Reflections on "Doing It Yourself" Genesis 16: 1-6; Hebrews 11: 8-22

The sermon preached better at the Chapel service than at the Sanctuary service.  They were probably due a good one!

I never got to the final stages of working on the sermon, so what you see below has been reconstructed a bit, particularly the introduction and conclusion.  I actually like them now, but they were not preached as well yesterday.

I probably should have stayed focused on the point of not playing God. That's what drew me to this passage in the first place, but I got side-tracked when I realized that Sarai and Abram had been waiting ten years before they turn to Hagar.  Then, when I read just beyond the passage and was reminded that God visits Hagar to support her, the sermon went from simple to really complex.  

I would like to spend more time pondering what would have happened if Hagar had given birth to Ishmael, not given Sarai that look, Sarai not gotten upset, and so on.  if the humans had been able to show a bit more grace, maybe their help would have been welcomed by God.  It might have been fun to focus on God's desire to redeem against the backdrop of humans playing God, but that will have to wait for another sermon.

I will not blog next week as we have Joe Hinds as a guest preacher.

“Doing It Yourself” March 4, 2012; FPC, Troy; Lenten series; Genesis 16: 1-6; Hebrews 11: 8-22

Introduction: When I outlined this sermon series, it seemed simple enough – each week, one lesson to learn from Abram and Sarai about things we face as we live our lives of faith.

But, life is complicated. We live out our lives in a complex world. So this week, I have some thoughts, but they are complicated as we see Abram and Sarai struggle to be faithful in the complexity of human life.

Move 1: A difficult lesson about patience.

God has promised Abram and Sarai descendants.

a. In Chapter 15, God is pretty clear that Abram will be father and Sarai will be the mother.

1. 10 years go by. Nothing.

1. 2. Abram and Sarai get a little nervous that God cannot or will not or maybe has somehow forgotten the promise.
   
   
   3. The are going to take things into their own hands.

b. Stop the story there and think about waiting for God to act.

1. when you think about your life of faith, or maybe even today, think about how hard it can be to wait for God.

2. it's easy to point the finger at Abram and Sarai and say, “they should have been patient,” but in our world of Twitter feed and FB updates, how do you think you would do trying to be patient after ten years?

3. But, even as we empathize with Sarai and Abram, we are reminded that part of being faithful can include waiting.

4. God's time is not our time.

Move 3: The danger of playing God.

a. Sarai has a pretty good plan.

1. Hagar her servant will get together with Abram.

2. Maybe she will get pregnant and deliver Abram an heir.

3. If we stop there, without knowing how the story ends, we might applaud Sarai and Abram for their ingenuity, for using their resources to help fulfill God's promise.
   
   
   b. But the story does not stop there.

1. hagar gives birth to Abram's son Ishmael; Hagar gives Sarai a look; Sarai complains to Abram; he tells her to deal with Hagar as she pleases; Sarai sends Hagar packing; if we read a couple of more verses we find Hagar fleeing with her son.

2. It's hard to play God. We don't have the ability or wherewithal.

100. How many times do we take things into our own hands.

Move 4: But here is the rest of the story of the God whom we have chosen to follow.

a. God redeems Hagar and promises to care for her and Ishmael

b. God redeems Abram and Sarai when Sarai gives birth to Abraham.

Conclusion: I find it fascinating to read the passage from Hebrews and realize that by the time this was written for the early church, Abraham had become a man whose faith was a witness for people learning to be Christians, and his willingness to be trust in God to provide a son and provide a land was a sign of his faithfulness. He didn't seem so faithful in the Genesis account.

So hear the good news. The God who engages impatient people like us; the God whom we too often ignore as we try to play god for ourselves; that God chooses to Abraham; that God chooses to save us.