Family Responsibility Amid National Judgment (Genesis 18:16-20)
Wickedness abounds in our world today. The darkness is growing over our land, and we need guidance as to how to respond to it.
We’ve all been watching the news this week with tremendous sorry as we saw another school shooting. The details of the incident are gruesome and horrific. The fact that a deranged killer did what he did boggles the mind. It’s disgustingly wicked and we simply do not have the vocabulary to describe just how evil it is.
And more to the context of our passage today, we are on the precipice of Sodomite Pride Month. I am sure that you will notice it. The evidence will be everywhere. And on multiple occasions next month, you will find yourself shielding your children from certain conversations or television commercials. One of the things that caused God’s wrath to fall upon Sodom and Gomorrah was their sexual deviancy. In fact, it is when the sexual deviance of Sodom is revealed in full that the final decision to judge the place occurs.
It is a holiday for our perverse society. Instead of crawling upon Santa’s lap, children all over the country will be invited to get their picture taken by a drag queen who just read them a story. There will rainbows everywhere instead of Christmas decorations in every store that you go to, and they are not celebrating the Noahic Covenant.
Those who commit such sins are doing something that the Lord finds “abominable”.
“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” (Leviticus 20:13 ESV)
God created sex to be enjoyed within the confines of marriage. And marriage is defined as one man and one woman for life. The perversion of participating in homosexual acts is considered by God to be “an abomination”.
And we live in a society that will celebrate this for an entire month. But homosexuality is not the only thing going on in our society that is inviting the judgment of God.
God created the household. And His intention for marriage is godly offspring. But we are in the middle of a war for our households and for our children. Our society has attempted to redefine marriage and according to the law of the land, it has. You can’t redefine what God has defined, but our society has sure tried. Fights are happening all over the country over parental rights in education and that is about far more than meets the eye. Those fights are over whether parents have any rights concerning the education of their children. Many government school districts believe the answer is “no”. This warfare on the household goes all the way to the baby in the womb and people within our society have promised that there will be riots in the streets if Roe V. Wade is overturned.
Imagine the juxtaposition for just a moment. There will be a parade celebrating sodomy and other perversions. And at the same time there will be riots demanding the death of babies in the womb. This is the society we live in. And it will illustrate well just how far down the pit of insanity that our country has fallen.
What is going on?
Well, theologians call it God’s Wrath of Abandonment. And we find it revealed to us plainly in Romans 1:18-32.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:18-32 ESV)
“God gave them up” and they behaved in horrifically sinful ways throughout this text. “God gave them up” to fulfill their lusts. He no longer restrained their wickedness. “God gave them up” to impurity. “God gave them up” to homosexuality. And, “God gave them up to a debased mind” and they were filled with “envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness”.
What is happening in the United States today?
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven and it is landing upon us. And He has done this by abandoning our society to follow its own sinful and wicked desires.
I open with all of this today because God told Abraham of the coming destruction of Sodom. And the reason is that he had certain responsibilities at this time. And the responsibility was not to scream at Sodom. His responsibility was to his household.
This is the opposite of our first impulses. We tend to sit around and watch or listen to the news and get stirred up about the evils of society. We gripe, complain, rant, and rave about the wickedness of our world. And all the while, we do not do the very thing we should do in that moment. We tend to focus outside our household, and all the while God calls us to work within our household first.
The world is falling apart, we see the results of God’s wrath of abandonment all over our country. So, what are we to do? Get your household in order. That’s what you’re supposed to do.
Raise Your Children In The Lord (Genesis 18:19)
This conversation is very enlightening. And, to be completely honest, this is the first time that it struck me as important when I read it.
After sharing a meal together, Abraham followed the three men as they walked toward Sodom. And now the three men have a conversation that is very helpful.
As mentioned last week, at least one of these people is the Lord who has taken on human flesh and is appearing to Abraham as a man. Many people have believed throughout the ages that these three people are each one of the persons of the godhead, Augustine included. And the reason for this is the discussion that takes place in the text.
The discussion is about the future plans for Sodom and Gomorrah will be shared with Abraham. Should these things be hidden or revealed to Abraham?
“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” (Genesis 18:17b-18 ESV)
And because of all that the Lord was about to do with Abraham, it was decided that he should be told.
The reason that Abraham was to be told is the focus of our sermon today. In fact, lessons from Genesis 18:19 are the entire sermon today.
