Focal Point

Mike Fabarez: If you were of the world, the world would love you. But you're not. I chose you out of the world. And because I chose you out of the world, get ready for it. You and I just need to do the right thing and then gladly accept the ridicule.

Because you know what? They did that to Jesus. They did that to the prophets. I'm just saying, give up on the hope that you will be well-liked by everyone.

Guest (Male): Have you ever been tempted to cut corners to get ahead? Well, of course. We all have. When faced with pressures, employing the art of compromise can begin to look pretty attractive. But is it worth it in the long run?

Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez continues a study he calls Courage to do the Right Thing. We'll revisit some familiar Bible characters and learn from their godly example. Ready to resist compromise and stand up for what's right? It'll take what Mike Fabarez calls ambitious faith.

Mike Fabarez: Well, for those of you that think grace is a kind of a get-out-of-jail-free card, that it's a license to say, well, it's all right because it's all been paid for, then the Bible would be very clear to respond to that by saying you don't understand grace at all.

Sure enough, we don't earn our way into the family of God, and doing good things and being righteous doesn't get us right with God. But according to Scripture, Paul wrote to Titus in the early church, and he said, "Don't you understand that grace is the thing that instructs us to deny ungodliness?"

It's because God has granted us grace in Christ that we should have a zeal and a passion to say, "I'm not going to live for sin anymore." And with the enemy of God prowling around, and the world system and my own flesh rebelling against this desire to live godly, you've got to know that if you are passive in the Christian life, you're a spiritual disaster waiting to happen.

I mean, you are no match if you're not ready to put up your dukes and say, "I'm ready to fight this thing called sin and temptation." It is the norm of the Christian life. In the words of Romans chapter 8, you are to declare war on sin in this way: that you are to put to death the misdeeds of the body. Which means that we're all saying, "Okay, I'm all out declaring war on this. Let's declare war on sin."

Question is, how do we do it? Well, there's a lot of things the Bible has to say, but there are some specific tools for us in Hebrews chapter 11, beginning in verse number 23. And if you have your Bibles, I want you to open there, because in this series of examples of the Old Testament, we get to an example of ambitious faith and it hones in on the issue of fighting temptation. The template for us is Moses and his parents.

Hebrews chapter 11, look at verse number 23 as it says by faith, and that's the issue. And it does take ambitious faith to walk a path of righteousness. He says, "Well, let's think of Moses's parents for a minute. They hid him for three months after he was born." That's because Pharaoh had said all baby boys got to be killed. And they saw he was no ordinary child. I mean, which was a head-scratcher for expositors because this is more than just, well, he's really cute, let's save him.

I mean, there was something here. We don't know what it is. It's not clear. But both Stephen in his sermon in Acts 7 and 8 and both the Exodus passage in Exodus 2 and both this passage, thirdly, they say there's something about this kid. There was this idea that they had from God. This kid could be like the deliverer or something. I mean, he's not ordinary, there was something about him.

And so they said there's no way we can give in to the sin of tossing our kid into the river. We're going to do whatever we can to save him. And what did it take? Bottom of verse 23: it took them dealing with fear. They weren't afraid of the king's edict. They had to say, "You know what? We're putting that aside because we're going to do the right thing here, which in that case was to save their kid."

Verse 24 spotlight shifts to Moses as he's grown up. He refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. You know the story, he's raised in Pharaoh's palace. Now he's got a choice because he's really not an Egyptian, he's a Hebrew. And he sees the Hebrews being mistreated and he says, "I'm going to stand with them."

He chose, verse 25, to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. That was a choice. Which by the way, that's what this sermon is all about. It's about making choices. Am I going to compromise or am I going to do the right thing?

Even if there's some kind of benefit there, I know it's short term and I'm going to say no to it. I'm going to stand with the people of God. Verse 26, because, bottom of verse 26, he was looking ahead to his reward. Different perspective. And what you need to have as a result is whether this works out perfectly or not, I'm not going to compromise.

Give you one example. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Remember those three guys? They were under pressure to do the wrong thing. This is a great story. You should look at it. Daniel chapter 3. Daniel chapter 3. Not a hard one to find. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel. Daniel chapter 3. In Daniel chapter 3, same kind of thing, they're pressured to do the wrong thing.

