All posts for the month March, 2025

Genesis 21 – Sermon Manuscript

-A common proverb today is: “Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.” I apologize to anyone who’s not a Millennial, but I immediately thought of a movie that came out in 2003 (remake of a 1976 film), called ‘Freaky Friday’ 

-If you haven’t seen it, it’s a story about a mom and teenage daughter who aren’t getting along, they fight all the time, have a lot of resent between them, and one day they wake up having switched bodies. One of the best moments is the day they wake up, and Jamie Lee Curtis runs to the mirror and screams “I’m old!” And I’ll be honest, that gets less funny each year! Part of the reason this has been on my mind, is if you hadn’t heard, Freakier Friday is coming out this summer. I know fashion is cyclical, but this is one I didn’t expect a sequel to!

-We’re continuing to follow the life of Abraham, and what this story does is somewhat allow us to walk a mile in his shoes. We’ve seen the ups and downs, Abraham as the hero and Abraham as the villain. People are complex, aren’t they? That’s one of the reasons I love the Bible – it doesn’t sanitize the stories!

READ/PRAY

  1. The Child of Promise (1-7)

-The first thing I want us to notice is who’s doing the acting here? After last week where Abraham doesn’t even acknowledge the one true God, suddenly the first word in this chapter is Yahweh. We’re once again struck with the way God continually upholds His end of the covenant, despite Abraham’s unfaithfulness. This first verse is just between Sarah and the Lord, and remember how Sarah responded to the Lord’s promises to provide a child? Laughter! And how does God respond? Faithfulness, steadfastness.

-The first word in this communicates something to us: who’s in charge of this process? Not Abraham, not Sarah, the Lord. God is orchestrating all these events at just the right time.

-This is one of the main things I hope you take away from this whole series: your life begins and ends the same way this chapter begins: the Lord comes. In fact, I would argue that this is one of the predominant themes throughout the entire Bible: God living and dwelling with His people. 

-Micah just did a brief teaching on this idea at a school this week, but Scripture traces the idea of a temple from cover to cover, the temple is the place where God can live with His people. Eden is created as a temple where Adam & Eve live together with God in perfect harmony, then when that union is broken through sin, there’s only division unless God intervenes, which He does again and again. The ark is built as a temple where God’s creation is saved from the wrath to come, Abraham repeatedly builds altars to the Lord, which serve as a temple. He’s promised a land where God’s people will live in prosperity, where God will dwell with them, and in that land a literal temple will be built where God will live with His people, and then the best part of this story is that God Himself comes into time and space and becomes the means by which a physical building is no longer required to be right with God. We’ll be celebrating that reality in just a few weeks with Easter – the temple who became flesh died and rose again, allowing outposts of God’s temple to be spread across the entire world! We as Christians are now called temples of God. What a glorious picture, beginning all the way back here with Abraham. Our stories can now look like this, where we’ve refused to acknowledge God, God meets us, fulfills all His promises, and makes us His temples forever.

-This time, Abraham is obedient to the Lord’s command. God had told Abraham what the child would be named and what the timing of circumcision was supposed to be for all his descendants. 

-And what’s most amazing is Abraham’s age: 100. Think back to the first sermon in this series from Gen. 12, when did God first come to Abraham? 75. Abraham had been waiting this entire time for this promised son. Do you think you could wait that long? 

-Once again, the theme of laughter appears. Remember I told you a few weeks ago to keep the idea of laughter in mind, because it was going to serve as a minor theme moving forward, all that laughter has built up to today. Isaac’s name will be a reminder of the laugher and joy of the Lord’s provision for His people! But as we know, there’s more people involved in this story.

  • The Child of Flesh (8-21)

-Another theme we’re supposed to trace through the story of Scripture is 2 lines who are opposed to each other: the line of a women and the line of a serpent. After the fall in Gen. 3 God promises that there will be continual fighting between the family of the women and the family of the serpent, and this continues all the way to the end where a giant serpent (actually a dragon) is still trying to fight against the woman. Kids, ask your parents about that story, it’s in the last book in the Bible, Revelation! This story also has a comparison between 2 lines, but it begins as Isaac grows.

-Abraham throws a great feast on the day Isaac is weaned (other ancient documents state this takes place at 3 years old). Why throw a party?

-It was a miracle to make it to 3 years! Many children died very young, remember they didn’t have the same medical advancements we take for granted today! Things that we have medicine for could have been a death sentence here.

-One of the fascinating things about this account is Ishmael is never mentioned by name in this story, first referred to here as “the son,” 

-We’re supposed to begin contrasting these 2 boys: one son of the promise and one son of the flesh. What does this son of the flesh do? Our translation says mocking, the word is the same as has been used repeatedly in this story for laughing, but a different kind of laughing, you can laugh WITH someone or you can laugh AT someone, these have 2 different implications.

-“Drive out” used in Gen. 3:24, 4:14 (Cain) Sarah is pushing here for the disinheritance of Ishmael, forcing him away from Abraham

-Last time, Sarah drove her away by mistreating her, this time she’s making Abraham do it, which is difficult for him because it’s his son. 

-God reconfirms His commitment to Abraham, even to his illegitimate son. God’s promises are far beyond what we could ever imagine! Even though Abraham took matters into his own hands, God will still bless Abraham’s line.

-It seems that Abraham is a morning guy, we saw him up early after S&G, he’ll be getting up early again in next week’s chapter, but I also think that this is demonstrating the similarities between the 2 sons of Abraham (come back next week for more!)

-Hagar and Ishmael are sent off, and I want you to notice how Hagar responds through the rest of this story, because I think it’s a warning for us to not become immune to the way the Lord is working. 

-First, she wanders away from Abraham. Who has been blessed by the Lord and promised to bless everyone else?

-Then she leaves her son, doesn’t look to take care of him, she’s more worried about herself. Don’t want to be too hard on her because I can’t imagine losing a child, but we’re going to see Abraham do the opposite next week when he offers up Issac to the Lord.

-She weeps, but not to anyone in particular, because look at vs. 17, who does God hear? Ishmael, but God talks to Hagar. How many times does God need to appear to Hagar for her to begin trusting in Him? 

-And how many times do we need to hear God’s promises before we start to believe them? Friends, this is why it’s so important to come to church every week! The point of us gathering isn’t just to see your friends, it’s to help us remember God’s promises. I heard a description I really liked of the way many people view church: we come to church to get our weekly steroid shot to get me through the week, but the point of church is to be reminded who God is and then see His Spirit transform us to become more like Him. All week, our gaze is continually pointed back to ourselves, we need this weekly reminder to keep our gaze fixed on Jesus.