“For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”” (Genesis 18:19 ESV)
God chose Abraham and gave to him a task to command his children and his household to keep the Lord’s ways. Because God chose Abraham and would fulfill all His promises to Abraham, it was for Abraham to raise His children in the Lord.
This is very interesting. God is about to judge Sodom and Gomorrah. His judgment is about to fall on that place and the Lord told Abraham about it so that he could raise His children to keep the ways of the Lord.
So, Abraham was told this information so that it could be part of his commanding his children and household after him, or his progeny. And he was to command them to keep the way of the Lord. This is not optional for you or for your children. You must command them to obey the Lord, and by extension they must obey you. You must command them. They must obey you. And your command must be teaching them the way of righteousness.
The content of what is commanded is “doing righteousness” and “doing justice”. Doing righteousness is living according to righteous standards. It is doing what is good and right. There is nothing tricky about the word “justice” either. The word “justice” used in this phrase is about judgment and court proceedings. In other words, teaching a child to do “justice” is teaching them to live and act according to God’s standards of justice.
For us today, we understand that this is done by raising our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4, Deuteronomy 6:4-9). It is raising our children in the Paideia of God.
When Paul gave the instruction to parents in Ephesians 6:4, it was given in the context of a Roman civilization that found it very important to raise its children in the paideia of Rome. The word can be translated a multiplicity of ways, “discipline”, “training”, “fear”, “admonition”, “chastisement”, which makes the word a little difficult to translate. But it is because the idea being conveyed here is all-encompassing.
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4 ESV)
Suddenly, the meaning becomes very clear. It is the same thing we are told to do in Deuteronomy 6:4-9).
“”Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ESV)
We are to raise our children in the Paideia of God. This is to be an all-encompassing education in the Lord. It is something that we are to be always doing. And this is what God had for Abraham to do.
So, as God’s judgment was to be poured out upon Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham was to teach his children to walk in the ways of the Lord.
We have already seen that our nation is under a different sort of judgment from God. It is not fire reigning down from Heaven, though I will not count out the possibility of that happening someday. It is, however, judgment. And as it is being poured out upon our nation, your focus should be at home. At home, you have the greatest impact on people. These are people that you see more than any others. At home, you have long lasting and multigenerational impact for the things you teach will also influence future generations. And from your home you can point out and teach on the sinful stupidity of the ways of the world while your children are living under the protection of your roof. There is a real sense in which Sodom and Gomorrah were a teaching tool for Abraham and his family as he taught them to walk in the ways of the Lord.
Our temptation is to look outside and scream at the wind. That is how most people use social media. It’s a whole lot of people screaming into the void, and they know it’s meaningless. But that Is not the way we should handle things. We calmly look at our families, while the wrath of abandonment is being poured out upon our society and teach them the better way.
When asked why these things happened? We have a response given to us from God’s Word. God created us good and upright, but when Adam rebelled all of mankind became corrupt. That is why people are mean. That is why people act sinfully. We don’t sin because of some outside force. We sin because we are sinners. And the wickedness that mankind is capable of is unfathomable. But God did not leave us without hope in our condition. God sent us a Savior, His only Son, Jesus Christ.
God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life on behalf of sinners, a life that we should have lived. He died on the cross and paid the punishment for sin that we deserved to pay. And three days later, He rose from the grave. Those who turn from ruling their own lives and trust in Christ are united to Him by faith. They are brought into God’s family. Christ’s life is credited to them. Their sins are paid for on the cross. And His resurrection power is given to them. Jesus rose, so they can now walk in this world in righteous resurrection life and will one day rise to be with the Lord.
As the wrath of abandonment falls upon our society, we teach our children God’s Word.
Next month, as sodomy is celebrated in the street and riots are occurring because a federal law allowing people to kill their babies has been overturned, there is something much less dramatic that you need to be doing. You need to be seated around the dinner table. You need to be peacefully eating together, praying together, reading God’s Word together, and learning from the Scriptures together.
As God’s wrath falls upon our land, raise your children in the Lord. Teach them His ways.
Raise Your Children In The Lord, So That The Blessings Of Promise Will Fall Upon You (Genesis 18:19)
The verse that is our focus today ends with an interesting phrase. Abraham is to raise His children in the Lord, “so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:19 ESV) God had made a unilateral promise to Abraham. But the promises that God made to Abraham did imply that Abraham would be raising his children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
Abraham was to become “a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” (Genesis 18:18 ESV) This required Abraham to teach his children God’s ways. All of those promises that God gave to Abraham, God would fulfill as Abraham raised his children in the Lord.
