Sliding to Sodom or Soldiering on to Salem?

Genesis 14:11-24 | Sermon Resources | 29 May 2022

Summary

All of us are traveling in one direction or another. We are either moving towards God or away from him. Someone once said that he never asked God for anything in his life, and trusted that, in return, God wouldn’t ask him for anything either. But Jesus’s parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) speaks strongly into this misconception of burying one’s talent. Every one of us has been given life from God and He will individually call us to account for what we did with our life. If we, like the man who buried his talent, think God is a harsh master, a hard man, then we don’t know God’s heart of generosity and love, and His desire for us to come to Him who delights to give good gifts. There is no such thing as being neutral toward God. The Bible teaches that if we are lukewarm, God will spit us out of his mouth (Revelation 3:16). The fact is that everyone one of us is either in the battle moving toward the King of Peace or sliding toward Sodom. This Sunday’s text provides the stark contrast for how these paths divide as we look at the life of Lot and the life of Abraham. Abraham was soldiering on to Salem, whereas Lot was sliding towards Sodom.

Discussion Questions

  1. Contrast Lot’s decision to live in Sodom with Abram’s pattern of decision making. See Genesis 13:4, 13:10, and 13:18.
  2. Share a time when you asked the LORD for His guidance before making important decisions such as a move, a job change, or a dating relationship.
  3. Do you agree that this world’s view of sexuality is too low? What was God’s design for marriage and why should believers only marry in the Lord?
  4. Before you sign an employment contract, have you asked yourself if the values and vision, the products and practices are consistent with biblical ethics? See https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/should-i-be-unequally-yoked-in-business/
  5. What gave Abraham courage to go into the battle against the alliance of the 4 kings? See Genesis 13:15.
  6. Are you leading and training those under your authority in the art of spiritual warfare? A guide for leading family devotions can be downloaded HERE.
  7. How can you be generous to God Most High?
  8. How has God Most High been generous to you? See Hebrews 7:23-27.
  9. Are you sliding to Sodom or are you soldiering on to Salem, where the greater Melchizedek will reign forever and ever?

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