Three R's To Apply If You Want To Succeed Successfully

Three R’s To Apply If You Want To Succeed Successfully

Recently I came across an article titled 10 R’s To Apply If You Want To Succeed. It listed ten things all starting with the word R that are necessary for success. Now as I get older, I find myself getting more and more skeptical about lists (Christian or otherwise) that claim to deliver whatever we want in 3, 7, or 10 steps. Years ago lists like that used to impress me – “wow, maybe this is what I’ve been looking for.” But life doesn’t work that way, and God’s word doesn’t lead us that way. The Scriptures guide us in truth, lead us in wisdom, build us up in the promises of God, and always, always, point us to Christ.

That being said, as we come to the second half of Genesis 14 this morning, we find Abram coming off of an incredible military success and I love his example of faith – not only going into battle, but even more so after a stunning success. Our culture idolizes the image of success, but success can actually be more dangerous to our soul than adversity or failure. Thomas Carlyle claimed that for every hundred people who can handle adversity, there is only one who can handle prosperity. Abram is that one and we can learn valuable lessons about handling success well from his example and this passage. I’ve entitled this message…

Title: 3 R’s To Apply If You Want To Succeed Successfully

Let's pray.

We’re gonna pick up the story in verse 17 but let me first recap what has already happened. There has been a skirmish between five kings in the Dead Sea region, including the king of Sodom, and four kings from the east, led by a king named Chedorlaomer. The five kings rebel against the four kings but the kings from the east march south conquering city after city until they finally come to Sodom and Gomorrah where they make quick work of the five rebellious kings who are sent, with their armies, running for their lives. Chedorlaomer than pillages the conquered cities taking for himself whatever and whoever he wants, and among those they capture is Abram’s nephew Lot and his family.

When Abram hears about Lot being taken captive he straps on his sword, calls his best men and goes out after them. Abram’s army isn’t nearly as big as the eastern army, but Abram leverages what he has by splitting up his men and attacking the eastern kings and their army from different directions at night and Abram and his men defeat the eastern kings and chase them right out of Canaan back to where they came from. And he rescues Lot and his family safe and sound. Stunning success. Enemies defeated, prisoners rescued, mission accomplished. You would think that would be the end of the story – but actually we only now come to the heart of the story. Let’s read in chapter beginning with verse 17:

Genesis 14:17-20

Abram beat the army that beat everyone else so as he returns that pretty much makes him the most powerful man in the region. And as he returns with all the spoils of his victory behind him, two very different kings come out to meet Abram on his way back.

The first king is Bera, king of Sodom. Bera is the king of a city that chapter 13 says is full of “wicked, great sinners.” The Canaanites in general were known for their apostasy, but the Sodomites had taken it to a whole new level and Bera is king over this cesspool. In fact, his name means “evil”.

But before King Bera can say anything, another king approaches Abram. Melchizedek is the complete opposite of King Bera – his name means “King of righteousness” and he is the king of Salem – which means king of peace.

a. the mystery of Melchizedek

Melchizedek is one of the most mysterious figures in the OT. He is a Canaanite priest who knows and fears the Lord Most High. He is a great man, greater than Abram, as evidenced by the fact that he blesses Abram (and the greater always blesses the lesser), and that Abram tithes to Melchizedek. Hebrews 7: 3 elevates the mystery by saying this of Mel:

He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

Because of this amazing claim some (including myself for many years) have thought that Mel was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, but the phrase “resembling the Son of God” will not allow that – it is never used to compare someone with himself. Melchizedek is a beautiful foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. It’s not that he actually had no parents or beginning or end, but that in the account of Genesis – a book that is consumed with genealogies and lineages-Mel comes out of nowhere with no recorded ancestry and vanishes into thin air with no record of descendants or description of his death. In this way he resembles Jesus the high priest who would literally have no beginning or end of life because He is the Son of God.

b. The message of Melchizedek

So Mel lays out a feast of wine and bread, which many believe is a picture of communion – and after this feast, Mel blesses Abram and in that blessing reminds Abram that it was God’s blessing that defeated the enemy and brought the victory. It wasn’t Abram’s strategy or the training in war his men had – it was God who delivered the enemy into their hand. It was God who brought the victory.

And as Abram is being blessed by Mel, no doubt he remembered his first encounter with God where God promised him, I will bless you and make your name great. And he knew that this victory flowed from God’s blessing on his life. After the blessing Abram acknowledges his heartfelt agreement by giving Melchizedek a tenth of all his spoil. Brings us to our first R:

I. Remember That It’s God’s Blessing That Brings The Victory

We’re going to spend most of our time on this first point. As I said last week, 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 allied us with Satan against the One who created us and loves us: God. We desperately needed to be rescued but were fighting against the only One who could save us.

On the cross and through the resurrection Christ has won the ultimate and final victory over sin, Satan and death, and when we believe in Jesus Christ he shares that victory with us. Brothers and sisters we need to remember that Christ has won the victory for us! If we have no other victory in our life, we can be confident that through Christ we will experience the ultimate victory at the end of our lives as we shed the perishable and put on the imperishable. Paul writes in 1 Cor. 15:54-56

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you are not a Christian, this is the first step for you – to turn from sin to faith in Jesus Christ and believe that He will save you from your sin.

So for Christians, the war is already won. But spiritual battles remain. We all have battles – you do, I do. We are at war – our sinful flesh wars against the Holy Spirit. The cravings of the world wars against our love for God. The enemy tempts us with sin that wars against our soul. Battles - and we should have spiritual victories. And for some this can seem discouraging. You might say, I’ve got the battles, I don’t see the victories. It feels like I’ve been fighting the same sin, having the same struggle, losing the same battles day after day, year after year.

