The Pernicious Road to Wrath

 Evidence of God's Wrath in Society Today

I'm still struggling a little bit with the mechanics of my Spiritual Life class (palm meet forehead), but the course material and lessons are really good.  As I was viewing the course video "The Results of Sin" I was really struck by a point Dr. Anderson made while arguing for the case that one result of sin is that we live under the wrath of God.  What really slapped me in the face was his interpretation of the evidence of this in society today.  I had my first, ohhhhhhh, moment of the semester yesterday.  I'm calling it the pernicious road to wrath and I think it might be interesting to continue to reflect on this today.

Romans 1:28-32 (NASB95)

[28] And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, [29] being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, [30] slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, [31] without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; [32] and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

The immediate context of this passage is found in verse 18 declaring that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.  These are not verses that we are unfamiliar with, in fact, many of us know these verses from memory.  They are of course very clear in the message that they are presenting.  But I think that in our study, we tend to look at these verses from a very narrow and individual perspective.  In other words, when God gives a person over to pursue their own lusts, it is manifest in their behavior and we focus on the individual aspect of that. A small-scale interpretation if you will.

However, Dr. Anderson's point was that there is a societal element to this that we can observe.  When we see large shifts in the societal and cultural norms away from God, we will see the corresponding effects of the wrath of God across that society.  So when we flippantly say, doesn't it seem like things are always getting worse in the culture around us?  That's actually probably true.  As God gives more and more of a society away to depraved minds, from a standpoint of righteousness, things are going to build and spiral towards more unrighteousness.  And as we read in verse 32, this will be welcomed and embraced by that society.

This is a truly terrifying thought.  That when we see evidence of this pattern in society, what we are really seeing is evidence of God's wrath and judgment.  But I also find this oddly encouraging for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, the Scripture message is affirmed.  We are seeing exactly what God told us we'd see.  Second, this gives us a sense purpose.  The only hope that a society and the members of that society have is through the gospel that they're rebelling against.  We are the ones who need to bring the truth of gospel message forward.  And Finally, this gives us a sense of urgency.  The Bible is replete with historical narratives of the judgment of God against societies.  They all end horribly for those societies and this should motivate us to immediate action.  

What Now?

The dangerous thing about cultural shifts is they often happen slowly and gradually, or in steps and stages.  It can be very easy to overlook the long-term effects of these changes especially as they pertain to holiness.  We become desensitized to the sin around us and our spiritual senses become dulled.  Rather than allowing ourselves to slip into a spiritual coma, we can identify that we're on this pernicious road to wrath, and turn that recognition into immediate action in proclaiming the message of the gospel.

Are you slowly slipping away caught in the current of society's relativistic and deviant views of righteousness?  Or are you growing in a sense of urgency towards bringing the gospel to these societies that are moving towards their own destruction?  Carefully think about that.