The Effect Of Our Surroundings

Introduction

Well, the singing sounded excellent tonight. Dean did a good job, but it’s just having so many voices to work with, huh, Dean? It’s a big crowd on a Sunday night. When you get a lot of people in here, our singing sounds so good, so encouraging. And we have a number of visitors with us tonight, some who are not always able to make it on a Sunday night as well. It’s good to have all of you with us and new members. Good to have the Davises among us, among us, if they could ever get moved here. And I know they’re ready for that to happen to get a permanent location in our neighborhood. But it’s good to see to see you all tonight. Some of our young people are back in town, and good to have them as well.

We’re going to go quite a few places tonight in our study of the scripture and tie some things together. And we’re going to begin tonight by talking about the fellow with the three-letter name.

1. Lot Became Attached to His Environment

Lot. The story of Lot. How many times does the name Lot come up in the New Testament?

Not many. But the passage that you might think about is the one in 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 7 through 9. As Peter is talking about false teachers and their impact as they bring destructive heresies, he talks about withstanding the influences around us, maintaining our faith, and he uses Lot as an example. He says, if he rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men. For by what he saw and heard, that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds.

Does that describe you? Tormented by the unrighteous deeds of the culture in which we live. That was Lot. And then this in verse 9, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. Why bring Lot as an example for this point? Because he demonstrates his judgment against the ungodly in the days of Lot, as he brings fire and brimstone in judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But when we think of the story of Lot, this might not be the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, we might think of his wife, whom Jesus referenced in that very brief statement in Luke 17. Remember Lot’s wife. Don’t you wonder what her name was?

Do you know what the name of Lot was? Well, some have said Dot. They called her Dot. Not because the scriptures call her that, but because it rhymes with Lot. And the fact is that we really don’t know what her name was. Here is a significant person in the Bible story, the nephew of Abraham, and his wife becomes a pillar of salt because she looked back after being instructed not to do so. And her story is referenced in the New Testament, but still we don’t know what her name was. Or even Lot’s daughter’s’ names, as they would bear sons to their father, as that story unfolds in Genesis 19, and those nations that would proceed from Lot would be a thorn in Israel’s side throughout their history.

But another reason why I think 2 Peter chapter 2 is interesting in regard to the story of Lot is that as the angels have come to Lot, and all that unfolds with the men of the city in relation to these visitors from God, they are urged to get whatever they have in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, get out of there and preserve sons in law, whatever you have here, and the sons of law, of course, when Lot spoke to them, he appeared to them to be just surely not. Surely God is not going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. They found out otherwise very shortly. But I’ve always found it interesting in Genesis 19 and verse 16, when the angels are now urging Lot and his wife and his daughters to leave the city.

There’s no question. Lot was righteous, he was vexed by the unrighteousness around him, and yet when the time came to flee because of the judgment of God, he hesitated. Lot, like us, became attached to his environment. Even though he did not like a lot of the ungodly things that were going on around him. And that suggests this one important point that I want to speak to you about tonight. And that is the influence of our surroundings. What kind of impact as you pursue the righteous life that Jesus calls you to? What kind of influence does your surroundings have upon you? The neighborhood in which you live, the schools we attend, the things we do in this particular culture of ours, the influence of our relationships upon us.

2. You Show Me Your Friends, I'll Show You Your Future

What impact does our culture have upon us? Perhaps we can become the righteous too attached to our surroundings, as it seems Lot was, as he hesitated or lingered. I saw a story on ESPN. Whenever they run one of their 30 on 30 and 30 segments, or whatever they call it, I watched those. They’re usually pretty well orchestrated and put together little segments.

And Thad is smiling because Maurice Clarette played at Ohio State. And he played for Ohio State in their, was it their last championship season of 2002? Wow, you were a lot younger than Thad. The SEC had been dominating since then. Maurice Clarette was a freshman that season. And he decided he was going to try to buck up against the rules and turn pro after his freshman season. He was going to challenge the rules that prevented that. And of course, many thought he was pro talent. And so he went to the courts and he won the initial court battle. But then in the second court battle in the appeal, he lost. And so he remains at Ohio State University, but now the administration, seemingly the athletic director in particular, does not like the fact that Maurice Clarette wanted to turn pro and leave Ohio State.

