Genesis 18:20-32; Psalm 138; Colossians 2:6-19; Luke 11:1-13
About a year ago, we finally sold our home in Ohio. This was the home where we brought 4 trailer and pickup loads of goods from our home and business in Georgia to about twelve years before. This was the home where three of our children grew up. This was the home where we accumulated the junk of a decade spent living in the country – fabric and materials for craft projects, furniture in need of repair. Boards left over from renovation projects, tools, extra fencing, spare shelving, old inventory from our ink business, toys that were outgrown, homeschool textbooks, orchard chemicals, broken shovels, a mower that needed a new pull-start, Christmas ornaments, a friend’s extra clothes stored until he returned from China, a cat-tree, a doggie bed, and tubs and tubs of paperwork from the business, seminary, two churches, and schoolwork. The kitchen and dining room items that were involved in entertaining 20 International students twice a month. Front porch furniture, rear deck furniture, flower pots. As well as an extensive library, beds, old computers and keyboards, couches, chairs, and desk and a George Foreman grill. You get the picture – your attic, your basement, or your outbuildings have all of those.
In Ohio, we had a 3000 square foot home with three stories and a basement, plus a one-car garage and a 2000 square foot warehouse building. And as you know from your own experience, these places all filled up to capacity, and then it was time to move to Quiet Dell to a ranch home with a basement. Thankfully, Jessie moved out in May before we came to Quiet Dell, taking most of her items to Alaska with her. Ian would move to China in September, just after we arrived. But still, the question arose: What was worth saving and taking with us? And what needed to be left behind?
We didn’t need the lawn tractors or the wagons or the orchard chemicals. We didn’t need the extra desks nor the 5 four-drawer file cabinets from the business. We didn’t need the twenty tubs of old invoices from the business, either. We burned those old papers. And we left most of the appliances behind. But that still meant deciding which beds to take, which furniture to take, which knick-knacks and fabric and clothing and tools to take. Which DVD’s do you bring along? From a lifetime – what is worth saving?
Our reading from Genesis deals with that question, except the question is posed from God’s perspective. Instead of what material things are worth saving, God decides: Who is worth saving?
Abraham’s nephew Lot had left him some years before and settled with his family in the town of Sodom beside the Dead Sea. Abraham remained high up in the hills to the west of the Jordan Valley, between modern Jerusalem and Hebron, grazing his cattle and sheep. As the years passed, word had spread of the terrible things which happened in Sodom – it was the custom of the men of the town to greet newcomers with a night of sexual assault – particularly newly arrived men.
And the Lord arrived where Abraham had set up his tent at the great trees of Mamre, near present day Hebron. These were huge oaks – one is still alive and is estimated to be 5000 years old. The Lord was walking with two angels. The three appeared as men – most theologians believe that the Lord mentioned is Jesus Christ 1600 years before his arrival as the Babe of Bethlehem.
Abraham gives exceptional hospitality to the men – water that they might wash their feet, he butchers a fattened calf, he gives each one a huge loaf of bread. They talk of Abraham’s future son, and then the Lord and the two angels are ready to walk onward, but the Lord decides to tell Abraham of his plan to destroy Sodom because of the evil of the city.
And Abraham immediately thinks about his nephew Lot and his nephew’s family. They are living in Sodom! And Abraham thinks about the plight of his nephew and his family.
Throughout history, good people have always thought about the good people they know who live in bad areas, in bad countries, in bad nations. During the World Wars, there were people of German ancestry who lived in America and in Britain who looked with fear as reports came back of the great bombing runs over Germany. People of Japanese ancestry, even people who had known Japanese students such as Admiral Yamamoto when they had attended American Universities, they were fearful of the fate of their Japanese friends during the Second World War. Men and women of Iraqi descent worried about aunts and uncles and cousins in Iraq while the rest of America cheered the bombing of Bagdad. Blacks in Dallas who had friends on the police force were fearful as the names of those killed and injured by the sniper were released. People who have friends in the south of France anxiously checked the names of the dead run over by the truck driver terrorist in Nice.
