The life and faith of Abraham. Part 4 – War, Salvation and Worship

Um,

maybe not everyone here likes war films.

In fact, I'm sure that's the case. Not

everyone here will like war films, but

the account that Will has just read to

us

would make a thrilling war film,

wouldn't it? Don't you think?

There's coalitions of kings.

There's rebellions. There's escaping

armies falling into tar pits or running

to the hills.

There's captives and then there's a a

daring night time rescue after a long

pursuit and a victory against

overwhelming odds. Imagine the Imagine

the scenes in that film.

And particularly with these tar pits or

these bitumen pits,

as they're called. I don't know how big

these would have been

in that region 4,000 years ago, but the

largest one known today is as big as 50

football pitches. [snorts]

It's um on Trinidad and Tobago, just off

the coast coast of of South America.

They can be big things. What an awful

thing to get stuck in.

The more you struggle, the more trapped

you become.

And you slowly sink. And apparently it

could take months before the tar finally

closes over your head.

It's the stuff of nightmares, really,

isn't it?

But before we start looking at these

amazing events and what happens

following the victory, I want to I want

to zoom out a bit and just ask the

question, well, what is this story about

Abraham or Abram, as he's currently

known?

What is this story about Abram doing

here?

Why is it Why is it in our Bibles?

What's it about? Now, Matt I think Matt

gave a good summary of this a few weeks

ago when we started our series in Abram,

but that was a few weeks ago. So, I

think it's worth revisiting. What is

this story about Abram generally and and

this particular story about?

And I think this the whole narrative

about Abram is designed to answer the

primary question, who are the people of

God? Who are the people of God?

And I think that story about Abraham

might seem very distant and not really

connected with us, but who are the

people of God? That's an urgent

question.

That's a question that impacts all of

us.

>> [snorts]

>> Because we need to know that we are

among the people of God.

Well, one day we're going to we're going

to stand before

God.

And and we know every one of us that we

we haven't lived perfectly moral, good,

and upright lives. But God is holy and

pure, and we're going to stand before

him. So, we need to know are we among

God's people? Well, Abraham himself has

not lived a perfectly moral and upright

life. We particularly saw that a couple

of weeks ago. Abraham was willing to put

his own wife in harm's way in order to

save his own skin. But we've also seen

that God,

despite Abraham's many flaws and many

shortcomings, is determined to bless

him.

And and so we need to know that we've

got this spiritual connection with with

Abraham, this man that lived 4,000 years

ago. If Abraham received the blessing of

God despite his flaws, how can we too

know that we are blessed by God?

And what does this particular story,

this particular account of Abraham show

us about how God is fulfilling his

promise to rescue his people? Cuz this

story isn't just it's not just there to

give us a glimpse of a random battle

from 4,000 years ago.

Because even more than being Abraham's

story,

this is God's story. This is God's

story. Now, you might have said, "Well,

in the first half of this chapter as

Will was

plowing through that list of kings, in

fact, most of the chapter, God, he's not

mentioned, really."

And yet, don't be fooled in thinking

that God is absent from this story.

This story is going to is going to show

us some very profound things about the

God who rescues.

So, let's let's dive in. Let's start to

unpack this this story starting with

thinking about the victory. The victory.

So, as as you'll have

realized when Will read the passage,

there's there's an awful lot of names

here.

And and other than reminding us that

this is real history with real people, I

don't think we have to pay too much

attention to all of the names that that

Will valiantly read out. But, the top

dog the top dog of the enemy armies was

this this chap Kedorlaomer or

Chedorlaomer or what however you

pronounce it. He was the top dog.

And and the kings further south, so

that's the king of Sodom, the king of

Gomorrah, and the other kings, they'd

been paying tribute to this this more

powerful king up north.

But, then after 12 years of doing that,

they'd had enough. They didn't want to

do that anymore. They rebelled in the

13th year. And and for a while that

seemed to go okay. They seemed to get

away with it.

