The Blessing of Peace

Our text this morning comprises the fourth of nineteen sections in the narratives about Abram.[1]Last week, we covered the first three in which we were introduced to Abram and his family, were told about God’s call of Abram accompanied by six great promises, and of a troubling account that took place when Abram and his wife went down to Egypt. Now, in chapter 13, we find Abram returning from Egypt only to experience some tension within his own family, specifically between him and his nephew, a man named Lot.

Let’s remember that the Abram episodes found in Genesis 12-25 tell us about the beginning of God’s grand plan for the world, a plan which we Christians believe has been brought to fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth. Just consider what Galatians 3:8 says, that the gospel was “preached” to Abram in the words found in Genesis 12:3, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” Amazing. What is the gospel? Well, one way to answer that question is to say, “In Abram every single nation on earth will be blessed.” So, to understand Jesus and what he has accomplished, we need to understand Abram and what he was promised.

Here at the start of this grand plan is a man called Abram who dares to believe God and the promises he has made to save the world through Abram’s family. As such, Abram is our exemplar of faith. He shows us what biblical faith is and how it functions in the life of those who, like him, dare to believe in God and his grand plan.

What this passage in particular shows us is that a life of faith calls us to the pursuit of peace in light of the promises. In this chapter, we see Abram living out his faith as he pursues peace with God, with his neighbor, and ultimately with God’s promises. And this chapter leaves us inquiring whether our faith spurs us on toward peace in similar ways. And if not, then we have to wonder about what this “faith” is that we claim to have. What exactly is it we believe?

Peace with God

First, notice Abram’s faith leading him to pursue peace with God.

Sovereign Grace

Coming on the heels of the story at the end of chapter 12, the story we find here is a refreshing one. It is clearly a positive story from Abram’s life, but it is also one that is deeply connected to his life of faith.

Verse one begins: “So Abram went up from Egypt.” Stop right there. Does that phrase catch your attention? If you’re not familiar with the Bible, there’s no reason why it should. But for the original recipients of Genesis, to go “out of Egypt” is an unavoidable major theme. In the chronological setting, this is a simple geographical comment, but as the story goes along, it becomes a major theological marker. Abram typifies so many others in scripture who go out of Egypt, moving forward in faith. And of course, in Abram’s case, he has basically been driven out of Egypt, exiled from that country because of the problems he caused there. But there’s grace in that, too: it is better to be out of Egypt! Abram’s time in the land that God had promised to him goes much, much better than those occasions in which he leaves for other places.

This is an important aspect for pursuing peace with God. We must come to recognize God’s grace to us in all of our circumstances. Some of those circumstances come from our own sins; others catch us entirely off-guard and unprepared. But, with Abram, we must learn to trace the sovereign hand of God whatever the circumstances, and whatever the causes for those circumstances.

Saving Grace

Notice what the narrator tells us Abram does when he leaves Egypt. He returned “to the place where his tent had been at the beginning.” Verse 4 says it was “the place where he had made an altar at the first.” We read about this in Genesis 12:8. The place he has returned to is not simply familiar territory. It is sacred ground.

You see, the significance of this place to which Abram has gone having left Egypt is like the significance of the place Israel went when they left Egypt many years later. It is a place of worship. It is a place for reconnecting to God.

It is there that Abram once more “calls upon the name of the LORD.” That is a phrase which denotes formal worship.[2] Abram is worshiping God “out loud.” He is making his faith public. He is identifying himself with the godly line of Seth who were the first to establish this kind of public worship of God (Gen 4:26). This will be a characteristic of the faith of the patriarchs (Gen 26:25) and, indeed, for anyone who claims to share in their faith. As the prophet Joel says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Joel 2:32).

To be “saved” is to return again and again to the sovereign grace of God in public worship. To show not only with our mouths but also with our bodies, with our time, with our presence, that our hope is in this God. Abram models for us the saving grace of consistent worship in which we acknowledge our hope in the sovereign grace of God.

The Psalmist models this for us, too.

I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!” Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you (Psa 116:1-7)

Public worship re-centers our souls back on God and his sovereign grace over us. It provides an antidote to our disordered hearts which so easily rebel against God and his promise.

