God Most High

All right, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Genesis chapter 14. This morning my wife and my daughter are in Philadelphia. My daughter is playing in a nationwide lacrosse tournament, competing against some of the top-level players in the sport from colleges all over the country. And so I woke up and I was like, man, I’m missing them today. I really wish I could be there, but I’m also very happy to be here with you guys. And so I’m excited for the Word this morning. But before we get into the Word, I’m just going to pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your Word. Lord, it is food for us. It’s food for our soul. Lord, it is Your Word; every word comes from You. And so, Holy Spirit, would You teach us today? Just teach us how wonderful You are. Teach us how mighty You are, and what You would do for us. We give You praise. We give You glory, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

We’re going to look in Genesis chapter 14 this morning. Genesis is the first book in the Bible, but we’re going to go to chapter 14, and we’re going to be there for most of the time.

Feeding on the Word through the week

Before we get started here — and I know some of you have been doing this for some time — something always helped me. I grew up in church, and I would listen to the pastors preach and deliver the Word, and there were always times where I would hear the Word and I would feel like, “Oh man, that speaks to right where I’m at.” Right? How many of you know that’s the Lord speaking to you? And so what I would do — I did this later, but it was so big for me — is I would write those scriptures down and then I would read them through the week.

And the reason that was powerful is because you don’t eat one meal a week, right? And I think sometimes we treat our spirituality, our walk with the Lord, like that. It’s like, “Well, I can just gorge myself on Sunday and hopefully I’ll make it to the next Sunday.” But it doesn’t need to be like that. We want to read our Bibles every day. You might have a reading plan that you’re doing. You might be journaling. Those are things that we love to do, and we have a whole Bible section on our website that talks about how you can do that and what’s a good approach for that.

But another powerful thing really is just: what did the Lord speak to me? And then feed on that. You guys know what I mean? Scripture calls it meditating. “I will meditate on Your words. I will meditate on Your law.” The word “meditate” in Scripture means to mutter. It literally means to say it over and over and over, because His Word is food for us. Amen.

I was just watching some random video that popped up, and it was talking about how people will often say things like, “I have a hard time remembering. I have a hard time keeping things straight in my mind.” And they said there is scientific evidence that when we memorize Scripture, it rewires your brain and brings it back into order — you actually remember things better. It’s always surprising to me. I’m like, it’s no wonder. The things that God asks us to do are always to our benefit — not just to our spirit, but to our physical body. He helps us remember things, and He helps us grow in our wisdom beyond even just theology or spiritual things. He shows us things about just everyday life. Amen. And so I would encourage you, if there are scriptures that jump out at you, write those down and just read them through the week, and let that be food for you. Does that make sense? All right, quick tip. There you go. I always love those quick tips.

The giants that loom

All right. So, Genesis 14. We’re going to continue our series on the names of God. We’ve been doing this the whole year, going through different names that are used in Scripture for God. And those names aren’t just titles. They are declarations of who He is and what He will do in our lives.

And before we get to today’s name, I just want us to stop and pause and consider — and I’m not asking anybody to raise your hands or do anything like that — what are things that you are facing, things that you’re experiencing in life, that are standing over you? What are the giants in your life? What are those difficult things where it’s like, “I don’t know how I’m going to get through this. I don’t know how to overcome this”? It could be an obstacle. It could be an addiction, a behavior pattern. It could be a mindset. It could be a diagnosis — maybe you received a diagnosis from the hospital, and it has altered the way that you are living your life, and it’s kind of had the bigger word, the final word, for somebody. It could be a person — there’s just somebody in your life that has been dominating you and controlling. It could be all these different things.

But here’s what giants in life often have in common: they loom. They loom over you. They hover. And when they loom, those things often become bigger than they really are. They get greater and greater and greater, and they take up such a position in our life. They start to consume our thoughts — when we’re driving around in the car, or when we wake up in the middle of the night, it’s the first thing that we think about. It consumes our hearts. It consumes our minds. It consumes our thinking. And when something looms for long enough, we unknowingly give it a place that it should never have occupied in the first place, to the point where it becomes the highest thing in my life.

So often the giants in our lives become the greatest thing in our lives. Even if it’s not good. We never intended for it to be the biggest thing, but we make all our decisions around it. We’ve altered our behavior. We’ve altered our daily patterns, our habits. We’ve talked ourselves out of things. Why? Because there’s this obstacle that’s so big and so overwhelming: “I just don’t know what I’m going to do.” You guys relate a little bit? Where it consumes your thoughts and it has all of your attention?

