Genesis 18
I think we would do well this morning to draw three separate strands from the 18th Chapter of Genesis. The first concerns hospitality, the second the promise and the third Abraham's prayers for Sodom.
Now in turning to the Christian duty of showing hospitality we must use as hook on which to hang our thoughts the teaching of the Lord Jesus. In Matthew Chapter 10 and verse 41 we read, "Whoever welcomes God's messenger because he is God's messenger will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good will share in his reward." And this is indeed to be our way of life, where we suspect no ill and no deceit we are to show kindness and offer hospitality. This idea of generous giving is common theme in Scripture. This is no parsimonious welcome that Abraham gives. Rather he busies himself with offering only the best to his guests and in so doing he entertains angels.
Now think about what Abraham does - he runs out to meet the men, he prepares for them the very best that he has, he serves them, he washes their feet, he looks after them. He regards it as an honour to be able to help these people and to offer them some comfort on their journey.
How close Abraham is to God. He doesn't realise it straightaway. And that's the way it often is with us, we fail to recognise God .... and yet he is close .... so close as we read in Deuteronomy 33 " The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms".
Now while they are sitting there, the promise to Abraham is renewed. Sarah will have a son. Now of course this is in human terms a ridiculous promise and we are reminded of the promise made to Zechariah concerning his wife Elizabeth. Zechariah angers the Lord by doubting his ability to act - he says, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well on in years?" Sarah is the one who laughs here. And then tries to deny it. Now we can see clearly that the Lord is fulfilling his promise to Abraham. He is fulfilling it at a time when there can be no doubt that this is divine intervention. This again is a learning situation for Abraham. He learns to trust the Lord. He learns that nothing is too hard for the Lord to do. Sarah learns not to doubt the Lord. And for us there should be a lesson as well. Nothing is too hard for the Lord! The Lord is not limited in the way we are. It is hard for us sometimes to step beyond our human expectations and to realise that the Lord can act and will act to fulfil his divine purposes. The need to trust God even in the impossible situation is a lesson well learned. It pays dividends in our lives. Trust God.
Now we move on to the situation concerning Sodom.
The first thing we might note here is that the Lord reveals his plans about Sodom to Abraham. This shows us the closeness of Abraham to God and the special way in which the Lord treated him. We might want to ask why the Lord revealed this information to Abraham. Firstly from scripture itself we may see it as an act of almost of courtesy by the Lord to the man to whom he has promised all this land. We mat see it as part of whole process of the building of the relationship between God and Abraham. As Abraham has learned to trust the Lord so the Lord draws closer to him. We may also see it as God giving to Abraham the opportunity to intercede. So that Abraham not only learns the power of prayer but also learns about justice and fairness and the decrees of God.
The Lord makes it plain to Abraham the nature of the problems to be found in Sodom. And we have here in this dialogue a real communion between God and Abraham. Such communion is kept by the word and by prayer. In the word God speaks to us; in prayer we speak to him. God had revealed to Abraham his purposes concerning Sodom and now Abraham takes the opportunity to speak to God on Sodom's behalf. You see what happens - God's word excites us, provokes us, puzzles us we then go and talk to God about it.... this is how we grow in Christ.
This prayer offered on behalf of Sodom by Abraham is the first real prayer we have recorded in the Bible. Abraham prays that Sodom might be spared. Though sin is to be hated, sinners are to be pitied and prayed for. As Matthew Henry says in his commentary;" God delights not in their death nor should we desire the woeful.day."
Abraham begins with a prayer that the righteous among them might be spared. He is obviously thinking of Lot. And then the Abraham asks him to spare everyone for the sake of the righteous people in Sodom. And at each and every stage the Lord agrees with the request of Abraham, not because he is changing his mind all the time but rather because he is leading Abraham on in prayer and answering all his objections as he goes. Abraham gets there in the end. He reaches the point of understanding that the Lord will not act in haste, nor will he act unjustly. He will act against wickedness but not at the righteous.
There is lesson here too about the way good and bad are mingled together in this world. AS become obvious it is only Lot and his family who are allowed to escape from the wrath of God but that is because they are th only ones who are righteous.
We learn a great deal from this passage. We have seen here the duty and necessity of showing hospitality to strangers and in particular to those who are about the Lord's work. We have seen the beginning of the fulfilment of the promise of God concerning a son and from this we may draw out of this the necessity of trusting in God to do what he promises to do even when it seems to be against impossible odds. We must learn as Abraham and Zechariah did - that nothing is too hard for the Lord to accomplish.
But most importantly we learn of the reality of communion of God coming to us in his word and we going to him in prayer. We have demonstrated to us in this passage the powerful effect of prayer. How much Abraham grows in faith in this exercise in prayer. How much he learns about God in process.
We cannot and should not underestimate the power and importance of prayer. As I mention in the new issue of the Link it is one of the great sadnesses of my ministry here that so few will turn to corporate prayer. Prayer makes ALL the difference. The Church today is as it is nationally in no small measure because people have abandoned not only public prayer but often private prayer as well. How can we survive as a Church or as Christians if we do not pray? If we learn nothing other than this then let us learn from Chapter 18 that Prayer makes a difference!