Sermon Nuggets Mon. June 11
Single Parent
Verses Gen 16:1,2 Now
Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave
named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having
children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Problems of Insecurity
As King
Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” I believe as we have been
looking at Genesis this chapter introduces us to the first time of a single
mother. Her name is Hagar. Now she was probably not the first, but the first
mentioned. She was an Egyptian servant of
Abram. She was probably a young woman 10 years ago when Abram and Sarai went to
Egypt and returned with some of the kings riches. She must have hit is off with
Sarai, to became her maidservant.
Being a
single parent is one of the hardest tasks there is. Some are single parents by
death or divorce, others by pregnancy out of wedlock. Some have a husband but
due to work or travel are never around and thereby live as a single parent. But
Hagars situation was difficult in that it was more like a rape. She was a
servant who had little voice in becoming the concubine of her master Abram.
Many slaves
had children by their masters for whom it may or may not have been consensual.
This is the circumstance behind Hagar’s having a child and this story goes on
to talk about problems with faith.
We see
first the problem of Insecurity. It seems unusual to me but the problem doesn’t
really begin with Abram being unfaithful to his wife as it begins with what I
would call insecurity on the part of the wife because of her standing in the
community and her self esteem as a woman.
Today there
are many options open to a woman that allows for accomplishments and feelings of
self satisfactions. Some find self worth in jobs, or in voluntary services if
they have the means to do so. So many of are great voluntary charities have
been headed up and operated and maintained by women. So many goods and services
come from the sacrifices of selfless ladies who are to be honored for their
hours of labor and love.
But in the day of Sarai there was one thing that made women
feel complete and that was having a baby and preferably a baby boy. The more
children a woman had the higher her status among other women. That was her goal
in life. Women who were infertile were
ridiculed, excluded from conversations and socialization. Women would gather by
the watering hole or other places with other wives and the topics of
conversation would be their husbands, children and grandchildren.
Sarai understood that Abram was promised to have many
children. In the last chapter God and Abram had this conversation at least a
second time. I am sure that if the problem was not Abram she began to doubt if she
was the problem. Perhaps the prophecy is true, but she would not be the mother,
Abram would be the father. So in order to accomplish her role and taking cues
from the pagan society around them Sarai came up with a plan, to have her
servant service as a wife in her place so any child would be as if it were her
own.
Abram's mistake was
an act of silence. He went along with it when he should have encouraged them
both to trust God's promises. Instead, we have another example of His inability
to trust God. You just don't ask other women to marry and have relations with
your husband because you just can't wait for children. Infertility is painful!
Unless you are unable to have children, you don’t quite
understand the mixed emotions of celebrating the news of other couples who are
going to have a child, but the pain of asking why not you? When someone is
pregnant out of wedlock infertile couples ask, “why them and not us?” The worse
feelings are when someone has abused or neglected their child and emotional cry
is “it isn’t fair God.” Why don’t you give children to those who are able and
want to love a child rather than to people who don’t want children and will
neglect or abuse them?”
The inability to bear children is painful in any society but
especially during Sarai's time when a women's value and significance came
through child bearing. It was incredibly devastating. Sarai's difficulty was
simply that all of her actions grew out of a basic thought which, put very
simply, says: "God has told me what he wants, now the rest of it depends
on me. God has shown me what the goal is, and it is up to me to figure out how
to reach it. I know what he wants, and I can count on him for help, but the
rest is up to me."
This thinking led to all the folly and heartache and sorrow
that Abram and Sarai experienced running centuries since then. We continually
think and act this way in the church today. We say the reason God's work is not
going forward as it should is that we are not trying hard enough. The
barrenness in our experience is due to the fact we have not really put
ourselves into this. Let us hold some more committee meetings and get going. It
all depends on us.
