Hey, if you are joining us here in our sanctuary for the first time this morning or if you're joining us online for the first time
We want to say welcome to all of you are so glad you're to worship with us today. I
Am pastor Nathan and today we are going to be celebrating communion after our Bible study
And so we will be serving communion this morning and I'll give instructions when we get to that
But if you are watching online, I want to encourage you to get your communion emblems ready
And if you're scrambling because you forgot just pray over whatever you got and the Lord will honor it
Okay, and now we'll be doing that at the end of service today
But this morning we're gonna be dealing with a topic that I'm sure none of us have ever dealt with
Waiting on God when you've been waiting a long time already
Right or to put it another way what happens?
When we apply what we think is best because we've already concluded that God is not acting fast enough
All right, we've never dealt with that have we it's it's about those times that we've all dealt with where
We're in a situation where God you said
But why aren't you?
God you said but why is it taking so long and
You know, I'm gonna be transparent. I've been going through this
For a while been in the thick of it for a while a couple years ago
I believe the Lord told me something that at the time I was like
Oh, it's clear as day and I was excited about something. He was going to do and then
After he told me that a year passed and over the course of that year
There was numerous moments where I thought oh, this is the perfect time for it to happen
This is the perfect time for it to happen. This is the perfect time and guess what it didn't happen
And so for the last year or so
I've been wrestling with what a lot of us wrestle with in our faith when we go through things like this
The question did God really tell me what I believe he told me or did I just make it up in my head?
Anybody ever deal with that? Yeah, right
Well, you know one of the things God's been teaching me and I've just been blessed to share with you guys through the word over the last
number of months is that faith is
simultaneously an
incredibly simple
But yet infinitely complex thing
There are so many layers to faith when it comes to understanding
What it is and how we live it out what God wants us to do and as we've been studying the life of Abram here in
Genesis we've seen all the lessons of faith that he has been learning
Such as we've learned or he has learned what happens when you rely on your wisdom first your own wisdom first
Instead of going to God and asking for his input. We saw that in Egypt
Abram has learned what happens when you hold on to what God has given you or or hold what God's given you
With a generous open hand. We saw that in his interaction with Lot in the land
Abram has learned about self-sacrifice and what happens when you do what is right
Even when it's risky we saw that in his rescue of Lot
Abram has learned that everything we have is given by God
And so we're called to honor God with everything we've been given
We saw that in his interactions with Melchizedek
Abram has learned what happens when you reject what the world offers
Especially when the world wants to take credit for what God has done by blessing you and we saw him honored through that
Abrams learned how to just have faith in what God has said
Even when you don't understand how he's going to accomplish it
Just just have faith just believe if God has spoken to you believe
And really we talked about how that's the foundation of our entire walk our entire salvation. It's we believe
God and what he has said
Abrams learned how patient God is when we are weak and wrestling with doubt and we have these questions on our faith where
We've seen how patient God is as he comes back to repeat what he has said to Abram very gently
Repeating his word when necessary
And then we've seen him in the land of the dead
Repeating his word when necessary and then we've seen Abram learn how serious God is
When God speaks when God makes promises when he gives his word even going so far as to contractually bind himself
To fulfill or die when it comes to some of those promises as if that was even possible
well
The question I ask all of us this morning is
Have we learned the lessons?
Have we learned what God has been speaking to us as we're studying what he's been speaking to Abram?
Or are you in the midst of learning these lessons?
Maybe for the first time
Maybe for the hundredth time which happens in many of our lives
Because like I said if i'm transparent
I'm right there with you guys
Now the next lesson we're going to be looking at this morning
Is simply this
It's one thing to trust God
When he speaks and his promises it's one thing to trust that he can
Which is what Abram worked through and got to
But it's something entirely different to trust God with when
And that's often the one we wrestle with the most when God has spoken given a promise
We're working through believing on that and it's taking its time and it's taking its time and it's taking its time
And then we start to worry about well did God forget?
Did he change his mind? Did I not hear him?
Accurately and so we have to understand that faith
And patience are two things that always go together
Faith is trusting and then trusting involves waiting
And so when it comes to waiting on the Lord we have to understand a couple important lessons one
Is that the bible says that with God
One day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day
And that is not at all comforting is it when we're waiting on the Lord but
It is true that God's timing is not our timing
But additionally in Isaiah 28 16 it says this the one who believes will be unshakable
And that word unshakable means they will not rush or they will not act hastily
You see faith in God means faith in his timing
And it's something that we have to work through on a regular basis and today we learn from abram
What happens when we try to fill in the blanks of what God has spoken about
And try to fill in the blanks of what God has not yet revealed to us
Out of fear or anxiety that his plan is not coming to fruition but first we're going to praise God
And worship him because that is what we're here to do right now
This moment this time to say God we love you
It's a time to re-express God I trust you I have faith in you and for those of you that are in this room this morning that
You're in that place where God has spoken to you
And the devil is just beating you up
Causing you to doubt and question and you're starting to worry about well God when is it going to happen?
