LOL

Gen 17:17 & Gen 18:10-18:15

INTRODUCTION: I hope you took the time to read Gen 11-20. Some of the great issues of the day are found there. The promise land and the blessing of those who bless Israel and the curse against those who curse it, and there is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Presbyterians anti Israel agenda and the effort to remove or circumvent ordination standards are both hot issues which threaten to tear the church apart. But in the middle of all this are these people laughing. I think this struck me because I don’t laugh like I used to. One day I was texting someone and I got back LOL. Puzzled about it I texted back what and a question mark, to which I received LOL,LOL,LOL,LOL!!!! Laughing out loud. Like I said I do not laugh like I used to, and here are these people laughing and laughing at God.

1. AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION

A. ABRAHAM IS 100 AND SARAH IS 90, PREGNANT AT 90.

a. WHERES MY TEETH AND GET THE WALKER IT’S TIME

B. GOD HAS WAITED, PREHAPASE BECAUSE OF ABRAHAMS LACK OF TRUST BEFORE?

2. LAUGHING AT GOD

A. ABRAHAM LAUGHS AT GOD 17:17

B. SARAH LAUGHS AT GOD 18:12

C. GOD LAUGHS WITH THEM “ISAAC” MEANS HE LAUGHS

D. ABRAHAM LAUGHS BY OFFERING GOD A REASONABLE WAY 17:18

3. YOUR OWN IMPOSSIBLE MISSION

A. LEAD A YOTH GROUP, TEACH A CLASS, FORM A BIBLE STUDY GROUP

B. PREACH A SERMON, GO ON A MISSIONS TRIP, CHANGE SOMEONES LIFE.

C. HEAL A RELATIONSHIP, BREAK A HABIT

D. HAVE YOU BEEN LAUGHING AT GOD?

E. HAVE YOU BEEN OFFERING HIM ANOTHER WAY?

F. LET SOMEONE ELSE DO IT.

CONCLUSION: Maybe it’s time to stop laughing at God and start laughing with God. God likes to start where things look impossible, laughable. If we are not laughing out loud at the mission before us, maybe we are not thinking big enough.

Gen 11-20

Noah’s descendants come out of the hills of what is now Armenia and Turkey gathering in present day Iraq in the town of Babylon. Babylon was the site of a ziggurat, a stairway to heaven. This brick tower was to reach to heaven where God is and to make a name for themselves. Back to the sin of the Garden where Adam and Eve want to take over Gods place, here the people think they can build their own way to heaven and gain control over their future. Ziggurats can be found in many places in the Middle East. The brick towers built in a stepped fashion with a small shrine at the top.

Vs 6 God notes that these people will be able to do anything when they speak the same language and cooperate with each other. Today we are coming into an age of one language and increased cooperation. We may be tempted to think that the is nothing we cannot do and yet the more we advance in technology the more we see natural occurring things like earth quakes, hurricanes, floods, and tornados leave us helpless. In our communication age we might picture our world if every phone, TV, radio, and computer suddenly quit working or the loss of all electric power.

From this center we see civilization start to spread out to cover the earth.

Vs 10-32 Noah lived much like his ancestors to an age of 950 years old, living some 350 years after the flood. Noah’s children who were 100 years old at the time of the flood lived a total of 600 years, while their children lived to 450 years old. Each generation saw their lifespan shorten until Abraham lived 175 years. What ever happened during the flood one of the results was that God’s declaration of Gen 6:3 that man’s days would be numbered 120 years. Was this change caused by a change in the protection the preflood atmosphere gave us or was is it do to genetic degrading, or even the result of the introduction of bacteria or viruses. Whatever the cause for the decreased lifespan, it is connected with the flood. This also gives us our own limits for life. With all our science and technology we still cannot push life past 120 years.

Chapter 12

God gives a call to Abram to leave the country where he lived and go to a new land that God would give to him. Much of the trouble in the Middle East is traced to this promise. In vs. 6 it notes the Canaanites were in the land and someone has been in the land ever since. Abram is promised the land from the Brook of Egypt on the south to the Euphrates in the north, the Mediterranean one the west and the Jordan River on the east. This area is described here in chapters 12 – 20 and in Numbers 34:1-12 and Ezekiel 47:13-20.

This area would include Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, the Golan Heights and parts of Syria. The fight over the possession of this land continues on today. The various tribes of people including the Canaanites and the descendants of Ishmael make up the Arab tribes still found in the area today. Though many people like to connect Ishmael, Muslim and Arabs together as one group they are not. The tribes of Ishmael blend with the tribes of people that were in the land at the time. This promise of the land to Abram could lead us to believe that present day Israel will continue to expand with more war to come.

