God's Ridiculous Plans
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Series Review
Series Review
my youth group meant a lot to me when I was in high school; accountable Christian fellowship; strong Christian mentors; the day before I left for college, I talked with my Christian mentors - a married couple; they encouraged me and prayed over me before I went home; I really missed them when I went to college, and it was nice to reconnect with them during my college breaks; I remember one of those spring breaks when I walked up to one of my mentors, and I asked him about his wife - the conversation became sad when he told me they were separated (there had been infidelity); models of faith that I had followed, and and I was upset when I saw something that I did not want to model;
Abraham (he’s a role model) in Judaism and Christianity he is the father of our faith; in the book of Romans, Paul quotes from Genesis: Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.
If Abraham was one of my mentors in youth group and I watched him make the mistakes he made, I would have been disappointed. In the last sermon I preached he let his wife marry another man to protect himself. He does that again later in his story. He has a son through his wife’s servant. This man of faith made some serious mistakes along the way, and one of the things I appreciate about his story is that the Bible doesn’t try to hide this. (alt ex. church, divorced, Abraham shows us that our painful past does not make us unfit to bless the world; our painful mistakes do not change God’s calling - we are called to bless the world, period. )
(alt.) I wonder if we place our spiritual heroes on too high a pedestal. Whether it be a TV preacher or a mentor, place our heroes on too high a pedestal and they have a long way to fall. The Bible is careful not to put Abraham on too high a pedestal.
Place people on too high a pedestal and they have a long way to fall.
Sermon Introduction
Sermon Introduction
Our story begins with Abraham entertaining 3 unexpected guests, but the focus of the story Debbie just told is the ending where Sarah overhears Abraham’s conversation with these 3 people and it makes her laugh. “Sarah laughed.” We read that in verse 12. When we’re imagining this story, we have to understand just what kind of laugh this is; that laugh is the most important part of this message;
marriage is a challenge, let’s not add a new one (servant)
I love to laugh; I love redneck humor, especially because it reminds me of my old neighborhood; you might be a redneck if...you don't need a clean shirt to go to work. That’s paw paw Sharpe selling used cars.
you don't need a clean shirt to go to work
I enjoy sitting around a table of fellowship and the group engages in joyous conversation, where there’s lots of laughter; I love to joke (have to be careful with that, that’s got me in trouble a few times);
I enjoy sitting around a table of fellowship and the group engages in joyous conversation, where there’s lots of laughter; I love to joke (have to be careful with that, that’s got me in trouble a few times);
There are other kinds of laughter. There’s the fake laugh - someone tries to be funny but they’re really not. The joke deadpans but you don’t want that person to feel bad. Or the joke hurts, that’s a sensitive area for you, and it’s like someone ripping open an old wound. But you don’t want to acknowledge that.
that’s not the only kid of laughter there is: there is the fake laugh: outwardly I’m laughing, but on the inside I’m offended by that remark, or that joke was not funny to me because that really happened to me; (examples)
there’s also an evil laughter, that comes out of anger or even hatred;
He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”
But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was.
But before we get to that, let’s look at why Sarah laughs.
But before we get to that, let’s look at why Sarah laughs.
Abraham sees his 3 unexpected guests. Imagine 3 family members dropping in on you unexpected. “We were in the area and we thought we would surprise you.” That might excite you, but if you’re watching Game of Thrones or the Walking Dead, it might not. You might drop everything you’re doing, and cook that prime rib that you were saving for a special occasion, or you might offer to microwave last night’s leftovers. If it’s someone we don’t know and they’re looking for help, we might feel very uncomfortable and send them on their way.
Chances are we’re not going to react the Abraham did: bowing low the ground, beg them to stay so he can cook the best food he has. Hospitality today means making an invited guest feel welcome, but in Abraham’s time hospitality included unexpected strangers. It was considered a blessing. In the New Testament we read:
Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
When you received unexpected guests, showing them hospitality was a cultural expectation, One of the reasons they did this is because unexpected guests (strangers) could be divine visitors.
