Christians in Western Culture today find themselves at what feels like a unique point in history. The culture, previously built upon Christian principles, is now awash in decadent depravity on an immeasurable scale. The church finds itself in the crosshairs of a deeply secularized ideological war and has been blamed as the source of all that is called “evil” by those who embrace sin as virtue. It is no wonder that so many young Christians today feel the urge to “fight fire with fire” by engaging in verbal assaults and sociopolitical activism against the wicked culture that surrounds us. While the church must engage the culture today, it must do so in a way that Scripture teaches us to do so. Christians cannot fall into the same ditch in which the culture at large finds itself. The totality of Scripture’s teachings must temper any effort to engage in cultural warfare.

Many young Christians today may find themselves tempted to follow the example of two of Christ’s disciples, James and John, also known as the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). These men, along with the other disciples, had high opinions of themselves and their place in Christ’s kingdom. So much so that they, through their mother, sought to secure places of honor for themselves when Christ established his kingdom (Matt. 20:20–28). Convinced of their power and authority, James and John once attempted to convince Jesus to let them destroy a Samaritan city for daring to deny them entry on their trek to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51–56). They found the Samaritans’ refusal to receive Jesus of such great offense, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (v. 54). No one can deny the zeal with which these men sought to defend the honor of Jesus. Yet, Jesus did not acquiesce to their zeal. Instead, he “turned and rebuked them,” and then led the disciples on to another village (v. 55).

Why would Jesus rebuke what seemed to be clearly warranted? Samaria did not worship God rightly. They had their own religious system and despised the Jewish people. The very reason they rejected Jesus and the disciples was that they were on their way to Jerusalem. There was nothing defensible about the Samaritans, and they would have earned any such judgment of God upon their village. The answer can be found in the attitude and hearts of the disciples themselves. These men repeatedly demonstrated that they were looking for Jesus to establish an earthly kingdom, one in which they would receive power to rule and reign (which explains why they so often fought among one another about which of them was the greatest). Even at the time of his ascension, the disciples still asked, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). The heart of James and John was not guided by love for God and a desire to honor his name. Rather, it was rooted in an anger that the world around them was not bowing to the power and authority they believed they rightly deserved. They did not see the wicked culture as needing the gospel, which leads to salvation. They saw it as an enemy to be vanquished and conquered. Thus, Jesus’s rebuke was a necessary correction to their overzealous and self-centered behavior.

Contrast the disciples’ actions with those of Abraham when God revealed his plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 18:16–33, we see that God is about to destroy these cities due to their intense wickedness. The people were so sexually depraved that all the men of the city attempted to rape the angels sent to Lot (see 19:4–11). God so loved Abraham that he chose to reveal his plans of destruction to him after sending the angels on their mission of judgment. Abraham did not applaud the Lord for this much-deserved wrath on the wicked cities. Rather, he begins to petition the Lord to stay his hand of judgment should there be found righteous people living among the wicked. Abraham humbly and with great trepidation petitions God that he would not dishonor his own name by wiping away the righteous with the wicked (18:25). In rapid succession, he asks if there were only 50 men, then 45, then 40, all the way down to just 10 men, would God spare the cities. The Lord promises each time that if righteous men could be found, he would spare the cities his just wrath.

Scripture reveals that God, in fact, did not destroy the cities while there was even only one righteous man, Lot, within the walls (see 1 Peter 2:6–8). Chapter 19:1–29 gives us the account of the angels coming to Lot and telling him of the destruction to come, instructing him to take his family and flee before the fires rained down on the wicked. The angels had to forcefully lead Lot and his family out of the city before the destruction came, honoring God’s promise that he would not judge the cities if righteous persons could be found. Once Lot was removed, no one righteous remained, so the judgment came. All this came about because Abraham, knowing the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, knowing they deserved God’s just wrath, still humbly petitioned God to stay his hand for the sake of the righteous.

What we see in the account of Abraham, as compared to James and John, is a man who understood both the holiness of God and the calling he has given his people in this world. The presence of righteous men in a wicked city meant that they still could call sinners to repentance and submission to God. They were a constant visible presence of the work of God in the hearts of those who turned from their sins and followed him. This is reflected in Genesis 19:9 when the men of the city turn on Lot, saying, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge!” They recognized the righteousness of Lot, compromised though it may have been, and they hated him for it. Likewise, they hated the God that Lot served, the one who called them out of their sins and to follow him alone. They were willing to turn their sinful acts on Lot himself if they could not have their way with the angels in his home. The presence of righteousness in the places of wickedness has an impact on a culture, even if it means the wicked only hold tighter to their sinfulness.

Furthermore, Abraham esteemed the honor of God’s name as higher than the need for the destruction of wicked people. Abraham could certainly have agreed with God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah without hesitation, for they had earned his wrath. It is a common refrain in the Psalms that God would judge the wicked and remove them from places of power. Such a desire by Abraham would have been consistent with many writers of Scripture. Yet, he appealed to God to spare that judgment so that his own name would not be tarnished for destroying the righteous alongside the wicked. Better that the wicked remain in place until the great day of God’s judgment than God be seen as capricious, unwilling to spare his people just so he can destroy the wicked alongside them. Abraham cared more that God’s glory would be magnified than for his desire to see the wicked punished in this life. God honored Abraham’s appeal by withholding his wrath until the one righteous man in the city could be moved out.

The contrast between these two accounts could not be more stark. Both involve the calling of fire down on sinful cities; however, only one involved a heart that was moved by the grace, mercy, and glory of God. Christians today are right in their observation that the culture around us is deeply wicked and depraved. A desire to see God judge the wicked is not entirely wrong. But if it is not tempered with a heart like Abraham’s, it is all too easy to fall prey to the temptation to attempt to manipulate God into smiting our enemies for personal gain. We need a generation of young Christians who so love the Lord and his gospel that they pray, not only for the salvation of the lost, but that God would stay his righteous hand of judgment so that his people would have as much time as possible to call the wicked to repentance and faith. May we be such a generation.

Note: This article was also published at X.com.