Sermons at Trinity Church

Genesis 13

Luke 12.13-21

PROSPERITY GOSPEL?

8^th February 2004

Jonny Elvin

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 All Bible references in this sermon transcript are taken from the English Standard Version. This can be found at www.biblegateway.com

 THE CHOICE OF LIVING BY FAITH OR BY SIGHT

Introduction

Insurance companies are very clever. They know how to tap into our deepest insecurities in order that we part with our money and buy into their schemes.

We’re all familiar with the adverts for life insurance: pictures of your car, your house, your spouse smiling from a private hospital bed, your children on holiday, and so on. And underneath they say things like: ‘All this protected for just [whatever-it-was] a month.’ I.e. money is the ultimate protector. You’ll be ok if you’ve got enough money.

Stores are very clever too. Last Christmas during the Selfridge’s sale in London there were signs all over the store that said, ‘Buy me. I will change your life.’ And this was clearly meant to be what the things in the shop were saying to us, if only we could hear their little voices. ‘Buy me. I will change your life.’ I.e. the good life is having everything you want. And only money can provide it.

Money is the ultimate protector and provider. That’s what our culture believes. That’s why our culture worships it. But the part of the Bible we’re looking at tonight says that’s a lie. It says there’s no real protection or provision except from the one, real God who made us. And in our own material prosperity and living in our materialistic culture, we badly need to hear what God is saying here.

1.       The test of failure 13.1-4

Abram faces up to his failure. Remember Genesis12.1? We saw there how God commanded Abram:
 

¹"Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

And God then promised to bless him with a five-fold blessing. So we saw Abram begin to live by faith in that promise:

So because he had faith in God he left Haran and went to the promised land. But in 12.10 onwards, he went down to Egypt because of a famine and tried to protect himself by lying - which showed lack of faith.

Abram now he had to deal with his own failure. That’s an important lesson for us all, isn’t’ it? There are plenty of books telling you how to be a success, but few tell us how to deal with failure. What did Abram do? He went back to square one. He reversed his tracks, back from Egypt through the Negeb and finds himself in the place between Bethel and Ai, where, we’re told in v4 he had made an altar at the first. And what did he do when he got there? What he had done the first time: And there Abram called upon the name of the LORD.

His faith drove him back to God, back to the place of sacrifice. That’s how he could cope with failure.

That’s a good lesson for us when we fail. To face up to our failure and to go back to the place of sacrifice – not our sacrifice, but God’s – to go back to the cross where our failure and sin is dealt with.

And then to move on from there.

By the 13.4 he’s back on track spiritually, trusting the LORD to protect and provide.

But then an issue crops up that forces a choice on both Abram and Lot.  

2.       The test of success 13.5-9

The presenting problem: the land won’t support them all. ⁵And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents,  The family posse has grown over the years and there are a large number travelling with Abram. But v6 says that ⁶so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together 

The Lord had greatly blessed them, but it led to tensions and conflict.

⁷and 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.

We don’t usually think of success and prosperity as a test. In fact most of us would think that if we had just a little more of these things then many of our problems would be solved. The prosperity test is one most of us would be happy to undergo! How foolish we are.

There are many dangers in prosperity, many risks in wealth. Remember what the rich fool said to himself in the parable? ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. take life easy; eat, drink and be merry’ (Luke 12.19) But God said to him ‘you fool. This very night your life will be taken from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

Surely the prayer of Proverbs 30.8-9 is better for us:

⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. ⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.

Prosperity brought a real test of character to Abram. How would he deal with it?

⁸Then Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.^{[1] 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 shows that he has faith in God to provide because his first reaction to the situation is not to grab the best for himself, it’s an act of almost incredible generosity.

Do you remember when you were a child and your mum used to cut up a cake or pour a drink. My mum tells me that she used to have to line up the glasses of squash and measure the slices off cake for me and my brothers or one of us would always say ‘it’s not fair – they’ve got more than me.’ Jane’s mum had a good way of doing it – either Jane would slice the cake and her brother would have first choice of which slice to take or her brother would slice and she’d have the choice. It makes sure that it’s fair.

Well, Abram says, ‘You cut and you choose. He knew he could trust God’s promises to provide and protect. So he didn’t put material considerations first, whereas Lot did.

3.       Lot lived by sight

¹⁰And 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.) ¹¹So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. ¹²Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.

Lot was a materialist – he saw the prospect of getting rich and went for it. Notice he doesn’t pray and he doesn’t ask himself which course would honour God – he sees and he thinks ‘I’d be a fool not to go there.’ He sees that the Jordan Valley is well watered like the land of Egypt. Which, in an agricultural society, means he’ll be well off. And we know from elsewhere in the Bible that Sodom was very well off indeed (see Ezekiel 16.49-50). And that’s what he sees – he sees the money and makes his choice. But he doesn’t worry that it might be like Egypt spiritually as well as geographically.