He did not play much in his sophomore season. And so then eventually he left Ohio State and tried to pursue his pro career when he reached the age that was necessary to do so. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos, and that didn’t work out. But there were a lot of distractions in the life of Maurice Claret. And a lot of that had to do with the influences that he allowed in his life, as his coach Jim Tressel said, he had one foot in one world and one foot in another. Have you ever heard that from perhaps a preacher? One foot in one world and one foot in another. That’s what his coach said about him. And it involved drugs and alcohol and firearms and women.

Well, that’s a bad combination. Drugs, alcohol, firearms, and women. And he ends up in California, hanging out with these friends who were engaged in all of these things like him. Ultimately, he spirals further downward, convicted ultimately of armed robbery and is sentenced to seven years in prison. He was released on good behavior in three and a half years. During that time, he went to alcohol counseling, anger management classes, and he read a lot. He studied a lot. He wrote a blog, The Mind of Maurice Claret. After he was released, he tried playing football again, played for the United Football League until it went belly up. He even enrolled in classes again at Ohio State. And he took some of his time to counsel other people. Inmates at prison.

The boys and girls club in Omaha, where he was playing football. And here’s one of the things that he said. Maurice Clarette as a person now means more to me than Maurice Clorette, the athlete. And there was a clip in this segment of the reformation of this young man as he was speaking to that boys and girls club that he made this statement that I thought was extremely powerful. As he told those young people, you show me your friends. And I’ll show you your future. As soon as I saw that, I posted it on Facebook. And then my friend Baron Alfred, who attends the Southside congregation in Pasadena sent me this picture of him saying these words. You show me your friends. I’ll show you your future.

When I was in Auburn from 2006 to 2009, I saw three incoming freshman classes. We had about 70 to 80 students who worshiped with us at the congregation in Auburn. And it was true of every single year I was there. On the first Sunday, when all of the young people came, we had all of these college students. It was a wonderful atmosphere. You had 70 or 80 of these young people striving to serve the Lord who were in college at Albert. And inevitably, some over the semester, the first semester, would fall by the wayside. They would stop worshiping with the Lord’s people. It was really awkward when their parents would show up with them on a Sunday morning, and they hadn’t been there in months. And the other members don’t know who their child is because he or she was never there.

Really awkward. But here’s what I noticed. Of the young people who quit attending regularly with the Lord’s people.

You know what all of them had in common? Their friends weren’t Christians. They weren’t spending time with other young people who were serving the Lord. They weren’t associated with that group of people who would come to our house occasionally for devotionals on Sunday night. They weren’t associated with those folks. They were associated with friends on the campus who were not serving the Lord. And ultimately, that influenced them to not serve the Lord either.

Whom we choose as friends is a huge influential factor in our life, young people. I look back at my youth. I had some friends at my high school. There were very few Christians that attended my high school. I had some friends, they were decent guys. They didn’t encourage me to do evil things. But I would hang out a lot with the six or seven Christian males that I worshiped with in New Albany, Indiana. One of them in particular. We spent a lot of time together on the weekends. And that was very important. And when I went to Florida College, that was a tremendous environment. Here is a young person who is beginning to make decisions on his own for the first time in his life. And I was put into an atmosphere of 500 other young people who were supposed to be serving Christ.

Now I want to tell you, Florida College is not the perfect environment. There were some young people there whose faith was weak to non-existent. And it was amazing how those people sort of gravitated to one another and got into all kinds of trouble. But they also influence others. And I would tell you that there were people, particularly in my freshman year, who had an influence on me not for my betterment. It’s not a perfect environment. I’m glad some of our young people go to a college, like in College Station, where there are other young people who are Christians. Like was true of Auburn when I was there. There’s an opportunity that presents itself to be with other young people who are serving the Lord. The people whom we befriend will have a tremendous influence on our lives.

