I can do it. Thanks.
Good morning. We have. As
you can tell, something of a of a serious
subject this morning. And looking
at this tragic story of Sodom and
Gomorrah and. Really also
a great. I
would say the subject this morning for us
is what we could call cultural
engagement. What does it mean to engage
our culture? What does it mean to engage
our city and this is relevant to all
of us who are here trying to live
in some way following God while.
Following also our paths in the
city, what does it mean to
engage our culture, especially when your
home has reached a sorry state?
And it takes a lot. You know, we talk
about this at the Village Church and we
talk about the attitude that we have
toward our cities 1 of affectionate
restraint. But it takes a lot more than
the right mindset, the right theology. We
find in this story it to walk well and to
engage the culture as we should. It
takes, it takes. It's something that
takes goes very deep into our hearts and
and where where we are in our hearts.
So we'll look at Sodom and Gomorrah here
and what's going on there. I, I don't
know if if this happened to you while you
were listening to that passage being read
or reading it, but at a certain point it
becomes shocking, doesn't it?You get
to verse 5 and these men come
and all the men seems and says,
they say to lot come out, bring
these visitors out because we want to
have sexual relations with them and that
word know them. We know that that
word know means to have relations with
them. Because among other things, Lot
uses the same word a few verses
later in verse 8 when he talks
about his daughters not having known a
man. Same word, yada to know.
So they're saying, yes, we want to have
sex with them. They mean to do that
with these, with these visitors. But how
they're going about it is shocking, isn't
it? I mean, it makes you ask the
question, what is what's going on in this
city? Is this the norm? Are these kinds
of georgies the norm?And you
know when you feel that way? When when
you're brought to an abrupt point where
you're supposed to be shocked?
You're supposed to be shocked so that
the you appreciate the need for this
judgment, which was a terrible judgment
that fell upon these cities, this tragedy
that goes on there. And this was
something that we've been seeing that God
has was reluctant to do. You look
at verse 2. Why is it that
they want to spend the night in the
square, these visitors, these, these
divine messengers and Lot says, no,
you've got, you know, don't, don't do
that. Don't spend the night in this
where? Why is it they're so insistent
before he finally prevails upon it? Why?
Because they want to talk to people. They
want to find out. They just come from
this intercession. To Abraham saying, do
you really need to do this God? And they
want to find out if they really need to
do this, whether things had gotten to a
point where God was saying to himself at
this point, is it better for the city not
to exist than for the kind of destruction
and suffering being perpetrated to to be
going on there?So they wanted
to talk to people, want to find out if
you wanted to find out this cry outcry,
verse 13 was was really justifying this
judgment. And this is what
God does, you know, always, always. What
is this? This is the preaching of, of
to stave off destruction. This is the
building of the ark before the flood. God
is always trying to provide a way for
people to 1st change instead of having
to, to do this kind of destruction. He's
always. Trying to wait till the last
minute in the things that he does like
this. So what
was so bad about Sodom? What was this?
What was the great sin of Sodom and
Gomorrah?And when we try
to answer that question, it's helpful to
read on in your Bibles and if
we read later authors in the Scripture
as they reflect back upon Sodom and
Gomorrah. We find that
the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were
in fact various. They were sundry. There
wasn't just one.
For Isaiah, the sins were
oppression of the poor and
not respecting gender. Interestingly,
Isaiah 3 for Jeremiah, looking
at how Gomorrah it seems
to be adultery, lying, abetting
criminals. For
Ezekiel. The issues
that he brings up when he reflects
and and is trying to compare Sodom
and Gomorrah to what's going on in
Israel then and and when he brings
it up, he talks about the arrogance,
the complacency, the prostitution, the
promiscuity and the forbidden sexual
practices. And he uses the
same word when he talks about that.
That's used in in the Levitical law to
categorize same-sex relations. In
the New Testament, the writer Jude.
Says also that what brought God's
judgment included this sexual immorality
and then giving themselves over to the
pursuit of forbidden desires. So
it wasn't just one thing, it was a lot
of different things that were brought up.