And so today I want to talk about: what is the highest thing in your life? Because the reality is, the problem isn’t that there are giants in your life. The problem is when the giants get promoted in your life to the highest place. Does that make sense? There are going to be giants, and that’s okay. In fact, the Lord will often use the giants in your life to help you become more like Him, to help you trust in Him, to teach you things about Him, to grow in your love for Him. He will use those giants, but they should never take His place, the highest place.

And so today we’re talking about a name of God that deals with this error, because we don’t intend to do this. And I don’t want to get too far off, but did you know those giants in your life can actually become idols before the Lord? It looms for so long it becomes a part of your identity, and you hold it and you can’t surrender it to God. It could be fear. It could be anger, and you want to hold on to that anger, and you hold on to it so tightly you refuse to give it to the Lord. We think of idols and we think, “Well, that’s only positive things, like money, or the things that the world is after.” It could be anything. What are the things in your life that you have unknowingly allowed to go to a higher level than the Lord Himself?

A battle Abram never asked for

Let’s look at Genesis 14. We’re going to talk about this name of God. And God reveals this name to a man who’s coming home from a battle that he never asked for. As we come to Genesis 14, I want to just give some quick background. What is happening here is there are four kings from the east that sweep through the land, and they crush five rebel kings, including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. And these four kings from the east are conquering, they’re destroying everything, they’re looting. They’re taking land for their possession, treasure for their possession. They’re defeating kings and they’re inheriting people. They loot everything and everyone.

And we come to Genesis 14:12, and it says this: “They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.” So these four kings are going through, they’re plundering, they’re conquering, and one of the people that they take captive is Lot, who is Abram’s nephew. Okay? Abram’s nephew. This isn’t just an acquaintance or someone that he’s related to. This was someone that he actually raised up. This was someone that he had journeyed with when he left his family. And Lot has been kidnapped by the superpower of the ancient world.

Now, I want you just to take a moment and feel Abram’s position right now, because it’s probably similar to some of the things that you guys have been facing. This was not his war. This was not something that he asked for. He did not start it. He didn’t want it. Nobody asked him about it: “Hey, do you mind if we just kidnap your nephew and take possession of some of those things? You good with that? You cool?” How many of you know the battles we often face aren’t battles that we actually ask for? But how many of you know there are battles? There are things that do come to us. If you’re here in this room, nobody applied for their diagnosis. Nobody signed up for the thing that was stolen from them. Some battles just arrive, and suddenly something that you would die for is in the hands of something bigger than you.

And that’s exactly where Abram is at this point. Someone that he loved had been taken, and now he is at a position where, “I am going to risk everything to get him back.” Okay. So Abram — who is, by the way, not a king; Abram is a herdsman — takes his 318 trained men. Because back in those times, the herdsmen were not just people who tilled the land. They weren’t just people who fed the sheep. They had to know how to fight. And so he had 318 men who were a part of this community that were also trained to fight. But they were not warriors by trade. They just knew how to defend themselves, because you had to.

And so he takes the men and he goes after the four armies that had plundered the land. And I want you to think about the math here. Three hundred eighteen men were now chasing the superpower of this age, going against four kings and their armies. That’s not military math. That’s love math. And God gives him a plan, and He also gives Abram the victory. Abram goes with these 318 men, they attack at night, the enemy is scattered. And we come to verse 16, and it says this: “So he brought back all the goods.” Everybody say, “All the goods.” “And also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.” I want you to notice: everything, everyone had been brought back.

Bread and wine on the road home

But here’s the real revelation of this chapter. It’s actually not the battle. The battle itself is a good word — that we can put our trust in God, and that God will give us strategies for victory, and that God will move on behalf of His people. These are true. These are good things. But there’s more to this, because the real revelation of this chapter isn’t actually the battle. It’s who is waiting for Abram on the way home.

I want you just to picture with me where Abram is at. He’s journeying. He’s just fought a battle. He’s victorious, but he’s spent days of forced marching, a night battle, the adrenaline wearing off — literally fighting for your life. And as he journeys back home through the Valley of the King, someone comes out to meet him. Someone that the Bible had never mentioned before and barely even mentions again. There’s no genealogy for this man. There’s no introduction. He appears out of nowhere.

And we come to verse 18, and here’s Abram, exhausted, journeying home. And it says in verse 18, “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’”

There’s a lot to unpack here, but I want us to notice first off: three times in three sentences, the name that was used for God — God Most High. How many of you know that is who He is? He’s not just God. He is God Most High. That word is Elyon, which means God Most High, the highest, the uppermost.