It's been so long
I've I've seen so many times where it would have been a perfect opportunity for it to happen and it hasn't yet happened
I pray today God speaks to your heart and encourages you on the place to be where we find peace as people of people of faith
Amen, let's pray God. We love you
We thank you Lord for for everything
And yes, Lord, we even thank you for your timing
God we know that your ways are higher than our ways and your thoughts are higher than our thoughts
God we know that your timing is not our timing God. You see things completely different than us
But not only that God you see the outcome of every possibility simultaneously
And because of that Lord when you give us instruction it is the right instruction
But Lord there are also times in our life where you simply don't reveal to us yet or at all some of the details
And God our nature is to get
worried
And to start trying to fill in the blanks with our own wisdom God and
That never works out. Well Lord, so God speak to us today help us to understand Lord what we're to do
When you've given us promise, but you not yet filled in all the blanks
Of how or when God help us to be people that are just simply resting in faith and trusting and waiting for you to speak
So that God we would avoid all the upheaval and all the turmoil
All the unforeseen circumstances that come when we try to get ahead of you
Lord you are perfect. You are holy. You are righteous
You are our God
And we want to be faithful children
We want to be obedient
Help us Lord increase our faith and increase our patience
We worship you now God. We love you so much. It's in Jesus name. We pray amen
We are going to be in Genesis chapter 16 today looking at the first six verses
And really the the context of what we're going to be learning today is is simply this
Abraham and Sarah and at chapter 16 have now been in the land of Canaan for about a century
And this all started with God calling Abraham and his family out of Ur
Which was his homeland in southern Mesopotamia and he called him out of there with a promise
That i'm gonna bring you to a land that I will show you
Which required him just taking a step of faith because he didn't know where he was going yet, but he was told to go
God told him that he was going to make him into a great nation
Which was difficult because he was a man of faith
And he was told that he was going to make him into a great nation
Which was difficult because his wife was barren
And he told him that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed
And so as we've been studying through we've seen the journey that abram has been on and so
God brought them to the land and and uh abram had been active there and in just
Four years he was in the land of Canaan and he was able to make it through there and he was able to
Make it through the land of Canaan and he was able to make it through the land of Canaan
And so that's how he went and rescued his nephew Lot from the four kings
And so that brought abram to a place where he was given the promise again where God had reiterated to him that
Whoa did that happen again? Check check check check one two one two
So okay, so he had gotten to the land and
Was frustrated and God reiterated to him look bro. I told you
You're gonna have offspring that are more numerous than the stars, but he added a clarification. It's gonna be from your body
Well during all this time abram had just been getting older and older and his wife was getting older and older
And so in this time abram had been wondering what is going on when we get to here to genesis chapter 16
We are here 10 years later after God reiterated this promise made a covenant with him about the land
And he's still living in the land as a foreigner because all the other people groups are still there
And he's still with a barren wife his wife still cannot have children which means he still has no son
And like many of us if we found ourselves in a situation like that
I do believe that abram was probably going well all right lord
I'm trying to hang on to the promises that you've given me
I believe in your promises. I worked past that I believe in what you said. I believe you can
I've gotten to that place where I trust you but but when
When are you gonna do this lord? When is it going to happen?
And I believe that was going through his mind that's speculation
But we definitely know it was going through his wife's mind as well because read with me in genesis 16 starting in verse one
It tells us abram's wife sarai had not born any children for him, but she owned an egyptian slave named hagar
But she owned an egyptian slave named hagar sarai said to abram since the lord has prevented me from bearing children go to my slave
Perhaps through her I can build a family
And abram agreed to what sarai said
So so abram's wife sarai took hagar her egyptian slave and gave her to her husband abram as a wife for him
This happened after abram lived in the land of canaan 10 years
He slept with hagar and she became pregnant
When she saw that she was pregnant her mistress became contemptible to her then sarah said sarai said to abram you are responsible for my suffering
I put my slave in your arms and when she saw that she was pregnant I became contemptible to her
May the lord judge between me and you
Abram replied to sarai here your slave is in your power do whatever you want with her then sarai mistreated her so much
That she ran away from her
Now there is a whole lot going on in these six verses here and so it raises a bunch of questions and we're going to walk through it here one verse at a time
So right there in verse one we just read the the
Summary of the situation right abram's wife sarai had not born any children for him
But she owned an egyptian slave named hagar
Pretty self-explanatory what's going on here right god promised
Long time has passed
No kids right
Clocks ticking biologically which is possibly going through sarai's mind right i'm getting older
My husband's getting older and really it's not a big mystery that that as we get older
certain
parts of our
Child making functions cease to work right so this is going through their minds and i'm sure it's going through sarai's mind and so when we get to verse two
She concocts a plan to to address these problems
Sorry said to abram since the lord has prevented me from bury children go to my slave
Perhaps through her i can build a family and abram agreed to what sarai said
Now it's safe to assume here that sarai was aware of the promise that god had made
You doing all right buddy all right cool
Sarai was aware that god had made a promise to to him like i'm sure he shared it with his wife
Hey god said that i'm gonna give birth to a child that there's gonna be great nations coming from me and and again
It had been 10 years since god had reiterated that promise
So i'm sure what was going through their minds is pretty soon
It's gonna be impossible for abram to have a child
That it's simply not gonna be by the grace of god
And at this time sarai was still barren
She was still unable to have children and so
Of course a plan b was necessary to fulfill god's promise right?
