A Biblical Survey of Settling for Less

(Transcript of a sermon preached at Bible Believers' Baptist Church, Madison, AL, on 30 November, 2014.)

Text: 2 Timothy 4:1-10

I recently read a passage from literature that stirred me deeply and turned my mind toward these things. I’ll talk about that passage at the close of this two-part message, but the thrust of it was that a saint had to be content with less in heaven because they were content with less on earth. That’s the general idea I’d like to explore, though my survey won’t be limited to saints. Paul said in 1 Cor. 10:11 that “all these things happened unto them [Israel] for ensamples: and they are written for our [the church’s] admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” So I’d like to look at numerous examples of this decision in scripture for our admonition, learning (Rom. 15:4) and application. 

     Let me start off with a quote from Christian literature that highlights the magnitude of this decision to settle for less. This is taken from C.S. Lewis’ The Weight of Glory:

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and [lust] and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” As I take you through examples of settling for less in scripture, see if things are not exactly as Lewis asserts.

OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES

1. Adam (Gen. 3). The head of the human race certainly settled for less. He put a woman before God, a very common sin among men. Much, if not most, of popular music through the ages is the idolization of women by men. Bro. Ruckman made a great point in his notes on 1 Cor. 11, where a woman is referred to as “the glory of the man” (11:7). So if you find a society glorifying women, you know that they are declining from God, since a woman is man’s glory, not God’s. When you hear men sing, “You’re all I need,” you should cringe. That’s idolatry, folks, and utterly false! No woman can satisfy a man totally, since man’s spirit can only be satisfied by its creator, God. Perhaps that’s how Adam tried to console himself after the fall, but he soon found that Eve was a sinner just like him, full of faults and imperfections. Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, preached at Prince William’s wedding several years ago, and he said that as “the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the west,” more and more people are seeking fulfillment in human relationships. According to Chartres, this puts too great a burden on the partner, which is as incomplete and in need of forgiveness as the other. Adam chose falling with Eve versus abiding with God, and here we are today, because he settled for less. As an addendum, I would like to assert that the patriarch Adam was not saved: (1) when Jesus mentions the righteous blood shed from the beginning to end of the old testament, he begins with Abel, not Adam (Mt. 23:35); (2) the “Hall of Faith” in Heb. 11 begins with Abel, not with Adam; (3) he was a contemporary of Enoch for 314 years, and scripture never says that he walked with God or pleased God like Enoch (Gen. 5:22-24; Heb. 11:5), and it is Enoch, not Adam, who is translated (Heb. 11:5). It seems fitting that the man who brought condemnation on the whole race should be condemned, but maybe the grace of God kept him his whole life; however, it doesn’t look good to me. 

2. Cain (Gen. 4). Adam’s terrible firstborn, who was “of that wicked one” (1 John 3:12), chooses self-righteousness (the foundation of false religions) over a relationship with God. His brother Abel sought fellowship, so he brought blood, which he knew had restored his parents to fellowship with God. Cain, however, like Frank Sinatra and Elvis, “did it my way” and God rejects him. You can tell by Cain’s pouting and impudence that he was not seeking God, but wanted God to accept him no matter what. If he truly wanted God’s favour and fellowship, he would not have been wroth but, upon discovering his error, corrected it and did what God required. God stands his ground with Cain, however, and says, in effect, “My way, not your way, Cain.” But, as we see in Jude 11, Cain goes his own “way” and likely ends up in hell, attending church all the way home. I’ve no doubt that the Cainites were religious. If you look at the names of his progeny, some of them contain “-el” or “God” (Gen. 4:18). The trappings mean little, folks, if God doesn’t have your heart, and he never got Cain’s, even after his horrible murder. 

3. Esau (Heb. 12:16). This “fornicator” and “profane person…for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” He grossly exaggerates his exhaustion upon returning from hunting, and he’s so carnal that he willingly sacrifices the permanent upon the altar of the temporary. Whether Esau understood the spiritual side of his birthright or not, he had to understand that the birthright included his father’s wealth. But the future meant nothing to this fool, only the present, like SO many men after him. Their whole life consists of gratifying their lusts as quickly as possible, with great frustration when they’re the least bit hindered. If you don’t believe that, visit any restaurant in America and see how impatient Americans are with service and how particular they are about their food. Join me for lunch one day at the Subway near my office for an object lesson. These ingrates are Esau’s children, in my opinion. They settle for less, just like he did. 

4. Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh (Num. 32). Oh didn’t they settle for less! Numbers 32 is the story of their poor choice. These carnal Israelites put their cattle before fulfilling God’s word. Seems to me like their God was their belly, and they are not exalted in Israel’s history. No one from Reuben ever reigns over Israel, and the Gadites and Manassites have only minor roles in Israel’s national affairs through the years. But didn’t they help the other tribes conquer Canaan? Yes, they did…upon threat of judgment. We use the verse “be sure your sin will find you out” in our dealings with others, but the context of that was judgment upon the two and a half tribes if they didn’t help with the conquest of Canaan. The sad truth is that even sharing in the conquest of Canaan didn’t change their hearts and give them a taste for their real inheritance. They were set on living outside the best that God had for them. Know anyone like that? Sad to say, that’s where most believers live. Their hearts are in this world, not heavenly places where they ought to be (Col. 3:2) and actually are (Eph. 2:6). If your heart is down here, it’s in the wrong place, because your true spiritual location is up there, and one day you’ll be up there physically. That’s why Paul says what he does in Col. 3:2: so our lives down here will be consistent with our life up there, until we’re taken there physically (Phil. 3:20-21).

5. Achan (Josh. 7:1; 1 Chron. 2:7). This covetous Judean loses not only his own life for a stylish garment and some cash (Josh. 7:21), but the lives of his entire family and the 36 soldiers who die in the failed attack upon Ai (Josh. 7:5). Achan, known to posterity as “the troubler of Israel” (1 Chron. 2:7), is a classic example of the folly and price of sin for oneself and others. Note Joshua’s last words to him: “Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day” (Josh. 7:24). Here we see a solemn example of the law of sowing and reaping, and since you reap more than you sow, Achan dies a dishonourable and horrible death, since his entire house and possessions are right there with him. Oh what a terrible price for settling for less!

6. Eli (1 Sam. 1-4). What great potential! Seems like his progeny would have continued in the priesthood, but with Abiathar’s ejection under Solomon in 1 Kings 2:26-27, over 100 years later, all of them are eventually put out of it. Why? Because this man put his sons—and food—before God’s word. God’s charges against him with honouring his “sons above me” (2:29) and “mak[ing] [them]selves fat with the chiefest of the offerings of Israel…” So although Eli reproves his sons for their sins, he does not restrain them when they ignore him (3:13, 2:25), and it appears, due to his heaviness (4:18), that he may have partook of the offerings extorted from the Israelites. How many have settled for pleasing their children rather than being right with God! How can your children have God in his proper place if you don’t have them in theirs (1 Tim. 3:5)?! Small wonder that Hophni and Phinehas ignore Eli’s reproof. Their disrespect as adults began and was tolerated during their upbringing. What a solemn warning for us as saints! Here is God’s priest, someone close to him, losing his family and ironically Samuel, who witnesses all of this, makes the same mistake, since his sons are low-lifes like Eli’s boys. True, all four sons chose their own path, but there seems to have been some disconnect between fathers and sons in both families, with tragic results. 

7. King Joash of Israel (2 Kings 13:14-19). When word reaches this evil king that Elisha is dying, he comes weeping over the departure of the true strength of his kingdom, what is meant by “the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof” (v. 14). Quite a humbling admission for this king, that it was the prophet of God who was keeping his country together. So he makes a good decision to seek him out before he departs. True to form, God rewards the king’s humility, just like he rewarded Ahab’s many years before when he repented under Elijah’s final rebuke. Elisha, in figure, shows him that he can be delivered from Syria, to the degree of his choices. The first act shows him clearly what the arrows stand for. So when it comes time for him to strike, the expectation is that that he’ll do it numerous times for complete deliverance from Syria (v. 19). But for some reason, likely unbelief, he only strikes three times, provoking Elisha (and indirectly, God) to wrath. He settles for less, and his triumph over Syria is only partial. Isn’t that the way it is with us too? God tells us that our triumph over sin is complete in Rom. 6, but we balk at full conquest and congratulate ourselves that we don’t drink and smoke. Let me tell you, folks, in the long war against sin, ceasing from tobacco and liquor is only a skirmish. Your biggest battles are going to be with pride, covetousness, envy, laziness, gluttony, and a host of other enemies. When you think about it, drinking nasty firewater and breathing smoke are not natural to begin with. But pride and covetousness sure are, aren’t they? John Paul Jones said, “I have not yet begun to fight!” Neither have you, if you’re not trying to subdue your inner sins as well as your external. 

NEW TESTAMENT

 

1. Rich young ruler (Mt. 19:16-22; Mark 10:17-22, Luke 18:18-23). This gentleman is an important figure, doctrinally and practically. When he asks Christ what good thing must he do to have eternal life, Christ does not say, Believe Paul’s gospel. Christ hasn’t even died at this point, and Paul hasn’t been saved or received the revelation of the gospel for this age. The gospels are under the old testament economy, though they are properly placed in our Bible since they institute the new testament. They have to go somewhere, and of course they’re in the proper place in our King James Bible. This ruler (Luke 18:18) is, of course, important practically as well. We’ve all heard about his dilemma of following Christ or keeping his possessions and of the sad outcome. He puts his possessions before God, and loses his soul for them. A very solemn warning. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37) Paul adds in 1 Timothy 6:9, “For they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into divers and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” Perdition is loss, not of eternal salvation in a saint’s case, but of other things like testimony, power, and peace. Don’t settle for this world’s trinkets like this young man did. He was so close to salvation, it said in Mark 10:21 that the Lord loved him. But he didn’t go far enough, he settled for less, and it cost him his soul.