-After promising to bless Ishmael, God opens Hagar’s eyes so she sees that she was right near a well so Ishmael is saved, and then blessed. And where does she go to find a wife for him? Back to her homeland. Once again, she’s not trying to stick close to the blessed man, not trying to follow the God who continually provides for her.

-The place that had been his banishment becomes the place where Ishmael creates his life. He settles in the wilderness, creating his home and life there, but still apart from the blessed one – his Father Abraham. Now the Ishmaelites (descendants of Ishmael) come up again throughout this story, particularly in relation to Joseph, who is pulled up from a well and sold to Ishmaelites on the way to Egypt (which becomes the means by which God saves the people of Israel). Then the conclusion of this book (I would argue) is found on the lips of Joseph who says: Gen. 50:20.

-I want all of you today to realize that nothing can change God’s love for you, His commitment to you, and His desire for you to live right! You’re never too far gone, you’re never too sinful, and the Bible promises us that nothing can ever separate us from His love. God demonstrates this reality over and over and over throughout the pages of the Bible, through all of history, and all the way down to today! If you want to hear how God continues working today, just find someone who’s been a believer for more than a year and ask them to tell you how God has provided for them, in most cases THROUGH being a part of a church

-I had 2 opportunities this week to reflect on this reality in my own life (sorry, but I’m up here which means you get my stories). 

-First was I was asked to record a brief video of someone who mentored me in some significant way. When I started preaching every week (2019) a preaching professor agreed to mentor me for a few months and completely changed everything about my preaching. I’d preached a handful of times before that, I’d done a preaching cohort in college and then a preaching class in seminary, but none of that affected me the same way someone intentionally pouring into me over a 3-month period.

-Second reminder was from a class I’m taking this next week where the pre-class assignment is to write a paper on your philanthropic memories throughout your life. One of the most significant came after my freshman year of college. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but college is EXPENSIVE! In order to pay for college, I did manual labor: painting and remodeling, and made decent money doing it! But this summer I also had the opportunity to do an internship at my home church (Northfield EFC) but the church didn’t pay as well as my other job, so I hoped God would provide some way for me to go back to college. At the end of the summer, the church took a love offering and it more than made up the difference, allowing me to continue in college! 

-Friends, God always follows through, always keeps His promises, and always brings about good for His children, even when or as the world falls apart around us. I can guarantee that God will be faithful even when you’re not. Which is where this story goes next:

  • The Child of God (22-34)

-Back to Abimelech, the guy who had taken Sarah into his harem. But last time it looked like Abraham was the one needing something from Abimelech, this time their relationship is reversed: Abimelech is needing something from Abraham.

-Abimelech is looking for a commitment from Abraham to him and his children to ensure they’ll endure even as Abraham endures. Since Abraham is living nearby he’s essentially looking for a peace treaty.

-Yet apparently there’s been an issue: a well Abraham had dug was overtaken by Abimelech’s servants. A small spat between friends, but not something to interfere with their commitment to each other.

-Where Abimelech had previously blessed Abraham, now Abraham returns by blessing him. Think of what God said he’d do: bless Abraham, so that those who bless him would be blessed. What are we seeing with Abimelech is that very promise coming true. Covenant being enacted (similar to what we saw with the covenant between God and Abraham, this time it’s between these 2 men), but 7 ewes are pulled out.

-7 ewes as a special gift to solidify the ownership of the well. It doesn’t say why 7 ewes, doesn’t tell us the significance of this act, just that part of their pact between each other comes from these sheep! Which leads to:

-Called Beer-sheba: literal translation is “well of 7” referring to the ewes, but the Hebrew word for seven and oath is the same, so intentional play on words, by calling it Beer-sheba they’re emphasizing their oath to each other, demonstrated through the gift of these 7 sheep. Every time someone refers to this place, they’d be reminded of their oath to each other!

-Abimelech leaves, and Abraham plants a tree, potentially pointing back to the place where the Lord had previously met with Abraham: under the oaks of Mamre. We’ve seen Abraham near trees at multiple significant moments in his life, connected to where Abraham meets the Lord (Gen 12:6 Abram goes to the oak of Moreh, Gen. 13:18 moves to the oaks of Mamre of Hebron, Gen. 18 Abraham is at the same oaks when the 3 visitors come, here he’s building a tree). And I would argue this is continuing the temple theme from the garden (or if you remember our series on Gen. 1-11, better to call it an orchard) of Eden. Perhaps pointing back to the original garden when Adam and Eve lived in perfect union with God.

-He’s once again calling on the name of the 1 true God, the everlasting God. Abraham’s life in Beer-sheba becomes marked by worship, by walking with God, but it hasn’t all been smooth sailing, has it? Very high highs, very low lows, does that ever sound like your life as you look back over it?

-How do you think Abraham would feel if he knew we were talking about his life 4,000 years later? And not just talking about his life, talking about every aspect of his life! The times where he was faithful, AND the times where he was faithless.

-I think the primary thing we should take away from this story is summarized well by Paul in 1 Cor. 6. He begins this little section by talking about who won’t be a part of God’s kingdom, and it’s terrible stuff! Stuff that every Christian knows to avoid. But he doesn’t stop there, in vs. 11 he says: some of you did this! 

-We tend to only see and share the sanitized parts to our story and gloss over or dismiss the negative parts, but friends just as we’ve seen in Abraham’s story, God takes the broken pieces of your life and redeems them. 

-Share your story! 

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by mikethestrand on March 30, 2025  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Sermon, Worship
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Posted by mikethestrand on March 30, 2025

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2025/03/30/genesis-21-sermon-manuscript/

Genesis 20 – Sermon Manuscript

-About 10 years ago a guy went viral at a Gophers hockey game. If you’ve never been to a sporting event, they do all sorts of random activities to keep the crowd engaged. Took the kids to a Timberwolves game this weekend, and Ellie LOVED the halftime show: it was dancing. What we see as commercial breaks at home are times they do activities to distract you from becoming bored. One of the activities they used to do (I haven’t seen it in a while) is a “kiss cam” where they’ll pick couples out from the crowd, show them on the big screen with the expectation that they’ll kiss. This guy got on the screen, and pulled out this sign:

-Yes, he was there on valentine’s day with his sister. And he made the sign just in case this happened! This is a picture of what Abraham does in today’s text.

