Exercising Faith in Our Choices

Exercising Faith in Our Choices

Intro:

I don’t play a lot of computer games, but one game I enjoy playing to relax is Spider Solitaire. One feature that has come in handy for me the “undo” button. When you choose to move a card or cards and then regret the move, you just hit the “undo” button and it’s like you never did it. You can even undo a whole series of choices that are built sequentially on each other. I have come to the end of the game and lost, only to hit the “undo” button several times and take another crack at it – sometimes being able to make completely different choices and win.

Don’t you wish that there was an “undo” button in life that you could hit when you make a choice you regret making? Even better if you could undo whole series of choices that are built on each other? What if you when you came to the end of your life and you regret a lot of choices that you made, and didn’t like the way it turned out, you could undo it all and try again? This morning we’re going to read about a guy named Lot who makes a choice that seems really good at the time, but will have tragic consequences for his life and family. I suspect this is one choice that at the end of his life Lot would have hit the “undo” button on if he could.

Last week we saw how Abram, being aware of how beautiful his wife is and that men might well kill him to get her, Abram fears for his life, fails to trust God, and comes up with the deceptive scheme of lying that she is his sister, not his wife, a plan that jeopardizes not only his wife’s purity, but also God’s promise to him to make a great nation through his seed. Sure enough Pharaoh takes her as his wife, God intervenes, Pharaoh rebukes Abram for being deceptive, and Abram leaves Egypt. Actually he’s kicked out of Egypt by Pharaoh’s men. Let’s pray and then pick up the story in 13:1

Genesis 13:1-4

After all that Abram did in Egypt, not trusting God, lying, deceiving and jeopardizing Sarai and the promise, God is still very good to Abram and comes out a richer man for it. But he also comes out a humbler man, and he makes his way back to where he began his journey, back to the first altar he built to God where he first dedicated his life to God. And there he calls on the name of the Lord again. Abram is not a perfect man, but he is a man of faith and he is a worshipper of God, and at this point, back where he began, his faith in God is restored.

Gen. 13:5-9

We’re going to start getting to know Lot now. Up until now the only thing we know about Lot is that he is tailing Abram wherever he goes. He’s kind of like the relative who comes for a visit and never leaves. And hanging around Abram has been profitable and before long it becomes clear that the land can’t support both of them and tension breaks out between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen.

Abram’s faith

This is where we see Abram’s restored faith begin to show itself. This could have escalated into a really messy conflict and Abram could easily have asserted his rights – he is the older kinsman, after all; the land was promised to him; and by the way, who’s following who here?

But Abram doesn’t assert his rights. He doesn’t fight for what’s his or fear missing out by giving Lot first pick. Abram doesn’t feel like he has to make God’s promise come to pass – he puts his faith in God and pulls Lot aside and says, listen, you can see we need to split up, so pick a direction, any direction, and you can have it - I will go in the opposite direction. Abram’s faith is expressed in his ability to place his future in God’s hands. That is a lesson we would all do well to learn.

The less of our energies are consumed in asserting ourselves, and scrambling for our rights, and cutting in before other people, so as to get the best places for ourselves, the more we shall have to spare for better things, and the more we live in the future, and leave God to order our ways, the more shall our souls be wrapped in perfect peace. Alexander McClaren

Lot’s response is just the opposite. He takes advantage of his uncle’s generosity and scrambles to get the best place for himself. Let’s read about it in verse 10:

Genesis 13:10-13

Lot scopes out the land and one piece of real estate catches his attention – the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zoar. It is far and above the best land in the region – green, lush and well watered. In terms of economic prosperity it’s a no-brainer – it’s totally good. But the beauty of the land veils a darker side from his view. Lot will pitch his tents close to the city of Sodom which verse 13 describes this way:

Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

The Hebrew phrase “wicked, great sinners” means they were more wicked sinners than the average sinners, which in that area, with the Canaanites living near them, is really saying something. Lot moved his family into an area that was physically beautiful but a moral cesspool. Peter tells us that the wickedness of Sodom would vex Lot’s righteous soul day and night. Though he will escape with his soul intact, his family is destroyed by his choice. He will lose his wife because her heart will still be in Sodom when they leave and she will look back incurring God’s judgment on her. And at the end of his life his daughters, having been taken out of Sodom but Sodom not taken out of them, will perpetuate their family line by committing incest with their father and the fruit of that incest (the legacy of Lot’s life) will be wicked nations that will war with Israel for centuries. That’s it. That’s Lot’s story. That’s his legacy. No upside. No happy ending. Tragic consequences all flowing from this one choice that seen with the natural eye seemed to make good, common sense.

