‘God cuts a covenant for you’ (Genesis 15:7-21)

 

A number of years ago, when my dad was still living, he had to spend a week in hospital.  It was during Covid, so he was not allowed visitors.  I was at the house when he got out.  He was now in a wheelchair and had a catheter, but that didn’t seem to bother him.  He wheeled into the living-room and exclaimed, ‘it’s great to be home!’  In fact, he repeated his pleasure numerous times that day.  There is something within all of us that wants a sense of home.  We need a place where we belong.

In the creation account of Genesis, we see that God had a people (Adam and Eve), who were in a place (Eden), and were enjoying his blessing.   But the they rebelled against God’s loving rule and we became homeless.  Yet God did not give up on humankind.  With unexplainable grace he called an idol-worshipper, Abram, and said ‘through you I am going to make a people, who have a place and who will enjoy my blessing’ (P. P. B.).    Our reading concerns the place part of the promise.  God is giving his people a home.

1.      God cuts covenants to help us believe (7-11)

Last week we read that Abram believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness’ (6).  Remember that it’s not the strength of Abram’s faith that put him right with God, but the object of his faith.  Weak faith in a strong God will save you.  In fact, even that weak faith is a gift from God.  As if to underline this Abram expresses his struggle to believe, again.  It’s a case of, ‘I believe, help me in my unbelief!’  God had brought him from Mesopotamia to give him the land of Canaan, but ‘O LORD God, how am I know that I shall possess it? (8).

So, God makes (or literally ‘cuts’) a covenant with him.  One Bible commentator explains, ‘Covenant is what God does when he gets formal about a promise’ (Dale Ralph Davis).  It’s not like God cannot be trusted to keep his word.  But this covenant illustrates how serious God is about keeping it!  He’s helping Abram believe.  God helps us believe every time we remember with bread and wine the covenant that was cut for us at the cross.

He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old. A ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon” (9).  The livestock were cut in half, but not the birds.  The idea is that the parties to the covenant would walk between the torn animals implying, ‘may I become like these dead animals if I break my word.’  On the cross Jesus cut a covenant, where he, the faithful party, died for our unfaithfulness.

2.      The giving of the land was an act of justice and grace (12-16)

Then the LORD said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years (13).  Being God’s people is not a guarantee of an easy life.  They are not going to inherit the land until after Abram’s time, but he was desiring a better country, a heavenly one (Heb. 11:16).  As God would later tell Abram’s grandson, Jacob, ‘I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go’ (Gen. 28:15).  The greatest blessing of God’s promise has always been, and will always be, his loving presence.  Home is more than a place, home is where God is.  

But why not give them the land straight away? In part because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete (18).  The removal of the people from that land is not ethnic-cleansing.  God later explained to Moses, ‘It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’ (Deut. 9:5).  Judgement for God’s enemies, grace for his people.  Will you accept his grace, letting Jesus pay for your sin, or, will you face his judgement?

God had given the Amorites plenty of time.  When the early Christians complained that Jesus had not returned to bring an end to this wicked world, the apostle Peter wrote, ‘The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9).  If Jesus had decided that the iniquity of this world had been complete a hundred years ago, none of us would have been born to experience been born again (adapted from Donald Barnhouse).  

3.      This covenant was one-sided covenant (17-21)

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.  On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram …. (17-18) What is Abram’s part in cutting this covenant?  Abram’s part is to sleep and to observe.  Normally both parties would pass between the dead animals but God’s presence goes alone.  God is not saying, ‘if you and I work together we will get this job done.’  God is saying, ‘this covenant depends on my faithfulness not yours.’  That is how God brings his people home.

The apostle Paul wrote, ‘He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 1:8).  It’s grace from first to last!  Yes, we must persevere to the end to be saved, but that perseverance is evidence that the Holy Spirit at work in us.  Indeed, our confidence grows when we see that though we fall God restores us, when we stray he brings us home again and though we forget him he brings himself into our thoughts.  We start to see that he is not going to give up on us!

Conclusion

In the Old Testament the promised land was sometimes called the place of rest.  When Jesus came he cried out saying, ‘come onto me all you who are weary and I will give you rest.’  The land of Canaan pointed to a better home, that home is to be with Jesus.  But it gets even better than that.  Jesus promised the disciples, ‘I will come back and take you to be where I am.’  He is not fully content in his heavenly home until he has all his people with him.  Heaven is not our goal, being with Jesus is our goal, and heaven is where Jesus is (John Lennox).