But I want you to notice what this mysterious priest-king is carrying. What does he bring to Abram, who is journeying back home from a long battle? He is tired. He is wearied. And what does he bring? He brings bread and wine. The first time bread and wine appear together in Scripture is right here with Melchizedek. It was not at a feast. It was not at a festival. It was not at a celebration. It was not at a wedding. It was after a battle, in the hands of a priest, given to an exhausted man. What I want us to recognize is that the meal that we received this morning at the table has been meeting tired soldiers on the road home for four thousand years. Aren’t you thankful that God does not wait for you to get to your destination to feed you? He meets you on the way there. Amen.

And so three times the title is given: God Most High, Elyon, which means highest, uppermost, the One over whom there is nothing. And Melchizedek attaches a title to this name that explains everything: Possessor of heaven and earth. What does that mean? God is the owner of all of it. Everything belongs to Him. The kings that started the wars, the kings that thought they were possessing land, that thought they were possessing the people that they had conquered, the generals who thought they were carrying away treasures that belonged to them — this King is the one that truly owns all of it. Yes.

And the priest looks at the tired herdsman and is saying, “Over every king, over every army, over every power that took what you love, there is a Most High.” That’s why Abram won with 318 men. Abram did not win that battle because he was really good at training warriors. He was a herdsman. Abram did not win that battle because he was so smart and he outwitted them — “I’m just that good.” No, he won because he was with God Most High, the One who is over everything. So Melchizedek says it: “Blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Notice the victory came from an even higher level than the battle. Some of you caught that.

This battle was impossible. It was too great of a giant. And guess what? These kings were probably coming his way next. This was an impossible situation. But how many of you know, as big as the battle was, his God was even bigger? God Most High is even bigger than the battle.

Okay, notice Abram’s response in verse 20: “And he gave him a tithe of all.” This is so fascinating, because at this point in Scripture there is no law about tithing. There are no rules. There’s no pastor on stage telling him, “Hey, you really should give to the Lord, because you’re honoring and you’re trusting and you’re blessed.” None of that. There was no exhortation. There was no encouragement. No. What does Abram do? He brings out a tithe of all.

How many of you know, when you meet the One who owns everything, giving stops being loss and it becomes worship? When you meet the Most High, it’s your nature to open up your hands and say, “Lord, everything I have belongs to You, because I realize none of this was ever my source. None of this was ever my supply.” Does that make sense? You see, what we need is a revelation of who God really is. Because when we actually know how great He is, how mighty He is, that He is faithful, that we can trust Him — when we have a good understanding and revelation of who God is, it changes everything about how we live. It changes everything about how we talk. It changes everything. Why? Because you realize this isn’t my supply. Everything I was worried about, everything I was concerned about, is nothing, because it all belongs to Him. Does this make sense?

Every lesser king loses its leverage

So watch what this name immediately does to Abram. The king of Sodom — who was just rescued by Abram and his men, by the way; Sodom was just defeated by one of the four kings — now comes with an offer to Abram. In verse 21 he says, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.” In other words, “Keep the plunder. You earned it. But I’ll take the people.”

But listen to Abram’s response in verse 22: “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High.” There it is again. Isn’t that what he had just heard from Melchizedek? Now what is Abram saying? He’s saying the same thing. He’s saying, “You said it. I heard it. I received it. And now I’m saying the same thing too.” Okay. “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’”

A man who knows the Most High owns heaven and earth doesn’t need scraps from lesser kings. Amen. Abram was saying, “Listen, I am not for sale. You are not my source. You are not my provision. I serve the Most High God, the One who owns everything.” When God Most High is actually highest in your life, how many of you know every lesser king loses its leverage on you? That was better than we agreed. When God Most High is actually the highest, every lesser king loses its leverage on you. How many of you know that is freedom? That’s freedom from fear. That’s freedom from addiction. That’s freedom from anger. Everything changes when we have this revelation and understanding that He is God Most High.

Because most of the things that bully us in life only bully us because we think they hold the supply, or that they have the final say. But how many of you know those things don’t have the final say? Amen.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was the most powerful human being alive and ruler over the world’s superpower. God humbles Nebuchadnezzar. It’s a crazy story, actually. He takes his mind. He says, “You’re going to be out in a field for seven years, and you’re going to be like the ox of the field, and you’re going to graze on the grass, and you’re going to be unkempt.” He literally lost his mind for seven years out in a field. But God also said, “You’re not going to lose your throne. We’re going to keep it warm for you. But for seven years you’re going to go crazy out in the wilderness.” And that’s what happened. God humbles him.