Application: We live our lives one choice at a time. Some are really big – where we’re going to live, what we’re going to do for a living. Who we’re going to marry. What church we go to. And the biggest decision every man and woman must make: what will we do with Jesus? What will we believe about Him and about His death and resurrection? Big decisions that have ongoing ramifications and effects in our lives. But a lot of the choices we make in life are small choices – by themselves they don’t amount to much – but they add up and in the end have big influence on our lives.

Where you are right now, where your life is and what it looks like, is to a great degree the result of choices you have made. As some dude name Fosdick wrote:

He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to. ~ Fosdick

Sometimes if we’re wise we can see where a road is leading. Lot chose to only see one aspect of his choice: the physically bountiful land. He chose NOT to see the morally wicked environment he would be moving his family close to, but he could have seen it coming if he chose to look. Sometimes it’s there; we just choose not to see it.

• The gal who chooses to flirt harmlessly with the married guy at work, no big deal, hurting no one, finds herself at the end of the road with the guilt of breaking up a marriage or the misery of being emotionally entangled a man who gives her the leftovers of his life. If she’d looked down the road, she could have foreseen the destination, but she chose not to…

• The father who wants his children to grow up with a deep faith in Christ, but never deals with his own spiritual laziness to give his son and daughter an example they can follow. If he looked down the road he’d see that his daily choices are undermining his desire but he chooses not to look…

• Like Lot, do we move close to impure influences? Are we allowing movies or TV shows or magazines or whatever into our homes that promote stuff that we would never want our kids to be influenced by?

• Young people, one of the most important choices you will make is the friends you will choose. I don’t believe we’re supposed to isolate ourselves from the world, cause Jesus calls us to be witnesses and love people who don’t know Christ. But who you hang with will eventually have a tremendous influence on you, and I’ve seen too many young people lose their fervency for Christ because they hung with people who pressed them in the opposite direction and they conformed to their image.

Sometimes if we’re wise we can see where a road is leading and we can choose wisely or foolishly. But a lot of times we can’t see where the road leads to at the beginning of the road. It’s not a moral choice –you’re offered two jobs – which one do you take? You’re courting someone and there are no red flags, but in your quiet moments you wonder, is this really the person I want to spend the rest of my life with?

We all make choices all the time. Even if you’re one who doesn’t decide – that’s a choice too.

When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice. ~ William James.

We can’t escape making choices, every step you take, every thought you think, every appointment you keep and every appointment you miss, everything you say yes to is a choice, and the hundreds of no’s that come out of that yes are choices too. And most of the time we can’t plot the trajectories of those choices – we do the best we can, but we never really know.

I wish I could share with you seven biblical steps for making the right choice every time, but I can’t. The Bible doesn’t work that way and neither does life. Life is sloppy, unknown, unpredictable. Choices have both positive trajectories – what will happen if we choose that, and negative trajectories – what won’t happen if we choose that, and not only can we no predict those trajectories perfectly, but they ripple far into the future and effect more than our lives – they effect our families, our friends, even absolute strangers. They effect our very destinies. It’s that big. And even though there are a ton of books that say otherwise, you can’t boil it down to seven steps.

But God’s word does give us wisdom and direction, and for that we can contrast Lot and his foolish, shortsighted, and tragic choice with the choice that Abram makes. Here’s the contrast: Abram chooses to trust God with his life. His choices aren’t based on a formula – they’re based on his faith. In contrast we never, never see Lot stop and ask the Lord for wisdom. Never see Lot build an altar and worship God, never see Lot dedicating his life to God. Here’s the sad truth about Lot: morally he was a righteous man. Spiritually he was a real wimp. And there’s very little evidence of a dynamic, God-worshipping faith in the man. He’s not in Hebrews 11, the faith chapter!

