The Consequences of Conformity

GETTING STARTED

What happens when living your best life goes wrong? You have the job, the house, the cars, the family, the friends, the vacations, the status, and the life you’ve always wanted. You’re popular in town and on social media. Everyone sees that you’re living it up, but no one knows that you’re living for God because you don’t talk about him, and his presence isn’t evident in your life or in the lives of anyone around you. What if God decides to take it all down because you’ve gained the whole world, but your soul and the eternal lives of your family are in peril?

How do you react when God wants you to give up everything you want, for everything you need? What if you knew it was an urgent matter of life and death?

READ THE WORD: GENESIS 19:12-22 (ESV)

¹²Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. ¹³For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

¹⁵As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. ¹⁹Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” ²¹He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²²Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

DIGGING DEEPER

Why were the men (angels) in the city and who sent them (vss. 12-13)? What were the men trying to get Lot to do?
What were the actions of the following people in response to the urgency of the situation: the sons-in-law, Lot, the angels/men, Lot’s wife and daughters (vss. 14-16)? Why did each respond in the manner they did?
In what ways did the Lord extend mercy, deliverance, and grace to Lot and his family throughout the entire passage?
Describe Lot’s inaction/hesitation/reluctance to trust and obey God throughout this passage. How are you like Lot? What is your response and attitude toward God when he warns you to flee ungodly, or even comfortable, situations so he can save you, your family, your mission?
What are your beliefs, and do they align with God’s Word? How do the people in your circle of influence respect them?

RESPOND TO GOD

Lot’s conformity with the culture of Sodom caused him to be useless in convincing his sons-in-law to flee, and almost immobile in saving his immediate family in the imminence of destruction. But God, with mercy and lovingkindness, made a way of escape so that Lot might be saved. If you have accepted Christ, God’s mercy has saved you, despite your sin. Even now, God is withholding his wrath so that others may be warned of his impending judgment and saved by his grace through faith. Who needs to see your best life, lived through him?

Ask God to help you to consistently stand up and stand out for him, so that your witness for God is believable and life-changing.
Flee for your life from sin and the comforts of this world, into the safe arms of Jesus and your commitment to kingdom living.