2008-04-06
04/06/08 - Genesis 18:9-19:11
Genesis 18:9-15
1.) Why did Sarah laugh when she over heard God telling Abraham that she would bear a child the following year?
The obvious answer is that she was well beyond the child bearing years and she knew it. However, this promise was so far out there that it caused her to actually laugh at the idea.
We all tend to put God in a box. We think we have faith and we say we understand that God can do anything. But most of us draw the line somewhere. Maybe we don’t say that God can’t do it. We usually mask our lack of faith by saying God could do it if he wanted but he probably has other plans.
The problem is that we live in a box. God can do more wonderful things in our life than we can even think to ask about.
Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV)
3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Ephesians 3:20 (ESV)
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
Genesis 18:16-33
2.) Why did God tell Abraham what he was going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah?
God saw Abraham as a partner in his redemptive plan. Abraham was more than an unwilling participant but a partner. How great to be a partner is God’s plans as opposed to just a bit player or by-stander. God is going to carry out his ultimate plans. However, he blesses us by allowing us to play a part.
3.) In what ways can you be sure to actively participate in God’s plans? What did Abraham do in order for God to consider him an “insider” with His plans?
Abraham believed and obeyed God.
4.) Why was God sending his angels to check out Sodom and Gomorrah in person? God knows all, so God knew what it was really like there. Why the personal visit?
If God had just wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah without talking to Abraham about it, Abraham would not have had the chance to intercede on behalf of the inhabitants of the city. Part of the reason for God’s personal visit was to talk to Abraham about it, not that Abraham was going to change His mind but that Abraham would have the opportunity to give an interceding request. God also knew that it would take His angels visiting Lot in person to get him to leave the city and God was intent on sparring Lot.
5.) God promised not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if he found ten righteous people in the city. Did Abraham talk God into this decision? If not, what was going on with this dialog between Abraham and God?
God could have told Abraham that he knew there were none righteous in Sodom and that he would give Lot and his family the opportunity to get out. After all, God knows all so he knew he would not find any righteous there.
You’ll also notice that Abraham probably knew that God knew how many were righteous there yet he still pleaded with God for mercy for any righteous God may find. Again, we should take our petitions and intercessions to God and not assume they are not important because God is going to do what He’s going to do anyway.
Genesis 19:1-11
6.) How did Lot end up living in Sodom?
Lot chose to live near Sodom and Gomorrah back when he and Abraham split up and Abraham gave Lot his choice of where to raise his herds. Lot looked around and picked the land that looked the best rather than offering the best to his elder who had taken care of him since his father’s death.
It appears Lot went from living near Sodom to living in the city itself. Lot has some authority in this city as the city gate is where the important men hung out to conduct business. The men of Sodom also had some respect for Lot in that they asked him for the two strangers rather than immediately storming his house.
7.) Why do you suppose Lot was able to live in relatively peace in this evil town that it ready to rape strangers that wander into it?
Lot was enticed by what Sodom had to offer, in spite of immorality all around him. He knew it was so immoral that strangers should not walk the streets at night alone.
Lot was able to fit in somehow. We don’t know for sure why. However, we can make some good guesses by thinking of our own lives. How do we usually manage to fit-in with a lost world? If we are “fitting in” in most cases this is because we are either joining in with their evil deeds or condoning their actions with our silence.
Do you ever condone sin with your silence?
8.) What kind of man was Lot to offer up his daughters so that these two strangers would not be taken by the men of Sodom?
Lot had crossed from condoning evil actions with silence to offering his own daughters to appease the evil men of the city. This is the slippery slope of turning a blind eye to evil around you.
James 4:4 (ESV)
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Open-ended questions for class discussion:
9.) What compromises do we make with our lives and with the lives of our families because of what we are enticed into by the world?
10.) How do we as Christians live in the world but not fall into the trappings of the world? Do we move to the mountains and the desert? How do we separate ourselves but still reach out to a fallen world?
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