And if we're using, if we, this is a
good idea to let Scripture interpret
Scripture. If we use the later
reflections of these writers to tell us,
it shows us the sin of Sodom was
multiple. And so when
you're reading through this story. You
gotta realize that author is is piling
up details to help you see that
it really was bad.
What it was and each detail is kind of
important in in trying to create this
picture. And you know, if
we look at this kind of model of
depravity, if we say, if I could
summarize it for you, I could say, what
is it that all these things are doing?
That make it so bad it would be this.
Each of these things and all of these
things. Destroy and tear
down the image of God
in people.
From from the adultery to the oppression
of the poor, all of these things are
tearing down the image of God.
And the people of Sodom.
And this is the message of this book, by
the way. Genesis teaches us that what God
really cares about is, is his image, that
he creates people in his image, men and
women in his image. And then the book is
about preserving that. And making
sure that lasts. And the sodomites
were obliterating that image.
And you look at verse 4, it says they
acted with one mind.
So what does that tell us? There was
a there was, there wasn't a culture war
going on in Sodom. There was a uniformity
in the culture, in their oppression and
adultery. Now every part of the city, it
says both young and old. There
are no struggles about value here. The
culture had moved into a place of
agreement about right and wrong. But it
was it was radically Askew.
It was a radical redefinition of
God's image into wholesale violence and
self destruction.
That was Sodom's way of life, redefining
God's morality into destructive
tendencies. That's what was going on.
And if you look at the imagery of what
happens in the story, it just tells you
what's going on. Look at verse 11.
What is it that that they are? They're
blind. They're
blind. They had so redefined
moral reality. That.
You know, they they couldn't find the
door. I mean, what the Angel does, the
angel's action is just calling attention
to their spiritual state that are so
blind they can't find the door.
Model of depravity here.
And when we get to the part of
the story, the end there, when we see
somebody who actually experiences one
individual, who experiences what the
judgment does in verse 26, what's
happening there with lots wife?
What's going on with Last Wives? She
looks back. And
what happens? She disintegrates.
Into salt.
She could hardly leave this culture.
And so she's, she's, she's
reduced, she starts to disintegrate.
Well, what, what's happening to
her graphically is conveying what
has already happened in Sodom,
the disintegration of God's image,
you see.
So if you want to understand what's going
on in this story and and try to enter
into it, say what's so bad, it's the
disintegration of God's image. That's
happening in a human body. It's
already chemically a certain percentage
of salts. Right.
You remember that old Star Trek episode
where I think, I don't know how many of
you might remember this, but there was 1
alien that came across who had this gun
and he could shoot this gun at you. He
pointed a gun at you and went good.
And it somehow extracted all the water
out of your body and we're about 70%
water. And what was left was this small
octogonal loid little box like thing. And
if they were wearing a red shirt, it was
red. And you know, if there was Spock, it
was blue. But they extracted all this was
all that was left. And then, you know,
when they, it was when you took
everything out, it was reduced to these
salts. Somebody
got crushed, you know, and it was the
drama of this reduction. And fortunately,
I think there was a switch on the
gun so that you could go, he go,
go again and all this boom, there's Kirk
again. He's extracting the water from the
air, but you see what's going on. On
that Star Trek episodes, what's happening
here? There's a reduction going on. Yeah,
we're salt. Yeah, we have these desires,
you know, But what happens when the image
of God is kind of withdrawn in some
kind of weird, alien way? That's what our
sin does, friends. It extracts. It
reduces our us. To our compositional
solves.
To the disintegration is a reduction
because we're meant to be so much more
than our desires. It's it's Sodom was
about kind of fulfilling your desires.
Not letting anybody stand in the way
of that, hmm.
Listen, friends, to consciously resist
a desire. That's
not repression.
That's to know your own heart.
And that's what it is to be in the image
of God. Is
to rule over your desires to be able to
at times, maybe a lot of times, resist
those desires.
Behold Sodom and the divine image and
what I want to talk about today here is
is what we've seen here in my first point
is that this is a divine image
disintegrated. And
the first exhortation for us is to our
own lives. Are we building up the image
of God in us, or are we? Is it
disintegrating?But but
the but the three things I want
to bring out for the pastor, the
divine image disintegrated here like lots
wife. But then there's the divine image
debated and the divine image displayed.
