Let Everything Go – Part 6 for December 19th

This is Anne Graham Lotz. One reason God allows us to have problems is so we can demonstrate to a watching world how we, His children, respond. Who's looking at you and the way you handle your problems and disputes?

Often, it's someone you don't even know is watching. Taken from the life of Abraham. Here's Anne to introduce today's study in Genesis 19. The material luxury, the political power, the financial prosperity in Egypt at that time, and he became fixated on it for himself. Even while he was wandering around with Abraham, his heart and his mind seemed to have settled on gaining for himself the worldly advantages he had seen in Egypt. In Genesis 13, we read that soon after returning to Bethel from Egypt, tension developed and tempers flared between Lot's servants and Abraham's servants. It says in Genesis 13, 6, the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great they were not able to stay together. There just wasn't enough of what both Abraham and Lot needed to go around, and sharing was no longer an option. Fighting broke out in the home and the situation rapidly deteriorated into a serious spiritual problem. And here's the point. Abraham and Lot's neighbors, those who were of other religions, intently watched to find out what difference a relationship with the one true living God made on a practical, personal, day-to-day basis.

The practical problem that had become a personal problem was now a serious spiritual problem because Abraham and Lot's testimonies were at stake. Neighbors were watching. Here's Anne with today's message. Who's watching you and your home? And the frightening thing is, very often, we don't know who's watching us. It could be a neighbor, a Canaanite in Parisite, it could be our children, certainly, an in-law, watching the way we handle disputes. And I think of the Lots in my life, and the things that have come up, and the personal problems that have become practical, that then are spiritual because the fighting has broken out, and because they call themselves Christians. Then other people look at them, and they're looking to see a difference, and what they see is just them handling it the way the world handles it.

And they don't see any real difference. And when the dispute rose, a solution, of course, was for somebody to give in, or to give up, to let go selfishness, to give up their rights. And I think Lots was silenced because he was hoping his herdsmen would win. And when his herdsmen finally shoved Abraham's people off the land, and people would say, well, where did Abraham go? Well, you know, that old man, he just couldn't make it out here, and poor guy, and, you know, and he was just hoping that his herdsmen would grab all the land for himself. So he's silent. He's just letting the fight take place, and just rooting for his side. On the other hand, Abraham, in verse 8, he's the one that initiated the solution.

He came to Lots. And you know, that's a very godly thing to do, isn't it? When you sense something's wrong, and something's not right, to just go and try to take the initiative.

In fact, Jill Briscoe has something that she's taught me. If you sense that something's not right, you can just go to the other person and say, you know, are we all right? And just pull it out in the open. And Abraham pulls it out in the open, and he says, let's not have quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine. We're brothers, and it's not right. This is a Christian home. We want peace in our family. We don't want the Canaanites and Perizzites who are watching to see that we're no different than them.

So Lot, this is the solution. The whole land is before you. Let's spark company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right. If you go to the right, I'll go to the left.

Lot, you just take first choice, and I'll take your leftovers. You see the unselfishness? And Abraham could have said, Lot, you little brat, you've been tagging along since Ur, and God called me, and he's promised me all this land, and you know you're just a tag along, and now it's time you're on your own. Get lost.

Go back to Haran. Instead you see Abraham giving up his right to first choice, giving up his right to the land that God had promised him. And wonder if there would be a solution to the dispute in your home, in your life, if you would be the first to initiate the solution by saying, listen, we have a problem, and you can have it. I give up my rights. I give up what's mine, and you just let it go. And Abraham, I think, was willing to give up his desire for wealth because he wanted to maintain his witness, more concerned about his testimony than he was about any treasure he could hold, more concerned with his relationship with God than whatever this world had to offer. And what about you? Would you give up your right to be right, your right to first choice, your right to a position, your right to something?

Maybe it's an inheritance settlement, and they're fighting with your siblings, and the lots, and they're grabbing for what they can get. You know, have you ever thought about just giving it up? The world just challenges you and me all the time. Insist on your rights, claim your rights, assert your rights. And Jesus said, unless you're willing to lay down your life, you're going to lose it. It's when you give up your life that you find it. Abraham laid down, in essence, his life, what God had promised him.

So he says, Lot, you take first choice. So now look at Lot, verse 10, Lot looked up, and the King James Version says he lifted up his eyes. It'd be like being given a huge gift certificate to your favorite store in town, and you walk into the door, and you stand in the doorway, and you just lift up your eyes.