Now remember, this is a thousand years later, 586, they get ripped from their homeland. They get taken over to Babylon and these young teenagers now are growing up as some future prodigies that they're going to shape and mold into these great Babylonian leaders. And so here they are. But their heart is still in Israel. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, much like Daniel, had made a resolve: "We're not going to compromise."

Even though we're in a foreign land and a foreign place with foreign gods, we're not going to compromise. Well, there's a real problem. Because in God's plan, here comes Nebuchadnezzar, the great Middle Eastern Mesopotamian monarch who says, "You know what? I'm going to build this big statue and everyone when we play the music's going to have to bow down."

And that was not going to sit well. A thousand years after Moses brought the Ten Commandments, obviously, right there near the top, I'm not supposed to be bowing down to any golden idols. I'm not going to do it. So they didn't do it. And someone tattled on them. And they get brought in. And now they're standing before the great monarch of Babylon and he says, "You know what? I'm going to give you one more chance."

Verse 15: "Here's what you need to do. If you hear the sound of the music, we're going to play it, we're going to cue the tape up here. When you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the zither, one of my favorite instruments, the zither, the harp, the pipes, and all kinds of music." This is Daniel 3:15.

"If you are ready then to fall down and worship the image that I have made, hey, cool. We'll just call it a big misunderstanding. No problem. Little slap on the wrist, on your way, very good. But if you do not worship it, you'll be thrown immediately into the barbecue and we will burn you, and you will get burned up. Ouch."

Think about the pain for a minute, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Hmm. "And then I got to tell you, little Hebrew boys, what God is going to save you from that? Who's going to be able to rescue you from my hands?"

And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said, "Well, I'm sure God would want us alive and we'd be better alive than dead, and I'm sure that we can bow down and really not mean it, so I guess we'll externally bow down, but in our hearts we will stand up and then we'll pray to God for forgiveness because God is a God of grace, so okay, cue the tape, we'll do it. But we won't mean it."

Is that what they did? That's the other version of the Bible, right? That didn't happen that way. They were like, no, look what they said. "Hey, King Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need to defend ourselves before you in this matter." Translation: you're not the boss of us. We're not going to do what you say.

We got a bigger king. In the New Testament, we call it the lordship of Christ. That's our ultimate accountability. It's not my manager, it's not my boss, it's not my CEO, it's not my mother-in-law, it's not the pressure in the neighborhood, it's not the other kids on the T-ball team. It is God. And we're going to do what he says. He's the boss of us.

And if we're thrown into the blazing furnace, verse number 17, "The God we serve is able to save us from it and he will rescue us from your hand, O King." Next six words: underline them, bracket them, highlight them. Here it comes: "But even if he does not." That's so important to hear. "Even if he doesn't, we want you to know, O King, you're not the boss of us, we're not going to serve your gods, worship your stinking idol, okay, done. So burn us if you have to, but we're not bowing down."

Here's the deal. If you go in it with one or two problems of compromise: one saying, "God, I'll do this as long as you work it quickly out for good," God isn't going to make a deal with you like that. Or if you say, "Well, God knows my heart, it's okay." I just hate that. Don't you hate that? "God knows my heart, it's okay." Stop with that.

Do the right thing. Tell the people around you it doesn't matter what you think, I'm doing the right thing. And if you want to fire me for this, fire me. If I'm going to lose a client over it, I'm going to lose a client over it. If my family's going to alienate me, I guess they're going to alienate me. But I'm going to do the right thing.

This is not a license to be a jerk. I'm not asking you to be as irritating and as rude as possible. I'm just telling you when push comes to shove and you're being pressured to do the wrong thing, whether from people, environment, the impulses of your body, stand up, be ruthless and say, "I'm not doing it. I'm not going to do it."

And you know what? In the long run, God will work this out. And if in the short run he doesn't work it out, okay, no big deal. We're going to do the right thing. Are you committed to doing right at that level? You will never beat temptation on a consistent basis in your life until you're as ruthless as that. And that is: I don't care what it costs me. I don't care what obedience costs me. Why? Because I fear God and his approval more than I fear any of the consequences that might come because of doing the right thing.

Hebrews ends that way, by the way. If you're back in Hebrews 11, flip over to verse 6 of chapter 13. And after all that he's taught about compromise and standing up for what's right, what a great way to just summarize so much of what's been said. I know it's early in the chapter, but look at verse 6. Hebrews 13:6: "So we say with confidence," here's the bottom line, "the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid."