And so we have to understand and we've said this before that barrenness in this culture was a very terrible severe
Tragedy for women it was a really big issue to be able to not have kids and and for women that are barren to have
it's still a significant issue because
Then having kids was was really the mark of success if you were a woman in these cultures
Being able to bear children for your husband and thus grow the family was everything
That was that was the pinnacle of success that was the top that was the sign that that there was favor in your life that god
favored you or the gods favored you and
Especially if you gave birth to boys
Because boys were who carried on the family name so it was a big deal to
Have kids and a really big deal for women who couldn't have kids
Because really in that culture their identity and purpose was all wrapped around
Being able to produce children
And so we can imagine being in sarai's shoes in this culture
Where for her entire life she hasn't been able to produce children for her entire life
She hasn't been able to produce children for her husband and the pain that would come from that and the distress
That would be in her heart over this the the shame and the humiliation
Of just not being able to do this in her culture and provide for her husband that way
Had to be terrible and and then on top of that the feelings of failure and and all this stuff was
Was likely just running through her mind in her heart
But although we can sympathize with her position
I want you to notice what she says here in verse two
Since the lord has prevented me from bearing children
Go do this thing
You'll notice that what sarai is doing is making her own conclusion
About what god has done
Just like her husband abram did 10 years prior
You remember 10 years prior when god showed up to abram and said hey
You're gonna have children and they're gonna be more numerous and in more numerous ways
More numerous than the stars and all of this right this this promise that I told you you're gonna have kids
Abrams response was you have given me no offspring
therefore conclusion
A slave of my household is going to be my heir, right?
He had decided this that a slave of my household was going to be the heir because he had made a conclusion
About what god was or wasn't doing sarai is doing the same thing here. She's making this conclusion the lord
Has prevented me from having children. That's what's going on right now. So therefore here's my plan to fulfill god's promise
And so what we see here amongst all of what might be going on with her emotionally
She has concluded
Without being told by god without any revelation without god speaking to her husband that her barrenness meant that god was intentionally and active
actively keeping her from having children
And we know that because that's what that word prevented means in the hebrew
It's it's someone actively standing against withholding
Preventing something from happening right in other translations. The idea is is that god has closed her womb
And so she has concluded god
Has made sure I can't have kids and therefore she comes up with this plan now again god had not told her this
God had not told her husband this
All god had set up to this point was to abram
There are going to be many nations come from your body
Your offspring is going to be more than the dust
Your offspring is going to be more than the stars
And then in the last time he spoke to abram he clarified that it's going to be a son from your own body
Now if we're going to be people of faith and live in faith and walk in faith
We have to be very very careful about making definitive decisions
About making definitive declarations about why our situations are the way they are
We have to be very careful, especially when god hasn't told us this is why our situation is the way it is
This is why this hasn't happened. This is why it's taking this amount of time
This is why it's taking so much time
We have to be very careful at interpreting those things and saying this is what god is doing when he hasn't revealed that to us
We're not omnipotent are we?
We're not all knowing are we?
We're not able to see into the future and process every possibility of what could possibly be happening
Why and that's why we can't make definitive declarations on things that we don't have knowledge of
You see we can't when addressing the what and the why or the when of what god is or isn't doing in our definitive declaration
We can't declare this is exactly why god is doing this or this is what it means because we don't know
We have limited information. We have limited wisdom the danger of definitive declaration without god confirming that that is indeed
What has taken place is that we go on to then make bad decisions based upon our limited knowledge
And this is what we see hagar doing or hagar sarai doing here
Her decision is well god gave my decision
gave my husband a promise
That there's going to be a child of his own body. That's going to be resulting in nations
Her conclusion is i'm definitely not it
The clock is ticking for both of us
So let's do this thing that we're going to see was very acceptable in their culture this thing that should work according to our own wisdom
This is where sarai's at and then the question is well, how did that work out for her?
