Messy Life: Abraham

Objective

Intro

What are some things or traits that you would think to be present in someone’s life to qualify their lives as messy?

Text

Points

Trust issues

Unfaithful

One led to the other

Trust Issues

Genesis 12:10–13 LSB

10 Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 And it happened as he drew near to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Now behold, I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance; 12 and it will be when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 “Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.”

When your significant other is asking you to lie for their own well being… that can lead you into a messy life

Pharaoh took his wife, but…

Genesis 12:17–20 LSB

17 But Yahweh struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for myself as a wife? So now, here is your wife, take her and go.” 20 So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away with his wife and all that belonged to him.

Look at how Abraham’s messy life spread and now made Pharaoh’s life messy!

Be careful of other people’s mess

it can entangle us and make our lives a mess also

Or maybe I can say lets be careful about our own messes as it can affect the lives of others

How many of you think Abraham learned his lesson and didn’t make the same mistake twice?

Remember

he would eventually be called the father of faith

He was still interacting with God and perhaps he repented

Genesis 20:1–2 LSB

1 And Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

Abraham’s life is still messy and that mess is still spilling on to the lives of others!

Genesis 20:3 LSB

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.”

God is fair

I recommend reading the rest of this story so that you can see that but lets go ahead and continue with our main character for the day

Lets rewind and see what else Abraham was up to whether he

was cleaning up his mess

or making a bigger one

Unfaithful

Genesis 16:1–6 LSB

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian servant-woman whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, Yahweh has shut my womb from bearing children. Please go in to my servant-woman; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant-woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. Then she saw that she had conceived, so her mistress became contemptible in her sight. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the violence done to me be upon you. I gave my servant-woman into your embrace, but she saw that she had conceived, so I became contemptible in her sight. May Yahweh judge between you and me.” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant-woman is in your hand; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai afflicted her, and she fled from her presence.

That might have made for good reality TV

chaos

conflict

Systems already in place

established Near Eastern custom, if a woman “could not bear children, she could designate a female servant to serve as a surrogate mother in her place” -David J. Zucker and Rebecca Gates Brinton, “The other Woman’: A collaborative Jewish-Christian Study of Hagar in Perspectives on Our Fathre Abraham: Essays …

Ancient marriage contracts anticipated barrenness and specified remedies ranging from divorce to taking a second wife to adding handmaids or concubines for producing an heir.

Culturally sanctioned

The Bible

never explicitly instructed nor encouraged to do

the men who had multiple wives would also have messy lives

Unfaithful due to trust issues

God had promised

Genesis 12:2–3 LSB

2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Genesis 13:16 LSB

16 “And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your seed can also be numbered.

Genesis 15:5 LSB

5 And He brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your seed be.”

Genesis 17:4–6 LSB

4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 “And 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. 6 “And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will go forth from you.

Abraham listened to the voice of his wife instead of to the voice of God

as a result, his life got messy

Very messy

But…

Hebrews 11:8–12 LSB

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise, 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she regarded Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore there were born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

Summary

Invitation