The Serious Business of God

Prayer

Hard Story of Sodom & Gomorrah

So, I want to begin this morning with recapping where we are in the story of the Old Testament, book of Genesis. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been focusing on the beginning of the people of Israel

The story of the people of Israel begins with Abram, God’s promise to make him the father of a great nation, with descendants too numerous to count, and the land that Abram and his family were living in, land of the Canaanites. And that through this nation, God would bless all the nations of the earth. All this in spite of the fact that Abram and his wife, Sarai, were childless.

We saw last week in Genesis 16, Sarai offering her maidservant, Hagar, to Abram as a wife, to bear children on her behalf - and how well that worked out, Abram and Sarai trying to make God’s promises happen on their own - though it did result in the birth of Ishmael.

Since we’re going to jump to Genesis 19 this morning, let me give you a summary of what happens in-between, because there are few things that are very important to story of Abram and Sarai, and the Israelites as a whole.

Genesis 17 picks up the story of Abram and Sarai 13 years later (if you’re counting, Abram is 99 and Sarai 89 years old). God, once again, reaffirms his covenant promise with them.

This time, however, he does two important things - first, he gives them new names. He tells Abram, which means exalted father, that his name is now Abraham - name by which we know him. Abraham means, father of many. God says I’m making you the father of many nations!!! Sarai, too - her name is changed to Sarah (which I’m so glad, Sarah is so much easier to say than Sarai).

The other significant thing God does in reaffirming his commitment to Abraham and Sarah is establish a sign of the covenant - the sign of circumcision. Every male in Abraham’s household was circumcised.

Then, in Genesis 18, three visitors come to Abraham and Sarah, and tell them that a year from that time Sarah will give birth to a son, and they are to name him Isaac, which means “he laughs.” We’ll talk more about that next week.

But now we’re going to shift to Lot, Abraham’s nephew. If you remember, Lot had traveled to land of Canaan from Harran with Abraham. While in the land of Canaan their flocks had gotten too large for them to share the same area of land - so they decided to split ways.

Lot had made his way down to plains near the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, where he and his family eventually settled.

In latter part of Genesis 18 God shares with Abraham his plan to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their great wickedness. In a fascinating conversation, Abraham convinces God not to destroy the city of Sodom if he finds at least ten righteous men residing there.

Here’s where we pick up this morning’s story, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 19:1-29...

So God’s angels make their way to Sodom on their investigation mission - to see if they can find ten righteous men in Sodom. Just ten, that’s all they need, and the city will be spared.

Lot meets them at the city gate and immediately invites the angels (who appear as men) to stay at his house. They tell Lot they’ll just stay there in city square - but Lot is very insistent that they come to his house.

It’s important to recognize two things here - one, hospitality in Ancient Near East was huge. They took it very seriously - it was a moral imperative, a matter of honor. And if you brought in anyone into your house, you accepted responsibility for their safety and wellbeing.

The other thing to know is that Lot knows he lives in wicked city. He’s been here for a while, he knows these men aren’t safe - though I’m guessing even he doesn’t know the level of depravity that they are about to experience.

The two angels make their way to Lot’s house - evening comes and the men come knocking. And when I say the men, the text makes clear that it’s all the men of the city of Sodom - from all parts of the city (both sides of the tracks, rich and poor and everyone in between), and all ages, young and old.

It’s become evident that there are not ten righteous men living in this city.

Men of Sodom pound on the door, demanding that Lot bring the men out so that they can “know” them. Biblical euphemism for have sex with them. The men of Sodom want to rape these men (angels), both as way to humiliate them, degrade them - and simply out of depravity.

Lot, out of perverted sense of maintaining his honor as host to the two men offers his two virgin daughters to the men instead.

Men of the city are ready to break down the door and do the wicked thing they came to do - the only thing that saves Lot and his family is the divine power of God - the angels blind the men of the city so they can’t find the door of Lot’s house.

