Being a Friend of God

Introduction

Friendship. We all have a desire and a need for friendship.

But more than a friendship with any other human, we need a friendship with God above any other relationship because that is what we were created for.

As we continue to study through the life of Abraham, we ought to see the friendship that he has developed with God.

In fact, Scripture three times describes Abraham as a “friend of God.”

Genesis, Volume 2: A New Beginning (Genesis 12–36): An Expositional Commentary (Chapter 84: God’s Friend (Genesis 18:1–8))

On one occasion, when the armies of Moab and Ammon had invaded Judah, Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of the people before the temple in Jerusalem and, based on his earlier promises to the nation’s fathers, asked God for deliverance:

2 Chronicles 20:7 (ESV)

Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?

And then there is James 2:23

James 2:23 (ESV)

and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.

And finally, there is where God Himself says, Isaiah 41:8

Isaiah 41:8 (ESV)

But you, Israel, my servant,

Jacob, whom I have chosen,

the offspring of Abraham, my friend;

God Himself calls Abraham His friend.

Genesis is showing us that the God of Creation is a God who has befriended His created people. He does not need friendship as God is completely satisfied in Himself. But He desires to give us the blessing of His friendship. He has created us to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever and desires for us to enjoy friendship with Him.

In this next chapter, we are seeing the basis for Abraham being called the Friend of God.

Read Genesis 18

Genesis 18:1–15 ESV

And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

So if God wants us to be His friend, how does a created being become friends with the eternal and infinite Creator of the Universe?

As we see here with Abraham, he opens himself up to God. He opens His home, his family, his very heart to the Lord God Almighty and there is no part of His life that he withholds from God.

Welcoming God

First thing we see is that Abraham welcomes God to his tent.

Keep our Eyes Open to Opportunities for Welcoming

Be Ready to Meet With God on His Schedule, Not Ours

Of course, we know there are those who have chosen to reject God outright.

But even for those of us who know and believe God, too often, we want to meet with God on our own terms and on our own timetable.

We miss out on meeting with God because we do not welcome God when He comes to us.

Sure, all of us here today have set aside today as a day of worship, to come and meet with God. And this is good.

But then we keep the rest of the week for ourselves, for our duties and activities, and we close our eyes to all the ways that God wants to meet with us and talk with us and seek to sanctify and transform us.

To welcome God means first that we cannot regulate our relationship with God to a particular day or only give Him a portion of our lives while we withhold the rest from Him.

Welcoming God means surrendering all of ourselves to God.

Abraham saw these visitors and was willing to welcome them into his tent and to show the utmost hospitality to them, in spite of not expecting them or being inconvenienced by their timing.

Abraham Welcomed the Lord by Welcoming These Strangers

Abraham was Unaware at first this was the Lord

The narrator tells us that God appeared to Abraham. But Abraham sees three men standing in front of him.

Abraham greets them and welcomes them to his tent.

Abraham was demonstrating hospitality to some strangers

He probably did not think he was welcoming God until after he got deep into the conversation with him.

So can we say he was really welcoming God when he was just showing hospitality to some strangers?

Yes

Jesus tells us the way we serve others is how we end up serving Him.

In His parable of the final judgment in Matthew 25, Jesus commended those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, welcomed strangers, clothed the naked, cared for the sick, and visited those in prison, saying, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me.” (Matt. 25:40).

As we serve others and demonstrate hospitality for others, we are demonstrating our love for the Lord.

We serve others because we see in them the image of God that the Lord has created them with.

Being a friend of God means we seek to show hospitality and God’s grace to those who come our way.

And who knows who we are actually showing hospitality to when we care for the stranger?

Hebrews 13:2 (ESV)

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

As we show hospitality to others, we may very well be welcoming the very angels God has sent to us.

We are coming upon the Advent season. As we do, may we learn the important lesson of always keeping our eyes open to what God is doing and being ready to welcome Him in to our lives as we seek to be welcoming to the strangers He sends to us.

The sleepy little town of Bethlehem was host to many people and strangers coming back home for the census that Caesar Augustus had decreed. A man and his pregnant wife come into the town overflowing with people and strangers from out of town. As this man simply sought for a warm bed and roof for his full term wife, he was rejected time and time again from those who either could not or would not open their homes to this poor and needy couple. All this led to this couple and soon to be newborn baby would find room out in a small stable or lean-to where the soon to be mother would make a crib out of a feeding trough. All the while, the people who had no room for them, did not realize that the One they did not have room for was their Savior and Creator within the womb of this young virgin woman.

May it not be said of us that we refused to be friends of God because we refused to welcome and be hospitable to the stranger God brings into our lives.

Listening to God

Next, just as Abraham kept his eyes open to what God was doing, he also kept his ears open to what God was saying.

Allowing God the chance to Speak

Notice what Abraham does after he gets everything ready for his guests.

Genesis 18:8 (ESV)

Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

Sometimes we stay so busy and active, we never stop long enough to let God speak to us. We think busyness is what is needed when it comes to serving God.

I think that might be because we want to be productive.

Productivity, while good and important, can sometimes become a false god to replace our relationship with God. Because we are not necessarily called to be productive. We are called to be faithful and obedient.

Well, doesn’t obedience require us doing something and accomplishing something?

Not necessarily.

Psalm 46:10 (ESV)

“Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!”

Sometimes God wants us to stop what we are doing and just rest. Our constant need to do something means we falsely believe that I am god and that things depend upon me. But God commands rest and cessation from work to remind us that we are not God and that we need Him and His Word, not our skill, or ability, or talents.

We must stop so we can hear what God has to say.

Listening to What He Says

So God speaks to Abraham and now gives him a specific timeline for his promise to be fulfilled. The time of fulfillment is within sight.

And Abraham does not speak during this time other than to answer the Lord’s question about where Sarah is.