But do you have your home in Jesus?  Jesus invites you, saying, ‘behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me’ (Revelation 3:20).  ‘Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home in him’ (John 14:33).  He wants to transform your life with his loving and mighty presence.

Some of you come from broken homes.  Some of you are a long way from home.  All of our homes are imperfect, because we live with imperfect people like ourselves.  Sometimes our families don’t understand us or even listen to us.  But, Jesus makes his home in our lives.  So, remind yourself ever hour of every day, that he says to you, ‘I am with you and in you, I will never leave you nor forsake you, and one day I will come back and take you to be where I am.’

Genesis 15:1-6 ‘Weak faith in a strong God’

Some of you are afraid of flying.  That seems reasonable, given that you are essentially in a small room thousands of metres in the air.  But flying is one of the safest forms of travel.

So, supposing you are a nervous flier and you take a holiday with a friend who has no fear of flying.  You both place your trust in that plane, after all you don’t stay at home.  But you are a bundle of nerves the whole way.  Every time that plane hits turbulence you reach for the vomit bag.  Meanwhile your friend has put on his headphones and is sleeping peacefully.

When the plane touches down, who has reached their destination?  Both of you, of course!  You had no assurance that you were going to make it, your friend had no doubt.  But it wasn’t the weakness of your faith, or your friend’s confidence, that got you there.  It was the trustworthiness of the plane!

In the same way, it is not the strength of our faith that puts us right with God, it’s the object of our faith.  Jesus has taken his people’s guilt on the cross.  We are simply to put out an empty hand and say, ‘nothing in my hand I bring, simply to your cross I cling.’  Stop worrying about the strength of your faith!  Even weak can lay hold of a strong Saviour.  In fact, even our weak faith is evidence of the Holy Spirit working in us. 

This morning we are going to see how Abram’s imperfect faith put him right with God.

Background

Abram was an idol-worshipper from Ur (Iraq area).  We are given no explanation as to why God would set his love on Abram.  But then we are given no explanation as to why God would choose us. ‘If you think you know why God has shown his grace to you, then you don’t know yourself and you haven’t the foggiest idea what grace is’ (Davis). 

God tells Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you’ (12:1).  God promises Abram a people, a place and blessing (P. P. B.).  Abram was seventy-five years old.

Abram goes to Egypt when a famine hits the land.  There he lies about Sarai, hiding the fact that they are married.  Pharaoh gives Abram livestock and servants.  This may be where the Egyptian servant girl, Hagar, joins their household.

Abram has travelled with Lot, his nephew.  Abram and Lot’s herdsmen argue over where to graze their flocks.  Abram suggests that they separate.  Abram doesn’t assert his right as the senior relative but let’s Lot chose first.  Lot choses foolishly, moving to Sodom.  It’s a choice that will cost him the life of his wife and the respect of his daughters.

The king of Sodom, and his allies, rebel against their Mesopotamian (Iraq area) overlords.  They are defeated and Lot is taken captive.  Abram puts together a small army and rescues Lot.  This is the first example of a kinsman-redeemer—a near relative who comes to your rescue.  We are then introduced to the mysterious, King of Salam (‘peace’), Melchizedek, who is a priest of God Most High.  Melchizedek blesses God and Abram, but the king of Sodom seems to be trying to get Abram under his own authority.  Every day we have choices that test our allegiance between our prince of peace or the way of darkness.

Now we read, after these things.  These things being the events of chapter 14.

1.       God’s people still struggle with fear

The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “fear not, Abram … Why would God have to tell Abram not to be afraid?  I think that there might be a number of reasons.

Abram might be afraid because God’s speaking to him.  In our small group we were talking about God’s holiness and Sarah Conroy said, ‘his holiness is terrifying.’  When people met God in the Bible they were often afraid, and yet God in his grace seeks to sooth our fears.

Abram has just defeated a mighty army with his small group of warriors.  What if that army comes back for revenge?  Our circumstances often cause us to feel afraid.  I was worried about something this week, and I found it really hard to simply trust God.  God invites us to cast our cares on him because he cares for us.

Abram is a long way from his birthplace and extended family.  Maybe he feels vulnerable.  Maybe you feel the same way.  The Lord puts the lonely in families, and it’s my hope that this family is a safe place for you.  God would promise Abram’s grandson, Jacob, ‘I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go’ (Genesis 28:15).  He has been with us this far, and he will keep us to the end.

