Title: LOT—A MAN OF CONFLICTS

Focus: The way of Lot is not the way to go.

Function: To move the people to reject the conflicted life of Lot and to embrace the Christ-centered life.

Texts: Genesis 19:1-29; Luke 17:23-26; II Peter 2:6-10

 

INTRODUCTION

            I enjoy swapping family stories. Telling your kids about Grandpa’s ways and about aunt Mary’s idiosyncrasies provides the children with a sense of identity. They place themselves in the family stories and begin to recognize their place in the larger family context. The children discover their roots and they root themselves more firmly in the family, and in society at large, as they cherish the family stories.

 

            Some family stories are hilarious; others more painful, perhaps. And some are very instructive. For example, some stories that I have told our kids about myself are a bit embarrassing, especially those that point to the folly of my youth. Nevertheless, I told our kids some of these stories to instruct them, to keep them from pursuing the very same foolish things that I did when I was young.

 

            In the Bible God shares with us a number of stories that are very instructive. Lot’s story is one of them. It’s tempting to find a moral or two in Lot’s story and then say: “do like Lot,” or “don’t be like Lot.” But we must always remember that the stories in the Bible highlight or illustrate the larger story of God’s way with his people and God’s rescue efforts in and through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible must not be reduced to a book of morals. Rather, the morals of the stories always illuminate the work of God in Jesus Christ. And so, in light of our scripture reading I want to say to you: the way of Lot is not the way to go. That’s at least one moral of Lot’s story. However, in light of God’s larger story of saving his people and the world through Jesus, more must be said: reject the conflicted life of Lot and embrace the Christ-centered life.

 

            In my message tonight, I want to do three things: First, I want to show how God’s promise to Abram—and to us today, surrounds the story of Lot. Then, I want to zero in on the conflicted ways of Lot; and finally, we shall consider the Christ-centered life.

 

ABRAM—LOT—GOD’S PROMISE

            The story of Lot’s rescue from God’s brimstones and hell fire on the plain of the Jordan, including the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot had lived, begins with the announcement in chapter 19 that “The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city (of Sodom)” (19:1). This announcement connects us with a former announcement in chapter 18 where we learn that “The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.” (18:1)

 

How interesting! Abraham—the bearer of God’s covenant promise—sits at the entrance of his tent in the country site near some massive trees of Mamre, while Lot—the beneficiary of God’s covenant promise to Abraham—sits near his house at the prestigious place of the city gate—a place where the elders of the city gather and supervise the daily affairs of the city. Lot seems better off than Abraham.

 

It turns out, however, that Lot’s future is precarious, because these heavenly visitors to Abraham and Lot have shocking news. These visitors to Abraham, though they appear in the flesh, like men, are angels. And the third person with these angels, it turns out, is the Lord himself. The Lord tells Abraham and Sarah that soon they will have a baby boy—which is part of God’s promise to Abraham to provide him with a wondrous future, where Abraham’s offspring would become a blessing to the nations of the world, and where God promises Abraham a place he may call his own—the land of Canaan, which is a shadow of the new heavens and earth.

 

The Lord also tells Abraham that “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me, If not, I will know” (18:20) Abraham realizes that God’s wrath is about to destroy the plain of Jordan and that his nephew Lot and his family may perish as well. So Abraham bargains and pleads with the Lord. And they end up with a deal: If the Lord finds ten or more righteous persons in Sodom, he will spare the city.

 

The story goes on. Two visitors from heaven meet Lot at the city gate of Sodom. One of them appears to be in charge; in fact, somewhat later in the story this one angel seems to assume the character of God himself. Their mission is to measure the wickedness of Sodom and to pour out God’s wrath if the wickedness should exceed a certain measure.

Lot welcomes them; he insists that they should stay at his house for the night. Could it be that Lot considers the streets of Sodom dangerous at night? The visitors from heaven want to test the measure of wickedness in Sodom, that’s why they initially decline Lot’s invitation to stay at his house. But Lot insists, so great is his sense of hospitality. In this, Lot truly acts as a righteous person.