(Beauty and the Beast is a cautionary tale; the haggard old woman at the beginning of the story turns out to be an enchantress) I believe that’s true today: the stranger in need could be an angel. Serve the stranger in need as if you’re serving Christ himself. Because it just might be.
Here in Genesis, Abraham gets three strange visitors. Without getting into the details, I’m going to say that one of them was the Lord himself and the other 2 are probably angels. You can read the story a few different ways. While they are eating, Sarah is in a nearby tent and she’s listening in to their conversation. One of the visitors predicts that when they visit again next year, she will have had a son. Sarah’s 90 years old and Abraham is 100, so this a pretty incredible thing to say. So she laughs.
Things not to say: (our speech determines our reality) (example: volunteer, communion at church council)
Here’s the heart of the sermon. We can learn three things from Sarah’s laughter. Specifically, Sarah can challenge us to remove 3 statements from our Christian speech. 3 things not to say: Our speech determines our reality. Negative speech brings negative reality. I’m trying to remove the word ‘volunteer’ from mine. At the laity session at Annual Conference, the speaker reminded everyone that there are no volunteers in the church, only disciples. We do not ask you to volunteer for stuff: we offer you opportunities to live out your discipleship.
It’s not easy to remove vocabulary. At a Church Council meeting I boldly and piously announced to the team that I was going to remove the word volunteer from our vocabulary. We observe Communion at the end of every meeting, and has I prepared the elements I said, “I need a volunteer to help me.” Someone caught that right away. I’m going to have to watch my words very carefully from now on.
Disclaimer
If I struggle with one word, it is a real challenge to examine an entire sentence. Imagine trying to remove 3: 1) I am incapable of doing that. 2) That is impossible. 3) That is ridiculous. We can find all 3 of these expressions (that are closely related to each other, but unique) in Sarah’s laughter.
1. I am / we are incapable of that.
1. I am / we are incapable of that.
“I can’t do that.” “That’s not my gift.” “That’s too hard for me.” “Our church can’t do that.” “We can’t afford that.” Or in Sarah’s case, “I’m too old.” (I’ve heard that one a few times.”) (old woman ministry of intercessory prayer)
I have a book on my shelf titled Contemplative Youth Ministry. Mark Yaconelli. There’s a story in the book about a small, aging Episcopal church in a Colorado ski town. The new priest wanted to start a youth ministry. “We’re too old for that, and we don’t have any youth.” The priest agreed to give up on the idea in 2 years, IF a group would dedicate themselves to prayer and discernment. He found a group that was willing to do this. They met regularly for prayer, listening to God in their silence, they went on prayer retreats. A year and half later, still no youth ministry, until the priest was sitting in a coffee shop and he was approached by 2 young men. They asked him to do a memorial service for their friend. The priest agreed and asked his “youth ministry team” to come. They prepared a huge meal, and over 100 youth age 16-25 showed up. As the church members ate with these youth, they begin to hear stories of pain and poverty. The youth ministry team decided to have this meal every month and a youth ministry was born.
The inability to bear children was a painful reality for Sarah; She was 90 and Abraham was 100. This certainly wasn’t a scientifically advanced culture, but they knew when their bodies would no longer produce children. They were physically incapable. That would be the end of the story, except God has a plan: Abraham is to bless the world by becoming a father of many nations.
Genesis 18:
Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
Disclaimer: There are limitations to this, I realize we all have physical limitations. I’m excited about vacation. We went to a Family Camp, with all kinds of activities. I didn’t acknowledge my physical limitations. I played Gaga (teens with gloves, bruised and bloodied). I played King of the Mountain in the lake, the youth threw me in the water like a piece of driftwood. Many of you spend time in the gym - you get hurt when you don’t recognize your limitations.
Disclaimer: Those of you at the gym: I can lift this. But when it comes to discipleship...
But when it comes to discipleship, when it comes to follow Jesus, the words “I can’t do that” should not be our first response when an opportunity presents itself.
