Who Do You Owe?

The travails of Pete Rose. The fact that he owed some gambling debts has come back to haunt him.

Who do you owe? Not in the financial sense, but in the spiritual sense? To whom are you obligated for your life, your success, your sense of well-being?

That is the most important question of life. Today we will look at the life of Abram to see how he answered that question.

Gen.12 God calls Abram. Abram obeys the call, but obeys incompletely. God wanted to teach Abram that he was a pilgrim on this earth.

Gen.13 Doubt ––> Distance ––> Deceit ––> Disaster ––> Deportation

Gen.13 Lot - seized control of his own destiny and made the choice of sight. Led to catastrophe.

Abram - placed his destiny in the hands of God and made the choice of faith. Led to tremendous blessing.

Gen.14 First recorded war in Scripture. This chapter falls into two parts:

A physical battle vv.1-16

A spiritual battle vv.17-24

The physical battle. Four kings against five:

Amraphel, king of Shinar Bera, king of Sodom

Arioch, king of Ellasar Birsha, king of Gomorrah

Kederlaomer, king of Elam Shinah, king of Admah

Tidal, king of Goiim Shemeber, king of Zeboiim

????, king of Bela (Zoar)

The five kings, including the king of Sodom, where Lot lived, joined forces in the Valley of the Salt Sea. That is, the Dead Sea. The four attacking kings swept down from the north and made a great circle west of the Dead Sea, and came up on the five kings from the south. The four kings routed the five kings, as we read in v.10.

The interesting thing about these tar pits is that they are indeed there. The Romans used to call the Dead Sea the Sea of Asphalt because there were chunks of bitumen floating on it.

We read in v.12 that the four kings carried away Lot and all his possessions, since he was living in Sodom. When Lot chose to live in the Plain of the Jordan, we read in chapter 13 that he pitched his tents near Sodom. But now in ch. 14, he’s in Sodom.

When a believer tries to get close to the world, he soon gets swallowed up in it. And a believer who is living for the world and not for God is actually in a very dangerous position. He has wandered out from under the protective hand of God. He’s fair game for all of the catastrophes and terrible things that can happen to people out there in the world.

This is what happened to Lot. He was living in Sodom. When Sodom was attacked, Lot was attacked. He couldn’t stand up on the walls of the city and say “Hey, wait a minute! You’re making a terrible mistake! I’m not a citizen of this city, I’m a child of God.” They wouldn’t have listened to him. As far as they were concerned, if he was in the city of Sodom, he was of the city of Sodom. Young people, that’s something to remember. If you get in with the wrong crowd, if you want to run with the world, be prepared for disaster, because sooner or later, it’ll come. And it won’t make an exception for you just because you claim to be a Christian.

Where should Lot have been all this time? He should have been with his uncle Abram, up there in the hill country of Canaan. Do you realize that the four kings, when they invaded the land, made a big circle right around the place where Abram was living? God protected Abram from the invasion, because Abram had allowed God to choose where he would live. While there was warfare and bloodshed and pillaging down on the plain, there was peace up in the hill country with God. Where have you made your dwelling place today?

Lot lost all he possessed and became a prisoner of war. Do you remember that back in chapter 13, Lot had gone down onto the plain by Sodom in order to increase his possessions? He saw that the plain was good and well-watered; just perfect for raising livestock. So he made his choice. It was the choice of sight. He didn’t consult God. And so he walked right into the worst possible place to live. The most dangerous place, both physically and spiritually.

Matthew 6:31-33 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

When we leave God out of our decisions, we will make our decisions on the basis of sight. And what looks good to us today may turn to ashes tomorrow. Certainly, we have to use our common sense in making decisions. We must try to be wise in the choices we make. But there will be times when we sense that God is leading us to go someplace or to do something that the world says is foolish. (Remember Noah?) But God leads us in order to protect us and to bless us. Only He knows the future, so it makes sense to look to Him for his leading.

We read in v.14 that Abram was concerned to rescue Lot. As soon as he heard that his nephew had been kidnapped, he began to make plans to save him. Isn’t that beautiful? If anyone had the privilege to sit back and say “Serves him right!” it would have been Abram. From the world’s point of view, Lot had shafted him. Lot had taken the best land and left Abram, his elder - the man who should have had first choice - with the poorest land.

But Abram was a man who was walking with God. And the hallmark of such a man is that he has a real concern for people. He wanted to go out of his way to rescue and to restore Lot.

Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

It takes a spiritual man to do the work of restoration.

Abram looked at what he had. 318 trained men in his household. That’s not a bad household! God had blessed him up there in the hill country. But compared with the thousands of soldiers under the command of the four kings who had kidnapped Lot, 318 wasn’t much. But in the hands of God, Abram’s tiny army routed a great army. Our resources may not be much, but with God on our side, we will win the victory.

After the physical battle was won, Abram should have been pretty satisfied with himself. He had defeated a huge army with just 318 men. His tactics were brilliant. Not bad soldiering for a goat herder! He had rescued Lot and gotten back all his possessions too. But Abram was now faced with a spiritual battle that made the physical battle to rescue Lot look like a picnic.

It is so often true that just after we come thru a tremendous challenge in our lives, Satan is waiting for us with some of his most deadly spiritual weapons. That is because we all have a tendency to let down our guard. We come thru the tempest only to be faced with temptation. Thank God that Abram had his wits about him and continued to walk with God even after he had won the victory. And thank God that He was faithful and provided for Abram in the midst of temptation.