For in every conflict, there are people on both sides who are nice, pleasant, righteous men and women. In every war, we know of people whose only crime seems to be to be a member of the other group. Innocent? Perhaps. Guilty of the crimes that have led to the destruction or death of the town or country or those who look a particular way because of uniform, skin color, or language – doubtful. Not every person who lived in Germany during World War II was a Nazi. Not even most.
And so Abraham that day asked the Lord an important question. Abraham asked the question that all who will destroy towns or people need to be asked. Abraham asked the Lord – “If there are some righteous people in the town, will you destroy them with the wicked?”
Abraham starts with 50 people. In a town of some hundreds or thousands of people, will God destroy the entire town if He finds 50 good people in the town?
And the Lord says, “No, if I find 50 good people I will not destroy any of the town.”
And then Abraham begins to pin God down. What if there are only 45 good people? 45 Righteous people?
The Lord replies, “No, if there are 45 righteous people, the town will live.”
Abraham pushes again. What if there are only 40 righteous people? Will the town still live?
And the Lord says, “If there are 40, I’ll let them all live.”
And Abraham pushes the Lord to 30, then 20, then ten. Abraham believed in being persistent when He talked with the Lord. If there are even ten righteous people, will the Lord let the city live? And the Lord says, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” Abraham’s persistence was rewarded by the Lord’s promise to him. Abraham had continued to knock at the door until it was opened to him and he was satisfied.
And then the Lord and the angels head to Sodom, while Abraham heads home to his tent.
That evening, the two angels arrive at Sodom and Lot invites them into his house for dinner and lodging. The angels say that they will sleep in the town square, but Lot, knowing what will happen, particularly to good looking men like the angels, Lot insists that they sleep inside his home.
After dark, the men of the town, both young and old, gather outside Lot’s house and demand that he send out the angels so the men can have their way with them. Lot says that the angels are under his protection. The men persist in demanding that the strangers be sent out to them. They grow louder and louder, angrier and angrier. Lot, under pressure, eventually offers his two virgin daughters to the loud, angry, chanting men instead. They may do whatever they want with his daughters if they will leave the men alone.
Folks, I’m continually reminded that we live in a Christian society in a largely Christian world. Things were not always the way they are in our town, our nation, for Lot is considered one of the good guys in this story, and yet, see how he treats his daughters that evening! When you think that our nation has declined, remember that it could be much, much worse without our undercurrent of Christian morality. When you despair, remember the bargain Lot offered the men of Sodom. Christianity has lifted us at least that far.
The men of Sodom angrily refuse the bargain and the angels pull Lot back inside. The men begin to try to break down the door, but the angels blind them, which gives the family peace for the rest of the night. The angels tell Lot to get his family and friends out of town because the town is about to be destroyed.
Lot spoke to the two men who were to marry his daughters, asking them to leave town with him, but the two young men thought he was joking. “What, your guests will destroy the town? The two of them and what army?” So Lot took his two daughters and his wife, leaving behind everything that wasn’t important. At least the mother and daughters respected their father enough to follow him. After speaking to the angels, they all took just what they could carry and ran for another small village several miles away. They left their home behind them with untold furniture, clothing, food, livestock, decorations. They only took what was really important.
And as they arrive there in the tiny village of Zoar, the angels push the button. Missiles rain down on Sodom. The angelic B-52’s arrive, the nukes hit and burning sulfur falls on the town and on Gomorrah and on the vegetation of the area. And twenty miles away, Abraham sees the smoke of burning Sodom and probably wonders “What has become of my nephew?”
When we look at the story of the destruction of Sodom and really think about it, particularly when we look at the world around us, we wonder: “Will God destroy our country, our state, our town with missiles of burning sulfur?” “Will God allow us to survive?” “Has our country descended to the depths where God will visit and destroy us?”
We aren’t the first people to wonder this. Since Sodom was destroyed over 3600 years ago, people have looked around them and wondered: “Is the end near for my city, my nation, our world?” “Is God’s patience about to run out?”