And you're looking at everything in that store, knowing you can have anything you want. He just lifted up his eyes. And he saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered like the garden of the Lord.

He saw two things. He saw that the well watered plain of the Jordan looked like the garden of the Lord. That looked like the Garden of Eden, is what he's saying. In other words, it was beautiful. It was comfortable. It was luxurious.

And I think what he saw was pleasure, and convenience, and comfort, and luxury. And you know something? I bet you I can get out of living in this tent and live in a home. In fact, I bet with all my wealth, I can afford the finest home in the neighborhood. And I won't have to ride a camel anymore. I can have the latest model car. And my wife can belong to the social clubs. Maybe we can even belong to that main country club downtown. And my children, they don't have to be homeschooled.

I can send them to the best schools, maybe even the private schools. And he looks at the well watered plain that looks like the Garden of Eden. Pleasure, comfort, convenience, luxury. And then he says it looked like the land of Egypt, near Zoar. And Egypt was sophisticated, civilized, intellectual achievements. It would be a place of prestige.

And a place of position. And I think Lot's looking at it like the land of Egypt. And you know that's what he's thinking about. He's just come from Egypt. And I think that's what's attracted him and changed his heart. Turned it away from God because he wants to live like back in Egypt.

He didn't want to go down there. But you know Sodom and Gomorrah that looks like Egypt and maybe he could build up his reputation. And with all of his wealth he could invest it and probably make a lot more money and be a leading business man in the community.

And then maybe he could even be elected to the city council and he could make a name for himself and increase his reputation and be somebody. And I think he looks at Sodom and Gomorrah looking like the land of Egypt and he sees possessions and position and prestige and power. And that's what he sees. Those are the desires of his heart.

I see that just because he lifted up his eyes. And the way it says it it's like he looks up with a covetous desire. And looking and longing for what he sees.

The pleasures and the prestige. I don't know what the desires of your heart are. And we can say our desire is to embrace the magnificence obsession and to pursue knowing God and making him known. But you know something?

Your decisions reveal the desires in your heart don't they? And when we look at the lots around us they can say also that they desire to know God. And that they're Christians maybe just on a little different track than you. And they go to Bible studies, books about the word and you know they can pray alright. They're just not too busy and they don't really believe in a disciplined prayer time.

That's for prayer warriors and stuff. But you know they're really following the Lord. But their decisions reveal the desires in their hearts. And you watch their decisions. Lot's decisions were so inconsiderate of others. Look at verse 11. So Lot chose for himself.

Right there you don't have to go any farther you see the selfishness. Lot chose for himself the whole plane. Lot. Abram said you could have first choice but take everything? Lot just took everything. And what about Abraham?

Where was Abraham going to pasture his flocks and his herds? Lot he didn't care. Totally selfish in his desires. He was choosing for himself everything.

Get it while the getting is good. Not only was he getting what he wanted. Inconsiderate of Abram but he was totally indifferent to God. Because verse 12 says there were cities there. Cities of luxury and comfort.

Everything that we've described. But also verse 13 says they were exceedingly wicked. There was no thought to the spiritual implication of this. No thought to what Sodom would do to the spiritual life of his family.

No thought to what kind of churches would be there. Maybe Lot in his distorted perspective would think you know I can go to Sodom and be a witness. I can just go down there and make a difference.

I'll bring the light into the darkness. And rationalizing his compromise with the world. And so Lot goes down there totally inconsiderate of Abram.

Totally indifferent towards God. Just seizing what he wanted. And I'm reminded of the story of the little boy who went to visit his grandfather. His grandfather had a jar of jelly beans. And so the grandfather offered them to the little boy and he said, Son take some jelly beans. And the little boy said, No grandfather.

You give me the jelly beans. And the grandfather said, No just reach your hand in and get some jelly beans. And the little boy said, No grandfather you get the jelly beans. And the grandfather said, Just reach your hand in there and get some jelly beans. And the little boy said, No grandfather you give them to me. So the grandfather reached in, got the jelly beans. Gave him the little boy. And he said, Why wouldn't you get the jelly beans for yourself? And the little boy said, Grandfather, it's because your hands are bigger. And Lot reached in the jelly bean jar and he grabbed for himself what he wanted.

But you know something? He got a lot less than he would have had had he asked his Heavenly Father to reach in the jelly bean jar and give him what he wanted him to have. So, what do your decisions reveal about the desires in your hearts? Do you want what you want? Or do you want what God wants you to have more than what you want? Abram wanted what God wanted him to have more than what he wanted. Lot wanted what he wanted. If you want what you want and you insist on getting it, watch out, because you may get it. And Lot got what he wanted. So he's not letting go of his superficiality.