There's the bottom line right there. What can man do to me? Now the list is long, right? Fire me, ruin my reputation, hurt me, take my money away, alienate me, a lot of things. But ultimately, I'm not going to be afraid because God is going to be my helper. I'm more concerned with pleasing him. Don't fear the consequences. If you're going to do the right thing, you've got to start with that resolve.

Now, as I said, verse 24 of Hebrews 11, the focus shifts not to Amram and Jochebed, the parents of Moses, the focus now goes onto Moses himself. Now Moses when he grows up, he's got a choice to make. He knows he's not an Egyptian. He's watching the people of God, who are trying to, and albeit not perfectly, serve God.

He's watching them be ridiculed and mistreated by the powers that be which he is aligned with. I mean, he's the son of Pharaoh's daughter. But he said, "You know what? I'm not going to be aligned with you because that's wrong. I'm going to be aligned with them because that's right."

Now that was going to cost him. Did that cost him? Absolutely. He ends up getting kicked out. He has to run because of, and you know the story, because of his premature work to redeem the people out of the land and get them out. But the bottom line is he had to make a decision. The path was clear.

Now, I'd like to keep my job, I'd like my expense account, I'd love to keep getting all the education of the Egyptians, but I've got to stand with who's right. And who's right in this case are the people of Israel and the people that have God, Yahweh, as their God. And so I've got to stand with them.

Now that was going to cost him specifically in the next three verses. Take a look at it. "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, he refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God." Because he knew if I stand with the people of God, I'm going to have this, and that's a word you should circle, mistreatment.

"I'm going to be mistreated rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time." Because Satan's always got a little carrot out there to give you. Compromise and I'll give you some goodies. This'll feel good. This'll be great. You'll get a raise, you'll advance, your reputation will increase. Everything will go okay with you. You'll avoid all the pain and the conflict. Just compromise.

And he says, "I'm not going to do that. I don't want to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. I'd rather stand with the people of God because they're right and you guys, you Egyptians that are oppressing them, you're wrong." Verse 26: "He regarded," here's the other word to circle, "disgrace for the sake of Christ." Which he was being a type of to lead the people out of bondage.

He was saying, "I'll be disgraced for that. It's of greater value than the treasures of Egypt." Why? Because he was looking forward to his reward. What's the point here, though? Two words you circled, what were they? Mistreated and disgrace.

Because here's the deal. If you don't run with the boys, if you're not one of the guys, if you don't go along with all the gals, if you're not the person that does all the compromising stuff that everybody else in your circle does, you will have to step out and stand with the people of God. Which means they're going to have to know that you believe in God, you believe in God's Word, that you actually believe the things that are written in that.

And that makes people do this behind your back. "Ooh, he's a little nutty." That's what they say. They roll their eyes at you. I heard a guy on TV yesterday, I've got to say. Here he was, the pundit was talking about whoever it was. And he said, "You know what? Here's the deal. I don't mind if they're religious. That doesn't bother me. They can be churchgoers. I just cannot handle it if they're not going to believe in evolution."

That was the litmus test for this guy. In other words, you can be religious, but don't start telling me that God created the world. I can't handle that. You're a nut if you believe that. Now here's the deal. We love that position of, "Can't I just kind of sit here in the middle somewhere? And can't I kind of be a Christian and maybe I won't let it all out and I don't need to let everybody know what I believe?"

But here's the deal. The bottom line is if people at work could see you right now, nodding at things in church that you affirm, they would think that's odd. It's always been that way. If you stand with the people of God and people at work really know what you believe, you will, two words, be mistreated and you will bear disgrace in that. That's just how it's going to be.

How does God instruct us to handle that? To insult them back? Call them pinheads. Is that what he tells us to do? What do we do when people insult us? What do we do when people say all kinds of terrible things about us because we're followers of Christ and we stand with the people of God?

What's the Bible say? Here's one for you. Matthew chapter 5, verse 11. It says that when we are persecuted with words and people say all kinds of bad things about us and they malign us and they mistreat us with their mouths and they call us names, next verse, verse 12, that we should in that day rejoice and be glad.

Two reasons in that passage: because great is our reward in heaven and that's the way they treated the prophets. And the point is those should be our heroes. The prophets. The people that stood up even though they threw them in wells and in holes and they killed them. We ought to say we want to stand with the people of God and some of God's heroes, the prophets. We stand with them. And we don't care.

