Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: Now this is how the salvation blessings of God come to the world. They come through an heir. They come through a son who will not stand on his rights, but who freely gives. And Abram, he models that in some small way here, doesn't he, even as Jesus will perfect it at the cross.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths and we're continuing our series called The Blessing, looking at the story of Abram, who eventually becomes Abraham. But Jonathan, in those early chapters of Abram's story, we see some of the characteristics that you would hope to see of a follower of God, including the generosity and what appears to be just a trust in God's provision in Abram's life.

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, we certainly see that in the unfolding of the story today that we're going to be looking at together. And Abram models something for us there of discipleship, I think of knowing the Lord and following the Lord, seeking to walk with him.

There's another aspect to it as well, which I think we see something that is Christ-like, which is pointing us forward to the Lord Jesus in his work in that Abram in this story, in his engagement with his nephew Lot, he refuses to stand upon his rights, but he is there as one who will give and freely give because he trusts in God above. And there's just a little pointer there even to the character of Christ, a little marker of the gospel that points us forward. So I trust we'll see that and be encouraged by it in the message today.

Steve Hiller: Well, I think we certainly will as we open our Bibles together to the book of Genesis. We're in chapter 13 as we continue the message, The Open Hand of Faith. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: I remember distinctly when I was a kid going to the Swiss Chalet one day for a meal with some of our extended family. It may have been a Sunday lunch after church. The Swiss Chalet was kind of the go-to restaurant for Sunday lunch in those days among Christians where we lived. Perhaps it was the same way here.

In any event, the meal was over and it was time for the bill. This was in the days when the bill came on a little plastic tray with a pen so you could sign the credit card impression. Anyway, I remember distinctly my father and my uncle both trying to grab this little tray at the same moment before the other one got to it. They both knew that they'd have to act fast if they were going to pay for lunch. And I distinctly remember as they both grabbed it, the plastic tray cracked in half as the waitress looked on and they both got hold of it at the same moment. I don't know who paid in the end. I don't know if they got billed extra for the broken plastic tray, but the incident was funny and it was memorable in its own way.

Well, there was no tussle over the offer to pay here in Canaan. Abram began with a gracious offer and Lot was all too ready to take him up on it. Verse 10, "And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well-watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from one another."

Lot lifts up his eyes and there is a twinkle of joy and anticipation there. He's looking at possibilities. It's the look of someone leafing through the luxury real estate magazine over coffee and just imagining what might be. It's the look of someone flicking through realtor.ca when they've set the price limit as unlimited and just noticing what's available. But as we follow Lot's twinkling but wandering gaze, we do detect some signs of trouble, don't we? We do hear some notes of warning, don't we? Lot sees the valley of the Jordan River. It's well-watered. It's green. The herds, he knows they would flourish there. In fact, it's so lush, it's so beautiful, it's a little bit reminiscent of a place that is now closed off to the human race. It's reminiscent of a now forbidden place, the Garden of Eden itself. And Lot thinks to himself, this is like the garden. This is heaven on earth.

In fact, Lot thinks to himself as he considers it more, you know what, this is actually an awful lot like Egypt, that neighboring and ungodly land that was a refuge to the family not so long ago, fertile, lush, well-watered, but never a friendly or safe place for the people of God. The valley of the Jordan River would actually put Lot at the very edge of the land of promise, potentially even outside the land of promise. And we feel more and more gradually more uneasy as we follow Lot's wandering eye.

But then the really terrifying note comes in those brackets at the end of verse 10. You will have noticed it. "This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah." As we know the story of what is to come, we know that this is a city that will be destroyed in a great act of judgment from God. It's a foreboding mention. It spells trouble to come. This is a godless place, the text makes it clear, doesn't it? Verse 13, "Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord."

Nonetheless, this is where Lot is headed. Verse 11, "So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley and Lot journeyed east." As we're seeing here in this chapter in this section of Genesis, the geographical movements that take place end up being spiritually significant. They tell us something about the heart. It's true both for Abram and for Lot. We're told here that Lot headed east. And that in itself is actually significant in Genesis.

When Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord and were expelled from the garden, it seems that they actually headed east themselves. Genesis 3 and verse 24, "God drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed a cherubim and a flaming sword." When Cain killed his brother Abel in Genesis 4, we read in Genesis 4 and verse 16 that Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod east of Eden. It was a people who had been journeying in the east, we're told, who decided to build the Tower of Babel at the start of Genesis 11, Genesis 11 and verse 2.

To head east in the geography of Genesis, at least sometimes, means trouble. I don't want to offend folk here from Nova Scotia or PEI or to flatter those from Alberta or BC. It's not that east is better than west in some objective sense, but here in the narrative of Genesis, it seems that east is where you go if you're heading away from the Lord.

What's going on with Lot? What are we to make of this? Well, it's clear that Lot's main interest was not to be safely within the territory of Canaan, in the land of promise. He ventured to the very edge of the land, maybe outside the land, and his choice of territory was based on one thing and one thing only: he wanted to find paradise on earth. He wanted to find the most beautiful, the most fertile, the most productive land he can find. And on one level, we look at that and we listen to that and we think, well, that's fine. I mean, who wouldn't want that? That's probably what we would do if we were in Lot's shoes.

