Faith Restored - Pastor Tom Loghry
From the text of Genesis 13, Pastor Tom discusses the biblical narrative of Abram's trust, his parting with Lot, and God's promise of land and descendants, connecting it to the broader concept of God's kingdom and the fulfillment of promises through Jesus Christ.
Transcript:
This is a reading from Genesis chapter 13 verses 14 through 18. The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, look around from where you are to the north and the south to the east and the west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 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. Go walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you. So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched the tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.
Will I ever find a girlfriend? That was the question that loomed over my seventeen-year-old mind. See, I had just shaken myself loose from an immature relationship that I had really only taken on to boost my ego. I had never had a real girlfriend up to that point in my life. That summer, I was working at a summer camp and I met a girl that captured my attention. I tried to spend time with her during our breaks. I went bowling with her and a bunch of our friends. I'd send her Facebook messages trying to strike up a conversation. And I mostly just got back one word answers. Yeah, okay, cool. It was all code for get a hint, I'm not into you. And I did eventually get the hint. It left me feeling pretty despondent, you see, because I'm a person of action. I set my eyes on something and then worked towards it. And you can believe that even at 17, 18, I was already worried about, you know, I'm never going to get married and all of that. So I was really anxious about that. And in that moment, I just felt completely aimless. But God ministered in a unique way to me at that time. There have always been times in my life where I've been anxious for something, and having faith and finding peace have been a struggle. But at that time, God really impressed upon me that I need to leave this in His hands. and that he would take care of it. And it was so strong that I actually did that and enjoyed immense peace. I was truly trusting God to take care of it. But I was honestly surprised when only two months later God worked things together so that Sara and I would cross paths. That was enough to resolve my trust so that even when another girl seemed to try to get my attention while I was still getting to know Sara. I didn't pay that other girl any mind. I was intent on finding someone who loved the Lord, and I could tell that between the two Sara was who God had in mind. And the rest, as they say, is history.
We know from Abram's time in Egypt that he's not perfect when it comes to trusting God and having peace. He is known for his faith, but he stumbles along the way. God had promised to give him the land of Canaan and make him into a great nation, but he doubted that promise when he feared the Egyptians might kill him for his wife Sarai. And he convinced his wife to go along with his plans, just say that you're my sister, and she was taken into Pharaoh's household. Seemed like things had gone sideways, but God in His mercy intervened, bringing disease on Pharaoh's household, restoring Sarai and Abram as a couple, and bringing them again to Canaan in prosperity. And their story continues in Genesis 13. And we're gonna start in verse one. Moses records for us, he relates to us saying, so Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev with his wife and everything he had in lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel. So the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar, there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
So again, we hear this report, we had already heard about how Abram had gotten lots of animals and become pretty well off during his time in Egypt. He got to take all that with him into the land of Canaan, he's prosperous. And he basically reverses his journey. He goes from Egypt into the Negev, which is that desert. And then he goes to the place that he had gone to that was between Bethel and Ai, where he had built an altar. I'm not sure if we have the map on the next slide. There we go. Which is, you can't see it from where you're seated, but it's just above Jerusalem. It's right about there. That's where he was, just to the north of Jerusalem. he goes there and he calls on the name of the Lord now it's really interesting because if you go back to the whole episode in Egypt we don't see it record him calling on the Lord. Now, perhaps he did, Moses wasn't isn't telling us everything that happened, but there's no record of it given and almost seems as though the lack of that detail kind of just underscores, perhaps, Abram's lack of trust in God during that time. It also could be that the way that Egypt was socially, politically, they might not have allowed him to just build an altar to another god. Again, I think I talked about a couple weeks ago about how gods had a geographical territory and so building an altar to another god in a land that was not that god's land could perhaps upset the gods and it could put Abram on bad terms with his neighbors. But now he's back in Canaan and God has claimed Canaan as his own. He's told Abram that he's going to give the land of Canaan to him. So as we see Abram calling on the name of the Lord here, I think what we see is a renewal of Abram's trust in God. Not that he wasn't, trust and faith is always a fluctuating thing. We see this in the lives of the disciples as well, following Jesus. Where in moments they seem like they have great faith and in other ways they falter. And we see the same thing playing out here with Abram. And we can consider this maybe a higher point. in his walk where again he's coming to God. He's strengthening his faith and trust by calling upon him. It's reminiscent I think of the model that Jesus set before us during his earthly life where he's going about ministering but even he would take time away from the crowds, away from his disciples to be alone, to call upon the Lord in prayer. It's a reminder to us in our own personal lives, we need to take time to do that. Abram's trust is going to be put to the test again soon.