OK, so I want to talk about
the second point here, the divine image
debated. Wonderful when it works out
like a 3D's of divine image. It
doesn't always happen.
But whenever you have the disintegration
of the divine image in a people,
it's always going to create a cultural
conflict. That's why this is really about
cultural engagement, this passage. It's
always going to create a a cultural
conflict and there is always going to be
the same things that come out in our
said. And that's why when you get to
verse verse 9, I don't know if when I
read verse nine, I chuckle. When they
come to him and say, you know, the law
comes out and says don't do this, and
they say you're judging us.
Doesn't that sound familiar?
You know, one of my one of my favorite
movies, maybe, maybe of all times. One of
my favorite movies of all time is a movie
made by Jack Black called Nacho Libre.
I think that it's just hilarious. It's
maybe alright, some of you have seen it,
I guess. Good. It's about this monk in
Mexico who wants to be a pro wrestler.
It's already funny, right? You know, and,
and so he's he's got this struggle going
on. He wants to be a good monkey. He
wants to be spiritual, but he also really
wants to be a pro. Wrestler. So he
gets this partner who's this other sad
sack Mexican character who's an atheist
and it's his wrestling partner. And at
one point he asks his friend Sue some
simple question like have you ever been
baptized or something? And it's friend's
answer. It's just immediately to say
you're always judging me. I always feel
like you're judging me.
And it's hilarious because it's an exotic
location, exotic people. And yet they're
saying the same things that are so
familiar to us, you know, just even
to suggest. That there might
be a moral principle makes people respond
this way, and that's what's going on.
That's what makes verse 9 so funny. Look
at that. They're saying the same thing.
This is 4000 years ago on the other side
of the world, and what are they saying?
You're judging me.
There are utterly something so familiar.
All a lot comes out and says don't do
this, this isn't right, don't do this,
please. In a in a sense, they're imposing
their moral, moral values on him. But
it to them, it looks like he's imposing
on them. Just come out and say don't do
this, please. Why are you judging us?
How dare you?All right,
how dare you suggest. And that there's
a moral law. How dare you
suggest to me that God might have a
different view about what builds his
image?And what tears it down then I
have. How dare you to suggest that?
Never mind that our city was actually
saved a few years back because of your
uncle Abraham, you know. Never mind that
we exist as Sodom because of what Abraham
did a few years back. Never mind that
what we're feeling now is that we're
feeling judged by you.
And so you see, friends in any culture is
going to be the same. They're going to be
points of agreements where people hold
on, hold on to the moral law. They're
going to be points of disparity and
disagreement. And so there going to
be things that are sin that are crimes
and some things that are not crimes that
are sins. So, you know, there are things
that are going to be sins, for example,
even in our culture that are not crimes,
like adultery, it's a sin but not a
crime. There going to be other things
that are sins and crimes like rape.
You know, and then there are going to be
things that are not sins but are crimes.
And perhaps you could think of a few of
those you know, or things that are fast
becoming crimes. And so you're
always going to have these hot button
issues. Because every culture you find is
gonna latch on to certain parts of the
moral law of God and they're going to be
very self-righteous about it and say,
see, we are moral, you know, and they're
going to ignore other parts. They're
gonna they're they're in any, any
culture. There's gonna be the building up
of God's image and the disintegration of
God's image going on at the same time. If
you read history, this is becomes
especially clear. There are always these
few several hot button issues that are
going to be there when, when, when the
biblical faith interacts with anyculture.
And So what we find. Is
that God leaves them there. God leaves
these, and this is for your benefit
by the way. He leaves these hot
button issues in place so that you
can tell what you are. If I
have what your epistemological loyalties
are, that is where you find your
authority. He will leave them in place
every time. And in our culture there are
three, there are three big ones.
Currently in our time and
place, you know, American Northeast
urban city place.
And. I guess
since since we're dealing with Sodom and
Gomorrah today, I I need to talk about
one of them, and that's homosexuality.