He's not letting go of his selfishness. And I'm just going to define Sodom as the world. The world is different for each one of us and so it's hard to sort of apply what is worldly.

Because what is worldly to you may be not worldly to me and vice versa. But I'm going to say that worldliness is just the world without God. It's values and atmosphere and activities all without God. It's a worldly pace that's so fast it makes no time for God.

No time for devotional reading, prayer, busy, busy, busy. It's a worldly pattern of behavior where they live according to what they think is right or what feels good or what they can get by with or what seems to work. But you and I live according to the pattern of God's behavior and the pattern of God's word and the principles of his word. And worldly priority of me first, not the kingdom of God. And worldly preoccupation with pleasure, not Jesus. That's worldliness. And I don't know what the world is to you. It may be old friends. It may be certain clubs.

It may be certain ways of spending your vacation. It's just the atmosphere that's godless. Very attractive. Listen, it can be nasty and obscene like the Canaanites and Perizzites. But it also can be like Egypt.

Very attractive. And sin can look fun and beautiful. And all of that vacuum apart from God can look really progressive. Lot was insisting on going to Sodom. And he sat there. Verse 12 is interesting. He lived among the cities. He pitched his tent toward Sodom. By the time you come to Genesis chapter 19, Lot is sitting in the city gate.

You know what that means? He actually had become a member of the city council. It was the councilmen, the city leaders that sat in the city gate to pass judgment. They were the judges of the city. And Lot is sitting in the city gate. He has put himself in the community, worked his way up the social and the business and the professional ladder until not only is he a wealthy businessman in the midst of Sodom, but he is somebody. He's one of the leaders of the city.

Can I just stop there and ask if the Lot in your life has clutched their banana and they seem to be making good by it? And they have a reputation? I mean more reputation than you. And more money than you. And more prestige and position than you. And they're more of a person of influence than you. And it looks like, you know, they've been able to sort of add God to their lives, but they live for the world and it looks like they're really successful.

Especially when you compare it to you. Well let's turn to chapter 19. And I want you to just see for a moment what Lot got. Because he got what he wanted.

And this is interesting too. Peter tells us that he was a righteous, just man. But Peter also tells us he was constantly vexed in his spirit.

Which means he's living in the world surrounded by all these sodomites and he's made his mark and he's built his reputation and he's a leader in the city. But in the inside he's miserable. He can't enjoy it. But he still sits there. What kept him from leaving? He could have said, you know, this isn't what I wanted after all.

I thought it would be wonderful but this really makes me sick. Abram, I want to come back under the trees and you can have all my herds and I don't want the pastureland. I just want to get out of the world and come back to God. He could have gone back to Bethel. But he didn't. He was vexed and miserable and sitting in Sodom.

Not able to enjoy it but not willing to let go of Sodom. That worldliness in his life. And so there he's sitting. And I'll tell you the story leading up to chapter 19 first of all. Chapter 19 takes place after chapter 18. First part of chapter 18 the three men come to visit Abram. One of them of course is the Lord. The Lord tells Abram that he's going to have a child within the year Isaac is going to be born. Then Abram walks with the Lord and we hear that beautiful prayer for Sodom. But you remember that one verse where it said that Abram stayed before the Lord and the other two men went on? Well the other two men of course are angels disguised as men. So in chapter 19 we pick up as these two men, these angels disguised as men come into Sodom. And Lot's sitting there in the city gate and he sees these two men coming.

And he doesn't realize I don't think that they're angels but he knows that they're not Sodomites and they're strangers. And so he jumps up and he says please come to my home for dinner. Come stay in my home tonight. And the men says no we really are on assignment. We're going to walk through Sodom and see what's going on. And Lot says oh no don't do that. Please come to my home and spend the night. No we're going to walk.

Oh please I insist. And Lot insisted that they come to his home because he knew the streets in Sodom weren't safe at night. And so these two men came into his home and Lot served them dinner. And after dinner there's this enormous commotion at the door banging, screaming, yelling and Lot goes outside and there's a gay rights demonstration at his door. And everybody demonstrating for their right to sin. And Lot says in verse 6 of chapter 19 he goes outside to meet them and he says no my friends.