God says to Abram, “I am your shield; your reward shall be great”, or possibly, “I am your shield and your great reward”.  Abram had said ‘no’ to the king of Sodom’s offer of reward.  John Piper writes a book entitled, ‘God is the gospel’ in which he points out that God’s greatest gift to us is the gift of himself.

The root behind the Hebrew word for ‘shield’ is ‘to cover, surround or actively defend someone.’  The opening of Psalm 91 are the favorite verses of a friend of mine: ‘whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”’

2.       God’s people are invited to be real with him

Abram pushes back.  “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir to my house is Eliezer of Damascus … Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” One commentator says that, ‘The very struggle over God’s word is the beginning of assurance’ (Davis).  I had to really think about that.  Abram does not despise God’s promises, he wrestles to accept them.  One of my favorite Psalms begins, ‘How long, Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?  How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?  How long will my enemy triumph over me? (Ps. 13:1-2).  The Lord invites us to be real with him.  He is a loving father who is not too strict to let us question him (adapted from Calvin). 

‘I don’t know what you’re doing Lord?’  ‘I don’t know why you’re taking so long to come to my rescue?’  ‘You are telling me not to be afraid, but you seem so far away?’ 

God graciously reassures Abram. “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”  And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.”  Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  Abram had been a moon worshipper.  He had spent many idolatrous nights examining the sky.  But not God is using the stars to bring him assurance.  Abram’s heir would come from his own body.  But he would have to wait another fifteen or twenty years before the child of promise would be born.  ‘Lord, help us not give up trusting in you.’

3.      It is by grace that we are saved through faith

And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.’  I think this might be the clearest statement of the gospel in the Old Testament—it is quoted three times in the New Testament. 

You ‘credit’ or ‘count’ something to someone when they don’t have it.  So, Abram had no righteousness of his own, but God gave him righteousness as Abram simply trusted God’s promise.  This was years before circumcision was given—righteousness is not the result of some ritual.  This is centuries before the Law was given—so righteousness is not something that is earned through obedience.

While Abram’s understanding may be limited, he is actually made right with God through the work of the one who is God’s ‘yes’ to every promise he has made.  There is not one way to be made right with God in the Old Testament and another in the New Testament.  All who are made right with God are made right because they trusted in the God who gave his Son to die for our guilt.

If you were to die tonight and God asked you, ‘why should I let you into my heaven?’  What would you say?  Can you see that any answer that put the emphasis on what you deserve is the wrong one?  ‘Because people say I am a good person!’  The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  ‘I read my Bible and pray.’  So, did the Pharisees and they were condemned by Jesus.  No, ‘my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’s blood and righteousness.’  ‘God has given me the faith to simply to trust him for his righteousness.’

Conclusion 

I was working at the kitchen table when I noticed one of granny Jean’s diaries in a pile of books.  I opened it and it was full of Bible verses that she was thinking about.  She was also talking about a worry she had.  She mentioned a number of times that she was worried about her memory.  That memory has disappeared.  But God does not forget her.

I also noticed something else she wrote, it was probably a quote from a book, ‘seek the one who always seeks you.’  Your faith may feel weak, but even weak faith can lay hold of a strong saviour.  Give up trying to prove yourself to him.  Stop trying to justify yourself by the strength of your faith.  Go to him and sing, ‘nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.’  He is faithful!

More notes on the early church

Exposure

One of the things that we need to realise about the early church is that it provided a radically different outlook on life compared to the culture and beliefs of the ancient world.

On 17th June 1 B.C., a Roman soldier named Hilarion was stationed in the Egyptian port of Alexandria.  He wrote a letter to his wife, saying that he would soon send her some of his pay, asking her to look after their son and reminding her that he has not forgotten her.  He also adds, that if she is pregnant, 'if it be a male, let it be, if it be a female, cast it out.' 

Hilarion was talking about the practice of exposure.  Exposure was when an unwanted baby was left outside, whether on a street corner, in the marketplace, or even at the rubbish dump.  The child might, of course be picked up by other parents who would raise it as their own, killed by animals, die in the elements. or be taken by professional traffickers.

Hilarion's words are shocking to us, but they would not have been shocking at the time.  Even the great philosopher, Aristotle, advised that no deformed child should be reared, but rather exposed.

