Download Notes - Dave Petrescue

Seven Secrets Steps to Greatness: #6 Nix Compromise
We are almost at the end of our seven-step climb to servant greatness. Before we
take the second last secret step, I’m wondering if you have noticed the most important
secret imbedded in our graphics. Which direction do the steps go? Please note that
Greatness is at the bottom. This series is not about greatness as the world offers it it is
about the true greatness Jesus taught and modeled; servant greatness. Let’s review the
SERVANT Acrostic and the core values we’ve already covered:
Seek God first - Priority
Empower People - People
Reach the Lost - Purpose
Verify Lifelines - Process
Activate Plans - Plans
Nix Compromise – Passion
Although the values we cover in this series are the values of MCC they are also
applicable to our personal relationships and every other aspect of our lives.
Prayer: Lord, once again we ask you to help us understand what is truly valuable to
you, to us and to life itself. And then help us to get these values installed on the hard
drive of our soul. Amen.
Would you describe yourself as passionate person? Passion is not just a strong
emotion but a strong commitment to something. What are you passionate about?
Perhaps you are a passion wannabee; you look at others who live with a passion and
you wish you could have some of that? This past week we experienced one of the
world’s most passionate days. More flowers are sold for Valentines Day than any
other day of the year. My attention was caught by this love note: "Dearest Jimmy,
No words could ever express the great unhappiness I have felt since I broke off our
engagement. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive my
stupidity. Please say you’ll take me back. I love you, I love you, I love you! Yours
forever and ever, Marie... P.S. Congratulations on willing the state lottery."
True passion is powerful because, like a laser beam, it is concentrated and focused. It
is beautiful to hear wedding vows, when couples say, “I take you”. The clear
implication is that they are not taking anyone else. They are saying a clear, “No” to
all others in order to say, “Yes” to one. That is the power of passion. But passion
dissipates and dissolves when it is compromised, when any others are allowed to cut
into that love circle of two.
If you and I ever hope to find true greatness in any area of our lives we must
understand and exercise this secret step: “Nix Compromise”. To Nix means “to
forbid, refuse, stop, cut out or veto”, as in “They nixed him from the team” or “Please
nix the mayonnaise from my sandwich.” True greatness involves nixing, stopping,
cutting out and refusing compromise.
On January 12, 1997, two Swiss men set out to be the first to circle the earth in a
high-tech, solar-powered, pressurized, hot-air balloon. Not long after launch,
however, strong fumes from a kerosene leak forced the craft down in the
Mediterranean Sea. A failed fuel clamp, costing about $1, brought down an aircraft
costing $1.5 million. That is what compromise does in our lives. When we
compromise in even the smallest things, we also become an accident waiting to
happen.
No medal-winning athlete ever achieved their dream without saying no to the things
that would have compromised their achievement. Paul carried the sports imagery
when he said, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets
the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games
goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get
a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I
do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so
that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (I
Cor. 9:24-27)
In every walk of life, from top athletes to top business people, from effective
diplomats to teachers with the greatest impact, from employees who are cherished by
their employers to artists creating true beauty, from couples madly in love after thirty
years to cell group leaders transforming lives, you will find one common
denominator. They have focused their passion and refused to compromise their lives
in pursuing their goal. Walter Savage Landor said, "Men, like nails, lose their
usefulness when they lose direction and begin to bend."
Our lives are often more defined by what we say, “No” to than by what we say, “Yes”
too. If we ever hope to achieve true greatness we must learn to say, “No” to all that
would sidetrack us from our purposes, goals and objectives.
So what does this mean practically? For us at MCC Nixing Compromise has at least
two primary applications.
I.
Passionate worship in spirit and truth is a lifestyle of private consistency
and corporate vibrancy.
You and I were fashioned by God for God and our lives will never find fulfillment
and true greatness until we commit ourselves to worship him passionately and
wholeheartedly with everything we are and have.
“A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is
spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23,24)
There is a deadly virus killing off genuine spiritual life and one of the most dangerous
results of the virus is that those who have it think it is normal. I am speaking of the
curse of compromise. When asked about what was most important in life, Jesus
replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37,38) Yet we think it is OK to love him with part of our
heart, most of our soul, some of our mind and very little of our body. Some would
rather just sing a few songs at church or go through some spiritual motions that make
them feel better and get them through another week. This “all out for Jesus” stuff
sounds so radical, so fundamentalist, too extreme.
How many of you would want your spouse, girl friend or boy friend to take you by
the hand, look deep into your eyes and say, “Darling, I want you to know I love you
with 10% of my heart? Would 50% satisfy you? Of course not. We all want to hear,
“I love you with ALL my heart.” Nobody wants a half-baked love. Not even God.
