Abraham and Lot: Choosing Peace in Community
Notes
Transcript
Main Idea:
Abraham’s trust in God strengthened his relationships, and his lack of faith caused division, therefore, we should trust God to build peace in our communities.
Introduction:
Introduction:
If you have been worshiping at Hutong with us for any amount of time, I hope you have seen that we desire that you know the Bible well.
We have many opportunities to learn more about what the Bible teaches,
including the Bible reading fellowship after service today.
As we read the Bible,
we need to see it as God’s perfect Holy word
We need to see it as the source of our knowledge about God,
Doctrine,
And
theology.
But we must also see it as a great practical book to help guide us in how we live our lives here on earth.
This isn’t just a list of do’s and don’ts that we blindly follow in order to keep a distant God happy.
But rather,
it is filled with examples and wisdom for how we can better live within community with each other for the Glory of God, which brings us great joy.
The book of Genesis is such a great book and I am so glad that God led us to go through it this year.
So far,
we have learned much about how sin has broken our relationships with
nature,
each other,
and God.
We have learned repeatedly about God’s ultimate plan of fixing this sin problem once and for all in Christ,
but we have also seen some practical actions that we can take to help our church community.
Today, We will see by examining our story that Our relationships seem to be strengthened more when we are living in Faith and Trusting God.
This does not mean that every relationship will be perfect if we just trust God more,
but there does seem to be a definite connection between the two,
and that connection is found not in our situations being better,
but our reactions to these situations being better.
We could break down the specific actions of Abraham that helped and hurt the community,
and many faithful preachers have done this.
But today, I want us to focus instead on the importance of faithfully following and trusting in God,
and how that must be our first priority in building community.
You see, Our story today speaks a lot about community and relationships,
but of course it’s not speaking directly to the church community.
Todays main idea however is quite simple, and I believe encompasses all types of relationships and community.
With that said, let’s take a look at the main idea of today’s Sermon.
I encourage you to take a picture of this and refer back to it throughout the sermon, because it will be the center teaching that everything else stems from.
Main Idea:
Abraham’s trust in God strengthened his relationships, and his lack of faith caused division, therefore, we should trust God to build peace in our communities.
To teach this, we are going to look at the story of Abraham in Genesis 12 and 13 and compare the times when Abraham was faithful, to the times when Abraham was not faithful.
Abram’s lack of faith further fractures the community.
Abram’s lack of faith further fractures the community.
Last week,
Rick started His sermon giving us a great summary of everything we had talked about so far in this series,
and I hope you saw the pattern of how sin repeatedly broke and fractured the community.
He then talked about how Abram was called by God,
and by faith, Abram followed God.
Abram is known as a great hero of faith,
and Rick even quoted where the writer of Hebrews discusses Abram’s great faith.
If someone was reading the book for the first time without any knowledge of the Bible or Jesus, they may even begin to wonder if this is going to be the great Satan crusher that was promised would come in Chapter 3.
But we see at the end of chapter 12 that Abraham also fails, and therefore cannot be the hero.
Let’s look at this starting in verse 10 of chapter 12.
10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance,
12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”
Again,
we rightfully honor Abram for his great faith,
but here,
just as we saw last week,
we see a lack of faith leading to horrible decisions that fracture the relationships with his wife.
Abram had been worshiping the one true God.
He did what we so often do ourselves,
he began to focus on the potential issues or dangers.
Instead of seeing them as hurdles for God to get Him through so that His glory would be shown,
He instead began to fix these issues himself through worldly sinful ways.
You see, God has already promised that Abram would have a child and that his descendents would become a great nation.
He had not had this child yet,
so how could he believe that the Egyptians could kill him?
This lack of faith in the promises of God has now led to lying,
and leading his wife to partake in the same lie.
Sadly,
we see the same thing happening multiple times throughout Abram’s life,
and to be perfectly honest and transparent,
I see the same in my life more often that I would care to admit.
I encourage you to take time this week and ask yourself, are there any areas of your life that instead of having faith in God and His timing,
in His plan,
you have instead tried to take matters into your own hands?
Maybe,
instead of trusting God for your daily bread,
knowing that He will care for you has He does the birds of the air and the flowers of the field,
the pressures to support your family has led to temptations at work to get drunk at meetings,
or possibly report wrong or misleading numbers.
