I have never preached this text before, which made for a interesting week. One of the things I like about preaching a series that covers an extended part of the biblical text is the chance to dig in to the whole story, not just the piece that shows up in the lectionary. This means that Abraham and I have been spending a lot of time together the last few weeks.
I didn't really mention it explicitly, but in a couple of weeks I am preaching Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac. it makes me think that being family to Abraham was rather risky, at least being his wife or one of his sons, or even the mother of his child like Hagar!
I had quite a few comments from people leaving after worship, most of which were about things they had not noticed before or thinking they were doing based on the sermon. I like getting those kind of comments. one in particular went something like this: "I find it interesting that you take a story that is dealing with God's covenant with Abraham and Israel, and then focused on those outside the covenant!" I had not thought about the sermon that globally, but I could not get the interchange between God and Abimelech out of my mind this week, thus its prominence in the story.
I have again used Walter Brueggemann's excellent commentary on Genesis as background for this sermon. One of the things that he does, which I did not do as well, is make connections to the New Testament.
Genesis 20: 8-18: So Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants and told them all these things; and the men were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that ought not to be done.” 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What were you thinking of, that you did this thing?” 11 Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. 12 Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.’” 14 Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him. 15 Abimelech said, “My land is before you; settle where it pleases you.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; it is your exoneration before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. 18 For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
“Is It Hard to Be Faithful?” SAPC, Denton; June 25, 2017
Genesis 20: 1-7; 8-18
Introduction:
Abraham and Sarah are traveling again.
You might remember that when Abraham and Sarah, then known as Abram and Sarai, first entered in a special covenant with God, they were sent traveling.
way back in Chapter 12 of Genesis, they found themselves in Egypt dealing with Pharaoh.
Here’s how it went then: In Egypt, Abraham asked his wife to pretend to be his sister. Pharaoh takes her into his palace for himself, God punishes him, Pharaoh confronts Abraham; Abraham tells the truth; Pharaoh treats him well; Abraham goes on his way.
Sound familiar? Sounds a lot like what we just read.
Except this go around I had higher expectations of Abraham.
Way back when they traveled to Egypt, he was a beginner at the life of being in relationship with God. Abraham was sort of like a confirmand, just learning what it meant to commit to following God, what it meant to trust in God, what it meant for God to have expectations for how he should act.
But a lot has happened since their time in Egypt: promise of a child; covenant marked by circumcision and the promise of descendants as numerous as the stars and the promise of land; Abraham has become rich in livestock and jewels and gold.
To top it off, Abraham and Sarah had their names changed from Abram and Sarai.
Things have been going very well; his relationship with God seems strong, or at least it should be given all the evidence of God’s presence in Abraham’s life, and God’ promises and hope for the future that are all before Abraham and Sarah.
When Abraham hits the road again, he does so strengthened in his faith, a more mature follower of God.
But, Abraham cannot live into his faith. It’s deja vu all over again, as Yogi Berra would say.
So what can we learn from this story from Abraham’s life of faith?
Move 1: God who is not bound by the categories we have.
a. Fascinating part of this story is the way in which God engages Abimelech, who is outside of God’s covenant with Abraham.
1. Abimelech was likely a poly-theistic king who worshipped multiple gods. No special covenant. No particular relationship with God.
2. But the God of Abraham dialogues with Abimelech over the problem created by Abraham’s unfaithfulness.
2. Abimelech’s response to discovering the problem — “hey, God, I”m innocent. You’re not going to take it out on me, are you?
3. God concurs, and together, they sort through the issue.
3. In fact, we learn that God had even protected Abimelech from doing anything wrong.
4. Eventually, Abimelech becomes part of the solution to Abraham’s unwillingness to trust God.
5. An outsider, engaged by God, talking with God, serving on God’s behalf.
6. This story is about Abraham, God’s chosen, but it is played out through those outside the covenant.
b. Funny thing — we cling to the Old Testament stories when we want to emphasize that we are insiders with God or when we want to do battle with those who are the outsiders.
1. In those instances we quickly rush to Old Testament and find passages of exclusivity or about taking the battle to the outsiders.