But, in the end, in the 14th year

Kedorlaomer and his allies come sweeping

south. And I've popped a basic map up

there. So, the blue line up in the top

right there, that's where they come from

up in the north. They come sweeping

south to deal with this rebellion. And

they defeat everyone they meet. And then

they turn and start heading back up

north. Um

and this is where the alliance of the

other kings, led by um the king of

Sodom,

they come out to join with them in the

battle. Now, the battle isn't actually

shown on the map, I don't think. But,

it's um it's probably around the south

end of what is now the Dead Sea. So, on

that that as they come back up north, um

the battle probably took place just

around the tip of the the Dead Sea

there.

And they're utterly destroyed.

They're utterly wiped out. Some of them

get stuck in these tar pits.

Some of them flee to the hills,

and they the enemy takes all the

possessions, all of the provisions, many

prisoners of war, and other captives,

and they also get Lot and his

possessions, too.

And they head back up north.

And maybe you'd think, well, that could

have been the end of the story.

They're powerful, they come south,

they've defeated, they've taken

possessions, they've taken captives, and

away they go.

But,

someone escapes.

And we don't know who that person is.

They come to Abram, and they tell Abram

that Lot has been captured. Now, up to

this point, this conflict doesn't really

seem to have affected Abram. He's not

been mentioned so far.

Um he's not been living in the city or

the city of Sodom or one of the other

cities where um it's it's directly

affected them. He's been living in

tents. So, he's not been part directly

of the culture around him. And and Abram

here is called Abram the Hebrew. That's

actually the first time the word Hebrew

appears in the Bible. It's the first

time it's it's mentioned.

And there's a meaning behind the word

Hebrew. In fact, in the when the Old

Testament was translated into Greek with

the famous translation known as the

Septuagint,

the phrase Abram the Hebrew is

translated translated into Greek in in

in a way that means Abram the nomad,

Abram the wanderer, the sojourner. We

might say, you know, someone of no fixed

abode. That's who Abram the Hebrew is.

He's living in tents.

He's in this land that God has promised

him,

but he's he's not caught up in this

fighting. You could he could have kept

out of it really. It doesn't affect the

way he's living. But he immediately

responds to go and rescue his nephew. He

hears about what's happened and he

immediately starts to do something about

it and he pursues north with his

318

trained men, his most loyal servants,

the ones who were born into his

household. And Dan was right up there in

the top left of the map. He can barely

see it. But right up at the top right at

the top of the map there,

that's where he pursues them. It's over

100 miles north. That's how far he has

to chase after these kings.

And I think the fact that 318

is given as such an exact number is not

because it's a large number.

It's not a large army. It's a small

army. And it looks like that's why

someone specifically counted them and

wrote the number down.

It shouldn't be an army that could

defeat an alliance of four kings who've

just swept through the entire land

capturing and defeating everyone in

their wake. It shouldn't have been an

army that could have beaten them, but

that is exactly what happens.

Abram divides his forces. He attacks at

night and the enemy seem to panic and

run off further north and they're

they're pursued all the way up north of

Damascus. And Abram returns triumphantly

bringing all the possessions and Lot and

all his possessions and the women and

the men who'd been captured.

So, Abram has chased these kings right

out of the land that he doesn't even

possess yet.

It's not his land.

Not yet. God has promised it to him, but

it's not yet his land. All these other

kings are fighting over it,

but nonetheless, Abram has won this

great military victory. And you might

say, "Well, what are the lessons for us

in all of that? Do we go away thinking,

'Oh, I must be brave like Abraham.'"

Do we go away thinking, "Self-sacrifice

for the sake of your family members,

that's a good thing."

I think we need to be not not too quick

to rush to these sorts of lessons.

Cuz we might think, "Well, look, this is

the significant part of the story. This

is the battle. This is the climax. This

is where it was all at. Abraham's won.

He's brought everything back. The end."