No wonder Jesus said to the church in Laodicea, “I know you inside and out, and find
little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot!
You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit.”
It never ceases to amaze me that those who accuse passionate Christians of being over
the edge emotionally, are often the very ones shouting their brains out at sports
events, rock concerts or getting very giddy and animated at parties with no purpose.
Apparently it is very “normal” to shout, cheer, yell, dance, party and celebrate for
anything and everything but if you get excited about God you are somehow
considered eccentric or strange.
I recall the episode in 2 Samuel 6 when King David was bringing the ark of God back
to Jerusalem after it had been in enemy territory. As they neared the city, David was
so thankful for God’s victory, so overwhelmed with God’s grace, so overcome with
pure joy that he took off his outer, kingly robes and danced wildly as he praised God.
As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul
watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before
the LORD , she despised him in her heart. When David returned home to bless his
household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of
Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his
servants as any vulgar fellow would!" David said to Michal, "I will celebrate before
the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in
my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor." (2 Samuel
6:16,20-22) Please note that the average person, the average unbeliever is attracted
by genuine, passionate worship. True worship that permeates a person’s live both
publically and privately is one of the greatest evangelistic strategies everywhere.
Because we were all made to worship, when human beings observe true worship in
action, it creates a hunger to experience it.
One of the primary reasons God honored David and raised him to greatness was
because he was a passionate man who focused his passion on God. Most of the 150
Psalms we have in our Bible today are the overflow of David’s heart that was bursting
with praise.
God also built you to be passionate. But don’t waste your passion on that which
destroys you or limits you to a level of mediocrity; focus your passion (as little or
much as it may be) on that which will take you towards true greatness. At MCC we
value passionate worship. Let’s cut out all compromise and unashamedly and
unreservedly worship God.
True passionate worship does not just take place once a week in our services; it is also
a daily experience, impacting every area of our lives. In I Thessalonians 5:23 Paul
said, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May
your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” In other words, nix all compromise that would in any way sidetrack you
from focusing your entire spirit, soul and body in a passionate pursuit of God.
A second way we apply the “Nix Compromise” value here at MCC is this:
II.
Excellence honors God and inspires people.
I love to watch people do things with passion because it moves them towards
excellence. Whether painting a picture, playing an instrument, leading a meeting,
playing a sport, designing or building something, preparing a meal or polishing shoes,
it's wonderful to watch someone doing their best. It doesn’t matter where you come
from, what your educational or economic background is, you can practice excellence
in what you do. Martin Luther King said, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper
he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed
music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the
hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘here lived a great street sweeper, who did
his job well.’”
I must admit I struggle, as some of you do, to adapt to an environment where shoddy
workmanship and halfhearted effort is often accepted as the norm. That is soooo
opposite to living a passionate life. Does anyone get inspired by a job that must be
done 5 times and is still substandard? You may say, Dave you are so western. This is
not about culture; it is true of life. All over the world, in every culture, excellence
inspires people. Proverbs 22:29 states, “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He
will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men.” This kind of
excellence however, that leads to greatness cannot be produced without nixing
compromise.
What would happen if we nixed all compromise in our relationship with God? Let's
face it, the temptation to be lukewarm is intense. Throughout the ages people have
tried to give their left over love to God. Listen to how he responded through the
prophet Malachi.
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the
honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD
Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ When you bring blind animals
for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is
that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you?
Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 1:6-8)
I don't think any guy in his right mind would offer dead flowers to a girl he was trying
to win. Neither would we give anything but the best to those we love most. Why is
that we give God second or third best, if anything at all, and then go around frustrated
because we aren't blessed like others?
God deserves our best, our first, our most. He is worth every effort we can ever
make, every minute we can ever spend, every dollar, euro or pound we can ever give.
Why? Is it because he wants to trick us like the girl wanting her fiancé back only for
what she can get out of him. God requires our best because he is wanting someone on
whom he can lavish his best. Paul said, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your
heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an
inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Col.
3:23,24)
Years ago an experiment was done to calculate the effects of progressive compromise.
A frog was placed in a pan of water and the water was slowly heated. The frog could
have jumped out of the pan at any point but instead it compromised and progressively
adapted to the changing water temperature. Instead of hopping to freedom it
compromised until it boiled to death.
Dear friends, we must kill compromise or compromise will kill us. At MCC we are
going to nix compromise. We will worship God passionately whether alone or
together and we will pursue excellence giving God our best. How about you? Do
you long to be lukewarm? Or is it time to get hot, indeed passionate about the things
that really matter?
Prayer: to cut out anything and everything from our schedules, houses, computers,
relationships, pockets, that would compromise our passionate pursuit of God.