Classic Sermon #6059: How to Win by Losing

We are going to go to chapter 13 of Genesis, this is a passage on which I have commented in previous years and that I feel that the Lord has given me a fresh focus and that I believe is for today, for today and right now, for this day, for my life, I believe and for the life of our congregation and we are going to ask the Lord to speak to us through this word that he has for us. Genesis chapter 13, put your spirit in tune with what God wants to say to your life. Says the word of the Lord:

“…So Abraham went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife, with all that he had, and Lot with him. And Abraham was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold, and he returned on his journeys from the Negev toward Bethel to the place where his tent had been before between Bethel and Ay, to the place of the altar that he had made there before, and there he called Abraham the name of Jehovah. Lot, who was with Abraham, also had sheep, cows, and tents, and the land was not enough for them to live together because their possessions were many and they could not live in the same place. And there was a dispute between the herdsmen of Abraham's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanite and the Peresean dwelt then in the land. Then Abraham said to Lot, let there now be no dispute between the two of us, between my shepherds and yours because we are brothers. Is not the whole earth before you? I beg you to stay away from me, if you go to the left I will go to the right, and if you go to the right, I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the whole plain of Jordan, that all of it was irrigated like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan plain and Lot went eastward and they separated from each other. Abraham camped in the land of Canaan while Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tents as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Jehovah in a great way and Jehovah said to Abraham after Lot had departed from him, now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are to the north and to the south and to the east and to the west , because all the land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, your offspring will also be numbered. Get up, go through the land along it and its breadth because I will give it to you. So Abraham, removing his tent, came and dwelt in the oak grove of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar to Jehovah."

The Lord bless his word. The Lord has been moving me in these last days to talk about this topic that has to do with, we could call it the peaceful spirit, the spirit of reconciliation, the spirit of love, of forgiveness. A few Sundays ago we talked about bearing each other's burdens, you will remember that topic. We have also talked about the call of Jesus Christ to go that second mile, such a painful and difficult call for all of us, I would say. And we talk about it saying that it is the most powerful spiritual weapon that we can use to embarrass the devil many times and for the spirit of Christ to be glorified and to overcome evil with good.

Last Sunday we reflected on Ana, this woman who was the mother of the great prophet Samuel, and we used Ana as an example for our lives. And one of the qualities that I pointed out was Hannah's meekness, her meek spirit, her way of responding to Eli when Eli insulted her for her lack of spiritual discernment. Her way of treating her opponent, her husband's concubine, who insulted her and laughed at her because she couldn't have children and how God used Ana and Ana's attitude to bring a great blessing to her life and led her to being the mother of a prophet who worked for the liberation of the people of Israel.

And over and over again the Lord has been speaking to me, brothers, about the need we have to use this powerful spiritual rule that the Lord left us, to overcome evil with good, to overcome the spirit of violence and aggressiveness that dominates this world, with its opposite which is the spirit of the cross and the spirit of forgiveness, the spirit of tolerance and the spirit of yielding even when we have every right.

And I was saying that this is a tremendously powerful spiritual weapon and a very mysterious, paradoxical weapon, it violates the rules of reason and violates the rules of Darwinism that often controls human relationships, this fight that the biggest eats the biggest small and the strongest is the one that prevails over the weakest.

And the Lord Jesus Christ came to give the devil a central stake through the cross and you will notice that the cross is the total antithesis of that devilish spirit of conquest and aggressiveness and an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The cross through death brought life, through greater shame, brought glory to Jesus Christ. And through immobility and total impotence he unleashed an irresistible power in the universe that is the power of salvation and eternal life, do you understand? There Christ nailed to the cross, bleeding, unable to move within his chosen humanity, there, the Bible says, that Christ did what could not be done in all the centuries that humanity had existed before.

The book of Colossians says that on the cross Christ dispossessed principalities and powers. There without moving bleeding, being ridiculed by the people and contradicting in an apparent sense his deity and his power and his glory and his eternity, the Lord took the keys from the devil of life and death and the universe and The humanity. He stripped principalities and powers, he also says, that he obtained salvation for us, annulled the act of decrees that was contrary to us, all the accusations we had against us were neutralized. As? Without doing anything, plunging into shame and death and the greatest impotence.

And that is the fundamental principle, brothers, that I believe wins in the universe. And it is the principle that when we, the children of God, adopt it brings great victory for us and releases the power of God through our lives. He neutralizes the devil, shames him, binds him, and then unleashes the power and grace of Jesus Christ.