The early Christians opposed this practice.  After hundreds of years of trying t get this practice banned, a complete ban on killing infants was put in law in A. D. 374.  

Charity

John Dickson asked a professor at Oxford University what she regarded to be Christianity’s most significant contribution to ancient life in the Roman world.  She replied, ‘charity.’  The Christians were notorious for looking after widows, the poor, orphans and orphans.  She also points out that charity was inherited from the Jews, whose Bible (our Old Testament) spoke about care for the ophans, widows, poor and strangers.

The idea of the rich using their money to help the poor was hardly ever practiced in the Roman empire before the Christians.  The poor were thought of as being punished by the gods, or getting what they deserved from how they had lived in a former life.  

In the ancient Roman world humility was viewed as a negative trait.  In the major pagan texts of that time the writers see the great values as justice, courage, wisdom and moderation.  But not love.

The Basiliad, also called the Basileias, was founded by Basil of Caesarea in the late 4th century and is widely regarded as the first public hospital with comprehensive medical and charitable services.  Until that time the rich could hire doctors, and Roman soldiers got hospital services, but there was no free medical care for all until Basil.

More on Constantine

Constantine mostly left pagan religions alone.  He did ban dark magic, that intended to do harm to other people.  He tolerated white forms of magic—those that sought to bless people and crops.  While he recognised that magic was forbidden for the Christian, he saw no harm in pagans practicing it.  He was intolerant, however, of the Jews, who he referred to as ‘Christ-slayers.’  The church in the following centuries would have a terrible record of anti-Semitism.

In the ancient world peasants never got holidays and the elite were often idle.  Constantine mandated a regular day off, Sunday, for everyone.

Constantine ended some of the brutal forms of punishment, like crucifixion and branding criminals on their faces (they were to be branded on their legs and thighs instead).

He excepted churches for tax, so they were able to do more in the way of charity.  He would not allow the wealthy to become priests (in part so that they could not use their association with the church as a loophole to paying tax).

Julian the apostate (332-363)

Julian was born in Constantine in the last years of Constantine’s reign.  He was actually Constantine’s nephew.  Although raised in a Christian home, he abandoned his parents’ faith when he was twenty.  He became a follower of the Greek gods.

When he became emperor, aged thirty, he set about removing the church’s position from society.  He took away the church’s tax exemptions and removed Christians from academic posts.  He revived old pagan temples.  He did not order violent persecution of Christians, but sometimes turned a blind eye towards atrocities committed against them.  He tried to rival the church’s monopoly on charity, by trying to set up charities through pagan temples.  He referred to Christians as “Galileans”, recalling their origins in the backwaters of Palestine, and referred to them as ‘atheists’, because they did not beleive in the ancient gods of Greece and Rome.  He was frustrated that Christianity continued to thrive much due to its charitable works.  He lamented, ‘the impious Galileans support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us”.  His pagan charities through the temples never took off.

Julian was hit by an arrow while working towards invading Persia.  One Christian, Theodoret of Antioch, claims that as he lay wounded on the battlefield he clutched his wound ‘filled his hand with blood, flung it into the air and cried, “Thou hast won, O Galilean!”’

His successor, his general Jovian, reversed his anti-Christian policies.

Christianity did not become the state religion of the Roman empire until 380, under Emperor Theodosius.  In 391 Theodosius banned pagan sacrifices and closed many temples.  Public pagan worship was effectively ended.  By the early 400s Christianity was the majority religion, and the only legally supported one.   

Just war

In Augustine’s City of God and other writings, he developed the idea of a ‘Just War.’  A Just War was (1) designed to achieve mutual peace between both sides, (2) was only waged in self-defence or to recover stolen property (3) was to be proportional in response (4) was to be conducted in a way that showed respect for humanity and would avoid the opponent without feeling a sense of being humiliated (5) respected the prisoners of war (rather than execute them).

When did the Patristic Period end?

Dates for the end of the Patristic period range from the Council of Chalcedon in 451 to the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.

When did the Roman empire end?

The western part of the Roman empire ended in 476, when a Germanic commander conquered, but the eastern part of the Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) continued until 1453, when it fell to the Ottomans (Muslims). 

Genesis 14: ‘I am Lot: I need a relative to rescue me’

A few weeks ago, I prayed that I might experience the truth that those in Christ are closer to us than even family members.  That evening my prayer was answered as I spent some real quality time with a couple of people from our church.  I told Caroline about this and she replied, ‘there are loads of people in the church that are as close as family to me.’  I feel the same way too!

