Faith That Fights For Others

Faith That Fights For Others Part One

Intro:

On Sunday, April 25, in NYC, Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax saw a woman being attacked with a knife and jumped in to save her. He did save her, but the assailant then stabbed him several times before fleeing. As Hugo Tale-Yax lay on the sidewalk in critical condition, a surveillance camera caught over two dozen people walk by him and do nothing to help him or call for help. One person snapped a picture of him on his cell phone. Another lifted his head, but when he saw the blood under him, he laid him back down and walked off. Finally almost two hours after the attack the Fire Department received a non-emergency call notifying them of the dying man.

Hugo Tale-Yax risks and ultimately gives his life to save a person, 25 people walk by a person in need without even lifting a finger to help or call for help.

Do you ever wonder, if I were in that situation, which type of person would I be? Would I stop to help? Or would I be the person who didn’t want to get involved, or assumed someone else would call, or…

Maybe the question isn’t as hypothetical as we might think. Maybe there are more opportunities around us to help others – even at personal risk and sacrifice – than we think. Maybe more fights going on that we can either ignore, cause it isn’t our fight, or we can step in to help. We’re going to look at an obscure story that at first glance might not seem to carry much relevance for us, but I am sometimes surprised by what God brings out of His word, and this morning I realized that I believe God has a very specific word for us to hear this morning. Let’s open our hearts and minds to what God wants to speak.

Title: Faith That Fights For Others Part One 

I. Understanding the Context (Gen 14:1-12)

The passage begins with the story of a conflict between several kings. These aren’t the great kings we think of –more like chieftains or gang leaders of small regions or cities. There were five such kings in the Dead Sea region, including the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah who were vassals (or servants) of a more powerful king named Chedorlaomer and his allies and every year for twelve years they paid a financial tribute to Chedorlaomer. But they started thinking they were powerful enough together to rebel against Chedolaomer and they stopped paying the tribute.

Chedolaomer and his allies don’t take this well and they march south through the Transjordan area and conquer city after city – they rip through city after city until finally they come to the Sodom/Gomorrah zip code. And there the rebelling five kings come out to fight them. But it isn’t much of a fight and the next thing we see the five kings and their armies are running for their lives, some of them falling into asphalt pits in the area and dying. Chedorlaomer and his gang march through the region, including Sodom and take everything: possessions, provisions, people – for themselves.

Now in verse 11 we see why we are told about all this. Lot, the nephew of Abram, who had pitched his tents near Sodom in chap 13, was now living in Sodom and he and his family were carried off by these conquering armies as well. Chedorlaomer had pulled off an impressive and intimidating military campaign – flawlessly executed until then – Chedorlaomer didn’t know it, but he made his first strategic mistake by carrying off Lot and his family as captives. Let’s pick up the story in vs. 13

Gen 14:13-16

As soon as Abram hears his nephew Lot is in trouble, he calls his servants together. These are the ones who were born in his house, so they are especially loyal to him. These 318 men are trained warriors and in the Hebrew it says that Abram drew them out like a man draws a sword from a scabbard. Abram is ready to fight and so are they. There were other allies fighting with Abram as well, the men of Aner, Eschol, and Mamre, so the number of men following Abram was larger than 318, but still smaller than the armies of Chedorlaomer. Abram uses strategy to make up the difference and splits up his army, surrounding the armies of the eastern kings and attacks them at night.

God gives them a tremendous victory! They route this army that has just wiped up every other army in the region and chase them north and out of Canaan. And Abram and his men get back everything and everyone that had been taken captive – including Lot and his family. It’s a great victory, but the story isn’t over yet. Abram runs into two kings – the king of Sodom and a mysterious king named Melchizedek. We will consider Melchizedek more next week, but in verse 19-20 Mel blesses Abram and declares that this victory was from the Lord.

Gen 14:19-20

What can we learn from this story? From Abram’s example?