And it is indeed a frightening thing to wonder about. I remember lying in bed one night during the 1980’s amid the crisis over the middle-range missiles in Europe, wondering if the alarms I heard were to alert us of incoming missiles – or just normal fire station alarms. For many people were worried that tensions had risen to a point of no return. Is there anything we can do to stop the destruction if God decides to send it to us? Of course not.
Yet there is another way to look at this story, a way that brings the story closer to home.
Abraham repeatedly asks the Lord if the presence of righteous people will protect the city. Perhaps Abraham wasn’t so sure that Lot and his family were righteous – after all, Abraham and Lot had argued in the past. And so Abraham may have been hoping that the mere presence of some other righteous people would protect his relatives. Most of us have relatives we love, but aren't sure are righteous.
Abraham uses the Hebrew word saddiq – righteous. The word has overtones of justice, the man who is just and fair in his dealings with others. Abraham was asking the Lord that if the Lord found just ten just and fair people, would he allow Sodom to survive? Abraham got the Lord’s promise, but were there ten righteous people in Sodom?
The next morning, Abraham got his answer when he saw the smoke. Ten righteous people were not left in Sodom. Yet Lot and his daughters survived. The angels gave them time to get to shelter. Most likely, it was Lot’s righteous protection of his visitors that gave him the opportunity to run and live.
And so, in our lives, is it possible that we have a bit of goodness in our hearts? Is it possible that we have ten parts of goodness in a city full of sin in our hearts? Is it possible that we will be saved if we have just a bit of goodness?
Jesus clearly believed that most people have some goodness in them. He pointed out that when our children ask us for eggs to eat, we don’t given them scorpions. He pointed out that when they ask us for fish, we don’t give them snakes.
Yet this bit of goodness that we have isn’t enough, for if there were enough goodness in the hearts of the people of Sodom, the Lord would not have destroyed the town. In the same way, something more is needed for us to be righteous enough to be saved by God. Like a scratched old table with a missing leg and two wobbly legs, is the one good, finely finished walnut leg good enough to take the table with you when you move? Or do you toss the whole thing – even with the good leg – into the trash or put it on the fire to be burnt? Will you be burnt to a crisp as happened to the people of Sodom?
Perhaps we can learn from Lot. What exactly did Lot do that evening?
Lot risked his life and his family for the two angels. Lot did not know they were angels until later – Lot simply understood them to be men. Strangers. Yet Lot tried to protect the men against the mob, knowing that this sacrifice would lead to trouble for him. Lot would probably have had to leave Sodom the next day anyway because of his goodness and his sacrifice.
And so perhaps there is something about living for others that is righteous. Perhaps this is what God is looking for. Perhaps we can’t be righteous without a sacrifice.
That night, Lot sacrificed his unity and friendship with the men in the village to help the strangers. That evening, Lot was willing to sacrifice his family to help the strangers. That evening, Lot was ready to make sacrifices for others.
And the next day, Lot lived.
Yet that day was not completely without grief for Lot. Lot, his wife, his daughters, the two young men betrothed to his daughters – they were all given the chance to escape. They were all warned of the upcoming destruction of the city. Yet we humans have a tendency to think that tomorrow will be just like today. Stop smoking or you will have lung cancer, and yet we keep smoking. Exercise more or you will have diabetes and so we eat another donut. Save money, for the oil booms come and go, and so we go ahead and buy a new dual-wheel Diesel pickup on credit.
The two young men laughed at the situation. They did not take seriously the angels’ warning. They did not listen to Lot and so they stayed behind and they perished.
The family was told to leave and not to look back. Yet, there is something in our human nature that wants to hold onto today so badly, to have the joys of yesterday so badly, to look back at what we are leaving behind that we cannot simply run for the hills when told to run. Lot’s wife looked back and she was turned into a column of salt. All the water in her body instantly evaporated and she was left behind, dead.
Lot trusted the angels, the men who spoke for God, and Lot’s daughters trusted Lot. And so they all survived the day.
As we progress in our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ, we all start out in the condition of Sodom, with a bit of good in us, for everything God created was good, but with evil running the show, for we are born in rebellion to God, a rebellion that began with Adam and Eve. We want evil, we desire evil, we beg to do evil.