READ/PRAY

  1. Sister-Wife (1-2)

-Parallels between previous account(s) – both Lot and Abraham failing to protect the women in their lives

-Last time was Gen. 12, where Abraham fled the land because of a famine, this time there’s no famine, Abraham just continues his nomadic ways

-Last time, he at least admitting how beautiful his wife was, this time he just says she’s his sister, doing exactly what the guy at the hockey game did!

-But things didn’t go as well for Pharoah. Severe plagues strike the house, Pharoah confronts Abraham about this and sends him on his way. Yet as we’re going to see in today’s passage, apparently this was a routine in Abraham’s life in this season.

-Location of Abraham’s travels: Negev (south), scholars think Gerar west of Beersheba, Sodom and Gomorrah on the east side of Dead Sea, Mamre on the west side

-And he’s back to his old lying ways! Apparently Sarah still has some looks to her (that either Abraham has grown used to or assumes) because the king takes her into his harem, and he assumes everything is going to be just fine!

-Remember something I said toward the beginning of this series: this was a BRUTAL time period to live! It was completely a dog-eat-dog world where whoever was the strongest always won. There wasn’t such a thing as “human rights.” I read a fascinating article this week from Tom Holland, a British historian and one of the hosts of The Rest is History podcast, who grew up attending church, but didn’t really find Christianity stimulating enough (at least compared to dinosaurs, Greeks, and Romans), so he became at atheist. This article is almost 10 years old now, and Tom, who is an expert on Roman history, finally realized that the entire world we take for granted today is built on the foundation of Christianity, so without Christianity the entire Western world doesn’t make any sense. He wrote an entire book about this topic called Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. He says that Christianity has so embedded itself in the Western world that it is thoroughly Christian, even though it doesn’t admit or realize that. Another author, Glen Scrivener (Aussie who now lives in England), has picked up on this idea and says the world today is trying to build castles in the air. The foundation for our entire civilization is built on the understandings and ethics of Christianity, without admitting or understanding that. And many people in our world are starting to wake up to that reality! 

-And part of the reason I bring this up is because it’s something we need to keep in mind as we engage our friends, neighbors, and coworkers who don’t know the Lord (or you if you think this stuff makes no sense). The world apart from Jesus is a brutal place, it literally is survival of the fittest. But Jesus’ arrival changed all of that so that now we actually view humans as worthy of dignity, care for the poor and marginalized is a virtue, not a vice, men and women are equal in value. Those don’t come from secularism, those come from the pages of the Bible. And they’ve become such the norm in the world today that we take them for granted. But friends, use this reality as an evangelistic opportunity!

-I said all of that to make the point that Abraham’s concern is legit. If you have a beautiful wife, others may be tempted to kill him to take his wife as their own, and there would be no stopping them. So Abraham (and apparently Sarah is ok with it) offers an alternative story to cover himself: Sarah’s his sister, and we’ll get to the rest of that at the end of this story because it’s not a complete lie, it’s just not the whole truth.

-And just like last time, there are consequences to this decision:

  • God Confronts Abimelech (3-7)

-Remember that the primary person throughout this story is Abraham, but this story then shifts to focus on what happens to Abimelech after he takes Sarah into his harem. This is the first time God appears in this story, and it’s not to Abraham.

-Remember what happened in last week’s story? In the midst of the destruction of S&G, who talked to the Lord face to face? Abraham. Yet even Abraham isn’t always the one to whom God appears. God acts on behalf of Abraham and even will appear to an idolatrous king to ensure Abraham is protected and being obedient.

-And notice how God appears to this king: in a dream. Does God meet people in dreams? Apparently so! He does throughout the OT, and there are even stories of God meeting people in dreams in the Middle East today! Muslims in closed countries being confronted by the living God who continually accommodates Himself to our levels and reaches people in ways they need to be reached. I’ve never had a dream where God met with me, but I do know that if God ever did come to you in a dream, He wouldn’t contradict what He’s already revealed in Scripture!

-God’s condemnation of Abimelech is because he’s taken a married women into his harem.

-At this time, adultery was seen as the “great sin.” Many ancient documents have been uncovered that refer to this as the unforgiveable sin that no one should commit. It was a different story after wars and conquests, but willingly committing adultery was the worst sin imaginable! Which makes sense of Abimelech’s response here and shows the consequences for sin against God’s people. Abimelech is threatened with death!

-But Abimelech questions God why he would be destroyed if he hadn’t yet committed this horrendous act. And the wording Abimelech uses would be familiar to us, because it came up repeatedly last week (made less clear by the English translation), but vs. 4, the word he uses at the end is the same word Abraham used last week in his asking if God would not destroy the city for 50, down to 10 innocent people, but last week it was translated as righteous. So once again we’re struck with this realization that righteousness isn’t inherent to these people, it has to come from somewhere else. 

-It’s also important for us to realize who is being described as righteous in this passage, because up until this point Abraham has been the righteous one, but this story shifts things significantly. And we see that even righteous Abraham didn’t always live up to his end of the bargain in his covenant with the Lord. The pagan king and Abraham in this story have switched places from what we’ve typically seen of Abraham, particularly of Abraham from last week’s story! Abimelech is the one who actually lives according to God’s plans for humanity, while Abraham is following in the ways of the world and living like he’s descended from the serpent!

-So God responds that He knows exactly what has happened and He has prevented Abimelech from committing this sin.

–Prov. 16:9 God’s in control, even of the acts and affairs of godless, idol worshipping kings. And God tells Abimelech what the next steps need to be in order to preserve his life: return Sarah and ask Abraham to pray for him because “he is a prophet.”

-What is a prophet? A prophet is at the core someone who speaks on behalf of God. That’s it! Unfortunately it doesn’t always mean someone who liveslike God. Now that shifts under the new covenant (that is after Jesus) because the Spirit now indwells everyone who follows Him. The Bible has a wide assortment of people who speak on behalf of God who aren’t following after Him at all! One of my favorites was in my Bible reading this week: Balaam in Num. 22. It was one of my favorite stories growing up in the church, Balaam is a prophet who is hired by a king to curse Israel, and as we’ve been learning in our series with Abraham, you shouldn’t try to curse God’s people (this came up in Rev. too!). This prophet is visited by God and told to only say what God wants him to say, and he continues on his way to curse Israel for money, but along the way an angel is positioned to kill Balaam. Fortunately for Balaam his donkey sees the angel and keeps running away from the angel, to which Balaam gets angry and beats the donkey. Then the Lord opens the mouth of the donkey and the donkey talks back to Balaam, and the funniest part is Balaam doesn’t change his mind then, he argues with the donkey. Anyone here ever get into an argument with a donkey? After this argument, the Lord opens Balaam’s eyes so he sees the angel, and then has a conversation with the angel. Friends, God can even speak prophetically through a donkey! 