But,

the main actor in this story has not yet

appeared in the narrative. He's not yet

appeared. So, let's hold back a little

bit on the

the be like Abraham lessons for a little

bit. And let's see what happens

afterwards.

Cuz what happens afterwards is the real

climax of this story.

So, let's look at that in my next point,

blessing.

Blessing.

Cuz the next thing that happens

is

the king of Sodom

comes out

to meet Abraham. Now, remember, this is

the guy who's just suffered this

crushing military defeat.

He's been crushed.

Abraham's heroic actions have turned the

whole thing around. So, the king of

Sodom, we don't know where he's he's

presumably not been falling into the tar

pits. He's presumably been hiding in the

hills.

And now he's he's come out. And you'd

imagine he'd be very grateful for what

Abraham Abraham has accomplished.

But,

we don't immediately get to hear what

the king of Sodom has to say.

Because another king,

Melchizedek,

appears suddenly in the story. Now, this

is most unexpected. Now, so we were

talking about a film earlier on. Now,

imagine this is this is a stage play.

So, imagine this this whole drama is

being enacted in front of you on a

stage. You So, you've had the battle

scene.

And so, Abraham's there, and he's

sweaty,

and he's dirty, and his clothes are

torn. He looks like a man who's just

fought a battle. He's all out of breath.

And here comes the king of Sodom onto

the stage. Now, the king of Sodom, he's

trying to look like a king.

But, remember, he's been hiding out in

the hills.

It hasn't gone very well for him.

So, he's he's not really looking very

super kingly at this point. Maybe he's

looking a bit He's looking a bit shifty,

a bit ill-at-ease as he comes towards

Abraham. Perhaps he's going to

congratulate him. But, suddenly,

this guy, Melchizedek,

just appears on the stage.

From He's off on the side, and suddenly

he comes onto the stage, and he

interrupts the flow of the story. Who is

this guy?

Nobody invited him.

He just like He just barges in to the

story. We don't know who he is.

He hasn't even been mentioned up to now.

We don't know where he fits in. We don't

know what he's doing here.

But, his name translates as

king of righteousness. That's what

Melchizedek means.

And he's also described as the king of

Salem. Oh, Salem comes from the Hebrew

word shalom.

Peace.

So, he's a He's the king of

righteousness,

and he's the king of peace,

and he's a priest.

Now, this is the first person in the

Bible who's specifically called

a priest. And this is very This is very

significant. It matters. Other people up

to now have kind of They've done the

sorts of things that priests do,

but Melchizedek is called

a priest. And he's not just a pagan

priest. He's not just any old priest.

You can see it in the passage. He's the

priest of God most high.

He's He's God's priest. He's a priest of

the one true God.

So, Melchizedek

somehow

knows

the one true God.

We We don't know how that happened, but

somehow God has revealed himself to this

man called Melchizedek. And And a true

priest is a representative

between the people

and God.

That's what a priest is. So, this this

seems like an important moment in the

story. This unexpected figure. It feels

like it's an important moment in the

story and what's more, he's bringing

something.

He's bringing bread and wine. Now, think

of bread here. This isn't just like a

crust of bread. So, think of bread in

the wider meaning of of food.

He's bringing food and wine. It's a

feast.

He's bringing a feast with him.

But, Melchizedek doesn't owe Abraham

anything.

It's not as if Melchizedek's stuff has

been looted. We We haven't been told

anything about Melchizedek's stuff.

But, still

this man Melchizedek is honoring Abraham

with all of this

generous provisions. And something

significant happening here and the king

of Sodom has been completely upstaged. I

mean, the king of Sodom is like trying

to say his thing.

And suddenly this man Melchizedek has

appeared and stolen all of the thunder.

And Melchizedek speaks.

And what he says is very important. He

makes his proclamation. Blessed be

Abraham by God most high,

possessor of heaven and earth. Blessed

be God most high,

who has delivered your enemies into your

hand.

So, Melchizedek is is praising God

and he's pronouncing this blessing

on Abram.