My mother always told me that it really made her happy when myself, my brother and my sister got on well together.  I have no doubt that our Heavenly Father has an even greater desire that His children love one another.  In fact, Jesus said that by our love for each other the world would know that we are His disciples.

I think that the key word in this chapter is ‘relative’ (NIV) or ‘kinsman’ (ESV).  Abram comes to Lot’s rescue because they are family.  We will see that we have too have a close relative who comes to our rescue.

Lot ends up in captivity

Lot had settled on the plains of the Jordan.  He made the very foolish decision to move in to the city of Sodom.  That choice would cost him the respect of his daughters and the life of his wife.  It also caused him problems when the kings of the Jordan valley, including the king of Sodom, decided to go to war against their overlords of Mesopotamia (the region around modern Iraq).  This rebellion was crushed and Lot was taken captive along with his possessions.

‘I am Lot’.  ‘You are Lot’.  We were captives who needed someone to set us free!

We could talk about the captivity of sin—we can change our behaviour to some extent, but without Christ we can’t deal with the twist of our hearts. 

We could talk about the captivity of conscience—how can we make up for all the selfish and hateful things that we have done?

We could talk about the captivity of doom—we can make our lives look successful, but without Christ we are heading for an eternity separated from God and all his goodness.

Who will set us free? 

Abram is the relative who rescues

‘When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.  And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus.  Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people’ (14-16).

Some sceptical theologians in the last century doubted the reality of this account asking, ‘how could such a small army win a battle against the combined forces of Mesopotamia?’  I think that is the whole point!  The battle belongs to the Lord!  What looked small and insignificant brought about a great victory. 

This battle points ahead to that moment where a small army of one man, a carpenter from a backwater of the Roman empire, stood with incalculable courage, before the haters among his own people and the soldiers of the land that occupied them, was sent to a cross of shame and in the darkness won a victory that would set many captives free.

Do we live in freedom or are we still acting like a captive?

The gospel tells us that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but do you fear that He stops loving you every time we fall into sin?  The gospel tells you that God’s grace is made perfect in weakness, but are you too proud to let your Christian brothers and sisters see that you need help?  The gospel tells you that you are saved by grace apart from works, but do you secretly think you are more deserving of Christ’s rescuing kindness that some other people you know?

Christ has set the captives free!  Don’t let your fear or pride rob you of enjoying that freedom!

Melchizedek is the king who gives God the credit

When Abram returns Melchizedek comes and brings him bread and wine.  Melchizedek is the king of Salem—which means ‘peace’ and is later called Jerusalem—meaning ‘city of peace’.

Melchizedek is not only a king, he is a priest of God Most High.  The book of Hebrews explains that Jesus, who was not from the priestly tribe of Levi, is a priest in the order of Melchizedek.  Melchizedek blesses Abram and acknowledges that it was God who gave Abram victory.  Abram declares his allegiance to Melchizedek through giving him a tithe.

But there is another king in this story.  The king of Sodom.  The king of Sodom says, ‘give me the persons, and take the possessions for yourself’ (21).  ‘The king of Sodom is trying to direct matters, trying to bring Abram and under his authority and sway’ (Davis).  Every day we have choices to make between choosing the city of Salem or the city of Sodom.

Abram would not accept any situation where the king of Sodom could say, ‘I made Abram rich.’  God had promised to bless him and give him a kingdom.  God does not need the help of anyone.  Jesus said ‘I will build my church’.  He might use us in building His kingdom, but if we remain silent, He can raise up someone else.  While it is good to be thankful for those who bring His truth and mercy into our lives, we must not forget that it is His truth and His mercy. 

Conclusion

This passage is the first picture in the Old Testament of the idea of the ‘kinsman-redeemer’.  The kinsman-redeemer is a close relative who comes to rescue you from debt, slavery or captivity.  The laws concerning the kinsman-redeemer will be spelled out in the book of Leviticus and the principle will be beautifully portrayed for us in the little book of Ruth.  

Christ is the kinsman-redeemer who has set the captives free.

I know some of your stories.  I know that for some of you it’s relatives or kinsmen who have caused the most hurt in your lives.  There have been absent fathers, critical mothers and brothers and sisters who don’t like you.  Jesus comes to heal that pain.  He is the father who sees you on the horizon and comes running to embrace you.  He is the mother who will never forget her young.  He is the shepherd who holds His lambs close to His heart.  He has your name engraved on the palm of His hand.  He died for us while you were still His enemies, and now He is not ashamed to call you brother or sister. 

