Thriving in Sodom

Introduction

As a teenager, I used to work on my father’s farm all the time. I enjoyed it, but working on the farm comes with a lot of warnings. One of those warnings was consistently, “Watch out for the electric fence.”

Now, I want to tell you something. You don’t ever get shocked by an electric fence the first day you work on the farm. Unless you don’t know the fence is electric, then you probably will.

Actually, the more familiar you become with the fence the more likely it is to shock you. Why?

What scares you in the beginning you are careful with. But the more you become familiar with something, the more unguarded and careless you become with it.

In the same way, we see Lot getting really close to Sodom. And at first, I am sure that he thought he could reap the benefits without the world reaping him. This was not the case.

Read Genesis 13.

Genesis 13 ESV

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. 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. 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.” 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. 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. 14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Explanation

Abram and Lot come back to the Promised Land after their fateful stay in Egypt and being chased out. They resettle in the Promised Land, but because other people groups are there, the piece of land they occupy is pretty small. Lot and Abram’s shepherds start bickering over where they will feed sheep, so Abram tells lot to take the left or the right. Lot looks up, not to that land, but to the land of the Plain of the Jordan (on the other side of the Jordan River which is the border to the Promised Land). This land is by the notorious cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. So Abram lived in the Promised Land (and in not a very fertile part of it), while Lot “pitched his tents near Sodom.”

We see Abraham’s spiritual maturity in several ways. The foundation of spiritual maturity is fear of the Lord that leads to faith in the Lord.

Abraham places Lot before himself, modeling the teachings of Christ.

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

As a pastor, I have become concerned at the constant, aching need that Christians seem to have to accumulate or upgrade or purchase. There is this constant, neverending infatuation with “me, me, me.” And sometimes it is the necessity to have more. But other times it is the need to have more than the person next to me.

John Rockefeller, the richest man in the world at the time, was asked, “How much money is enough?” He replied, “Just a little bit more.”

Isn’t that the ethos of the age? Let me strive and get as much as I can. It doesn’t matter what that does to the people around me, I simply want as much as I can get.

John Calvin // The greatest misery of man is the restlessness of an ambition that never knows contentment.

Could you allow Lot the best choice of fields? Would you be able to take the second spot at the table of honor? Could you be happy with enough when your friends and family have more?

Abram demonstrates a rest in His soul that is alone found in God. “Lot, you take the pick of the land. I will have enough.”

Abram is walking by faith in the promises of God.

Abram, I believe freshly chastened by God after that experience in Egypt, sees that IS going to be faithful to his promises.

God kept his promises to Abram, even when Abram tried to destroy it. Easiest way to ruin the promise of blessing a great nation - give your wife to another man.

If God can be faithful to me in my worst, then He really is faithful.

Some of you are at your worst right now, the Lord wants you as much today as He ever has.

So whether he gets the best land or the worst, He has the Lord.

What will center you some days is not that the Lord will answer your prayer for your circumstances with a yes.

Instead, you will be centered by the YES that Jesus pronounces over your entire life and soul by His blood.

This is why Abram orients Himself by worship - not by anything else.

Notice that when Abram comes back to the Promised Land, where does he go first. The altar he built when he came there the first time. And because Abram is oriented correctly, he is making the right decisions.

Our lives are like a solar system. Something is at the center of our life, and everything else revolves around it.

For some of you, your mortgage is at the center of your universe. For others it is your children or your spouse or your appearance or your physical health or your finances or your boat. Everything else has to revolve around it.

The problem is - in our solar system - there is only one thing with the right amount of gravitational pull to put everything that revolves around it in order - the Sun.

And the same is true of us. Only the Son of God rightly orders everything else. And if he doesn’t order it, it will drift away.

Because Abram order Himself by God, God orders Abram.

Lot lifted his own eyes to the land near Sodom. God lifted Abram’s eyes. He told Abram where to look. We would solve ourselves so many problems if we settled in our souls, “I will go where you say to go, Lord, and I will do what you say to do.”

Abram’s next altar is built under the Oaks of Mamre where he meets Jesus, and intercedes on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah, pleading with the Lord to spare it, while Lot, living in Sodom, barely escapes the city’s destruction with his life.

