Luke 5:5
And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
Jesus had so many people pressing upon Him to hear God’s Word taught that He had to step into Simon’s boat to teach the crowd. When Jesus was done teaching, He told Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. Simon made the mistake of thinking he knew more about fishing than Christ. Peter thought he was the expert in fishing and that Christ did not know what He was talking about. However, to humor Christ, Peter said, …nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
First of all, Jesus did not say to let down the net; Jesus said, let down the nets. Peter was not obeying Christ because He did not let down the nets. It did not matter that Peter was a professional fisherman; he should have obeyed the Saviour when He said to let down the nets. Had Peter obeyed the Saviour, he would not have lost a net to breaking because of the draught of fishes, nor would he have lost the fish that fell out of the broken net. Peter’s arrogance and pride to disobey the Saviour caused him to miss out on enjoying the miracle that Christ had in store for him.
Many people have compromised because they have changed one “small” thing they did not consider necessary. Changing one “small” area of what Christ commands you to do leads to great compromise later. Anyone who compromised always started by changing one small thing because they didn't think was necessary. Just because you think the old paths do not work does not change the fact that they do work. To change one small area of the old paths always changes the result of what could have been, and always lead to compromise. God does not command us to obey most of what He says but expects us to obey all He says. To obey in most areas but one is to start down the road of compromise. Compromise starts by not obeying all that God’s Word tells us to do. It matters not how insignificant we think it is; we are to obey all that God tells us to do even when we don't understand it, and even when we think we know better.
One big reason so many have compromised is because they try to do things their way instead of doing what they have seen done by those who followed all that Christ told them to do. Many people will go to Hell because believers have changed one small area, and the result is people miss the opportunity to be saved because God could not do all that He wanted to do.
My friend, to move in self-will instead of following the leadership of your pastor also leads to compromise. To inform your pastor of what you plan to do instead of asking his advice is to disobey and miss out on the blessings that God could have done through you. Yes, Jesus is the Son of God, but God still uses the pastor to lead the church. The pastor does not have to be an expert in some area to be right. Have you considered that God speaks to the pastor about areas where he is not an expert, as we see in Revelation chapters two and three? Many people have done their own thing and not followed their pastor’s advice and have eventually compromised because they thought they knew better. It is always better to follow God’s model of authority and obedience than to follow our reasoning. Anything less than complete obedience to God’s model always leads to compromise.