3. Do Not Be Bound Together With Unbelievers

So I want to talk to you for a moment tonight about relationships and how important they are as we speak of the impact of our surroundings. And that’s exactly what Paul is doing in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 14 beginning. And this section runs down through 7 and verse 1, and then we’re going to look at some other things that are going on contextually here. We do this passage an injustice if all we see here, as some have argued in the past, that a Christian should not marry a non Christian. I don’t believe that’s being prohibited by this text, but we certainly need to ask the question about associating in the most close relationship that exists on this planet with someone who does not have the same spiritual values as we do.

Now we may ultimately bring them to the Lord, and that’s a wonderful thing. And that relationship can thrive. But it’s going to be a challenge. Until both of you get on the same page spiritually. But that’s not really the main idea of this context. When he says, do not be bound together with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Goliath? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? And he’s saying the same way, the same thing in several different ways. The idea of a sharing or partnership or being in common with something, and he’s setting in contrast Christ and righteousness with unlawfulness. And being an unbeliever, he says, and what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean. Beware of these relationships, these partnerships, and the idea is locking arm in arm with those who practice evil. Beware of your association with them, lest they bring you into the presence of what is unclean, and you partake with them. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you. The Lord has some very real expectations in terms of our pursuit of holiness. And I will be a father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.

Therefore, having these promises, fellowship with God, his assistance and blessing, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit. Now I think he’s talking about defilement that comes through the practice of lusts in the flesh. And he’s talking about defilement that comes from embracing things that are untrue. Things that are opposed to the spirit of man or the truth that he needs to be saved. All defilements of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. I was reading some commentaries on this passage this week, and more than one was befuddled. Because these verses don’t seem to flow with the context of 2 Corinthians. That’s because they weren’t introduced to a very important thing that I was introduced to about five or six years ago that helped me to understand what’s going on in this book.

But they did notice that the passages preceding and the passages following connect. As he talks about warnings about associations, look at the previous verses. He says, Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians. Our heart is open wide. And I love this. And I’ve experienced it more than once. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Have you ever wanted to love your brother, serve your brother, be in union with your brother, but they just wouldn’t have it? That’s what Paul is talking about. You are not restrained by us. It’s not anything that we did. He says, you are restrained in your own affections. He says, now in a like exchange I speak as to children. Open wide to us also.

Now, open wide to us also. And then he says in verse 2 of chapter 7, make room for us in your hearts. Now, why should they do that? We didn’t wrong you. We wronged no one, corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one. I do not speak to condemn you. I’m not merely trying to make you feel guilty. For I have said before that you are in our hearts. To die together and to live together. Great is my confidence in you. Great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction. This is Paul’s heart toward them. And he brackets this information with that. Well, what’s going on? Remember when we studied 2 Corinthians, and I suggested to you that the first seven chapters are laid out in Achillasm?

That’s where this makes sense. As these corresponding sections in the first seven chapters all point to the main theme of the opening section of his epistle, which is be reconciled to God, and because you’re reconciled to God, you will be reconciled to us. That’s where he’s headed with all of this. But what happens in the careful construction of this epistle is he takes this chiastic structure, which I didn’t know about for a long time, but when I did and I saw it, I said, Yes, that’s it. You start seeing these corresponding sections, and that this matches this and this matches this. And in this middle section, notice this 6.11 to 7.4, where he brackets that with, you’re restrained in your affections, but it’s not us who have restrained you.

And he says, make room for us in your hearts. And then he goes into the section about their associations. If you go back to the corresponding section in 2.14 through 4.6, notice what he’s doing, and I’ve marked this in my Bible. As he talks about his ministry and the sincerity of his ministry, and that the Corinthians are his epistle in chapter 3 and verse 2. And he talks about the gospel being veiled, and if it’s veiled, it’s veiled to the perishing in chapter 4, and then he finally says, We are servants of Christ and we do not preach ourselves. And it really matches what he’s doing in this section in chapter 6. Now, what’s going on in 2 Corinthians? They have come under the influence of false apostles.

