Today I want to share a word about how to faithfully serve God in the Land of Our Fathers as I comment on 1 Peter 2:9-17.
In the video above I ask the question, "Can we love our country an serve our God at the same time?" I believe that we can if we follow the guidance give to us in the Scriptures in general, and in particular, the direction given to us in our focal passage for today, 1 Peter 2:9-17. Please prayerfully join me in this quest in the video devotional for today.
Today I want to share a word about the third time is is the charm as I comment on three events in the life of Father Abraham. Let's begin by reading Genesis 12:10-20,
There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine in the land was severe. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live. 13 Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, so the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s household. 16 He treated Abram well because of her, and Abram acquired flocks and herds, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels. 17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave his men orders about him, and they sent him away with his wife and all he had.
The saying “The Third Time’s The Charm” certainly held true for the doctors in a story told by legendary newscaster Paul Harvey:
A woman went to the emergency room in Syracuse, NY, with an insect in her ear. The standard treatment for this was to squirt the medicine lidocaine in the ear, and the insect would exit the ear as it tried to escape the liquid. The doc’s squirted the lidocaine in the ear, and . . . nothing happened. So, they tried again.
On the second go around, they squirted a double dose of lidocaine, but there was no response from the bug.
On their third try, the doctors decided to use the suction device normally used to clear patients’ airways of mucus. They inserted the tip into the lady’s ear and with a “schloop” they vacuumed the roach out of her ear.
The doctors could not take credit for coming up with the right solution, however, because they say the woman herself came up with the idea. After the second failure with the lidocaine the woman became frantic and began yelling at the top of her lungs, “Get that sucker out of there!”
People fail. People make mistakes. We sometimes get the opportunity to correct them, and when we do, we must seize the day and make amends for our failures. This is the story we will see today as we continue in our series of sermons called Family Business and we consider Father Abraham.
We know Abraham as a man of faith. He is seen as an icon, a paragon of virtue, yet we need to know the truth: Abraham was a human, just as we are today, and he made mistakes. In his case also, the third time was the charm as we’ll see from these events in the Book of Genesis.
Abraham Was Tested In Egypt:
Abraham had been called by God to leave his home in Ur of the Chaldees so that God could give him a country of his own and make a great nation of him. Abraham answered God’s call, but right out of the gate, he ran into trouble.
When Abraham and his family arrived in the Negev, there was a famine in the land. He and his household were traveling, and far away from family and friends and any other support group from his former homeland that could help him and his household. There was abundant food in Egypt, but the Egyptians were fierce, and Abraham had a pretty wife. He was between a rock and a hard place, or maybe between the Devil and the deep blue sea. What could he do? What would he do?
Abraham was young in the Lord. He was following God, but he had not yet had the opportunity to test his faith. He did not have the counsel of the hymn that says,
Trust Me, try Me, prove Me says the Lord of Hosts and see if a blessing, unmeasured blessing, I will not pour out on thee!
Because Abraham was young in the Lord and because he was not yet a seasoned follower of Him, Abraham gave way to his fear. In fact, he was weak and craven, and he was willing to sacrifice Sarah to save his own life.
In the end, Abraham’s sin was revealed. As Luke 8:17 says,
For nothing is concealed that won’t be revealed, and nothing hidden that won’t be made known and come to light.
A modern example of this was when some employees of an airline found a deceased dog in its container when it had arrived at the destination airport. They went out and found a similar looking replacement, but the owner knew immediately something had happened because she was shipping her dead pet back home for burial.
God proved Himself to be as faithful as Abraham was craven and callow. God afflicted Pharaoh to protect Sarah and, in the end, Pharaoh showed himself the be more righteous than Abraham at this point. By His grace, God saved both Pharaoh and Sarah.