Now let us delight our Father’s heart as we love each other well.  Like Abram may we come to the rescue of our family—especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Let us be the look on His face, the touch of His hand, the sound of His voice, the picture of His presence, and the visible demonstration of His faithfulness as we care for each other (adapted from Tripp, Suffering).  Let us pray for the grace to do it in love, for without love we gain nothing.

‘I am Lot’.  ‘You are Lot’.  Our kinsman-redeemer, has rescued us from a life marked by guilt, shame and with no real direction.  He now calls us His to be a rescuing presence as we care for our brothers and sisters in need.  May we know the ministry of the Holy Spirit and may we minister in the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

We need to learn to choose wisely (Genesis 13)

He was very good at his job.  He felt validated every time he was offered a promotion.  But he failed to see what his devotion to work was costing his wife.  He spent little time at home.  He was distracted when he was with her.  They slowly grew apart.

She had wanted to wait until marriage.  But her boyfriend said, ‘if you love me you will sleep with me.’  She was only in her teens.  In truth they never had that much in common.  When the relationship ended she simply felt used.

He knew he shouldn’t pick up his phone while driving, then he swerved into the oncoming car.  It started with some ‘harmless’ flirting, it ended her marriage.  He never controlled his appetite, until he had a heart attack.

The New Testament warns us that we reap what we sow.  We often have to live with the consequences of foolish decisions.  As we look at this morning’s reading we will learn how to choose wisely.

1.      Choosing wisely might mean letting go of your rights (1-9)

Some people are messy.  I don’t mean untidy.  I mean uncomfortable.  Wherever they go they bring a little chaos.  Their bad decisions impact those around them.  They cause their families a lot of worry.  I think Lot was one of those people.

It’s not clear whether Abram should have brought Lot to Canaan.  After all God had told Abram to leave his family and go.  But we also read that Lot’s father had died, so Abram may have felt a responsibility to look after his nephew.

Like many family problems it began with money matters.  Their flocks and herds had expanded.  Their possessions had grown so much that they could not dwell together.  Their herdsmen were arguing with each other.  Something had to be done.

So, Abram takes the initiative and addresses the situation.  In order that there would be no strife between them, he suggests they separate.  Notice that Abram does not assert his seniority.  He gives Lot the choice of which land to take.

Wisdom doesn’t demand its rights.  My mum taught me try to leave the biggest piece of cake for someone else, a lesson my family will tell you I often ignore.  It might be best not to fight for your share of the inheritance.  It might be best to overlook their lack of thankfulness.  It might be best to let someone else take the credit.  If you do refuse to assert your rights, make sure you are are depending on God for the strength to do so graciously.

I was living in Northern Ireland thirty years ago when the Drumcree dispute was at its height.  I knew Orangemen who said that they had the right to walk down that road.  Some of these were Christians who knew the Sermon on the Mount, but somehow didn’t feel that turning the other cheek and going the extra mile applied in their situation.  I also saw that the Garvaghy Road is a wide road, with very few houses facing on to it.  Both sides demanded their rights.  Neither side would give way to the other.  The resulting violence left six people dead, including three children.

2.       Choosing wisely involves seeing spiritually (10-13)

‘And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the land of Egypt … (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah)’ (10).  ‘… Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.  Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the ’LORD' (13).

Lot saw the advantages of that place, but not the dangers.  He saw the opportunities of the fertile land but not the menace of the people who lived there.  Bad company corrupts good character.  In a few chapters we will see Lot thoroughly integrated in the community of Sodom, as he sits among the leaders at the city gate.  Sodom would cost Lot the respect of his daughters and the life of his wife. 

Why was Lot so careless in his choice of where to live?  He was careless because he didn’t see things spiritually.  ‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.   In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight’ (Prov. 3:5-6).   Don’t simply choose the career that will give you the most money or status.  Don’t simply seek to live in the place that offers the easiest way of life.  Don’t let your hobbies take you away from the fellowship you need with other believers.   Trust God to supply your needs.  Seek the applause of heaven rather than the approval of society.