II. Like Abram, we are engaged in a war

In verse 2 of chapter 14, the word “war” is mentioned for the first time in the Bible. It won’t be the last. The Bible is full of stories of conflict and battles and fighting and war. The Bible reflects the sad fact that we live in a world that is filled with war! One statistic I read calculated that in nearly 6000 years of human history there have only been 292 years of worldwide peace and over 14,000 wars fought in recorded history. There are 27 recognized wars going on in the world right now. Human history is filled with war.

But in the NT we see that the real war going on in the world is a spiritual war. Christians are engaged in a spiritual war that is being fought over the eternal souls of men, women, and children. We may not feel like we’re in a war, but we are. We all have an enemy, Satan, who hates our souls with a deep hatred. It doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a woman, if you are young or you are old, if you are a Christian or if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ or Christianity at all. There’s no neutral ground. Satan hates the human race – because we were made in the image of God and God loves us and Satan hates God.

But ironically our sin had also pitted us with Satan against the One who created us and loves us: God. We desperately needed to be rescued but were helpless to save ourselves.

III. When Abram lays it all on the line to rescue Lot he is a foreshadow of Christ

Lot really doesn’t deserve to be rescued. It’s really his foolishness that gets him into trouble. No one would blame Abram if he just wrote Lot off. He chose to live in that city, it was his foolishness that got him into that situation, it’s not my problem. He always was kind of annoying anyway. If I save him, he’ll probably just need rescuing from falling sulphur anyway. But Abram doesn’t give it a second thought. Like a sword drawn from it’s scabbard for the battle, Abram draws his fighting men from the scabbard and makes ready for war. In that Abram is a foreshadow of Jesus Christ.

While we were yet sinners, Jesus came to fight for us. We don’t deserve it in any way (and still don’t) but Jesus fought for our souls – and won the decisive victory on the cross. He could have destroyed Satan and his demons and all of us with a word. Jesus’ power is that great. I remember a kid wearing a demonic t-shirt and saying he was drawn to the devil cause that’s where the power was. He couldn’t be more wrong! Jesus could have destroyed all his enemies with a word – one day He is going to cast the devil into the lake of fire and he won’t break a sweat doing it.

But He didn’t come to destroy His enemies, He came to save His enemies. And that He couldn’t do with the power of His word and strength, it would take the power of His blood to wash us clean of the stain of sin and redeem our hearts back to God. He fought for us on the cross and won the victory – for us!

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Col. 2:15 (ESV)

Abram reminds us of Christ who didn’t stay in heaven and leave us to our sin, but fought the fight for us.

IV. When Abram lays it on the line to rescue Lot he is an example to believers of how we should care for one another

The bottom line is Abram was willing to lay it all on the line – even the destiny God had promised him – for the sake of his nephew Lot. That he could do that evidenced his strong faith in God, but it also showed his love and commitment to Lot and his family.

I mentioned earlier that we are in a spiritual war – and we all have battles, don’t we? Not everyone knows your battles or mine. Maybe for some of you, no one knows the battles you are facing right now. Maybe for some of us, we have no idea of the battles the person sitting next to us is fighting. We all have battles, but we are also called to follow Abram’s example, and more importantly Jesus’ example, and fight for one another. Unfortunately in so many churches this is missing.

ILL: I was recently at a meeting with some pastors and one of them said “many of us are sitting on powder kegs” referring to their churches. He wasn’t talking about the explosive power of God in their church. He was talking about the explosive power of backbiting, gossip, criticizing, and power struggles that can threaten the health of a church and do so much damage to believers and to their reputation among non-believers.

It’s a reality that many churches are more characterized by fighting with each other than fighting for each other, by gossiping about each other than by praying for each other. There are “powder keg churches”.

But that’s not the only way that churches can fail to fight for each other – a way that relates more closely to the story of Abram. That other way is indifference. Apathy. In that story, Abram just stays home. He doesn’t go to fight for Lot – it’s not his fight, not his concern, why bother? Like the pedestrians who walked by Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, they think, “it’s got nothing to do with me.”