Next, let’s read Genesis 20:1-11,
From there Abraham traveled to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived in Gerar, 2 Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.” 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent? 5 Didn’t he himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I did this with a clear conscience and clean hands.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. I have also kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore I have not let you touch her. 7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.” 8 Early in the morning Abimelech got up, called all his servants together, and personally told them all these things, and the men were terrified. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said to him, “What have you done to us? How did I sin against you that you have brought such enormous guilt on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” 10 Abimelech also said to Abraham, “What did you intend when you did this thing?” 11 Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘There is absolutely no fear of God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13 So when God had me wander from my father’s house, I said to her: Show your loyalty to me wherever we go and say about me: ‘He’s my brother.’”
Abraham Was Tested In The Negev:
Much time had passed since Abraham was in Egypt and God had shown Himself in many ways to him. Abraham had seen God’s protection, and had he heard His promises. He saw God keep His promises, and at Sodom and Gomorrah, he had also seen that doing things God’s way worked out better than when we do things our human way. Abraham now had journeyed into the land of Abimelech, and he seemingly lost the plot.
When confronted by Abimelech, Abraham fell back into his old ways. As the saying goes, when all you have is a hammer, the whole world is a nail. Even though he was now more seasoned, and even though now he had more experience walking with God, he was afraid, and in his weakness, he gave into that fear. He was weak and craven and willing to sacrifice Sarah. In reality, his actions were as bad as Lot’s were in Sodom!
If humans are not careful, if we do not intentionally walk with God every day, we tend to fall back into our old ways. Proverbs 26:11 puts this sad fact graphically,
As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.
Abraham was not alone in the Bible in going back to his old ways. Jonah preached revival in Nineveh and then he sat on a hill waiting for God to destroy the city. When the people of the city repented and turned to God. Jonah rebuked God. Imagine that! A prophet of God rebuked Him for being true to His Word!
Elijah went toe-to-toe with the prophets of Baal, and God prevailed as Elijah knew that he would. Then, when Queen Jezebel threatened him, he ran off and hid. He even prayed that God would let him die.
Peter, after his boastful claims on the night Jesus was arrested, betrayed Him. After the resurrection, Peter was restored to a relationship with God through Jesus, yet he told the other disciples in John 21:3, “I’m going fishing.”
Abraham may have returned to his former self, but God did not change. Again, Abraham’s sin was revealed. God afflicted Abimelech to protect Sarah. Abimelech, like Pharoah, showed himself to be more righteous than Abraham at this point, and God saved both Abimelech and Sarah.
At least Abraham was consistent, but thankfully, so was God. Next, let’s read Genesis 22:1-14.
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. 2 “Take your son,” He said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” 3 So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together. 7 Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.” And he replied, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together. 9 When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac[c] and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.” 12 Then He said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me.” 13 Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”
Abraham Was Tested On Mount Moriah:
By this time God had truly revealed Himself to Abraham: He had both given him a son and He had also given him an important place in God’s plan. He had proved Himself many times over and God was now very familiar to Abraham. He and God were like people so familiar with each other that they tell jokes by the number.
This time, however, God tested Abraham to the extreme. The threat to Abraham and his legacy was not just in Abraham’s mind at this point. It was a real thing because:
Isaac represented God’s promises.
Isaac represented God’s plan.
Isaac represented hope.
Isaac represented fulfillment.
Isaac represented redemption.
Isaac represented life itself
God asked Abraham to prefer Him to all these things! And he did! I think it would be good to note a couple of things about this incident.
First, Abraham was obedient and faithful from the beginning. Just like when he was called to leave Ur, he did what he was told without arguing.
Also, Abraham had grown close to God, and he knew God would keep his promises to Abraham and to Isaac. Maybe that’s why he told the servants that we will come back, not, I will come back.
We should note as well that Isaac was no fool. He might have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night! He knew something was up, but he trusted his father in a way that Abraham had not really trusted God up till now.
In this one story, the character of all involved was revealed:
For Abraham, the third time was the charm! He finally trusted God fully.
Isaac trusted his father the first time around.
God was shown to be trustworthy for all time!
How Are We Being Tested Today?
It is easy for us to sit today in judgment of Abraham. We have access to the whole counsel of the Word of God, and we know how all these events turned out. Hindsight is 20/20, but how do we do when we are going through trials and testing ourselves?