Now,

the New Testament book of Hebrews says,

"Without question,

the person who has the power to give a

blessing

is greater

than the one who's being blessed."

The person who has the power to give the

blessing

is greater than the one who's being

blessed. So, we know nothing about this

guy, Melchizedek, and yet he is greater

even

than Abraham.

Why is he greater? Why is this man

greater? He's greater because he is a

priest of the most high God.

A priest is someone who who represents

the people before God. A priest offers

sacrifices.

A priest prays for and blesses the

people.

Now, there's this great mystery about

Melchizedek at this point.

But the New Testament book of Hebrews

makes it very clear that Melchizedek is

someone who points us to Jesus. He

points us to Jesus because Jesus is the

one priest that we will ever need.

We do not need any other priests

but Jesus. Jesus is the priest who who

didn't just bring a sacrifice, he was

the sacrifice.

He offered himself

in our place

for our sins. [snorts]

And Melchizedek's as Mel- Melchizedek,

as we'll subsequently see as the Bible

unfolds, Melchizedek points us

to Jesus.

But at this point, as we read the story,

we don't know any of these things. I

mean, if you were there then, you

wouldn't have known any of those things.

But at this point, Melchizedek does does

two things. He does two things.

Firstly, Melchizedek shows us that it is

God who gives the victory. It's God who

gives the victory.

This this is the first war that's

recorded in the Bible. This is the first

battle that takes place in the Bible.

Yes, Abraham was courageous. Yes,

Abraham was willing to sacrifice himself

to rescue his nephew, but why did he

win?

He didn't win because he was courageous.

He didn't win because he had 318

trained men. He won because as

Melchizedek says, "God has delivered

your enemies into your hand." That is

why he won.

I don't know if you noticed as Paul will

struggle through that passage so

valiantly. Did you notice how many times

the word king appears in that passage?

King after king after king after king.

This meeting even takes place as verse

17 says, "In the King's Valley."

But there's only one true king. There's

only one king who really matters. It's

not all of these other kings.

It's God himself. God is the one who can

deliver and rescue and save.

So,

Melchizedek has made this kind of

surprise entrance into the story, but

he's not the main actor. God is the main

actor of this story.

So, that's the first thing Melchizedek

does. Melchizedek shows us that it's God

who gives the victory.

But he also shines this this spotlight

on Abraham. And Melchizedek says,

"Abraham, you are the one.

You are God's man.

The blessing of God rests on you."

So, Melchizedek is this mys- mysterious

person that we don't really understand

even at this point and even at the end

of the if you read the whole Bible

you're still thinking well I've got a

lot of questions about this Melchizedek

guy

but he's a mystery that shines light on

others.

And he says Abraham, you are God's man.

And how does Abraham respond?

With worship. Not of Melchizedek

but with worship

to God. He gives Melchizedek a tenth of

everything through God's anointed

priest, Abraham offers what he has

to the Lord.

So at the beginning I said, what are

these what is this story about Abraham?

What is this narrative about Abraham

designed to do? It's designed to answer

the question who are the people of God?

Who are the people upon whom God's

blessing rests?

And I think here we can see an answer to

that question.

The people of God offer worship

to the most high God. That's what the

people of God do.

They acknowledge that to God

belongs all things. That God is the

possessor of heaven and earth. That God

is the one who defeats the enemy.

I wonder if that's you.

Is that what you do? Do you regard your

life, your possessions, your abilities

as all belonging to you

to do with as you wish, when you wish,

how you wish?

Or do you acknowledge that God is the

Lord?

The the only true king.

The one to whom you owe

everything.

Are you are you going to am I going to

step off my throne? Are you going to

step off your throne and acknowledge

that it's God

who is seated on his throne. He is

the most high God.

He is the possessor of heaven and earth.

Abraham Abraham, he has won this great

victory.

He could he could just bask in his

status as a hero.

But instead,

he offers worship to God. That's what he

does. He offers worship to God.

