Building an ALTAR or a HOUSE
Genesis 12:1, 13:1-18
Abram and Lot Separate
(Gen 13:12 NIV) Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.
(Gen 13:18 NIV) So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.
(Gen 12:1 NIV) The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
Abraham’s 1500 mile journey was fueled by faith. He left Ur of Chaldea and went to Haran of Chaldea. This city had a TEMPLE OF SIN.
The person who will obey God will do so ONLY by faith. It takes a solid faith in the one who has called you to…
1. Leave the only home you’ve known
2. Go without any promise of income
3. Travel 1500 miles on foot to a land where
enemy lives
(See also Heb 11:8-10.)
Now, Abram has been in Bethel when a famine hits. He goes to Egypt to live until the famine is over and then returns to Bethel.
(Gen 13:1 NIV) So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.
(Gen 13:2 NIV) Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
The Hebrew Word for “Rich” is HEAVY. Money and Materials are a burden/heavy.
RICHES are a BURDEN….
1. …to GET them
2. …of Fear to Keep them
3. …of TEMPTATION to MISUSE them
4. …of GUILT for MISUSING them
5. …of SORROW in LOSING them
(Gen 13:3 NIV) From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to where his tent had been before
(Gen 13:4 NIV) and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.
Bethel is interpreted, “The House of God.” Abram had already been here before the famine hit that area and he was forced to go to Egypt. Later, God would call Jacob to this same place for this same purpose (to build and altar). This was the place that Abram first talked with God, when the promise of the covenant was first put in place.
There are times in our lives when we have need of being reminded of our solemn vows (promises) to God. We need to go back, from time to time, to the place where we first made those vows to be reminded of them, and to call upon the name of the Lord again!
Think of marriage. The great German Christian author and martyr under the regime of Hitler said of our marriage vows: … Just as it is the crown, and not merely the rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage (vows), and not merely your love for each other, that joins you together in the sight of God and man. It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love."
This Place was called “House of God.” But it wasn’t because there was a church building there. It was because that’s where Abram first encountered the covenant of God for Him personally.
Even though he was far away from his home, even though there was no altar (it was now gone) he still kept his relationship with God fresh, he still prayed!
How about you. When you leave home, do you still have devotions when you’re on vacation, do you still have prayer? Do you still call upon the name of the Lord when you’re not standing at the altar (church)?
(Gen 13:5 NIV) Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
(Gen 13:6 NIV) But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.
(Gen 13:7 NIV) And quarreling arose between Abram’s herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
(Gen 13:8 NIV) So Abram said to Lot, "Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers.
(Gen 13:9 NIV) Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part 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."
(Gen 13:10 NIV) Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
(Gen 13:11 NIV) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:
Jesus says that it’s difficult for a rich man to enter into heaven, however, it’s not impossible and Mark 10:23, 24 remind us that financial prosperity, if managed well, makes it possible to do much more good. But the weight of wanting more and more and more can cause a person’s spirit to drown in the lust for the more and the better.
(Gen 13:12 NIV) Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.
(Gen 13:13 NIV) Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
Gen 13:13: The depth of iniquity, the unnatural lust which prevailed in Sodom is set forth in bold and plain language (cf. 19:4-14). The very name "Sodom" has become a synonym for gross immorality (cf. Rom. 1:24, note).
(Gen 13:14 NIV) The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west.
(Gen 13:15 NIV) All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.
(Gen 13:16 NIV) I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
(Gen 13:17 NIV) Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."
(Gen 13:18 NIV) So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.
You remember it was here, Hebron (Genesis 18), that Abraham was living when he met 3 angels. One of them was “The Angel of the Lord.” It is believed that this angel mentioned in the Old Testament from time to time, is actually the pre-incarnate Son of God, Jesus. It was at this time that Abraham was told that Sodom would be destroyed
CONCLUSION
Wherever you are building tents alone, you are living near Sodom and destruction will come upon you. But where you are building an Altar to God, you will always have the company of heaven with you.
Walking by faith requires ALTARS because there is no way to stay and to defeat the enemy without God.
As with Abraham, it is our beginning place; it is also the message of salvation for your life. You admit you are a sinner (in the wrong place) and, by faith, say, I believe in God and I believe Jesus died on the cross just to take my place so that I can be with God in heaven, and you begin to walk in a new direction and you live in a new place. But you will only stay in Hebron with God’s help! There are too many enemies against us to stand alone. The enemies are not only those on the outside but there are enemies within, as Abraham discovered.
To be all that God has called you to, you will have to stay, you will have to fight, you will have to build. The victories that you win may be WHERE you build, unlike Lot who set up his tent near the walls of Sodom, but more importantly how you begin the building. In your life; in your circumstances have you begun with the right project? In your daily projects have you and I established that our enemies will be defeated by building a tent or an altar? Or do you need to erect an altar where your tent now stands?
