Worship, Service, and Truth

Genesis 18 Summary

Abraham sees 3 men coming

He runs to them and worships them

He serves them by feeding them a meal

The 3 reveal a promise that Issac, the promised one, is coming

Sarah laughs to herself

When confronted about it, She then lies and says she didn’t laugh

The Lord says, “No, you did laugh” revealing truth to her.

Worship (Verses 1-4)

Genesis 18:2 “When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,”

Abraham runs toward them and falls flat on his face.

Abraham was so close to God that Abraham knew when he was in God’s presence.

How does Abraham choose to respond?

He gets flat on his face before the Lord.

(Philip Graham Ryken says,)

Whereas the first commandment forbids us to worship false gods, the second commandment forbids us to worship the true God falsely. How we worship matters nearly as much to God as whom we worship.

Philip Graham Ryken; R. Kent Hughes

The word used for Lord in verse 3, “My Lord” is the Hebrew word for God in the Bible.

This is important because we know the men could represent the trinity, or God and two angels, or maybe even Jesus or two angels.

How can we know we are in the presence of God?

Matthew 18:20 (NASB95)

“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

I’m gathered in His name today. He is what I am here for. He alone is who I am here to worship and glorify. Mr. Wayne? Are you gathered in His name today? Mrs. Sara Collins, are you gathered in his name today?

When we gather on Sundays or Wednesdays, we are in His presence. How are you choosing to respond during these meetings?

(Erwin W. Lutzer says,)

12098 God is looking for worshipers. And if the religious elite are too proud or too busy to learn to worship him, he seeks the worship of those whose lives are trapped in moral ruin.

Erwin W. Lutzer

Here’s a way you can tell how you are responding to worship. Ask somebody else what you looked like at church on Sunday.

If you are not responding to worship, you will:

Look like you aren’t happy.

You have no joy.

You just seem to be here because that’s what you have been trained to do.

When is the last time you got on your face at the altar?

What hinders our presence/worship of the Lord?

Our sin.

Our disobedience to the Lord.

So, how can we experience his presence?

The Spirit will manifest Himself when we:

are obedient to God’s Word

read His Word to gain more knowledge about Him

In prayer, unhindered by our unrepentant hearts

hymns and songs

words or presence of an accountability partner

a feeling of peace that can only be ascribed to God

Service (Verses 5-8)

As a result of being in the presence of the Lord, Abraham then responds with action by serving the men (Verses 5-8). He prepares a meal for them and serves them the meal.

If we allow our hearts to truly worship on Sunday morning and be in His presence, then we will take action to serve the Lord.

(Charles Spurgeon says,)

1292He is no Christian who does not seek to serve his God. The very motto of the Christian should be “I serve.”—5.146

Charles Spurgeon

How can we serve the Lord? We can’t make a meal for Him or get Him something to drink, right? Maybe we can.

Matthew 25:34–40 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

We serve Jesus, our God, by:

feeding the hungry

loving the poor

clothing those less fortunate

caring for the sick

meeting with prisoners

serving the least of these

(Warren Wiersbe says,)

The world thinks that happiness is the result of others serving us, but real joy comes when we serve others in the name of Christ.

Warren Wiersbe

Why is it so important to serve others?

Hebrews 13:2 “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

This is exactly what is happening for Abraham. He eventually realizes that he is serving the Lord himself. We never know when we serve somebody if we are actually serving an angel in disguise.

Bruce Barton says, “COME ON OVER” Christian hospitality differs from social entertaining. Entertaining focuses on the host—the home must be spotless; the food must be well prepared and abundant; the host must appear relaxed and good-natured. Hospitality, by contrast, focuses on the guests. Their needs are the primary concern. Hospitality can happen in a messy home. It can happen around a dinner table where the main dish is canned soup. It can even happen while the host and the guest are doing chores together. Offer hospitality even if you are tired, busy, or not wealthy enough to entertain. Share a meal with visitors to your church. Invite single people over for an evening of conversation. Think of how you could use your home to meet the needs of traveling missionaries. Hospitality simply means making other people feel comfortable and at home.

Bruce B. Barton, David Veerman, et al., Hebrews, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1997), 231.

Truth

Notice what happens at the end of this part of the story. After Abraham is done serving the Lord, he brings up the truth. Let’s look at verses 9-15.

Sarah tries to deny the fact that she thought what the Lord himself was saying was a joke. Notice how God responds. He responds with truth. Some of us here today need to hear some truth.

(William Shakespeare says,)

Truth will come to light; … truth will out.

