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What does it mean to believe? When we tell people that they need to "believe in Jesus," what are we actually telling them? This is a key question to answer, because whatever it means to believe is how Abram was counted as righteous before God. And according to Paul, whatever it means to believe in Jesus is how *we* are counted righteous as well, is how we get to heaven—or not. This passage is mentioned many times in the New Testament, so if they saw it as important, we must see it as important. I will give you the answer up front, and then we will develop it as we go. To believe, simply enough, is to see something as dependable (Ross, 310) or "place trust in someone with confidence..." (Matthews, 166). To believe in God is to see Him as dependable and then live in light of that (Ross, 310)! This should be a pretty understandable concept because W]we depend on things all the time. Whenever a dad is loading up a trailer and needs to secure the load, what does he reach for? The ratchet straps! After expertly crisscrossing the trailer, tightening it down, what is he practically *required* to say after giving it a tap? "That's not going anywhere." Why does he say that (every time)? It is because he sees those straps as dependable. While the rest of us nervously look back at the load over each bounce, eyes are forward because he knows what those straps will do. Do you depend on God to at least the same degree your dad depends on those ratchet straps? If not, I encourage you to listen in to what Genesis 15 has to say. We will unpack this more as we uncover our two points today: God promises what only He can deliver and God gives signs so we won't forget His promises. God promises what only He can deliver Verse 1 begins by letting us know that after all the events of chapter 14, the Lord comes to Abram promising to be His shield and bring great reward to him. Abram, however, picks up on something that God hasn't provided yet. Yes, God has protected in battle and brought great things, but there is something promised but not yet provided, a son. Abram points out that without an heir, everything will go to a servant, Eliezer of Damascus. That's no son. This might look like wavering faith, but it isn't. Wavering faith is next chapter. Coming to God in prayer asking for the things that God has promised is recognizing and declaring where those benefits come from. He isn't saying (yet), "Well, I tried God, and He didn't come through, so I'll do it my way now." That is not seeing God as dependable. To keep coming back to God displays that this is where you place your trust. Let's go back to Genesis as Abram's question about a son is answered. First, God assures Abram that this servant is emphatically not going to be the heir. Someone from his very body will be the son of promise. Then God invites him outside to see all the stars He made. He tells Abram that not only is he going to have a son from his own body, but His descendants will be huge in number. Then we get to verse 6. This verse is referred to in Romans, Galatians, and even James. This is the gospel according Genesis. Do you want to know how Old Testament saints were saved from hell before Jesus came? The same way you do. And that is exactly the argument that Paul and James make from this very verse, so we MUST pay attention. The first thing we want to address is the timing of everything. This isn't the moment that Abram believes in God for the first time. He did that when he left his hometown all the way back in chapter 12. Here the word "believed" is in a very special verb tense called the "perfect." If you missed this in English class, the "perfect" tense is when something has happened in the past but has continuing effect today. When a law "has been written" that is the perfect tense. It happened in the past and has continuing effect to today. It still applies. That is the tense that is here in verse 6. Abram "has believed" in God. It was something that happened in the past and has continuing effects right into this present moment. When Jesus said, "It is finished" it is in the perfect tense. His work, though happening in the past, stands effective to our lives today. So Abram has, and continues to, believe in God. He isn't wavering in asking God this question. He believes and lives as if God's promises are true. He keeps trusting in God to provide. It is this "believe" that God counts as righteous. Now, what is righteous? It means "conforming to a standard." Now, Abram hasn't conformed to a standard, per se. God has simply called him to depend on God, and only because of that, God has counted or credited Abram with righteousness. One scholar put it this way: "The term 'credited'...means 'to assign...value'; in this case the Lord assigns Abram's faith the value of righteousness" (Matthews, 167). This is God's economy. The First Bank of heaven issues righteousness to those who have faith. Now, Abram's life was changed by that faith. That life change proves that he has true faith. That is what James 2 reminds us of. I can say that I trust those ratchet straps, but if I always use something else to tie down my trailer, I never prove whether or not I actually trust them. I can say all day that I trust a parachute, but the proof of that faith is in jumping out of a plane trusting nothing but it. What are you trusting in? Not just in general, but what are you trusting in when you sit down to pay the bills? When you are waiting for the diagnosis? When your kid is screaming? When you feel that cold panic stab through your body? Are you depending on Christ alone? Or do you feel more comfortable when you can see a certain amount of work from yourself? When you can figure it out? Are you looking to Christ? He is the only one that can fulfill a promise like, "I can get you to heaven and care for you along the way." God gives signs so we won't forget His promises. What if you still want more proof? God gives more. With the descendant question answer, Abram asks how he can know that he will have the land. From there, God begins a covenant ceremony. As we've said, a covenant split animals apart, the two parties walked between the animals, pledging that if they don't keep their end of the bargain, may God do to them what happened to the animals. Here, God condescends to make the deepest promise a human being could make to another at that time. You know how sometimes kids make you pinky swear to do something? This is like that. God is stooping down to make a promise in such a way that Abram (and us) can see what it means. There is a lot of fascinating imagery here. Abram sets it up as requested, and then has to shoo birds away from the sacrifice. As the vision develops, God shows up as an image of a smoking pot and a flaming torch (vs 17), but not before issuing a prophecy that his descendants would suffer under slavery. All of these images are part of that story. One scholar points out that the smoke and fire point to the pillars of cloud and fire that would lead Israel out of Egypt and these images reappear at Sinai (Matthews, 172-3, 5). That same scholar points to these birds of prey trying to eat the animals points to Egyptian slavery as well (Matthews, 172-3). So why are his descendants going to be enslaved? Is it because God knows the Egyptians are super powerful and enslavement