The promise of God found in 12:3 includes all the people of the earth, who will be blessed or cursed by their treatment of Israel. The United States has been a strong supporter of Israel, and many who work for the continued support of Israel go to this passage for their reasoning.

12:10-20 find Abram leaving the Promised Land and going to Egypt. Egypt is place the people would run to several times. Joseph and his brothers seek refuge there, and later Joseph would take Jesus to Egypt for safety. When Abram goes into Egypt he makes up a story about Sarai being his sister to protect himself. Both leavening the Promised Land and lying about Sarai both show a lack of trust in God’s promise. What fears are there that make us abandon God’s promise? Here even Abram’s lack of faith God turns to his good as he leaves Egypt with all he had acquired while he was there.

Abram and Lot split up and then Lot gets in trouble with the surrounding tribes and needs rescuing by Abram. While returning to his home Abram is met by Melchizedek the “Priest of God Most High”. Abram connects this “God Most High” creator of heaven and earth as the same “Lord” who has been leading and protecting Abram. Then giving of a tenth of everything shows that Abram recognized the “God Most High” as his true king. Later in the Law of Moses a tithe, or tenth, of income was designated as an offering to God. This was a show of respect and acknowledgement of God as their true king. One of the purposes behind the tithe today is the showing of respect to God.

Chapter 15

Here the promise that God has given Abram is repeated but this time with a covenant or an oath made between two parties. The covenant is in response to Abram not having children and his doubts about God’s promise. Even after the covenant with God Abram shows his doubt when he tries to help God out by seeking another way to fulfill the promise with Hagar. The result is a son and a tribe of people that will cause Israel pain. How often do we seek to give God a hand in taking care things on our own? The result is that we make things more difficult for ourselves and often settle for less than what God had intended for us. Because of his lack of trust in God Abram would have to face sacrificing Isaac.

Chapter 17 God again affirms His promise to Abram, even giving Abram a timeline for the birth of Isaac. Abram and Sarai are given new names, Abraham and Sarah. But now God wants a sign of faith from Abraham which will set him apart from all other people, circumcision. This act of covenant between Abraham and God is done a year before the birth of Isaac. We have to wonder if the lack of faith Abraham has shown in the past continues to make things difficult for him.

Both Abraham and Sarah thought the promise of the birth of Isaac to be something to laugh at. In 17:17 Abraham falls down laughing at this promise of God. In 18:12 Sarah laughs at the idea of bearing a child at 90 years old. Many of the things God promises or says seem laughable to us, yet God proves Himself over and over again. God is not put off by their skepticism; He joins them in their laughing when he commands the boy be named Isaac, which means “he laughs”.

In 18:20 it is revealed to Abraham that God is about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham has no questions of their wickedness but he is worried about Lot. Lot it seems needs to be rescued again. Abraham bargains with God to save the city if only 10 righteous people could be found. Somewhere in the bargaining from 50 down to 10 peace comes to Abraham that Lot will be saved. Here is a case where the company you like to keep can bring you disaster even if you do not join in with them. Lot liked the party town and the party life around him even if he did not join in with them.

The situation in the town is so bad that Lot tries to direct the angels to his own home for their safety. The way of life and partying in this town is such that the men surround Lots house wanting to have the two men who have just arrived in town. They take this to the point of breaking down the door. While the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is homosexuality, this goes beyond that.

Lot’s judgment is so poor that he not only lives in the town but then is willing to sacrifice his daughters to please the crowd. When forced to leave Lot’s family is told not to look back. God wants them to leave that life and cut off all connection to it. Lot’s wife has her heart set on the life of the city and looks back. How many Christians are like Lot and his family? They like to live on the fringes of wickedness. They may only dabble in that sinful life but they enjoy being around it. Like Lot they find themselves in constant conflict with God. How much better would our lives be and the world be if we as Christians would refuse to live around that life.

Gen 19:30 If we remember the life of Sodom and Gomorrah that Lot lived in the idea that his daughters come up with is not that difficult to understand and it would not have taken much wine for Lot to be open to the idea. Lot and his daughters could have sought a solution by going to Abraham’s family to find husbands for the two women. Living in and around sinfulness breaks down our defenses and clouds our good judgment.

Gen 20 Good judgment seems to be lacking in Abrahams life as well, when for a second time he tells people Sarah is his sister. Again God intervenes and saves Abraham from his lack of judgment. God has the king not only confront Abraham but also has Abraham pray for him. At this point Abraham had every right to be in fear of the king and yet God says pray for him. Jesus would later give the same command, to pray for your enemies and bless those who persecute you. The idea may be as laughable as Sarah and Abraham having a child, yet God works in ways we can never understand.