So the angels get Lot and his wife and his daughters - they tried to convince the men engaged the daughters to flee with them, but they wouldn’t - get Lot and his family to flee the city. And you can hear the urgency in the angels’ voices - go, flee for your lives! Don’t look back! Don’t stop! Get to the mountains - move it!

Lot persuades them to let him flee instead to the small town of Zoar (one city that was never destroyed), though later he did and his daughters did make their way to the mountains.

And then the burning sulfur rains down upon Sodom and Gomorrah and the other two cities of the plains, destroying them. And, tragically, we see Lot’s wife fail to heed the angels’ instructions - she looks back at the destruction and she is turned into a pillar of salt.

And the story ends with Abraham looking at the destruction of the land of the plain, smoke rising up. Interesting little note in verses 29-30, where it says that in destroying the cities of the plain God remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the catastrophe. It wasn’t because Lot was such a righteous, faithful man - but because Abraham was.

So, what the heck do we do with this story? Cities filled with wickedness destroyed by God. Well, we do what the Bible does with this story - we heed it as the warning it’s meant to be. Throughout the Bible, Sodom and Gomorrah become emblematic of God’s judgment coming down on evil.

Let me offer you two examples...

Isaiah 13:19-20 - Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Babylonians, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; there no nomads will pitch their tents, there no shepherds will rest their flocks.

By the way, archaeologist, Joel Kramer, who laid out all the evidence for the sites of Sodom and Gomorrah talked a bit about where Babylon used to lie - it’s utter ruins as well.

Zephaniah 2:9 - Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will become like Sodom, the Ammonites like Gomorrah— a place of weeds and salt pits, a wasteland forever.”

Time and again, Sodom and Gomorrah are held out as a warning - they are God’s way of saying to us, take what I say seriously - very seriously. Don’t dismiss what I command. Story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a story filled with lack of taking God seriously.

You have entire cities of men and women who did not take seriously God’s command to live rightly (righteousness). They did as they saw fit. They were so thoroughly wicked that the angels could not find ten righteous men in the city of Sodom. They lived as if God did not exist - or even if they thought he did, he did not matter.

We see it, too, in the two young men engaged to Lot’s daughters, whom Lot tries to rescue by pleading with them to come with them. Of all the people in the city, they get the chance to escape - they alone learn about what God is about to do. But they blow them off, refusing to take Lot seriously, thinking he’s joking and they ignore the warning.

Lot’s wife - can’t quite let go. In spite of God’s declaration of how thoroughly evil this city is - evil enough to rain down destruction upon it - and in spite of the angels’ urgent commands - go, don’t look back, forsake this place - some longing within her compels her to look back…and she, too, is destroyed.

Finally, even Lot himself. When you look at Lot, it’s not surprising that it’s out of a commitment to Abraham that Lot is spared, not because of Lot himself. He’s known for a long time that he’s been living in a place that’s utterly corrupt - and yet he stayed. And at the moment of truth, he actually hesitates. When dawn comes and the angels command them to flee, he hedges. The angels have to grab him and his family and run. It is only the Lord’s mercy that spares him. These are people who did not take God seriously.

Taking God Seriously

One of the commentators I like to listen to on a regular basis - described our nation’s politicians as saying that they are not serious people. That phrasing caught my attention - what does that mean to say that someone is not serious (especially political leaders) - people take their politics very seriously (too seriously!)

Well, what does it mean to be “serious” and therefore, not serious?

One definition defines being serious as demanding careful consideration or application. Another, requiring much thought or work.

I’m pretty sure when he made that comment, he didn’t mean that they were joking all the time, never took anything seriously. I think he meant that they had a way of virtue signaling, they would pretend to be serious about an issue, but really weren’t.

Like the person who pontificates about taking the environment seriously and goes on to talk about all the harm we’re causing the climate - yet doesn’t do anything in their personal lives to reduce their wasteful habits or reduce their carbon footprint. These are not serious people.

I remember fellow students in seminary who would speak urgently the need for social justice - to help the marginalized, but never took time out of their schedule to feed the hungry (opportunity every morning - feed the homeless) or reach into their own pockets to make personal donations. They were not serious people.