It is not enough to simply give God a chance to speak. We must listen to what He has to say to us. And while we will deal with Sarah’s response here in a moment, both Abraham and Sarah listen to what God is saying.

Now, we may have never had a time in our lives when God physically came to us with two of his angelic servants like we see here. How do we listen to God when it can be so hard to hear an audible voice like what is going on here?

This is where we have the necessity of the spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study come in.

God has chosen to speak and to reveal Himself to us like He is doing here with Abraham.

First we have God’s Word to listen to. This book is not just ancient words recorded for us. This is God’s voice spoken to all of His people for all ages. What was written down 3500 years ago has not quit being God’s Word and has not become less true now than it was for the original hearers. God continues to speak through His Word to reveal Himself to us.

Please hear me, reading God’s Word will not save you. There are many people who have read and studied God’s Word who have never experienced His grace.

But If we are neglecting the regular reading of His Word, we are depriving ourselves of hearing Him speak to us. Can God speak to us in other ways? Of course. But He has chosen primarily to speak through this means and we need to always test what we hear in other ways with what we see here. God will never contradict what He has spoken in this book.

Second is prayer.

Now prayer is us communicating our hearts to God.

We are going to see Abraham speak his own heart and thoughts to God.

But prayer is not just us speaking to Him. Prayer is also spending time in quiet as we wait for God to speak to us.

Through prayer, the Holy Spirit move our hearts in certain ways.

And it is through the silent moments of prayer where we are not necessarily asking God anything but simply meditating on what God has spoken in His Word that His voice can become clearer to us.

The silence of listening in prayer can help us better hear God’s voice to us.

Believing God

Finally, just as Abraham kept his eyes open to what God was doing, his ears open to what God was saying, he also kept his heart open to who God is.

We have seen in Genesis 15:6

Genesis 15:6 ESV

And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

But so far in the narrative, Sarah has yet to actually hear the voice of God to her. Abraham has told her what God has said. But this is the first time she is actually hearing God declare His promise, not just to Abraham, but to her as well.

And do we see her response? Just like Abraham in chapter 17, she laughs. Genesis 18:12

Genesis 18:12 ESV

So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”

But this laugh is a bit different as it is coming from a heart that is hopeless and despairing. She cannot see how God is going to fulfill this promise. Right now she is being plagued by a doubt in the power and goodness of God.

It is possible, even for believers to have times of doubt about what God is doing. Even in the last chapter, Abraham was struggling with his own belief asking that God would use Ishmael as the promised child. But God doubles down and says He will provide a child through Sarah for him.

But what do we do when we struggle with believing the goodness and promises of God?

Trust Him in His Reproof

Of course, God knew of Sarah’s struggles. Her laugh, which was to herself, was heard by the all-knowing, all-present God who saw her in her tent and saw her in her despair and doubt.

The Lord then asks Abraham, but for Sarah’s hearing and benefit, “Why did Sarah laugh?” The Lord knows exactly what is going on. He is working on drawing her out to be honest with Him, to lay before Him all her struggles and emotions.

Then, out of fear, Sarah lies to God. Think of that, trying to lie to God who knows and sees all. She says she did not laugh as if God would see through her lie.

Just like Adam and Eve could possibly hide from the all seeing eyes of God.

Just like Achan thought he could get away from hiding the things stolen from Jericho.

Just like Ananias and Sapphira thought they could lie about the land they sold and about how much they were giving to God.

By lying to God, she is trying to justify herself before God rather than trusting Him for His forgiveness for her doubt. She is failing to believe that God would love her in spite of herself.

So God calls her out on her lie and says, “No, but you did laugh.”

He brings her out of the darkness and exposes her lie and doubts.

But this is a good thing. God is disciplining and reproving her because He loves her. When we fail to trust and follow God, God will discipline and reprove us too. But this is good because it is His demonstration of love for us to draw us out of sin and into His marvelous light.

So even when we fail to believe Him like we should, believe that His discipline and reproof are for our good.

Proverbs 3:11 (ESV)

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline

or be weary of his reproof,

Trust that God is good, even when He has to discipline us.

Trust Him in His Grace

But then, also trust God in His grace for us.

When we are reproved for our lack of faith and belief in God, do not double down on running from Him. Understand that His reproof is actually meant to draw us into His infinite grace and His never ending compassion towards us.

Believe that His grace can cover all the times we have failed to believe and trust in Him like we ought.

Every sin we commit is a sin of unbelief.

The sin of anger and revenge is unbelief that God will make all things right.

The sin of lust and immorality is unbelief that God is infinitely more beautiful than any pleasure we can have on earth.

The sin of covetousness and stealing is unbelief that God is will provide all our needs.

The sin of idolatry, whether of money or possessions or actual pagan worship is the sin of unbelief that God alone is God.

But when we sin, we are called to repent and turn back to the God of all grace and to trust in Him to cover our sin of unbelief and to restore our friendship and relationship back with Himself.

And His grace to cover all of our sin and unbelief was demonstrated at the cross. If we are to be friends of God, we must turn in faith and repentance to Christ and in what He did upon the cross and resurrection to cover all sins of unbelief. The cross is our only hope to have the friendship with God that God wants us to have.

Do not let the guilt of your sin keep you from the friendship that Christ has purchased for us. Believe that God’s grace is enough

Conclusion

Are you God’s friend?

Do you stay on the lookout for how God is working in your life, not simply on Sundays but every day of the week? Are you willing to prepare your heart and life for His presence wherever you are and in whatever you are doing?

Do you seek to listen and hear God’s voice, both through prayer and the reading of His Word?

Most importantly, do you seek to believe in and trust in Who He is and what He has done for you? Do you trust in the goodness of His discipline? Have you trusted in His work of salvation for you upon the cross?