Is your worship a testimony to the world around you?
18 And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. 19 Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.”
Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.
Abram's nephew Lot was an innocent bystander in a local battle, the injustice of his captivity was the reason that Abram chose to get "Involved With Our World." Abram's response to the situation that his nephew was in is a great lesson on how we should respond to the injustice that we see all around us.
Abram was returning home from the battle when he was met by two kings, these two stand in contrast with one another, they are as different as the cities that they represent and Abram is wise in the way he responds to each of them.
Melchizedek, the righteous king of Jerusalem.
Abram was smart to be involved with the godly king before the worldly king, the king of righteousness and peace brought food and wine to celebrate the victory that God had given to Abram. They didn't have access to food like we have when we are traveling so Abram gladly accepted the refreshments from Melchizedek.
Although very little is known about Melchizedek, he provides an interesting example of a priest-king linked to Jerusalem. There appears to have been an expectation that later kings of Jerusalem should resemble him. (Psalm 110:4) The book of Hebrews presents Jesus Christ, from the royal line of David, as belonging to the “order of Melchizedek” and therefore superior to the Levitical priests. (Hebrews 5:5–10)Abram's celebration with the priestly king is a great example for us, after a major victory we can lose our perspective, but this celebration included worship and part of worship is tithing. When we tithe as a part of our worship we are declaring that God is our provider and we trust him to continue to sustain us.
-ESV Study Bible notes
Abram tithed a tenth of the goods that were recovered from the war but he also offered what was left to the king of Sodom. Abram could have used this opportunity to increase the riches that God promised him but he allowed God to provide without any help from Abram's military success.
Bera, the king of Sodom,
Genesis 14:22-23 Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I solemnly swear to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 23 that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you. Otherwise you might say, ‘I am the one who made Abram rich.’The king of Sodom was probably shocked when his offer to Abram was rejected, Abram didn't get involved with the affairs of the world so that he could get rich, Abram was involved because he wanted to make right an injustice.
The response to Bera made it clear that Abram worshiped the one true God and his God would keep his promise to prosper Abram without any outside help. Abram proved that his involvement with the world was motivated by a desire for justice and mercy instead of riches.
Being involved in worship forced Bera to see Abram's beliefs in action. Worship is more than just giving God praise, it is also a witness to the world around us, they need to know that we believe in the one true God that he is the source of real mercy and justice. It is too bad that our worship is tucked away inside of buildings these days so it isn't as much of a testimony as it once was.
Abram showed by his relations to the two kings how God’s people need to be careful when we are involved in our world. The need for justice and mercy demand that we be involved but we need to be sure that the world is clear about our motivation.
What if the world sees a massive amount of worship in God's people? Worship that was much greater than our fears or our love for the things that the world has to offer. What an awesome testimony that would be.
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