 

Now in the gospel of Luke, the Lord Jesus does not detail the wickedness of Sodom; rather, he refers to the people of Sodom in the same way as he refers to the people in the days of Noah. We read “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.” (Lk.17:28)

 

The storyteller in Genesis 19, however, describes the wickedness of Sodom in vivid terms. Their wickedness climaxes on that night in front of Lot’s house: the whole town of Sodom wants to have sex with Lot’s visitors. It seems that the whole city has gone mad, for the storyteller says that “…all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house; They called to Lot, ’Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.’”  (13:4,5).  These Sodomites are bent on violating Lot’s hospitality to visitors and they want to violently rape these visitors. This is horrible. It’s like the devil has entered into these Sodomites. If ever the wrath of God is called for, it is now on this night when the Sodomites show such horrible hospitality.

 

Now centuries later, the Lord Jesus picks up on this lack of hospitality, for when Jesus sends his disciples on a mission to the cities and towns of Galilee, Jesus says to his disciples “But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: ‘The kingdom of God is near.’ I tell you it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town” (Luke 10:10).

 

The angels’ visit at Lot’s house in Sodom provides them with enough reason and clarity to call upon the fires of hell to rain down on the plain of the Jordan and to warn Lot to get out of the city. And the story ends in such a profound, telling way. “Early the next morning (after Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction) Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.” And then the storyteller says: “So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived” (19:27-29). All of this goes to show that God’s promise to Abraham—and to us as well—surrounds the story of Lot.

 

THE CONFLICTED WAY OF LOT

            Now Lot is a man of conflicts. For example, Lot is conflicted in terms of God’s covenant promise and word. Lot is a man of faith; he is a righteous person. He knows that God has promised a rich and beautiful future for Abraham and all Abraham’s descendants, including Lot. But unlike Abraham, Lot prefers to rely more upon himself and his own abilities and power to make good choices than trusting and obeying the Lord. Lot likes to carve out his own way. That’s why Lot chooses to live in the fruitful and seemingly prosperous plain of Jordan, in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, known for their decadent and worldly ways, rather than in some rugged mountainous area or desert place in the land of promise. Even though he is a righteous person, Lot chooses his prosperity in the wrong places. And that’s why Lot ends up with a tormented soul. For deep down in his heart, Lot knows that he is going against the will and promise of his heavenly Father. Lot is a man with lots of conflicts.

 

For example, Lot is conflicted with the Sodomites. He lives with them; he wheals and deals with them; he prospers from them, but he refrains from their wickedness, for Lot is a righteous person. Though accepted by the Sodomites as a trading partner and citizen, in the end they reject him as a foreigner saying to Lot in the heat of the night: “Get out of our way! And they said, ‘This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge. We’ll treat you worse than them” (19:9).  Lot is a conflicted man.

 

Here’s another example: Lot is in conflict with his wife and daughters and his sons-in-law as well. It’s obvious from the insight that we have in the apostle Peter’s letter (II Peter 2) that Lot is not a happy camper in Sodom. But his wife has lost her heart to Sodom’s pleasures and comforts. Even when Sodom was overthrown by these warring kings some years ago, and even though she and Lot and their household almost lost everything they had when being led into exile, what did she and Lot do when they were saved by the grace of God at the hand of Abraham? They go back to Sodom. Why? Because that’s where their “treasure,” their hearts’ desires are. And that’s why Lot’s wife could not stop herself from looking back to Sodom. She paid no attention to the warning of God; her desire was with Sodom. “Remember Lot’s wife!” said Jesus. She tormented Lot’s soul with her desires for Sodom.

 

Lot, however, failed to provide leadership to his wife and daughters. That’s why he was so conflicted. For with his daughters, too, we notice that Lot is weak. Why! He is even willing to sacrifice his daughters to be raped by the Sodomites. Were it not for the intervention of these heavenly visitors Lot may have committed this horrible act of giving over his daughters. I don’t think that Lot had a happy relationship with his daughters. They were more like their mother; they sought their happiness in Sodom, and they were planning on a future with some of the men of Sodom. These men would be Lot’s sons-in-law.

