By Faith and Not By Fight

Photo by Johann Walter Bantz on Unsplash
​
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.