We're going to see that in a moment
But I want to address this thing here too in verse two where it says abram agreed to what sarai said
Now typically in interpretations of this story, um abram gets a really bad rap from things here. He's
Looked at as a pig. He's looked at as a cheat
He's looked at at all these things and we're gonna walk through some of that here, but it says abram agreed
He didn't just agree with oh what I get to sleep with your servants. Sweet. I'm in
What he agreed with
Is what she said the lord?
Has prevented my wife from having children
He agreed with her conclusion
That wasn't based on god's revelation wasn't based on god's word
It was just simply their own idea he agreed with that and then yeah
He agreed with the plan to to have a child through hagar, but god had not spoken to him about that either
However in his culture
We have to understand how he might rationalize this not to justify it
But just to understand his state of mind if you go back to all the times god had promised him a son
Not one single time has god said at this point that sarai would be the mother
not one time
Now sure we can assume from our cultural lens and our perspective that of course
He would assume it's his wife sarai because come on a married man is not going to have a child with anybody or sure
With anybody or shouldn't have a child with anybody but his wife
And from our context we go of course that makes sense
But in their cultural context, there's some details that make that assumption
Not so sure
You see in those times
There was a practice that is well documented through archaeological discoveries
There was this place in northern iraq called newsy
It's this little village up there that's circled in in red that they have done a lot of archaeological digs
And what they have found there is these things called the newsy tablets
These tablets are records of laws and legal practice and I know it just looks like meat at the taco stand
But it's it's actually a tablet with cuneiform writing on it and on tablet number 47
They have identified through translation of this that it was a very common and a very legal and and just normal
acceptable practice that
When there was a wife who was barren
The way you would come up with or come up with uh get an heir for the family
Was that you would have another woman whether it was a servant or a slave
But that other woman would be a surrogate in place of the barren wife
And that surrogate then would give birth to a child and that child would be considered the child of the barren wife
And this was all around heirs and passing on the family name and the family line and the family assets and but
The reason I share that is to understand that in those days in in abram's context
This process is not some wacko idea that we're just going. Whoa, that's weird. Why would a wife do that?
It was normal
It was common
It wasn't only just accepted. It was actually legally defined as an acceptable way to bear an heir
So the idea of this is when abram agreed to this plan that sarai came up with it seemed to check a lot of boxes
Now, of course, there's all kinds of objections to these things and i'm gonna postulate a couple things here that might not be popular
So hear me out before you leave
But some people when we look at this story we go but but god had already defined marriage in the garden right one man one woman one flesh
So therefore abram knew he was doing something wrong here
Well that relies on a pretty significant assumption that abram knew that
You see we know abram grew up in ur
He was a shemite
but we know he grew up in this place with pagan gods and had the temple the ziggurat with the
temple the nana at the top and in this culture this concept of
surrogates for barren wife
In abram's time had already been in practice for a very long time
And so to go he knew he was doing something wrong and therefore he knew he was being disobedient to god because of the genesis two marriage definition
That's an assumption
But as much as we could assume he knew that we could also assume he didn't because of his cultural context now again
I'm not trying to justify what abram did here. Okay, follow me
And hopefully nobody has like fruit
They want to throw at me when we get through this the other objection is but the law said the law was very clear
Well, the law didn't exist yet. Right the law didn't come till moses's time 430 years later. And so
There was no law for him to go back to and say oh, yeah, I knew this was a bad practice
And then again, we know from our perspective we know from this side of the new testament we know
With god's word and everything that yes, this was truly indeed a violation
Of the marriage covenant according to how god intended things to be absolutely i'm not i'm not disputing that fact
But based on that we go abram new he's he's a sinner. He's disobedient. We can't make that assumption
because
Would he have known that in his time and his cultural context?
Through the lens of of what god had done
In his time and his cultural context through the lens of of what god had already revealed to him through the lens of what he knew about god
Remember this was a new god to him that he had just recently been introduced to a couple decades earlier
and was still learning who he was and in and all of that and so
Would he have known that I believe there's a case to say that he did not know that he was sinning
He wouldn't have considered it sin in his cult in his culture wife wouldn't have considered it sin
He said hey
Here's this normal legal practice to solve our problem
now
Before we move on the bible is very clear
That committing sin that you don't know is sin is still sin
Okay
So yes from our lens abram sinned here
The point i'm making is did he do it deliberately did he know he was doing it and I believe there's a case to say no
He didn't
so verse three
Abrahm's wife sarai took hagar her egyptian slave gave her to her husband abram as a wife for him
that word wife there is very interesting because
Normally or at least what I what I see in most cases is people go. Oh she gave him to him as a concubine, right?