But I think we're meant to see here, we're meant to see that Lot was working purely on the physical and the material plane. And because he was driven by physical and material considerations, the Lord and his promises, the Lord and his purposes, they weren't on his mind. And his uncle Abram and his needs, that wasn't on his mind either. In fact, Lot was going to take whatever he could get because the physical land and the wealth that could flow from it were clearly his number one priority.

But you know what Lot didn't anticipate was where all this was going to take him. We're told in verse 12 that he moved his tent as far as Sodom. By the next chapter, chapter 14 and verse 12, we're going to learn that Lot is dwelling in Sodom. He's now living in the wicked city. And by chapter 19, when the angels come to warn Lot of the city's destruction, we find that he has well and truly made his home there.

Reformer John Calvin writes of this account that, and I quote, "Lot, when he fancied he was living in paradise, was nearly plunged into the depths of hell." You see, he thought he had chosen for himself a little piece of heaven, but the truth was that he had started a journey on the road leading to destruction.

Steve Hiller: And as Jonathan Griffiths here on Encounter the Truth in part of our message, the open hand of faith. Now, we're going to pause here, but we'll get back to the message in just a moment. So stay with us. But if you joined us late, you have to leave early, or you just want to go back and listen to this program again, you can always do that by coming to our website. It's encounterthetruth.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again, our website address, encounterthetruth.org. Well, let's get back to the message once again. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: That's Lot with the closed fist of the materialistic. He grabbed what he wanted from this world without regard for the Lord or his promises, without regard for his relative, his neighbor, and he held it tight. And in so doing, he set himself on a very dangerous path.

Well, next we turn to Abram, who by contrast demonstrates that he has the open hand of faith. London's Financial Times reports that the number of contested wills is at an all-time high as rising house prices and complex structures drive competing claims. Maybe you have seen or experienced an inheritance dispute among family. It can be a very, very messy thing.

But very rarely when a family come to divide up their shared inheritance, very rarely will there be someone who takes Abram's approach, the approach he adopts to this land of his inheritance from the Lord. Verse 8, it's right there. "Then Abram said to Lot, 'Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.'" Isn't that lovely? We're family here. Let's not have a fight over land. "Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I'm going to go to the right. You go to the right, I'll just go to the left."

Abram looks on his inheritance. He sees that he and his nephew, they're going to have to separate in some way. There's a problem. And so he just takes the high road. "Lot, you choose. You take what you want. I'm just going to fit in around you." You know, it's one thing if the inheritance is, I don't know, an ugly painting from the living room. It's one thing if it's a 20-year-old Chevy. It's one thing if it's a battered old sofa. Take what you want, no problem. I don't want it anyway. It's all yours. But the asset here, it's not that kind of stuff. This is real estate. This is lots of real estate. This is prime real estate. And yet Abram, he's open-handed. He's generous. He is gracious. "Lot, just have what you'd like."

What was Abram doing? How could Abram be doing this? Was he saying, you know, the land, it doesn't really matter to me? No, I don't think he was saying that. Was he saying that he didn't really care for what God was giving him? He didn't really like it? No, I don't think he was saying that either. I think that as we look at Abram and his life, we have to conclude something rather different. We have to conclude that although this land mattered to him, something else mattered to him even more. And while he valued the land of Canaan, no doubt about it, his eyes were fixed above the land of Canaan. His eyes were fixed on something else ultimately.

Let me remind you of verses I mentioned last time, verses from Hebrews 11 that reflect upon all this and give us insight into how Abram was able to behave in this way in Genesis 13. This is Hebrews 11 and verse 8. We're told, "By faith Abram obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God."

Abram was able to hold loosely to his inheritance in this world because he knew that there was something even greater to come. He was looking forward to that eternal city, to his eternal home. Because Abram's hope was in the Lord, he was able to open his hand with generosity with the things of this world.

And notice actually what was the outcome for him. This is rather lovely. Verse 14, "The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, 'Lift up your eyes. Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward, westward, for all the land you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.'" Remember how Lot lifted up his eyes in verse 10 and he set his heart on that place in the east? Now the Lord lifts up Abram's eyes. The Lord himself does it. Look east, west, north, south, all of it. It's yours.

I'm reaffirming my promise to you, Abram. And let me make it even a little bit clearer. You will not just have offspring, you though childless, you're going to have so many offspring that they are going to be like the dust of the earth, utterly uncountable. Go and have a walk, Abram. Wander the full length of the land. All of it, every scrap, it's yours. And so the incident ends, the account ends with Abram pitching his tents and building an altar to the Lord.

On one level, it's a simple incident really, isn't it? Two members of a family dividing up some real estate that's been given to them. One, focused on this present world, seeks to grab his little slice of heaven here below. But it turns out that his pilgrimage there takes him down a road bound for destruction. Another with eyes set on eternity and a heart set on the Lord and on the promises of God, he opens his hand in generosity and the Lord, he prospers him in his way.