When his sanity returns, listen to the first thing out of the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man on earth. Daniel 4:34–35 says, “I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: for His dominion is an everlasting dominion… He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” The emperor of the world, of Babylon, the conquering army, had learned the name of God Most High.

How many of you remember Joseph? He was a slave and then a prisoner. He was forgotten in an Egyptian dungeon while Pharaoh held all the power. In one day the Most High moved, and the prisoner became second in command of the empire by dinnertime. How many of you know the distance between the pit and the palace is just one word from the Most High?

David puts the name of God from this week and last week together in a single phrase. Psalm 91:1 says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” The Most High, Elyon, and the Almighty, Shaddai, in one sentence. These names live together. They are roommates, Most High and Almighty. When you live under the Highest, you rest in the shadow of the All-Sufficient One.

The enemy impersonates a rank it does not hold

And I want you to notice this, because this is so important, because this is how the enemy comes at you. The strategy of darkness, the ambition of the enemy in Scripture, is Isaiah 14:14: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” Evil’s whole strategy in your life is impersonating a rank that it does not hold. If the enemy can make you think it’s bigger, the enemy can get your eyes off of God and onto the situation. And now everything’s out of sorts.

When the enemy impersonates and says, “This is the most significant thing in your life. This deserves your attention. This deserves your immediate response. You need to think about this. You need to invest in this. You need to manage this. You need to give everything for this” — when we make that bigger than God Most High, everything’s out of alignment. But that’s the strategy of darkness. Every giant looming over your life is running the exact same con: trying to loom large enough until you file it under “highest,” until you move it to the highest position. But I want to encourage you: don’t you dare give the giants in your life the position that has already been filled by God Most High. Thank you.

Jesus, Son of the Highest

Now I want to look at Jesus, starting with Melchizedek himself, because there is mention of Melchizedek in the New Testament. A thousand years after Genesis, David prophesies in Psalm 110 about the coming Messiah: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” The book of Hebrews — we did a series on that last year — spends a whole chapter unpacking Melchizedek. How he is the king of righteousness; that’s what Melchizedek means. How he’s the king of Salem, which is the king of peace. He was a priest with no recorded beginning or end, who meets you on the road with bread and wine.

Friends, does this sound like anyone to you? Because Scripture admits Melchizedek is a picture of Jesus in advance. The one who met Abram in his exhaustion with bread and wine is the same One who meets you week after week, time after time, with the same offer. Which means what? You can come broken, weary, tired, and exhausted, and the Most High is saying, “Would you come and partake of Me?” He comes with bread and with wine. And His bread is His body, which was broken so we could be whole. His blood was shed so that our sins would be washed and covered. He’s the one who feeds us. He’s the one who meets us in our weak moments.

When the angel Gabriel came announcing Jesus, Gabriel said, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest” — the Son of Elyon. This is Jesus. The announcement, before He even comes to earth as a baby: He will be the Son of the Highest. When Jesus met the man with the legion of demons, how many of you remember what darkness screamed? It said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” How many of you know the demons knew Jesus’ rank? They did not debate Him. They begged Him. The things that loom over people’s lives looked at Jesus and immediately identified Him as over them.

And then the cross. When it looked like the giants had finally won, when it looked like the darkness that had been looming finally had its victory, Paul tells us what was actually happening, in Colossians 2:15: “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” How many of you know the cross was not the Most High losing? It was the Most High disarming everything that looms — everything that will loom in your life.

Listen: whatever is looming in your life, Jesus is your answer. I don’t know that we actually always believe that. We think, “Well, yeah, I get that He’s God, but I’ve got to make this happen. I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to do that.” If Jesus is the Father’s every answer, then Jesus is definitely your every answer. That means no matter what it is that you are facing, it is right and it is appropriate to bring it to Him first and to say, “Lord, would You be glorified even in this? Lord, I’m giving this to You. Lord, there are giants in my life.”

And here’s the thing about giants: we don’t just deny them out of existence. How many of you know they’re real? There are real things in your life that need to be addressed. There are real battles that need to be fought. There are things that do need your attention. But so often the enemy’s strategy is, “You’ve got to take care of yourself. You’ve got to make it happen for yourself.” I’m surprised how often believers will even get to the point where they’ll say, “I’m just going to live with this and manage it as best I can for the rest of my life.” How many of you know that’s really not God’s best for you?

We have the ability — and not only that, God is wanting us to come to Him as we are journeying on the road. Maybe you got beat up. Maybe you got taken advantage of. Maybe you are in the middle of the battle and there hasn’t even been a victory yet. Maybe you’re in the middle of it. And here is Jesus coming to you, and He’s saying, “I’ve got the bread. I’ve got the wine. Partake of Me. Most High — I’m above all of it.” That means there is nothing that you can face that is greater than Him. There is nothing in your life that you are dealing with that is greater than Him. Turn to Jesus. He is your every answer.