Look at that. These people were the ones he played golf with and played cards with and did business with. And these were his neighbors. These were his friends. No my friends don't do this wicked thing because these people outside his door were demanding that Lot send the strangers out to them so they could harm them. And Lot said don't do this wicked thing and then Lot to show you how far his standard of righteousness had lowered said I have two unmarried daughters. You can have them but don't hurt these men because they've claimed protection under my roof.

Can you imagine anything as disgusting as that? And you think you would never stoop that low but you know something when you drift from God and you stop reading his word and you measure yourself by the people that live around you pretty soon our standards get lower and lower and lower. But God's standards haven't changed. And so Lot has lowered his standards to the point it offered his daughters and they wouldn't accept that and so the strangers in his home pulled him back inside shut the door kept the men outside from breaking down the door and they said Lot judgment is coming.

God's going to destroy this place. You go tell your family and let me go back to the friends for a minute because this is what the friends said to him in verse 9. They said get out of our way.

You've come here as an alien now you want to play the judge we'll treat you worse than them. And do you see the way his friends turned on him? And you think you have friends in the world and they're really wonderful friends and you do business and you play golf and you do all of these things but oh listen to me Amos said two people can't walk together unless they're agreed.

And in your heart if that person doesn't also belong to Christ then how can you be best friends with a person like that because sooner or later the rubber will hit the road and they'll make their choice. And Jesus said if you're not for me you're against me. Lot lost his friends. Then we see him losing his family because the strangers pull him back in the house they say judgment is coming if you have any family inside them warn them that judgment is coming. So Lot goes and he runs to tell his sons-in-law really they're men that are engaged to marry his daughters in verse 12. And the two men told him go tell your sons-in-law anyone else because we're going to destroy this place and in verse 14 Lot went out and he spoke to his sons-in-law who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said hurry get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy this city but his sons-in-law thought he was joking. Lot you know if there is a God in heaven and if he's so important you would have told us about him before and if there was really an accounting for our sin if there's going to be judgment for sin you wouldn't have been living the way you've been living and so Lot you know we think you're just hysterical and maybe that gay rights demonstration has upset you so go home turn on the TV get something to drink just chill out feel better in the morning if we raise our children by our example to say that God is not first in our lives that God is just not important enough to really like leave everything behind and let everything go for you know the message our children get message our children get is that he's not important at all and a little bit of faith maybe we had in our generation is going to be lost in the next generation and Lot's sons-in-law thought he was joking they wouldn't believe him and so the angels he went back to tell him you couldn't get his sons-in-law and in verse 15 with the coming of the dawn the angels urged Lot saying hurry take your wife and the two daughters that are here or you'll be swept away when the city is punished and look at verse 16 when he hesitated he just couldn't let go and so the angels had to literally drag him out of the city with his two daughters and with his wife and they come out of the city and the angel said don't look back just shake the dust off your feet and get out of there and Lot's wife looked back longing for Sodom all of her beautiful things her beautiful home her beautiful friends she'd worked so hard to position herself in the community and she came under God's judgment and Jesus said remember Lot's wife because she despised God's gracious offer of salvation now here's Ann with this final word in Luke 17 32 Jesus warns us to remember Lot's wife whoever tries to keep his life will lose it Lot's wife teaches us by her miserable example not to despise God's gracious offer of salvation by clinging to our own pride and possessions and position clinging to our sin in Galatians 6 7 the Apostle Paul reminds us do not be deceived God is not mocked for whatever a man sows that he will also reap there are serious consequences to sin always without exception Adam ate the forbidden fruit his wife had offered and the Bible says then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized that they were naked Satan had told Eve her eyes would be opened and should be like God knowing good and evil her eyes were opened alright but she knew evil because she was saturated in it God is not mocked while you and I are free to sin however we want we're not free to choose the consequences before you consciously choose to sin consider the consequences maybe you're thinking it's already too late for me I'm living with the consequences now I can't go back but it's never too late for God your heavenly Father can redeem whatever wrong choices you have made but you need to go to him and tell him about it he will walk with you in the maze of circumstances and the tangled web your sins have made and he will bring you through Psalm 86 13 says for great is your love toward me you have delivered me from the depths of the grave go to God ask him to cleanse you of your sins follow the example of the psalmist in Psalm 32 5 I will confess my sin to the Lord do it invite God into your life to take control of everything your sin is covered you're forgiven Romans 6 4 says just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father we too may have a new life God offers you a new life start living in it today living in the light is a weekly study in God's word with teacher and author and gramm lots learn to listen to his voice then start making the choice to keep on going and believing and trusting who God is go to and gramm lots dot org take advantage of the many helpful free resources to get you started join us again for living in the light