What happens is that when we seek our own glory and we seek to always get away with it, then we are alone, at the mercy of our wisdom, our cunning, our strength, but when we in the name of the Lord, by a conscious decision and spiritual and biblical, we decide to give glory to the Lord, then things change. And the Lord then enters and becomes a partner with us. The Lord becomes a partner with us and gives us victory. He goes into action on our behalf.

That is why, brothers, that rule, although it is so difficult to put into practice, is so profitable and is so mysteriously effective. And I believe that Abraham shows this in this passage in an eminent way. That is why I want to illustrate this principle with you through the life of Abraham.

God had chosen Abraham for a very, very special destiny. He had chosen this obscure man, without being known by anyone, and he had told him, Abraham, we see it in chapter 12, “I will make you a great nation, I will bless you greatly, I will be your name, it will be a blessing, I will bless the who bless you, those who curse you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed…”

What a great promise for a man who up to that moment had lived a normal, ordinary life, that God come and tell him, I am going to make an immense nation out of you and whoever curses you will be cursed and whoever bless you will be blessed and I will give you all the land that the soles of your feet tread on.

Why did God do that? He had to be a very special man. There must have been something in that man that attracted the attention of God and that made God say, from this seed I want to make my nation, my chosen people. So Abraham had to have some very special qualities. And here in chapter 13 one can begin to see what was in that man, who had touched the heart of God.

If there is a wonderful testament that illustrates Abraham's moral and spiritual greatness, there you have it in chapter 13, in that small event in his life, many times in our life small actions are those that demonstrate the totality of a man or a woman. The great theologian and writer Unamuno, a well-known Spanish philosopher, said that many times one can, in a moment, in a second, observe an action of a man or a woman, and in that minimal action is portrayed and contained the entire personality of a human being, his greatness or his smallness, his wisdom or his foolishness, in an act, a word, a reaction, one can say a lot.

Thus, each minimal gene that cannot be seen by the eye contains all the qualities and physical characteristics of at least one human being, likewise sometimes an action can contain the totality of an individual, his moral highness or his moral lowliness. That is why we have to be so careful, brothers, how we speak, what we say, because our actions denote so many things and sometimes we are careless and do not understand that we are projecting what we are and we are revealing it.

And Abraham here in chapter 13 reveals to me his moral greatness, which made him a pleasing man in the eyes of God. A dispute breaks out between the shepherds, Abraham's employees, and his nephew Lot. As always, possessions, brothers, what a thing! Material things divide brothers, the very blessings that God sometimes gives us become obstacles to our spiritual life and to our relationships with others. And that occurs in all areas of life, sometimes in marriage it can be the accounts and what the money is invested in, and if we go to Hawaii on vacation or go visit his parents or of it, or if we are going to buy clothes for the children, or if we are going to invest in a new television, etc. In the church many times it can be other types of possessions, it can be the possession of authority and rights that we have. At work it can be other things, but wherever it is possessions, and unless there is a gentle spirit and a detached spirit and a spirit that refers the cause to the Lord there will always be fights in the churches, at home, at work, in the street, and society will not go anywhere because unless there is someone who gives in in the name of the Lord there can be no peace.

And when we are so stuck in our positions and the person who always wants to get his way and who never gives in, and who never stays dao, as we say in good Dominican, cannot be an agent of blessing, no he cannot be a good Christian, in other words, he cannot continue to be a proper model of Jesus Christ. There has to be a spirit of giving and a spirit of yielding.

For me that is the essence of what I see here in Abraham, in that event. If Abraham did not converse with Lot in some way there would have been bloodshed, there would have been a lifelong enmity and perhaps the history of Israel would have been very different. What is Abraham teaching us here? Quickly I see a point and it is that, and this is part of that attitude of giving and surrendering and yielding, Abraham maintained a continuous communication with God. Abraham had a very healthy worship life.

Look at verse 3, Abraham has taken a long journey, he's been around for a few months or years, we don't know, before he left, he had built an altar where he came from. And what does he do when he returns from his long journey? He says, he returned having been there before in that place between Bethel and Ay to the place of the altar that he had made there before. What did? And there Abraham called on the name of Jehovah.

As soon as Abraham arrives again at the area where he was, he goes to the altar that he had built before leaving and returns again and there he worships the Lord, calls on the name of the Lord, asks for God's blessing on his life and how they understood him at that time. time God dwelt in certain specific places. Now, evidently he dwells in our hearts through his Holy Spirit, but Abraham understood that on that altar there was a special presence of God and he immediately, I imagine him arriving from his trip, not even taking off his clothes, he first goes there and he thanks God for having accompanied him during his trip, he reconsecrates his life, praises the Lord, adores the Lord, acknowledges God's sovereignty and then continues with his chores.

