Father Abraham had Many Sons

 Read Genesis 25

The Father of Many Nations died at the age of 175.  That’s a good run.  He lived 48 years after his wife died.

He didn’t just go hang out at the senior center or play dominos all day.  He got himself another wife and had some more kids—6 are listed in this chapter.  While the text does not say sons, it is most likely that these are all male children.  The girls usually are not listed, so there could have been other children that are not listed.

The line that we will follow going forward is the one that goes through Isaac, but Abraham had other children and they had children. We will talk more about Isaac’s children in the next service.

Don’t forget that Abraham jumped the gun on this Father of Many Nations business.  I guess that would make him a Sooner? He had a son with Hagar.  That son, Ishmael, had many sons who became tribes—12 in fact are listed in this chapter.

Abraham gave substantial gifts to all of the sons that he had by Keturah—his second wife, but his estate went to Isaac. He sent the other kids packing but not without material blessing. Abraham had been blessed by God and he blessed his children.

What other children did Abraham have?  Were there other women?  How many side chicks does an old guy need?

What other children did Abraham have?  He probably didn’t even know about them.

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

We who have professed Jesus—the promised seed of Abraham—have been grafted into his family.  This is the man that God chose to be the father of many nations.  He promised that kings would come from his line.  He promised that the world would be blessed through him.

The blessing that would come to us came through Abraham, Isaac, and if we keep reading--Jacob. 

We are Abraham’s seed.  Read Romans 11 if you want the whole story of being grafted into the line of Abraham.  It’s a discussion that can’t be had in this chapter of Genesis as the Chosen People have not been fully manifested.  Romans 11 is about Jews and Gentiles both belonging to Abraham in Christ Jesus.

While there were plenty of Gentiles—that’s not what they were called in Genesis—but there were plenty of pagans in the land.  There were so many pagans that Abraham’s son and one grandson had to get their wives from back east.

But there are no Jews yet.  That story is just beginning and is now in the hands of Isaac and then Jacob.

There is one more thing in Romans 11 that I ask you to consider when we think about being children of Father Abraham. We all come into this family out of disobedience.

For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

So here is the lesson for today. 

Abraham had children who had children through Hagar. We get a list in this chapter.

Abraham had children who had children through Sarah. This is the line through which God’s promises are fulfilled—nations and kingdoms, a Promised Land, and a descendant—Christ Jesus—through whom the entire world will be blessed.

And Abraham had children through your professions of faith.  Some of you got birth certificates.  We give them out here with your baptism.

You can now genuinely call Abraham your earthly father. It’s through your relationship with your heavenly Father through Christ Jesus, but that gets you into the family.

So, when we get to that part in the song, I am one of them and so are you, you can sing along with the kids because you know what it’s all about.

Father Abraham had many sons and daughters.

I am one of them and so are you

 

Amen.

You didn't interview for this calling. God chose you!

  Read Genesis 21

Isaac was weaned and grew and all was well in Abraham’s family.  That is, except for Ishmael.  The text said that he mocked Isaac.  Surely there was contempt for this younger son.  Ishmael was going to be the heir and then he wasn’t.

Ishmael was big news and then he wasn’t.  Everything was focused on Isaac now and Ishmael didn’t like it.  Again, Sarah went to Abraham and insisted that he get rid of Hagar and Ismael.

This distressed Abraham.  The last time that he sent Hagar away, Ishmael was still a bun in the oven.  This time, he had come to know his son.  Ishmael was Abraham’s son.  He was not the son through whom God would fulfill his promises, but still, he was Abraham’s son.

Abraham had dissonance.  He wanted to honor his wife—who by the way instigated this whole kid by the maidservant business—and he loved his son.  His heart and mind were surely in turmoil.  How would he figure this out?

But God told Abraham not to be worried.  God would take care of Hagar and Ishmael.  God would make Ishmael into a nation.

God told Abraham to go ahead and do what Sarah asked of him.  Hagar and her son were sent packing with some provisions.  Abraham put those provisions on her shoulders, so they must have been more than what you would take for a day, but she would have to find some way of sustaining herself and her son.

