CHOOSE LIFE  

DEUTERONOMY 30:15-20

          Moses, as the time approaches for the Children of Israel to cross over into the Promised Land, recognizing that he was not going with them urges them to love and obey God and by doing so to choose life.  He says in verse 30, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that both you and your seed may live.  Know we know that few people ever choose death.  Even when people are threatening to commit suicide, most believe that they do not really want to die; they simply want to call attention to the emotional pain they are suffering.  Many believe that even those who are successful were still hoping that someone would find them and stop them.  In other words most people would choose life over death.  But death is not something that we normally get a choice about.  Yet Moses urges these people to choose life. 

          Many times when people die we will hear others say well it was just his or her time as if there is a clock that starts ticking the moment we are born and when all the time runs off the clock it is time to go.  Those who think that way don’t consider that we can by our choices both speed up and slow down that clock.  I, like Moses, want to urge you today to “Choose Life”. 

          The scriptures that God gave me to go with this topic concern Lot and his family in Sodom and Gomorrah.  In looking at this section of scripture I believe that we will see how our choices can result in life or death.  Most of us know that Lot was the nephew of Abraham. They had traveled together for a while and both men had accumulated much wealth, cattle and servants. When the servants of Abraham and Lot begin to argue Abraham suggested that they separate the group and live apart from one another. Abraham gave Lot first pick of the land.

GENESIS 13:10-13

          Lot selected the land that looked to be fruitful. It was well watered, fertile land. From the outside it looked like the perfect place for a farmer or herdsman to settle down.  Looking at the land from the outside it looked great, however Lot did not check out the land to see what the inhabitants were like. Though the land looked good, the inhabitants were extremely wicked and lived lives which greatly sinned against God.  Sometimes the choices we make put us in the position of risking our lives.  When confronted with the choice we often do not see its how it will affect our life.  This is because we have an enemy who is intent on with holding the truth from us and deceiving us into considering only our present desires. 

          Making a choice without getting all the facts led Lot to making a poor decision.   This is often the plight of the young.  They fail to consider all options before making a choice and oftentimes they fail to realize that what looks good and simple and okay from the outside may be full of wickedness and death on the inside.

          So Lot moves to Sodom. Certainly Lot saw the wickedness when he arrives but he chooses to stay there.  Here then is another bad choice.  Lot could have chosen to leave, but he would have had to admit to Abraham, his uncle that he once again had made a bad choice.  So he chooses to stay in the midst of the wickedness.  The city is so wicked that God decides that it must be destroyed and sends two angels to carry out the mission.

GENESIS 19:1-3

          Lot had bee in Sodom long enough to be considered a leader. He sat in the gateway with other leaders to be a witness in business transactions, help settle disputes and make city policies.  Also it was a matter of custom for the city elders to invite visitors to stay at their homes. 

GENESIS 19:4-9

          This is the wickedness that prevailed in Sodom and in Gomorrah.  The men participated in homosexual activities and sodomy.  All the men, young and old, married and single.  Sex in any form between those of like kind is an abomination to God.   (Leviticus 18:22-23 - Thou shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shall thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.) 

          Although Lot was responsible for protecting his guest, this action on his part was also wrong.  It is repulsive to even consider a man offering his daughters to a mob of sexually immoral men.  But when you make one bad decision it often leads to the need to make others.  Stealing or cheating will cause you to have to lie.  Lying will lead to more lying.   Because Lot has chosen to stay among these wicked people he is now caught in the middle with neither option being correct. 

          The other thing to notice here is that up to this point Lot has been accepted in Sodom, maybe because ho did not bother to speak out against their sin. But now by refusing the mob he is considered to be judgmental and the mob now seeks to abuse him also.  When people are determined to do wrong, they will turn on anyone who stands in their way. 

          Sometimes those who want to do right will choose to go along with a group bent on doing wrong out of the fear of being considered judgmental, or maybe because initially there did not seem to be any harm in what was taking place. The problem is that actions that appear to be harmless can quickly turn to disaster. When the town’s men were choosing to participate in homosexual activities Lot saw little reason to speak, but now when his own guest were being demanded, it was a problem.

GENESIS 19:10-14

          Lot goes out the same night to talk to his sons—in—laws. In other words they were out in the street with the other men.  They were married but yet Lot’s daughters were still virgins. Some say that they were only engaged.  This may be true, but it is evident from the fact that they too were with the mob and the fact that they chose to stay when their wives left that their real desire and love was not for Lot’s daughters.  Now one might question why Lot would even pick two of the men of Sodom to marry his daughters.  Some suggest that he did it to win favor with the people. Being an outsider and desiring to prove to Abraham that he could make it on his own; he needed to be accepted in Sodom.  Whatever, the reason this is certainly another bad choice on Lot’s part. 

          The son-in-laws were locked into a lifestyle of sin and wickedness and when offered the chance to escape they refused. Their failure to choose freedom from sin resulted in a choice not to live.  It was not their time to die.  It was their choice.  Rather than choosing obedience and life they chose sin and death.  Sin seems to bring pleasure for a season but, it will always in the end bring destruction and unhappiness.  Our enemy makes sin look so pleasurable, so irresistible; trying to convince us that we just can’t do without that gratification we are reaching for.  He knows that nothing that he offers us will bring us lasting satisfaction and he endeavors to keep us from the one thing that will, a relationship with God.  Proverbs 20:17 says “Proverbs 20:17 - Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.” 

GENESIS 19:15-16

          Lot also had difficulty in leaving the city. Not because he was involved in the sin of the city, but because he was being asked to leave his possessions; to start over again with nothing. Lot was already a wealthy man when he came to Sodom and just as he had thought initially Sodom had proven to be a prosperous place. By choosing to come to and stay in this wicked place he was now being stripped of all of his possessions.  He believed God was going to destroy the city but he hesitated and had to be dragged from the city.   Lot was torn between life and wealth.  It this any different from the drug dealer (Selling drugs might initially seemed like the way to make a lot of money, but you ended up selling your freedom, selling your life), the bank robber, the embezzler or any other crook.  If life were more important than wealth then they would turn from the road of crime and choose life.  However, so often man is tricked into believing that you can successfully have both the love of money and the love of life.   The Bible clearly teaches in 1 Tim. 6:10 that “the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”  We are not even to love life more than we do God.

GENESIS 19:17-26

          Once again Lot made a bad decision.  He should have gone to the mountains as instructed by the angels.  He complained that he would not have time, but the angel had been commanded not to do anything until Lot was safe.  Though Lot cannot be held responsible for his wife’s decision to look back, it may have been more difficult and less tempting for her to look back had she been further away.  In any case Lot’s wife had been forced to choose freedom from Sodom.  Though her feet were free her heart was not.  When faced with choosing life, she chose death.  Her heart was back in Sodom with all her possessions and friends.  On that day she became a reminder to all to look forward to God, choosing life and not back to a former life, choosing death. 

GENESIS 19:30-32. 

JOHN 5:28-29