William Shakespeare

(Magazine Article called the Watchman Expositor)

Even those who claim to be Born Again are not necessarily firmly grounded in the truths of the Bible. In his book which provides a statistical analysis of religious beliefs in America, George Barna cites several fascinating statistics which are based on a national survey.

In chapter four he states, "The Devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil." Then asking that segment of his survey respondents who have identified themselves as being Born Again, he states, "Do you agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly with that statement?"

The Born Again population reply with 32 percent agreeing strongly, 11 percent agreeing somewhat and 5 percent did not know. Thus, of the total number responding, 48 percent either agreed that Satan is only symbolic or did not know!

Should it then be surprising that a few pages later Barna would receive some very startling responses? His next question, "Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and others all pray to the same God, even though they use different names for that God." Again, the respondents were asked to agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat or disagree strongly.

Of that population surveyed who identified themselves as Born Again, 30 percent agreed strongly, 18 percent agreed somewhat and 12 percent did not know. That is a total of 60 percent! (What Americans Believe, pp. 206-212).

Watchman Expositor, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1993, p. 31.

How do we ensure we know the truth?

The same way Sarah did. We hear it from the Lord. We can find God’s truth in His Word. We have the Bible where as Sarah did not. God had to audibly speak to her. We hear God speak through His Word.

Psalm 33:4 “For the word of the Lord is upright, And all His work is done in faithfulness.”

Revelation 19:13 “He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

(Quote by John MacArthur)

Worship is in response to truth about God and the truth about God is revealed in his Word.

John F. MacArthur

What truth do you need to hear from the Word of God today?

Some of you are living in denial about the power of the Lord. To not do as He has commanded is to live a lie. To not be obedient to Him is to live a lie. You and I need to hear the truth just as the truth was spoken to Sarah.

Truths

Some of you claim to be Christians, but you have no good works (Matthew 5:16) or you are not bearing fruit (Matthew 3:8).

Some of you are living in inappropriate relationships (Exodus 20:14 and 1 Corinthians 6:18)

Some of you like to gossip and spread false rumors (Proverbs 10:18)

Some of you don’t consistently gather with other believers (Hebrews 10:25)

Some of you don’t repent because you never think you do anything wrong (Acts 3:19)

Some of you are so caught up in yourselves that you can’t consider others above yourselves (Philippians 2:3-4)

Some of you put a front on and claim with your mouth that you love, but your actions don’t show it (1 John 3:18)

Some of you act one way here at church, but act differently out in the world (1 John 2:15-17 and James 4:4)

Some of you allow discord to grow among members of the church because you have “friends” but refuse to call sin what it is to your friends (Romans 16:17).

Some of you choose to be angry over silly things when the Bible teaches we should be slow to anger (James 1:19).

Here is a final truth for you from God’s Word.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” This surely doesn’t sound like good news and it shouldn’t because we need to be exposed for our lies. I’m glad there is good news for those of us who want to hear the truth. Thank God I wanted to hear the truth.

When I was in High School, I had a problem with truth. I didn’t have a problem with alcohol, drugs, or many of the other things high schoolers face, but truth was far from me at times. I woud lie to get my way and got to be pretty convincing of it at times. My mom could always see through me, but I even fooled her for a short time concerning my grades. It wasn’t very long though before she found out. I can tell you this, I am thankful for her disciplining me and making me see the error of my ways. I will never lie again unless it’s something like keeping a surprise from someone, but I will not maliciously lie to anyone ever again. I bring receipts now when I purchase something for someone, I have any documentation ready when approached about something, and i’ll send pictures as evidence of something (the only time i like to take a selfie). I will do whatever it takes to ensure that people know I am not lying. I never want to feel the way I did when I deceived people.

But here is the God part. As boldly as I used to proclaim a lie, I will now boldly proclaim the truth. Some people perceive this as me having a temper. I’m ok with that if you see it that way, but I would rather have a “temper” with someone regarding truth than to see them spend eternity in hell. I tend to see my “temper” as not backing down from the truth. Either way, I would rather be bold with the truth than to watch anyone spend eternity in hell. And that is the God’s honest truth, as we say.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Even me many times. Romans 6:23 begins with “For the wages of sin is death.” So what is due me for my lies? Death. What is due you for (not bearing fruit, living in inappropriate relationships, gossiping, not gathering with other believers, not repenting, your selfishness, not loving, being two faced, sowing discord, and being angry.)Death is how I should be paid. That’s how you should be paid. That’s how Sarah should have been paid. Thank God there is good news though. The rest of Romans 6:23 says, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”