2. Rulers of Israel (John 11:47-48). While Jesus was raising the dead, they were fretting about keeping their “place and nation,” i.e. their position of power and influence over the Jewish people. For that lust, they sell out the Son of God and, ironically, keep neither the place nor the nation, both being swept away by the Romans less than 40 years later. Their putting their “place” before the nation, which the Holy Spirit carefully records here, costs not just them their lives, but the life of the entire nation. See how awful it is to be selfish, folks, and how diligent we need to be in mortifying all of its forms in our lives and teaching our children these principles as well? Selfishness hurts, not just you, but those around you. If you want to bless others, you must deny and forget yourself. The degree that you do (or don’t) do that will determine your helpfulness (or harmfulness) in life.

 

3. Judas (Mt. 27:3-10). Judas gets his piece of land…the potter’s field. Which is probably what he wanted. The Lord gives you what you want, you know. He gave them their heart’s desire and…sent leanness to their souls. An old testament example of this is Gehazi. When he denies his extortion of money from Naaman, Elisha sees in a vision right into the servant’s heart and even what he wanted to use the money for (2 Kings 5:25-26). Wow! What a terrifying example of the omniscience of God! He knows what, deep down, you really want, for worse or for better. In Judas’ case, it was a piece of cursed ground, at the cost of innocent blood! How many other men have given their souls just for a piece of ground, like King Ahab for Naboth’s vineyard. Ahab meets a violent, premature end just like Judas for a piece of land at the cost of a righteous man’s blood, a type of the one betrayed by Judas!

 

4. Pilate (John 18:33-19:22). I think that the interview between Christ and Pilate in John 18 provides the most insight on Pilate’s heart of all the gospel accounts. Let’s begin with 19:11. Jesus told Pilate that to crucify him (v. 10) would be sin, and that is the last word that he ever says to Pilate. According to Christ, Pilate’s sin would not be as great as that of the Jews that delivered him to Pilate (“he” applies to the Jews generally; cf. Acts 3:13, John 19:12), but it would still be sin. Why? Because Christ revealed who he was to Pilate in chapter 18, and Pilate missed it since he was not “of the truth” (vv. 37-38). He has a conscience (look at 18:38), but he doesn’t follow it to salvation, so when he enquires as to Christ’s identity in 19:9, “Jesus gave him no answer,” since Pilate had rejected truth earlier and was not enquiring in sincerity this time either. So what was the problem with this man? How did he settle for less? Note the turning point in 19:13: “When Pilate therefore heard that saying…” What saying? Look at v. 12. “…but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.” Whoa! Now Pilate must choose between earthly loyalty and heavenly, since the man standing in front of him claims to be from heaven. “Whose friend will I be?” thinks Pilate. Per Mt. 27:24, he “saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made…” The Jews are not going to back down from this ultimatum and are beginning to riot, so he chooses to sell the Lord out rather than risk his own neck. Of course he did: “Skin for skin, yea all that a man hath will he give for his life” (Job 2:4); and, “…the friendship of the world is enmity with God (Jas. 4:4).” What a pity that Pilate chose to be Caesar’s or the world’s friend rather than God’s. He could’ve gone down as one of the greatest men in history, rather than one of the most infamous. 

 

5. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). This couple got off to a good start by believing Peter’s message on Pentecost and attaching themselves to the apostles, but they make a fatal error in Acts 5 (the number of death) by holding back part of the value of their land but pretending like they didn’t. If I read Peter’s rebuke in v. 4 correctly, both the sale and the offering were voluntary; it was the pretense that angered the Lord and brought swift judgment on both man and wife. Ananias and Sapphira are like so many of us, though, in that they can’t let go of everything; so they settle for less than the best, and wow does it cost them. Now in Acts 5, the kingdom is being offered to Israel, so there’s a dispensational difference in this context, but the principle is still there: settling for less has dire consequences, both in this life and the next, and should be avoided at all costs. 