And he’s going to deal with that specifically when he gets to the end of the book in chapters 10 through 13. Just as Eve was beguiled by the serpent, he warns about being led away from the purity and simplicity of the gospel. And he talks about these false teachers who have come to influence them, and now they’re rejecting the Apostle Paul. And remember when we studied that, I suggested to you how crazy that is. That these people, who many of them owe their faith to the work that the Apostle Paul has done in Corinth, and now they have become convinced that Paul is not legitimate, that he is not sincere, that he’s a counterfeit and shouldn’t be trusted. And what these sections are doing for us is Paul is first establishing, no, our ministry is above board.

It’s genuine. It’s for the purpose of glorifying God and your salvation, and we love you, and that’s why we’ve done what we’ve done among you. We’ve not taken advantage of you. And he said, but these guys come along and they slap you in the face, and you’re okay with that. And really, what they’re doing is much worse than that. They’re devouring them and destroying them. As they disguise themselves as servants of Christ. And he says, Satan has transformed himself into an angel of light. What’s going on in this whole epistle is the Corinthians have come under the influence of evil men who are claiming to be Christians. And we see the influence of their surroundings and that they have been led to believe of all things that the apostle Paul was not genuine.

4. Our Alliances Affect Us

And that he should not be listened to. And I go through all of that to say, our alliances, whatever they are, they affect us. They influence us. And don’t be deceived about it. And it doesn’t matter how strong you are or have been, as Lot was. It doesn’t matter that you’re vexed by the evil around you. It doesn’t matter that you have come out of darkness and into his marvelous light as the Corinthians had. There can still be evil influences that come to affect us and cause us to believe things about genuine servants of God that are not true. You think gossip can wreak havoc in a local church? The influence of sincere servants of the Lord, lessened by slander. You think that can happen among the Lord’s people today?

When it’s about self-promotion, when it’s about self-justification.

And when James is talking about the tongue in James chapter 3, he says, My brethren, these things ought not to be so, about bitter and sweet coming out of the same source. And he’s talking to Christians about the pitfalls we can fall into in regard to our tongue. And I’ll just say, don’t let your guard down because somebody is a Christian. Remember when we talked about Peter? Who told the Lord? Oh no, you can’t go and die as he talked to them about his upcoming death and that he would rise again the third day. He was always telling them, trying to prepare them for that. And Peter pulls them aside and says, Not so, Lord. And the Lord has to look at Peter of all people and say, get behind me, Satan.

Do not think for a second that another brother or sister in Christ cannot come under the influence of Satan and do his bidding. Because it happened even to Peter. And if it happened to Peter, it could happen to me or one of you. Sometimes we let our guard down because it’s Christians, just like the Corinthians had let their guard down because these were people who were associating among the Lord’s people. And yet Paul hasn’t written a letter and saying, These guys are false apostles, they’re deceitful workers, they’re tearing things up, and they’re destroying your souls. Do not be mismatched or mismated with those who are walking in unbelief. Beware of any yoking that leads to the practice of unholiness or the rejection of righteousness. Jared quoted Psalm 101 last Sunday morning.

5. I Will Set No Worthless Thing Before My Eyes

And I asked him about it afterwards, and he says, Well, he got the point about this verse from me, and I have no idea when I mentioned it. I think he’s forgotten where he got it, but he attributed it to me. But I went back and looked at Psalm 101. And verse 3, remember the point that Jared made? I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. And he made that good illustration of setting no worthless thing before his son’s eyes. And I thought that was an excellent application of this text. I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not fasten its grip on me. I’ve underlined those words in Psalm 101 and verse 3. But then I went on and read the rest of the Psalms.

And some interesting things here that I don’t see in some of the other Psalms that David wrote. When he says in verse 4, a perverse heart shall depart from me. I will know no evil. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy. No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.