Today, we have what’s called long-range patrol rations.  You can get several days of generally lightweight food and carry it on your back, but water is the real logistics factor.  A human can only carry so much water.

The two went as far as the water would take them and then mom was ready to throw in the towel and die.  She put her son in the shade and went a short distance away because she could not watch her son die.  Both cried.

God heard them.

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar?”

Don’t you just love it when the angel acts like he doesn’t know what is going on?

“Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

And God sent them on their way and said, Good Luck, Kid. Well not exactly.

God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

God was with Ishmael as he grew up.  We don’t get much of that story, only that mom found him a wife from Egypt.  If you were hoping for some wild donkey-of-a-man stories, we just don’t get them.

We do read about Ishmael one more time in Genesis.  He comes for his father’s funeral.  That part rings true more often than not today.

How many people—family and friends—do you only see at funerals these days?

This is not the first time that an angel of the Lord spoke to Hagar in the wilderness.  Previously, the angel sent Hagar back to Sarah and told Hagar that she—through the son she carried—would have many descendants.

During this wilderness encounter with the angel, Hagar is again promised that the Lord will make Ishmael into a nation.  They would not die of thirst or hunger in the desert.

Why did God have mercy on these 2 people?  Why are they part of the story?  We don’t hear from Ishmael after Abraham’s funeral.

Why did the Lord give so much attention to Ishmael?

It was because he was Abraham’s son.  We have seen God bless Abraham with riches even when his behavior didn’t really bring glory to God.

We have seen God give Abraham an impossible victory over 4 undefeated armies with only 318 men, even though we have no evidence that Abraham was a brilliant military commander.

We see Mechezideck bless Abraham on behalf of the Most High God and we see God credit this knucklehead with righteousness for his faith even though we have many examples of Abraham acting in accordance with his own understanding instead of trusting God.

We have seen God bless Abraham as the Father of many nations—most of that’s still very much in the future—but he did it in spite of Abraham’s knuckleheadedness.

But God did not kick Abraham to the curb and find someone more qualified.  God chose Abraham and God’s plans would be fulfilled through Abraham.

And many blessings flowed from being associated with Abraham.  God sent a rescue team to retrieve Lot and his family from Sodom.

God rescued Abraham’s older son from dying in the desert.

God blessed Abraham’s older son and made him into a nation.

The recurring theme here is Abraham.  God chose Abraham and many blessings proceeded from Abraham. These were not because Abraham was such a stellar performer.  He was not, but he was God’s choice.

That’s good news for some of us whom God has chosen for different things.  If God has called you to something, he will bless you when you respond.

Now if God calls you to something and you make a mess of so many things, remember, God still chose you.  Don’t throw in the towel.  Let God work in your messiness.

We have all fallen short of God’s glory, and guess what?  It’s likely going to happen again, and again, but when God picks you, chooses you, calls you to his purpose, he sticks with you, even in your messiness.

So if God called you to preach or sing or teach or cook or clean or hand out gospels or greet people when they come in the building and you forgot or lost your temper or just did something really stupid, or you just thought what you were doing was not that important, remember that God called you.  He chose you.

Not everything that God chose you to do has to do with a Sunday morning or a Wednesday evening.  He planned much for you to to well before you became a new creation.  Some of that is in your home.  Some at your job.  Some is at Walmart, which for some of you may be both your home and job.

He may have even placed a spiritual gift in you and if you would trust God and quit fighting the Spirit that he placed inside of you, you might move out of your messiness into fruitful ministry.

The lesson for today is don’t ever give up if it is God who has called you or chosen you to do something.  He will stick with you even in your mistakes.  He will stay with you and you will accomplish his purpose.

If God is for us—and he is—who can be against us?

If God called you or chose you, why fight against it?  Why be God’s consultant when he already knows what you are called to do?

I have shared this Corrie ten Boom quote before, but I think it appropriate to share it again.

“Don't bother to give God instructions; just report for duty.”

If God has chosen you for a purpose, don’t argue with God.  Don’t try to convince him that someone else would be a better choice.  Don’t say you are not qualified.  Qualification is not relevant if God has picked you himself.