That is not the word that is used here for wife the word used here for wife is isha. Guess what it means
wife
Not concubine
So what happens is sarai?
gave her to her husband as
wife number two
again, not a practice that god intended but it was a practice that was
Normal through through many many years. We see that with solomon and david and others
So she gives her to her husband as a wife and says this happened after abram lived in the land of cain in 10 years
He slept with hagar and she became pregnant
The reason i'm pointing all this out is there's this
Abrahm's motivation sarai's motivation
You know was it sin was it not sin did they know was it intentional not intentional?
I really don't believe that this is what this story is about
So what do we what do we learn from what's going on here why is it in god's word
Well when we're studying god's word it is often a very good
Appropriate practice to kind of try and really understand what's going on here
It is often a very good appropriate practice to kind of try and read between the lines, right?
You try and grab details and put things together and try try to figure out what is going on
But a lot of times in doing that we make assumptions
About what is happening. We make assumptions about motivations
And so what I do and I encourage all of us to do in our study is primarily lean on what is said in the word
Or not said in the word first
Before we start filling in gaps with assumptions, right?
So what we have here is no indication that Abrahm knew he was doing wrong
No indication that sarai knew she was doing wrong
No indication that they were being blatantly disobedient
Not even any indication that they were like hey we're we're gonna do something that is just
Because we want to do it right
What we have here is just the fact that it was done
But one of the practices to figure out this kind of stuff is you go to the rest of scripture
And you say is there anywhere else in scripture that this story is referenced that we might glean the purpose from it
And good news it is in Galatians chapter 4
In Galatians 4 Paul is writing to the Galatians
Defending the fact that faith simple belief is what allows us to be heirs of the promise
Not following the law, right?
That is the argument Paul is doing in Galatians 4 and he says this in Galatians 4 21
Tell me you who want to be under the law
Don't you hear the law?
For it is written that Abram had two sons one by a slave and the other by a free woman
But the one by the slave was born as a result of the flesh while the one by the free woman was born through promise
And what he goes on to say in that chapter
Is that this woman Hagar and the son she gives birth to which we're going to deal with with that side of the story next week in detail
But she gives birth to a son named Ishmael
And Paul is saying that she represents the law
She represents Mount Sinai
She represents the the rules everybody wanted
Give me the rules so that I can work on my own to prove that I'm a righteous person, right?
That's what the law was for people
And then he goes Sarah, I'm going to give you the law
And then he goes Sarah represents the promise
That God did a thing because he said he was going to do a thing and the people who believed in it just simply believed in it
right
So when we look at that we see this phrase here that by the one but the one by it was born of the slave was a result
of the flesh
The flesh there means human nature
That Hagar gave birth to a son as a result of human nature
Now in the context of all of that we go what is human nature in the context of God?
What is human nature in the context of Bible?
What is human nature in the context of salvation and God's promises and ultimately what the promise to Abram and his son and his offspring?
What is that all about?
Well human nature in that context is our desire to achieve righteousness
Through our own works, right?
We want to earn it
That was kind of part of the reason of the law
Great try to earn it and so over centuries
You'll learn you can't
That's human nature to say God
I don't want to rely on you
I'm going to do it on my own
I'm going to earn it now God had promised that Abram's offspring
Back in Genesis 2
Chapter 2 that it would eventually lead to the Messiah and the Messiah would come and then live and die and that would lead to salvation through those who put their faith in him
However the Hagar situation the plan with Hagar according to Galatians in the context of the law is simply saying that it was a human work intended to achieve God's promise
That's what the story is about
This story is Abram waiting on the Lord
Sarai waiting on the Lord
God you told me something you gave me a promise
But it's taking a long time
In my understanding I'm seeing that it's going to become impossible according to my understanding for you to fulfill your promise
So let me start to come up with human plans and human works so that your promise is fulfilled through that
That's what the story is about
In fact in the very next chapter
Chapter 17 when God visits Abram
About 15 years later they still have no son of the promise
Sarai is still barren
This is what God says and it seems to support this interpretation of this passage in Genesis 16
This is what it says in Chapter 17
When Abram was 99 years old
So 14, 15 years later the Lord appeared to him
This is what he said
I am the God Almighty
Live in my presence and be blameless
I will set up my covenant between me and you
And I will multiply you greatly
Then Abram fell face down and God spoke to him
As for me, here is my covenant with you
You will become the father of many nations
Your name will no longer be Abram
But it will be Abraham
For I will make you a father of many nations
I will make you a father of many nations
I will make you extremely fruitful
And I will make nations and kings come from you
I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations
It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you
And to you and your future offspring
I will give the land where you were residing
All the land of Canaan as a permanent possession
And I will be their God
Do you see the emphasis?
What is God saying to Abram in Genesis 17, 15 years after this Hagar incident?
