Genesis 23
Last week we saw Abram go through this phase of doubting the Lord. Remember how he took matters into his own hands when it came to dealing with the famine in the land God had promised him and about how the Egyptians would treat him when they found out Sarah was his wife. Instead of trusting God to take care of all his needs, he doubted God would do that, took matters into his own hands, and reaped some serious consequences for it.
- Publicly humiliated
- Exiled from Egypt
- Possible rift in marriage
- Ended up right back where he started
But when he did end up right back where he started it brought him back to reality. So he went back to the place where his faith was on fire and worshipped the Lord there. Abram’s phase of doubt was over and his faith was restored.
And it’s a good thing because his faith was about to be tested. Tested by his own nephew Lot. As a matter of fact, this test was just as much a test for Lot as it was for Abram. Who would pass and who would fail? The answer to that lies in how each one would react to the test before them. One acted selfishly and the other acted selflessly.
And you know what? Selfishness and selflessness are one of faith’s thermometers. At the bottom of a thermometer where cold temperatures are displayed a lack of faith is there. Cold, untrusting and looking down at the earth. At the top of a thermometer where hot temperatures are displayed a strong faith is there. Warm, trusting and looking up to Heaven. Where would Abram and Lot register on the scale?
Well, we’ll soon see. And what a better way to find out than through a family conflict. You know those kinds of things can really put our faith, or lack thereof, on full display. And far too often family conflict become family division. But you know what, conflict is an opportunity for faith. And that’s the first thing we’re going to see here.
I. Conflict is an opportunity for faith.
[Read Genesis 13:5-7.]
So here they are in the land of Canaan and have got too much stuff. Their business is just going too good! They’ve got so many livestock and workers and things that the land they’re in just can’t sustain them both.
Now remember, it also says that the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land long before they got there. Most probably they were taking up the most prime areas. So what land was available wasn’t enough for both of their booming businesses.
Now you’d think this would be a good thing. You’d think that they’d all be happy and trying to figure out how they could make it continue to work and get even bigger. But somehow a strife arose and started to divide the families even down to the workers.
How does this happen? How can things be going so good and yet it just isn’t good enough for some people? I mean, work it out! Look how the Lord’s blessing! Recognize that and simply work it out! But some people are so blinded by self-centeredness that they don’t see what God’s doing. All they see is their own little world so they stir things up.
[Youth group growing, cigarette buts in parking lot story.]
You see when conflict comes, when differences comes, you can tell a person of faith from a person without by the way they react to the strife. And often selflessness is an expression of faith.
II. Selflessness is an expression of faith.
[Read Genesis 13:8-9.]
What an incredible act of faith on the part of Abram. He had obviously become aware of the crowding problems in their area and of the strife that had arisen between the families. But in the midst of the conflict Abram’s faith shines through. Now, let’s consider a couple of things before we go any further.
Abram had every right to lay down the law and decide what would happen here.
- Abram was Lots’ uncle, the eldest in the family
- Abram was the patriarch or the head of their entire family
- Abram had received the covenant for the land directly from God
But for the sake of the family Abram generously and graciously let’s Lot decide where he
wants to live. Abram in turn would take whatever land was leftover. This selfless act shows that Abram had returned from Egypt with a renewed faith that displayed itself in his selflessness.
Remember this is the one who didn’t want to deal with the famine in the land the Lord had given him, so he selfishly left and went to Egypt.
Remember this is the one who selfishly considered his life more important than the life of his wife allowing her to go into Pharaoh’s harem.
But now, he was at the bottom of the list and others came first. We can learn a lot about being selfless from the way Abram handled this conflict.
- He initiated the confrontation with Lot, “So Abram said to Lot…”
- He confirmed his purpose in confronting Lot, “no strife between you and me…”
- He considered Lot’s situation over his own
[Read Genesis 13:9.]
Now in giving Lot his choice of the land Abram had to trust that God would somehow provide land for this nation that he was going to build through him. I mean, it takes land to build a business, to build a family and to build a nation. The Canaanites had their land, Lot would have his land, what would be left for Abram? But Abram believed that God was big enough to handle this problem through his selfless acts.
[George Muller story.]