-Generally, God’s people are supposed to follow and obey His voice. Think of all the times Israel is punished for disobeying God. But that’s not the case here. What’s fascinating is God doesn’t threaten to publish Abraham, despite his lying and manipulating ways. God is continuing to uphold His end of the covenant, even as His covenant partner continues to disobey and live in deplorable ways. But you know who is living stand up and obeying the voice of the Lord in this story? This king, let’s see what happens next:

  • Abimelech confronts Abraham (8-18)

-How long did Abimelech wait? Nothing! “Early in the morning.” Contrast this response with how Abraham has been behaving in this story. Who has Abraham been obeying? His own selfish desires for ease and protection at the expense of his wife? Abimelech immediately calls together all his people to tell them what’s been going on.

-And what’s the response of all these men? Terrified! Friends, this shows us what our response should be when confronted by sins regardless of our intent. According to the information given to him, Abimelech wasn’t sinning, but as soon as he’s confronted he immediately responds without making excuses, without blaming Abraham (even though he has every right to). It seems that this people are an embodiment of Prov. 9:10, if you want to pursue wisdom, fear the Lord, not other humans, or even the devil! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, it’s only by following after Him that we can live a truly wise life.

-And one of the ways that we demonstrate that wisdom is by how we deal with our sin. Friends, you’re not going to catch God off guard, you can’t out-sin Him, so bring your sins to the only person who can deal with them! 

-After sharing with all his servants, he moves out to Abraham, and the first question he asks Abraham is significant because that exact same question had been asked before, but previously God was asking the question. 

-In Gen. 3:13, after Adam and Eve had sinned, God is going through each creature and questioning them, and God’s question to Eve is the same thing God asks Eve, signifying to us that just as Eve sinned, here Abraham is demonstrating that he’s listening to the voice of the serpent instead of the voice of the Lord, and this pagan king is actually obedient to the 1 true God and speaking on behalf of God to Abraham. Yet God doesn’t acknowledge this king as a prophet, that’s Abraham. Another reminder that God’s ways aren’t ours!

-And Abimelech continues on with the questions: Abraham brought guilt on the kingdom, betrayed confidence, tried to get him to commit the “great sin” that no one should ever do, you get the sense that Abimelech is rightfully outraged!

-And look at just how lame Abraham’s reply is: No fear of God in this place. Look up at vs. 8 again. What’s the response of Abimelech and all his servants? Fear of God. But in this story Abraham is revealing himself as the one who doesn’t fear God!

-And to make matters worse, Abraham continues that she is his sister: his half-sister. But that’s only half true, because she’s also his wife. A partial truth isn’t true! He’s intentionally keeping things hidden.

-But there’s more that make this even worse. First, think back to last week, and one of the things I pointed out that you can see in your Bible is when God is referred to by His divine name “Yahweh” it’s in small capitol letters LORD, it’s throughout last week’s text. Abraham doesn’t use that word in either case this time. One commentator on this passage said that if Abraham is accommodating himself that far to this king, it’s the lowest point of faith in Abraham’s life. 

-Additionally, the word Abraham uses for “wander” is used to refer to pointless wanderings, sometimes it’s used to refer to deceiving or leading astray. And some people argue that Abraham is going so far as to say that “when the gods had me wander.” Even more deception and refusal to identify himself with the 1 true and living God, despite Abimelech’s accusations. 

-And what’s the outcome? Despite Abraham lying, refusing to identify with Yahweh, he still comes out wealthy AND with additional land. 

-I think this recounts Abraham and Lot, where Abraham allows Lot the choicest land, here Abraham is promised the same thing from this king, but this time Abraham is the recipient of the blessing.

-Then he turns to Sarah, and I think we should read this dripping with sarcasm I’m giving “your brother” all this silver. This was an extraordinary sum! The same total as 200 bride prices at the time! The king is bending over backwards to ensure he’s not punished by the Lord, but no punishment is given to Abraham.

-The text doesn’t say how long these events took place, but it was over a period of time that was long enough for them to know that infertility had fallen upon this house. And this was shortly after the Lord had promised that Isaac would be coming within the year, if the Lord hadn’t intervened Isaac’s lineage would have been in doubt! If there was ever a time to work to protect your wife, it would be in this season! Sarah could very well have been pregnant during this whole story! Yet once again we’re given a picture that righteousness can only come about through an act of God, nor through the obedience (or disobedience) or humans. However, we as humans still have a responsibility:

-There are 3 things I think we see in today’s text for us, the first is a caution and the other 2 are a reminder for us.

-Pursue God’s will – 1 Thess. 4:3 (perseverance in holiness)

-The bad news about this is your sanctification won’t be complete until the Lord returns or calls you home! But the good news is that God’s Spirit is guiding you in this so you don’t need to try to do it by yourself!

-Abraham offers us a caution here: don’t continue in your sin! Don’t keep playing with it, cut it off and the root so that you can continue pursuing God’s will! It’s not hidden, it’s not a secret: it’s holiness, it’s becoming more like God. We saw that with the angels last week: those that spend time with God end up reflecting Him, so are you pursuing God’s will? 

-Be a prophet – 

-Lots of debate on what’s often referred to as “sign-gifts,” the ones that we don’t see as often today: healing, prophesying, speaking in tongues. I think we have too narrowly defined some of these things, particularly prophesy. In Joel, we read from the Lord that someday he will pour out His Spirit on all humanity, and the sign will be men and women prophesying. And we see this is fulfilled in Acts 2, where Peter stands up and tells everyone that they’re not drunk (everyone heard someone speaking in their own tongue the truths of the gospel)

-As I said earlier, a prophet broadly defined is someone who speaks on behalf of God. And guess what, every single one of you can do that today by reading God’s Word. Allow God’s word to soak and saturate your heart and mind so that what comes out when people talk to you is what God has done and is doing in you. Look to be a prophet!

-Remember to pray – 

-I still can’t believe that Abraham is called a prophet, he’s called righteous, and God continues upholding His end of the covenant, despite Abraham’s continual sin. And what’s incredible to me in this story is God still listens to Abraham despite his sin. This reminds us that there’s nothing you can do to separate yourself from God’s love. God invites you to pray! James 5:16tells us:

-And who’s counted righteous? Anyone who’s been saved and covered by the blood of Jesus! Friends, our prayers are powerful! They don’t just end at the ceiling, they don’t just stop when the sound waves die, God listens and responds to our prayers. I love the way one pastor said it: pray what you’ve got.