There’s a mantra that’s a little on the simplistic side, but is worth considering from time to time.  What that?

God does not call the qualified.

He qualifies those he calls.

Too simple, perhaps, but worth some thought.

Don’t tell God that you keep making a mess of things.  Just report for duty and then have eyes to see how God blesses so many through what he chose you to do.

God chose you.  Just report for duty.

Amen.

 

 

Human Desire and our Own Understanding

 Read Genesis 16

 So, Abram’s wife told her husband to sleep with this girl and have a kid together.  How many of us guys haven’t been through the same thing? OK, it never happens like that these days but it did for Abram and the next thing you know the whole mess was Abram’s fault.  It does answer the age-old question:  Why do husbands die before their wives.

Because they want to.  There is no solving this what a woman is thinking mystery in this age or any age before.

That’s not the point of this message.  What is?

Did Abram know that this was not what God intended when he got Hagar pregnant?

If we look at the previous chapter, Abram is complaining to God that he has no kids and is at a loss as to how God will fulfill his promise to him.  Abram is worried that all he has acquired will just be passed on to his chief servant.

But God told him that his servant would not be his heir.  His heir would be his own flesh and blood.  So, in Abram’s defense, God didn’t say directly that your heir will come from you and your wife but will be of your own blood.

OK, so this side chick shuffle with Hagar might be ok with God.  Maybe?

Then the tension starts. Hagar is feeling that she has some pull in this family now.  She can do what she wants.  She is carrying the family heir in her womb.

She probably pushed the limits a bit too far and Sarai had enough of her.  So what does Sarai do?  She blames her husband for the whole mess.  I said that we were not going to talk about this but it just keeps coming up.

Here’s the part to think about.  Sarai confronted her husband and said that this stuff can’t continue.  Abram responded by telling Sarai to do whatever she wanted with Hagar.

Now, let’s stop and think for a moment.  Put yourself in Abram’s shoes and think.

So, did Abram think that Hagar’s child (later to be called Ishmael) was the child of the promise or not? If this really was the promised heir—and Abram was sure of it, would he dismiss the woman who carried this special child so easily?

Was she the one who carried the heir promised by God or just a side chick that’s about to get kicked to the curb? It’s one or the other.  You can’t sit on the fence here.

Do you think that Abram would dismiss her so easily if she carried this promised child? Did the father of many nations promise rest with Hagar?

So, did Abram know that this was not the path directed by the Lord when he conceived a child with Hagar, or was there some epiphany along the way? It’s not like a lot of time passed—the kid wasn’t even born yet. The bun was still in the oven.

This whole having a kid with one of your maidservants was not a big deal at that time.  If you were a female servant in another’s household your duties were likely to cook, clean, shop, prepare food, do laundry, and on occasion jump in the sack with the old man.

That was the world of that age.  To which most girls said, “It’s good work if you can get it.”  It’s just the way it was.

If you signed on for the maidservant job without reading the full listing on Monster or Indeed, that was on you, but chances are you were doing some sack time with the old man. That was the world and the culture of the age.

But for Abram, a child meant a promise from God fulfilled.  This was a different deal for Abram from the onset.

This is purely speculation, but not unsupported speculation.  I think that Abram knew before the child was conceived that this was not the child promised by God.

Who would dismiss the woman who carried God’s promise so easily?

Let’s bring this home.  We could pick on Abram or Sarai all day, but let’s make some more personal application here.

How often do we know when we are venturing outside of God’s way?  How often do we say, “In hindsight, I shouldn’t have done that,” when in foresight we already knew?

How many times have we said something that we wish we didn’t say—that we could take back—but in reality, we knew before we said it, not to say it.

The question for us in this age is:  Are we tuned into the Spirit that lives within us? Do we listen to that still small voice or do we shut it out in favor of hearing things that support only our own understanding?

Do we make it sound convincing enough to ourselves to go through with it, when if we were seeking God’s direction first in everything, we would have not gone down that path?

So I gave you plenty to think about without telling you the answers, but my questions suggest that we already know the answers more often than we think or say we do.

