Abram's Kids...

Good morning everyone…I am so happy to see you all. You know I sit back in the back most of the service and I am just blessed as I watch everyone worship in various ways together. Now we have the opportunity for our kids to go back and join their amazing teachers who are prepared to make Scripture come to life in the minds of every single young person that joins them in class today. Then of course we have those of you joining us online right now. We want to thank you, whether you are joining us live or via one of our podcast options later in the week, it is so encouraging to know that God is using LRBC to be a blessing to you in your life…wherever you are.

So, Ive got a question for you all today. Who has ever been in a situation where you just can’t wait any longer? Raise your hand. Wow, that’s pretty much everyone, right…Thats crazy, but also understandable, I mean, waiting can be tough, especially when you're hungry or tired or just really excited for something to happen. Maybe you've been waiting for months to go on vacation, and the day finally arrives, but your flight gets delayed. Or maybe you're waiting for a package to arrive in the mail, and you check the tracking information every hour just to see if it's getting closer. The thing is, waiting is a part of life, right. We can't always get what we want exactly when we want it. Sometimes, we have to be patient and trust that things will work out in the end. And that's especially true when it comes to God's promises. See, God has promised us all sorts of things in His Word, like peace, joy, and eternal life. But sometimes…sometimes, we have to wait for those promises to be fulfilled. It's not always easy, but it's worth it, because God’s timing is far better than your timing, amen?

Now, today we are going to see that Abram was in a tough spot. You see, he and Sarai had been promised a child by God, but years…like YEARS had gone by and nothing had happened. Can you imagine how frustrating that must have been? Abram was probably starting to wonder if God had forgotten about them. But instead of waiting patiently and trusting in God's timing, he took matters into his own hands. He thought he could solve the problem of his waiting on his own. And while that might have seemed like a good idea at the time, it caused a whole lot of trouble, for a whole lot of people. Let’s take a look at how

Trusting in our own plans will lead to painful consequences

Im pretty sure we can all think of a time that we trusted in our own plans above the plans of someone that was wiser than we were, right? Ill tell you one of mine…I was 18, maybe 19 years old working as an electrician and I was down in a manhole cutting an opening in concrete to lay the main line pipes so they could be connected to the city grid. Now, I was told that there was rebar and rocks in the concrete and so I would need to be careful and take it slow. However, when you are 19 years old, you’re bulletproof, right....So, I got to work using an angle grinder to open up this hole. After a little while, on full-speed of course, I’m cruising along and all of a sudden I hit something…I have no idea what I hit, but I hit something becuase that grinder popped out of my right hand and it jumped up on my shoulder here and ripped through my shirt as well as every layer of skin and muscle that I had in that spot and actually hit the shoulder bone right here…Well, as you can imagine there was some blood and after a couple of minutes of me kind of freaking out…I got some duct tape and taped up my shoulder. I was way to embarrassed to go and tell the foreman what happened, so I just went with it and was sore for a bit.

My point in telling you that is to highlight that sometimes when we do things our own way and do not listen to the wisdom of others…or even worse, when we do not listen to an item’s creator then things can get pretty difficult and cause actually cause pain. That is what we are going to look at today. You see, today we are going to see that Abram had waited a very long time for God to give him a son so that he could start his family that will bless the nations…but nothing has happened. Actually, Abram was 75 when God made this promise to him, and now he is 85 years old…thats a long time, and he and Sarai got a bit impatient…Look, 10 years is a long time to wait for a promise, but then again…there was no timeframe on this promise. Well, let’s take a quick look at what Abram and Sarai did here. Open to

Genesis 16:1–3 (ESV)

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

Now, we aren’t going to be able to read through all of our Scripture today, so I am going to fill in some blanks for us, but I want to encourage you to read these two chapters on your own this afternoon.