And the Bible says, you know, if you're standing with the people of God and their heroes, just know this: they didn't care much for them. And let's get New Testament about it for a second. They didn't care much for our leader now, did they? Did the Jerusalem Post speak well of Jesus Christ? Help me with that one. No. What did the leaders want to do? Kill him. Did they?

They did. They stripped him naked, they beat him, they put a crown of thorns on his head, and they pinned him up to a Roman execution rack. That's what they did to your leader and you want to be well-liked? You want to be the cool Christian that everybody likes? What are you thinking?

Here's what Jesus said about it in John 15: Do you think a servant is above his master? If they hated him, they're going to hate you too. Jesus put it in the first person: "If they hated me, they're going to hate you." Just the way it is. And here's how he put it in John 15: "If you were of the world, the world would love you. But you're not. I chose you out of the world. And because I chose you out of the world, get ready for it."

As a matter of fact, as Matthew 5:11 says, get ready to gladly embrace it. Mistreatment and disgrace, I summarized it in one word: ridicule. You and I just need to do the right thing and then gladly accept the ridicule. Don't fight back, just say, "Okay, whatever. Call me a nut, call me a zealot, call me a Jesus freak, whatever, hey, that's nice."

But I, you know, hey, that's just comes with the territory. Bottom line is you stand in good company. That's what Jesus said. Because you know what? They did that to Jesus. They did that to the prophets. They did that to a guy we preached on a couple weeks ago. His name was Noah.

How was Noah getting along with that big barge in the backyard? Everybody thought he was really cool, huh? Is that what they thought? What'd they think of Noah? Crazy. Now you can imagine Noah doing some negotiation with God on this one.

"Hey, God, I know you want a boat, but the size that you gave me is really going to call attention to this in my backyard. Can we build a smaller one? I mean, just smaller. I can build it in the barn maybe where no one can see it."

Now you laugh at that, but isn't that exact what God is, I mean, the challenge that we face right now? I mean, God is telling you, 2 Corinthians 5, to be an ambassador, speak up, to plead with people as though Christ were making his appeal through you. Be reconciled to God. And you're going, "Well, that's a little overboard. Can't we just build a little small-test Christian testimony? Won't that be okay?"

And what does God say? "Oh, boy, compromise." If the specifications for your Christian life are to stand up for God, do the right thing, be his representative in the world, then here's the deal: don't make deals with God. That's called hypocrisy, that's called compromise. Let's just stand up to it and know that they're going to do this when we walk out of the lunchroom. Oh well.

Again, is this a license to be a cook? Is that what I'm saying? Just be as cooky as you can. Make sure everybody thinks you're a nut. No, I'm not saying that. Let's be respectful and kind. But let's just recognize if we stand for truth, they're going to say cook, oddball, zealot, Jesus freak. And so what do we do? Well, we just remember we're in good company.

And don't, by the way, say, "Well, I'll stand up for Christ, but I'm going to try to do it in a way that makes sure that everybody still kind of thinks I'm really groovy." Just don't. I mean, I'm not trying to say do it in a brash way. But it's like Noah saying, "Well, I want to, I'll build your big boat, but can I paint it really cool? So everybody thinks it's really nifty?"

No. I mean, just build the stinking ark and tell people to get on it and they're not going to like the message. So just do it. And same for you. You and I need to recognize that God calls us to do things that we give in to not doing because of pressure, and we need to recognize we do because we don't. We do it because we idolize the acceptance of the people around us. That's the bottom line.

Let's invert this. Let me ask you a question: Are you ready to give up the idolatry of being accepted by all those people Monday through Friday? Are you ready for that? Again, and I love, people take this sometimes and run the other direction. "I just want to be a cooky, nutty person."

Not asking you to be that. I'm just saying give up on the hope that you will be well-liked by everyone. Because the Bible says when you stand up and do the right thing, you're probably going to have what Moses had: mistreatment and disgrace. Ridicule's another name for it. Gladly accept the ridicule. It's going to happen and you just need to get ready for it.

Speaking of getting ready, 1 Peter chapter 4. Let's just get one, and this is so specific, so we've got to deal with it because here it is: here's what the Bible's asking us to do. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse number 1. Three choices: I can stand up and do the right thing, I can say I'm not going to do the right thing, or I can find some kind of middle hypocritical land of compromise.