We read "the Great Commission, "Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to the whole creation." And I am tempted to think the rest is up to
us. I am thinking this week how can we do evangelism more effectively? How can
we carry out God's will? Is that of faith or of man? I can see who insecurity
and feeling uneasy with no fruit or no results leads one to act in the flesh
instead of in faith. It does so with Sarai and with us.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues June 12 Impatience
Verse Gen 16: 3 So
after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her
Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.4 He
slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
The problem of
Impatience
The point of being there for 10 years means that they
figured they waited long enough. Every month I am sure Sarai wondered if she
was going to have her normal period or perhaps this was the month she would
confirm she was with child. But every month Sarai would weep knowing once again
no baby was on the way. This is when faith gets challenged. If she was
impatient after 10 years think about us after 10 months.
Impatience
is one of the biggest hindrances to faith I can think of. We want something
right now and not want to wait on Gods’ time table. His time is always right,
but often long that we might rest and take it easy.
God promised to give them this land
where that had spent the last ten years. They didn't even have a mortgage
payment. He also promised to bless them with a child and yet something went
wrong. Impatience made Sarai come up with another plan. Sarai allowed the pain
of impatience to overpower the promise of God.
A lesson is faith is this: “Trust
Gods timing because He has a purpose of every delay.” Sarah and Abraham
interpreted God's delay as their inability. But God delays for many different
reasons. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, "there is a time for
everything." And "he makes everything beautiful in it's time."
Rev Bruce Goettsche says,
“Sometimes God delays to make us holy Sometimes He delays to prepare us for a
task. Sometimes He delays to deal with some weakness. Sometimes He delays to
strengthen our faith. Sometimes He delays for the benefit of those who are
watching. Sometimes He delays so He might give us the best and not just
something adequate. Sometimes He delays for reasons only He knows”
God’s delays are not from inability
but from wisdom. That is where faith comes in. We trust his greater plan even
though we do not understand it. When God is silent don’t panic but keep
trusting. He has promised to finish the work that he has begun in you.
Abram and
Sarai did not have all the all the information. They didn’t plan that a God
could give them a baby beyond child rearing years, but he can. They didn’t plan
a supernatural birth whereby only God gets the glory, they thought he was going
to act in a natural way. We like to give God help in doing his work. we
"help God" to find us a mate And it is impatience that lead many to
marry someone who is not a Christian or committed to Godly things, and there
are consequences. We get impatient and want to help God by using worldly tactics
to grow a church because others grow it by tested and proved ways instead of
acting by faith in God. We think we can help in other people’s sanctification
by coming up with man made rules of what makes a good and growing Christian and
judge them by outside legalism. We hurry God up by making purchases we cannot
afford, buying houses that are not by faith, and going to colleges because of
convenience not prayer.
One of the
problems with faith is impatience.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds June 13
Verse Gen 16: 4 He
slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her
mistress.
The problem of
Influence
Verse 4 is a sad verse. I am thinking of the lessons of
chapter 15 when Abram meets with the Lord after the promise again of children,
He believes God. The Lord counts Abram righteous for his faith, and boom the
next thing we read is that he commits sin with Hagar and demonstrates a lack of
obedience, a lack of faith in the work of God and is influenced by the protests
of his wife.
Why is that? Abram is a man of
faith, but sin comes when you listen to others who influence you. We see that
in the garden of paradise, we see that in Proverbs when a young man walking
with God is enticed by a woman looking for an affair. We see that at the gates
of Pilate when people are influence to release Barabbas and crucify Jesus. We
see that with mob control when people giving thought to actions are moved by
the influences of others in areas that they know are wrong. We see that when
the populace declares for us what is politically correct and we change the
views to match others.
It is hard for young people when
friends influence friends to habits they know comprise their Christian
standards and commitments. It is hard for business men who are influenced by
the pressure to make the sale or make a profit to be tempted to dishonest
practices. Influences of others smack us in defeat.
Who you pick as friends, who you
pick at mates, who you pick as business partners will influence your decisions.
Sarai’s persistent taunting and desires for a baby and child, her insecurities
and low self esteem moved her to influence her husband to have a baby by her
servant Hagar.
Abram was
not only influenced by his wife, but they both were influenced by the society
and culture in which they lived.
E.A. Speiser in his work on Genesis
wrote "Using a concubine was a method of providing an heir in the case of
a childless marriage apart from adoption." (p. 130)
Former Bethel prof John Sailhamer wrote in his commentary,
"The people in Abram's culture regarded a concubine as a secondary wife -
with some, but not all, of the rights and privileges of the primary wife."