One day, God sends us messengers who come to us and warn us of the coming destruction. We are told that our ways will lead to our death and destruction. What shall we do?
Will we completely ignore the message in our quest for evil, as most of the men of Sodom did that night?
Will we listen to the messenger and then laugh at the message, as the two fiance’s did?
Will we run for a good, safe land, but turn to look back at what we’ve left behind, because we love that city of evil so much that we are swallowed up by the destruction, as Lot’s wife did?
Or will we trust the messengers of God, striving to reach safety, striving to become holy, striving to find good and follow the commands of God?
You have heard that you only need to ask Jesus into your heart to be saved. You have heard that you need only “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” and you will be saved. You have heard that following Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. All of these are true, for Jesus Christ claimed to be God. His death on the cross was the necessary sacrifice made for all of us – He knew we could not make the necessary sacrifices and so He made the sacrifice for us. And if we pledge to follow Him as our Lord and Master, then He has said we will be saved for eternal life, and a promise of Jesus is a promise made by God, a promise you can trust. How do I know?
Because after claiming repeatedly to be God, Jesus came back from the dead and was seen by over 500 witnesses, several of whom put their witness down on paper.
We who follow Jesus no longer need to worry if we are “good enough”, for the act of choosing to follow Jesus as our Lord and Master is sufficient for God to declare us “not guilty” of the crime of rebellion. God will not destroy us, for we are the righteous ones. If we choose to follow God’s Son, we are teachable, we can be repaired, we are now “good enough” to be saved.
Yet we still can choose in our own foolishness to do things which will destroy us. We can laugh at those who tell us to follow a path toward safety – the path of holiness, as the young men did. We can continue to stay in our old sinful and addictive ways. We can say, “Do you really mean that I have to give up gossiping and swearing and adultery and worldly ambition and all those other things we know that Christians are supposed to give up?” Yes, for you must leave the town of evil and head for the hills of holiness.
We can turn and look back at the attractions of our old life, loving the old worldly ways – as Lot’s wife did. And soon enough those old ways will grab us and hold us and we will become dry in our spirit and die looking back, missing our old life, but not willing to push onward toward the holy hills.
Or we can press onward toward a place of safety, learning to do good, learning to leave behind the destructive nature of the world, leading others with us to safety, as Lot did, leading his daughters to safety, climbing ever higher and higher into the hills of holiness.
And we must not forget one important aspect of this story.
Far away, on a hilltop to the west of Sodom, there was an old man, Lot’s uncle Abraham, who had talked with God about the salvation of the righteous people of the city of Sodom. The Bible does not record any further encounters between Lot and Abraham after the destruction of Sodom. Abraham may have died without ever knowing that Lot lived that day. Yet Abraham’s persistent prayers for the righteous in Sodom were undoubtedly important to Lot and his daughter' salvation. Who do you pray for? Your prayers may save a man, a woman, a family, even a town.
And so, as you walk along your path toward the holy hills, developing in your Christian maturity, walking on the path led by Jesus – What in your life is worth saving – and what should you leave behind?
What habits do you have that you should leave in Sodom?
What good habits do you have that you should bring with you on the road?
What friends, what loved ones do you have who would keep you to die with them in Sodom?
And what loved ones do you need to bring with you?
You know, we’re all ready with the answer to the easy question – if your house were burning and you could only take one or two things, what would it be? We’d all say our children, our spouse, perhaps our pet. A book of photos. That’s the easy decision.
But what parts of your personality will you leave behind in Sodom to be burnt to a crisp? What parts of your personality will you take to the land of God?
You’ll remember I started this sermon talking about how we accumulated objects in our house, our garage, our warehouse, and about how we had to leave many things behind when we moved away, how we burned many boxes of old papers as we left behind our old lives, our lives where we could live for God... or not, where we could still indulge in sinful habits, where we could always talk to our neighbors as though we weren’t any different than they were. But we burned our boxes and went full-time for God, because Jesus told us we needed to leave.
So why don’t you begin to burn those old habits you don’t plan to take to Heaven, beginning today, so you can run much faster when Jesus calls? For there may be little time left until the end comes.
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