Mrs. Smith went to the funeral home to view her husbands remains. “What do you think?” asked the funeral director.

“You did a fine job,” said Mrs. Smith. “However, I do have one request. I should have told you earlier that my husband always preferred a blue suit to a brown suit and he would look more like himself in a blue suit. Could you make the change?”

The funeral director said, “We can manage it. But, it will take some time and there will be an extra charge. We’ll have to buy a new blue suit. It will cost $500.”

“Go ahead and do it.” ordered Mrs. Smith.

The following morning when Mrs. Smith returned to the funeral home, she found her husband dressed in a beautiful blue suit. She went to the office to show her appreciation and to pay for the suit.

“That will be $15,” said the funeral director.

“But you said it would be $500.”

The funeral director explained. “Just after you left another lady came in and wanted to see her husband in a brown suit.”

“So everything went smoothly and you switched the brown suit with the blue suit. How nice,” said Mrs. Smith.

“Oh, no,” said the director. “That would have been too difficult. We just switched the heads.”

Let me ask you a question. Taking the easy way out - switching heads and not suits - if we compromise just a little bit - does it matter?

1 Corinthians 5:6 - if you have your Bibles open would you read this verse out loud with me. "Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?"

The boasting that Paul writes about - here in 1 Corinthians 5 - was the spiritual arrogance of the Corinthian church. The church was boasting about their relationship with God. How righteous they were. How tight they were with God.

But, if we back up to verse 1 of chapter 5 we read that they were tolerating open incestuous and immoral relationships within the congregation. Tolerating. They knew what was wrong - in was right in front of their faces - and they did nothing.

On one hand they’re boasting - on the other hand they’re compromising with sin - not dealing with it - ignoring it. What did it matter - the pews are full on Sunday? Why bring stuff up if we can avoid conflict and keep everyone happy?

In the Bible leaven usually symbolizes what? Sin. Leaven does what to dough? It takes over. Paul’s point: Boast all you want. Delude yourself into thinking you’re okay spiritually. But when you compromise with sin - leaven - eventually it takes over - the whole church - the lump - will be in trouble.

Repeat that phrase again with me so it gets cemented in our minds: "A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough."

Sometimes were tempted to think that our little compromises don’t add up to a whole lot. But they do.

When Israel entered the promised land - God gave specific commands to His people to drive out the inhabitants and to destroy their idols and pagan places of worship - to 100% purify the land of sinful people and their sinful ways. Otherwise, God said, these people would cause great pain and trouble for Israel. They’d lead them away from God. (Numbers 33:51-56)

When Israel entered the promised land what happened? They didn't completely obey God. At first they compromised just a little and didn't completely drive off or wipe out all the people God had told them to get rid of. Over time they intermarried with these ungodly people. Over time they adopted the pagan gods and worship of these peoples.

The consequences of their seemingly little compromises with sin - the tolerance of leaven - was process leading to spiritual and national disaster - the eventual desolation of the land - exile and slavery. The nation perished in foreign lands - away from the promises of God. "A little leaven - a little sin - leavens the whole lump of dough."

That's what we're seeing in America today - as our nation slides into disaster. Today as we’re celebrating the 228th anniversary of the United States' Declaration of Independence we need to be reminded that Christianity was foundational to our form of government - our liberties - our values and way of life - the principles of religious freedom we cherish.

One estimate puts the percentage of Christians in the United States in 1776 - puts the percentage of Christians at 99.8%. That probably only refers to the European population. But, still - that’s an amazing figure.

52 of 55 of the founding fathers were evangelical Christians. When the founding fathers wrote and quoted other sources - 94% of the time they were quoting from the Bible or based their quotes on the Bible. John Quincy Adams - our 6th President said, "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this, that it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity."

Do you remember who first wrote that phrase, “separation between Church and State”? President Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "separation between Church and State" when he was writing to a group of Baptists - in an effort to reassure them that the government could not interfere in their beliefs and practice as a church. The First Amendment was written not to separate Church and State - but to protect the Church, and the press, and the people, from interference by the State.

Today, 67% of the American people believe that the words, "separation of Church and State" appear in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution - which they do not - as words written to protect the State from the church.

William James - a respected psychologist who lived in the late 1800's - William James said, "There is nothing so absurd but if you repeat it often enough people will believe it."

For almost 200 years the phrase, "separation of Church and State" - and the purposeful misinterpretation of the First Amendment - has been a rallying cry of historical revisionists and those in opposition to God who’ve been working purposefully - slowly - little by little - almost unnoticeably at first - but steadily - without ceasing - through court case after court case - legislation after legislation - compromising the foundation of our nation - on and on pushing their agenda to remove God and His Gospel and His people from American society.

Slowly the leaven leavens the lump and this country who’s foundation was Christian is now a post-Christian society on the path to destruction.

Well, we know this country is in trouble. Thinking together about who we are as Christians living in the United States - in our times - I’d like to suggest three points of application.

First: A reminder - we need keep focused on the real battle. Turn and share that with the person next to you: “We need to keep focused on the real battle.”

Do you remember what Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12? “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Ultimately what we see happening around us is a spiritual battle.