Ohh. Listen, homosexuality is wrong
according to the Bible, and our
certainty about that statement arises not
only from the writings that evaluate
Sodom and Gomorrah in the Scriptures,
but also for many texts and
more deeply. It arises from
the whole warp and woof. Of
the Bible's emphasis on gender in
relationships. A point that is always
lost in the sound bites. It's always lost
when you hear the question, well, what is
wrong with it, really? When that question
gets asked, as it does today, I mean,
what could really? And people are
honestly wondering what is it? What is
really wrong with it? With two men who
want to love each other?Our two women
want to love each other in that way. What
is wrong with that? What I mean, it's
love. What could be wrong with that?
You know the the Bible has an answer for
that, but I've never heard it articulated
in the media as the Bible teaches it.
I've never heard it. I'm sure that
some people out there must be saying it.
Because it's there when you read the
texts closely and when you come out one
form or another. I just haven't heard it.
But this is it friends. When when the
question comes up, why is is that wrong?
The answer is this. We are taught
to reserve our most intimate
relationships. For those of
the opposing gender, because gender
differences define the image of God
in US.
We find ourselves through our genders.
And it is impossible to define
our gender apart from the other
gender. We saw this
back in Genesis too, right? Adam couldn't
really know himself. Without
the other without Eve.
And you know it's true. A man does not
find out what it is to be a man by going
out in the woods and cutting himself with
stones. No,
it's through exercise and courage
in knowing women. It's in
relationship with women.
And vice versa. You know, women need men
to know who they are.
And these relationships, you know, you
know all different kinds of relationships
in your life, but these relationships
reach this level of self discovery in the
church and in marriage.
But that's the answer to why It's a
disintegration of God's image, not a
building up of God's image.
That's the answer why it's wrong. Now
that's a good answer and it fits.
But that doesn't solve all the problems
of this issue. Right. And
that's why we have game. That's why I
was glad to hear this announcement made
today. Because that's why we
have game here at the Village Church,
because there are folks, especially
around these parts, that find these
desires in themselves. And yet they
want to follow Jesus. And now let me tell
you if if that happens to be you here
today. I want you to know we have
nothing but compassion for you.
If this is you, please come here.
We will walk with you. If you're saying I
have these desires, I don't know how to
fit this with following Jesus. We'll show
you how to do it. That's what we do at
game. We'll, we'll
show you how to do it, no matter, no
matter how messy it is. Amen, Tom. That's
right. Amen.
So let's be sure, though, that we're on
the same page here about this ministry of
the village church. We are not here to
make people agree with us, or to force
people to live by morals that they do not
freely embrace. But we are here
for people who want to change or people
who want to be different. We're here to
stand with folks in whom God is working
in this area of sanctification. OK,
that's the. At a point we we
should make about this issue, but the the
larger point here, if I can return to it,
is that in any culture, they're not,
they're not only going to be points of
disintegration of the divine image.
But there are also going to be points of
debate. Regarding the
divine image. And
so when we as a church and as
individuals, we go out to engage our
culture. We have to be recognizing this
all the time. And we, you
know, we talk a lot about the the
affection that we have. We talk about the
affectionate restraint. We have the
village church and we try to emphasize
the effects because we love our city. And
that's a good part of Lot, you know,
verse 7, Notice he called. Look what he
says, my brothers. Literally,
that's a literal translation. He's
calling him brothers. In other words, Lot
considers the Sodomites his brothers.
He'd really entered in. You look at verse
one. He's sitting there in the gate,
friends in the gate, sitting in the gate
of the city. That's where the elders of
a city would congregate and the leaders
in order to govern. That's that's where
they would adjudicate legal matters and
whence the community was governed. So
with if a lot is there where he's
sitting there, that means he really had
become one of the sodomites. At
this point, you know he was more Sodom
than sodomites. And that's
good. Those are good things.
But.
What we find is that he had entered into
such an extent that he had become a part
of it. And so we see
it in his hesitation to leave, right in
verses 15 and 16. You're probably reading
that thinking, what's his problem? Get
out of there. Place is about to go up.
But what's going on in Lot
He he can't believe, really.
That there's life outside of this
context. He could no longer remove
himself from his culture.
And not only true of him, it's true of
his whole family. No, it's true of his
wife, but also of his daughters later on.