2. That is impossible.
2. That is impossible.
Closely related to “I’m incapable” is “That is impossible.” The first statement focuses on our own inability, the second one focuses on the situation. The obstacle. The seemingly insurmountable challenge.
Gary Larson - The Far Side - 2 spiders on a playground sliding board - we can eat like kings! Of course it’s not going to happen. For the spiders, reality will soon set in. In our story, Sarah is responding out of reality. She is 90 years old, way past childbearing age. She’s looking at the women around her and watched them have children, then get older and stop having children.
Gary Larson - The Far Side - 2 spiders on a playground sliding board - we can eat like kings! Of course it’s not going to happen. For the spiders, reality will soon set in. In our story, Sarah is responding out of reality.
Why do we say, “That is impossible?” I’ve tried that before, and it was a disaster. That church tried it and people left. I have a friend that tried that and he failed. These are very effective ways to crush a vision. A great way to stifle creativity in the church. Saying “that is impossible” makes it much easier to live safely. An easy way to ignore the voice of God to ignore your calling.
I’ve tried that before, and it was a disaster. That’s a very effective way to squash a vision. To stifle creativity. To live safely. To avoid your calling.
God has a simple answer to the “that’s impossible” excuse in verse 14: “Is anything to hard for the Lord?” Put that on your refrigerator. Put that on your bathroom mirror. Remember that statement whenever you think something is impossible.
Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Genesis 18:14
3. That is ridiculous.
3. That is ridiculous.
3. That is ridiculous.
3. That is ridiculous.
“I am not able to do that.” - We’ve focused on ourselves. “That’s impossible.” Our focus is on the situation, the challenge, the hurdles, the hardships. “That is ridiculous” is deeper. Emotional. It comes from a really bad place deep down inside of us.
Sarah laughed…
They laughed at him…
When we talk about the word “laughter” we have to define which laughter we’re referring to, because laughter comes in a variety of forms. In the Old Testament Hebrew and the New Testament Greek, you had specific words to describe specific types of laughter. This type of laughter is an ugly, angry laughter. The kind when you laugh to make fun of someone's pain. The kind when you want to hurt someone (laughing at you, not with you). You’ve rejected something to the point that your only response is laughter.
Sarah is not amused. She doesn’t think this is funny. This particular type of laughter comes from pain. Remember the story of Jesus healing a young girl? The girl dies before Jesus gets there, so when he comes he says something that makes the family laugh: “She’s not dead, just asleep.” They laugh, not because they are amused, but because they are in pain. They are angry. They are disillusioned with Jesus and the only thing they can do is laugh.
This type of laughter tells us that Sarah is angry at God. God has disappointed her. Publicly humiliated her. God has failed her. She is bitter with God over this, so when God’s messenger says, “you are going to have a child,” her reaction is scorn. Mockery. Anger.
Sarah’s laugh - it is scorn, not amusement; She is angry at God. God has disappointed her. Publicly humiliated her. She is bitter with God over this, so when God’s messenger says, “you are going to have a child,” her reaction is scorn. Mockery.
That’s ridiculous.
Sometimes God gives someone a vision, a calling; but other people come along and try to tear that one down. At AC, we end the ordination service by inviting those who feel called to the ministry to come forward for prayer. It is a powerful experience. Some of these potential candidates for ordained ministry are excited. It was terrifying to others who had other vocational plans. Others with parental expectations.
Why do we say these things? God’s vision that excites and motivates. AC where people are excited about their call to full time ministry. It was terrifying to others who had other vocational plans. Others with parental expectations.
What’s God calling you to do? What’s God calling us to do? We are called to bless the world, so how is God calling us to do that? What excuses have we used: I’m incapable. That’s impossible. That’s ridiculous.
“Tried that before and it was a disaster.”
Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Write it down. Put that on your refrigerator. Take those three excuses out of our vocabulary and replace it with that.
That’s impossible - Put it on your refrigerator - is there anything to difficult for the Lord.
That’s ridiculous - You might be disillusioned with God, but that doesn’t change the call.