Billy Graham - in his book “World Aflame” writes this, “Mr. Average Man is comfortable in his complacency and is as unconcerned as a silverfish ensconced in a carton of discarded magazines on world affairs. Man is not asking any questions, because his social benefits from the government give him a false security. This is his trouble and his tragedy. Modern man has become a spectator of world events, observing on his television screen without becoming involved. He watches the ominous events of our times pass before his eyes, while he sips his beer in a comfortable chair. He does not seem to realize what is happening to him. He does not understand that his world is on fire and that he is about to be burned with it.” (1)

Please don’t misunderstand me. As Christians if we’re given the opportunity to vote - then we should vote. If we’re given the opportunity to debate - we should debate. If we’re given the opportunity to serve and live out our relationship with Jesus in the public arena - standing firm for Him - then stand firm.

But, the average American sitting on their “barko-lounger” is either ignorant or disillusioned concerning the spiritual battle raging around them - the leaven that’s infesting this country. And they’re not going to “get it” by us legislating morality at them or standing on a street corner screaming at people that are going to hell.

Too many Christians today are fighting the wrong battle. Our mandate as Christians is not to bring America back to God - to somehow make us a Christian nation again. Our God given mandate is to bring Americans to the Savior Jesus Christ. That’s the spiritual battle we’re engaged in. That’s what we need to keep our focus on.

Second thought of application - the battle starts with us. Turn to the person next to you and tell them that: “The battle starts with us.”

Have you heard this? The mother whale said to her baby, “When you get to the top and start to ‘blow,’ that’s when you get harpooned!” (2) In 1 Corinthians 5:6 Paul harpoons the Corinthian church for boasting in their righteousness while ignoring their own sin. We need to hear that warning.

A few months ago we bought a hamster. Larry. Well, actually Larry turned out to be a Larissa. Larissa lives in a cage in our kitchen eating area. She has this cage with an exercise wheel - a log with holes in it so she can crawl around in it - a little ramp going up to a shelf with a food dish. There’s a water bottle. And bedding that she scatters around her cage and on the kitchen floor.

Being in that cage - there in the kitchen - just about everything Larissa does gets noticed - when she runs on her wheel - or burrows in her bedding. We’re watching and peering into her cage.

Complete this phrase with me, “People who live in glass houses…shouldn’t throw stones.”

Today the church gets legitimately harpooned by the world when we stand up and seemingly talk about our own righteousness while the world points at our sin. We need to be clear on this. People have stopped listening to what we say. But they’re still watching how we act.

Do you remember the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14,15? After Solomon completed the Temple in Jerusalem the Lord appeared to Him at night. God gave this promise to Solomon: "If My people who are called by My name - did you notice who God is talking about? My people - not all the other people around us. But starting with God’s people. Too many Christians start with everyone else. If we humble ourselves, and we pray and we seek God’s face, and we turn from our wicked ways, then I - God - will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin - our sin - and heal their land.

We can’t call others to life in Christ if we’re living in compromise with sin. Someone once said, “Pride is the only disease known to man that makes everyone sick except the person who has it.” (3)

God says, come to Me in humility. That's without compromise - without holding anything back - fully aware and honest about our sin.

Church - we need to hear this: Sin - little sins - sins we compromise on - sins we think really don't amount to much - little sins are the foundation for major spiritual disaster in our lives - in the lives of our families - and the life of our nation. Little compromises that are weakening us when we should be living lives of victory in Jesus. Little compromises that are destroying our witness in our homes and workplaces - undermining the witness of the Church in America today.

Third thought of application - with apologies to Kevin Kostner - we need to go the distance. Turn and tell the person next to you that: “We need to go the distance.”

A while back I shared about Stephen Akhwari - who ran the Marathon for Tanzania in the 1968 Olympics. Do remember this?

During the race he injured his right leg and fell way behind the rest of the runners. When he finally made it to the finish line - inside the stadium - his leg was bandaged and he was in pain with every step he took. Even though the race had finished a long time before, there were some spectators who applauded Akhwari limped and stumbled across the finish line.

Later Akhwari was asked, "Why did you do this? You were in such pain, and you couldn't win."

Akhwari said, "My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 5,000 miles to finish it."

That statement is such a challenge for us. When it seems easier to give in to temptation and quit. To accommodate ourselves to the pressure we feel from the world - to compromise. To watch the wrong stuff and tell the coarse jokes - to use the four letter words and stick garbage into our bodies. To gossip and harbor anger. To give up on loving people that are seemingly unlovable. To hold back on sharing the Gospel with others. To let the leaven have its place in our lives.

When we come to salvation in Jesus Christ - we need to change. We don't just turn 45 degrees or 90 degrees - that's tolerating leaven in our lives. If we want to live for Jesus - with His power and His victory in our lives - we need to turn 180 degrees and start down a completely different path.

Those are the Christians - 100% surrendered - 100% committed - 100% sold out to God - 100% burdened for those around us who struggle as we do but without hope - those are the Christians that this nation needs today.

We need to go the distance.

God doesn’t save us so that we can start the race - start living a Christian life - confident in our salvation - and then compromise on when and how we will obey God. God saves us to live 100% committed to the goal of reaching the finish line.

Will you commit to go the distance? In humility to come before God - without compromise - living each day in surrender to Him. To passionately seek - not to win people to a political position - but to care enough about those God places in your life - by prayer and your actions to lead them to Jesus?

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1) Billy Graham, World Aflame
2) James Dobson, The Strong-Willed Child
3) Buddy Robinson, quoted in Lloyd Cory, Quote Unguote