The way they behave, they show they had
adopted the the cultural norms of Sodom
just in the way that they behave. A
different story later on, but all of them
had.
You know, we were talking about being
shocked at verse 5.
When you read on from verse
5, where's the next place you
get shocked if you What's that
8?Right there,
exactly verse 8. Your shock is doubled,
is it not?
Because when Lot opens his mouth.
What?
What, how could he be willing to make
this deal? What on earth? What does he
think? Is he thinking somehow, you know,
heterosexual, you know, allergy is a
little bit better than homosexual
allergy, or that he would be willing to,
you know, allow his daughters to be
violated in this way?I mean,
do you, do you see a whole lot of
difference between lot and sodomites?
Not a whole lot of difference here. In
other words, friends Lot had entered too
far into the culture. His
affection over had overcome his
restraint. And
what makes this particularly sad,
especially for Abraham, is that Abraham
had had his hope when he intercedes
with God earlier. His hope was in
Lot. His hope was that Lot living
in Sodom would become an influence rather
than being influenced. That if
Lot had led his family well, then
Lot's wife, his daughters, his sons in
law, you know, and all the other
people in Lots circle, that they would
somehow amount to 10.
Would have spared the city, surely, if
Lot had been doing something spiritual.
But as verse 14 rather
poignantly illustrates. Lot had
no influence at all. You know,
he's, he tries to warn his sons in law
and what do they do? They laugh at him.
Why wouldn't they?Why wouldn't
they laugh at him?I
mean he they just witnessed him promising
their fiancees to the crowd.
How much moral capital do you think that
gave a lot with them?
What about you?
If you have a warning to issue at some
point, what about the people in your
influence?
You know.
You're the hope of Abraham. You're my
hope. At this point, you know, we have
affection for the city, but we also have
restraint. It makes such a difference how
you live your life here.
Don't be like Lot, who could not
extricate himself from the life of the
culture when he needed to.
Now you should. I know you shake your
head a lot and you say ohh wow, why? What
is his problem? Why doesn't he get out of
there? But how different are we?When
we love that part of the city, we
love it too much. And we
don't know when to leave the party.
When you don't know when to leave the
party, you you really don't find yourself
in this passage. I think we should. Or
when you want to be accepted, When you
want to be one of the people who are in
so badly. That
you're, you're just like Lot here. You're
willing to engage in activities that are
disintegrating God's image.
And if you could see yourself, you'd be
saying why? Why am I doing this?
That you're just like, look at lot here.
That's us. He can't
even leave. Things are falling down
around him.
And I know you say, well, you know,
in my circles it's hard, but I know
it's hard. It's not impossible, though.
You know, I, I think of the the
believer working at a bank here and.
Guy comes in to offer him software. I
think I talked about before and he really
needed this software. He said the guy
here, he used this software guy but it's
pirated software. The guy says no I don't
want to use it. I says come on use its
presses and presses and finally says well
you know this is not honest. And
his friend's reaction was the same. Here,
you know, why are you judging me?
It's it's the same reaction and yet he
lost some friends. This believer in in in
that situation. Another person in the
village church. She she wanted the
finally got a good audition for good film
for the film 300 You know there was
but it was for gratuitous. Good
scene, she turns out in
the audition and.
You know, really, really annoys her
agent.
But these are the kinds of examples that
where you start where your restraint
comes in.
And so the scriptures tell us.
Remember Lot's wife, It's the way the New
Testament puts it. Well, so
those are the 2. This is the divine image
we see in this passage. Disintegrated the
divine image debated but also friends,
before we close as we are coming to the
table here, I want to bring out the
divine image displayed. What? What
made the difference with Lot? Why did he
get LED out of the city?
Why he instead of the other sodomites?
And there is something that has to do
with God's covenant here, but you can see
it also in.
In this passage in the way Lot behaves,
believe it or not, it's just from verse
one. Lot responds.
To the divine messengers, much as Abraham
did with welcome. You know, if you kind
of go back and read this chapter before
this, it begins the same way. This this
chapter is the beginning. This chapter is
a lot like that when Abraham received the
messengers and it provides clues for us
that lot really knew. Who it was
who was visiting them, Lot knew this was
a divine visit. So
he runs up. What does he do? In the
beginning, he prostrates himself before
them. Now that friends, that would be a
very strange action to do to newcomers.