So finally, let's give let's give some

space to the poor old king of Sodom

who's been waiting his turn. In my final

point, humility and integrity.

So finally, the king of Sodom gets to

speak.

Um we don't know we don't know I mean

we've got this narrative. We don't we

don't really know how the timeline of

these events unfolded. But in the

narrative at least, the king of Sodom

has had to wait, hasn't he? In the stage

play, you know, Abraham's been enjoying

this this great feast that Melchizedek's

provided and he's been offering worship

to God. And I think the king of Sodom

has kind of been standing standing off

on the edge of the stage, kind of

looking sulky with his arms folded

thinking, "Look, what's going on? What's

going on? When do I get to say

something?" But finally, he gets his

turn.

And what does he say?

Does he say, "Thank you so much,

Abraham.

You've been amazing. I am totally in

your debt. You've rescued me. You've

rescued my people. How can I ever show

my gratitude? Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you."

Is that what the king of Sodom says?

Not really.

"Give me the persons, you can keep the

stuff."

"Give me the persons, you can keep the

stuff." How ungrateful.

How surly. How demanding. What a

contrast to Melchizedek. Melchizedek,

the one who honored Abraham with

gracious provision.

The king of Sodom is nothing like that.

Now let's just just take a minute to

think about it. What's the situation

right now? Abraham has just utterly

thrashed these four kings

who themselves had defeated the five

kings including the king of Sodom.

Abraham is clearly the military top dog

right now. Abraham could just take the

land.

That's what he could do. Who's going to

stand against him?

He could just take the land right now.

And according to the customs of the

time, the spoils of war belong to

Abraham. He risked his own life to get

this stuff back.

According to the customs of the time,

that's now his stuff cuz he risked his

life and the life of others to recover

it. So, the king of Sodom owes

allegiance to Abraham.

But the king of Sodom resents him. Fears

him probably.

So,

Abraham has his stuff by right of

conquest and because the king of Sodom

has said you can keep it.

But what does Abraham do?

What does he do? He responds with

incredible

humility

and integrity.

That's what Abraham does. He says, "I've

lifted up my hand." So, that's like I've

taken a solemn oath. I've made a a

solemn promise to the Lord, God Most

High, possessor of heaven and earth,

that I would not take a thread

or a sandal strap or anything that is

yours

lest you should say, the king of Sodom

should say, "I have made Abraham rich."

Abraham looks at all this loot which

he's won in battle.

He looks at the land which he knows that

God has given him and which he could

take right now.

And he says,

"I trust God. I trust God. I don't need

any human being to give me what God has

promised."

And can you see that in this passage

he's included God's personal covenant

name here as well. Yes, he's used God

Most High, same as Melchizedek, but he

says it's the Lord.

Capital L O R D God Most High.

One in the same person. That the The God

Most High is also the personal Lord who

makes and keeps promises to his people.

So, Abram trusts God.

He's acting with humility.

He's acting with integrity. He is

learning that God is so much bigger than

he thought. God is so much bigger than

he thought.

Now, it's not as if Abram has learned

everything. We're going to see um later

on he's going to face further trials in

his life. He's going to fail in some of

those trials, but at this point in the

story

we can see that he's learned

to trust that God is going to give him

the land. He doesn't need to take it for

himself. God is going to give it to him.

Last week he let Lot choose the best.

This week he's rejected the opportunity

to take it for himself by military

strength

because he trusts that God is going to

provide.

So, who are the people of God?

Who are they?

They are those who are willing to trust

that God will give us

what he plans to give us

in his perfect timing and in his own

way.

And the people of God, their lives are

shaped by this this view of God as

Abram's was.

So, they can live with integrity. They

can live with humility before the God

who owns

everything.

So, I wonder, how does that play out for

us? Have you ever been Have you ever

been tempted to accept

a reduced price

to pay for something in cash

when you know that someone is going to

use that to avoid paying the tax

that is due. It's easy to think, "Well,

that's not even a fair tax anyway. If I

just do this, I'm just I'm just kind of

evening the scales. I'm putting it

right."