I'm the one who is going to bring the promise through
I'm the one that is going to fulfill the covenant I made with myself
It's not through your works
It's not through your plans
I don't need your help
I didn't tell you to go get a servant girl
I didn't tell you
I told you what I'm going to do
And you were to wait until I did it
Regardless of how impossible it looked
Regardless of how long it took
That's what God is saying here in Genesis 17
And I believe it then supports the interpretation of 16
That it's not about whether he sinned or didn't
We can infer that
It's not about whether they had doubt in God
We can infer that
But what the story itself is about is
Let's look at the fruit of trying to add our human work to God's promises
Let's look at the fruit of what happens when we try to add our efforts to make God promises come through
Let's see what happens when we have God's word
And then we get to this point and we say, well, God hasn't given me his word yet
Let me try and figure it out on my own
What is he saying to us today through this story?
He's reminding us that my promises, my word to you, what I've spoken in your life
Either through my Bible or through personal revelation
Or maybe somebody has spoken prophecy to you
My word, my promise
It won't be through your work
It won't be through your effort
There is no human effort that will contribute to my promise outside of what I have told you to do
Today when we see the promise fulfilled in our world
Which ultimately was the salvation of mankind
It's accomplished by God in his time, in his way
Through faith in Jesus Christ who already came
He was the offspring of the promise
He was the one that was being spoken about
And he's alive today because he resurrected from the grave
The Bible tells us he sits at the right hand of the Father
And Jesus himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life
So the ultimate result of the promise was through God and God alone
God has been trying to get us to understand that from the very beginning
Stop trying to help me
I'm God, you're not
Stop disbelieving in me, I'm God, you're not
I've spoken, believe that
Well God, it's been a long time, really?
It hasn't even been one day for me
Well, okay Lord
Sarai's plan was whether she knew it or not
She was trying to bring God's promise through the line of Ham
And it was supposed to come through the line of Shem
Remember Noah, he blessed Shem
Abram and Sarai were both of the line of Shem
But it tells us very clearly here so we don't miss the point
Hagar, the Egyptian slave
Ham was the son of Noah that the Egyptians came through
So Sarah's thinking, this is probably a good plan
Abram going, makes sense
Was trying to bring the promise through the line that God did not promise
The promise would come from
Did that make sense?
Yeah, okay
So in this story, at the very least
Abram, after evaluating everything
Hearing his wife's plan
Thinking about timing and all this stuff
At the very least with his limited human understanding
He simply agreed with his wife that it was a good idea
Although God had not directed them as such
Nor would God ever direct as such, why?
Because God had already told us what his plan was for marriage
One man, one woman, one flesh
This whole concubines and stuff, that was never God's plan
When we get to the New Testament
Jesus has to tell them all over the place
Look, it wasn't God's intention that this is how marriage would be
This is how divorce would be
You guys went out in the left field with that
But that was not God's intention
Now when we go back to Genesis 16
We could then conclude
That the story isn't addressing whether or not it was sin, like I said
So don't get caught up in that is what I'm saying
Did Abraham sin?
Yes, I believe he did, okay, so nobody get mad at me here
But did he know that? I don't believe so
What this story is simply showing us is the fruit of trying to achieve God's promises through own work
What is that fruit? Let's look at verse 4
When she saw that she was pregnant, speaking of Hagar
Her mistress, speaking of Sarai, became contemptible to her
Then Sarai said to Abram, you are responsible for my suffering
I put my slave in your arms and when she saw that she was pregnant
I became contemptible to her, may the Lord judge between me and you
This is the moment where you go, oof, bad stuff, right?
The fruit of this plan that made sense
The fruit of this plan that's like, well it's a common legal practice and families have been continued on
Yeah, the fruit of this, domestic upheaval
To state the reverse of the phrase, unhappy wife, unhappy life
Right?
Even though it was the plan, Hagar becoming pregnant was the worst possible thing for Sarai
Why?
Because it proved, if there was any question
That it was indeed her that was the problem with the baby making process
Right?
If she had any doubt, well maybe it's Abram's fault too, right?