They're coming to your city. They would
bow before you, these strangers. But not
here. Why? Because a lot knows who they
are. And later on
in the passage, even though they're
described verse one as angels, God a lot
sort of takes on their their
representation of God here and addresses
them with God's title Lord.
And So what? What do we see him doing?
We see him receiving the messenger from
heaven in contrast to the citizens of
Sodom. This is exactly this is precisely
what Sodom doesn't do, doesn't receive
the messengers. And so in the beginning,
we see him sitting at the gate. You could
read that and you could think he was
alone, couldn't you?But he wasn't alone.
Friends, as I was saying, this is the
city. Gate was a busy place. The other
elders and leaders were there no reason
to assume he was alone in the gate, but
he's the only one who goes and welcomes
them. Now this, you know, people
sometimes these days trying to look at
his passion and say, oh, this was about
hospitality. That was showing
hospitality. That was his virtue, for
instance, not hospitality, but having a
hospitable. Art to God's plan. It's not
just the receiving of guests of any
guests, it's the receiving of the guests.
The message and the messengers
from heaven.
And that is what brings God's mercy into
his life. You see
in verse 16 that Lot salvation out of
Sodom had nothing to do with his own
righteousness, his own behavior, but on
God's mercy. You see that there
verse 16, God's mercy and a lot
recognizes that too. He says in verse 19,
what does he say? He said I'm only alive.
I know because of your kindness.
And it.
He, he is, he is received by God
in receiving them.
And boy is he received. I mean, you look
at this, the kind of the grace and
accommodation exhibited by God in this
passage is amazing.
Zoar OK, sure. I'll
spare Zoar. Just because
you asked, just because
you're going there, I'll
spare. So are.
Maybe what is this is the great God of
judgment? I mean, the house is a God of
judgment in this passage and what he's
becoming a pushover. Sure,
I'll change my plans. I'll let Lizzo our
live just because you're going there.
What does that end? Do you not? Do you
not want that entrance into God?
To be welcomed with him. He received the
visitors. He opened his heart to the
message from heaven.
Well, you know, it's, it's true for us
friends, it's, it works the same way
because there was another messenger who
came from heaven, Jesus Christ, and he
came to do the same thing.
He came to see what was going on and he
came to see who would receive him.
And the citizens of another city did not.
But it is about for you whether you will.
Will you receive the divine message
from the Divine Messenger, especially if
that messenger is God's himself?
That's the issue here. Do you receive
Christ authority over you understand in
your life as service to Him?
Cause if you do friends it will save you
even if you are weak and compromise.
Even if you're of the caliber of lot.
The real issue is about, you know,
opening up to to the message of
Christ. And when we turn
to the table here, that's what's gonna
happen. Jesus, when he can, when he
brought up Sodom and Gomorrah, that's
what he said he had. He was going by this
one town, Capernaum. He did these amazing
things. There was this amazing, amazing
teaching. And they didn't receive him.
And you know what he said? He said man.
It is going to be better for Sodom and
Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for
Capernaum. Because it's it's
not all about where you, where you fail,
or where you're succeeding. It's about
who you're receiving.
And it wasn't because they were
inhospitable to, it's because they were
inhospitable to him. Because
they wouldn't receive him.
He says he who rejects the son won't see
life. But whoever believes in
the sun has eternal life. Yes, it's
that simple.
It's that simple. Do you understand God
this way? I want God to become a
pushover for you. And this is
the way to it. So as we
come to the table.
Now. I want
you to be opening your hearts and
receiving Him. Because on the
night that he was betrayed, he took these
elements. He took the bread, He broke it,
He gave it to His disciples. He said this
is my body which is given for you. Do
this in remembrance of Me. In the same
way He took the cup. He said, this cup is
the new covenant in my blood, which is
poured out for many for the forgiveness
of sins. Receive it. Do this in
remembrance of Me. And that,
friends, allows us to proclaim the
mystery of our faith. Will you stand?