Selflessness shows strong faith. It shows that you aren’t depending on yourself. You aren’t acting on your own behalf. You’re an others-oriented believer who knows that God takes care of his own.
[Read Matthew 6:25-34.]
But on the other hand, Lot saw Abram’s graciousness as an opportunity to become even wealthier than he already was. And as a result, makes the biggest mistake of his life. You see:
III. Selfishness shows a lack of faith.
Now remember something as we read through this next passage. Moses was recording these events some 700 years after they took place. The area that he would be describing, the area of Sodom and Gomorrah, would have been destroyed by Moses’ time and wouldn’t have resembled the area that his fellow Jews knew of. So he lets them know what Sodom and Gomorrah used to be like before God destroyed it. (We’ll get into that in chapter nineteen.)
[Read Genesis 13:10-13.]
So out of pure selfishness Lot takes the best land he could find and moves his entire family and business there. I mean, just how self-centered could you be? He doesn’t even offer a compromise of land with his elder uncle Abram. He doesn’t say, “No Abram, you take the better land and I’ll take what’s left.” He doesn’t even say, “Uncle, how can we make this work out?” He simply says, “Thanks uncle!” And takes the best for himself laughing all the way.
You see this in kids all the time, right? Especially when it comes to food. Have you ever heard this, or shall I say, how many times have you heard this? “His piece of cake is bigger than mine!” “He’s got more M&M’s than me!” “Why does she get to stay up later than me?”
But its just selfishness. People want what they want when they want it. And Lot’s no exception. His selfishness displayed his lack of faith.
You see, when you’re faith is weak then you feel like you have to do it all yourself – as opposed to trusting God to take care of you. Consequently we become self-centered and selfish.
When Lot took all the best land it was his way of self-sustainment. He had it made now that he had the best land – even if that land was home to some of the most wicked people on the earth at that time. The bible calls the Sodomites “exceedingly sinful” which means they had an intense ungodliness that was synonymous with their reputation. And this is where Lot chose to live, raise his family and build his business.
[Going to Las Vegas with Dad story.]
What a huge, selfish mistake Lot made. And next week we’re going to see just how bad things started to go for him in that area. But that’s what happens when we make decisions purely for ourself.
Now while Abram stood and watched Lot go off into the distance I wonder what he was thinking. Just because he made the right decision doesn’t mean it was an easy decision. There goes his nephew and his family and they’d be setting up shop in the best lands around.
But you know what our gracious God did? He personally spoke to Abram and reaffirmed his promise to him. He let Abram know that even if Lot was leaving him, even if the best lands were taken up, even if the Canaanites were all around, “I am still here with you.”
IV. Confirmation comes as a reward of faith.
[Read Genesis 13:14-18.]
Maybe Abram needed a little encouragement. Maybe he needed a little boost. Maybe he needed to hear from the Lord that he’d done the right thing. Remember, Abram didn’t have a Bible he could open up and read. Abram didn’t have a church he could go to for encouragement. I’m sure as he watched Lot leave he wondered how the Lord would work it all out. So the Lord shows up and reaffirms His promise to Abram.
The Lord even gets a little more specific concerning the details of the land for the nation. He tells Abram to look and even walk through the land that God would fill with Abram’s descendants. Again he tells him that the nation’s peoples will eventually be innumerable.
Obviously Abram’s faith had been confirmed and encouraged through the Words of the Lord because he immediately goes to Hebron and builds an altar to worship the Lord. His faith was shown by God as rightly placed and rightly executed. So this realization brought him to his knees and all he wanted to do was worship God who had been so faithful to him.
These are great moments in the life of a believer. When we act in faith, not seeing how the Lord will accomplish something, but trusting that He will, and then getting to see the fruition of our faith, that’s an amazing thing!
[50 people leaving last year, missions budget, hiring Ward examples.]
Now we continue to trust Him by allowing Him to fix our eyes on what’s important. Lot and Abram looked at things differently. That’s because Lot was selfish and Abram was selfless. Look at the difference in perspective between them.
[Read Genesis 13:10, 14.]
Lot looked at what he wanted to look at for himself. Abram looked at what God wanted him to look at. And that made all the difference in the world. What motivates your perspective?
Selfishness or selflessness?