In some cultures at that time the
husbands would require it if the wife could not bear children. Although it was
allowed and acceptable to the culture of that day it was never God's desire for
Abram and Sarai. I understand in progressive revelation. There are some things
made more clear in the Bible as time went on but from the beginning people knew
God’s plan. In Genesis 2:24 it is written, "Therefore a man shall leave
his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one
flesh.”
Abram had only one wife, and he was quite content with that
arrangement. Many of the Canaanite leaders would have had more than one wife
and neither Abram nor Sarai would be less highly regarded because of this act.
No one would laugh at her, nor point the finger of scorn. It was a perfectly
proper and seemly act in the eyes of the community.
But it was
the influence of the people and loved ones that motivated them to act instead
of faith.
What
influences your decisions? How much do you friends, and others people cause you
to act not in faith, but in the flesh? What decisions do you think you must
make on your own because others are pressuring you into it? Dear people get
back to the book and take your direction from God’s way regardless if you are
the only one doing it. Act by faith and not influence.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs June 14
Gen 16: 5 Then
Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put
my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me.
May the Lord judge between you and me.”
6 “Your slave is in your hands, ”
Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar;
so she fled from her.
Acting Irresponsibly
Sarai who influenced Abraham to
take her servant now blames her husband when Hagar conceives. Often when things
trouble us we find someone else to blame. Sarah blames Hagar and Abraham;
Abraham blames Sarah, Hagar blames Sarah and Abraham . . . and they probably
all blame God! Few people take responsibility for their choices now. We blame
our parents, we blame our genetic makeup (translated, we blame God), we blame a
teacher, a spouse, a person who was driving too fast. It doesn't matter who it
is . . . just so it isn't us!!!
Abram did
not act responsibly as a husband. Every time Abram was "with" Hagar
it wounded Sarah. It may have been her idea but the thought of her husband
being in the arms of another woman wounded her. Nor did Abram act responsibly
to Hagar. Although he had a legal right to do what he did with his servant
girl, he had no moral right. I think there are many times in our decisions we
ask ourselves is it legal, rather than, is it right.
Sarah did not act responsibly to
either her husband or her servant. Now she resents Abram for listening to her.
She is hurt that he would find favor in another woman.
When Hagar became pregnant, Sarah felt she was overshadowed.
I'm sure things were very tense around the home of Abraham and Sarah. To ease
the tension, Abraham abandons his responsibility and says, "Hey, do
whatever you want. If you want to get rid of her . . . fine."
Now it
seems that Hagar is also not acting responsibly once she realizes she is
pregnant with her master’s child. Perhaps she thinks her position changes and
begins to act contemptuously against Sarah who is already hurt. He shows an
attitude of spite.
Sarah
further acts irresponsibly when she mistreats Hagar and Hagar feels she needs
to leave. She can no longer stand the abuse that Sarah is heaping on her. Like
most of us when we aren't in a good mood we take it out on others. Sarah was
jealous and resentful towards Hagar and was making her life miserable. The
child they thought they had wanted was now heading to the wilderness.
Can you imagine the turmoil Abraham
was going through? Like it or not the child Hagar carried was his. There are
worldwide consequences. Every day you and I hear and read about consequences
that resulted ultimately from this decision to "help God". Ishmael,
the child born to Hagar and Abraham became the father of the Arab peoples. The
conflict which has existed between the Arabs and the Jews is a direct result of
this foolish choice.
Why do you think we are seeing
rampant immorality, escalating violence, increasing materialism and a
disintegration of society? I think it is because we have disregarded the Lord.
We have acted irresponsibly instead of by faith, as a nation and in our
families, in our educational systems and in our government. We live in a world
that seeks to make God irrelevant.