Did you notice the hidden spiritual danger. V10: he’s moving to a place which is headed for God’s judgement. V13: he’s moving in with people who are living lives which are offensive to God.

He’s on the steady path to compromise. So in 13.12 he’s living near Sodom. By 14.12 he’s living in Sodom. By 19.1 he is sitting in the gates of the city, i.e. he held a place of respect among the citizens of Sodom and 19.14 tells us that his daughters were pledged to marry inhabitants of the city. It’s the old story of how to boil a frog. Put it into a kettle of boiling water and it will jump out. But put it into cool water and then heat it slowly and it will stay there until cooked. 

For us like Lot the grass can sometimes look greener on the side of the world. But it’s short lived folly. If our choices in life are determined by whatever appeals to our eyes then Satan will make short work of us. He knows that find the right juicy worm – more money, more kudos, more pleasure, and we’ll be tempted to swallow it hook, line and sinker. He knows that if he can get us to believe that we can bite just a little then he’s got a chance of catching us. One thing leads to another so easily, doesn’t it, and before we know it we’re in over our heads. The chat up line, the secret phone calls, the touch, can so quickly lead to an affair. Sin is like a whirlpool – it has a powerful effect to suck us in. And getting out is so much harder than getting in.

No doubt Lot thought ‘I can cope’. But he makes the decision through his materialist eyes. And we’ll see later what a mistake that is.

So Lot lived by sight – he puts material considerations first. Whereas Abram lived by faith, v14

4.       Abram lived by faith

The renewed promise of v14 is a confirmation of Abram’s choice.

¹⁴The 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, ¹⁵for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. ¹⁶I 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. ¹⁷Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you." ¹⁸So 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.

 

This might seem like such a long time ago, so distant from our own situation, but it’s not. Look at the parallels:

God has revealed himself to Abram and made him a promise. Abram is now living by trusting God and looking forward to what he’s promised.

Our situation is no different. Yes, we’re further along the ‘time-line’ of history. We know how in the past God sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and gave us his Spirit so that we might live for him.

But being a Christian means to live by trusting Jesus and looking forward to what he’s promised –life with him in heaven. And the Bible describes heaven as an unimaginably good life – nothing bad there, everything good, and God at the centre of it, and finally visible to us.

And the question is: do we believe that we’re going there? Because only if we do will we make life-choices like Abram did in 13.9. The world then and now says: ‘Get what you can while you can. Earn all you can; buy all you can; own all you can; save all you can; make all you can.’

But Abram doesn’t. He gives. He gives first choice away. Because you don’t spend a lifetime trying to get if you know God is ultimately going to give you everything. You don’t spend a lifetime looking out for ‘number one’ when you know that Number One in the Universe is looking out for you. And this part of God’s word calls on us to trust that that’s exactly what our heavenly Father is doing.

So, what’s the lesson of this part of the story? The lesson is: as a believer, don’t put material considerations first in any choice.

That applies, for example, to work choices. When it comes to thinking at school or university what we want to do or be; when it comes to job-hunting, or job-moves or possible promotions - we’re not to put material considerations first. (Like, what’s the salary, the rise, the perks, the pension, the financial package?) The first consideration is: how will this job or move or promotion (or whatever) affect me in living by faith in Jesus? Will I have to lie or cheat? There are compromises we should avoid.

And some of us will be led out of our jobs because the Lord is leading us into full-time Christian ministry. And that’ll mean a cut in income and standard of living and ‘status’ (in the eyes of the world).

And we won’t make any of those choices we should make if we put material considerations first – if we’re living by sight.

Or apply this to houses. You find your dream house. Great location. Great investment. But Christian lives can be and have been ruined by houses. There are plenty of Christians so stretched by mortgages that, e.g., they’ve lost the freedom to give to their local church. Not just financially, but with their time. They’ve lost the option of having time and energy to serve in their church. They’ve lost the option for one of them to choose not to work; or for the wife not to go back to work once children arrive. And even if it’s OK financially, dream houses can be a nightmare spiritually if there’s no decent church nearby.

Again and again, people put material considerations first by choosing the house first, then looking around for a good church. Rather than the godly order of finding a good church first and then thinking about the house. And they often jeopardise themselves and their children spiritually. So many young people make their choice of university without even thinking about whether there’s a decent Bible teaching church where they’re heading.

Don’t put material considerations first in any choice.

Abrams faith is in the LORD as his ultimate protector and provider, and in the future the LORD has promised him. So when he makes choices, he doesn’t put material considerations first. Which is why, v9, he’s giver, not a getter; and vv14-18 he’s content with what he’s currently got because he knows that ultimately he’s got everything coming.

So where’s your faith? Where’s mine? Our choices – especially about money and possessions – will tell us if we’re living for the kingdom of God or the kingdom of this world. They’ll tell us if we’re living by faith or by sight.