 6. This word "know"—it says they did not know the Lord—is more than just head knowledge. This is a relational knowledge. This is covenantal knowledge. This is the same word that's used of Adam knowing his wife, Eve, on a very intimate level. They were not intimately acquainted with the Lord and the work that he had done. They lacked this heart knowledge of loving and serving the Lord. I don't know if Joshua's generation was so focused on fighting the enemy that they neglected their responsibilities at home to disciple their children. We don't know exactly where the breakdown happened or why it happened. But it appears to me that Joshua's generation was faithful in their worship—they didn't bow down to the idols—but they were unfaithful in their discipleship in their home. You can come to church and be faithful in your worship, while at the same time being unfaithful in your home and in your discipleship. We need to be faithful in our worship and faithful in our discipleship.
Point 2: Faithful Worship Brings Spiritual Strength
Which brings us to the second point this morning. I'm going to state it in a positive way, even though it's stated in Judges in a negative way, and that is that faithful worship brings spiritual strength. If we look at verses 11 through 15 again, when the people abandoned the Lord, it says the people of Israel—this next generation—did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and they served the Baals. That's the idols. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they went after other gods, from among the gods of the people who were around them, and bowed down to them. That's worship. And this provoked the Lord to anger. Verse 13, they abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. In verse 14, so the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out to battle, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned. God had told them this is what would happen. And they were in terrible distress.
Joshua's generation was able to go into the land. They were able to dispossess the people there. And if they would have continued on, God would have given them great success, but they became weary, they became tired, and they compromised. But Joshua's generation's strength in their battles was tied to their faithful worship of God. When the next generation came and was unfaithful in worship, they were no longer able to stand against their enemies. Why? Because God's not going to give them victory while they worship other gods. He's not going to give them victory over their enemies while they're bowing down to Baal and even offering up their children in child sacrifice—which they end up doing; it's a horrible story. Obviously, God's not going to give them victory when they're worshiping idols, worshiping demons. How foolish of them to think otherwise as they march out to battle, thinking they're going to be victorious.
Likewise for us, why would we think that we can walk in victory if we are not faithfully worshiping the Lord and gathering with the people of God? If we are neglecting faithful worship, why would we think that we would have spiritual strength? Why would we think that we would have victory if we're not worshiping God? Does God change? No. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. When they faithfully worshiped God, they were able to stand against their enemies. But when they forsook God, they had no power and became slaves in their own land.
The Necessity of Sunday Worship
What this means is if we want to have spiritual strength to resist the enemy in our life, we have to prioritize worshiping God faithfully. We must make this a priority in our lives. I know I'm preaching to the choir here today, because I know this is Spring Forward day, right? You're all here an hour early today. Why are you here? Because you prioritize worshiping God faithfully. Not only that, there were a few sprinkles today, and you know how hard that is to drive through. So I know I'm preaching to the choir today, and I'm just trusting that's the providence of God.
Let this encourage you in your dedication to worship the Lord, to gather with God's people on the Lord's Day no matter what. No matter what obstacle is in your way, no matter if we jump forward an hour, no matter if there are a few sprinkles outside. We will serve the Lord. We're going to worship the Lord. We're going to gather with the people of God. Why? Because we need strength. We fight battles every day. And if we're fighting them in our own strength, we're going to lose. In my flesh, I do not have the power to resist the devil. But if I submit to God and resist the devil, then he will flee. If I'm not walking in submission to God, if I'm not gathering for worship with the people of God, if I'm neglecting faithful worship like the children of Israel here, why would I think that I'm going to have strength to resist the devil? Where does my strength come from? Our strength comes from the Lord. It's not by strength, it's not by power, but it's by my Spirit, says the Lord. This is Christianity 101. This is step one in having spiritual strength: come to church on Sunday morning and worship God in spirit and in truth.
Maybe you've thought, "It's difficult to come to church. It's not easy. I work six days a week. I need a little 'me time.'" No, you need a little Jesus time. That's what you need. You don't need any more "me time." He must increase, and we must decrease. The last thing you need is more of you. What you need is more of him. And where will we find it if not gathering with the people of God, in the presence of God, to worship God? If we're going to resist the devil, we have to have spiritual strength, and we will not be spiritually strong when we neglect to gather with the people of God for worship.