But if I’m going to point fingers, I need to point at myself - I’ve long had the intention of being more regular and disciplined in my prayer life. It’s even written down on my “Rule of Life” (list of Spiritual Disciplines). But honest truth is that I haven’t really been serious about it - serious enough to make the commitment to put it weekly in my schedule, and then to actually put it into practice when that time of the day comes. In this, I’m not a serious person.

This is the whole point of this story - and what I want us to consider this morning. Are we serious people? Serious about the things that matter - serious about God?

If Sodom and Gomorrah convey anything, they teach us that God is to be taken with the utmost seriousness. He is the one true God. He is sovereign over everything - over every land, every nation and people. He is to be obeyed. He speaks his words, his commands to us in authority. What he tells us is to be taken seriously because he is to be taken seriously - with careful consideration and application, we are to give God much thought and much work (effort).

Jesus himself, used Sodom and Gomorrah as a warning: Matthew 11:20, 23-24 - Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent...And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

Take a moment to hear what Jesus is saying to these towns that he’d been doing ministry in - because you did not repent, you did not take seriously the signs I showed you and what I taught you, it’s not going to go well for you (will you be lifted to heavens - no, you will go down to Hades!).

It will be more bearable for Sodom (city entirely destroyed by burning sulfur, raining down from heaven, everyone killed, city never to be built again - never) than it will be for you on the day of judgment. Do you think Jesus means for us to take his message seriously? To respond in a way that says “I’m changing entirely how I live my life, what my priorities are, my understanding of who I am…from here on out it’s all about Jesus.”

God never shies away from declaring how seriously we are to take God - the first four commandments make this very clear. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain (how we even talk about God matters). No graven images - don’t even try to make a picture of me because it will always be a reduction of who I am, diminish me in sight of others. Honor the Sabbath (how serious are we about that) - keep the day holy to the Lord.

The name he gives himself: I am who I am. Consider this Proverb: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (in other words, I start to become wise when I start taking God seriously).

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a hard one, a sobering one. It’s meant to be. A warning - There is a God above who rules over everything - including us. And he means what he says. Question for us this morning - are we serious people - do we take God seriously?

Spiritual Disciplines - Take a step towards a greater commitment to Jesus Christ, to taking him more seriously. What’s one way that you might do this way as a way of demonstrating that you want to take God more seriously.

That’s what spiritual disciplines are all about - taking God seriously. After all, if I were going to be serious about running a marathon, I wouldn’t just go out and run it, I’d engage in serious training. If I were going to master a new skill, I’d have to put it into practice. Spiritual disciplines are a way we confirm our desire to put Jesus at the very center of our lives, to become people who love him above everything else.

For me, that will be my commitment to pray - not out of sense of duty, but because taking prayer seriously is a way that I take God seriously…his presence, his care, his power.

Consider how you might take God more serious in how you engage in spiritual discipline of worship (being here, how you worship, mind & spirit, time of teaching), discipline of solitude (time alone with God), for Capernaum it was failure to repent, consider the discipline of confession. Servanthood. Celebration. Sabbath. Reading and Reflecting on Scripture.

Inspiration - How Seriously God Takes You

As we finish this morning, I want to bring us back to one little part of the story of Sodom, vs. 16: For when he (Lot) hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.

One more reason why I hope we take God seriously - is his wonderful mercy towards us. Because God takes us seriously. God takes it incredibly serious that we are his people, and he is our God.

No where is that more evident than in what we’re remembering in the season of Lent: Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. The cross teaches us how seriously God takes sin, and what it requires to defeat it, destroy it. The cross teaches us how seriously God takes us - Jesus willing to take that cost on, dying for our sake.

Hebrews 12:1-3...And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Why are we to take this race of faith so seriously (fixing our eyes on Jesus)? - because he fixed his eyes on the cross, enduring all suffering, scorning its shame - for us. He took us seriously.