Maybe, some of our worst choices were made because we just ignored God’s still small voice in favor of our own understanding.

It’s something to think about.

Amen.

Wild Donkeys

 Read Genesis 16

Abram was 85 and had been living in the land God promised to his descendants for 10 years now.  The problem was that he has no descendants.

He had money, flocks, servants, and even a militia that was battle-tested, but he has no kids. It’s been a while—since the Garden of Eden—since a woman took the leading role in a story, but here we are.

Sarai told her husband that she thought they could start a family if Abram—her husband—would have sex with Hagar—Sarai’s servant.

We see deep deliberation on the part of Abram.  Actually, he just says, yeah, ok. It reminds me of the deliberation noted by Adam when Eve passed the forbidden fruit to him.  Eve had done the analysis.  Adam just did what his wife wanted.

We are told that Sarai gave Hagar to her husband to be his wife.  That sounds like plural marriage to me. I think the term today would be sister-wife. 

Hagar got pregnant but Sarai went off the deep end.  Hagar got a little attitude once she was carrying the child that would apparently be Abram’s heir.  She despised Sarai.

Sarai told Abram that this was all his fault.  This is why guys are always confused.  Sarai didn’t drive her husband into Hagar’s arms.  She did not neglect Abram’s needs.  She wasn’t a fountain of bitterness. She didn’t do any of a hundred other things that cause men to seek other women.

She brought Hagar to her husband’s bed and said:  Have fun and have a child.  This was Sarai’s idea but now it was Abram’s fault.

Having the pregnant mistress problem dumped completely in his lap, Abram told Sarai to do what she wanted with Hagar, so we are told that she mistreated her.  We don’t know exactly what that meant, but it was bad enough that Hagar ran away.

She didn’t get far before an angel of the Lord found her near a spring and asked her what she was doing.

The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

Don’t you just hate it when an angel of the Lord shows up and acts like he doesn’t know what’s going on.  Angels typically show up with messages but apparently like to practice their conversational skills as well.  This one told Hagar to return to her mistress and do what she says.

He went on to say that through her son, who would be called Ishmael, would come many descendants. The Lord has heard your misery.

Hagar returned.  We don’t know how the relationship between her and Sarai went, but we don’t read of any more contention between the two women. Apparently, Abram was off the hook, at least for now.

Hagar gave birth to a son.  He was named Ishmael.  Abram was 86 years old when his son was born.

We should know that this was not the son of God’s promise.  This is not the son that would come from barren Sarai.  This is not the son through whose line would come the seed that would save humankind.

We know the story.  Abram and Sarai were still living it moment-to-moment.

Ishmael was a son conceived of human desire.  This was Sarai doubting the promise of God and Abram who was credited with righteousness for his belief, going along with it.

God would take care of Hagar and Ishmael, but they would not preempt his promise to Abram.  Man’s will would not coopt God’s plan.  In fact, the line that would come from Ishmael would always be in conflict with those that would come from Isaac, who was still a few years down the road.

The angel’s term was that Ishmael would be a wild donkey of a man.  Now that is some imagery—a wild donkey of a man.  Controversy and hostility would be the trademarks of his offspring.

In these early days of humankind filling the world after the flood, some decisions of men had lasting consequences.  Hagar and Ishmael were not part of the story of a people whom God would choose to be known in the world and through whom would come a Savior for all men.

But this human decision by Abram and Sarai would set humankind on a course of controversy and hostility that prevails even today. 

Abram believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, but his actions and decisions sometimes belied his faith.  Sometimes, Abram caved into his own understanding.  It is a challenge and sometimes a fault that we all must negotiate.

Today, we believe but we don’t always act in accordance with our beliefs. Sometimes these actions bring about consequences that might have been avoided if we acted in faith.

Abram focused on the fact that he had no kids—no offspring—no heir.  God had told him that his servant would not be his heir and Abram believed, but at age 85, he was having doubts.

Abram focused on what he didn’t have forgetting how God had brought him out of Egypt with great wealth.  He somehow forgot how God gave Abram and his 318 warriors victory over 4 armies that up to that point had been undefeated.