How foolish we are. We cannot
continue to ignore God and still expect to receive His blessing. We cannot
disregard His commands and think that we will not be led astray. We cannot
refuse to accept responsibility and expect to move forward. The best way to
handle foolish choices is to admit them and learn from them.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri June 15
Gen 16: 7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in
the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said,
“Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your
mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your
descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s
hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. ”
The Problem with Injustice
What do you do when you are a
servant and imposed upon immorally by your master? Hagar I believe suffered two
major injustices by submitting to sexual relationships to Abram and being taken
as his wife, and then again once she was pregnant to be mistreated by Sarai at
the permission of Abram. She was dispensable. She was a tool to accomplish
their fleshly desires. She was placed into the role of a single parent because
later you will see she is banished from the presence of Sarai and Abram after
the true son of the promise is born.
Life is not
fair. Don’t ever believe anyone who tells you differently. Some people have it
good. Others have it bad. Some people regardless how they live seem to have
many breaks and others regardless of how hard they try have tragedy and
difficulty face them beyond their control.
Most people
will like to put themselves into the last category because we love to dwell on
the problems and compare ourselves only with those who have it better. You are
in the top 15% of the blessing of the world’s resources, freedoms and
opportunities of the world and listen to ourselves complain about the price of
gas. In Russia only 5 % have the resources to own a car. We complain about the
cost of medical treatments. In certain sections of Africa you have one Doctor
to over 10,000 people and millions of people cannot get a common aspirin. Drugs
are scarce or non existent. We complain about our homework while many in India
are illiterate. We complain about inconviences around our house, without much
thought of the people who have no homes, no food, or in slavery, ignorance and
most importantly, blindness to the Gospel. When you are in a country where only
5% are Christians and it is illegal to preach the gospel what is the likelihood
of you being saved? No very good. Why would God so bless us and allow us the
privilege of salvation when most of the world is going to Hell. It is true life
is not fair and dear people we are in the slim minority of the most blessed and
richest of the world and if it were fair so much of what we possess must be
taken away.
While Hagar
is running away in the desert to go back to Egypt God meets with her by the
means of an Angel of the Lord. He gives Hagar simple counsel: Return and
Submit!
Jim Boice writes, “When we have run
away from something, we never want to go back to it. But if you have made a
wrong turn in the direction of your life, as we often do, the only thing to do
is return to the point where you went wrong and start over. Anything else only
takes you farther and farther away. In the same way, if we have rebelled
against one proper authority, our problem is never solved by continuing in that
rebellion or even seeking out another authority. [Genesis p. 572]
When God finds us wandering, this
is always what he says, "Return and submit!" "Submit to the
circumstances you dislike, and I will work it out. To do anything else is
folly." So Hagar returns. With the command to return comes the promise of
blessing. Blessing always follows obedience. God tells Hagar to face the
difficult situation and to trust Him. I don't want you to think that things
were great when Hagar returned to Abraham and Sarah. They weren't. The
consequences of their foolish choice continued to haunt. But now they were
walking with God again. And God is able to help us live even with the
consequences of our foolish pasts.
I wonder are you running from
something today? Have you made a foolish choice and now feel that God has
deserted you? Do you feel like an outcast? Are you suffering from the sinful
choices others have made? If you are I cannot offer you a magic formula that
will make everything go away. What I CAN do is tell you that any mistake you
have made can be forgiven. Any crisis you face can be survived with God's
strength. Any difficulty can be used by God to make you stronger and to make
your witness more effective. But in order for these things to be true, you have
to stop running away and turn and return to the Lord. You must stop fighting
Him and start trusting Him. In running away she is met by an angel who
intercedes on God’s behalf and lets her know that God sees her and knows her
heart. She will have a son and his name shall be Ishmael "The God Who
Sees" for she says, "Have I even here seen him who sees me?"
This is the circumstance which gripped her. "Here is a God who sees me and
knows me just as I am, and all that concerns me." So she named the well,
"The well of One who lives and sees."
Single parenting is hard. But so is being without children.
So is being married. So is living your faith in a hostile world. The answers
are the same. Walk by faith in God.
Faith is the opposite of Insecurity- knowing who we are in
Christ; Trusting God’s timing offsets impatience; Obedience instead of
irresponsibility; Knowing and studying the truth instead of the influence of
others; and righteousness over injustice. Faith rules.
Pastor Dale