is simply the inevitable result of ancient geopolitics? Did God have a political science major analyze this? Nope. Verse 16: "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." The people currently in the land haven't exhausted God's patience yet. That should be the second most comforting sentence in this whole chapter. The first is that you can be counted righteous by your belief in Christ. Your personal life can be completely squared away. This second sentence, however, tells us that the rest of the world is in God's control. This verse tells us that God is playing both sides of the chess board. Israel being enslaved is not a detour, it is a destination. God didn't lost control of the situation for one moment. And can we talk about how long-term God is planning here? I think I'm on top of life filling in my calendar two months ahead. God is operating centuries. The beginning and the end of time all in God's mind. No detail is lost. And look how merciful he was to the Amorites. He says right here that they won't repent. I wouldn't have waited. But God did. One commentator put it this way: "Abram's seed would surely get the land—but 'not one hour before absolute justice requires it'" (Ross, 311, quoting Dods, *Book of Genesis,* 143). If you haven't felt the full effect of your sin yet, God is giving you time. Take the forgiveness offered. Patience isn't forever. So what does that all mean for us today? Yes, I'm sure Israel could draw much comfort from the pictures seen here in chapter 15, but what about us? Well, their history is your history, and now the people of God have been given an even greater sign! A new covenant has been made, and it isn't pictured with an oven and torch. It is bread and wine. God has made a promise to us sealed in blood. A blood oath is as deep as it comes in our society. Jesus says, "My body has been split for you! Eat and drink this in remembrance of me." Do you want to know how much control God has? He used the death of His Son, the deepest of all injustices and tragedies and turned into something that we gather weekly and sing about! That's both sides of the board! What political figure can do that? Can you do that? Christ can. So when you wake up in the middle of the night worried about your kids, remember the bread and wine. God is working centuries ahead of you. What is happening now has *direct* impact on things for centuries because that is how God works. When you sit in the silence of your mind and wonder how on earth a wretch like you can be saved, remember the bread and wine. Remember the smoke and torch. Remember what they all point to: that God counts faith as righteousness. You're not on the table. Christ is. Abram didn't take on the curse of the covenant; he didn't even walk it. God did. And Christ took the curse on Himself (Blecher, 125-6)! It is planned. So rest. Live the life God has called you to live. Depend on God for everything else. It is finished.
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Last week we discussed how Abram doesn't have to fight in order to obtain the blessing of the Lord, but we did end it with the fact that Abram doesn't have to be a doormat and is to fight for what the Lord calls him to. Here in chapter 14, we see that call come. As one scholar put it, "Sometimes it requires more faith to take action than to remain passive" (Waltke, 237). Sometimes you need to commit to action, and fighting for the protection of his family calls Abram to arms. But as we will note here, Abram isn't saved by the sword but by the Lord and acts accordingly in his tithe to this mysterious Melchizedek. So let's dive into this passage looking at our two points today: Fight the Lord's battles when called, and Win or "lose," return to the Lord His due. The nature of our conflicts and the weapons we use today as Christians are different, but there is much that we can learn and take comfort in in this passage. Fight the Lord's battles when called Chapter 14 begins with trouble in the land. To boil it down, these kings led by Chedorlaomer, are warring against these other nations in order to get them to give the tribute they were supposed to. Now, what you should always do to every Bible passage is to ask, "Why is this here?" We could be satisfied that we are just setting up the conflict so we have a reason for Abram to go to war. That's fair enough, but one should also ask what this might have meant to the original audience. One scholar notices something in that vein. It turns out that the path that these invading kings are taking is the same road that Israel will be walking on its way in from Egypt! If God sustains Abram here, then they can take comfort that He fights for them, too (Matthews, 144). This is no slouch force either. They have come in an conquered a people who were remembered as the giants of the ancient word (Matthews, 143)! We see these armies advancing seemingly with nothing to stop them on and on and now Lot himself has been captured! It is worth pointing out, that had he not been settled in Sodom (Waltke notes the difference in the Hebrew between Abram's temporary dwelling and Lot's more permanent dwelling, 231), he would have had the protection of Abram in the first place (Belcher, 118). The disadvantage of sin begins almost immediately. One would think that this would have woken Lot up to what kind of risks he was taking, but then how many times do we have to suffer the same consequences of our sins before it sticks? Ok, so we seem to have this unstoppable force that is ravaging the land that has now taken Lot. Interestingly, Abram is so far removed from these problems, that the only way he even knows about it is someone escapes to tell him! Abram now has a choice, let Lot suffer the fate of his choices (ha! serves him right for his selfishness) or risk his own life to go and get him. Like a good king, Abram goes on a rescue mission. Is our God not the same way? While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. But how do we know that Abram is doing the right thing here? Well, we can see the way he is blessed by Melchizedek it was the right course of action, but how could we have known that put in his position? Should we just not pray and let God smite them? While each situation is different and requires wisdom, in general, trust in God does not mean the abandoning of reasonable actions of responsibility. God will work through those things, but we MUST remember that the victory is always the Lord's. As a personal example, when I was wrapping up my last year of seminary, I was searching for a church job. I applied to church after church with no offers or interviews that led to rejections. I was getting married in a few months after seminary, so I needed a job that would support more than just me! It was getting towards the last two months of time in seminary, so I applied for a job in a world I knew, Apple computers. Thanks to the generosity of friends in the company, I was granted the chance to be interviewed in a few weeks time. Right before the interview, I was approached by a church in a little town called Brewton, but motivated by the desire to provide for my future wife, I kept myself in the computer system at Apple in case it didn't work out. Curiously, in the midst of the Brewton interview, I was mysteriously removed from the computer system at Apple, and my interview