At the very beginning of the church, Christians were confronted with a choice. Christianity was becoming a threat to the Roman Empire, and so Caesar devised a loyalty test. He decreed that everyone should offer a pinch of incense and say “Caesar is Lord.” If they did that, everything was fine. If they refused to do it, they would face persecution and even death.

If you were a Christian in that era, would you offer a pinch of incense to Caesar to avoid persecution and death, or would you stand on your strongly-held belief that Jesus is Lord? You could easily lie, make the required statement, burn the pinch of incense, and avoid all the trouble. Or you could retain your belief, refuse to capitulate, and suffer the consequences. Do you stand on your convictions or do you compromise?

In our modern world, we may be tempted to go along with the crowd just to avoid offending others. We may be afraid to stand up for what we believe in the face of opposition or hostility.

It should be obvious that Christians cannot, in good faith, offer a pinch of incense to Caesar and call him “lord.” That would be idolatry; it would be a denial of Jesus. We cannot affirm falsehood. We must retain our commitment to the true and living God and to God’s Word as absolute, unchanging truth. We know the truth, and we cannot compromise it. Christians throughout the ages have stood strongly for their beliefs without compromise, and they have often faced death for retaining these beliefs.

Based on biblical truth, believers develop strongly-held beliefs—what we might call “convictions”—to guide their behavior. And we hold these beliefs tenaciously, without compromise, no matter what the cost may be.

Proverbs 28:1 … the righteous are bold as a lion.

1Co 16:13   Watch, stand fast in the faith, act like men, be strong.

Our Summer Sermon Series this year will focus on biblical convictions. What are they and how do we develop them?