Last time we met, we were talking about how God desired to have Abraham separate from 7 different things. And through the course of these separations, God would reveal His will and His purposes for Abraham and in turn Abraham would worship God in a greater measure.
Separation from a desire for Wealth.
Abram Rescues Lot
Guess who's back? Our boy Lot. Not only has he moved down into Sodom and Gomorrah but 4 Kings have captured the city and taken Lot and all his stuff. Lot lusted after wealth and wound up losing all the wealth he had.
Abraham could care less about wealth and he had plenty.
Gen 14:11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. 12 They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom. 14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
Dan means Judge and Daniel means God is my Judge. Anyway, Abraham brought his trained men together to execute some righteous judgement.
15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.
17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Sidenote:
In Hebrews they talk about Jesus saying
Hebrews 7:11
If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?
It's just so awesome when you see Jesus show up in the old testament. This won't be the first time Jesus shows up in this passage. Melchizedek brought out the bread and wine. And Abram tithed to him. It is not surprising that when God separates you from your love of wealth, that tithing is prescribed. God has called all of us to give a tenth of what we earn to Him. If we are caught up on being wealthy, this can be very difficult. Moving on.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”
1Timothy 6:6-10
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
This is the Separation!
Abram refused the support of the King of Sodom. What would you do if someone offered you all the money you could want and all you had to do was compromise? What would you do? Abram separated from the desire to gain wealth through compromise.
Talk about going on auditions for Beer commercials and praying about not getting the commercials because I didn't want to make money off of promoting beer.
The Lord’s Covenant With Abram
15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,[a] your very great reward.[b]”
This is the revelation! God shows Abraham in a vision, that not only will He protect Him, He will also bless him. Not only with stuff… but with His very self. He tells Abraham not to fear and also tells him that he has God Himself as his reward. You don't need stuff when the God of the Universe who owns everything is your reward.
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
You want to see something cool? Once you separate from a desire to gain wealth, a change happens in your desires. What did God just reveal to Abraham? That he needn't fear and that all his needs would be met. If you ask people why they strive so much to make money, they will tell you, they need security. They want stuff in life. They don't want to worry. But once you choose having a relationship with God over the need for wealth… when you realize that your relationship with God is the only way you can be free of fear and have all your needs met, then you start to desire the things of God. God had just stated to Abraham that he would never have to fear and that all his needs would be met… what does Abraham say? Essentially he says to God, "So what?" Initially that sounds kinda ballsy and ungrateful. But you got to see the heart in this thing. Before God showed up on the scene, Abraham was old and so was Sarah. They hadn't had kids yet and had probably come to terms with never having them. God appears to Abraham and tells him that He is going to make a great nation from his seed. Abraham didn't ask God for a child. God told Abraham that He was going to give him a son. God giving Abraham a son didn't have to do with Abraham's purposes or plans… but with God's. God knew what He wanted to accomplish through Abraham's seed. It wasn't really about Abraham.
So now, Abraham has separated himself from 5 things that God has asked him to. Through these separations, it finally clicks with Abraham that it isn't about him. He realizes that being safe and secure means nothing if there isn't a greater purpose to go along with it.
There are people who have good jobs, homes and healthy families but their life doesn't really have any greater purpose. Some of them are fine with that. Others wonder why they feel discontent. They have everything and yet they aren't happy. And it's because in the grand scheme of things, their life doesn't have any lasting meaning. Remember, relationships are the only things that are eternal. Our relationship with God and our relationships with each other. If you aren't motivated out of those two dynamics, you really aren't living for anything important.
Being secure and being able to do whatever you want to do in life means nothing if God isn't in it. Security and wealth are not an end in and of themselves. Having those things should be centered around how you can use them for God. Not just so we can do what we want. Abraham asks himself, "Why did I go on this journey in the first place? What did God promise me at the beginning? Where is this son you spoke about, Lord?" So since he's gone through all these separations, his relationship with God has increased to such a point where he can question God. And here's the crazy thing… God wants to talk to him. God sees that Abraham is about the purposes of God and engages him in a deeper way. When you realize it's not about you, but about Him, God will reveal Himself to you like a friend. Sharing His deepest secrets with you. So in verse 4, God reveals more things to Abraham.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
This is greater revelation! When we are friends with God and we believe Him, He will reveal deeper things to us. What is it that makes God stand up and take notice of you? Is it that you're talented? Is it that you're perfect? No! It's that you believe Him. When we believe God, believe in who He is… believe in what He's done in our lives… Believe what He says about us… Believe that He is going to take care of us and do what He promised… God credits that to us as righteousness.
7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Here is a greater dimension of worship! Through these sacrifices, God revealed something about their relationship with each other. Now back then, when you wanted to make a covenant with someone you took animals and cut them in half and then you and the person you were making a covenant with would walk down through the middle of them. You would join your arms together and say, "May God judge between you and I if you break this covenant." Meaning, may you be like these animals who are torn apart if you break this covenant. Pretty hardcore stuff. That's why God takes marriage so seriously.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[e] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
Ladies and gentlemen, if you notice here, Abraham didn't walk in between the sacrifices. So who did? God often appeared as smoke in the old testament which is what the smoking firepot is. But I thought God was making a covenant with Abraham? He was making a covenant with Abraham and most importantly Abraham's seed. And who was Abraham's seed?
Galations 3:15-16
15 Brothers and sisters,
let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside
or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in
this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”[a] meaning one person, who is Christ.
The blazing torch is the Light of the World… the seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ. God said His word is a lamp unto our feet. In John, it says that Jesus is the Word of God. So God made a covenant with Himself. Abraham was resting the whole time this covenant was made. And since he didn't walk between the sacrifices, it wasn't up to Abraham to keep it. You can't earn these promises of God. You can't do anything to uphold this covenant. But God made a promise with Himself, meaning He would complete the work in you.
Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until they day of Christ Jesus.
God does all the work. God does all the heavy lifting when it comes to you becoming who He created you to be. His grace has made it possible. There's a reason that Jesus said, "He yoke is easy and His burden is light." He does all the work. There's nothing you can do to earn this or to uphold it. Only Christ in you, the Hope of Glory.
If you haven't separated from the desire to attain wealth, you will always ask the questions, "Where is the money coming from?" "How can I do any of these things?" "Who will take care of me… take care of my family?" "How do I take care of me and mine?"
God says, take care of my purposes… believe what I've said to you… what I've promised… and all those other things will be taken care of.
Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
24-33
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Do you want to know God better? Do you want to hear His secrets? Abraham had been through 5 separations, the least that God could do was tell him some things. Do you want to stop striving and worrying about how your future will turn out? Believe God. Trust God. Talk to God. Decide to have God's purposes fulfilled in your life above what you want. When you separate from a desire to get wealth, you cease striving in your own strength to provide your own security… your own happiness. When you cease searching for your security in money and striving to gain it, you allow God to do the work that He's already promised He'd do for you as a co-heir with Jesus Christ… as His son or daughter.
Psalm 37:4
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Do you want to desire what God desires? Separate from the desire to get wealth. You can't serve two masters. And either God is trustworthy… or He isn't.
No comments:
Post a Comment