Over and over again we see Abraham building altars in communication, receiving revelation from God. And how interesting, brothers, that in Ana's life she said that one of the things that, apart from her meekness, was the same, her great communion with God, which we see in the song that she expressed to God when she had to Samuel. He said, my power is exalted in Jehovah and I rejoice in the God of my salvation.

That is to say, you will always be linked, brothers, one thing is not possible without the other, I believe. It is not possible to have a meek spirit and a quiet spirit unless one is not in great communication and in great contact with God and one is not in deep communication with the Lord. In order to live in peace with others, you need faith and communication with God, you need to be spiritually strong. Christ's rule of going the second mile is not for weak people, it is not for emotionally unstable people, it is not for people with childhood wounds and pain that have not healed.

A lot of people resist this attitude of giving in because they think it's for weak people and for people who are always dominated and have their necks under somebody's boot, and that's why they resist it, because nobody wants to be a parasite, nobody wants to be a victim. . But, brothers, the irony of the Gospel is that, for you to apply the law of Jesus Christ, you have to be quite spiritually mature and have grown enough in the Lord and have your strength very clearly established in the Lord. Because only those who have a lot can give a lot. The poor person is generally going to be put up with money and food and things because they understand that their survival depends on the little they have. Generally, a person who has a little more, if he is a fairly normal person, is going to give himself the freedom to give more, because he can do without. That is the natural rule and it happens emotionally, if we are healthy and strong with the Lord, and our trust is in the Lord and we know that our lives depend on God, then that will allow us to be more generous with others, to forgive more , tolerate a little more, let the water run a little more, forget a little more, wait a while until God does his work, because we know that God is real and that God works and that he has done it before and that he is going to do it. to do again in our life.

You see, so that's why in reality what Christ asks to go the second mile and turn the other cheek and overcome evil with good, that's for people who are emotionally and spiritually healthy, for people who are continually drinking the She knew of God and that she is strong and that then she can afford to forgive others and love others despite their faults. You need to be spiritually strong and Abraham had that contact with God, Abraham knew that God had given him a lot and that is why Abraham could afford to be as he was with Lot.

What other reasons are there? Communication with God makes us partakers of divine wisdom. When we are always in prayer and reading the word of the Lord, and reflecting on spiritual truths, this allows us to receive divine counsel in times of conflict and difficulty and then comes God's revelation for need. It makes us partakers of divine wisdom.

In addition to that, communication with God makes us aware that the solution to our problems does not depend only on me, that God is also a player in my situations. That fact of knowing that I am not the only one who has to defend myself and find the solution to their problems produces peace in us, reduces our level of tension, which is often what makes us attack and counterattack when the real offense comes. or imagined. And that allows us to give in and sometimes allows us to give our opponent a word that calms him down and lowers his spirits and then allows him to see the other side of the matter. Because? Because I am aware that God is also playing in the matter.

Thirdly, being in contact with God directly removes my tendency to want to get even and want to seek revenge and to always want to fight back and make the other person pay the consequences of their actions, because I know that God is also a player in the matter.

Look at what Romans says, chapter 12, it says, “…do not avenge yourselves, my beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God because it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for by doing this you will heap fiery coals on his head. Do not be defeated by evil but overcome evil with good..."

You see? That is, this is a call, when I know that God is the one who does justice in life, I do not always have to be under that pressure that I have to do justice to my opponent who offended me. That is why so many people live prey to resentment and resentment for years and years for something that was done to them, because they did not have the satisfaction of getting revenge and then they feel like they were cheated, that right they had was taken away and they are broken and they are incomplete because they believe that since I did not do it, nobody else is going to do it.

But the Bible says, revenge is mine and the Lord says, I will pay. God is a just God, the universe, although we do not see it, is governed by laws of justice. In the long run things always have to even out and God's justice has always to be fulfilled.

So if I am in communion with God, I know that God is going to do things in due time and that helps me to be a calmer person, an agent of peace. I believe that Abraham in his way of acting with Lot, of calling him aside and seeking a solution, was because he had such an intimate communion with the Father.

Second, I see that Abraham was diligent in keeping the peace. Abraham was solicitous in making peace with his nephew. He didn't wait for things to deteriorate. He did not wait for things to reach a point where there was no solution, but he immediately went to Lot as soon as he found out something was going on, and very diligently went to find a solution to the problem.

What does Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 to 4 say? "... I beg you to walk as is worthy of the vocation with which you were called, with all humility and meekness, patiently bearing with one another in love, and here is the key, striving to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace..."