canceled. Through this and just so many other circumstances that would take too long to outline here, God made it clear He wanted me in Brewton, and even my responsible actions motivated from a godly desire to provide couldn't keep me from it. For Abram, he has the forces, the allies, and a clear crisis to address, so off he goes. He goes out with his forces and is victorious! But notice how little time is actually spent here on this. In just a couple of verses Abram is done! Remember, when the narrative speeds up, Genesis isn't as interested in your focus. But when the story slows down, details lingered over, concepts repeated, Genesis wants to point out to you that this is the important bit. Win or "lose," return to the Lord His due. In verse 17, we find what is the actual climax of the story (Waltke, 255). Here Abram is meeting with two kings whose contrast could not be clearer in this passage. We've met the king of Sodom already in this story, but here we are introduced to a new character, the mysterious priest-king from Salem. There is no history for us to draw from here. Even the book of Hebrews (the only other place other than Psalm 110 where he is mentioned) doesn't have anything to add about where he came from or where he went. As near as we can tell, Salem is Jerusalem, and the name "Melchizedek" literally means "King of Righteousness." He is apparently a true priest of God and the king of Salem. This is unique in Biblical history because once we have the Mosaic covenant, the promise that God made to Moses and the people and the system set up with it, the role of King and Priest are separate. In fact, whenever the kings of Israel would try to mix those two roles, the Lord would punish (2 Chronicles 26). That being said, there was the prophesy in Psalm 110, which we sang this morning, that anticipates the joining of those two roles. Of course, this King-Priest anticipated in Psalm 110 is none other than Jesus Himself. Hebrews 7 lays out the argument that Jesus is this priest after the order of Melchizedek, the priest that was there before any other priest existed. This has led some to think that this figure in Genesis 14 is actually Jesus before the incarnation! As tempting as that is to think, this is not likely. Hebrews 7 says that Melchizedek was *like* the son of man, and if there would ever had been a place to assert that, it would have been Hebrews 7. That being said, Melchizedek is certainly a type of Christ, a shadowy figure that sounds the first few notes of what is to come. He is like Jesus, but Jesus will be far more than him. So what are they doing here? Well, this passage starts by contrasting the two kings from the very beginning. King of Sodom "comes out" whereas King of Salem "brings out" (a pun in Hebrew, Waltke, 233); the first words of Melchizedek "blessed" whereas the first words of Sodom are "give me" (Matthews, 146). Considering what we know about Sodom, this is a wicked king, and the king of Salem is literally named "king of righteousness." So who is Abram going to go with? Mr. Melchizedek speaks first, after laying out a banquet to feast (bread and wine being a figure of speech for this, Waltke, 233), with a blessing for....God! He launches into this beautiful doxology reiterating the fact that Abram is blessed by God the Creator. The word "Creator" here is also filled with meaning. According to one scholar, "Creator" has the sense of "source of life, buoyancy, and joy in the trials of the day, not just the source of origins...intimately involved in this present reality." (Waltke, 234-5). He is making it very clear who has actually laid the ground work for Abram's victory here. It wasn't because he had the best army, latest in sword technology, or military tactics. He was blessed of the Lord, and that is why he was successful. Then, Abram responds by giving Melchizedek a tenth, a tithe, of the plunder. Because he is a priest, Abram's giving to him is acknowledging that God has given him the victory and thus presents some of that spoil to Him. Now, King of Sodom comes up. Notice we don't even refer to him by name anymore. It got mentioned once at the start of the chapter, but Moses doesn't want you to forget who it is that Abram is about to be dealing with. This isn't just any old guy. This is the king of the place that has become a byword for evil not only in Moses' time but even until our own day. After a command to Abram (Sodom is hardly in a position to command anything of Abram), he makes an admittedly generous offer. He only wants his people back, but Abram can keep the rest of the stuff. Abram has a choice. Will he accept this offer? One commentator put it this way: "The king of Sodom, on the other hand, makes a handsome and businesslike offer; its sole disadvantage is perceptible, again, only to faith" (Kinder). What is that sole disadvantage? Abram zeros right in on it: "You'll say that Sodom made Abram rich." What Abram is afraid of is that Sodom will take credit for God's work. And it is a risk even today. My old seminary professor put it like this: "The people of God may win spiritual struggles, but in the limelight of their success they may give away all the glory to some pagan pretender who would be delighted to rob God of the credit for spiritual success. While believer must use all the resources God has given to them to fight their spiritual battles, they must also keep in mind the true source of their victory and their blessings so that they may discern the confusion from the world" (Ross, 302). Abram maintains his honor. He allows those that fought with him to take what they want, but as for him, God's blessings are quite enough, thank you. So would Abram had been wrong to accept this gift from Sodom? Yes. Receiving from a gift from Sodom isn't how God's blessing was going to come through. God doesn't need Sodom to give His people what they need. To use a modern example, Knollwood would not accept money from Planned Parenthood. God doesn't need that murderous organization to advance His purposes. For examples that are less clear cut, once again, there is some wisdom from Dr. Ross: How to discern a blessing from a burden: One, consider the person's nature and motives for giving the alleged blessing, second "can it be explained in no other way than from God—miraculous, spiritual, enduring? Abram was simply not willing to say that the best that Sodom had to offer was the blessing of God!" (Ross, 301). In other words, if an alleged blessing is only offered through evil means intended for evil ends, you can safely refuse it. I remember a seminary colleague of mine tell me a story of his father who was a pastor. A man approached him from his church wanting to change something about it that would be a turn from faithfulness to God. When the pastor rightly refused, the man threatened to leave the church and take his substantial tithe check with him. To the man's surprise, the pastor responded, "Take your money and perish with it." The church turned out just fine, even without that tithe check. Abram doesn't take up Sodom's offer. He won't take as much as a sandal strap from the guy! He is going to continue to trust the Lord of heaven and earth. So what do we take away from this passage? Obviously, we aren't taking up swords and slashing our neighbors! But we are taking up the Word of God and fighting for truth in our culture. The church