Abram must have been so focused on not having a son that his memory of Melchizedek blessing him on behalf of God Most High had slipped away.

We shouldn’t beat up on Abram too much.  We do the exact same thing.  We become blind to the many blessings in our lives and find the one thing that God has not done for us.

In Abram’s case, God had not done this one thing for Abram, yet.  Isaac would come in God’s time and the child could only be the gift of God, but Abram couldn’t see that even though he believed that God fulfilled his promises.

We know that God created everything and we know that he created everything good.  We know that God delivered his people time and again.  Crossing the Red Sea and the Jordan River on dry ground are landmarks in our understanding of what God can and does do.

Sending his Son into the world as a gift to us, having his blood become the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and raising him from the dead are things that we study and celebrate and know so well.

Is there anything too hard for God?

God meets all of our needs.

We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us; yet we still have those moments and times of doubt and uncertainty.

Sometimes we rely on our own understanding.  Sometimes we are still that work in progress instead of the finished production that God has already made us to be.

We believe in God the Father.

We believe in Jesus who died and took away our sins and the Holy Sprit that lives within us.

We believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.

We believe and sing that I have decided to follow Jesus.

We want to be known as followers of Jesus by our love.

And sometimes, we have a Hagar moment and it produces a wild donkey of a man.  I’m not talking about having a kid with your side chick.  I’m talking about anything and everything outside of God’s will.

Do you remember God’s way and everything else.  I’m talking about living in the everything else, even if it’s just here and there or for a moment.  The offspring of living in the everything else are wild donkeys.

Abram would become the Father of Many Nations.  Through him would come the line that God chose as his own people.  Through his line would come the Savior of the world.

Abram was going to have some more very human mistakes but eventually, we see faith so great it is hard to comprehend.  We will get there in a few weeks and it comes on the way to and on top of Mount Moriah.

But for now, we see a very human, very flawed man that God has already credited with righteousness.  Our righteousness does not come from our resume.  It comes from God.

So do we just keep on sinning because God has already made us right with him?

No, but we don’t throw in the towel even when we go into the everything else and produce a wild donkey or two.

We confess.  We come home.  We trust in God’s good plans for us.

God credited Abram with righteousness but Abram still made many mistakes.  Abram’s decisions seem to demonstrate doubt not faith, but God still used Abram for his purpose.  God still fulfilled all of his promises to Abram.

We are made right with God when we profess Jesus is Lord and we believe that God raised him from the dead.  We have already passed from death to life; yet we get to live this life and make our decisions and sometimes those decisions land us in the everything else.

But God still has good plans for us.  We must trust him and not let the Evil One deceive us that we have gone too far this time.  There may be severe consequences for our actions—wild donkey consequences—but we must always come home to the One who put us in right standing with God.

Our actions may not always demonstrate our faith but God is always faithful.  He never gives up on us.

For those who have read the full story of Abram, you know that his faith will be manifest in his actions.  Most know the story. We have read it.

But we have a story to live as well.  It is full of our faith and our mistakes.  It deals with our doubts and our victories.  It is full of moments and challenges that we overcame and would love to have someone tell our grandkids.  It also has some hold my beer moments.

But God has good plans for us and even in our worst moments, he will take whatever we live through and use it for good.  That’s what he does.  Only God can do that.

God keeps his promises and he has promised good to you. So even in our trials—some of them of our own making, our own wild donkey moments—trust in the Lord to bring you out of them stronger than you went in.

There is going to be controversy, hostility, adversity, and trouble in the world, but we who know Christ are challenged to take courage for Jesus has overcome the world.

Learn from your mistakes, but don’t be anchored to them.

Do your best to hit the target God has set before you, but when you miss, confess and get back in your race of faith. Take aim again!

God already factored in our brilliance and our stupidity when he called us to his purpose.  We are blessed to grow in his grace.

The whole Hagar and Ishmael story was part of Abram’s life but it did not define his life.  God’s purpose defined Abram’s life.

Our mistakes do not define us.  We should learn from them but it is God’s purpose for us that defines us.  Let us celebrate our victories and move beyond our defeats as we live for his purpose.

Amen.