Priestly Prayers

There may be even more going on here in this public worship. Throughout the Abram narrative, we only find him at an altar while he is in Canaan. “There is no altar during his sojourns [elsewhere]—only half truths, lies, and troubles.”[3]And since Abram has been promised, not only to be blessed by God but also thereby to be a blessing to the world, his centeredness in worship, his peace with God, also makes his worship, his sacrifice and his prayers, priestly. The only other place in the primeval stories in Genesis 1-11 where we saw an altar was with Noah in Genesis 8:20 where he is portrayed as a second Adam: a priest rightly related to God for the sake of the world.

So again we must remember: because of the promise to Abram in Genesis 12, when he, and his faith family like him, are at peace with God this opens them up to be a blessing to the world. The public worship of God is missional. Your neighbor may not be worshiping God in church this morning, but—though they surely are not thinking about this—it is to their benefit that you are!

Peace with Others

I think this point is well-demonstrated by our text. Notice, next, that the life of faith leads us not only toward peace with God but also, then, toward peace with others.

The Temptations of Prosperity

The bulk of this chapter is about conflict and tension within Abram’s family. How Abram handles this conflict with his nephew, Lot, is instructive; the narrator is presenting Abram here as a model to imitate in situations like this.[4] Of course, Lot will also be an important figure a bit later in Abram’s story, but here he is a foil for how the life of faith leads us to pursue peace with others.

Both men are rich. Verse 2 says, “Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.” Verses 5-6 say that Lot “also had flock and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.” The conflict begins between their respective herdsmen. But in verse 8, Abram nips it in the bud. “Let there be no strife between you and me.”

The prosperity of Abram and Lot is, in this case, an evidence of God’s blessing upon Abram and his family. And it’s not incorrect for believers today who find themselves materially prosperous to see in this the blessing of God. But here’s the thing: even the blessing of God can become a temptation for us to lose faith. We can understand why that may be so. How easy it is for one who prosperous materially to begin to trust the blessings rather than the God who blesses. Or, in the words of Jesus, “how difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:24).

The Priority of Unity

Oh yes, “wealth brings many new friends,” says Proverbs 19:4, and, we might add, many new conflicts because of that wealth. And so, “if riches increase,” we are told in Psalm 62:10, “set not your heart on them.” Easier said than done. How can we know if our heart has turned to trust in Mammon rather than God?

Abram gives us one way to evaluate our hearts. Here he is, coming out of Egypt and pursuing peace with God in worship, and blessed. There is now a new danger to confront. Abram, now re-centered on God, sees the danger, and the danger is not this petty conflict between him and Lot. The danger is not out there, the danger is in here, in his own heart. At just the moment when it would have been so easy for him to justify self-exertion—he is, after all, the one through whom the blessings to everyone else are to come—he refuses to do so.

Nothing could be more tragic than for the blessing of God to rip apart the family of faith, for the blessing to turn into a curse. And yet that’s what so often happens. There can be no competition when the blessing of God is what we are after, because it’s not a zero-sum game. “The blessing of the LORD makes rich,” the Proverbs say, “and he adds no sorrow with it” (Prov 10:22). With a bountiful God there will always be enough for everyone.

And so, Abram prioritizes peace with others over his own prosperity. He cedes territory, giving Lot the first choice of where he will set up his camp. Here in verse 9 we find just the second direct speech of Abram—his first was back in Genesis 12:11-13 when he betrays his wife to preserve his own neck. Here, in the midst of the nations (notice the end of verse 7), he is “the reasonable peacemaker” who is “conscious of family bonds.”[5] What a contrast.

Peace with God and Man

What has happened to Abram that explains his change of behavior? Surely it is the altar scene in verse 4. The narrator is telling us that once Abram had gotten himself re-centered in genuine worship, it led him to seek peace with others. That’s how it works. Peace is like love in this way. John tells us, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20). The same can be said about peace. Since in Jesus we find peace with God, we must also “strive for peace with everyone,” as Hebrews 12:14 commands.

And the reason we must do so is because it is one of the greatest gifts we have to offer to everyone. Abram has been told that in him all the families of the earth will be blessed. His peace with God means peace for the world. What this means for Christians today is not all that hard to see, once we keep the promises to Abram in Genesis 12 in front of us, the gospel as Galatians 3 says. It is the church of Jesus Christ who is the heir of his promises. We are the ones who “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). And so, living at peace with our fellow Christians, in this church as well as in all the others, is central to how the blessing of peace will come to the rest of the world.

