God of The Sinner
The God of Abraham - Part 5
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Genesis 18:16-33
The men turned away and walked toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing in front of the Lord. Abraham approached and said, “Will you really sweep away the innocent with the guilty What if there are fifty innocent people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not save the place for the sake of the fifty innocent people in it? It’s not like you to do this, killing the innocent with the guilty as if there were no difference. It’s not like you! Will the judge of all the earth not act justly?”
The Lord said, “If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will save it because of them.”
- Genesis 18:22-26
Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:
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People are quick to use the story of Sodom & Gomorrah as a condemnation of entire people groups with whom they disagree. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, several so called Christian TV personalities claimed it was God’s judgment upon the city because they allowed the sins of Sodom to run rampant. Even then, I found the picking and choosing ironic, as I had lived through several devastating hurricanes in Florida and no one claimed God’s judgment on our small town.
There is much we can learn from these infamous cities in Genesis, but this claim of divine wrath over some particular sin is not it. In fact, God explicitly declares the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah through the prophet Ezekiel and it’s not at all what most people think.
This is the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were proud, had plenty to eat, and enjoyed peace and prosperity; but she didn’t help the poor and the needy (Ezekiel 16:49).
This is an age old story about pride, greed, inhospitality, rejection of the poor, and even violence toward those on the margins. It’s a story that is repeated in every empire and nation throughout history as power becomes more and more corrupt. Those in power will do anything to stay in power, even Christians. How much harm has the church done throughout the centuries and even in our own day just to maintain some degree of cultural dominance, influence, and comfort?
The bigger question for today, however, is how we might respond to sinners less like a judge, jury and executioner rolled into one, and more like Abraham in his conversation with God, especially since we ourselves are among those sinners, no matter how righteous we think we are.
Abraham pleaded for mercy on this corrupt city, even for the sake of only 50 good people. Eventually he went all the way down to 10. He didn’t ask that only the righteous ones be protected, but that the whole city be saved for the sake of those few. We might argue that God destroyed them anyway so it doesn’t matter, but notice that God shared Abraham’s heart for the guilty and innocent alike. God did not argue with Abraham. God was readily willing to extend mercy. God wanted to show mercy.
There is of course far more to this story, but for now let us consider two key points.
God desires mercy and wants us to desire mercy.
It only takes a few faithful people to save an entire city. 10 people is not some magic number, as though there were only 9 so the city had to burn. Rather, it reminds us that every little bit of faithful love makes a difference.
Seeing sinners through the eyes of love and mercy can truly transform the world.