Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20080615.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part VII: Explaining God's Plan To Bless Men Regardless Of Apostasy
C. Heeding God In His Current Assignments For Our Greatest Impact
(Genesis 14:1-20)
  1. God had told Abram to (A) leave his homeland for Canaan and (B) to be a blessing there for God's rewards, Genesis 12:1-3, 4-7.
  2. That left Abram in Genesis 14:1-14a called to "be a blessing" by attempting a visibly unsavory, vain task, Genesis 14:1-13; 13:10-13:
    1. Abram's nephew, Lot had faithlessly chosen to live near evil Sodom in the lush Jordan Valley to care for his herds, Genesis 13:10-13.
    2. When Sodom and its allies rebelled against big Mesopotamian cities that in turn attacked them, Lot and his family were captured, 14:1-13!
    3. God had told Abram to "be a blessing", so this crisis left him obliged to attack this city state force, one city being Babylonia (Shinar), using only his 318 men and local allies to help Lot out of his self-inflicted trouble, Gen. 14:1, 14, 24; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to 14:1!
  3. However, Abram OBEYED God's Word to try saving Lot, 14:14-15.
  4. God RICHLY REWARDED Abram for this OBEDIENCE:
    1. Abram won a great victory: he pursued the city states for 150 miles, then routed and chased them for another 50 miles to recover their spoils, including Lot and his family, Genesis 14:15-16; Ibid., map 4.
    2. Also, the spoils of war from the city states went to Abram, 14:5-9, 16!
    3. God also made Abram's name great by way of this event (as follows):
      1. The city states were led by the king of Elam who lived far from Canaan (Gen. 14:1; The Macmillan Bible Atlas, 1968, map 4), so they sought a bigger prize than just Sodom and its allies as follows:
        1. The city states first moved from north-to-south just east of the Jordan Valley past Sodom and its allies down to the Gulf of Aqaba, then turned northwest to attack Kadesh Barnea only to circle back east to attack Sodom and its allies, Ibid., map. 24.
        2. Well, two key trade routes were there: the "King's Highway" ran north-to-south just east of the Jordan Valley down to the Gulf of Aqaba, and the "Way To the Arabah" cut off of this highway just south of the Dead Sea to head west to Egypt, Ibid., map. 10.
        3. Thus, the Mesopotamian city states were upset that Sodom and her allies had hurt their trade to Africa and Egypt, so their main goal was to regain control of these economically critical routes.
        4. When Abram defeated the city states, he was left controlling the trade routes between Mesopotamia and Egypt and Africa as an international force in accord with God's Genesis 12:2 promise!
  5. God ALSO applied His Covenant to Abram respectively VASTLY to CURSE or to BLESS OTHERS in how they related to him:
    1. God honored Abram's UNSAVORY decision to REFUSE Sodom's goods when he RESISTED its EVIL KING'S effort by the gift of those goods to CONTROL Abram (Gen. 14:17, 21-24; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to 14:21-24): God thus later CURSED Sodom and its king in the Genesis 19 destruction of Sodom in accord with the Genesis 12:3b stipulation to CURSE those who sought to CURSE Abram!
    2. However, God LAVISHLY honored Abram's humble BLESSING of a godly priest of the cursed CANAANITE line for blessing Abram:
      1. Melchizedek, king of Jerusalem and priest of God who presented Abram food and a blessing, was of the CURSED Canaanite line:
        1. Melchizedek's Gen. 14:19-20 reference to God as El-'Elyon, "the Most High", was often used by ancient Canaanites for a supreme god, DeVaux, Anc. Israel, p. 310; Kittel, Bib. Heb., 18.
        2. His word for God as "Possessor" (qnh) in Genesis 14:19 KJV is likely related to an ancient northwest Semitic dead Ugaritic language's reference to "One who brings forth," meaning the "Creator," Theol. Wrdbk. of the O. T., v. II, p. 804. (cf. NIV)
        3. Melchizedek was thus of the cursed Canaanite line (Gen. 9:25) who held to belief in the Creator God dating back to Noah's era!
      2. Thus, in faith in his Creator, Melchizedek met Abram, and offered him food in fellowship, and a blessing, Genesis 14:18-20b!
      3. To be a blessing, Abram responded opposite how he had replied to Sodom's king: he submitted to Melchizedek, accepting his food and blessing, and paying him tithes (Gen. 14:18-20; Hebr. 7:1-7).
      4. God thus UNIMAGINABLY raised Melchizedek from his cursed Canaanite line to head the priesthood of Christ (Heb. 6:20-7:3), the Savior of the WORLD, 1 John 4:14; Galatians 3:13-14!
      5. This all aligned with God's Genesis 12:3 word (a) to bless even a man in the cursed Canaanite line, the godly Melchizedek, for his blessing of Abram, and (b) to bless the world's families by Abram.
Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Over the years, and especially in the last several months, believers in our body have told of their desire to accomplish something really "significant" for the Lord, beyond what they normally do, for their usual assignments "seem" to them to be so "trivial" or "useless."