isn't here to win elections. If we do, great. But that is not the sum total of our mission. "For the weapons, as 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says, "of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete." That is our fight. We aren't here to destroy people but lofty opinions against God. Is it easier to do that in a free country? Yes. Is it therefore a good thing to vote faithfully to that end? Yes. Do we give the credit to that political leader for the blessing of being able to freely preach? No. This fight isn't physical for us anymore. We don't go out with swords anymore (2 Cor. 10:3-6). We use something far more powerful than that: the gospel. That is what we have. There is no other fix to our problems than that. Let's be wary of enemies who would seem to offer us something to good to be true. Let us not be dependent on those who would like to see the gospel fail. Don't place your hope in compromise because that seems to be the only way forward. Are there times in our fallen world where you have to make the least bad choice? Yes. It comes up every four years. But then we get right back to preaching the only hope that we have. No matter who our earthly rulers are, we still have our Priest-King who rules and reigns forever. He is the King who rules all things and the priest who redeems all things. Like Abram, He came to save us from our own sins. While Abram only risked his life, Christ gave up His. And now today the choice stands before you: Which King will you serve? Sodom will give to you in the immediate. The riches and "blessings" of the world are tangible. You can touch them. But they will fail. What good is it even if you were to gain the whole world but lose your soul. Don't do that. Instead be willing to "lose" in the world to win in Christ. That is why the second point has the word "lose" in quotes. In Christ there is no losing, not in the eternal sense. No you won't have as much money or stuff, but you will have Christ. And he who has Christ has everything, the Creator of heaven and earth.
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Chapter 13 of Genesis is a life changing chapter for Abram and Lot. Neither of them knew it at the time that this moment sets up the path for the rest of their family's history. Don't you wish you could know when those moments were in your life? While the Bible doesn't promise you that you will be able to know when those moments are, it does show you have to live your life such that it won't matter. If you live by faith, in accordance with God's Word, the right decision will be made. Our two points today: Faith doesn't need a fight, and Faith doesn't need a sight. For this sermon, Dr. Ross has been very helpful in forming thoughts here. Faith Doesn't Need a Fight Chapter 13 picks up right where we left off with Abram walking out of Egypt. He went down there to avoid a famine, and, through lying to the Pharaoh about his wife, cause a calamity in Pharaoh's household. He was dismissed from Egypt (much richer than before), and now we find ourselves back in the land of promise. We are back to the place where Abram worshiped God, back to where he has been promised a place. The trouble is, the place is a little cramped now! Abram has gotten much richer in Egypt and so has his nephew, Lot. There is not enough food growing for the animals to all be fed as there are so many of them! Lot's herdsmen are fighting Abram's herdsman for resources. The passage doesn't seem to be criticizing either men for having things. It is crowded in this one section, yes, but clearly by Abram's offer to Lot here, there is enough space in God's land for each of them to have the livestock that they do. Abram offers Lot first choice in the land. Whatever portion he chooses, Abram will take what is left. This is a very generous choice. For us to make this offer, one piece of property is about as good as another. Most of us when we are buying a house think more about distance to work or the view from the windows than we do soil quality. From the outside looking in, for Abram and Lot, the choice that Lot makes can seriously alter what Abram is able to do. What if Lot takes the highest quality land? Well, Abram might not be able to provide for his family as well. If the grasses don't grow as well here than they do in Lot's land, that means less access to calories, clothes, and all the other things in life. This would be like offering a family member who has just been fighting with you the opportunity to potentially take the dream job you would otherwise have. Sure you could find a similar job, but what if you can't? How will you support your family? At least we have access to things like savings or stores. For Abram, yes, he has livestock, but as any farmer knows, they are not impervious to disease or predators. If the food doesn't come up (as it already hasn't just one chapter before), you may not eat. He has just burned the bridge back in Egypt, so this land has *got* to work. But he doesn't want to fight with Lot, so he offers him whatever portion of the land he wants. How does Abram do that? The answer is that he believes God. Dr. Ross puts it this way, "...Abram's faith showed that there was a better way of solving potential conflict, the way of self-renunciation." (289) How is Abram not favoring himself the better way? Well, he says in another place, "The one who believed that God promised to give him the land did not have to reserve it for himself. Rather, as the clan leader, he had the primary responsibility for maintaining peace, and he used the land to do so." (285) Abram doesn't fight because he knows he doesn't have to. God has specifically promised to give Abram this land, so he doesn't have to resort to anything other than trust in God's provision for him. Now, is that how you approach people who are in your way? Is that how you approach conflict with your spouse? Is this how you approach needs from your children? Unselfishly putting their needs ahead of your own? Why do we often take the opposite approach than Abram does here?Could it be that deep down we believe that God won't take care of us if we are unselfish? We will be miserable if we are servants of others? Now, you may say, "So are you telling me I just need to give, give, give with reckless abandon and never taking responsible self-care?" No, but given how selfish most of us are, it may feel like that at first. It's true, Abram has a direct promise from God that he will both have children and a land. He has a sure word that He will be provided for in this specific way, and that is exactly what makes him generous in this specific way. He trusts God. He has seen how he was protected in Egypt, and has faith that God will continue to provide for him here. What sort of promises do you have from God? Well, as we looked at during Easter, there is a land coming for us. There is a time of ultimate peace, joy, and satisfaction that we will reach one day that will make everything that we have done here not worthy of comparison. It is promised that there is joy in God's presence (Psalm 16:11) and a blessing for those who meditate on God's Law day and night (Psalm 1). We are told to seek first the Kingdom of God and all of these things (food, clothing, the things needed for life) will be added to us (Matthew 6). Do we believe them? Do we live as if that is true? You