However, God’s paths won’t always lead you away from pain or difficulty.  Don’t assume that you are on the wrong path when you face troubles of many kinds.  Rejoice in the fact that your Heavenly Father delights when you put Him first.  Rejoice in in the fact that he will bring you through many trials to refine your faith. 

3.      Choosing wisely keeps eternity in view (14-18)

‘The LORD said to Abram … “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring for ever’ (14-15).  All the Promised Land will be his. 

Lot had lifted up his eyes and saw what he could take.  God lifted up Abram’s eyes and showed him what He would give.  Then God reaffirms His promise of offspring to Abram: ‘I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring can also be counted’ (16).

But Abram doesn’t inherit the Promised Land during his life.  So how can God say, ‘I will give it to you’ (17)?  The writer to the Hebrews explains that Abram looked forward to a better country, a heavenly one (Hebrews 11:16).  Abram can give away part of the land to Lot because he has something better to look forward to.  Abram can trust God, no matter where Lot chooses, because he knows that God will deliver on His promise.

We don’t have to demand our rights, and we don’t have to strive to grasp everything that world has on offer, because we have something better.  We have every spiritual blessing in Christ, and we are focused on an eternal home.  The applause of people will fade, the approval of heaven remains.  The riches of the world depreciate, the treasures of heaven give an eternal return.  Our worldly achievements won’t follow us beyond the grave, but Jesus will reward us for all that we have done for His name.  Choosing wisely remembers eternity!

Conclusion

Some people are messy.  I don’t mean untidy.  I mean uncomfortable.  Wherever they go they bring a little chaos.  But do you know who was really good with messy people?  Jesus was really good with messy people!

Becoming a tax-collector in the Roman world, where tax-collecting was tied to extortion and corruption, was not a good choice.  Being a prostitute, in any culture, is not a good choice.  Sexual sins have all sorts of consequences.  But Jesus was a friend of tax-collectors and sexual sinners! 

The truth is that all of us make countless poor decisions, because we all choose to do things that dishonour and disappoint God.  Before we become too impatient with messy people remember the infinite grace that God has shown to us in our mess.  Ask Him for the strength to be patient with messy people. 

We do reap what we sow.  There can be painful consequences to our foolish choices.  But the Old Testament also tells us of a God who replaces the years that the locusts ate, and who makes beauty out of ashes.  So, bring Jesus your mess.  He is the creator who makes order out of chaos.  He brings people to their senses in the pigsty.  He can enable you to grow in godliness as you to trust Him in the midst of the mess of your own making.  As we bring him our failed parents, and our failed parenting, He can still work it for good.  We bring him your past and let Him rewrite your future.  

Genesis 12:10-20 ‘What not to do when you are afraid of people’

It was an embarrassing moment of failure.  I had just started college.  I had decided that I was going to take my faith seriously.  I had joined the Christian Union.  I was now walking across the front square with two of my new Christian friends going to the CU when a guy from my geography class bounded up to us.  ‘Where are you going?’  I froze!  He did not know I was a Christian.  I was scared to be seen as a religious freak.  So, I let God down.  I pointed to some buildings and said, ‘that way’.

Why do we let God down?  Why do we keep our mouths shut when we should be telling the world we belong to Him?  Why do we avoid conversations about those issues where the Bible offends the world?  Often, it’s because we’re scared of people.  Not because they are going to cut our heads off—like happens our courageous brothers and sisters in some parts of the world.  It’s just that we are like the pharisees, who loved the approval of people more than the praise of God (John 12:43).

This morning Abram sets us an example of what not to do when we are afraid of people.

Being afraid of people makes us self-centred

There a was a famine in the land.  So, Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while (10a).  Was Abram right to go to Egypt?  We are not told.  However, there is no sign that he enquired of God before making his decision.  It’s not always easy to know where God is directing us, but we make too many decisions with little prayer or the advice of wise Christian friends.

As they enter Egypt Abram explains to Sarai that her beauty puts him at risk.  ‘If the Egyptians see how beautiful you are and realise that you are my wife they will kill me, but they will let you live’ (12b).  ‘Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake’ (13).

Being afraid of people makes Abram self-centred.  He doesn’t say, ‘that it might go well with us’ but ‘that it might go well with me.’  We are often afraid of what people think of us because we are concerned about our image or our comfort.  Fear of people isn’t centred around the reputation of Jesus.  It is centred around our reputation.  It doesn’t show concern for others—like when we give the impression that something was someone else’s fault not ours. 