Peace in the Promises

Do we believe that? Oh how important this is in our day, with so much division in the world. Christians have an incredible opportunity to bless the world with peace, but we, like Abram, must know, we must be at peace with, the promises that God has made to us.

Waiting for the Promise

You see, it’s not like Abram is entirely disinterested, passive, avoiding conflict. It’s not like he is simply a peacemaker by personality. No! He is genuinely after something. He’s motivated by the promises. And he has made peace with them. They are what he wants; they are what he is after. They are what God here reaffirms to him.

See it there in verses 14-18? God said to Abram, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.” Since God has made this promise, then Abram must trust God to deliver on the promise.

So while Lot chose in pride, seeking the best for himself, Abram chose in peace, prioritizing a clear conscience and peace with his neighbor. Lot settled in the cities where the people were great sinners. You probably know how that’s going to turn out. “Abram settled in the land of Canaan,” just where God wanted him to be (v. 12).

Are you where God wants you to be?

While We Wait

And do you know why God wants you there in the first place? The answer comes from our hope as Christians, that we are, in fact, members of Abram’s family of faith, heirs of the promises made to him (Rom 4:13). It is God’s good pleasure, Jesus said, to give us his kingdom of peace (Lk 12:32). Our task is not to go around “naming it and claiming it,” but rather to go around knowing it and waiting for it.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus said (Matt 5:9). And we who believe him must come to see how it is that in him it is all coming true. And, like Abram in this chapter, we must prioritize peace because that is what we have been promised. Peace is what must characterize the good news that we preach (Eph 6:15). We can’t then preach this gospel and refuse to embody its peaceful promises.

Remember, the promises in Chapter 12? The first three were for Abram and then the last three were through Abram for the world. The gospel message is for us, but it is also meant to be through us for the world. To believe the gospel necessarily involves us in its saving work.

It will become clearer a couple of chapters later, but Abram’s actions here are not just about bringing peace between two people in conflict. They are salvific; because Abram believes in God’s promises to him, it will end up being Lot’s salvation. Or, to say it another way, Abram is acting like a priest here, and throughout this chapter. His strength is evident in his total devotion to God. He brings blessing to Lot through service to him and defines for us what the kingdom of God is like. This will be a kingdom, as one scholar puts it, “marked by priesthood; that is, service of God on behalf of people and vice versa.” This will be “its distinguishing characteristic among the world of nations,” the fact that this kingdom will exercise dominion through service.[6] It will be a kingdom that gives away peace and does not insist on taking for self-benefit.

The Challenge of Peace

Now this can all sound very pragmatic, and we all know it can also be quite manipulative, too. I have a memory from grade school. We were having some kind of class competition, and the result came down to the wire. The teacher announced that my opponent had won. Rats! But instead of showing my disappointment or reacting in protest, I congratulated my opponent and told them “good job.” The teacher then recognized this and gave me some other prize at the ed of the day; a prize, in fact, that was greater than the one my opponent received from the silly competition.

What a hero, right? What a good kid I was! Hardly. I did it deliberately, calculating that by showing myself a good loser I would be rewarded handsomely by the teacher.

Such is not the way of Jesus.

Notice, also, that in this story Abram does separate from Lot. Yes, sometimes our attempts to live at peace do not end in reconciliation and harmony. We can always hope for that, but Lot made his own decision and would be accountable for his own choice.

People of God, peace will always be a challenge for us until the day that the Prince of Peace returns to consummate his eternal kingdom of peace. But this is a challenge we must accept. It is central to the promises we believe. It is what must characterize the life of faith. And it is the blessing that is ours to give away to the world.

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[1] As enumerated by Peter John Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants, Second Edition (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 265. [2] K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, vol. 1a, The New American Commentary, ed. E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 292. [3] Gentry and Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant, 271. [4] Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1–15, vol. 1, Word Biblical Commentary, ed. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard, and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas: Word Books, 1987), 299. [5] Robert Alter, Genesis: Translation and Commentary (New York: W.W. Norton, 1997), 54. [6]Stephen Dempster, cited in Gentry and Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant, 361, emphasis original.