might say, "Well, are you saying that I just stop taking any responsibility for myself?" No. God's promises aren't an excuse for laziness, but they are an invitation to be more generous with ourselves than we are. One commentator put it this way, "'There is room in God's plan for every man to follow his most generous impulses.'" (Dobs, quoted by Ross, 288). Abram doesn't have to walk by fight. He can walk by faith. But let's see what happens when we do walk by sight. Faith Doesn't Need a Sight. Now, Lot takes a different tactic. There are several ominous signs of Lot's choice. For one, Lot is looking. This is the same set up for Eve when she lifts up her eyes to see the fruit. Here, Lot is lifting up his eyes, and he sees beauty. There is a well-watered land over there. It's a gorgeous place. And how can anything gorgeous be dangerous? There is just one problem. It is the location of Sodom and Gomorrah. The people hearing this for the first time know what is coming for that city. The text also reminds us of it just in case we forgot where we are in the timeline. Saying that will instantly fill the people with dread on behalf of Lot. Whenever I meet fellow ministers, almost every time, the questions start with, "where do you serve" and "how long have you been there?" I always answer, "I serve at Knollwood, and I got started there in December of 2019." I watch the math calculate in their brain, and what do you think is the first thing that they think of? Indeed, the 2020 pandemic. I remember in January, someone in our Sunday School said that this would be the year of clear "20/20 vision." Oh my. It has become proverbial, a meme in our culture. And likewise, we see here. There is doom heading for this city! Lot journeys east (side note, this is often a statement of moving away from God's purposes), and settles his tent just outside of Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 13 gives us a very striking description of the citizens there. Describing these people as "wicked, great sinners" is a unique phrase in Hebrew (Matthews, 137). This is underlining, bolding, all-caps shouting that these people were uniquely bad and sinful. "But hey, the grass is very green. Yes, yes, the people that I am going to be around are doing things that are hugely offensive to God, but let's try to see what sort of arrangement we can work out." Sadly, Lot doesn't stay in his tent. As we go through the rest of the story in the coming chapters, we will find that Lot doesn't just dwell near them, but he actually moves in. By the time God is ready to destroy the place, Lot meets the angels while he is sitting in the gate. Sitting in the gate means that you have gotten to a place of leadership in the community. I'd say that Lot has been pretty well acclimated. But it started with sight. Sight is so subtle in what it sees and doesn't. No one is immune. Lot makes, from a farming perspective, the best decision. He just doesn't calculate God's perspective on the matter. It will take many years, but we will see Lot at the end of his story hiding in a cave somewhere with nothing. A sad ending to a faithless start. How do we avoid such a fate? We have to keep our eyes in God's Word. It sounds so simple because it is. Our sinful world is literally hell bent on getting you to look at anything else other than what God says. Find some other purpose to your life other than serving God. Find happiness in literally anything else other than your Savior. Find security in money, family, secret online knowledge, anything other than God's Word because if they can get you to do that, they've won half the battle. All the world has to do now is wait. The more you stare at that thing, the less you'll see God's perspective on it. The culture pulls on your eyes constantly. Things that were once seen clearly sin have been laughed into the mainstream through our entertainment choices. We hardly notice it anymore. Our culture looks more and more like Sodom and our churches look more and more like Lot. How do we resist the forces of change? It isn't through similar underhanded techniques that they have used to get into power. It comes through trusting God's promises. Here at the end of the chapter, Ross points out that God calls Abram to look up—and see the stars (Ross, 283). They are going to provide a picture of God's promise to Him. And Abram believes and worships. So that's what we do. So what is our takeaway here? One, we don't have to fight to get what we need. God has promised us joy in Himself. That means that we don't have to fight our spouse to have joy. We don't have to overwork ourselves to find contentment. We don't have to always have life just the way we want it but can afford to serve others the way they need it. God will provide it for us. This doesn't mean that we become doormats. Quite the opposite. We fiercely contend for what God calls us to contend for. Yes, push back on the culture, now that you are free from your dependance on it. Yes, call your kids to obedience, now that God's opinion on your parenting is all that matters. Yes, give generously now that money doesn't hold your heart. Yes, give people the time of day that "don't deserve it" because God's glory isn't about checking off every item on your list. Those things take strength that only faith in God can realize. And that faith is grown in worship and the preaching of the gospel to yourself. Your knowledge of God should make an Abram sized difference in your life. It won't be perfect, but it will be so freeing. I came across a quote online that was something to this effect: "You can always tell when you are around a soul that is free because they are so pleasant to be around." Isn't that true? When your soul is at rest not because of what you have or have accomplished but what you have in Christ and His accomplishments, nothing can disturb that peace. It can make a nation in a wasteland, a child from a barren womb because with God all things are possible.
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Have you ever overreacted before? Have you ever responded vastly out of proportion to the supposed threat in front of you? We've all had a piece of fuzz land on our arm that we thought was a spider. We've all been startled by the most innocuous things. Just this past week, I was alone working on the sound system deep in thought when I suddenly heard Keith's voice. I don't know why I made such a screechy, guttural sound in response, but it was out of proportion! We always feel a bit humbled by such an experience. What's worse is overreacting to something and thinking that it is what saved us from harm. There are people feeling safe only because they've washed their hands in the last ten minutes. There are people feeling secure in their work because they belittle their employees. Feeling secure in their parenting because of their harsh treatment of their children. Feeling like their marriage will only work because one is having an emotional affair online. Feeling confident because they got their morning drink in. Relaxed, because they got their fix. People will talk about needing an outlet, needing the help of some sin in order to stay sane, to stay ahead, and it works! For a while. This is what we see with Abram. Abram is terrified of interacting with the kings of the earth. The situation that we see Abram in happens twice in his