OK, so did you see what just happened here. To us that sounds insane doesn’t it. I mean, I guarantee there is not a single wife here that would say, “Hey, I know we want kids and we haven’t been able to have kids so go ahead and sleep with my employee, or with my friend and see if you can have a baby with her.” I mean this just makes absolutely no sense to us today…However, there was a custom in the Ancient Near East where this was practiced. In other words, this is something that people around them…people that do not worship the Lord have done and it was actually fairly common among the various tribes of that time. Now, of course that shows us the first problem with this plan, doesn’t it…Abram trusted the world to fulfill God’s promise. I mean, when you say it like that, it doesn’t really make sense does it? Buuuuut, then again don’t I do the same thing sometimes? EXAMPLE

Now, that’s not the whole issue here. You see, after Abram has a baby with Hagar, Sarai gets pretty upset and bitter towards Hagar and starts to treat her like trash. That’s messed up, but when you think about it…it makes sense. You see, every time Sarai looked at Hagar, she was reminded of her sin. This was after all her idea. Abram followed through with this sin, much like Adam in the garden, but this was Sarai’s idea to begin with. So, Sarai gets mad at Hagar and treats her so poorly, that Hagar runs away. The pain that was inflicted on Hagar was more than she could bear, so she left…the pain that was caused by the sin of Abram. Now, I did just say that this was Sarai’s idea…and it was, however, this is Abram’s sin. This is Abram’s sin because he is the one who acted on the idea, isn’t he. He does not get to say, “but the woman you gave me told me to” does he. After all, God’s already heard that excuse…ha ha…Also, this is Abram’s sin becuase it was Abram’s job to protect and provide for Sarai. Listen, I know that’s not very P.C. nowadays, but the reality is that God created men with the distinct responsibility for protecting and providing for his family. Now, that doesn’t mean making more money that your wife, because sometimes that’s just not the case…That means that men, your job is to spiritually protect and provide for your family. This is a job that Abram relinquished here, isn’t it. Abram should have said, “Sarai, I am impatient also, but we must wait on the Lord.” However, Abram choosing to rely on the worlds customs instead of the Lords promises caused pain for everyone involved.

Now, God saw the grief of Hagar and had mercy on her, as it was not her choice. After Hagar ran away and left Abram and Sarai, God met Hagar where she was, in her pain, look at this...

Genesis 16:7–12 (ESV)

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

So here we have the Lord coming to the aid of the one that is hurting…Now, I want to ask you to pay attention to what happens next, because this is incredibly important. You see, when you and I are hurting the same Lord who found Hagar finds us in our desperation as well. I say this from experience here. However, there is something so important here that so many of us forget to do when the Lord finds us…Hagar obeyed the Lord…not only did Hagar obey the Lord but she acknowledged that God sees her in her broken state. Hagar returned to Abram and Sarai and Ishmael was born to an 86 year old Abram. Now, here is something really interesting here. Abram names the baby Ishmael…that means that Hagar told Abram, and maybe even Sarai about this encounter with the Angel of the Lord and Abram believed her and so he named this baby Ishmael.

Thats not everything that we are gonna look at today though. You see, I don’t wanna leave us in a place of uncertainty and to me things are kind of left uncertain as far as God’s promises to Abram, and so I want to see how

God Reaffirms Promises to Abram

Yeah, God is really working with Abram isn’t he…I mean, God promises Abram and Abram believes and obey, then he does things his way. God promises Abram and Abram believes and obeys and they he does things his way…and this story repeats itself…This time its going to be a little different though, so let’s take a look at what is going on in

Genesis 17:1–2 (ESV)

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”

Did you catch that…Remember when God first promised Abram, Abram was 75 years old…then he has a child with Hagar when he was 86 years old, and now he is 99 years old. We still have not seen that he has had the the child God promised him…Maybe that is why God is reaffirming his promise now. Now, I love the way god introduces himself to Abram. He tells Abram he is God Almighty, El Shaddai, and then tells Abram to be perfect…Can you imagine that…God tells Abram to walk before him and be blameless…Now we are seeing more of this covenant between God and Abram that we talked about last week. Remember God said his part, and now we see what Abram’s part of this covenant is…Abram is supposed to be perfect…how is he possibly going to do that? Well, these two obligations are required for the outcome that God is promising. However, there do not seem to be specifics with these commands, and so we should see that, Abram is called to be faithful, much like Noah was before him.