Solicitous in keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Brethren, unless we are not solicitous. What does the word solicitous mean? Diligent, willing, attentive, dynamic in maintaining that peace. And for there to be peace among human beings and in human relationships, there must be caring people, there must be people who are attentive to this dynamic of peace. That is why I take this time to speak because I want to plant that concern in their hearts as well as reinforce it in myself as well. We have to continually revisit those ideas and bring them up again in our hearts and in our minds because if we don't, we won't remember it.

We have to be diligent in keeping that bond of peace between brothers because that peace is not given automatically, it requires vigilance, it requires effort, it requires that we continually pay attention. Is everything okay with my brother? If I notice that things are getting complicated, go immediately and talk to him or her and fix things and establish peace instead of making a mountain that is impossible to topple later. Always be in prayer examining ourselves so that grudges and resentment do not accumulate, looking for ways to communicate what we feel in an appropriate way, reflecting and meditating on what the word of God tells us about reconciliation and forgiveness and love, and tolerance of each other. It requires diligence.

Immediately Abraham found out that there was a problem with his servants and Lot's servants called Lot immediately. Lot let's talk, what's going on? Let's communicate, there are problems among our workers, let's not allow that to transcend to us. You and I are brothers, there has to be a solution and Abraham didn't have to do that, he was the oldest, he was the uncle. In Jewish culture or in Semitic culture, rather, he had every right to say, well, hey, let him come to me, I'm older than him, I have more rights than him, and let him talk to me and So let's see if the situation is resolved. No, he went to his nephew, the youngest, and told him, come here, we are going to fix things, we are going to find a solution to this problem. He was diligent. He didn't stay there in his glory saying, well, since it's his turn, he should come to me. He used the law of yielding and he went to his nephew.

Another thing that I see here, Abraham put spiritual principles above material ones. Where do I see that? Look at verse 8 of Genesis 13, it says, “…then Abraham said to Lot, there is now no dispute between the two of us, between my shepherds and yours, why? Because we are brothers...

You see? There, what was Abraham saying? Lot, let's not let there be strife and division and problems and fights between us because there is something that must be above this situation and it is the fact that you and I are brothers. Before that it says, in verse 7, the previous verse, that the Canaanite and the Peresean dwelt then on the earth. They were strange people and yet Abraham and Lot were blood related, they were brothers in a sense of blood and flesh. And then Abraham says, Lot, it is not possible that you and I, being brothers, give a bad testimony before these people who are incredulous. You and I being brothers we cannot afford to fight and kill each other and be in a fight, we are going to solve this situation. Go?

Brothers, above your rights or mine are the rights of Christ Jesus and the Gospel and the word of God and the principles that have been revealed through the word of the Lord. You remember what I said last Sunday about the family as a system and marriage as a system and that many times the problem is that we are so concerned about me and my needs and my rights, and my dignity, which has been violated that We do not think about the health of the couple or the health of the family and children, or the health of the church, or the health of the testimony we give before unbelievers or before those who are weak in faith. Because we are not thinking of that larger structure, but rather of me and my need, and that is why I said that wherever there is continuous fighting and disharmony, it is because at the root there is selfishness, selfishness, undeserved attention to the self. and to the needs of the self instead of thinking about the larger system within which we are integrated.

And that is why Abraham said, it is not possible Lot that we start fighting like cats and dogs for sheep and cows and grass being you and I brothers. This fact of us being brothers is much more important and deeper and larger than the cows and the sheep and the grass that they eat, and the land where we are.

Go? That is what I want to say, brothers, that many times in the church, for example, we have to be careful because sometimes there can be a fight between my brother and I and I can say a hurtful or harsh word and you will not believe , as I was saying, that this is how it happens in the air, even when we are both locked inside a safe, a safe, no one else sees or hears it, the air is penetrated by the sanctity of the church and of the presence of God. We have around us a great cloud of witnesses, we have demons and angels, we have the Holy Spirit and we have Satan always watching. Our actions give glory to the devil or give glory to God. And so we always have to be attentive to the fact that by acting in an inadequate way I am bringing shame to the Kingdom of God, I am sometimes, brothers, we do not take care of ourselves and the father and mother can fight before the children and we are not thinking about the greater principle of the health of our children, emotional or spiritual health of our children. Or at work, there is a fight and we don't realize that this fight could be poisoning the environment and not only have to do with the two people who are having the fight. There are major principles.

I don't know if I'm explaining myself correctly, Abraham gave the principle of brotherhood more importance than the principle of property and that often helps us to be people of peace. Look, I am preaching something that I have to learn to apply. Do not think that I am speaking from my glory, it is difficult but I believe that these things help us.