Here’s a surprising truth: for all that I just said about the far-reaching effects of our choices on the trajectories of our lives, a lot of the time the choice isn’t really that big a thing. A lot of times it doesn’t matter what we choose. Of course when a choice runs counter to God’s will – like stealing or lying or cheating or immorality – then we can clearly know what our choice should be and there will be consequences for our choices. Or if a choice particularly honors God and expresses obedience to His revealed will and Word – like serving someone, respecting authority, building others up in their faith, witnessing to an unbeliever about what Jesus Christ has done in your life – then we can be confident of what our choice should be and the good consequences of that choice.

What was Abram’s choice, actually? It wasn’t a direction – he couldn’t know what direction Lot would choose. If Lot chose the left, Abram would choose the right. If Lot chose the right, Abram would take the left. His choice wasn’t a particular direction. His choice was a strong faith that God would bless and lead and fulfill His promise over Abram’s life no matter what direction he went in. God confirms it in verse 14:

Genesis 13:14-18

God told Abram look all around – it’s all yours. I will give it to you. Even the land that Lot is settling in – it will be yours. And your offspring (and Abram is thinking, what offspring?) – they will be as numerous as the dust of the earth. At another point God tells Abram that his offspring will be as numerous as the stars in the heavens. So if he looks east, west, north or south, he is reminded of God’s promise. If he looks down at the earth, he’s reminded of God’s promise, if he looks up in the sky he’s reminded of God’s promise.

And all the promises given to Abraham found their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Thousands of years later a young girl who had just found out that she was with child by the power of the Holy Spirit sang these words:

His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation…He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. (Luke 1:50,54-55)

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 2 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV)

The promises God gave to Abram have been given to all who are in Christ, and those promises are far greater and far better. In Christ our lives are blessed with mercy, forgiveness, and a hope and a future. So our lives should be characterized by faith. As we face choices and decisions, let us face them with faith. Not a faith that expects God to always tell us what to do. In fact, it will be the rare exception when He does. Faith that worships God, dedicates our lives and choices to God, and then steps out in active faith that knows that it’s not my choice that determines my life, it’s my God.

Conclusion: 

Practical steps for exercising faith in our choices:

• Read God’s word and pray daily as an expression of vital faith that abides in the vine.

• Pray about your choices and decisions. Laying them before the Lord positions our hearts as followers of Christ and not self-determining free agents. Again, God won’t necessarily tell you what to do, but He will give wisdom and insight and guidance and peace. And He will work in your heart to prepare you for whatever direction you end up choosing.

• If you find your faith is weak, use it more. Os Guiness makes the point that we don’t really lose faith, we fail to use faith. He writes:

This is the way that many people doubt, little by little, choice by choice, thought by thought. Faith is not torn up, it is merely frayed. It is not eaten away suddenly but nibbled at the corners. It is not hit by a bolt of lightning, it is the victim of the slow erosion of many winters.

• If you feel like you’ve grown distant from God, maybe made choices that you wish you could hit the “undo” button on, there is no undo button, but like Abram we can return to where we began. Maybe not physically, but in heart we can go back to that first altar where we laid it all on the altar in dedication to God. Never too late, as long as there is breath and a pulse to make our way back to God in repentance and faith.

• Finally I want to talk to the person who isn’t a Christian, you have never chosen Christ in faith that He is the Savior and the only way to be saved. There is no bigger choice you will ever make – and the Bible says it has eternal consequences, and once it’s over, it’s over. No second chances after this life is ended. Let the words of C.S. Lewis stir your heart to make a decision:

When the author walks onto the stage, the play is over. God is going to invade, all right; but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else comes crashing in? This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. That will not be the time for choosing; It will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. ~ C.S. Lewis.

Let’s pray.