Compromise, by Wilhelm Ya'acov Wolfaardt
"FOR WHOEVER DOES THE WILL OF
MY FATHER IN HEAVEN IS MY BROTHER AND SISTER AND MOTHER." Mattithyahu
(Matthew) 12:50
These
were the words Yahushua spoke when His taught ones came to Him saying, "Look,
Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside,
seeking to speak with You." But Yahushua then replied asking, "Who
is my mother and who are My brothers?"
Yahushua then stretched out His hand over His taught ones and said,
"Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever
does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and
sister and mother."
What do these words of Yahushua
imply? Does it mean that we must now reject and deny our mother, father,
brothers and sisters who do not do the will of our Father YHWH? Certainly not!
Every fellow believer and born again brother and sister in the True Faith will,
if they truly love Yahushua with an undivided heart, know that Yahushua meant
with these words that an elderly sister in Yahushua will be like an own mother,
and an elderly brother in Yahushua will be like an own father. So will a
brother and sister be like an own brother and sister. In fact, these that are
in the faith, will be more of a brother, sister, mother and father, than those of
your own flesh.
These words of Yahushua can be
tested in practice. Go and ask your brother in the flesh, not loving Yahushua,
to borrow you money. Your chances are better to borrow money from your brother
in the faith. These words Yahushua spoke regarding brother- and motherhood, could cause us severe problems in our daily
living. The most severe of these problems is the possibility of compromise. In
our walk with Yahushua, and our relationship with our families and
"friends", we could be challenged by circumstances to compromise.
These obstacles are inevitable.
Let me show a few examples. During
the week your father phones you and invites you to come over on
"Saturday" afternoon for a braai. All the
family will be there. Will you attend? You could reason many ways. You could
say to yourself that they will kindle the fire, and that they
will prepare the food for the braai. You will not
participate in the actual work. No matter how you reason, you will compromise.
If you participate in the eating of that food prepared on the Shabbat, you are
no different from somebody who eats at a restaurant, thus trading and letting
other people work for you on the Shabbat. Scripture says about the Shabbat,
"...but the seventh day is the Shabbat of YHWH your Elohim. In it you
shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor
your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your
stranger who is within your gates." Shemoth (Exodus) 20:10. If
you want to compromise, you could reason that those who invited you for a braai are not your servants. I ask the question, is this
different from asking your own servant in your own home to cook you a meal on Shabbat. Is Shabbat not a day unto YHWH, in which we should
delight, as spoken by the prophet Yeshayahu, "If
you turn away your foot from the Shabbat, from doing your pleasure on My
set apart day, and call the Shabbat a delight, the set apart day of YHWH
esteemed, and shall esteem it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own
pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself
in YHWH; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of YHWH has
spoken." Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 58:13,14. There are so many blessings installed for us if
we do not make compromise. It is worth serving YHWH with an undivided heart.
It is not worth compromising the
true faith for the sake of father or mother or brother or sister. Yahushua
said, "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or
father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My Name's sake, shall
receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life." Mattithyahu
(Matthew) 19:29. Why will it be necessary to leave brothers or sisters
or your mother or father? If you serve YHWH with all your heart, not making
compromises for the sake of the family, you might loose
acceptance as part of the family, and they might no longer be your father and
mother and brother and sister.
This does not mean that you should
not behave toward your father and mother as required by Scripture. Read Shemoth
(Exodus) 20:12.
If we serve YHWH, there is no room
for compromise. Shabbat is a day set apart unto YHWH. It is a day to be spent
in the presence of YHWH. The people of Judah forgot YHWH because of compromise.
They started treading wine presses on Shabbat, and started trading on the
Shabbat. Shabbat was no longer a pleasure to them. YHWH had to act very
strongly. He instructed the nobles of Judah to close the gates of Jerusalem on
the Shabbat, so that no man could enter the city to trade on the Shabbat. Read
about this in Nehemyah (Nehemiah) 13.
If we do not meet with other fellow
believers in Yahushua on the Shabbat, we will also stop having pleasure in the
Shabbat. The Shabbat will become to us like any other day. It is inevitable
that we will then compromise by doing things on the Shabbat that is not
pleasing unto YHWH. YHWH will then withdraw His blessings from us, and we will
then become like the people of the world - people without Yahushua in their
hearts.
Do yourself a favour - forget about
compromise, and if you are not sure whether you are making compromise, consult
with a fellow brother or sister. The "friendship" with your earthly
brothers, sisters, father or mother, is not worth compromise; is not worth the
risk of loosing eternal life!