Reading the Old Testament account of his life, Lot, Abraham's nephew, appears to be a cut and dried case of an apostate (someone who has left faith in God). When Lot and Abraham had to part ways due to their quarreling shepherds in Genesis 13, Lot moved into the Jordan valley. He was drawn to that lush, fertile valley, but the problem was, that's where Sodom was. Lot drifted closer and closer to that city, where "the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord". By Genesis 14:12, we learn that Lot was living in the city of Sodom. That's when the first round of calamity fell upon the city thanks to a war. Lot was taken captive by a couple of warring kings—a perfect time to cut ties with Sodom, wouldn't you say?—but when Abraham providentially came to his rescue, we find that Lot returned to Sodom!
He was captivated by that city of sin. It lured him back into its culture, and when the Biblical narrative returns to Lot in Genesis 19, we find that Lot was sitting in the city's gates. The gate of the city in those times was the hub of commerce and official affairs. Lot had not only moved back to Sodom, but he had become a prominent member of it!
We learn just how much the culture had affected him later in the chapter. When the depraved Sodomites catch site of the handsome angels that pay Lot a visit, they gather with mob-like force in front of his house. They call on Lot to bring out the newcomers so that they may have sexual relations with them. Lot's response to this lewd, disgusting request is almost as horrifying, though! His reasoning is exactly as follows in verses 7 and 8, "Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof."
How absolutely corrupt must a city be that the moral option was to let two virgin daughters be gang raped. Or at least that is what Lot believed, because the licentious worldview of Sodom had deeply permeated his thoughts. The ugliness of Lot's life doesn't stop there either. Later, on two consecutive nights he is driven to a drunken stupor and lies with a couple of girls without thought—habits we can assume he learned in Sodom. Those girls, though he didn't know it in his drunken state, were his daughters. In Genesis 19:36, it says "Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father."
Lot's story is so horrifying that I am sure a lot of pastors would rather skip over it then preach about it in their churches! Some might wonder why it is in our Holy Bible in the first place!
And that is why 2 Peter 2:7-8 is so confusing:
"And if he rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds)."
Well, he avoided being burned--but only because the two angels sent to warn him about Sodom's impending doom literally drug him out of the city. Genesis 19:15-16 "When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, 'Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.' But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was with him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city."
We are repulsed by this "righteous man", as well we should be, but just how hypocritical is our repulsion, I wonder? Are we, in much the same way, soaking ourselves in a culture that has turned from God? Are we content with this culture? Are we even enjoying it?
Modern America's culture is this Godless culture. We have denied God's law and have propped up our own. Divorce is opted for 50% of the time. Premarital sex is the norm. Pornography traps most every guy in destructive habits, but is largely unlegislated. Ripping apart precious new life in a mother's womb is fiercely defended and advocated for. Same sex relations are openly encouraged and accepted. Mutilating your body to become the opposite sex you were born as is praised as "realizing yourself'".
Songs worship this culture. Movies picture it for us. We are asked to like it on social media.
So as Christians, are we distinctly different from this Godless culture? Would we have to be dragged from it like Lot, hesitating to leave the pleasures of Sodom? Unfortunately, in my own life and the lives of many, many of my Christian friends, the answer would be "Yes". Oh sure, we are against the "big stuff". We may stand strong for the rights of the unborn and the Biblical definition of marriage, but how often do we flirt with or are allured to join the more "acceptable" facets of our worldly culture? How often we justify that one sex scene because the rest of the movie is "good". How often do we nod along to that catchy song, that same song that extols behavior that falls solidly in the list of worldly vices rather than fruits of the Holy Spirit? Do we even expect anymore what we consume of the culture to be pure, honorable, or lovely?
Again, are we becoming more and more like Lot? Are we like the proverbial frog in the kettle who can't sense the slowly rising temperature of the water he is soaking in and doesn't know to jump out even as it boils him? It saddens me so much to see this willful conformance by Christians to our increasingly depraved culture. When will we draw the line and say "enough is enough"? When will we make a clean break with our culture and accept abundant ( if radically alien) lives living for Jesus and Jesus alone? Is a clean break even possible anymore, or are we too saturated?
Come out, I beg of you, any righteous Christian. Come out, come out, come out! Don't be consumed by our culture. Don't get burned by it. Don't live your life with one foot in Christ and one foot in the world. It isn't possible to serve two masters, and it is miserable for you to try to do so, isn't it? Will angels have to come for you on your dying day and literally drag you to heaven away from the world you tried so persistently to hang on to?
I'm preaching this to my self as much as you, friends. There's so many pleasurable sins I justify and hold on to. But no longer. Christ wants all of me, and I want to give all to Him! I picture my Christian life right now like an explorer cutting his way through thick jungle underbrush with a machete. There are so many sins that so easily entangle me, but relying on God's strength within me, I want to cut myself free of them! Will you grab a machete and join me?
Maybe it is that secular radio station you need to stop listening to. Maybe it is that song on your playlist that insinuates premarital sex. Maybe it is that movie that presents a destructive message but is just so fun to watch. Maybe it is finally getting filters and accountability software on your devices. Can you see the ways you have been permeated by sin? Can you dam up these channels of filth flowing into your mind, and replace them with streams of refreshing, living water?
The amazing grace of the Gospel--what makes the good news the really good news--is that though we are sinful like Lot, God views us as perfectly righteous through our faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is how Peter could view Lot as righteous, because Lot, for all his failings, still retained a faith in God. It is an incredible relief to know that if we have accepted Jesus as Lord, there is nothing we can do to lose our salvation. Like it says in the very next verse after the passage of 2 Peter 2:7-8, God knows how to keep the righteous from judgement. Still, I don't want to leave behind a terrible legacy like Lot's. I don't want my life to be a sad record of wasted potential, How terrible to think that Christians years from now might be horrified by the way we went along hand in hand with this culture! God has given us all we need to be different—to live incredible, devoted, faith-filled lives that will leave the world in awe of our great God. It's time to be transformed. It's time to make a break from the pattern of this world and live for Christ!
Let's make a clean break from this culture that is increasingly becoming more like Sodom, without having to be drug reluctantly from it. I am of course not saying we should isolate ourselves completely from the world; Jesus left us in it for a reason! I am only saying that though we are in the world, the world doesn't need to be in us!
I am ready to offer my life as a living sacrifice to God, no matter what that means for my culture choices. "Here I am, Lord, do with me what you like!" is my prayer. Will you pray it with me? And don't just say "yes", please. Think long and hard about it for a moment, because praying this prayer will play out practically in a lot of decisions to limit cultural intake. It will look like visiting the theater way less. It will look like sifting through the scads of admittedly bland contemporary Christian music to find those great, faith-based songs to make a new playlist from. It will look like different lifestyle choices that will place you solidly in the camp of the monks and nuns in the eyes of the world. But what may look like a puritan, "holier-than-thou" lifestyle in the eyes of the many is in reality that abundant, joy-filled life in Christ!
I have given you fair warning, so now that you know what I am asking . . .
Will you join me?
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2
No comments:
Post a Comment