As we go on, we see that a dispute arises between him and his nephew Lot. Continuing in verse 5, it says, Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 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. And quarreling arose between Abrams herders and Lots. The Canaanites and Perrizites were also living in the land at that time. So Abram said to Lot, let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders or mine, for we are close relatives. It's 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. So a dispute has arisen between Lot and Abram because apparently Lot had come to accumulate some herds and people for himself as well. And the trouble that they run into is there's not space enough for the two of them because if you're taking care of herds you need grazing land, you need water. There's those kind of practical things that you have to take care of and apparently they had so much there wasn't enough for the two of them. Later on in Genesis 14 we see that Abram had at least three hundred eighteen men in his household who were acting as servants. So this is a pretty big encampment. We can see how they could come to odds with each other. Now again, they are in the land of Canaan. Abram understands that he's received this promise to God that he would receive the land of Canaan. And so we might have expected Abram to say, well, God has given me this land, so just get out, bud. I have a right to be here, not you. But that's not what we find happen. Abram wants to make peace with Lot. And he says, we don't want to fight here. We're relatives. We shouldn't fight with each other. Now, that's kind of ironic, because sometimes it seems in our relationships, it's because people are our relatives that we find cause to fight with them. But here with Abram and Lot, he's like, we shouldn't fight. You're my nephew. I'm your uncle. We should be at peace. And so rather than leaning on the promise that he's received from God, rather than leaning on his seniority as Lot uncle, Abraham makes a real move to make a peaceable offer to Lot by giving him the choice as to where he would dwell. Verse nine, he says, 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. Notice how this is such a marked shift in Abram's disposition from his time in Egypt. When Abram was in Egypt, it seemed as though he was clinging for dear life, for survival. He had heard God's promise that he would receive these things, and yet he wasn't trusting God to preserve his own life so much so that he was like, well, I'll just throw my wife overboard. Now, God has brought Abram to this place where he's giving Lot the option to occupy the land that God has told him that he is to receive. And Abram's not worried about it. Abram's not worried if Lot says, I want to stay here and I want you to move elsewhere. It's indicating that Abram trusts that no matter what happens, he's now beginning to trust that God will work things out.
Now Lot's response here is somewhat telling. Abram is his uncle, but he doesn't defer to him to choose and say, oh, no, uncle, you should choose. You're older than me, all that. Now Lot seems very eager to get his way. Seems they must have been standing at some high point in the land. and if you travel over to Israel you'll find places like this where they have hills that just come up kind of out and then you can see very far across the plain so we can imagine them standing at some high point looking over everything, and Lot finds something that pleases his eyes. Continuing on in verse 10, it says, Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan towards Zoar was well watered like the garden of of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan, and set out towards the east. The two men parted company. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord. So Lot looks out, and he looks out to the east. And we've got the map here. You can see down here, this is the Dead Sea, and just about southeast of that, you have Sodom and Gomorrah. So this is just on the other side of the Jordan River. And Lot's looking out in that direction. He says, that looks like a nice place to live. It's well watered, it's lush. It reminds him of Egypt. And remember why they went to Egypt. They went to Egypt because there had been a famine in the land of Canaan. Couldn't support themselves, couldn't water their herds. And so they went there because Egypt had a more stable sort of climate. So he's looking at the land in the east and he says, well that looks pretty stable and secure to me. I'm going to take that. Now you can imagine maybe Abram at this point being like kind of squirming, being like, well that looked pretty nice, you know. Abram would want that sort of security for himself as well, but again he's trusting God, he's letting Lot make this choice. And so Lot sets his eyes on the Jordanian plain. And this includes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And it's interesting that Moses in writing this makes a note that this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because after God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah the nature of the land changes. It's not a really attractive place to live in. In fact, if you go visit there today, and I had the opportunity to do that, if you go there, it's just like a dustbin. It's just complete desert. And the city of Sodom just looks like a dirt pile. It's like if you have gravel, places you get gravel from around here and just have a big pile of dirt, that's what Sodom looks like. It does not look like Eden over there now. And it's interesting when we get to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19, that's noted. In Genesis 19:25, it says that God overthrew those cities in the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities and also the vegetation in the land. So the way that we find that area today goes all the way back to that time when God brought destruction upon them.