We can learn from Abram’s example of fighting with faith. As he strapped on his sword, it could seem he was jeopardizing all of God’s promises to rescue someone else. But he knew that the God who had promised to bless him would give him victory. The spiritual battle we fight is a war – we won’t drift into victory. We need to apply faith to our fight and fight to our faith.

Ephesians 6 tells us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. We need to suit up in the armor of God and stand firm. Through prayer, through reading, meditating, memorizing and obeying God’s word, through proclaiming the gospel which is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, we need to fight the good fight of faith. Like Abram, look to God’s promises and strap on the sword to fight.

• Fight that temptation that keeps ensnaring you with God’s word and prayer

• Pray with faith for that loved one who right now is rejecting the gospel and running from God.

• Parent that difficult child with a steady confidence that God will bring good fruit from your patient instruction and discipline.

• Forgive that person fully and freely who has hurt or offended you. If you need to talk to them, do it with faith that God will meet you both. But forgive as Christ forgave you.

• Open your mouth and begin to share the gospel with that person that has been on your heart and believe God will open their hearts and minds to believe

Jesus lived, died and rose again to give us the ultimate and final victory over sin, Satan and death – but he means to give us more than that – daily victory as there is gospel growth in our lives. Strap on your sword and fight the good fight of faith. And as you do, you will take ground, you will have spiritual successes. But that’s not the end of the story, and it’s not the end of the fight. When we experience spiritual victories, pride will come disguised as an ally and whisper to our hearts that the success is ours. The victory? Won by our strategy, our might., our plans, our skill, our leadership...

ILL: Bird on sideview mirrors - looking at themselves and leaving a mess. That's us when we begin to look at ourselves and admire our abilities and skill. We leave a mess.

More people have been taken down by success (even small successes) than failure. Adversity is a hard thing, but success is a harder thing. When we are facing adversity we can be tempted to be discouraged, to give up. But when we face success and prosperity, we can be tempted to forget God.

Deuteronomy 6 warns the Israelites when you’ve come into the land (conquered the enemies) and your house is full of good things and your crops are flourishing and things are going well, 12then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Deut. 6:10-12 (ESV)

Take care you don’t forget. Remember that it is the blessing of God that brings the victory. Not your hand, not your skill, not your strategy or will power. Abram looked to God in faith as he suited up for war, but more importantly, when he was successful he remembered that it was God’s blessing that delivered the enemy into his hand.

Faith looks to God when it’s suiting up for war, and it remembers God when it wins. Second R:

II. Resolve Not To Accept Any Counterfeit Blessing That Robs God of Glory

Genesis 14:21-24

At this point the king of Sodom steps up and tries to make a bargain with Abram. Because Abram conquered the attacking army, all the spoils of his conquest belonged rightfully to him. Everything was his. But Bera says gruffly, “Give me the people, you take the goods.”

God had promised to bless Abram so he could have interpreted this as the way that God was going to bless him. But Abram discerned this was not the way God was going to bless him. By accepting the riches that belonged to the king of Sodom, Bera could later say that it was he who made Abram rich. Abram? Yeah, he got rich off my back. It was a tainted blessing.

Look again at Abram’s response in verse 22. Abram saw this coming and long before this moment he made a vow to God that he would not accept anything from the hand of Bera – not even a sandal strap or a thread so that there would be no way that Bera could steal the glory from God. Abram was promised great blessing, but his heart wasn’t set on the blessing. If it was, this would have been an incredible temptation for him to take it and run. His heart was set on the God who promised the blessing.

Incredible example for us to follow. There are many ways the world can counterfeit God’s blessing and tempt us to grasp what appears to be a blessing without discerning where it’s from. The danger is when we set our hearts on “blessing” – whatever that means to you. For some it means financial prosperity – and any means to increase that must be from God. For others it means comfort and ease so they set their hearts on avoiding hardship and trial. Others it might be peace at all costs and so they will take whatever route will bypass conflict.

Abram was willing to refuse false blessing so that he could pursue God’s blessing. It was God he trusted and loved. Setting our hearts on Jesus Christ – loving him, treasuring him, growing in our knowledge of him, will cause us to grow in discernment. Is this from His hand? If it’s not I don’t want it. Does it increase or decrease our dependence on God? Does it draw our hearts closer to Jesus Christ or does it draw our hearts away from the Savior? Does God get the glory or does someone or something else get the credit?

Third R:

III. Rely On God In Times of Success As Much As In Times Of Adversity

Abram relied on God. That’s what this chapter tells us. He relied on God before the fight, and what’s more important (and more difficult), he relied on God after the fight. He had an opportunity to grab at a sure thing and be rich instantly – he preferred to continue to rely on God to fulfill His promise to bless his life. Relying on God wasn’t a last resort in times of trouble – it was a way of life for Abram.

I have been using the word success a lot this morning because Abram was successful in a tangible way and we relate to the word. But the reality is that success as the world defines it is a siren song to a life shipwrecked on the rocks.

"In whatever man does without God, he must [either] fail miserably or succeed more miserably" ~ George MacDonald

But it’s a word used in scripture. I looked up the word success in the English Standard Version and found it used 11 times all in the Old Testament. One time it refers to God frustrating the plans of the crafty. In all the other times it refers to someone having good success because God is with them or is a prayer to God to give success. The biblical definition of success is God being with someone and the biblical path to success is to rely on God. In hard times and good times.

God spoke to Joshua and promised him good success wherever he went. And God said, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.” Jesus promised us before he ascended to heaven that he would be with us – even to the end of the age.

Whether you are experiencing a season of surprising success, or bewildering adversity, rely on Christ. Lean on him and trust in him. Draw near to him in prayer, and the reading of His word. If we rely on him fully, he promises us biblical success.