Have you ever been tempted

not to point out the error on the bill

that means you've been undercharged by

20 lb?

>> [snorts]

>> It's easy to think, "Well, it wasn't

worth the full price anyway.

Actually, 20 lb less, that's probably

fair for for the service I've received."

But, we are called as God's people to

live

with integrity.

What about if someone else takes the

credit for the work that you've done?

Are you content to live with the

understanding that God sees everything?

God knows the full story.

Or are you someone who who must defend

yourself? Who must discredit the other

person? Who must make sure that you get

the credit that is rightfully due?

The people of God are called to live

with humility, knowing that the Lord, he

sees everything and he can deliver

whatever he chooses.

But, notice also how Abraham is

concerned for other people. And even

though he's got this view about the

Lord, he's not actually forcing those

views on those around him. He actually

says, "Let Aner and Eshkol and Mamre,

let them take their share.

They're they're the guys that went with

him." Now, he doesn't need the king of

Sodom's permission for these guys to

take their share, but again, he shows

such humility. I'm I'm not taking

anything. Let these guys, you know, this

is the guy who's should be falling on

his face before him, but he's saying,

"Let Let those guys take their share.

Let them take what's due to them."

So, let's think again.

Let's think again about our own lives.

What is it that we are demanding that

God owes us? Do we have things that we

demand that this is what God owes me?

I'm due this.

Well, what is it that we're holding

we've What is it that we've already got

that we're holding with a clenched fist?

This is mine. No one is going to take

this from me.

The people of God know that everything

belongs to the Lord.

He is the Lord of heaven and earth, the

creator of heaven and earth. And and

don't forget that that Abraham, he's

actually given away a tenth of

everything. So, even before this

conversation with the king of Sodom

takes place.

Abraham has given away a tenth cuz he

knows it all belongs to the Lord.

So, he offers that tenth to Melchizedek,

the representative representative of

God, in recognition of this.

So, I hope you'll agree that this has

been This has been a remarkable biblical

story. You don't get many stories like

this in the Bible. It's been a

remarkable story.

Abraham's been on what Matt has been

calling his adventure of faith, his

journey of faith.

He's learning more about who God is. God

is not just one of many gods.

He is God most high,

the possessor of heaven and earth. God

is the one who defeats enemies.

God is the one to whom worship is owed.

And he's the one who calls us to trust

him. He calls us to a a life of trust

and integrity and humility.

So, I wonder where we all are on our own

journey of faith.

Cuz we're in such a privileged position

compared to Abraham.

We are.

Because as as we search the scriptures,

we can see that Melchizedek points us to

a better priest, to Jesus our great high

priest, to the only priest that we'll

ever need.

We can see that God God doesn't just

defeat enemy armies.

He defeats the vastly more powerful

enemies of sin, the devil, death, hell

itself. These are the enemies that God

defeats.

But if in humility and integrity, you

come to God in worship,

offering him your life,

trusting him,

then God has chosen you to be blessed,

just as he chose Abraham to be blessed.

So, I'd encourage you, come to him now.

Come to him now, maybe for the

thousandth time. Come to God in humility

and integrity, offering worship and

trust. Or maybe come to him for the

first time.

For the first time you've seen today,

God is someone I can trust.

He I can trust him with my life. I can

trust him with my death.

Come to him now and receive the blessing

that God has for everyone who calls on

his name.

Let me pray for us.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you

are the God most high,

possessor of heaven and earth. Lord,

help us to see that

you are the one who can be trusted. You

are the one who can rescue. You are the

one who can save. There is no one like

you.

Lord, please help us to come to you

in humility,

in integrity,

offering you our worship, offering you

our trust, offering you our hearts.

And we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

We're going to close by singing two more

songs and together that will hopefully

help us to reflect on those things. I'm

all praise to him

and we trust in you, our shield and our

defender.