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by mikethestrand on March 23, 2025  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Sermon
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Posted by mikethestrand on March 23, 2025

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2025/03/23/genesis-20-sermon-manuscript/

Genesis 18-19 – Sermon Manuscript

-I grew up as a pastor’s kid, which meant we were dragged along to church people’s home ALL the time! What was hard was that not every one of these people had kids my age, and all the parents wanted to do was talk. Those afternoons where my parents spent talking to each other dragged on FOREVER. On top of that, we lived in Minot, ND, and people didn’t necessarily live close, so after sitting in a chair listening to the adults talk all afternoon, then we had at least a 30-minute drive BACK home!

-But here’s the thing: every single one of those people who had us over cared. They loved my parents, me, and my sisters, and still care about us to this day. In fact, I went back to this church shortly after Calvin was born with no warning, and one of the people whose house wasn’t so fun when I was younger took my family out for lunch again that day, and this time we were the ones talking while Calvin sat around waiting.

-It’s a long text today, so we’re going to jump right in, but as we read keep the idea of hospitality in the back of your mind.

READ/PRAY

  1. Abraham’s Intercession (18:1-33)

-We’re back to Abraham, the focal point of this whole story, and through whom the entire world will eventually be blessed. Lots to cover today, but since it’s 1 long story I thought it was important for us to keep it all connected, but this could easily be 3 sermons, so if I don’t adequately cover something that you have a question about, send me an email!

-Not sure how long this is after the events of last chapter, seems to be pretty close to the same timeframe, since the promise of Isaac’s arrival is the same time as last week, meaning Abraham is 99.

-Cultural norms didn’t allow a patriarch, much less one who leads a tribe to run, much less bow to anyone. Yet here is Abraham bucking all conventional norms and running, and he begs them to stay with him for a bit.

-Some debate/confusion about who these men are because if you look at vs. 1 it says “The Lord” but then in vs. 2 it says “three men,” and it’s easy for us who have the NT to look at this and jump to the Trinity, but that’s jumping ahead a little bit too far. And to make it even more confusing, sometimes they’re all described as talking (vs. 5b, 9), and sometimes it’s just the Lord talking (10), then to compound it even more when you get to 19:1 then there’s 2 men described as 2 angels. 

-My proposal (as of now and subject to change): God has come to earth in human form with 2 angels. The 3 together serve as a reflection of the triune God. My reasoning for that is based on a couple texts:  Gen. 3:8 says that the Lord would come down and walk in the garden with Adam & Eve in the cool of the night. The second is Ex. 34:29 where it describes Moses’ face as glowing because he spent time with the Lord, similar to Jesus when His glory is revealed during the transfiguration. What that shows us is those that spend time with God will end up reflecting Him, so angels who are in God’s presence all the time will similarly reflect the triune God. This would make sense that the 3 come to spend time with Abraham, then 2 of them go on to Sodom (the angels), while the Lord stays back to continue talking to Abraham. Another piece for us to realize is the divide between spiritual and physical is much less significant to Abraham. We tend to create this sharp distinction in our minds between “sacred” and “secular” (material vs. immaterial), but I would argue that’s not the way the Bible talks about spiritual matters. If you watched The Bible Project’s videos through the sermon on mount you’ve seen a glimpse of this, it shows people doing acts, but then creatively transitions to a different color scheme to show the spiritual reality of the physical event. All that to say, for Abraham it wouldn’t have been weird to have God visiting him.

-One textual note for you: if you look carefully at your Bible you’ll see that in some places the word “Lord” is in all caps but smaller font. There are a few different ways in Hebrew of referring to Lord, so when it’s all caps it’s the divine name “Yahweh,” if you look at vs. 3 Abraham uses the word “Adonai,” and those 2 terms will be used pretty often in this section!

-Abraham sees these men and immediately throws open his doors to them, inviting them to not just eat with him, but he throws a feast!

-Has Sarah make the best bread they can, he gets a choice calf, the pick of the lot for these men. Then he adds to it with curds and milk, and notice who the waiter is: Abraham. “He served them.”

-The conversation goes back to the same topic the Lord has been having with Abraham throughout the story: the children of the covenant. And remember what I said last week about laughing? Now Sarah hears the Lord’s promise (doesn’t note if she didn’t know, or if she didn’t believe Abraham), but now she laughs, note “to herself”.

-And since she’s in the presence of the Lord, he asks why. And Sarah lies! To the Lord, the one who knows everything! And then she doubles down on it, and He calls her out again!

-After this exchange between Sarah and the Lord, the men go look over to Sodom with Abraham.

-And here the Lord asks (almost to Himself) if He should hide His plans from Abraham. Remember what we just saw in Sarah? Lying. Remember what we’ve seen in Abraham’s life before? Lying! The Lord is modeling for Abraham what it means to be in covenant with God: no lying. Be open and honest with each other in a way that allows for a close relationship.

-So God tells Abraham that the outcry is terrible, their sin is very great, so He’s going to go observe for Himself, which means He’s going to send His angels as His emissaries to scope it out, leaving Abraham and the Lord alone.

-Since Abraham has just seen the Lord demonstrate the need for honesty in His covenant, Abraham decides to be honest with the Lord. Look at vs. 25: God is the judge of the whole earth, but He’s also just. These 2 things together bring comfort because God doesn’t grade on curve, but every single one of His actions is completely just. God doesn’t just destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because He’s heard they’re terribly sinful, He goes to see for Himself if it’s true. Think of what David says in Psalm 103. God isn’t fickle, He’s not sitting back waiting for us to mess up, He’s slow to anger and overflowing with faithful love.

-But at the same time, sin MUST be dealt with! It’s committing cosmic treason against the Holy God, and what’s amazing is the scales of sin vs. righteousness are completely unfair, but not in the way we tend to think. Let’s follow the passage here:

-Abraham begins by asking about 50 people, which the Lord says He would spare the city for 50, then down to 45, 40, 30, 20, 10 and the Lord acquiesces each time. 

-I don’t know about you, but as I read this growing up I was always amazed by the boldness of Abraham. Who does he think he is?! But the reality is Abraham knows God better than I do! And Abraham didn’t go low enough. See, in God’s plan for the salvation of the world, it only take 1 righteous person to cover the sins of the world. Abraham knew that better than I do, and I live as the recipient of that new covenant reality!