We see Lot’s lack of spiritual maturity. Lack or spiritual maturity begins with a lack of fear of God, and it ends with faithlessness.

Lot chose by sight and not by faith. Genesis 13:10 “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.

Well, Lot chose the land that was in the valley next to Sodom. Three times in Genesis, moving East meant moving away from God. This doesn’t mean that if you move “east into Lexington” you are moving away from God. It is a literary device that is kind of a wink. It tells us that something is going to happen before it happens.

Lot’s eyes make His decision - not his faith.

He saw that the Jordan Valley looked like - the garden of the Lord (Eden) and the land of Egypt).

The first is a foreshadowing. Eden, though beautiful, was the place that man was tempted into ruin.

The second is a warning. Egypt brought Abram physical prosperity but spiritual depravity.

Lot made a decision based upon physical gain instead of spiritual principles.

You can go places where the money is good, but the context shrivels your soul.

Lot’s new homeland is physically lush but spiritually barren.

In not so many pages, Lot ends up in Sodom.

At first, he “pitches his tents as far as Sodom.” (Gn. 13:12)

Not only does Lot end up in Sodom, but he becomes a leader in Sodom. Chapter 14 tells is that Lot is “sitting at the gates.” This is where the rulers of the town would sit. Lot is thriving in Sodom, but Lot’s soul is not thriving in the Lord.

God comes down from heaven to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins. Lot is rescued, but not before he shows how deplorably he has fallen, loses his wife, has all of his things destroyed, and commits despicable acts with his daughters.

As Sodom is destroyed, Lot’s life as he had known it is destroyed. He is left in ruin.

Pilgrim’s Progress is the second most sold book of all time, behind the Bible. In it, John Bunyan outlines a Christian’s journey to the Celestial City, which is heaven.

The main character, named Christian, and his friend, named Faithful, must venture through a marketplace called vanity fair. Vanity Fair is placed along the route by Satan to deceive those who are journeying to the Celestial City.

In this city is a “fair” that is full of all “vanity” - houses, kingdoms, preferments, gold, jewels, husbands, wives, etc.

I find that an apt name for so much of what the world has to offer. A “fair” or a “carnival” is a fun thing to go to, but it would be a poor place to live. What fun can be had in a small amount of time. How frivolous to spend one’s life there.

And that gets at the “vanity” piece. This is a fair, a marketplace, a carnival, that parades an endless array of vanities - or meaningless things.

What vain things are you pursuing? What traps Americans isn’t that we are satisfied, but that we are constantly bombarded with the next thing. We aren’t satisfied, we are distracted.

During in the 18th and 19th century, missionaries found tribes in the Andes Mountains who would mix mud with roots and water to have full bellies during famine. It created a feeling of satiation, but people in the village were dying of starvation.

The clay was actually blocking nutrient absorption, causing intestinal issues, and accelerating the malnutrition.

People were dying of starvation with a full belly. Is that you today?

Lot cozied up to people who had no fear of God. Be careful about who influences you.

I think this goes for all of us, but it is especially pertinent to our students.

In highschool, I was on fire for God.

But around my senior year of high school, I started to hang out with people who had no fear of God and no desire to know Him. And slowly and steadily, their lack of faith began to infect my life. I started out just being around them and valuing their opinion. I ended doing all the things they were doing.

“But, Jesus hung out with tax collectors and sinners.” Understood. But there is a difference between the Son of God eating with tax collectors He is going to save, and you hanging out with people who are going to make you think and look like them one day.

If you think you are too strong of a believer for this to happen, then Satan has already got you on step one of his plan.

Lot began in the fields around Sodom, but he ended up living there.

Application

Psalm 1:1-3. If the Word of God give us sustenance, then the inverse of the passage is also true. The people around you, the scoffers, mockers, and ungodly can steal the sustenance from your soul.

Invitation

After Lot left, God came to Abram and reaffirmed the promises.

God didn’t promise you land, He promised you a person - Jesus.

Today, you can accept the promise and have eternal life.

You can return to the promise and stop starving.

You can celebrate the promise and find an anchor for your soul.