We have already explored on a few different occasions the promises given to Abraham and how they apply to us in our day. But notice what is mentioned in this text. Abraham would become a “great and mighty nation” and “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him”. This is fulfilled in Christ (Galatians 3:16-29). All nations are blessed in Abraham because Jesus came from Abraham and brought salvation to the world through his perfect life, death, and resurrection. And the whole world will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord one day (Habakkuk 2:14). That will be quite a great and mighty nation.
The Church will expand, and a good bit of that expansion has always been believing children. And I don’t think a lot of churches have taken this seriously enough. Nor do I think a lot of parents have taken this seriously enough.
When I was a child, in a church with a lot of children and teenagers in it, this was not discussed often. All the emphasis was on evangelism of those out in the world. That is a good thing, and it is something that we are commanded to do. But it is not all that we are commanded to do and there are far more commands to teach and train our children then there are to preach to our neighbor. And besides, where would the church in America be had they taken this call to raise children up in the Paideia of the Lord seriously. I believe that we would live in a completely different society than we are today.
This does not mean that all of our focus should be within our families. It does mean that as society falls apart, we should be getting our households in order. And it should mean that we have good working households even while the rest of the households around us are falling apart. As William Cutrer, a Christian Medical Doctor who also taught at SBTS stated,
“It’s been estimated that of a dozen couples, four divorce and six stay together without love or joy for the sake of their children (or for continued access to them) or due to their religious beliefs or careers. It’s tragic that only two couples—one in six—enjoy and intimate and happy marriage.”1 William Cutrer, Sexual Intimacy In Marriage, 2019, Pp. 165-166
And this will be one of the ways that Christians will spread the gospel to this wayward society. It will be through our functioning households. The world will observe our committed marriages even while divorce is rampant. The world will notice our well adjusted children, while other children are falling apart. Raise children in the fear and admonition of the Lord and when your home is one of the few functioning well in the neighborhood people will taken notice.
For a few of us, there is a struggle in talk like this. It’s the struggle of having not lived through families that functioned well. You may currently be trying to figure this thing out. We have a community of believers here that are completely willing to help in this endeavor. We want you to do this well. And we want your Great-Great-Grandchildren to be able to look back and see the glorious inheritance of faith that you passed down to them.
Some of you were raised in Christian homes that were exemplary. Some of you had very little Christian influence growing up in your home. Some of you were raised in homes that tried but didn’t do a great job. And honestly, this is exactly what we should expect things to be like for us right now.
If you’re growing up in a society that is rocked by sin, this is the sort of thing that will take place. But it is not for us to just pout and wait for the Lord’s return. That is not what your family needs and that is not what the world needs.
The world needs to see Christians and their families. And the world needs to see us doing it well. Christian, you are the salt of the Earth and the light of the world.
“”You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16 ESV)
Flavor the Earth with the Savor of Christ and start in your home. Shine the light of Christ to a lost and dying world, and start in your home.
Conclusion
I will not deny that we are living in a land of death and devastation. Sin has rocked our world in incredible ways. And the devastation of God’s Wrath of Abandonment upon our land is felt by nearly everyone. And it becomes more evident by the minute.
But our response is not to plug our ears to this reality, nor is it to be angry and scream at every passerby. Our response is to begin to get our household in order. Our response is to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
Rod Dreher interviewed a lot of people who formed the resistance against Communism that lived in the former Soviet-bloc. The book is called “Live Not By Lies”. It is truly a wonderful book, especially for us to consider in our day. And one of the things that was truly fascinating in the book is that Christians formed a large part of the resistance against Communism in that day. And the family was time and time again seen as an important part of this resistance.
“A truth to which the Benda family, and other families that formed the consciences of other anti-communist dissidents, testify to this: if you want to love and serve the church, the community, and the nation, you must first learn to love and serve your family.”[2]
We see the horrors taking place all around us. And we wonder what we are to do. Well, here is the answer. If you want to change our society, then you need to start with your own family.
Love your children and grandchildren. Eat with them. Read to them. Care for them. Teach them God’s Word. Pray with them and for them. And lead them in faithfulness to Christ.
R. Dwain Minor
[1] William Cutrer, Sexual Intimacy In Marriage, 2019, Pp. 165-166
[2] Rod Dreher, Live Not By Lies, Sentinel2020, p. 150