Maybe it's not all me, well nope, you can't say that anymore
Because Hagar got pregnant
And then Hagar getting pregnant in this type of situation
Even though she was raised to the status of a wife, she was still wife number two
And in this situation though, everybody's going to be like, maybe she should be wife number one
I mean she has greater status now, she's the one that is more blessed than Sarai
She's the one that's going to provide for Abram what Sarai couldn't provide
And then we see Hagar got very prideful about all that
Says she considered Sarai contemptible
That word contemptible means that Hagar was looking at Sarai as worthless
Beneath her, useless
And was treating her as such
Hagar began to believe that she indeed was the better wife
Because she was the one that could actually provide the blessing
And I say this with great care and carefulness
And ladies I have experienced in my life
When ladies are mad at other ladies
And the snarkiness that can be there
And the supernatural ability to hold a grudge for 75 years
Because she looked at me that one time in junior high
I've seen that, guys we're stupid too
It's just the grudging
So as I'm reading this I can imagine the haughty side eyes that Hagar's given to Sarai
Walking around the room holding her belly
Squeezing by Sarai, oh I'm sorry my pregnant belly got in the way
Just being mean and snarky about this
But it's Sarai's wrong conclusion about how or what God was doing
That led to this bad decision
God didn't say hey I'm going to bring the son of the promise through this
It was her own limited wisdom
It was the it's been a long time
It was the we got to do something here God's not acting
God why are you waiting so long here? Here's what I think will work
Could Sarai or Abram look into the future and see how Hagar was going to respond?
No, but who could? God
Did they know that this whole situation and this haughtiness and this contempt of
Did they know that was going to happen?
Obviously there wasn't reason for them to think so because Sarai said Hagar she's the one
Again assumptions maybe Hagar was a good servant
Maybe she was sweet and compliant and maybe she thought
Well, no, of course, she's going to do this to bless me. She loves me. She's my servant
But they didn't know that this would happen because they can't see the future
This is why it's good to wait on the Lord
And trust his promises and then wait some more
This is why it's good to not try to guess what God is or isn't doing or why he's doing it
But simply to take what he has said to you and go cool. I'm going to act on that and wait on everything else
Until God speaks and then go cool. Now I'm going to act on that but I'm going to wait for those other things
If God has given you a word and hasn't told you when
Guess what? You don't need to know when yet
And that also means don't try and make it happen because God hasn't told you when
Now if God has given you a word and then he says I want you to do this do that but nothing else
Don't try and rush the process. Don't try and act hastily in the process because when we add our plan B to God's plan A
The results are never what we expect
Like I said, I'm sure Sarah I thought this is going to be great
My husband's going to be blessed. I'll have the baby
Hagar will just be blessed being a part of the process. Wow. And then boom all this stuff
Unforeseen consequences
And yeah what we're seeing here from Sarah now is this phrase that a lot of you have heard
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, right?
You are responsible
Now on behalf of every man in this room
What?
Excuse me?
And I know every man in the room right now is going don't say anything Abram
Don't respond bro. Why? Because we know that it's something very important that we've all been to before
It's a trap, right?
Don't speak Abram. Just smile and nod
Now logically yes
Sarah is wrong to put all the blame on Abram because it was her idea
Like this is just like how can you blame me for your plan?
Logically, biblically however
Abram is the head of the household
Abram is the one God spoke to not her
Abram is the one that should have never allowed this to happen
Abram is the one that should have went
Let me go talk to God about that
But he did none of those things
He didn't go talk to God. He didn't take her aside and go honey look I understand
The barrenness and I'm with you and I'm here and yeah my heart hurts too but
God didn't tell us to go do this Hagar thing so we gotta wait and yeah I know
We're done. We can't have kids anymore but guess what God right?
That's what he should have done as a spiritual leader in his household
Because his job was to protect her even from her own emotions
But he didn't do that did he? Look at verse 6
Abram replied to Sarai
Said here your slave is in your power do whatever you want with her
Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her
So Sarai's plan now has resulted in pride and discord and anger and fights
And just dismissive authority by her husband
Dismissive avoidance I don't want to deal with it
It's your problem, your idea, you deal with it
Well Abram bro that's not how you're supposed to handle this either
Like what an epic fail on his part
It's your problem you deal with it
No you're the man, you're the husband
You get involved, you lead but he didn't
Now do you think Sarai was expecting pride and discord and anger and fights
And dismissive avoidance by her husband when she came up with this plan?
Not at all
But those are the unforeseen circumstances that come up when we try to get ahead of what God is doing
Now next week we're going to look at the extended fallout from all of this as Hagar flees from Sarai
You know because when it says Sarai mistreated her so much
There's a possible indication there of domestic violence
And we're going to look at that and see what that all is about
And what God does to then step in and redeem the situation
And really how God steps in and redeems our failed efforts at helping him out with his plans when he hasn't asked us to
But I wanted to stop there because today we're going to be sharing in communion together
And really the backdrop of this story as we've gone through today really does lend itself to communion in a very beautiful way
Because as I've said earlier, God has from the very beginning been trying to get us to understand
It's him, it's his work, it's his way, it's his time
Every time we get involved when he didn't say so we mess it up
Every time
And so he's also trying to tell us that look, it's human effort and human works will never be the means through which God's promises come
Unless he's told us to be involved in certain ways
But in the big picture of his promise, human works will never be the means through which we earn God's forgiveness and become inheritors of the promise
And this story is a picture of that
Now does God then bless Hagar and bless Ishmael?