  • Lot’s Lot (19:1-38)

-The story now shifts to the story of the 2 angels who make it to Sodom, and Abraham’s nephew Lot. Remember the trajectory we’ve seen of Lot: he chose to live near Sodom because it looked beautiful like the garden of Eden, then in Gen. 14 we read that Lot was living IN Sodom, and now he’s in the gateway (entrance to the city), where the leaders of the city would conduct their business. 

-Lot proceeds to coerce these men to stay in his house, and there’s some scholars that argue this description of a feast should be in scare quotes, because Lot doesn’t even take the time to bake real bread for them. Then after this “feast,” it says the mean of the city surround Lot’s house and demand Lot send out these 2 new men, and his response is fascinating:

-Instead of looking to protect and preserve his family, Lot throws out his 2 daughters to be abused by this crowd. Just as Abraham had offered up his wife, Lot is demonstrating where his heart is.

-But the crowd won’t take the offer: they call him an alien who’s sitting in judgment on them, and now suddenly Lot is in the crosshairs of this mob. 

-So the angels intervene, pulling Lot back in and striking the crowd with blindness (again see the thin line between physical and spiritual here, the crowd had just been pushing against the door and the angels somehow prevent them from being able to find what was literally right in front of their eyes). Then warn Lot about what exactly is going to happen, and we learn something else about his daughters: they were engaged, and despite Lot’s warning these future sons-in-law think Lot is a big jokester (perhaps Lot has been influenced by Abraham’s lying previously, too?).

-And these events are taking place over the course of a night, because as soon as the next morning begins Lot is encouraged to flee the punishment that is about to come, and look at Lots’ response in 16

-This is a picture of the way we dabble with sin. We hesitate to completely obey God because we’ve become enticed by the sin, blinded (like the mob) to the ways it’s destroying us. And as we’ll see explicitly in just a few verses, by placing himself in Sodom, Sodom had begun to place itself in the heart of Lot making him desire the things of Sodom instead of desiring what God wants for him. So the angels shake Lot out of his stupor and take Lot and his family outside the city and command them to run away, to not look back and not stop or else they will be punished like the city.

-But just like Abraham questions God, Lot questions the angels and asks if he can flee to a nearby city, Zoar which means “little place”

-And as soon as Lot reaches the “little place” Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed, along with the entire plain, all the people, and everything that grows on the ground, complete and utter destruction. And unfortunately, Lot’s wife looks back (1 translation: longingly), and just as the land of Sodom and Gomorrah becomes a salt plain, she becomes a pillar of salt.

-There have been some big questions today about why Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, it’s literally where we get the term “sodomy” from after all! 

-But the current cultural winds have attempted to throw doubt on these cities being destroyed because of sexual sin, in fact some have even attempted to argue that we’ve been translating vs. 5 wrong this whole time. The verb is “to know,” which doesn’t have to mean sex, but if you look at vs. 8 I think that argument loses some steam. 

-There are other texts that say they were punished for their lack of hospitality, particularly Ezek. 16and Luke 10. Yet Jude 7 reminds us of this truth, so it was certainly for more than sexual perversion, but it wasn’t less than that. That was a marker of a whole host of other sins they were committing, of which homosexuality was just one.

-The story then shifts back to Abraham and sees the destruction of the cities that the Lord had warned him about, demonstrating that there weren’t even 10 righteous people found, God only found 4 (and then 3)

-This is a brief glimpse at the blessing that comes to others through Abraham. Lot is saved because of the intercession of his uncle, Lot is blessed because of Abraham.

-Unfortunately the story doesn’t end here, because this would have been a great ending. But Lot doesn’t stay in the city that he fled to, instead he goes up to the mountains alone with his daughters. Maybe he fears the destruction of this city as well, maybe he’s grieving, the text doesn’t say. What it does say is what the consequences are:

-The daughters (had been engaged), decide to take matters into their own hands, getting Lot so drunk that he is able to be taken advantage of by his oldest daughter.

-And then the same thing happens the next day! I don’t know how drunk you need to be to not know what happened, but Lot reached that point 2 nights in a row! The sin that was prevalent in Sodom had followed his family even to the mountains. And the sin that marked Noah as a failure (drunkenness) had been passed down to Lot, too. Failures all around! I do wonder if this was some sort of twisted revenge from them after he had offered up his daughter to the mob.

-And the consequences of these actions are that both of the daughters become pregnant by their father, so Lot becomes the father of his grandsons. 

-Yet what is an absolutely disgusting story and evidence of the failure of Lot becomes the means by which salvation will come to the world, because this is where the Moabites originate from, and later on in the OT we have an account of a very specific Moabite woman named Ruth who was the great grandmother of King David. Then if you turn to Matt. 1 you’ll find the Ruth’s name appear again, but this time in the genealogy of Jesus. So if you didn’t have this incestuous relationship here in Genesis, you wouldn’t have David, and you wouldn’t have Jesus. Isn’t it amazing how God can take the broken and sinful things in the world and redeem them? 

-So what in the world do we do with a story like this? Definitely not going to be made into a Disney film and has some incredibly depraved things that take place in here. 

-I think first of all we need to remember how broken and depraved we are apart from God’s work in our lives. God’s redeeming love can bring beauty out of the most horrendous stories and situations. That doesn’t mean it’s easy or that the sin doesn’t have consequences, but these stories are in here to depict the realities of sin and the ways people willingly chase after and live in it. But praise God that there is a way to be righteous: to have Jesus’ righteousness given to us on our behalf. In 2 Peter 2:7Lot is described as righteous, but we’ve seen in this text that he was anything but! His righteousness had to come from someone else, someone who didn’t hesitate.

-Which gets us to the second piece to take away, don’t become complacent in your fight against sin. Lot looked at the world through a purely materialistic lens and chose the place of sin to plant himself, which then got worse and worse in his life to the point where he loses his wife and becomes his grandkids father. Friends, how often are we placing ourselves in situations where it’s easier for us to give in to sin and that slowly eats away at us? Really practically, I see this taking place with people’s relationship to the church. It takes time and effort to remain involved and invested in the family of God, yet how often do people not even consider the church when they think about where they’ll live or work? We had a family at the church I was at in CO decide to move to a small town in Idaho for a better job with better pay, and after they moved they couldn’t find a church and a year later started calling one of the other pastors on staff for help in their marriage and family because they had no support system around them. And they’re not that unique, unfortunately. A book came out 2 years ago titled ‘The Great Dechurching’ that did one of the biggest surveys of people who left church and the biggest reason was because people got busy and then never got plugged back in. The good news is most of the people who were asked said they would love to go back if someone invited them! So friends, invite your neighbors! Easter’s coming up, that’s a great time to invite others to join you!