Are we being tested to put away the hurts of the past? How do you think Sarah felt as she was sent into the harem? Twice! No one ever did such to you, yet Sarah followed God! It is time to put away past hurts and serve God.10-20
Are we being tested to put away the grasping of the present? People can be so selfish! We want to protect our time. We want to increase our property and wealth. We want to guard our reputation and way of life. What God wants is our utmost devotion! Jesus taught in Mathew 6:31-33 that,
So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
Are we being tested to put away the fear of the future? We don’t know what tomorrow will hold, but we should know who holds tomorrow in His hand. Jesus went on to teach in Matthew 6:34,
Therefore, don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
We can’t live in the past, because there is no future in it. We can’t hold on to the present, because time waits for no person. We can’t live in the future, because tomorrow may never come. We must live and walk in God, who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow!
God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. As we walk with God, He will light our way if we stay close to Him and stay in His Word.
Conclusion:
As we are tested, what is our score? Have we failed? Don’t give up! Abraham failed too!
Our God is the God of the second chance, and as we saw with Abraham, the third chance as well!
When we are tested, we must turn to God and let Him have His way. He is the Father who truly knows best!
Laughter is said to be the best medicine, but sometimes, as we will see today in our series “Family Business” our laughter can be more like a snort of derision. This is where Sarah was in Genesis 18:1-15:
Then the Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting in the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day. 2 He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed to the ground. 3 Then he said, “My lord, if I have found favor in your sight, please do not go on past your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 I will bring a bit of bread so that you may strengthen yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. Later, you can continue on.” “Yes,” they replied, “do as you have said." 6 So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Knead three measures of fine flour and make bread.” 7 Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd and got a tender, choice calf. He gave it to a young man, who hurried to prepare it. 8 Then Abraham took curds and milk, and the calf that he had prepared, and set them before the men. He served them as they ate under the tree. 9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he answered. 10 The Lord said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 So she laughed to herself: “After I have become shriveled up and my lord is old, will I have delight?” 13 But the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really have a baby when I’m old?’ 14 Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.” 15 Sarah denied it. “I did not laugh,” she said, because she was afraid. But He replied, “No, you did laugh.”
Every pastor has stories they can tell about events when if they didn’t laugh, they’d cry. Many of these seem to stem from baptisms. For example, one pastor was baptizing a large man in a small baptistery. He banged the man’s head against the side of the baptistery, and the man came up out of the water cursing. Another pastor was baptizing a young girl who decided to do a “cannon ball” dive into the baptistery. The choir got baptized that day as well.
Finally, a pastor and a revival speaker did a joint baptism service together. After the baptism, the pastor rushed back to change clothes for the rest of the service. After he got back into the sanctuary, he noticed his feet were hurting. He didn’t realize why until the revival speaker almost fell on the way to the pulpit to preach. The pastor had put on the evangelist’s shoes, which were one-and-a-half size smaller than his own!
In every family, a time will come when tough situations face us. Actually, in every family, many tough times will come, so much that if we didn’t laugh, we’d cry. As we look at our Scripture for today, we find a find a time when Sarah, the wife of Abraham, also laughed. Let’s see what this event may mean to us today.
Maybe Sarah Laughed out of Disbelief:
When we are intimately involved in a situation, we often grasp it well. The details to us are crystal clear and they are very important. The details to us loom as big as a mountain. One thing that pastors and chaplains have learned is that people involved in a tragedy must “tell their story” until they have finished telling it.
The reality here was that Sarah couldn’t have a child. She was too old, and Abraham was too old. It was humanly impossible.
I remember as a pre-teen working on solving a math word problem in a group work setting that included some girls. My solution had the mother giving birth at age 70, which caused a great deal of derision on the part of the girls. Even in the 21st Century giving birth at that age is unheard of, and Sarah was two decades older than that!
The thing is, Sarah forgot something vital: Nothing is impossible with God! God made the rules by which the world works and, He can also suspend them! As Jeremiah 32:27 tells us,
Look, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?
Maybe Sarah Laughed out of Fear:
On the other hand, it is possible that Sarah believed God. Maybe she knew God could do impossible. Afterall, this was obviously a family of great faith.