Yeah, he does
Does Ishmael then get circumcised and he's a part of the family covenant of circumcision?
Yes, he is, but he's not the line that God brought the promise through
And then of course it's really easy to look today as Ishmael is the father of all the Arab nations
And Ishmael and Isaac, who's the father of all the Jewish nations, they've been fighting ever since
And they will be until the very end
Talk about an unforeseen circumstance
But when we understand that it's God who did the work, God who initiates the work, God is the one who secured our salvation
God is the one who follows through and fulfills his promises when he makes them because he is true and he is wise
God is the one who fulfills his promises in the word, God is the one who fulfills his word to us
The word he gives to us in our private own revelation or prophecy or whatever
He's the one that fulfills it and we as people, as fallen weak people, even post-salvation when we've come to the place of saying
God, I believe you, it's your work, I put my faith in you
We still get so easily caught up in worry and anxiety and in fear and impatience with God
Impatience when we're waiting on God and waiting on his promises
And it seems like no matter how many times we get steamrolled by the effects and the unforeseen consequences of us trying to get involved
We still somehow manage to convince ourselves that next time I introduce my plans to God's gaps
That I'm gonna account for everything
And next time, steamrolled again
I can't help but to see our Lord as communion we're celebrating his death on the cross
I can't help but to see him, our Savior Jesus, God the Son, hanging there on the cross, bleeding and pierced
Looking up to the Lord and saying, Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing
Looking down at us, looking lovingly into our eyes and saying, let me handle it for you
I did handle it for you, I am handling it for you, trust me
Stop trying to earn, stop trying to accomplish what I've promised you through your own work
Stop trying to do the things that I haven't told you to do because you think they're a good idea
I am the only one that can see all the possibilities of infiniteness and go, no this is the only right decision I have for you
As God tells us as my child that have been purchased, I've purchased you with my blood, don't rush
Don't act hastily, just rest, wait, have faith and have patience
Because the lesson is again what the lesson always is, that the best way every single time is his way and his way alone
That's with salvation of course, but that's with every promise he's given us
That's with every word in his word and every revelation, his way
His timing is the best and it's only his way that brings us to and keeps us on the path of peace
You want to reduce domestic upheaval? Do things God's way
You want to reduce fights? Do things God's way
You want to reduce pride and anger and all that stuff? Do things God's way
Are you still involved? Yes. Are we the problem? Yes
But if we stay close to God and keep doing things his way and just following his word and trusting and waiting to be impatient on what we don't know
God works, God accomplishes, God has his will be done
And so if God has spoken something to you today this morning
Whether through his word, personal revelation, prophecy, whatever it is, God has spoken something to you
Maybe it was recent, maybe it was a long time ago and it hasn't happened yet
And you've been racking your brain over the years, well what if I do this, what if I do this, do I need to do that
God let me know and you're getting all wrapped up and trying to figure it out
And you're being beat up and consumed with the question of when, God
Wait until he speaks
Isaiah 28 16 again because the one who believes will be unshakable
The one who believes will not act hastily, the one who believes will not rush
Because we believe in the one who knows all things and could rest at complete contentedness
Because he knows all things, because he's already proven he's going to accomplish all things for us that we could wait
And rest until he tells us what the next step is, amen? Let's pray
Father, we love you so much God and as we move into communion this morning, God
We do this in remembrance of you
God your word told us that when we gather we do this to remember you and what you did for us, Lord
And God even in Galatians as you were talking about this story between Abram and Sarai
You asked the question, God, that if faith is the only thing that matters then what was the purpose of the law?
And Lord you told us there that the purpose of that law was to be a guardian, a schoolmaster, Lord
That God without you humanity devolved into evil all the time and you had to wipe the earth out in the flood, God
We still have that same capacity within us to devolve into selfishness and all that
And that is ultimately what is behind our own wisdom and our own plans
And yet, Lord, you gave the law to Israel that they would have to continually come back and remind themselves that they're sinners
Every time that animal is slaughtered it's because I'm a sinner
And Lord you did that to keep reminding them to keep bringing them back to you so they wouldn't devolve back into what humanity was before the flood
And that was in place, Lord, until you came
And Lord when you came we know your word told us that you were the final sacrifice, the once for all sacrifice
And that it was finally clear to some that God it wasn't about our work, our hands, our efforts
Salvation, heaven, eternity, a relationship with you is simply about believing in you
Obeying when you speak and waiting when you don't
So Lord bless us today as we remember you as we partake in communion, God
As one body united together understanding that we are all covered by the blood of Christ
And that Lord you are God to every single one of us
We love you, we thank you for everything, Lord
It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen