Are those striving to live for God the problem in today’s world or those who have left His standard for their own? The wicked king Ahab tried to label the prophet Elijah a “troubler” but was quickly told that it was his evil that was troubling the nation. Who’s the real troubler in our humanistic culture today?
I. 1 Kings 18:17-19. In his 1989 hit, Billy Joel famously sang, “We didn’t start the fire.” This is where Ahab and the leaders and influencers in our humanistic culture believe they can call those who live by the Lord’s commandments “troublers.” After all, Ahab didn’t introduce the worship of foreign gods; that was Solomon and Jeroboam before him. He was just a product of the culture he inherited (1 Kings 16:30-33). In the same way, humanists believe that Christians stand opposed to their commandments to live within the fire we’ve all inherited.
II. 1 John 1:5-10. Billy Joel’s song continues, “No, we didn’t light it, but we’re trying to fight it.” Ahab and today’s humanists excuse their actions because their intentions are good, but they do not step into the light to let their deeds be known for their darkness (John 3:19-21). Thus, they judge evil as good and good as evil (Isaiah 5:18-23). No excuses will do (Luke 14:18-24), and they truly believe that they render a service to the gods of their making (John 16:1-3) while they persecute God’s people. We can know them by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-20).
III. Romans 1:18-32. Judgment is coming for our humanistic culture whether they acknowledge it or not (Matthew 7:13-14). As those who profess to follow God, we must be careful not to get caught up in it and live a compromised, lukewarm faith like Ahab believed about himself in his time. The “tolerant” who follow the false religion of Humanism today believe that only man can be man’s savior and so government is god, and so they are intolerant of any who deviate from their politics and edicts, labeling them like Elijah was–troublers!
Are you a proud “troubler” according to the culture? Or does the world not even know that you once professed to oppose them when you obeyed the gospel? Have you compromised with the culture and think yourself better than those around you by degree of worldliness? What would you have to change to no longer live by the excuses you make and be called a “troubler” by the world?