Now, what does all this have for us here today? Is this here to be a model to us in terms of how to handle wealth or how to manage family disputes or how to deal with inheritance division? Well, we would no doubt do very well to learn a little something from Abram in those matters here. But again, I do think we need to zoom out and look at the big picture. Remember who Abram is. Remember what is his calling from God. He is the man whom God has chosen to bless, and through him, chapter 12 and verse 3, to bring salvation blessings to the entire world.

Through this man, through this family, salvation blessings are going to come to a lost and a dying world. And how's it going to happen? Well, we know, don't we? It's going to happen ultimately through great Abram's greater son. This whole story, it ultimately leads, doesn't it, to a stable in Bethlehem and a cross at Calvary and to a throne on high. That's where this is going.

And in Abram here, we see something, don't we, even of the Lord Jesus himself. We see the one who is heir to all things, yet holds them lightly because he knows and he trusts the Father. We see one who is willing to bless others at great cost to himself. We see one who will bear that cost because he is looking to the future. And as I look at Abram here, I see the pattern of the one who is to come. I see something of how this family blessing is ultimately going to come to the world. I read this, I think of the son who is taken by the devil to a high place, do you remember that? Taken to a high place and shown all the glittering kingdoms of the world, and he was tempted to claim that which was already his own and to pledge allegiance to the devil himself in doing so, but who would not press that claim.

I think of the one Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 2 and verse 6, "who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

The salvation blessings of God, they come to the world not through one who grasps at what is his, but through one who sets aside what he might rightfully claim, who willingly bears cost, who becomes a servant to others, others even who would gladly go the way of destruction. And it's so interesting, we're not going to get there today, but in the very next chapter, Abram actually has to rescue Lot. He has to rescue him from the stricken city of Sodom. And in chapter 19, Lot will escape destruction by the skin of his teeth, destruction from the judgment that rightly falls upon the wicked city that he has chosen to call home.

Now this is how the salvation blessings of God come to the world. They come through an heir. They come through a son who will not stand on his rights, but who freely gives. And Abram, he models that in some small way here, doesn't he, even as Jesus will perfect it at the cross.

You and I today, of course, if we know the Savior, we are recipients of this kindness. We are naturally a whole lot like Lot in all of this, I think. You know, I'd love to put myself in the shoes of Abram, but our natural inclination is toward Lot's approach. And yet in Jesus, we have freely received an inheritance that wouldn't rightfully be ours. And that's the nature of the gospel. That's the offer of the gospel for you if you've never received it. It's an offer of forgiveness through the blood of Christ, and then a future and an inheritance through the generosity of him.

But friends, we need to see that this radical generosity that saves us must also be the radical generosity that shapes us. If we have received all this like Abram, we are heirs of the great promises of God. If we've received all that, we must be those who like him hold loosely to that which we could claim, who hold loosely to the rights and the privileges and the possessions of this present world. We must be those whose hands are open in our grasp of all these things, who will not clench our fists. And we need to be like that actually so that we will be those who do bring the salvation blessings of God to the world through the gospel as messengers, as agents, as witnesses.

Gemma and I attended a Zoom memorial service recently for a friend, really a friend of hers, who died in a tragic accident not many weeks ago. This man in his mid-40s with a wife and four children was serving as a missionary church planter in the city of Paris. His story was really quite fascinating. Gemma had met him originally in Oxford where he had gone to do a master's degree, but he was from the United States. He hailed actually from a very famous and prosperous American family. Everyone listening to this would know their family name if I mentioned it and would have used their products from their family business no doubt.

He himself was an outstandingly gifted and capable person. It was noted in his memorial service that he could have done just about anything he wanted with his life, politics, business, you name it. But as a young man, the grace of God had got hold of him and the gospel had taken root in his life and he came to have a burden for the people of France. And so he elected to become a missionary to Paris and to settle there with his young family. Now, if you want to find a job with zero prestige and meager pay, let me encourage you to consider becoming a Protestant missionary in a historically Catholic but currently aggressively atheistic country like France. Just try that one out and see how that goes. It is not the route to riches or to fame.

Wonderfully, this man has left a legacy in French missions and the work he began in church planting and training pastors for France, I believe it will go on. But you know, Genesis 13, as I reflect on that, Genesis 13 shows us that this is actually the gospel pattern. It's the way it's always been. The promises of God, they come through his word. The grace of God gets hold of a sinner's heart and there's transformation. There's salvation. And now there is an open hand to the things of this world. There is the heart of a servant and the salvation blessings of God flow out to the nations.

Friends, I'd love to ask you, how is your hold on the things of this world at the present time? What does your hold and your claim on your rights and your possessions say about your trust in the word of God? Your hope in the promises of God? Your delight in the future that God has set before us in Christ? And how might God use you? How might he use each of us in his great gospel plan for the nations as you hold to these things like Abram with the open hand of faith?

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths wrapping up our message, The Open Hand of Faith, looking today at Genesis chapter 13. And if you've missed any other broadcast in our series, you can come and listen online. Our website is encounterthetruth.org. You can also listen through the Encounter the Truth app, which is free and you're going to find that at your app store.

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You can also write us at Encounter the Truth, 2176 Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2E 0A1. Or in the US at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, number 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time.