We read in vv.17-24 that Abram met two kings. These two kings have tremendous symbolic significance in the spiritual realm.

King of Sodom. His name was Bera. This name is a compound of the Hebrew word for “evil”. The king of Sodom was the personification of evil. He was the king of wickedness. He ruled over a place which has become synonymous for sin. The king of Sodom represents the ruler of this world, Satan.

Now I want you to notice that this king is a defeated king. He comes out to Abram and he offers to make a deal as though he has the right to do so. He says “Give me the people, and keep the goods for yourself.” But he has no right to do this! The king of Sodom has just been routed on the field of battle. The last time we saw him, he was hoofing it into the hills with tar on his heels. He has no right to offer Abram anything. But he boldly does so just the same. He pretends to have power and influence and authority. He is arrogant and audacious. Just like Satan.

What does Abram do? Does he agree to the deal offered to him by the king of Sodom? No. He knows that if he strikes a deal with this evil man, the king will be able to say that he has made Abram rich. Abram was not about to put himself in the position of owing anything to the king of Sodom. Abram had fought the battle for the sake of his nephew Lot, not to make himself rich. He wasn’t about to strike any deals with the ruler of this world.

This week in Buffalo, I ran across a perfect example of this. The City Mission of Buffalo is a fine organization devoted to preaching the gospel and helping the poor and needy people of the city. The director of the mission is a personal friend of mine. A couple of years ago, the City Mission had a building project. The honorary chairman of the project was the Mayor of Buffalo, a man who, as far as we know, is not a Christian. The mayor saw the good work that the mission was doing, and became a real booster of the mission.

Just this summer, the City of Buffalo hosted a summer festival in a city park. The festival was sponsored by a brewery. The brewery wanted to donate the proceeds of the festival to charity, so they asked the mayor who they should give the money to. The mayor’s favorite charity was the City Mission, so he innocently suggested that they give them the money. So they called up the mission and asked them to send over a representative to the brewery offices to pick up a check for several thousand dollars.

Do you see the problem here? The City Mission is in a life and death struggle for the souls of people whose lives have been ruined by alcohol. Now along comes a brewery, which produces that poison, offering the City Mission a fat donation to help its work. What would you do if you were the director of the mission? If you take the money, then the brewery executives and owners can sit back and pat themselves on the back and say that they have done their civic duty. They have contributed to a good cause.

Satan will try his best to get you to compromise as a Christian - to do a little business with him. He pretends to have the power and the authority to bring good things into your life. He wants you to believe that if you’ll just do things his way, he’ll bless you better than God can. He’s always willing to subsidize you if by so doing he can bring you under obligation to himself. But if you let him, then you’ll owe him.

This is precisely what Satan tried to do when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. He took Jesus up to a mountaintop and showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth. He said “All this can be yours, if you’ll just bow down and worship me.” That was a lie! To begin with, Satan didn’t have the title to all those kingdoms, Jesus himself did. Satan was trying to steal what was already the Lord’s and sell it back to him.

Righteous Abram saw right through the King of Sodom. The reason he did was that he had just met the King of Salem. Isn’t it interesting that God arranged for Abram to meet Melchizedek at this particular point in the story? Melchizedek met Abram not when Abram was in pursuit of the four kings, but when the king of Sodom was in pursuit of Abram. God is faithful to us when we are being tempted to sin.

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Melchizedek is a remarkable character who appears several times in the pages of Scripture. He appears in Psalm 110 and Hebrews. Like the King of Sodom, Melchizedek was a real person who had a spiritual significance.

We read in v. 18 that Melchizedek was the King of Salem. We also read that he was a priest - the priest of God Most High. That’s an unusual combination. There are a lot of unusual combinations about this man. He is a king who is also a priest. His name means “king of righteousness” and his title means “king of peace”. He brought out bread and wine to Abram; items which bring to mind the elements of the Lord’s Table.

In truth, Melchizedek is a person who foreshadows the Lord Jesus Christ. We are told as much in Hebrews 7. Jesus Christ is a priest and a king. Jesus Christ brings us peace with God by satisfying the righteousness of God through his death on the cross. The bread and wine speak of that death as they symbolize the broken body and the shed blood of our Savior.

Abram, a man who was walking with God, recognized Melchizedek’s importance. He saw with the eyes of faith the significance of this man. How did he respond? He gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had. He paid a tithe to Melchizedek. He realized that God had blessed him. God had given him success on the battlefield. God had enabled him to rescue his nephew Lot. God had given him the spoils of battle. And in giving Melchizedek the tithe, Abram was saying “God, all that I have I owe to you.”

Isn’t it interesting that Abram knew to give a tithe. Why did he not give a quarter or a third or a half? How did he know to give a tenth? I believe that God revealed this to him. And isn’t it interesting that Abram tithed even though he was not under the Law? The Law wouldn’t come along for another 400 years. So he wasn’t under the Law, just as we are not under the Law, but he tithed anyway.

He tithed to show that he owed it all to God. He tithed before he got home. Before he laid his hands on any of these possessions, he gave the firstfruits to God. He tithed to show that God was in charge of his life.

And immediately after this spiritual battle with the forces of evil, God revealed Himself to Abram more fully in chapter 15. Whenever we take a stand for God, and for God’s righteousness, the Lord draws us closer to Himself.

Who do you owe this morning? Do you owe it all to God? Or have you made a deal with the devil? Just as it did in Abram’s life, your giving will reveal who you feel you owe.