life (once here and again in chapter 20). Twice he is presented with a situation that God has explicitly addressed. All the nations will be blessed or cursed based on how they respond to Abram. Abram has no need to fear these countries. One has to wonder how many times Abram needs to drastically affect other people's lives before he decides to trust God. One wonders how many times we need to learn the same lesson. Today we are going to look at two points: God is faithful to His glory even when you are faithless, and Sin never makes you safer; God's mercy does. God is faithful to His glory even when you are faithless It all gets started when Canaan runs out of rain. Unlike Egypt, Canaan is completely dependent on rainfall in order to have a crop. Egypt has the Nile river which means that there was always a source for water and thus food (Matthews, 127). With a severe famine in the Promised Land, Abram makes the journey to a place where the food is consistent. Commentators differ on whether or not Abram sins in the moment of leaving the Promised Land. One source points out that Hagar is an Egyptian woman (Genesis 16:1), likely acquired here in this visit to Egypt (Bible Talk Podcast). Obviously, this visit sets Abram up to make bad decisions about his telling the truth, and Hagar is set up here for what will come in Genesis 16. Genesis itself doesn't make a comment one way or the other on the rightness or wrongness of leaving the Promised Land itself. In Genesis 46, God explicitly tells Jacob not to be afraid to go down to Egypt, but that doesn't necessarily mean that God was forbidding Abram to go here in Genesis 12. What Abram is condemned for in this story is what he does when he gets there. Abram could have said, "Sarai, it is clear that we need food here, and it is equally clear that it is risky. Nevertheless, God has promised protection and a seed for us, so we will depend on him and be honest with the locals." We would have responded, "What a wise and godly man." However, once he was in this situation (both times, really), he folded on this matter of self-protection. We are in no higher a position. There will be plenty of times in which we do things that are morally neutral in and of themselves (having an internet connection, for example), but because of our personalities, set us up for sin. Sometimes those situations are unavoidable. Abram needed to eat. But he would have done well to seek out help from the Lord to help Abram stay faithful. We should do the same. There is a reason "and lead us not into temptation" exists in the Lord's prayer. One is not able to avoid every possible arena of temptation, so we must go into the day expecting it and praying for help. Now, let's see what Abram actually does here. Abram's fears are not trivial. Women didn't have rights as we have them today, so the idea that if the king likes your wife, you can be dead is a real fear. As one commentator pointed out, King David does exactly this with Bathsheba. The beauty of this particular lie is that it is half-true (as Genesis 20 confirms). Abram and Sarai are from the same father (20:12) but have different mothers. However, a half-truth leads to a full sin as Pharaoh takes Sarai for his wife. The language used of the things that Pharaoh gives to Abram, at least according to one scholar, are more in line with compensation rather than a wedding gift (Matthews 128-9). I can only imagine what that interaction between Sarai and Abram would have been during, and especially after, this event! Beyond lying, Abram is also not trusting in God and actively putting the promise in jeopardy. While God hasn't explicitly said that the seed is coming from Sarai, that was clearly the assumption of the both of them as by Genesis 15, he is saying that God hasn't provided a seed. Humanly speaking, he would have known even better than we do that Sarai wasn't going to have kids unless God moved, so if he really thought that it wasn't going to be through Sarai, he had plenty of opportunity with his other servants to make that happen. So for him to willingly put Sarai into the hands of Pharaoh, indicates that he doesn't value the promise given to him. He gives it up at the first sign of danger. We find out what we value when there is a threat. There is a famous story of Sherlock Holmes where he needs to find a photograph of great value hidden inside a woman's house. In his surprising way, he stages what would appear to be a fire in the woman's home while she is there! As soon as the smoke rises, she runs to a hidden panel on the wall, revealing where the prized photo is. Here at this point in the story, Abram runs when his self-preservation is threatened. Later, of course, we will see him grow, as he is willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING that he has been following God for in Genesis 22. What do you run to protect when a threat is on the loose? It doesn't have to be a life-ending threat. It could be as simple as a threat to your peace and quiet. A threat to your schedule. What keeps you from being faithful to God? I hate it when my plans are interrupted. God so often doesn't check my calendar before asking me to do something. So often, I have JUST sat down after a long day. I prize my comfort. Do you prize your reputation? Your time? Money? Effort? Here, Abram is unfaithful to God, but God won't let His promises get thrown off due to the failure of His servants. Nothing would ever get done! God is about to move in this story. It is worth mentioning here, as one commentator noticed, that this whole story revolves around Sarai: "By virtue of Sarai's beauty, not Abram's ability, the family was enriched. Reportedly, the passage insists that the events turn on account of Sarai (vv. 13, 16, 17), though she is mute throughout the story" (Matthews, 122-123). The whole reason that Pharaoh gives things to Abram is because of Sarai. And the Lord moves *because of Sarai.* She doesn't have any power here to keep herself out of this situation. God is going to step up where Abram failed to. He protects and delivers her, but not without consequences on Pharaoh's part, including his household! Let's pause for a moment and ask, "Is this fair?" I mean, Pharaoh is a victim of Abram's deception. He operated on the assumption that he wasn't taking someone else's wife. There are no public records he could pull up. He didn't *have* to give Abram anything, yet he does. So why is the Lord punishing Pharaoh? I've got a few responses to that. One, this is a temporary measure to get his attention. Two, God doesn't owe us anything, nor is bound to rules we make up for Him. He is God and, therefore, not bound to our concepts of fairness. Three, God made a promise that He would curse those who dishonor Abram, and now we see that God takes that promise so seriously that even unintentional cursing on Abram will be dealt with severely. Fourth, this shows how seriously God is going to take marriage. Fifthly, there may have been other circumstances at the time the author doesn't make us aware of. Maybe Pharaoh stole Sarai! We are not owed a full explanation. We can't forget who we are in relation to God. Therefore, we do well to make sure that our lives are in conformity to God. God is very merciful, but we shouldn't presume on God's mercy. If God has something to say about a decision that we are about to make, we