Being afraid of people comes from not trusting God’s promises

God had said that He was going to give Abram descendants.  At this stage Abram has no children.  So, if God is going to be true to His word then Abram is not going to be killed during this stay in Egypt.  The promise of God also implied protection for Abram: ‘I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse’ (3a).  Abram is simply not trusting the promises of God.

Sometimes we keep our mouths shut about Jesus because we are not taking His promises seriously.  We are afraid of making a fool of ourselves.  Didn’t Jesus promise His disciples that He would give them the words to say?  Doesn’t that promise apply to us?  I don’t fully know how it works in my life because I often feel that I have not explained myself clearly, but Jesus can take our words and make them clear in the minds of those we talk to.

I don’t know if John Piper still jogs.  He has recently turned eighty.  But when he was jogging he would carry booklets or copies of John’s Gospel in his pockets.  He would pray for guidance for someone to talk to about Jesus and for the help of the Holy Spirit to know what to say.  If he saw a man standing on his own he would approach them and say, ‘Good morning!  My name is John.  I run through the neighbourhood and pray for people.  Is there something I can pray for you?’  Sometimes these conversations would give John the opportunity to speak about the hope he has in Jesus.  He often came away from those encounters frustrated that he had not said things better.  But he knew that the Holy Spirit had awakened compassion in him for the lost, that he had been given courage to overcome his anxiety and that Jesus had fulfilled His promise to teach Him what to say.

Being afraid of people causes us to keep secrets

Abram instructs Sarai to say that she is his sister.  There is some truth in that, as they share the same father.  But while it may be true, it is not the whole truth.  He hides the important detail that she is his wife.  Being afraid of people causes us to keep secrets.

Maybe you are protecting your image.  Maybe you fear what people would think if they knew what you are really like.  You are happy to talk about your successes but you never admit your failures.  You have never told anyone about those sins that so regularly get the better of you.  It leaves you feeling empty.  There is a part of us that needs to be known.

One of the blessings of gospel community is that we get to confess our sins to each other.  Confessing our sins gives us the opportunity to have someone remind us that we are forgiven people.  Confessing our sins is a great way to tackle our pride.  Confessing our sins keeps us accountable and allows people tell us that Christ really can change us.

Being afraid of people damages our witness

In that culture a woman without her father was under the protection of her brother.  If anyone was interested in marrying Sarai they would have to seek Abram’s permission first.  He can turn them away.  Although Abram had not counted on the pharaoh’s interest in her.  Pharaoh needs no one’s permission to take any woman!

Abram can’t protect Sarai, but Yahweh can.  He afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife (17).  Abram had been called to be a blessing to all the families of the earth.  He only brought misery to these Egyptians.  Abram’s deceit damaged his witness.  He leaves Egypt in disgrace.  We won’t be able to bless people with the good news about Jesus if we are crippled by the fear of what they might think of us.

But God was not finished with Abram.  At the beginning of the next chapter, Abram builds an alter and calls on the name of Yahweh (13:4).  Yahweh won’t give up on his fearful servants.  

Conclusion:  What does Jesus feel about me when I am afraid of people?

One of the greatest examples of someone caving in to the fear of people is when the apostle Peter denies knowing Jesus.  Luke’s gospel records that at that moment Jesus turned and looked at Peter (Luke 22:61).  How we understand that look will determine what we believe Jesus thinks of us when we are too afraid to speak up for Jesus.

Spurgeon says, ‘I think that it was a heart-piercing look and a heart-healing look all in one—a look which revealed to Peter the blackness of his sin, and also the tenderness of his Master’s heart towards him.’  ‘Despite Peter’s sin, Christ would not abandon him.  In Peter’s darkest hour, the eyes of mercy peered out Caiaphas’s window and looked on him.  For Peter, and every other Christian, all God’s acts are mediated through him in love.  His love was meant to pierce and heal the apostle’ (Erik Raymond).   

It’s appropriate to be sad when we find ourselves letting Jesus down.  But we must not stop at this godly sorrow.  Indeed, we must make sure we’re not just nursing wounded pride.  The look in Jesus’ eyes says, ‘I still love you.  You have denied me, but I still look at you as mine.  I love you with an everlasting love, and even though you have deserted me, I am looking for you, and I am expecting to receive you back.  I have not turned my back of you’ (adapted from Surgeon).  

Remember that there is always more mercy in Jesus than sin in us!