He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me. Look, if a fellow is practicing deceit, I’m not going to have anything to do with him. He’s not going to be a part of my administration. He says, if he speaks falsehood, he’s not going to be in my courts. Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land. Now, I think that’s hyperbole. I don’t think David got up every morning and had a bunch of executions. But he’s that serious about making a break from evil association and his administration being one of righteousness, so as to cut off, he says, from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity. And so what he’s saying in Psalm 101 in verse 3 is that it’s not just about other people.

All of this starts with me. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not fasten its grip on me. Young people, this will help us to make right decisions in regard to our associations. I hate the work of those who fall away. And if we don’t respond to that way to the evil around us, it’s going to get its grip on.

6. Living G-Rated Lives in an X-Rated World

Living G-rated lives in an X-rated world. Are we tormented? As Lot was by the unrighteousness that surrounds us.

I’ve made a covenant with the Lord. How then can my eyes gaze at a virgin? You see, I’ve made a covenant with God, therefore I’m going to be careful what I expose my eyes to and let them gaze upon, no matter how beautiful and appealing it might be to me. If I have to, I’ll pluck out my eye, as Jared noted from Matthew chapter 5 last week. Or cut off my hand, lest I commit lust, which is tantamount to adultery. Well, I didn’t actually commit adultery with the person, but I had thoughts I should look, we need to deal with adultery at its roots. And that is the thoughts of our heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.

And is it pulling you toward unrighteousness?

Lot couldn’t do this living in Sodom, and we can’t do it living in Tomball. Or Magnolia or wherever this group lives. All the different communities we live in. It doesn’t matter. Just pick one. We’re going to be exposed to awful profanity. We’re going to be exposed to immodesty and all kinds of indecency. And look, guys, there’s going to be women out there because of the way that they’re dressed. They’re going to look pretty appealing.

There’s going to be intoxication. Because that seems to be what drives our culture. The next party. The next alcoholic drink. The next fun occasion with friends that involves those that you can’t have fun doing anything else, it seems. You can’t limit your exposure completely. So you’re going to have to come at it. I’m not going to be influenced by what is around me. I don’t want to be like Lot, too attached to the world in which I find myself. Are you ready to depart and be with the Lord? Or you think, well, that’d be great one day, but yeah, maybe when I’m 95 and my body’s failed completely, maybe I’ll be ready to go. Don’t we realize what’s awaiting us? And I would say this while we cannot limit our exposure completely from the evil that surrounds us.

We should certainly respond. Not too willingly choose to expose ourselves to even more of the filth that is in our culture. We need to think about our entertainment choices and the amount of filth that we will expose our hearts to. And whether that’s going to help me to live a G-rated life in an X-rated world. What are the influences in your life? How are they affecting your faith? How are they affecting the eagerness and the enthusiasm we talked about this morning that Zacchaeus had to see the Lord? Are they affecting that quality? Because I think that’s what happens as we get too attached to the world. We now aren’t as enthused about the things of the Lord. What influences are impacting your life? I preached a whole sermon about relationships and our surroundings and their influence upon us without mentioning the verse that our young people always get hit over the head with in terms of association in that context where Paul is first and foremost talking about those who would deny the resurrection as something that has happened and will happen for all of us.

And so I just want you to know, young people, that I preached this whole sermon without mentioning that verse. And I’m not going to. So there, I didn’t say it. But it’s true, isn’t it?

Conclusion

How much of an impact is our world having upon our faith? And are we going to take control of the things that we can control? To make sure we offer unto God a heart of trust and enthusiasm and gratitude and hope for what he has in store for us. Is there someone in this audience tonight who’ve been influenced perhaps by your surroundings to not take seriously the Lord’s invitation? And how timely it is right now for you to put on the Lord and to become his child. If we can assist you in doing that important thing while there’s time and opportunity and making a break from the world and the sin that has a grip on your soul. Won’t you come right now as we stand and sing?