City Life Starter

Written by Stefan Johnsson

The Word

⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. ⁵ And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” ⁶ Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, ⁷ and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ⁸ Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. ¹¹ And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

Genesis 19:4-11 (ESV)

⁴⁹ Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it. ⁵¹ Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.

Ezekiel 16:49-51 (ESV)

⁵¹ When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. ⁵³ But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” ⁵⁵ But he turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶ And they went on to another village.

Luke 9:51-56 (ESV)

Reflection

There are many who easily take this passage in regards to Sodom and Gomorrah out of context and we have to be careful to do so. Homosexuality is a sin, but it was not the only reason behind God’s judgment. The actions of Sodom and Gomorrah were behaviors stemming from their sinful lifestyle in outright rejection of God. Ezekiel helps us understand more of what was going on. He says that Sodom lived with pride, excess of food, laziness due to prosperity, and outright disregard for those who were needy and poor. This caused them to commit abominations in front of God.

Jesus denounced Capernaum to be worse than Sodom (Matthew 11:23-24). Does this mean that Capernaum was full of homosexuality that caused Jesus to denounce the city for their sins? We do not know all that Capernaum may have done in their sinful behaviors, but we do know that pride, excess food, laziness due to prosperity, and disregard for the poor was part of their sins. The lesson we can take from Ezekiel’s explanation for Sodom and Jesus’ judgment on Capernaum is how easily wealth and prosperity can translate to sinful lifestyles; something one can easily see within the U.S. or other rich countries.

The second important point is that God was the one who judged Sodom and Gomorrah for their sin. Abraham did not (see Genesis 18). In fact, Abraham did the opposite by trying to save the cities from destruction. God didn’t ask us to be the judge because He is the one who will condemn the world, and Revelation makes this quite clear when mentioning Jesus’ return. Instead of judging the world, Peter tells us to defend our faith with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). We are to stand up for truth and righteousness; for what is right and wrong. We are to rescue others by preaching the good news of the gospel and pray for people to repent and turn to Jesus for their salvation. At the same, trust that God will judge the world in His timing.

The disciples wanted to reign down fire on a village in Samaria for rejecting them because they were journeying towards Jerusalem. They wanted to destroy those who refused to show hospitality. One could infer that the disciples were full of pride and believed they held the moral high ground; that they were superior. Jesus rebukes them and their sinful thinking. Punishment and reigning fire on people is not what Jesus came to do two-thousand years ago and it’s not what we are to do now.

Many of us are like Lot, living amongst those who reject God, and slowly start to compromise the beliefs we hold. We begin to accept certain behaviors and lifestyles of those who do not believe because society tells us to do so. But, we cannot do so. We are called to be a light in this fallen world, and for this, we have to hold to the Word of God and not compromise the beliefs we hold dear. It’s a fine line to hold, but one that we must. Stand strong for what is right and holy, and love and pray for those who need to be saved from the clutches of Satan.

Application

Living in opposition to God means you will reap the harvest that comes with your actions. Condemning and putting others down who do not believe in God(or even those who do believe) fills you up with pride and self-righteousness. It doesn’t save anyone nor will it bring them to repentance. Back in the 80’s, AIDS spread around more populated areas of the U.S. The LGBT community was put to blame for this by many, but in reality it was an STD that spread to anyone who had multiple sexual partners. We easily ignore promiscuity because it is something we think we can hide. All sexual immorality is sin in God’s eyes. If everyone lived by God’s view of marriage and only having sex within marriage, then AIDS and almost any other STD would be wiped out.

We are to be holy in our lifestyles and an example to others through our actions and words. Then if they wish to speak bad on us, their accusations will be hollow and without truth.

Sin has its consequences. God will judge the world. There is no doubt about these two statements. So maybe we should spend less time judging the world and more on trying to save others from an eternity without God.

Prayer

Father in heaven, help me not to live my life judging others. Let me instead live to brings others to repentance, to speak about who You are with gentleness and respect. I want to be a light in this world and to share the good news of the gospel. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.