Maybe, instead of trusting in God’s timing for a spouse, the pressure and desire to be married is tempting you to seek marriage outside of the church and marry an unbeliever.
Maybe, instead of trusting in God’s plan for your family, you are tempted to pull your family out of church to prioritize education instead.
To be clear, I am not downplaying the importance of education here,
I was a teacher before I was an elder.
But I am saying that our dedication to learning the truths of God and being obedient to them is of a higher priority.
So It’s important that we examine ourselves to see where we are lacking in faith to God because What we see in this story is true for us today.
Putting our faith in ourselves, our plans, or our desires is a sin that has very negative consequences.
These consequences do not only effect us, but others in the community as well.
What was the result of Abram’s lack of faith?
Let’s see starting in verse 14.
14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”
20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
This lack of trust in God has now led to a broken relationship with his wife,
who because of his lies and leadership,
is now living in Pharaoh’s house,
With plans of making her his wife.
Can you imagine?
This has to be one of the worse examples of a loving husband.
Women, can you imagine having a husband who tells you to lie about being married to him,
and as a result,
you almost end up married to a king of a foreign country?
What would that do to your relationship with your husband?
Would you feel loved?
Would you feel protected?
But We also see that this had a great effect on Abram’s relationship with those in his host nation.
Pharaoh is rightfully furious, and sends him away in anger.
Do you see the connection between Abram’s lack of faith and trust in God, and His relationships with those around him?
This leads us to our second point…
so Let’s continue the story and see what happens when Abram repents and returns to follow God.
Abram’s renewed faith strengthens the community.
Abram’s renewed faith strengthens the community.
1 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.
2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
3 And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
4 to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord.
This disastrous result of Abram’s lack of trust in God led him out of Egypt and back to what he should have been doing all along.
He returns to where God had made His covenant with him, and to the altar that he had made during that time.
He went back to the beginning.
He knew that trusting in his own plans has led to disaster, fracturing his relationships,
and therefore needed to return and worship God.
This is important for us to see.
Abram messed up.
He sinned against Pharaoh.
He sinned against his wife.
He sinned against God.
And These sins negatively effected his relationships with all three of these parties.
But that did not stop him from returning to the altar and begin trusting in God’s plan yet again.
For those of us who have been saved by the Grace of God and made a new creation,
we still have our sinful flesh with sinful temptations.
We are going to fail.
We will likely all go through times like Abram where He did not trust God as He should,
and this is likely going to hinder our relationships with not only Him, but others around us as well.
But Praise God that He is slow to anger and mighty to forgive.
So if that is you today,
If you are not living a life of faith,
trusting in God fully,
I encourage you to return back to the altar of praise and cry out to Him.
If you want to grow in your family and church community, you must first grow in community to God in trust and worship.
But I will give you a word of warning.
We often think that once we come back to a place of worshiping God,
and trusting Him,
that everything in our lives will be instantly better.
We think that because we have trusted in Him more,
that He will…
Give us that promotion.
restore our broken relationship with family or friends
Give us a child
Give us a spouse
or whatever else we desire to have or think we need to better worship Him.
That is not always the case though, nor was it the case for Abram.
For Abram, hard times did not disappear when he began again to live in faith, trusting God.
What changed was his ability to make wise choices during this time,
because he was making decisions in the knowledge that God would provide for him.
Let’s look at the troubles now facing Abram.
5 And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents,
6 so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together,
7 and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
In verse 12:16, we see that God continues to bless Abram while in Egypt and he becomes quite wealthy,
having many sheep, oxen, donkey’s, camels, and servants.
It is interesting that Abram recieved these things,
even while he was lacking in faith and trust in God.
I bring this up to say that we often see God’s blessings as a sign that He is blessing our behavior,
but that is a very dangerous idea.
What God says is wrong is wrong, and He is never going to bless that, but He still may bless us while we are doing wrong.
That was not sign of Abram doing right, and it is not a sign of us doing right today.
But God did bless Abram and Lott while in Egypt,
so much so,
that Him and his nephew Lott,
who has followed him from the beginning,
were not able to both pasture their flocks in the same place without conflict.