Now there's something, there's another detail here in these verses that kind of stands out if you're familiar with what's transpired earlier in Genesis. It says that, so Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. That might just seem kind of matter of fact. Of course he's heading to the east, that's where he saw everything, that's where he wants to go. But there's this theme in the book of Genesis of people heading towards the east and basically departing from God, being separated from God's presence in ways. We go to Genesis 3:24 and it's interesting the direction that Adam and Eve are sent when they leave the Garden of Eden. It says, after he drove the man out, he placed him on the east side of the Garden of Eden, cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the Tree of Life. Genesis 4:16 with Cain. It says, so Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. And in Genesis 11:1-2, where you have the people coming together to build the Tower of Babel. It says, now the whole world had one language and a common speech as people moved eastward. They found a plain in Shinar and settled there. So. This is, again, a matter of fact that he was heading to the East, that's where he wanted to live, but it also seems to kind of just resonate with this common theme of those who are kind of splitting ways with the Lord going into the East and what lies in the East but Sodom and Gomorrah, this place of sin. Now in the short term, when we think about winners or losers, it looks like Lot has it made. because he got this great place to live. But we do see cracks in the foundation because he's going to live near Sodom and Gomorrah. And you wonder, you know, did he see that while he saw the good land? Did he understand that those were wicked cities or was he oblivious to that? It looks like Eden but it's actually east of Eden. And the land that looks promising is not the land of promise. So they do part ways though. Abram and Lot part ways, but not forever. Their paths will cross again. And with his nephew gone, God comes to Abram to remind him that he has not gotten the short end of the stick.
This brings us back to verses 14-18. The Lord said to Abram after a lot had parted from him, look around from where you are to the north and south, to the east and the west. All the land that you see I will give to you in your offspring forever. 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. Go walk through the length and breadth of the land for I'm giving it to you. So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord. Something that we have to understand about Abram's mode of existence at this point was that It was a wandering sort of existence. Abram didn't own property. He owned animals and he had servants in his household, but he didn't own pieces of land. He lived a nomadic lifestyle. And in living that lifestyle, one might have to feel sort of rootless. God has told him that the land of Canaan belongs to him, and yet, at this point, Abram can't really claim it as his own. But God is confirming to Abram that this land will belong to him and his offspring forever. North, south, east, and west. And God encourages him to go walk the length and breadth of the land so that now, Abram's wandering, which might seem kind of aimless at first, is no longer aimless. His wandering is transformed into conquest so that wherever he's setting foot, this is the land that will belong to Him. and to his children.