 

6. Diotrephes (3 John 9-11). This shady character pops up in the shortest book of the Bible (299 words), and wow does he stick out like a sore thumb. He craves the preëminence among one of the churches that the apostle John is looking after, to the point of resisting John himself and “churching” anyone who wants to associate with John and his fellowlabourers. Nice fella, huh? But do you see where he settled for less? He wanted preeminence or praise from men rather than God. The Lord notes this about the Jewish elders who feared to confess Christ during his earthly ministry. He said that “they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:48). That must be one of the saddest verses in the Bible, when you consider who you’re seeking praise from. Is. 51:12 says, “I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and the son of man which shall be made as grass; And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth;” and Jesus said in John 5:44, “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” Why are we concerned one whit about man’s praise when we could have the praise of God. Oh yes, Paul says in 1 Cor. 4:5 that faithful men in this age “shall have praise of God” at the judgment seat of Christ (isn’t that what “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” is…praise?). But what happens sometimes is that men, including Christian men, want to be praised by others instead of striving to please God alone and for him to get all the glory. That’s where I believe Diotrephes settled for less and ruined himself. He started craving the preëminence that belongs to Christ (Col. 1:18) for himself, just like Lucifer wanted God’s glory for himself. Same agenda…and same results, I believe, since John mentions Diotrephes’ “prating…with malicious words,” and Proverbs 10 warns twice (vv. 8,10) that “a prating fool shall fall.” Remember the old hymn, Be Thou My Vision? “Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise…” Do you believe that? Your life will show who you are trying to please; please don’t follow Diotrephes and settle for man’s praise rather than God’s. 

 

7. Demas (2 Timothy 4:1-10). I don’t think that this survey would be complete without mentioning this brother. And he was a brother; in fact, Paul calls him one of his “fellowlabourers” in Phile. 23. So Demas wasn’t a rank and file believer. He achieved a place in the apostolic company, and was apparently successful at first. But somewhere between Paul’s release from Rome the first time and his imprisonment the second time, Demas departs from Paul, and Paul is obviously grieved by this. Now, Demas wasn’t the only person that Paul names as forsaking him. In 2 Tim. 1:15, we read about Phygellus and Hermogenes turning away from (good definition of forsaking) Paul, and if I read 4:10 correctly, it looks like Crescens and even Titus bail at the end. You have to study the circumstances, folks, to understand why these men who had labored with Paul previously turned away from him. This time it wasn’t like it was with Barnabas, when they were arguing about the practicality of bringing John Mark along. No, by now, Paul had testified before Caesar, been released, and locked up again. I really think that his suffering was an embarrassment to some, since he tells Timothy not to be ashamed of his suffering in 1:8 and says in 1:12 that he’s not ashamed of it himself. But I think that others were, and perhaps also afraid that continued association with Paul would land them in the hoosegow.  Paul’s complaint about Demas is that he “loved this present world.” That is a tragedy, since the world that he loved is called evil by his mentor (Gal. 1:4) and his Saviour (John 3:20, 7:7, 17:15, etc.). What business does a believer seated in heavenly places have loving an evil world? I think that we’re getting closer to the root of this thing. Look at v. 8. Paul says that he’s expecting an eternal reward for loving Christ’s appearing from heaven. Somehow Demas got his eyes off the blessed hope, folks, and the only other thing to love is this world, folks. Col. 3:2, Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. It’s one or the other. Paul also warns in Col. 1:22-23 about being “moved away from the hope of the gospel” or the blessed hope. The consequences are found in v. 22: blame and reproof at the judgment seat of Christ, instead of eternal reward. O Demas, why did you settle for less? You could’ve reigned with Paul and many others in glory if you’d kept your affection set on the right thing. Lady Georgiana Fullerton, an old-time saint, said, “Make me reach, my God, the degree of holiness to which Thou didst call me in creating me!” She wasn’t about to settle for less, but Demas was, God only knows why, and oh how he’ll regret it hereafter.

I’d like to close this sermon with my inspiration for it, a passage from Dante’s Paradiso. Many of you have heard of Dante’s Inferno, which is a long poem describing his tour of hell. Well, that’s just the first part of a larger work called The Divine Comedy, written 1308-1321. The Paradiso, which describes his tour of heaven, is the last. 

As Dante enters the lowest level of heaven, he meets a woman named Piccarda, who is assigned a lowly place in heaven because she broke her Catholic vow of chastity on earth, apparently for marriage. Now to us that’s trivial, since it’s natural for a woman to marry, but for a Catholic woman to break this vow was discouraged, though not sinful. But in Dante’s theology, this cost Piccarda greater rewards in heaven because she settled for less (in his mind) on earth. He notices that she’s content with her lowly place, and when he enquires why, she replies that “his will is our peace.” When I read that quote I was moved, because I believe that’s how it will be for us in eternity. There will be a divine peace about our reward, but also the awareness that we could have had more. Piccarda knew that, but God in his goodness will give us peace in our glorified state, unlike those in hell, who will remember with anguish for ever what they could have had.

Isn’t the Lord utterly kind? Don’t you want to give him everything? Does it frustrate you when you don’t? Why settle for less, dear one, while you still have the chance to lay up even greater rewards in heaven? Don’t let anyone deceive you, including yourself, that anything down here amounts to anything except what you’re doing for eternity.