The servants of Abram and the Servants of Lott began to fight amongst themselves because the land could not support the sheer number of animals and servants that they both had.
This is where we see the effects of Abram’s trust in God.
His faith did not keep problems from arising,
but it did help him handle the problem with the correct mindset,
knowing that he does not have to fight and scheme for the provisions from God.
We see this in verses 8-9.
8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.
9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”
Abram was the Elder.
Culturally, he had every right to choose what land he would live on.
Abram was the one whom God gave the land to.
Divinely, he had every right to send Lott to the lesser land, or even back to Haran, where they were from.
But that is not what we see Abram doing here.
His experience, and His knowledge of God has shown him that he will be cared for.
He has seen the results of trusting in his own way of getting ahead, and what that did to the community.
So trusting in the promises of God,
He was willing to deny himself what was rightfully his in order that the community between his servants and Lott’s servants would not be further broken.
Where we see this modeled in Abram’s story, we see it being more directly taught throughout the new testament. An example of this is 1 Cor. 8:9
9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
Here, Paul is teaching what Abram modeled.
Just because you have the right or freedom to do something, does not mean that we should always do it, but rather we should think of others and their needs and weaknesses first.
How was Abram able to do this sacrificial act though?
The same way we are today, by trusting in God’s plans and will over our own.
By living by faith, not by sight.
But let us now compare that with Lott.
10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other.
Where Abraham was making decisions by faith, not by sight,
Lott looked out and made his decision based on what he could see.
He saw a land where his livestock could continue to multiply, having plenty of water to drink and grass to eat.
The desire to grow his wealth and possessions outweighed his desire to live a life in obedient trust to God.
How do we know this?
Let’s look at verses 12 and 13.
12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.
13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.
He chose to go and live amongst a wicked and evil people.
His eyes only saw the vast wealth to be had, and he chose not to see the extreme dangers that come from being in community with evil people.
I will not go into much detail here, because Rick is going to discuss it next week,
but this decision to live amongst an evil people led him to compromise to sin himself,
and even offer up his own daughters to be raped by evil men.
This is yet another example of how a lack of faith leads to compromise and that leads to further fracturing of our relationships.
Do you think his daughter’s felt loved knowing that their father was willing to hand them over?
I’m not saying Lot became as evil as his neighbors, the passage Rick will teach on next week shows that to be unlikely.
But it is clear that they had a negative influence on him, and this led to offering up his family,
those whom he was to protect,
to be violated.
This all stemmed from making decisions based on his own desires instead of decisions based on faith in His creator.
We too can begin to compromise once we have our eyes set on what we can accomplish, instead of trusting God to accomplish His will through us.
This compromise is not only going to effect ourselves, but it will effect our family, friends, and church community as well.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
With that, I hope you have seen the correlation between our faith in God and the betterment of our community.
The text today showed the relationship between spouses, other family members, employees and coworkers, as well as between people and governments.
The truth is,
our faith in God is going to effect our relationships in all of these things, as well as our relationships in the church.
With that in mind..
Have you allowed the burdens of this world to weaken your faith?
Have you begun to put your plans ahead of God’s plan?
If so, I urge you to heed the warning of this story.
To see that living by sight and not by faith leads to a further fracturing of our community, and even more important, to your relationship with God.
So If you are not trusting in Him for all things, I urge you to repent of this today.
See God for who He is, a heavenly father that we can trust and put our plans into his hands.
If you are currently trusting in Him for all things,
don’t stop,
Keep going.
Don’t allow circumstances and fear allow you to take things into your own hands.
Don’t allow your own desires lead you to make decisions outside of His will.
We are going to have a couple minutes of private prayer, because I want to give you time to seek God and see which of these examples best fits where you are, and I want you to pray for how to best begin to Trust God more.
If there is anyone in the church who you have offended, or who has offended you, I urge you to use this time to go to them and seek reconciliation.
We want a church where we love and care for each other, and we won’t do this unless we first love and care for our creator.
So take time to pray for both today.
After a couple minutes of praying alone, I will transition us to a time of corporate prayer where we can pray for each other, interceding for each other so that our faith and trust may grow together.
If you are needing more time focussed on private prayer, or maybe you are not comftorble praying with others this morning, feel free to keep your head bowed in your seat instead of getting into a group.
Let us pray.