This need becomes enhanced in the face of especially annoying, difficult or unsavory conditions faced in performing such assignments.

Take, for example, the case of the poor widow who was casting two mites into the temple treasury box in Luke 21:1-2 in worship of the Lord. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, p. 256 notes these coins were worth "about 1/8 cent". If she had been the only one casting coins into the temple treasury that day, she or others might not have thought her effort was insignificant, but in view of what the rich folk were doing, her effort would have seemed practically useless!

Alfred Edersheim reveals these offering boxes had large, funnel shaped trumpet receptors that gave off a resounding clanging sound as coins were dropped into them, Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah , 1972, ii, p. 387. The wealthy were prone to convert their offerings into smaller coins so that their contributions would make an impressive noise to observing bystanders!

One can only imagine, then, how the poor widow felt as she dropped in her two meager copper coins into one of these trumpets in contrast to the other givers. After all, her gift was the least offering allowed by the religious authorities, a restriction presumably set so as not to dishonor God, so her minute gift probably left her struggling with embarrassment and maybe even some false guilt as she gave it! (Ibid., p. 387-388)



So, if what we are ASSIGNED of GOD to do SEEMS to be trivial, hard or unsavory, and possibly even embarrassing, we may ask, "How am I supposed to be MOTIVATED to PERFORM this assignment for the Lord?!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "My assignments from God seem so futile, so, why do them?"

Application: (1) May we trust in Abram's God, Jesus, for eternal life, John 8:56-58; 3:16. (2) If facing visibly unsavory duties for God, recall it is UNIMAGINABLY BIG in God's plan, and so do it!

Lesson: When Abram HEEDED God's will to STAY in Canaan and BE a BLESSING, regardless how unsavory the duty involved, God USED it to HEAP up UNIMAGINABLY VAST blessings in line with His Word!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

(1) On our last Church Work Day, June 7th, I was painting the church wall on the painting platform by our Church addition's west wall when I saw a lady in our neighborhood had come onto our parking lot. She was concerned about the litter left in the lot near the cars of those who had attended a party she had hosted the previous evening.

When she saw me on the platform, she came over to apologize for the litter, but also profusely to thank me for the fruit basket our Church had given her family on an earlier occasion. I was amazed anew at how a simple gesture like that gift can be so used of God!

(2) I then recalled how that fruit basket had come to be given to her in the first place! The idea of the gift had come from a family in our Church who years before had been blessed by another gift from our Food Pantry to them when they were actually praying to God for food!

(3) That brought to mind the many other people whose lives have been touched through that ministry! Even a large land trust in our Town of New Hartford has been affected for the good of the town's residents as a direct result of our Food Pantry ministry!

(4) Then, I recalled the family that heads up the Food Pantry ministry had taken up that work in appreciation for its past blessings!

(5) That in turn led me to recall how small was the start of the Food Pantry ministry itself! A woman in our Church had come to me decades before to ask if she could start this work to help those in need!

The Board and I had condoned her idea, but we had no idea if or how God might use it, or how long the ministry would even last!

(6) Even later, I noticed the great blessing of having committed my time to help Dave Slate paint the Church wall: it was only as I was on the platform tackling that task that this lady had been arranged of the Lord to come and share her encouraging words!

(7) Even more wonderful than this, I had failed to make contact with her the way I had wanted to do on an earlier opportunity the day before, and I was "kicking myself" for this missed opportunity, so the Lord in grace had arranged for me to have this contact! However, He gave it ONLY as I was tackling the paint job on the painting platform!

So, if God calls us to BE a BLESSING in doing a task, as in the case of Abram in Genesis 14, no matter how ordinary or even vain the effort may SEEM to US, may we be FAITHFUL to DO it! God does GREAT things with ORDINARY acts of obedience!