Following the Nations: A Voice of Repentance

In 2 Kings 17:15, 33 we read:

They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them ...So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

As I read this in my devotional time this morning I was struck with a spirit of repentance and grief. I cannot escape the fact that I have fallen into some of the same sin as ancient Israel: in many ways I have followed the sins of the nations around me rather than being faithful to my God and confronting my culture by leading my neighbors away from their sins.

I know that I posted a series of cultural sins that we're in danger of committing back on March 28th, but this morning the reality of these came to me with greater clarity and precision. The question came to me like this: "Tim, what are the specific ways that you have taken on the thinking and values of the nations rather than the heart of God and ways of truth?"

Here are ten answers God gave to me (these are not at all polished, but are a raw expression of what the Lord said to me by His Spirit):

1. I've subtlely accepted the relativism and a live-and-let-live mindset of the nations as is evident by my lack of urgency in speaking to people of their sins and of their need for the gospel. The fact that I do not leave my house in the morning with one agenda: to speak to as many people as possible of Jesus Christ and of their desperate need for Him, reveals that I've bought into the world's lie that it doesn't need Him.

2. I've subtlely lived a pluralistic/relativistic mindset whenever I've hesitated to say point blank: "Jesus is the only way."

3. I've given in to the world's love of popularity and the idol that image is everything when I've held back in speaking of "Jesus' by name and of people's sins and of God's holiness with clarity and conviction, because I did not want to offend or lose a friend.

4. I've caved in to political correctness when I've been bold in the pulpit but fearful in the marketplace; when I've preached holiness and the exclusive claims of Christ to the choir, but not to the lost.

5. I've embraced worldly materialism when I've neglected needs of the church and kingdom, and have treated luxuries and extras like they were needs and even rights.

6. I've trusted in the city of man and in man's help when I've treated religious liberty as a right to be fought for when in fact Christians throughout time and around the world have not had one bit of it themselves.

7. I've embraced the worldly hedonism of the nations when I've lingered on the advertisement or enticing picture or ice cream buffet or pillow or juicy gossip too long.

8. I've followed the nations distorted values when I've treated the arts and entertainment and pop culture and even high culture as if they were worth a level of attention even beginning to approach the attention I give to personal holiness and specific, bold, sin and cross-saturated gospel witness. When I in all honesty have given more thought to enjoying or even recovering the arts than to the plight of and an active pursuit of the lost never dying souls that I meet everyday, I'm flat out worldly.

9. I've followed the nations when I treat government and politics as if they have answers for human need, and can ever be trusted to "do the right thing". When I devote more concern and care to how to fix the economy or vote for the right candidate than I do to how to reach my neighbor and rescue him from a dreadful eternity, I have--just like the world--valued this life more than the next.

10. I've followed my nation's values when I treat luxuries like multiple health care options, college education, religious liberty, a relaxing night out, snacks between meals, second helpings of food, a new shirt, and another pair of shoes as needs and rights rather than as the flat out excess they most often are.

Folks, I'm not nuancing anything here, I realize. And I realize that a thousand "buts" and qualifications come to mind for each of these points. But I am making a primary point: we are at great risk of repeating Israel's sin, and in truth, we already have. We have followed the nations rather than our God.

Let us repent and mean it. Let us confess our idolatries and turn from them. Let us renounce all that we hold dear and go hard after God as never before.

This is what God expects, and if the Old Testament record shows us anything, it is that God isn't kidding.