Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
January 19, 1986
Let's Compromise
Genesis 13:5-18
2 Peter 2:6-9
Life presents us with many choices. Some of them are obvious, like which job to apply for or which person to marry. You give some thought to these kinds of choices. Other choices are more subtle. You are not conscious of making a decision but you make it. These small decisions can be just as dramatic as the big ones because they change the direction of our lives bit by bit.
In our passage today both Lot and his uncle Abraham make a series of choices that dramatically affected their lives. Everyone in this church is in the same position. Right now you are making choices. Choices that will enrich your life and bring you closer to God or ones that will tear you down and separate you from fellowship with God. You may be putting yourself in a position where the choices will be made for you, whether you like it or not.
Lot and Abraham were faced with an enviable problem. They were too successful. Their flocks were getting so big the land was being overgrazed and the men guarding the herds were fighting. Abraham decided to do something about it, so he suggested they divide up the land and each take a certain territory. In Genesis 13:9 Abraham shows how generous he is by allowing Lot to choose first.
Lot does three things. First, he lifts up his eyes and takes in the lush area of the Jordan Valley. You might say he lusted for it. Second, he chose the area for himself, and third, according to verse 12 he pitched his tent near Sodom which had an evil reputation already.
Abraham took a different approach. Instead of using his own judgment, he waited for God to lead him. In verse 14 God tells him to lift up his eyes and God chooses the land for him. After he receives this promise, Abraham did something to show he knew God was in charge of his life. As the final verse says, Abraham built an altar to God.
A few things have to be noted here. Both men believed in God. It is not as obvious in Genesis 13 but 2 Peter 2:8 clearly says that Lot was a righteous man. As we would put it, he was saved. But after this the similarities cease. One of them trusted in what he could see the other in what was unseen. One of them wanted to put his roots down in a prosperous city, one that has stood for depravity ever since. But the other preferred to depend on God, even if it meant he never put roots down.
The compromise that Lot made has a great deal to say to modern Christians. The Bible says Lot really loved God in his heart. He hated everything the Sodomites did but he wasn't willing to separate himself from them like God required. As a matter of fact, the longer he stayed in Sodom, the more he got sucked in. His compromise progressed in stages. In Genesis 13:12 Lot pitches his tent near Sodom. In 14:12 he is living inside the city. Some foreign kings attack the city and take Lot away but Uncle Abraham rescues him. Where does Lot go? Back to Sodom.
Now go to chapter 19, verse 1. God has sent two angels to Sodom to rescue Lot. Where do they find him? Verse 1 says Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. This isn't like sitting on a bench by the square in Coshocton. When the Bible says someone sits in the gateway, it means the person is involved in the government of the city. So Lot went from having a tent on the fringe of the city; to living inside it, to being a leader.
All of this had an effect on Lot. Peter says Lot was distressed by the filthy lives of the Sodomites. It grated on him day by day but he never did anything about it. As a matter of fact, Lot was more influenced by the Sodomites than they were by him. Back in Genesis 19 it tells how the Sodomites surrounded his house and tried to molest the angels. How does Lot save the day? As verse 6-8 says:
"Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, 'No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them....' "
Some Bible scholars have argued Lot is following a code of ethics that was common then but which we don't understand. I think he was just plain warped by his surroundings. Notice what happens after this incident - the angels must literally drag him from the doomed city. In verse 20 he pleads to be allowed to go to a small city nearby (Little Sodom). His family is also affected. He has no influence over his sons-in-law and they stay behind. His wife looks back and his daughters show their true nature at the end of the chapter. They get their father drunk and they have sex with him. The resulting children were the ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites who practiced a religion that was based on perverse sex and the sacrifice of children in fire.
It's a pretty bleak picture yet many Christians are just like Lot. They understand the gospel and have accepted Christ as their Savior. Deep inside their heart they love Jesus but no one else believes it, because they have one foot in the church and the other firmly planted in the world.
Much of the problem is the low emphasis we place on Christian discipleship and holiness. We are happy to just get people to come to our church on a regular basis; much less to become dedicated Christians. Salvation is a free gift of God but once you are a Christian you must make a clean break with the world. This involves a clean break with many things the world considers entertaining. For example; going to a Coshocton bar won't make you lose your salvation, it will just compromise you. You will start to accept the philosophy that life is just for good times and you have to grab all you can. Maybe you won't pick up a partner or even get drunk but you will become de-sensitized to these things. They won't seem as bad as they once did till you yourself are sucked in. Dedicated Christians must watch what they read, how they spend their money and how they act in their families.
If you don't make a clean break with ungodly practices you will find your love for God growing dimmer and dimmer. You'll be angry at the way he seems to be treating you and church attendance and personal devotions will soon fall by the wayside. Compromise will affect more people than just you. Imagine how many families or neighbors are not reached for Jesus Christ because a Christian will not give up sin. It's not necessarily an arrogant thing - these believers know what they are doing is wrong. They know it so clearly they become silent about their faith so others won't see them as the hypocrites they are. You become silent, ashamed and sink deeper and deeper into sin, pulling your loved ones with you.
Christians are not the only ones who are open to compromise. The Church as a whole can get too close to the world. In the United States the church has had much positive impact on the culture but we also have to admit that the culture has deeply affected the church. We are a very religious country. Forty million American adults claim to be born-again. In 1984 we spent $1 billion on Bibles and Christian books, yet survey after survey shows that people inside the church are not much more ethical or moral than people outside the church. We have the quantity but we don't have the quality.
Evangelical churches have always prided themselves on their opposition to worldliness. We fight liberalism, secular humanism and every other philosophy that ignores the place of God. But these same philosophies we rail against exist right in the church. The worst philosophy is Me-ism, a very simple and widespread philosophy that says I come first, no matter what. In the world, it produces the quest for materialism. In the church it produces self-centeredness.
Jon Johnston; an expert on church affairs has written this,
"The church has become a supermarket dispensing spiritual junk food to passers-by. The pastor's sermon is little more than the 'special of the week,' offered to customers at a minimum of commitment."
The church has catered to Me-ism by giving people what they want instead of what they need. We mold God to fit this. We are like the fans at a baseball game. At one particular game, a certain baseball superstar received deafening applause as he walked to the plate. Soon thereafter, he struck out. The crowd's reaction was immediate - the filled the stadium with boos. The sportscaster said, "The fan asks only one question of his hero - What have you done for me lately?"
Me-ism - Lot looked at Sodom and saw that it was lush. We don't look past our own sanctuary. To quote Johnston again:
"Many other evidences of selfishness could be discussed: disproportionate spending on local church needs and luxuries rather than giving to missions...."
Many leaders are calling for a spiritual and moral revival in America. Is our church responding? How does our church stack up? Are you committing yourself wholeheartedly to the gospel, or just straddling the fence?
The attitude of the Last Days is described in 2 Timothy 2:3-5 --
"People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, ... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God -- having a form of godliness but denying its power."
Honestly - what is it that you love the most? If you say "God" then back it up with a consistent lifestyle and a spirituality with power.
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Typed on July 15, 2005, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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