Man, let's just choose A. We're just going to stand up and do the right thing. But they won't like us. Well, that's all right. That's okay. I'm still going to be nice, I'm still going to be gracious, but not everybody's going to think well of us. That's all right. Does that mean I'm going to have to suffer a little bit? Yep.

Verse 1, 1 Peter 4, verse 1: "Therefore since Christ suffered in his body," why did he suffer? Well, because he did the will of God, because he was in a world that didn't do the will of God, because he was at peace with God and the world wasn't, therefore they were warring against him.

"Well, since he suffered in the body, here it is, one word translates to English words: arm yourself." That's the only time used in the Scripture. And this word, it translates "arm yourself." It really brings us to the picture of Ephesians chapter 6 because it was the word used in classical Greek to put on your armor, to put your pads on and your helmet on before the game. To gear up. That's what it is.

You got to get ready. Where? I got to put on some special shin pads? No, no, no. With an attitude. "Arm yourself also with this same attitude." And that means that I know I'm going to get thumped, I'm going to put on my helmet. I'm going to put on the right attitude because I know that he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.

Now careful with that phrase. Because some people have used that as ascetics in church history: slap themselves, whip themselves, and now I won't sin anymore. Funny thing is, it doesn't work. That's why there's not a lot of monasteries on every corner. It doesn't work. That's not what we're talking about.

What we're talking about, now catch this carefully, that if I suffer in the body, if I'm standing with Christ and doing his will, then it's the mental attitude, I've geared up with this attitude: I'm done with sin. Doesn't mean I stop sinning, but in my mind, I'm done with sin.

There are periodic failures. We all sin. 1 John chapter 1, if you say you're without sin, you're a liar, the truth's not in you. But in my mind, what's your resolve? I'm not going to sin. I hope when you leave today you say, and you should say it every day, "God, I'm done with sin." As Paul said, "I'm dead to the world, it's dead to me."

I'm not interested in sinning. Now will we by 3:00 have to confess some things? Probably. But I'm committed to saying I'm done with sin. As a matter of fact, here's what I'm committed to as a result: "I don't live," verse 2, "the rest of my life for evil human desires." I'm not out just to do whatever I want to do, but rather my resolve is to do the will of God. I live for the will of God. I want to do what God says.

Guest (Male): Following God's will isn't always easy, but it's always best. That's the reminder from Mike Fabarez today on Focal Point and a message titled Courage to do the Right Thing. It's part of a series from Mike Fabarez called Ambitious Faith, and every lesson is available anytime by going online to focalpointradio.org or download the free Focal Point app and subscribe to the podcast.

This month's featured resource is Songs of the Son by Daniel Stevens, and it runs right alongside what you've been hearing in this series. The premise is straightforward: the Psalms aren't simply poetry about the range of human emotion, they're songs about Jesus. Some address him directly, others pull back the curtain on the conversation between the Father and the Son.

Stevens works through the specific Psalms that Hebrews itself cites, taking each one on its own terms first, then reading it through the lens Hebrews supplies. And what comes into focus is a Christ who was present in those pages all along. If this series has sharpened your eye for seeing Jesus in the Old Testament, Songs of the Son gives you more ground to cover.

Make Songs of the Son yours when you support Focal Point with a gift today. You can easily give over the phone by calling us at 888-320-5885 or donate online at focalpointradio.org. You can also send your donation by mail. Just write to us at Focal Point, P.O. Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California, 92654.

What keeps this ministry going is listeners who've decided that verse-by-verse Bible teaching is worth standing behind. If that's you, your support is what makes every broadcast possible and we're genuinely grateful for it.

And if these messages have been doing real work in your life, we'd be glad to have you come on board as a Focal Point Partner by setting a monthly donation of any amount. Sign up as a Focal Point Partner today by calling 888-320-5885 or by going to focalpointradio.org. Don't miss the conclusion of today's study when we come back next time. Join Mike Fabarez for a biblical study on courage to do the right thing, Thursday here on Focal Point.

Mike Fabarez: Pastor Mike here. It's an honor to be with you every day helping you explore the depths of Scripture. But I want to be clear, no amount of Bible knowledge is ever going to save you. Be sure where you stand with God. Get in touch with us. We'd love to pray with you and for you. Visit us today at focalpointradio.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

Guest (Male): Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.