And ending Abraham used the principle of giving the opponent the advantage, he gave his opponent the advantage, which in this case was Lot. He used the yield principle, he gave up his rights, verse 9 and 10, what does Abraham say to Lot? “… Lot, the whole earth is not before you, I beg you to get away from me, if you go to the left hand I will go to the right; If you go to the right, I will go to the left….”

Look at Lot now, do you see what I'm telling you? That the character of a man is portrayed in an action. Just as Abraham was portrayed in a glorious and marvelous light, look at what immortalizes Lot, verse 10, it says; “…. And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the whole plain of the Jordan that all of it was irrigated like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah... and what did Lot do? So Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan plain…”

Lot said, this is my chance, here I get rich. And he took I imagine a pair of glasses and searched very carefully and saw all the little trees and all the streams, and all the lakes and the grass that seemed greener and he thought, this is where I'm going. He was thinking of himself, he was thinking of his advantage, he was thinking of his future profit, his bank account and everything else and the profit of his cattle, and his future prosperity. He bet everything and chose the frank one like that, and said, well, since you gave me the opportunity, I'll take this part, the best of all. And Abraham quiet there.

Brothers, how many of us would have said, what a fool Abraham. How many of us would have said, no, here Abraham's brain burned out at that moment, a fuse blew. However Abraham was, his closeness to God gave Abraham tremendous peace that allowed him to refer his cause to the Lord and use the principle of yielding and of the cross long before the cross arose in history. That is why Abraham was a spiritual genius, that is why I believe that God chose that man, because he knew that heart that was there in Abraham, although Abraham also had great mistakes in his life. He made serious mistakes but he had a heart like David's that was after God's own heart.

And so Abraham knew that Lot's character required desperate, dramatic and very, very spiritually powerful action and that's why Abraham told him, ok, Lot chooses you first, where you go I'll go in the opposite direction. And Abraham did not reproach his nephew, he did not accuse him, we do not see anything like that, but Abraham said, ok, I made my deal with you, now you go there, I'll go here. Lot, I imagine that he went away singing and shouting and jumping and had a great party at the end of that meeting.

But look later, they already pass, I imagine, that Lot left at that moment, a few minutes pass and then the spirit of the Lord comes and approaches Abraham and look at the words of God to Abraham, after Lot departed from him. "Abraham now lift up your eyes and look from where you are, to the north and to the south and to the east and to the west..."

That included the land that Lot had chosen, my brothers, that included the land, because all that he could see from his position, all that land including the land that Lot had chosen and that he had already left happily believing it was his. , but the land was the Lord's, the land was not Lot's and what does he say to him:

“…for all the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever and I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth your offspring will also be numbered….”

Brethren, do you see the glory of God in using these principles of spiritual warfare? Who do you want to have as your guarantor, yourself with your limited understanding and strength or the almighty God who guarantees blessings for you, for your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren, your great-great-grandchildren? I always want the Lord to be blessing my lineage because I know that I am not capable, nor the one I have immediately to bless it. And that is why I need God to be my channel and my intermediary and my defender. And I have to refer my cause to the Lord and put my things in God's hands. And the only way is by opening the space for God to do the work.

Brothers, we are going to imitate the spirit of Abraham on this day, we are going to imitate the spirit that is given in sacrifice to the Lord. We are going to give the spirit that imitates the Christ who said, Father, not my will but yours be done. We are going to imitate the spirit of the Christ who mounted the cross and opened his arms for a humanity that did not love him or was looking for him to give him salvation and eternal life. And that Christ then what happened? The Bible says that God gave him a name that is above all names so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, on earth and under the earth. Because? Because Christ used that principle then he was raised. Before you are lifted up you have to come down. Before you are exalted you have to humble yourself. Before you are resurrected you have to be crucified. That is the rule of the Christian life.

Brothers, we are going to embrace that principle, we are going to carry our cross because in carrying our cross there is rest. Take my yoke upon you and you will find rest for your souls. Do you want peace to reign in your home? Begin to yield in the name of Christ. Do you want your children to grow up healthy? Practice spiritual judo and ask God to reveal how to do it in your life. Do you want there to be peace in your work and you want to be an agent of good? Begin to give Christ space to defend your principles and you don't want to defend them every day and exclusively yourself.

Brothers, may the peace of the Lord reign in our hearts and may that spirit so difficult to understand but so full of life and healing come to reign in our churches, in our homes, in our work, wherever we go. May the Lord bless us.

Classic sermon by Dr. Roberto Miranda #6059

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