Stephen, the deacon Stephen, in his speech before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:5 notes this. He says that God gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on, but God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. Now, it's some hundreds of years afterwards that we see the word of God's promise begin to come to fruition. This reality that not only are they going to have the land, but that Abram's offspring is going to be like the dust. That if you could count the dust, then you could count the number of the offspring of Abram. In Numbers 23, nine through 10, this is probably about like 500, 600 years later when Moses is leading the people of Israel out of Egypt into the promised land you have the prophet Balaam who is hired by King Balak to speak bad words, prophesied bad things for Israel say this Balaam couldn't help himself he could only speak the truth and Numbers 23, 9-10 he says, from the rocky peaks I see them I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations, who can count the dusts of Jacob, or number even a fourth of Israel. Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my final end be like theirs." So there we see that even just 500, 600 years out, we see God's Word being fulfilled to Abram, that his people have seemingly become countless. And when we go closer to like 900 years later after Abram, we see King Solomon coming before God, asking for wisdom. And one of the reasons why he asks for wisdom is because of just how numerous the people are. In 1 Kings 3, 8, he says, your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. In a way there, what Solomon's doing is acknowledging God's faithfulness to his Word by testifying to the reality that God has brought this to pass. So we had God's Word fulfilled then, but it continues to be filled out all the more in the centuries that follow up until our present day. In Acts 4:16, the apostle Paul says this, Therefore the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring. And this is a notable expansion here. Paul says, not only to those who are of the law, talking about ethnic Jews, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. Anyone who has faith in Jesus Christ has been incorporated into the family of God, into the family of Abraham, because we share in that common faith in God's promise. The promise that is ultimately culminated in the sending of Jesus Christ for the salvation of all those who would believe. And we see just how numerous and expansive the people of God become beyond any ethnic boundaries.
When we get to the very end, when we get to the book of Revelation, Revelation 5:9-10, where it says, And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood You've purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You've made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. That's important language there because later on we learn that God was calling the nation of Israel to be a kingdom of priests to serve our God. But now we see here at the end that God's intent was to make people from all backgrounds as priests, as they've been joined to Jesus Christ. And that all of them, regardless of their ethnicity, will share in this reign on the earth, this promise to dwell in the land and rule it. Now Abram couldn't see all this when God came to him, but he heard all this and believed. He went down to Hebron, to the oaks of Mamre, and set up his tent under the cool of the trees. He didn't know how, he didn't know when, but he believed the land they wandered will one day belong to his children. So he builds an altar to the Lord. Now in truth, we are still waiting today. Yes, the ethnic people of Israel do dwell in the land, but as we've seen from recent events, there is no peace there. There's conflict. But we understand that by faith, this promise incorporates all those who have faith in Jesus Christ. And one day, the land will belong to us. And not just the land of Canaan, but the whole face of the earth. Because God will be all in all and we will live with him here forever in the age that is coming. That reality is already broken into our midst through Jesus Christ. And while it may escape the world's notice, the King of God is on the move. Abram's small beginnings in wandering the land is in keeping with the ways of the kingdom. In Matthew 13 verses 31 through 33, Jesus tells his disciples this. He told them a parable. He said, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree. so that the birds come and perch in its branches. He told them still another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough. You see, it's all the same. Abrams countless offspring, the sprawling tree, the rising dough. God's kingdom is His people, and in Jesus Christ, the people of God have gone global. Abram was the first step. Jesus is the next step to fulfill all of God's promises. Will you wait on him?
See, it's very difficult to wait on Him. It's difficult to wait on God's promises. The world beckons us like the plains of Jordan. Our eyes are drawn to the east. The world promises to quench our need with its water, but its streams flow through Sodom and Gomorrah. What we drink today will be devoured by fire tomorrow. Jesus offers us the better country with water that will never dry. He declares in John 4, whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. And the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Let others take the East. Wander the land with Abram. Wander the land with Jesus. We can rest secure because our inheritance is coming.
Let's pray.
Dear Father. We come to you encouraged by the example of Abram, because we find a man who is like ourselves, who is not perfect, who stumbles in his walk of faith, but a man that you remain faithful to. And Father, we recognize Your continued faithfulness to us. Because for most of us here, Father, we are not ethnically related to Abram, but we have been made members of this family by faith. Because You were faithful in sending Your Son so that all who believe might be saved. Father, we pray that we would enjoy the same peace that we see Abram enjoy on this occasion. That rather than grasping for the things of the world, we would rest secure in Your promise, knowing that You are going to work everything out even if we don't understand the plan completely. Help us to walk in His confidence. As conquerors. So that even when the world might consider us losers, so that even when it might seem like we have nothing to claim our own, we might be reminded that we are going to inherit all things because we belong to Jesus Christ. Father, strengthen our faith, we pray. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us this Sunday as we continue our sermon series looking at the Bible's account of Abraham. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)