Now, I do want to read a couple more verses here becuase there are some things that are really important. Lets keep reading where we are

Genesis 17:3–8 (ESV)

Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

OK, so there is a couple of things that I want to point our briefly here. First, we see God changed Abram’s name to Abraham. That is actually kind of important. You see, in that custom, names were important as they actually described people’s character and mission. So, here God changed Abram’s name from “Exalted Father” to “Father of a Multitude”. Now, every time someone calls Abraham by name he will be reminded of God’s promise to him. Abraham doesn’t know what this means, and he doesn’t know how this will happen, but he will be reminded to trust the Lord every single time someone calls his name. That’s huge…

Now God continues by telling Abraham what his part of this covenant will be this time. Abraham must lead his family, both those who were biologically his family, as well as those who are part of his tribe, were now commanded to be circumcised. I’m betting that didn’t go over to well with most of the guys in Abraham’s clan. However, they all got in line because God has told Abraham that anyone who did not follow this command would be cut off from his promises…That is not a place I would want to be. Now, this is a constant even today because God said that this is an everlasting covenant. This is a physical thing that will lead to a spiritual truth as we move forward throughout Scripture. In the New Testament Paul talks about circumcision of the heart, meaning that for one to truly follow Christ, there must be a change of heart. Even here in this practice we are able to see God putting things in place that will enable the fullness of the Gospel to be understood by the masses.

This isn’t all though…next God reaffirms that Abraham will have a baby, as well as changes Sarai’s name. Look at this

Genesis 17:15–18 (ESV)

And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

So, just like God changed Abraham’s name, God changes Sarai’s name to Sarah. Now, there is a difference here though. You see, both Sarai and Sarah mean the same thing…they both mean Princess. However, this name change signifies leaving the past and looking to the future where Sarah will be the mother of nations.

Now, let’s take a look at what Abraham did real quick as we prepare to close and move into a time of communion. God tells Abraham that he will give Sarah a son and that he will bless her, to which Abraham mutters under his breath while laughing at what God just said. Can you imagine doing that? He is laughing so hard that he falls on his face and basically says, “yeah right”. He points to his age and Sarah’s age as proof that this can’t really happen, even after God has just introduced himself as the Almighty God…in other words, the God will all of the might and power is talking to Abraham and Abraham is basically blowing this off as a joke. Now, I think Abraham believed it, but at the same time it seems he is having a hard time believing that God is actually going to use him and Sarah to accomplish what God has promised. Maybe he assumes God will bring in backup to make all of this happen. Now finally Abraham responds to God saying, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” In other words, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to you!” It seems that Abraham is kind of rethinking this idea of having a baby at 100 years old…I don’t blame him for that, Brian and Leann experienced having young people at their house the last few days and it was exhausting...However, it seems like Abraham straightened up because after this encounter he went and had all of the males circumcised in order to obey the Lord. Then, one year later Isaac would be born

Now, I don’t think any of us here would literally do what Abraham just did when he fell on his face and laughed at God, but in a way we all do it likely daily, don’t we. Every single time we trust ourselves more than we trust God we are muttering under our breathe before God. Every single time we use the world to get what God has promised, we are laughing at God’s promises…You see, we don’t literally do what Abraham just did, but we absolutely do what Abraham has been doing. Some of you have been trying to trust yourself and some of you have been trying to lean on the world, and this morning I want you to ask yourself…Can I trust God’s promises?

We are going to move into a time of communion and I want to ask everyone to come to the Lord in confession of your own laughter as you remember the promises of the Lord. As we celebrate communion we are able to see the effects of our own inability to keep our promises and His willingness to pay that price in his blood. So, as the music plays come and take the communion elements and then take them back to your seat and as you are ready take the bread and juice as a symbol of the Lords body broken and the Lords blood spilt for you and I. And just like God changed the name of Abraham and Sarah to signify leaving the past and moving forward, I want to ask you to take these elements as your commitment to leave the past and embrace the future with the Lord…whatever that may mean.

Im going to pray…then we will come and take the elements...then Im going to read some Scripture…and then we will receive the elements.

PRAYER

Music while people gather elements

Matthew 26:26–30 ESV

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Communion as Scriptures are being read…lead to singing a song in worship

Elder end communion in prayer