Maybe she knew exactly what God was going to do and it scared her to death! Giving birth is hard enough for a young woman, but for a woman over 90. . . ?! This is like watching a train wreck about to happen: you’re horrified; you can’t so anything about it, but your eyes are glued to the scene.
We are often that way, too when God asks us to serve Him or when God asks us to witness for Him. Maybe, when God asks us to live for Him, we are just too frightened.
Apparently, Sarah, like we do today, forgot who God is:
God is the Great Physician.
God is the Good Shepherd.
God is the Ultimate Counselor.
God is the Prince of Peace.
If God wanted Sarah to have a baby, she could have it safely, and without undue difficulty. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9:
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.
Maybe Sarah Laughed out of Bitterness:
There is no doubt that Sarah was bitter about her childlessness. She had no child of her own and her plan to get a child by Hagar backfired. She wanted a child so badly she could taste it so maybe she got angry with God!
Sarah as not the only person in the Bible to get angry with God. Jonah did. Job did. He did not curse God, but he was angry. The Children of Israel did on several occasions as Moses led them to Canaan. Even the great prophet Elijah did.
Many of us have also gotten angry with God. We can even see evidence of this in popular culture. For example, in the 1972 disaster movie, “The Poseidon Adventure,” Gene Hackman’s character was a minister who became angry with God because of the deaths of so many victims.
Like we do from time to time, Sarah forgot some truths that would have helped her with her attitude. She needed to remember that God is good, loving and kind and that God is righteous and just. God never does evil and the evil that does exist is from Satan, and also from our own human sin.
Jesus Himself taught us in John 10:10-11 that:
A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Maybe Sarah Laughed out of Resistance:
Maybe Sarah’s laugh was more of a snort. Maybe she thought, “No way Jose!” Maybe she thought, “There’s no way you are going to get me to do that!” Maybe she was looking around to see who else God was talking to.
Again, Sarah is not alone in resisting God: Cain resisted God. Jonah resisted God. The Rich Young Ruler resisted God.
We also resist God leadership. A pastor I once knew was leading his church to reach out to their community, and to help people find their faith in God through innovative outreach ideas. Things had gotten off to a strong start until the next deacons’ meeting, in which the young pastor was told, “Preacher, if you want to go where no man has gone before, you’re going alone!” By the way, that church is no longer open.
Sarah forgot that she was a part of God’s Plan of Redemption. She was a partner with God, and she was given an opportunity to be an agent of salvation. She was offered a chance to share with God the glory of His work. God, in His grace, has chosen to do His Holy work of salvation through people! The church is not just a civic club; what we do has eternal consequences. 1 Peter 2:5-10 remind us:
. . . you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it is contained in Scripture: Look! I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame! 7 So honor will come to you who believe, but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected— this One has become the cornerstone, 8 and a stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the message; they were destined for this. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Maybe Sarah Laughed out of Joy:
Maybe Sarah was filled with the joy of what God was about to do. Maybe she was like my wife’s elementary school student who once wrote on his paper, “100 A+, You Go, Billy!” Afterall, God’s glories are so big, our hearts can’t contain them, and we often burst out into joyous songs of praise and adoration. We recently saw how the Psalmist rejoiced because he could worship God in Psalm 42:1-4,
As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God?” 4 I remember this as I pour out my heart: how I walked with many, leading the festive procession to the house of God, with joyful and thankful shouts.
Like Sarah, many others in the Bible had reason to celebrate.
David danced with joy at God’s victories
Mary burst out into praise after the angel told her she’d become to mother of the Savior
Simeon was so moved by seeing the baby Jesus that he cried out to God that he could now die happy
The crowds along the road to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday
In fact, we, too. need to get ready to laugh with joy. Revelation 5:13-14 tells us this about Heaven:
I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say: Blessing and honor and glory and dominion to the One seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever! 14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Conclusion:
Why are you laughing today? Out of disbelief, or fear, or resentment, or resistance, or joy?
As Our Lord Himself said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear”
