Lot, A Man Often Misunderstand

1
Lot, A Man Often Misunderstand

• Being careful that we do not misunderstand the
  life of another.
• 2 Peter 27

2
Introduction

• Knowing what you know about Lot (nephew of
  Abraham) how would you assess Lots life?
• Often heard are his flaws, bad choices, and sins
  and thus concluding that he was a worldly and
  selfish man, whose descendents reflected his
  character.
• From Gods vantage point, however, God said that
  Lot was a righteous man.
• For this reason we may actually have a different
  (incomplete or wrong) perspective of him than
  that which is true.

3
Introduction

• Therefore, we can learn from Gods judgment of
  Lot.
• We may have limited information like a persons
  flaws, bad choices, or sins committed, and
  base our judgment of him from that information.
• While we may judge a person by the fruit we see
  from them, we may not necessarily have a true
  (complete) understanding of that person as God
  does.
• Thus, this lesson is aimed at helping us to be
  much more conscientious about others so as not to
  misunderstand them.

4
Background of Lots Life

• Family/National background
• Haran father of Lot. Gen. 1127
• Abraham uncle of Lot. Gen. 125
• Lots children
• Ben-ammi (Ammonites)
• Moab (Moabites)

5
Background of Lots Life

• Background to Sodom and Gomorrah
• Lot lived (with Abraham) in the Negev for a while
  before a famine forced them to Egypt. Gen.
  125-20
• Pharaoh sent Abraham (Lot with him) away and they
  came back to the Negev. Gen. 13
• Abraham and Lot divide themselves Lot took the
  valley of the Jordan.
• Gods word reveals that the men of Sodom were
  exceedingly wicked and sinners against the Lord.
  Gen. 1313

6
Background of Lots Life

• Abraham delivers Lot. Gen. 14
• Lot lived in the land for about 25 years (cp.
  Gen. 1724 214) when Gods judgment came upon
  the city.

7
Lots Choices and Ours

• Lot chose the good land of Jordans valley.
  Gen. 1310-12
• Abraham offered for Lot to choose anywhere he
  wanted and Lot took a very logical choice. Gen.
  137-10
• Many among Gods people today make choices to
  better their financial situation (for whatever
  good or selfish reasons) and may not see the
  potential thorns associated with that decision.

8
Lots Choices and Ours

• Lot chose to live in the midst of ungodliness.
  Gen. 1313
• Lot lived in an ungodly location, but tried to
  live a godly life. Gen. 191-3, 7
• Some today live in the midst of ungodly
  situations and try to live godly lives in the
  midst of such ungodliness
• Jobs taken and kept.
• Schools that we send our children to.
• Neighborhoods we live within and among.

9
Lots Choices and Ours

• Lot chose was drunk two nights in a row. Gen.
  1932-35
• The result is that both his daughters for
  reasons of self preservation had relations with
  him.
• Had Lot not gotten drunk, incest may have been
  avoided.
• We know incest was unavoidable in the beginning
  as revealed in the Book of Genesis.
• We also know that incest was against Gods will
  about four hundred years after Gods promise to
  Abraham. Lev. 186-18

10
Learning Gods Knowledge of Righteous Lot

• According to God Lot was a righteous man. 2 Pet.
  27-9
• He was oppressed by the sensual conduct of
  unprincipled men.
• His righteous soul was tormented day after day by
  their lawless deeds.
• Thus, God rescued righteous Lot. 2 Pet. 27, 9
  (cp. Gen. 1820-23, 32)
• We can necessarily infer that there was much more
  to the man than the Old Testament passages reveal
  about him.

11
Learning Gods Knowledge of Righteous Lot

• It is easy to label/judge/condemn someone whom we
  do not know personally.
• Many who didnt really know John the Baptist nor
  Jesus made strong remarks against them. Matt.
  1118-9
• The same could be true if we only had the little
  the Old Testament reveals about Lot
• We could see his less than spiritual decision
  making when choosing a land full of
  wickednessnot knowing the full
  circumstances/context of his decision.
• We might blame him for not selling his property
  and moving to a more noble location.

12
Learning Gods Knowledge of Righteous Lot

• It is easy to label/judge/condemn someone when we
  do not try to understand them.
• The word listen (akouo) commonly used in the
  Greek means to to understand, perceive the sense
  of what is said.
• Trying to understand a person takes much more
  work than simply hearing another.
• In the case of Lot we may simply remember only
  the scriptures that reveal his shortcomings and
  skip over the truth of what was revealed about
  him.

13
Conclusion

• No doubt there were questionable and sinful
  decisions that Lot made, but to judge his entire
  life on the revealed texts of the Old Testament
  is to leave with an incomplete and misunderstood
  perception of the man.
• The same can be said about the lives we live
  today.