Can you spell the word any differently than C-o-m-p-r-o-m-i-s-e?  Not at all.  It is a word which may mean different things to different people.  That is so with a lot of things in life.  None of us agree on everything all the time.  We get along most of the time because we compromise in order to do it.

I am a Baptist.  I also drive a school bus and work around people with a whole lot different beliefs than what I have.  We all get along really well most of the time.  I go and eat breakfast with one of the drivers who happens to be the pastor of a Church of Christ local church.  When we talk about anything “Religious” it is usually about “Pastoring” our churches.  I count him a friend.  I think we both know that there are areas of doctrine and things we disagree on, we are still friends.  I am saying this to get to something that has really got my blood boiling.

That is this.  Why is it in a Baptist Church this word C-O-M-P-R-O-M-I-S-E almost always comes up on the topic of the requirements of the pastor of a church, and the issue of marriage, divorce, and remarriage?  I have convictions on this matter, and some of the members of the church I pastor do as well.  This is usually concerning the “Husband of one wife” qualification.  This is found in 1 Timothy 3:2; “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife…”  In the Gospel of Matthew and the Sermon On the Mount Jesus says, “But I say to you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery” (Matthew 5:32).

On the  qualification of a pastor being, “the husband of one wife” I have the conviction, as do many others that the pastor of the local church should not have been divorced and remarried.  The office of the Pastor, and the Deacon is a position of example.  His life should be an example to others, and especially in marriage.  It seems to me that a pastor who has been divorced and remarried would be a shame to a church when his home is reflecting the image of the world than the image of Christ and the Church.  I am not saying the pastor should be perfect.  We have all sinned.  I may have gotten away from what got my blood boiling.

Speaking with some people the other day concerning their work on a Pulpit Committee or Pastor Search Committee which was looking for a pastor.  There had been some disagreement concerning a former pastor whom they found out, after he resigned, that he had been divorced and was remarried.  There was dishonesty with this man in the first place – that they did not know this before hand. 

The Committee had discussed compromise  before looking at resume’s of prospective pastors.  What was the compromise?  To not even consider whether the man had been divorced and remarried before.  Who would have been making the compromise here?  Only those who had the conviction that a pastor should be “the husband of one wife”.  The others were making absolutely no compromise.  To overlook whether a man had been divorced and remarried would have caused them to violate their convictions.  Then, what kind of “convictions” would that be?  No conviction at all.

I just find it appalling that those who cry for COMPROMISE on some issues want the one’s who have conviction to compromise, but they compromise nothing.  May God help us have CONVICTION.  A conviction is something you believe strongly enough you stand on it; live or die.  A conviction is something for which there is no compromise.  On this issue of divorce there are many who have no conviction.

Though the world and the “Church” is equal in the numbers of divorces; that alone should cause those of us who are the spiritual leaders of our churches to stand and say we are going to be different than the world around us, have a strong family life, and encourage the families of our churches to build strong families, and homes.  That will start by having CONVICTIONS WITHOUT COMPROMISE.