You have probably heard the old saying, the end justifies the means. That is a simple definition of pragmatism. Often in our lives, we will be tempted to do whatever it takes to accomplish the plans we have. We assume that a good goal will allow us to bend the rules a bit to get something worthwhile accomplished.
A look at Scripture will show us that God is not happy when his people break his laws and ignore his commands, regardless of their reasoning. God does not smile on us when we turn away from his instructions to accomplish a task, even if our intent is to accomplish a big task that he commanded be accomplished.
One example of dangerous pragmatism occurs in the book of 1 Samuel. Saul is king over Israel. He finds himself in a bit of a pickle. He knows that the people need to fight a battle against the Philistines. He knows that his army is growing restless. They need to make a particular sacrifice to the Lord before heading out. And the prophet Samuel has not arrived. The whole schedule is being messed up. The army is in danger of falling apart.
What does Saul do? Does he wait? Does he obey God’s instruction that only Samuel can make the particular sacrifice? No, he does not. Saul decides to take it upon himself to make the sacrifice. After all, Saul is King. After all, isn’t it better to get the sacrifice done regardless of whether every little rule is observed? Isn’t it better to be sure to keep the people together so they can go fight their enemies?
1 Samuel 13:11-14 – 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
Samuel asks Saul what he has done. Saul explains his pragmatic decision. The Philistines were coming. Saul didn’t want to break the rules, but he found he had no choice. Surely Samuel will understand.
Samuel tells Saul that he has done foolishly. The king has dishonored the Lord God. Saul has refused to keep God’s commands. He most certainly should not have made the sacrifice that he was not called by God to make. Saul most certainly should have waited for the Lord, even if waiting made things tremendously more difficult. Saul found out that the end of keeping the army together did not justify the means of him making the sacrifice rather than waiting on Samuel. And Samuel shows us that the consequences of this decision would be Saul’s eventual loss of dynastic rulership over Israel—a gigantic loss.
And we should learn from this as modern Christians. We have things we want to see get done in the church. We have things we want to see accomplished in our lives. We have rules we would prefer not to have to follow. WE have compromises that we see other churches make that we think might draw people to our church. Maybe we can ignore some doctrines? Maybe we can lighten up on our criticism of some sins. Maybe we can remove the preaching of the word from being so central. Maybe we can focus more on application than on content. Maybe we can just cut a few corners to accomplish a bigger goal.
God shows us that he is not honored when his people ignore his commands. His word is vital. The Scripture is our authority for life and worship. We dare not compromise our commitment to the word of God for any outcome, not even for evangelistic purposes. We must be faithful enough to the Lord to trust him to work out his will for his glory when we are faithfully committed to the things he has commanded. We must not give in to the temptation toward dangerous pragmatism.
Pastor Travis Peterson 