Genesis 6:9-11 – These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. [10] And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.. [11] Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation … the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and … filled with violence. Righteousness thrives on the grace of God, not on having lots of people to go along with. If we are dependent on good laws that protect the faithful and enforce a biblical righteousness then we are not truly righteous at all. And we will certainly not walk with God like Noah did in his godless time.
Noah was the only man on the whole planet who was living righteously. He had no company further afield than his family who would sympathize with his beliefs. He could not find honesty in his neighbourhood. Homes were not safe from robbers. His wife and daughters-in-law would have been in danger from rapists. There was no one to talk to about his communion with God. He and his family were all alone in their quest for holiness and communion with God. And yet he did it.
Many professing believers are prone today to blame the culture for their lack of passion for righteousness and their failure to maintain a consistent testimony of holiness and godliness. This is especially true in the field of morality. The church imbibes the ethics and standards of the world around it. Christians talk about having to “go along” for the sake of keeping their job or maintaining their social networks. We have Christians who talk about “having” to surrender up some of their Christian principles at work or at home. If Noah had been like that no one would have been saved in the flood.
But this is the consistent testimony of the Scriptures. Israel is to be different from the world around them. The church is not to be conformed to the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Our lack of holiness is never the world’s fault. It is ours. We have the same God that Noah had and our world is not as godless as his was. The only reason we “have” to go along is because we are afraid or unwilling to suffer the consequences of not going along. We love our job, our popularity, our social standing, our reputations, more than we love faithfulness to Christ. We are not willing to take up the cross.
The problem with that is that taking up the cross is basic Christianity. It is discipleship 101. To not be willing to carry the cross is to not be a believer in Jesus Christ – no matter what we say we believe. Noah’s life should be a great encouragement to us. God can enable us to live right even in the face of great opposition. Let’s show the world that the One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world.
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