Deliverance

Introduction

We like our stuff. We fill our houses and apartments with things. We hang pictures on the walls and buy things to entertain us. In America more people own a television than they do a telephone. We like our stuff. In fact, we get attached to our stuff. We decorate our houses to make them more appealing. We replace, repair, remodel, and redesign. We have television shows dedicated to giving us ideas on how to use our stuff more efficiently and decoratively. A couple of years ago, the man who lived next door to us was moved into a nursing home because of the effects of Alzheimer’s. His daughters held an estate sale. Our family went next door to investigate his treasures. We found some things that we could use. I got a couple of ties, a five shelf open storage unit for our garage, and a small cabinet for a bathroom. Spenser was with me as we shopped. His insight was profound. “Dad, is this what happens when we get old. People go through our stuff.”

Yep. We like our stuff and the day comes when others go through our stuff taking what they want and throwing the rest away. We like our stuff. This is very different from losing our stuff through some catastrophic event. I suppose that some of us may have experienced a sudden loss of our stuff. Perhaps through a fire, flood, or winds, some have lost everything in a very brief event. Such loss is difficult. We actually grieve in such situations. We can appreciate that losing our stuff in such a way can leave us feeling out of balance and off center. But for many of us, it isn’t the sudden loss of our stuff that is the issue. We like our stuff and continue to add to our stuff only to discover that as life ends we have to either find someone to give our stuff to or allow others to pick through it and take what they want to add to their stuff.

Here’s the point. We buy and surround ourselves with stuff to make life more comfortable. And in the process we become more attached to the stuff making it more difficult to give up and with our increasing comfort and attachments we begin to have a high regard for our stuff. And with our comfort, attachment and regard for stuff we begin to place greater value on our stuff to the point that we lose sight of what is truly significant. Most parents would give up their stuff for the health of their child; most spouses would give up their stuff for a good marriage. But if the child’s health is intact and the marriage is good, we really like our stuff.

Having stuff is not necessarily wrong. It’s what we do with the stuff we say that matters. But it isn’t what we do with it, but our attitude toward it. So just how comfortable, attached and valuable have we become? There is one thing for sure no one can deny that we like our stuff.

Lot’s Predicament

While Abraham and the Lord finished their conversation in chapter 18, the two angels travel to Sodom to see what was going on in that city. Arriving in the evening, Lot invites and insists that these “strangers” come to his house to spend the night. The social expectations about hospitality in these days were very dramatic. We would not do this, but in Lot’s day this type of hospitality was common place and the expectations were to provide not just a place to sleep but food and protection would go along with this.

The men of Sodom surround Lot’s house wanting him to send the strangers out so that they could have sexual relations with them. Lot refuses and instead offers his daughters as a substitute. Verse 8 stresses the protection element of hospitality but the offering of his daughters as a substitute for sexual gratification seems to go beyond the rules of hospitality. Perhaps it is that he is trying to reveal the level of sexual depravity that these men are wanting to engage in for the men reject his virgin daughters. Notice verse 9. The accusation against Lot reflects that he is an outsider, but he is trying to be an insider in verse 7. The angels rescue Lot and announce the intent of God to destroy the city.

The angels offer Lot an opportunity to escape and take his family with him. Lot pleads with his future sons-in-law to escape with him, but they believe he is joking. As the next day dawns, the angels are now the ones pleading for Lot and his family to leave. But notice verse 16. Lot hesitates. He hesitates so much that the angels must lead them out of Sodom. Once outside the city, he then argues about where he wants to go to escape the conflagration that is coming. Lot doesn’t want to go to the mountains but he wants to go to a small town where there is at least stuff around.

So What?

There might be a number of subjects to talk about in this text. We could speak about homosexuality; we could speak of God’s intervention; we might speak about God’s power. But for just a moment I want to focus on Lot. The Bible tells us in verse 16 that it is God’s mercy that allows Lot and his family to be saved from the destruction of Sodom. Angels protected Lot against the mob in verse 10. The angels told him the plan allowing him to try and convince his sons-in-law to flee the city. The angels told Lot when it was time to run. But Lot hesitates. Why?

I would suggest to you that he liked his stuff. In Sodom he was comfortable. His daughters were getting ready to marry. He had built a life in the city. He had moved from a tent to a house. He was attached. Life around him was one of value. He could demonstrate hospitality and protection to strangers. He could stand out in the crowd when something so blatantly and obviously was wrong. But like those around him he was comfortable and attached and when it came time to give it all up in order to save his life and the lives of his family—he hesitates. Doesn’t that seem out of place? Who hesitates in order to save the life of his children? Who argues about where to go when it is time to get out of the way fire?

Jesus uses the turning back of Lot’s wife to make the same point in Luke 17. Attachment to stuff; leaving comfort behind; Lot’s wife turns back and dies. No one can deny that we like our stuff. So would we hesitate? Have we become so comfortable and attached that we have lost sight of what is really significant? Let’s make this practical.

With 99% of American households with t.v. we can all sit and watch our favorite program and keep up with the latest reality show and be a part of Oprah’s book club and discuss all of this with co-workers, school friends, and family and never say a word about what is really significant.

We can go to an assembly, take a little Lord’s Supper, and then get excited when our children show interest in someone who has a “good job” but doesn’t have a clue about spiritual things and we wonder why our children don’t seem to be concerned about spiritual things.

We can voice our opinion about events going on in a congregation pro or con about some program, but never speak to another person about what is really important.

We have gotten distracted. We like our stuff too much. We are like Lot. We are hesitating. As long as we have our stuff, our comfort, our attachments, the stuff we value, we don’t have to worry about other things. And when we get to the end of life people come and pick through our stuff and that is the way life ends and we have missed what is truly significant. We have moved into Sodom; we call people friends; we take our stand against things that are heinously evil; but then we hesitate when it is time to make a clear distinction about spiritual matters. Jesus said that we are to be in the world but not of the world. Well there is no doubt that we are in the world. The question is “Is the world in you?”

It is time to get out of Sodom. It is time to make sure that God knows where our heart is. It is time to make a clear distinction about spiritual things. It is time to give up our stuff—our comfort, our attachments, and the things we value. For these worldly things are causing us to look back instead of looking forward. Our comfort has become more important than the salvation of others. Remember Lot’s wife. Turn back and you will be lost. Lose sight of what is important and it is more than just mere distraction; it will affect your eternal destiny. It is by the mercy of God that Lot escaped. But his wife gave up what was important for comfort. It is by the mercy of God that we can escape sin. But if we are attached to our stuff; our comfort; and lose sight of what we are here for then like Lot’s wife we give up God’s mercy for our comfort.

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