1. We can find passages, without a doubt.
2. In fact, the covenant between God and Abraham and then Israel is a really good argument about the exclusiveness of God.
3. But there are also many stories in the Old Testament in which God interacts, God uses, and God saves those who were not of part of God’s special covenant with Israel.
4. This is one of those stories.
5. Abimelech is not the chosen one like Abraham, but God still protects Abimelech, God talks to Abimelech, and God uses Abimelech.
c. It makes me wonder - when God looks at people, who do you think God sees.
1. We see Caucasian people, and Hispanics, and African-Americans, or Middle Eastern, or Asian
We see Christians and Muslims; Jews and Hindu
We see rich and poor
We look around and we see Democrats or Republicans.
We see U.S. citizens and foreigners
We see educated and un-educated.
We see people and put them into categories, and then often place a value based on those categories.
2. But what does God see?
3. i do not presume to know the mind of God, but I suspect God sees created beings.
God sees humans whose shape God molded out of the mud and who breath called them into creation.
d. Being faithful to God is not an invitation to an exclusive group, but a response to God’s graciousness.
1. being faithful is not about how much better we are than others.
2. being faithful is about how we respond to the God who is faithful to us.
Move 2: Another thought from this story — Abraham struggles to be faithful if faithful means actually trusting in God to take care of him.
a. He reacts in the presence of Abimelech just as he did with Pharaoh — afraid of what is before him and unable to trust God to take care of him
1. In retrospect, it’s obvious that Abraham should have trusted God to take care of him Sarah.
2. but in the moment, Abraham could not do it.
b. Instead, he comes up with a plan.
1. Not much of plan, if you ask me, or perhaps if you could ask Sarah.
2. it seems like Abraham is willing to sacrifice his wife in order to save himself.
3. Perhaps Sarah agreed with him. Some kind of heroic sacrifice.
4. The bottom line - Abraham is afraid of what Abimelech might do to them, so instead of turning to God to take care of him, he tries to work it out himself.
c. When it does not work, notice how Abraham responds.
1. First, he shifts the blame to Abimelech.
2. “there is no fear of God here,” Abraham says. As if that’s a great excuse for taking things into his own hands.
3. the Abraham comes up with a rationalization.
4. actually, Sarah is the daughter of my father by another mother, so she really is my sister.
2. A rationalization that ignores the fact that she is his still his wife.
3. it’s easier to try to justify his actions than trust in God.
d. Can you believe Abraham, a person of faith, a person in covenant with God, a person who has experienced the hopes and promises God has for him, can you believe Abraham has refused to trust God?
1. As much as I want to point out all of Abraham’s failings of faith, I wonder how well I am doing, how well we’re doing in our own lives of faith.
2. how often do we decide we can handle a situation without turning to God?
3. Maybe we forget to ask for God’s guidance, maybe we do not think we need it, or maybe we do not want to seek God’s guidance because we know it will not lead us to do what we want to do.
4. The challenging moment arrives, and there we are, improvising, doing it on our own, ignoring or forgetting God.
5. To turn to God in those critical moments and trust God to guide us.
5. I think one of the reasons we have this story of Abraham’s unfaithfulness in a time of street — to remind us how hard it is to live a life of faith.’
6. And to be reminded that God still calls us to be faithful.
Move 3: Final thought - God is good to God’s promises.
a. God intervenes to save Sarah.
1. IN fact, as mentioned earlier, as God works to save Sarah, he also saves Abimelech from getting into trouble.
2. Not the first time, nor will it be the last time we discover God’ desire and insistence to save
3. Sarah will live.
4. In the midst of Abraham’s unfaithfulness, God’s desire to be faithful to him, to be faithful to us, carries the day.
b. Philip Yancey tells this story about C. S. Lewis:
"During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death. The debate went on for some time until C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. 'What's the rumpus about?' he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace." (Philip Yancey in "What's So Amazing About Grace?")
1. Grace — the hallmark of the God who is faithful to Abraham.
2. Grace - the hallmark of the God who is faithful to us.
3. Grace — the hallmark of the God who desires that we be saved.
Conclusion: Is it hard to be faithful? Not for God!
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