should be quite sure what He would want us to do. Ignorance doesn't shield from consequences. This narrative should also bring us some comfort. God is so committed to keeping His promises to Abram, He won't allow anything to derail it. God isn't some sort of overly permissive ruler that keeps ending up folding on His promises because someone found a loophole. God is a very strong and capable promise-keeper. He takes His word more seriously than we take it or take our own. Sin never makes you safer; God's mercy does. Now, after the plagues are over, Abram is sent out of Egypt. He leaves richer than when he came in. Does that mean that his path to this was right? Do the ends justify the means? No. As we will see, part of that wealth was made up with Hagar. Her being employed by Abram wasn't the problem. It was what he did with her later that was. But those consequences wouldn't show up for some time. For the moment, God bails Abram out of what he fears, but there will be further set up that will later turn out to be a sin that causes the conflicts that we have seen rage in the Middle East for thousands of years. What saved Abram was not his clever lie. What saved Abram wasn't even Sarai. What saved Abram was God's movement *despite* what he did. And the same holds true for us. We can think that we can patch over parts of our lives with sin. Now that patch will often (but not always) hold for a minute. That is part of sin's deceptive power. It doesn't always fail immediately. But it will fail. It is a promise in Scripture that your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:23). It is only a matter of time. Anything that goes well for you seemingly because of a sin is only the mercy of God giving you time to repent of that sin. If the world hasn't collapsed on you yet, take that as God's mercy towards you to make it right. Don't wait until lives are devastated. Abram's life won't be devastated by this until later, buy Pharaoh and his household sure felt it. Don't wait on sin. And because of Jesus you don't have to. You have been given promises that your sin can and will be forgiven if you ask. The promised Seed, Jesus Christ, took drastic action on Himself to free you from sin. Don't mock God and the sacrifice of His Son to sin. Don't say, "Well, how dangerous can this be? It only took the death of the Son of God to deal with." Instead, rest in what God will do. It might not be pleasant. God doesn't promise to remove consequences when your sin is dealt with. But He does promise to erase its guilt. One day, if you are in Christ, you will see heaven. And you will know that turning from that sin was worth it all.
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What does the Resurrection of Christ mean for washing dishes? I don't ask that question to be funny. I ask that question because if the resurrection of Christ has nothing to say to washing the dishes, then it has nothing to say to the majority of your life. Our lives are stuffed with mundane, everyday tasks that we struggle to connect to the Bible's story, particularly its ending. We can do this in specific areas of our lives when national stories hit the headlines. For example, recently you've all thought a bit more about the bridges you drive over in your daily commutes, haven't you? That is connecting your mundane task to a larger story. The Maryland bridge impacts how you think about your otherwise everyday commute. But that story, large as it is, doesn't impact the way you raise your children. It has nothing to say to the way you act at work. It is silent at your kitchen sink. The resurrection of Christ, however, is the biggest story. And it has much to say to you today, even in your dishwashing. The resurrection of Christ isn't just one event of a man rising from the dead (category shattering as that alone is). It is a preview for the end goal for all creation, and the starting point for that goal. And we are all a part of that story. When I was a child, I had a little book called "Bible Answers for Kids," or something to that effect, and the question that I still remember was "When did Bible times end?" That's a pretty good question. The picture had a character standing outside a clothing store where people were coming in with togas and head wrappings and leaving the store in modern suits and dresses, as if there was a specific day in which we entered modern times. The answer rightly said that we are still in the Bible times, as there are aspects of God's work that haven't been fully completed yet. We are still in the story. Our passage today holds up the destination for followers of Christ. And it is a glorious place in heaven! So if this is our place, our for sure ending to the story, why do we forget about it so easily? Perhaps we forget because we have grown so used to how the world currently works. Technology has made living in a cursed world far easier than it used to be. I'm not even talking about air conditioning or endless entertainment whenever we want it. I'm talking about how the constant access to information of the brokenness of the world numbs us to that very brokenness. We scroll through horrors of war, disease, famine, and political strife on a worldwide scale, and the personalized internet allows us to see the same things even within our own friends lives. Abby and I are struck by how many of our friends are going through great suffering. It's become a pattern that you can almost predict. The first dozen or so times it truly hurts. The second dozen times, you come to expect it. The third dozen times, you are surprised when it doesn't happen. This is the effect of omnipresent bad news. We have conditioned ourselves to think that the book ending of "happily ever after" is to help children to go to sleep rather than the echo of sure hope that God has given to us at the end of His book. Today, I'd like to break through some clouds. I encourage you to lift up your face from your rectangles of doom for a moment to behold the world as it will be, a world made possible ONLY because Jesus arose from the grave. And when we are done, when you set your face back down into the everyday of life, you will remember this vision of what it is all going. Let's jump into Revelation 22. Revelation is a mysterious book, mostly because we are less familiar with its references to the Old Testament. I've heard various estimates that Revelation while never directly quoting the OT, alludes to the Old Testament from once every three verses to two times for each verse. However that breaks down, God is a great Author, and He has callbacks to His previous chapters. This book is dripping with them. To set our scene, the Apostle John is laying out for us what the world will be like in the end. After a whirlwind tour of the future, we settle here, the final "then." We see creation made new, a creation of life and light where the servants of God will live and reign forever(vs 3-5). Our Old Testament references begin from our first verse where we see the water of life flowing from the Throne of God and of the Lamb (note the Lamb reference, that will be important later). This is a callback to the prophet Ezekiel who saw a similar river in chapter 47. For our purposes however, I want us to look at what is next to the river, the Tree of Life. This reference should be familiar to anyone who has even a passing knowledge of