-Third and finally, we’ve seen the example of the need for Christians to be hospitable. Many people believe the author of Hebrews is alluding to this passage in Heb. 13. But this command is also repeated by Peter and Paul, so when you add all these passages together, you’re left with an explicit command: be hospitable! Look for ways to be a blessing to others, even your home isn’t supposed to be just for you, it’s supposed to be a refuge for those battered by the storms of life. There’s a lot of needy people out there, and not just materially! People can be spiritually impoverished but materially wealthy, and God care about them too. So what are you doing to be hospitable? What is 1 step you can take today to be more hospitable and be a blessing to those nearby you? Arrive ministries needs financial help, youth group who made blessing bags to hand out to homeless people when they’re driving 

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by mikethestrand on March 16, 2025  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on March 16, 2025

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2025/03/16/genesis-18-19-sermon-manuscript/

Genesis 17 – Sermon Manuscript

-Have you ever been a part of a club that had a secret sign? In my early 20s, I found out I accidentally had joined a club that had a specific sign, but no one told me what that sign was, so I kept getting dirty looks when I was participating in it and didn’t realize. Shortly after I graduated from college I bought a motorcycle, and no, my mom was NOT happy about it!

-But I soon discovered that there is this thing called a “motorcycle wave” but it’s not at all like a normal wave, there’s a very specific way of waving whilst driving the motorcycle (and keep in mind how many things you’re also trying to manage: throttle in the right hand, brake with the left hand, shifting with your foot, another brake with your other foot), the motorcycle was is 2 fingers angled down at 45 degrees, like this. Once I learned the “code” I was off to the races, and an official motorcycle driver! Since then, I’ve learned that Jeeps have wave, VW Bugs have little flowers in their cars, and Texas Tech Red Raiders like to shoot em up.

-Today’s text is like learning the code to enter a club, but this club is being a part of God’s chosen covenant people. Let’s read:

READ/PRAY

  1. God’s Commitment (1-8)

-Left off last week with Abram being 86 when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, now we’re jumping ahead 13 years to another pivotal moment in Abram’s life. But once again, don’t forget that we’re reading a condensed account of his life. We moved 1 verse and jumped ahead 13 years!

-And based on what we read last week, I’m guessing they weren’t the easiest 13 years of Abram’s life: contention between Hagar and Sarai, trying to care for and raise his son, who’s not related to his wife. Yikes!

-So Abram’s closing in on his centennial birthday, and God once again appears to him. Some weird phrasing:

-Begins with who He is (God Almighty) proceeds to an ethical command for Abram, literally tells Abram to walk before Him and be blameless. This phrasing has been used before to describe someone else in the Genesis story:

-Noah was described the same way, so Abram is following in the line of God’s chosen people: being called by God, declared righteous, blameless in character, and walking with God. 

-I want to take some time to think about that reality, because I think it’s a piece that has been glossed over or dismissed in our world today, and that is the imperatives of the gospel. I would argue that we’ve nailed the indicatives, but to the neglect of the imperatives. And if you didn’t realize you were coming to an English lesson today, just wait and it will make sense!

-An indicative is a fact, imperative is a command, and the Bible has both. An example of an imperative is: Jesus died for you, or Noah was a righteous man. The imperative is seen with Abram: walk in front of me and be blameless. And that’s also true of us today, because if we are saved, then we are declared righteous, we are made holy, but then we also are commanded to live differently, to live lives that are marked by that righteousness. I love the way Paul talks about this in Gal. 5: Do you see the indicatives and imperatives here? Just as there are some truths given to Abram, there are some truths given to us: those who have been saved belong to Christ Jesus, we have crucified the flesh, but the imperative is: walk by the Spirit, live by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit.

-I don’t know about you, but when I hear that, I think of my kids whose steps are significantly shorter than mine. When I take them shopping with me I regularly need to look back and encourage them to keep up! That’s not at all what is intended by Paul here, the imagery isn’t us running to keep up, a better picture would be when I go on walks with just Cara and don’t have to try to prod our kids to hurry up! We are able to keep in step with each other, enjoying the company, the time, the conversation. That’s what Paul means here: working together for the same goal, which in the case of the Spirit is becoming more like Jesus. I think you even see that with Abram here, God tells Abram to walk in front of God, which means God has his back, Abram can’t get away from Him, but there’s also the imperative to Abram: be blameless. Live a holy and set apart life. The indicative LEADS to the imperative, but the imperative will never get you to the indicative. Friends, we are all called to live a blameless life, but if you try doing it in your own power and strength apart from the Spirit you’ll constantly be falling short. Live a holy life, but do it by relying on God. This is why the outline to this sermon is so important: it begins with God’s commitment, but then moves to see what He commands His people to do. You can’t separate those 2 things, if we are saved it must lead to holy living.

-Why does God then go on to say He will set up His covenant, hasn’t He already done that? Yes, but He continues to reiterate and further explain the implications of the covenant. And Abram responds correctly: falling facedown in worship (this time), and God promises Abram that he will become the father of many nations, which requires a name change.

-Abram means exalted father, Abraham means father of a multitude. His first name looks back to his past, most likely the exalted father was Abram’s father Terah, but now God has picked him out from all the other peoples of the earth and is shifting the focus from his past to his future as now every time someone calls out his name it’s a reminder of God’s promise to him.

-Not only that, but God will fulfill His promises: Abraham will be fruitful, nations and kings will come, and this covenant will be passed down to the generations that come from Abraham, nothing can change that! Abraham’s blessing will happen: land, seed, and blessing. Just like what Adam & Eve were given back in the beginning: a perfect garden to care for, offspring to help them fill the earth, and the blessing of everything they could need in perfect relationship with God and each other. Abraham is supposed to be a new Adam, starting over with a new people in a new place to be God’s representatives on earth.

-But just as in Eden, there are stipulations, requirements that God has for Abraham:

  • God’s Commands (9-16)

-Here the stipulation isn’t to avoid eating from 1 tree, it’s to practice circumcision. If you don’t know what circumcision is, I’ll let you ask someone sitting nearby you!

-Circumcision is meant to be the marker of God’s people here. Every male is commanded to go through the process, and there’s even a time stipulated: 8 days. This is meant to point us back to creation because what happens on the 8th day? Correct, nothing! It’s meant to signify a new creation (which is also why Jesus is raised on the 8th day, reinterpreting even this act). And it’s supposed to be an act that everyone does who is brought into this people, slaves, family members, no one is left out.

