Bible Text: Genesis 14 | Pastor: Eric Danielson | Series: Abraham

Every Christian knows that in living a life of faith you have to learn how to deal with suffering, loss, and failure. These are a regular part of the Christian life and the Bible addresses them quite frequently. But what about success and victory? How do we handle those? In this sermon we find a good example of how God wants us to handle victory and success.

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How to Handle Success
Genesis 14

We have been looking at the life of Abram and learning from his story about how to live the life of faith. Part of living the life of faith is learning how to handle suffering and failure: How do you trust God when bad things are happening? And I think most of us are somewhat familiar with how to work through these things because it’s a topic that’s commonly talked about in Scripture and discussed in Bible studies and sermons. But what’s not so common is the opposite – how to handle success and victory – but it’s just as important.

To some extent we all experience success and victory in life. It can be anything from mastering a game on an Xbox, to acing a test, to shooting a deer, to landing your dream job, to winning a competition, and much, much more. You might not think of yourself as being a successful person, but you really are – in a variety of ways. And when you experience success, there’s often some kind of reward for your effort – you might get an A on top of your test that you love to see, or your picture in the paper, or your name on a plaque, or praise from other people, or money and so on. These things make you feel good and reinforce a sense of value and self-worth. And those are all great, but I want us to think about how we respond on the inside. What are we thinking about when we experience success? Who are we praising? Who are we giving credit too? How are we responding? What do you say when someone congratulates you or offers you a prize or reward? What do you do when you experience success?

How does God want you to respond in situations like that? This isn’t something we often think or talk about, but we will this morning. This morning we are going to look at something that Abram did in which he was amazingly successful and see how he responded. His example will help give us direction in those times when we experience success and victory.

We are going to be looking at Genesis 14, but in order to understand what is happening, I need to explain a few historical details about that time, which was around 2,000 B.C. After the Tower of Babel the human population dispersed in different directions because of the differences in languages (picture). People settled in the Nile River valley, which became known as Egypt. Others settled in the fertile lands around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which became known as Mesopotamia. Others settled in the Jordan River valley, which became known as Canaan.

In each of these areas, family groups were able to remain in one place generation after generation, so over time they grew and developed into agricultural communities and then eventually into city-states. A city-state was basically a geographical region with one major city in the middle that had some kind of ruling system, usually a king. So the kings in those times didn’t typically rule over large regions with lots of cities – that came later… they ruled over one city-state. And these came in various sizes and populations.

Eventually some of these city-states grew large enough and had enough agricultural excess that their society could afford to organize an army and send many of their men from working the fields out on military campaigns for a portion of the year in order to grow their state. Often, the kings in one area would form an alliance to keep the peace and then fight together if they were invaded. At that time, they used bow and arrow, spears, swords and clubs to fight with. The invading army would either overpower a defending army or convince them that ongoing war would be so costly that it would be better to agree to terms of surrender, which usually included paying some kind of tribute to the more powerful state.

In our story today, an alliance of kings and their armies from Mesopotamia are on a military campaign against the kings and city-states of Canaan. 14 years earlier, there had been a similar campaign after which many of the kings in Canaan ended up serving a powerful king in Mesopotamia named Chedorlaomer (Khedar-la-omer). For 12 years they served him, but then they rebelled. So Chedorlaomer along with 3 other Mesopotamian kings formed an alliance and went on a campaign to Canaan in order to crush the rebellion.

Read Genesis 14:1-7.
In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2 these kings made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3 And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 4 Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El-paran on the border of the wilderness. 7 Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazazon-tamar.

(Picture) This map shows the path that these 4 Mesopotamian kings and their armies took in their military campaign. The purple line on the right shows how their campaign went from north to south along the eastern side of the Jordan River Valley in which they came upon different communities that were mentioned in the text, and one after another they defeated them. They went all the way down the valley until they reached the Red Sea, and then they turned back north again. They were an unstoppable army, defeating everyone they fought against. Eventually they arrived at the Valley of Siddim, which was on the south of the Dead Sea, where they met in battle with an alliance of 5 Canaanite kings – the same kings that had rebelled against Chedorlaomer.

Read Genesis 14:8-12.
Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim 9 with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country. 11 So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. 12 They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.

So once again, the Mesopotamian army was successful and they defeated the five kings that had rebelled against them and they plundered the city-states of Sodom and Gomorrah and went on their way. The problem was that Abram’s nephew, Lot, had settled in Sodom, after separating from Abram, so he and all his people and possessions were also taken by the invading army. Within a couple of days, Abram heard word of this and he faced a major dilemma. His very own kin had been taken by this dominant army that no one could stop. What would he do? How could he stand any chance of rescuing them from such a formidable enemy?

Read Genesis 14:13-16.
Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram. 14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people.