If you think it is difficult to come to church, let me ask you: Why do you think that is? If you find difficulty waking up on Sunday morning, getting the kids dressed and out the door to be here by 10 o'clock... I'm pretty sure Monday through Friday, y'all are showing up somewhere before 10 o'clock. I don't know any school that starts at 10 o'clock. I don't know any job—maybe there are a few—but you can get out the door Monday to Friday to be somewhere by 6:00 AM, 7:00 AM, 8:00 AM. But for whatever reason, Sunday rolls around and it's hard to get somewhere by 10:00 AM. It's because there's real opposition. There's opposition to be here. The devil doesn't want you here, because the devil wants you weak. Have you noticed how there's never any resistance to get out of the house to go see a movie? It's real smooth. Not a whole lot of arguments in the car on the way to see a movie, or to go out to eat. "Hey, come on guys, we're going out to eat!" Everyone lines up. It's amazing. "Hey, we're going to go worship God," and all hell breaks loose. Why do you think that is? Because the enemy doesn't want you here, because the enemy wants you weak.
Maybe it is difficult, but it's worth fighting for. If all hell is breaking loose in your house on Sunday morning, heads of household, you might consider laboring in prayer on Saturday night. You might look at how you're structuring your weekend and start fighting some spiritual battles.
Conclusion: Who Are You Serving?
I need to bring this to a close this morning. I could go on and on about this. I got one deacon that said, "Carry on," so I'm just going to take that as a sign from the Lord here. No, I'm joking. I want to draw your attention to something in verse 11. It says, "The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals." That word "served" is an important word. In Hebrew, it's translated different ways at different times. Here it's translated "served." In other places, it's translated as "worship." In other places, it's translated as "work." They labored for these idols. In fact, when God put Adam in the garden, it says God put Adam in the garden to work the garden. It's the same word. When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, Moses went and said, "Let my people go that they may serve me." It's the same word. It's for work, it's for worship, it's for serving.
The idea here is that if you abandon serving God, you're going to serve somebody, to quote Bob Dylan. It's not just neutral. They abandoned serving the Lord, working for the Lord, worshiping the Lord—which was the purpose for which God brought them out of Egypt, which was the purpose for which we were created. But it has to go somewhere. If it's not towards God, it's something in creation. That's what Paul talks about in Romans 1: they exchanged the worship of God for worshiping created things. You're going to serve somebody and something. Maybe it's not bowing down to an idol, but a lot of people today are serving themselves. They themselves are their own idol, worshiping themselves and their own comfort, joy, enjoyment, or happiness. They're seeking it apart from God.
So the question is, who are you serving today? Are you serving the Lord? Not just on Sunday, not just gathering with God's people—and I'm glad that you're here, praise God, it starts here—but on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Are you living all of your life in service of the King? Are you living all of your life in service of Christ? That's what it means to worship him. That all of my life is lived as an expression of gratitude and thankfulness for what God has done for me, how God has set me free in Christ, how God has delivered me, saved me, and redeemed me. Therefore, all of my life is to be lived in service to him, under his authority. That's what it means to seek first the kingdom of God.
They turned from serving God who had saved them to worshiping these other gods who had not delivered them from Egypt. Baal had not fed them in the wilderness or driven out the Canaanites and delivered them into the Promised Land. The Lord had been so good and so faithful to them, and yet somehow, somewhere along the line, they forgot. They forgot about what God had done for them. They forgot how God had been so good to them. They didn't continue to live in light of the faithful remembrance of God's saving acts in their life. What God had done for them and how he had saved them was no longer the defining piece of their identity. They forgot.
But may we never forget. They forgot what God had done for them, but may we never forget what Christ has done for us. May we always remember how God has saved us, the great salvation that he has purchased for us, the eternal inheritance that awaits us when he returns. May we never forget worship and faithful worship, making a determination that "I will worship the Lord with the people of God every Sunday." Worship is how we remember. Worship is how we remind ourselves of what Christ has done for us. We sing the songs, the melodies, the music, the lyrics—it awakens our heart, it touches our soul. It wraps us up in the love of Christ. It reminds us again. We come to the table where Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of me." This faithful worship reminds us that we might never forget, that we would always live and serve the Lord, that we would not compromise with sin, but walk in faithful obedience, and that the Lord would use our lives and deliver us into all of the good promises that he has for us and our children. Amen.