 

It appears that Lot has no clout with these sons-in-law either. When the angels urged Lot to flee with his wife and daughters and his future sons-in-law, they thought that Lot was joking or out of his mind. These men refused to flee from the coming storm of God’s judgment on Sodom. They let go off Lot and his daughters. Oh, Lot was a conflicted man.

 

Did you notice how they left Sodom? The angels had to drag Lot, his wife and his daughters out of the house. “Hurry!” they said, “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” And then the storyteller says, “When (Lot) hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city….” (vs. 15,16)

 

Conflicted Lot was tormented in his soul. So strong is that inner conflict between doing God’s bidding and one’s own will, that Lot even dares to argue with the angels. The lead angel who assumed the character of God said to Lot and his kin: “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” Listen to Lot’s reply: “No, my lords, please! Your servant has found favor in your eyes , and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. (Lot realizes that God’s hand is in this rescue from hell’s fires and brimstones) “But,” says Lot, “I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.” (19:17-18). Even at this stage, Lot dares to argue with God’s will for him. Not the mountains, Lord! Give me the city, even if it is “Zoar,” that is, even if it is small! (for that’s what Zoar means). 

 

Lot is a man of conflicts resulting in a tormented soul. Surely, the conflicted way of Lot is not the way to go through life. There is a better way. It is the Christ-centered life.

 

THE CHRIST-CENTERED LIFE

Here’s what we need to do today:

·        View the story of conflicted Lot against the background of the greater story of God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants. Then consider how God fulfills his promise by sending his Son, Jesus. Jesus dies for our sins; he conquers the powers of sin and death; he rises from the dead; he grants us forgiveness and eternal life; he ascends to heaven and rules today through his Word and Spirit. Anyone who comes to Christ and trusts in him for eternal life and salvation is a son or daughter of Abraham—a righteous person, a believer who is called to live by faith. Now you and I must do another thing:

 

·        Make a choice. Like Abraham live by faith, obey God’s Word and wait for, and work for and pray for the day when God, in Christ Jesus, makes all things new and lives in our midst on a renewed heaven and earth. Or live like Lot. Living like Lot means that we do both:  trust in God’s promise, and thus  be a righteous person (because of Jesus’ accomplished work so far), but at the same time have it our own way. If we make Lot our patron saint or model to follow, we must also figure on the same misery that followed Lot. For the way of conflicted living—where you try to have it both ways: the way of God and the way of the world—is a way that leads to torment of soul, and if it were not for the grace of God, will lead to damnation and judgment.

 

Will we choose Lot as our patron saint for godly living? Or will we choose to live like a child of Abraham and Sarah and model our lives after Jesus Christ—the one who was in the loins of Abraham and led Abraham and Lot with promises and acts of grace? Shall we be stand-up men and women for Jesus today? Or shall we be like Lot, drifting on the currents of our culture and sipping from the world’s luring fountains of lust, luxuriant leisure, and lechery? Will we choose to walk the narrow road of salvation in Christ, or the wide road of worldly-pleasures, which leads to brimstones and hell fire? The story of Lot begs us to take another look and make a choice. Here’s another thing to do:

 

·          Embrace Jesus as your intercessor. As we make our choices--sometimes very good, and sometimes very poor--let us not loose sight of Jesus. He is our intercessor. He prays for us day and night. Lot has his uncle, Abraham, praying and interceding with God for his rescue from the hurricane of God’s wrath on Sodom. We have a picture of Jesus as our great intercessor. Listen to Jesus, praying, on the night he was betrayed: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (John 17:20ff). 

Embrace this picture of Jesus as your intercessor. Behind our daily affairs, and behind all our struggles as well as victories, there stands Jesus before the throne of God, the Father—praying for you and me. That’s a picture of tremendous comfort and encouragement.

Therefore, as pilgrims living by faith and trust in God’s great promise of salvation, we shall reject the conflicted way of Lot and embrace the way of Christ. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.