So Abram heroically decided to go after them with his own men who were trained to fight for the protection of their community. He had 318 trained men and joined with 3 brothers from that area who were his allies, and their men. So this was an impressive group, showing how prosperous Abram had become, but he was putting it all on the line to pursue what would have been a much bigger and more experienced army. They would have certainly been the underdogs in the fight. Their route shows up as the red line on the map along the western side of the Jordan Valley. They caught up to the Mesopotamian army in Dan, just north of the Sea of Galilee. And surprisingly, they were able to defeat them and run them out of Canaan, and rescue the people and possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, along with Abram’s nephew Lot and his family.

This was a huge military victory that would have gained Abram recognition throughout the land of Canaan. By defeating the Mesopotamian kings that none of the Canaanite Kings could stand against, Abram suddenly has the status of being the dominant military ruler in that area – the kind of ruler that other kings would pay tribute to so he wouldn’t attack them. In status, he became the Canaanite equivalent to Chedorlaomer. So he goes from being an unknown underdog to having the status of the dominant military leader in that area – a huge success for Abram. But what I want us to see is how he responded to this tremendous success and newfound fame.

Read Genesis 14:17-24.
After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. 21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, 23 that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 24 I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”

So when he returns from the battle, two kings go out to meet him. One of them was expected – the king of Sodom – the man whose kingdom Abram had just rescued. The other was not – the king of Salem.

These two kings were extremely different. The king of Sodom was a very wicked man who led his people into great sin. Sodom had a reputation for their wickedness. In Genesis 13:13 it says, “Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord,” and we’ll see more of their wickedness in weeks to come. The people of Sodom were a reflection of their king, who would have been a wicked leader.

When he went out to meet Abram he said this: “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” Given the situation, he’s at the mercy of Abram at that moment. Abram didn’t owe him anything. In fact Abram had every right to keep both the people and possessions for himself. That’s what other kings would have done in his position to grow and strengthen their own city-state. The king of Sodom had failed to protect his people and city and had lost everything and Abram had defeated the very same enemy. So I think the king of Sodom was probably hoping Abram would be satisfied with the possessions and would let the people go back with him.

So Abram had a real opportunity to add a lot of wealth and strength to himself. But notice what he did – he refused to take anything. He told the king of Sodom that he had sworn an oath to his God that he wouldn’t take even the smallest possession for himself, other than what his men had eaten. One of the reasons is that he didn’t want to be known as a beneficiary of the King of Sodom. He didn’t want the king to be able to say that he had made Abram rich. I don’t think he wanted anything to do with that wicked king.

But I think there’s another reason Abram refused to keep anything for himself and that ties in with the other king that came out to meet him. His name was Melchizedek, the king of Salem. Salem was another city in that area that did not fall victim to the Mesopotamian invasion. Most scholars think that Salem was actually what became known as Jerusalem in later times.

Melchizedek was much different than the king of Sodom. His name means “king of righteousness” and he is described as being the priest of God Most High. It’s very significant to note that in a land filled with pagan, idol-worshipping Canaanite kings, here’s a king who, like Abram, was a worshipper of Yahweh – a priest of God Most High. He’s actually mentioned in the book of Hebrews as a “type” of Christ – an OT preview of the coming Messiah. So he’s not just a king, but a priest of God, and he wasn’t coming to Abram to get anything from him, he was coming to give something to him – to speak God’s blessing over him. His blessing was this: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

Abram’s response to him was very interesting. He responds to him as he would a priest and gives him an offering of a tenth of all the possessions that he had rescued. Why would he do that? I think it’s the same reason for why he wouldn’t keep any of the possessions for himself. His responses reveal that when it came to his tremendous success and victory over the Mesopotamian army, he didn’t believe the victory came from his attack strategy or the strength and skill of his men. He believed, like Melchizedek stated in his blessing, that it was God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, who delivered his enemies into his hand. The success and victory belonged to God, not to him. The people and possessions belonged to the Possessor of heaven and earth, not to him.

So when the priest-king Melchizedek came out to meet him, Abram gave him a tenth of everything as an offering to the Lord, acknowledging that it all belonged to him. And when the king of Sodom told him he could keep the possessions for himself, he refused. They weren’t his to keep. The victory, the success, the wealth, the possessions – it all belonged to the Lord. So Abram gave glory and honor to God and wouldn’t take the credit for himself.

Oh, how I wish I would have done that for the successes God has given me throughout my life… I so often received the praise and reward for my success with eagerness and self-approval, thinking it was my own ability, strength and wisdom that set me apart. I have been very prideful in my life, when all the while it has been my Lord who has given me the success and victory. It is he who gave me the strength, wisdom, and ability in the first place, and all the blessing and reward I have received doesn’t ultimately belong to me, it belongs to God Most High – Possessor of heaven and earth.

How are we supposed to respond when we have success in this life? Abram’s example teaches us to acknowledge that it comes from the Lord. We ought to give him the praise, honor, and glory for all things and not keep it for ourselves. I also think he teaches us about the importance of why we should give offerings to the Lord, whether they are offerings of money, or of time, or resources. We give the offering as a visible reminder to ourselves that everything we have is a gift from God and by offering a portion of it back to him we speak that truth to ourselves and bring honor and glory to him.