-And the Lord goes on to say why this is significant. Yes, it’s a physical act, but that physical act signifies a spiritual reality. Just as God’s covenant with Abraham is permanent, so the sign of the covenant is permanent. 

-And there’s also negative implications to anyone who doesn’t obey these markers: just as the foreskin is cut of in the act of circumcision, so anyone who does not obey this sign of the covenant will be cut off from his people. If someone refuses to identify themselves with God, God will refuse to identify Himself with them. The marker that you belong to God is circumcision.

-And just as Abram’s name was changed, now it’s time for his wife: Sarai to Sarah, not a major change and both words mean the same thing: princess or queen. What is unique is there is some evidence that Sarai would have been the spelling in Ur, Sarah would have been the spelling in Canaan, shifting their focus from the past to the future. God is changing their primary allegiances and planting them in a new land so that they can have their children and be blessed.

-And remember, the most important thing we’ve learned about Sarah so far is that she’s barren, but now God says specifically that she will give birth to a son.

-How does Abraham respond? This is where we go back to God’s commitment to Abraham:

  • God’s Commitment, Part 2 (17-22)

-Once again, Abraham falls facedown, but this time he laughs, and that laughing idea is going to be a minor theme to pay attention to for the next couple of chapters, so find some way to make a note in your mind about laughing for the next few weeks. 

-This time, Abraham laughs and mutters under his breath instead of talking to God, because Abraham is looking at his life and realizing that what God’s promised here seems impossible. Abraham is almost 100, his wife is a young and spry 90.

-Let me tell you how absolutely miserable that sounds! After surviving the sleepless nights of babies, I have zero desire to go back to the infant days, and I can only imagine that will be even more true the older I get! Having babies is a young man’s game. And I can only imagine how Abraham felt about that idea! So then Abraham says to God: what about my son?

-And God answers that taking matters into his own hands isn’t the correct way to receive God’s blessing. Not only will Sarah have a son, but his name is also supposed to be Isaac, which means “he laughs,” so where Abraham laughs in disbelief, his son will be a constant reminder of God’s provision. And the laughing son is the one who will continue the covenant line, not Ishmael. Ishmael will still be blessed by God, but only materially.

-And that’s an alarming place to be, and something that God threatens throughout the rest of the OT: His people can have His blessing, but He won’t go with them. And friends, is that ever true of you too?

-How often do we only consider our Christianity in comparison to all the other things people could try? That’s some of where our evangelism is difficult today because we’re just 1 in a myriad of competing options. The way people often respond is “I’m glad that worked for you, but here’s what’s working for me.” And how often do we just fall into that same temptation? We’re following Jesus because it seems to just work for us. But what do you do then when things get difficult, or following Jesus no longer seems to be working? Don’t forget that Jesus is the King, we spent an entire year last year looking at that reality in Revelation, where we see the point of this story, what it’s ultimately pointing to is a child coming from Abraham who will be a blessing to the entire world because He provides a way for people to be reconciled to the one true and living God! But that doesn’t come about through our efforts or work, it’s only by being obedient to Him. Ishmael serves as an example of God’s blessing apart from His presence, which isn’t worth anything in eternity, and is a reminder that what the world chases after isn’t the same as the things God wants for His people. And then God leaves after this promise.

  • God’s Commands, Part 2 (23-27)

-And Abraham obeys, at least this time! And one thing to note about this process is that Abraham is completely entrusting himself to God for this to work out. The very means by which Abraham will be able to have descendants is at risk of being cut off with an errant stroke of a knife, but he’s slowly learning to trust God.

-Now I’m not sure how this conversation would go with the rest of his people, but Abraham convinces them all to be obedient, I can just picture every guy going “you want us to do WHAT?!” But they’re all obedient to Abraham, and ultimately to God’s commands which is a good example for us to follow too: we should look to obey what God commands us to do, even if it doesn’t make sense.

-But that gets us to 2 primary responses for us from this text: the first is that you can do all the things God commands without being a part of God’s covenant people, and the second is the command for all to be circumcised, just not a physical circumcision. We’ll look at both of those ideas in turn

-First, the need to obey God as a fruit and not as the root.

-The temptation for every human is to obey God to try to get something from him. We look at the rules as a burden instead of a gift, as the means by which we stay as God’s covenant people, but that’s not the intent. The rules are the way God has ordered the world so it’s His gift to us to help us understand how to function and flourish as God intended the world to operate, and the reality is until our hearts are transformed it’s going to feel like a heavy burden. But when Jesus comes, He tell us that His yolk is easy and His burden is light, and it is, but only when you’ve been brought spiritually from death to life. Then those rules that felt like an unfair burden suddenly become our desires, meaning they’re the fruit of a transformed life. And that’s what we see in Ishmael: his obedience doesn’t make him a part of God’s covenant people, nor does it lead to a transformed heart.

-The second is the command for all of us to be circumcised, but not in the way this passage talks about!

-The point of circumcision wasn’t just the physical act, because just a few books later, look at what God commands His people: Deut. 10

-Again, we see God’s commands to be holy and walk in the ways of the Lord, and the way to do that is by obeying God’s commands. But then notice what God says about circumcision: don’t circumcise your body, circumcise your hearts! This tells us the point of circumcision has always been to have a transformed heart (in the OT that’s referring to your inner most being). That is being sensitive to following and obeying God.

-And Paul picks up this idea in Rom. 4 when he talks about righteousness not coming through external observance of the law, but through faith! Notice that Paul makes an explicit connection to the timing of Abraham being declared righteous and circumcision, and the reason Paul states this is because of the division in the early church. The early church became fixated on circumcision as the sign of the covenant, to the point that unless a male was circumcised he was viewed as not truly being a part of God’s people.

-Which leads to Paul getting so frustrated in Galatians that he says this: Gal. 5. Friends, at this point in salvation history, circumcision has no bearing on anything. What matters now, and what Paul says is “faith working through love” other translations state this as “faith expressing itself through love.” 

-When we’re tempted to look to our external obedience, or add markers to be “better” this is a reminder than nothing we do adds to our holiness, what we’re called to be is circumcised in the heart, and just as this was meant to be a permanent marker, so is our salvation meant to be a permanent marker where we now live differently because of the faith we now have.

-Because circumcision doesn’t matter anymore, we now have new markers of God’s people, which Paul summarized here as faith expressing itself through love. But God has also given us new habits that mark us out: baptism and communion.

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by mikethestrand on March 9, 2025  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on March 9, 2025

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2025/03/09/genesis-17-sermon-manuscript/