But God’s word calls each of us to stand with each other, pray for each other, help one another, carry one another’s burdens, and fight for each other.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel Philip. 1:27 (ESV)

For the sake of the gospel, but it’s also side by side! It’s not enough to be true to the gospel (though that is vital), we also need to be striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

2Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ…5For each will have to bear his own load. Galatians 6:1-5 (ESV

We aren’t to indulge one another or make life easy for brothers and sisters in Christ. There is a way of helping that just makes matters worse. We aren’t to foster irresponsibility by carrying the loads that they are called to carry (or vice versa). But we are to bear one another’s burdens – fight one another’s fights – care for the wounded and suffering of one another.

• Some of our battles might, like Lot, be the result of our own foolish and sinful choices. Fighting for my soul at that point might mean speaking the truth to me in love. Appealing gently but firmly that I abandon that sin. If you resent people bringing loving caution and even rebuke than you will shut out friendship cause true friends do that.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. Proverbs 27:6 (ESV)

We expect the kisses from the friend and wounds from the enemy and there is a way that that is true. But there is a kind of wound that is good for our soul. Do you love it? Does anyone in your life have the open door to bring that faithful wound to you? There is a kind of kiss that is deceptive – kiss of flattery. It’s an enemy not a friend who flatters. Not all wounds are bad. Not all kisses are sweet.

• Some of our battles are the hard things life (under the sovereign control of God) throws at us). Janice’s brother was diagnosed two weeks ago with a very serious form of cancer which in its advanced stages has a life expectancy of 5 years or less. To make things more heartbreaking, his wife of 9 months had buried her first husband a few years ago. Sometimes people are carried away captive by hard, hard things that come into their lives unasked and unwanted. York and Mary asked for prayer, many people prayed. Janice and I sent out a prayer request to the church, many of you kindly shared your care and assured us of your prayers. Last week Janice went out to see York and was amazed at his peace and faith. He told Janice, he has so much more life that he wants to live, but he wasn’t afraid to die. He was trusting Jesus. I hope I can show the kind of courageous faith he demonstrated. The next day his prognosis came through: they believe the cancer is in early stages, that the surgery had removed it and they would treat him with a 4 week treatment –no chemo, no radiation. The doctor told York he expected he would live a good long life. God is kind.

• But it doesn’t always come out that way. We fight for one another with our prayers and by standing with one another and caring. Sometimes standing by one another as a brother or sister goes home to be with Jesus. Sometimes standing with the brother or sister who is left to grieve their loved one’s death.

• And some of our battles are the normal struggles of daily life: questions about how we’re doing raising our children, areas of ongoing conflict in our marriage, persistent areas of laziness or selfishness. Don’t need spiritual “know-it-alls” running around telling us all we should be doing. Need friends who enter the fray with us, feel our exhaustion, our frustration, our confusion. Share encouragement, bring biblical counsel, share their own failures and struggles so we know we aren’t alone. Be a friend. Fight side by side.

• Questions about our spiritual health – are we growing as disciples or are we just coasting? Are we committed to the church or just attending? One of the ways the enemy of our souls gets us is by isolating us from the flock, where we are easy to pick off. Are we drifting away from God and His people to the harm of our own souls?

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Eccles. 4:9-12

Conclusion:

The good news is God is committed to His people and He has promised us victory in Christ. Next week we’ll look at how the deliverance is from God, not Abram. But as we close, let’s pray that God will keep us from being the kind of people that just pass by others without lifting a finger to help, spiritual rubberneckers who thank God it’s not our problem.

Heavenly Father, help us to be people who fight for others. Help us to have that kind of faith. Help us not be apathetic – uninvolved, indifferent. Help us not to gossip about people’s troubles but to pray. Help us not to fight with each other but for each other.

And help us to ask for help when we need it. Help us not to live isolated lives as if we can do it all on our own. Your word makes it very clear we need each other.