He is highly exalted. Listen to Philippians 2:9–11: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.” What are the names that are in your life? Debt, sickness, depression, hopelessness, despair. What is it? They do have names. There are real symptoms to that. But I need you to understand that we serve the Most High God, and Jesus has been given the name above every name. “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Jesus is your every answer. That is not a consolation prize. That is the most powerful thing, the precious gift. You’ve been given the name of Jesus. He is the name above every name, highly exalted above every diagnosis, above every bank, above every addiction. There is not a giant that exists in your life that outranks Jesus. It just does not exist. Somebody say amen.

What sits on the throne?

And so here’s what I would like to do. We’re going to close. I’m going to ask that you just bow your heads and close your eyes with me. We’re going to invite the Lord in to just continue to speak.

Whatever that giant is that you named — maybe it was at the beginning of this message, maybe it was during — the truth is, the giant is real. Abram’s war was real. So is yours. But somewhere along the way it got promoted. Somewhere along the way you gave it a higher position than it ever deserved. It stopped being just a problem and it became the highest thing in your life — so much that it’s actually pulled you from the Lord Himself. Oh, how many times do believers say, “I’m too busy to go to church”? How many times do we say, “I gave God a try, but it just wasn’t…”? How many times do we fix our eyes on everything and everyone else but Him?

And the thing that you’re always thinking about, the thing that you consult with about your future, the thing that you’ve given the final say on how you live your life, the decisions you make, your routines — it’s been sitting on a throne that belongs to Someone else. And maybe you’re here and you’re still on the battlefield. Maybe you’re fighting the fight. Maybe you haven’t gotten the victory. I just want you to remember where Melchizedek met Abram. He met him on the road with bread and wine. He does not wait for you at the finish line. He walks out and meets you mid-war, mid-fight, carrying a table.

And so this is what I would like us to do. Let’s just lift our hands to the Lord and just ask Him, “Lord, what have I let sit on the throne that only belongs to You? What have I allowed to sit on the throne of my heart that only belongs to You? Holy Spirit, would You show us?”

Maybe it’s obvious to you that there are idols in your life, that there are things that you’ve put before Him. But maybe there are things in your life that have been brought to you, or you’ve gone through, or that have traumatized you. Whatever those things are that you unknowingly put in a higher position, that you’ve allowed to dictate how you will follow Him, how you will live for Him, how you will worship Him — I believe the Lord is saying, “Would you put Me in the right place? Would you let Me be who I am? Would you let Me be the name above every name? Would you put Me first? Would you trust Me even with this?”

And what I would like for us to do is just now begin to lift that and say, “Lord, I give this to You. Lord, I don’t have much to give. All I have is my brokenness. And so, Lord, I give this to You.” Whatever it is, just mutter it between you and the Lord: “Lord, I give this to You. I don’t want it to hold me back anymore. I don’t want it to hold me down. I don’t want it to come between me and You anymore.” And just begin to repent of that — that you gave it that place, that you’ve allowed it.

For those of you that don’t know, what is repentance? Repentance is turning from something and turning to Jesus. It’s turning from a behavior and then turning to Jesus. It’s turning from an emotion or a reaction and turning to Jesus. And friends, we should be repenting often. It’s not a one-and-done. Just begin to give it to the Lord and say, “Lord, I give this to You. I choose You. I say yes to You. I receive what You paid for — what we just celebrated, partaking of You. Lord, I receive all of You. You are my King. You are my Lord. You’re the one that I trust in. You’re the one that I look to. I can trust You because You’re a good Father. I can trust You because You loved me first. I can trust You because Your grace never runs dry. You never turn Your back. You never stop pursuing me. You never stop coming after me. So yes, Lord, I say yes to You, Lord Jesus.”

I pray over every person here, Lord, that You would give us eyes to see You, Lord Jesus. Lord, that we would see You not just as someone that we come and worship on a Sunday and then put on the back burner. No, Lord, we put You in the highest place, the King of our hearts, the King of our lives, because it’s the only rightful place. Everything is off when there’s anything but You there, Lord. That’s when fear creeps in. That’s when doubt creeps in. But Lord, when we put You first — You said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” — everything just comes into alignment. Everything begins to flow and function. Peace comes, joy comes, love. Lord, all of it comes when we put You in the right place. And so, Lord, we do that right now, and we say, Lord, have Your way in my life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.