January 30, 2000 - LESSONS: Genesis 19:30-32

SERMON TITLE: Why?

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. Jonathan Bulkeley, CEO, Barnes and Noble writes(1)
    1. In a business environment where the clock is ticking faster than ever, it's not the job of leaders to have all the answers.
    2. The "prince of Egypt" model of leadership--here's the plan, follow me, I'll take you to the promised land--is out.
    3. Leaders today must be evangelists for changing the system--not for preserving it....
    4. That's why, at our last directors' meeting, I handed out copies of my favorite business book--Harold and the Purple Crayon.
      1. The plot is simple:
      2. A little baldheaded kid with a big purple crayon draws himself into and out of various situations.
        1. If he's on a path that's too long, he draws a shortcut.
        2. If he gets hungry, he draws some pies.
        3. If he finds himself in deep water, he draws a boat.
        4. The point is, Harold creates the solutions he needs as he proceeds through an uncertain landscape.
      3. Harold has the kind of creativity and nimbleness that we need to win in the Net market.
    5. The lesson that the book teaches is key--and so is the fact that it takes only five minutes to read!

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MAIN BODY:

  1. There are many situations in which this is the proper strategy
    1. There are others in which this will not work.
    2. The situation in which Lot find himself is one of them
  2. What happened?

Now Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; so he lived in a cave with his two daughters. And the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father," (Genesis 19:30-32, NRSV)

    1. And this is what they did.
    2. We may find the reporting of the experience disturbing.
    3. The biblical material speaks plainly and pointedly so that we might learn from the experiences of those who have gone before us.
  1. The results of what was done had long and lasting impact not only on Lot and his family, but on the course of human history.
    1. Each of his daughters bore a son
      1. The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab;
        1. He is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day.
      2. The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi
        1. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.

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    2. There was nothing good which came out of this dark and difficult experience.
    3. It should not have happened, but it did.
      1. How it happened is revealing for it is what often happens
      2. If we choose, we can learn much from this experience.
  2. Why, this is the question, Why didn't Lot go to the hills.
    1. It was too the hills that the Angel told him to go.
    2. (Genesis 19:16-30 NRSV) But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. [17] When they had brought them outside, they said, "Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed." [18] And Lot said to them, "Oh, no, my lords; [19] your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. [20] Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there--is it not a little one?--and my life will be saved!" [21] He said to him, "Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. [22] Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." Therefore the city was called Zoar. [23] The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. [24] Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven; [25] and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. [26] But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. [27] Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD; [28] and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace. [29] So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled. [30] Now Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; so he lived in a cave with his two daughters.

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    3. If you really want to know the answer to this question read the rest of the story found in Genesis 13
    4. (Genesis 13:1-13 NRSV) So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. [2] Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. [3] He journeyed on by stages from the Negeb as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, [4] to the place where he had made an altar at the first; and there Abram called on the name of the LORD. [5] Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, [6] so that the land could not support both of them living together; for their possessions were so great that they could not live together, [7] and there was strife between the herders of Abram's livestock and the herders of Lot's livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land. [8] Then Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred. [9] Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left." [10] Lot looked about him, and saw that the plain of the Jordan 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 had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. [11] So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward; thus they separated from each other. [12] Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. [13] Now the people of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.
    5. Lot would not go to the hills because Abraham was there.
      1. It would be an embarrassment to him.
        1. It would be an admission of failure
        2. It would put him again under the influence of a powerful uncle that he had tried to escape.

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      2. This is an early version of the prodigal child.
        1. Instead of going home for redemption.
        2. The child seeks other alternatives and remains lost.
        3. He not only remains lost but is responsible for the conflict between his incestuous children and his family.
        4. The situation is not resolved.
    6. These tribes exist until the area is taken over by the Babylonians in the 4th century B.C.E.

CONCLUSION:

  1. We can learn a lot from Lot.
    1. We can learn what not to do.
    2. We can also learn what to do.
  2. There is a very popular television program, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?(2)
    1. Regis Philbin sits across from the contestant and asks the question:
      1. Final answer?
      2. That's the question Regis Philbin is asking you. You're a contestant on the hit show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
        1. You're trying to decide whether the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Stockholm or Oslo.
        2. You know that Alfred Nobel was Swedish. So you go with Stockholm.
        3. But Oslo has a familiar ring to it.
        4. You stay with Stockholm. It's your final answer.
      3. You lose.
        1. The correct answer is Oslo.
        2. The Nobel prizes for Physics, Economics, Chemistry, Medicine and Literature are, in fact, awarded in Stockholm.
        3. But not the Peace Prize. It's presented by the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in the presence of Their Majesties the King and Queen of Norway and an invited audience. In Oslo.
  3. We can take a cue from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
    1. When a contestant is not sure of the correct answer, he or she has three lifelines.
      1. The 50/50 option removes two wrong answers thus improving one's chances;
      2. The "Poll the Audience" lifeline allows a contestant to ask the audience for help with the answer.
      3. The remaining lifeline is the "Call a Friend" option allowing the player to phone someone for an opinion.
  4. It is possible that we will face quandaries in life that require sure answers.
    1. We have alternatives
      1. Lifeline One (50/50): Scripture.
        1. When we want to have some wrong answers removed, Scripture is where we start.
        2. The word of God gives us guidance, helping us to avoid bad choices and make good ones.
      2. Lifeline Two (Poll the Audience): The church.
        1. We can poll the community of faith for support when we are facing the challenges of life.
        2. The Christ-Body is there for precisely that reason: to warn when danger lurks and affirm when we're exercising our gifts.
      3. Lifeline Three (Call a Friend): Jesus.
        1. Jesus Christ himself is our Lifeline Friend
        2. He models for us the right answers and, on his way to the cross, shows us how to live.
  5. You may not become a millionaire, but you will surely find life.

1. Jonathan Bulkeley, CEO, Barnesandnoble.com, quoted in Fast Company, June 1999, 96.

2. Homiletics, March, 2000, Regis and Jesus: Same Questions, Different Answers, pp.26-27

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