the first book of the Bible, Genesis. In the Garden that God makes at the beginning of time, He places Adam and Eve in the Garden where the Tree of Life is. If they are obedient to the command of God, they will be able to eat of the Tree of Life and live forever. Of course, they don't obey and bring sin into the world such that the world they inhabit and depend on had to be cursed (for God cannot sweep sin under the rug, yet also shows mercy). But rather than live in a cursed place forever, God removes them from eating of the Tree of Life and banishes them from the Garden. He does all of this with the Promise that He will send a Chosen One to set everything right. Here in Revelation 22, we see that come to culmination in this beautiful place. One scholar asks the obvious but profoundly answered question, What kind of place is this? (Christopher Watkin, *Biblical Critical Theory*, 560-563). Is it a city? Well, sort of. It clearly isn't a city like what we have come to expect, what with all the rivers and trees and such. Is it a return to the Garden of Eden? Well, sort of! It clearly alludes to that. But there is more. God neither dispenses with nor returns to the past. Instead, He combines the best of both. One scholar said, "There is nothing quite so traditional as God making all things new in unimaginably lavish superabundance" (Watkins, 563). Would you like an example? In verse 2, we see the Tree of Life from Genesis 2 again! But how is it on both sides of the river? Is it in the middle with the river splitting around it? I think that once again, we depend on the Old Testament. From Ez. 47:7, the prophet, in seeing how all things will be made new: "As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other." It's not just THE Tree of Life here, but a Grove of Trees of Life! Jesus takes the Old and Remakes it New! What do those trees do? They are not enjoyed by just two people. The Nations of the World will come, wearied from the journey on Earth, and find healing in its branches! Further, it won't just provide leaves like the Fig tree outside of the Temple (although these are pretty special leaves!). But it will have fruit, not just every year, but every month! So what will we do in a place that is both City and Garden? Well, the answer comes from the architecture of the city. Go one chapter back to Revelation 21:16 "the city lies foursquare" or a cube! Now that didn't mean anything to me, until one scholar pointed out that there is only one other cube in the Bible. It is the innermost part of the Old Testament Temple, the Holy of Holies, the room where the very presence of God lived. Here in Revelation 22, God and the Lamb are enthroned in the city dwelling with the servants of God who will see His face! This isn't just a Garden-City; this is a Temple-Garden-City (Watkins, 562). Now, why should that blow your mind? Well, the Holy of Holies was the most exclusive room in all the world. Only one person could enter it, the High Priest, and even he, only once a year. And he couldn't just walk in there. He had to sacrifice and animal for his own sins. Something had to bleed and die to pay the penalty for his sins so that He could enter the presence of God. As part of that worship, he entered into this room concealed by a curtain and thick smoke of incense inside with a rope tied around his ankle. If he brought sin into the presence of God, he would die instantly and would need to be pulled out. No one else could go in even to retrieve the dead. That's how holy, how separate God is from us. And yet, and YET, this chapter is telling us that all believers in Christ will not only be in God's presence as priests in the Temple-Garden-City, we will see His face! That is something even Moses was denied while he was taking dictation of the Ten Commandments (Leon Morris, Revelation, Tyndale)! All of this is possible because nothing accursed exists in this place anymore (22:3). It is all gone. How? Because Jesus rose from the dead. What does Jesus' rising from the dead have to do with all of that? Well, as you may remember from your Sunday school days, you may have learned Romans 6:23, the wages (or payment) of sin is death. In other words, sin is always going to bring the penalty of death. What is sin? Anything that is against God's commands either doing something you shouldn't or not doing something that you should've. That sin, no matter how small *we* think it is, is rebellion against the King of the Universe! High Treason. An infinite crime demands an infinite penalty, hell fire forever. That's the penalty that Jesus took on the cross. He was God and man together. A man to take the penalty, and God to make the payment infinite. Now when Jesus died, we saw the penalty of sin put on Him. But if He stayed dead, then the penalty wouldn't have been fully paid. If I get sent to jail for a crime, how do you know that I haven't finished my sentence? I'm still in jail! Check the cell! If I'm in there, the penalty isn't satisfied. Well for the world's sin, the tomb is the punishment. So how do you know that the sentence has been fully served? Check the tomb! You'll find He isn't there! Instead, He is gloriously raised and as you'll see at the end of Matthew, "All authority has been given to Him." You can't be dead and have authority! Only the living! So He ascends into heaven. What He commands you to do now is respond to that news. Turn away from your sins, stop trusting in yourself, and turn to Jesus Christ. Putting your faith in Him is an act of trust and surrender. And Revelation 22 is the future to which you are heading. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ isn't raised, then we are a people to be most pitied, because none of what we have been describing would be true. But since Christ is raised, as Paul says in Romans 8, we are more than conquerors since that is our future. So what do we do in the meantime? What does this have to do with the dishes? This is the kind of hope that can survive anything. How does it do that? This is a hope that is beyond time and death. Like, this is hope at a cosmic level that you can access in any part of life! This isn't just a hope that only comes in handy when someone dies. Remember what the Bible says here when you are overwhelmed with the dishes. When your world is shattered or just a little frustrated, remember where you are going, and who's story you're telling. The God who can pull off Revelation 22 can work through and with your unexpected car repair. When you are exhausted after a long day of work, plus kids, plus house stuff, remember where you are going and that everything you are going through is directly moving you towards this moment. When the pain just won't go away, you can say to it that it won't have the last word. Pain and disease are temporary. They won't last because Jesus didn't stay dead. No matter what bad news you scroll through, you can say with confidence, "Not for long." The “What ifs” are all taken care of. And when you get in the habit of doing that, you'll get to experience a taste of heaven here in worship. Heaven is a time of worship, but you don't have to wait until you get there to start. Just think about all that Jesus has done for you here, spend some deep time repeating to yourself that everything said here is true and try NOT to worship. |
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