Lessons From The Life Of Abraham (4-5)

Illus: A lady was walking down the street to work and she saw a parrot on a perch in front of a pet store, and to her surprise, the parrot said to her,

• "Hey lady, you are really ugly," The lady was furious! She stormed past the store to her work.

• On the way home she saw the same parrot and it said to her, "Hey lady, you are really ugly," She was incredibly upset.

• The next day the same parrot said to her, "Hey lady, you are really ugly."

The lady was so upset that she went into the store and told the manger she would never buy anything from that store again. The store manager apologized profusely and promised he would make sure the parrot didn’t say it again. After she left, the store manager got all over the parrot for insulting her.

• When the lady walked past the store that day after work, the parrot called to her, "Hey lady." She paused and said, "Yes?" The bird replied, "You know."

Life is full of all kinds of things that unexpectedly happen to us. We have to live our life daily expecting the unexpected.

Can you imagine how Abraham must have felt when he was sitting outside his tent and THREE MEN SUDDENLY STOOD BEFORE HIM? He did not know who these men were!

When such things happen to us, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 13:2, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Abraham must have immediately suspected that these were not three ordinary men.

Look at Genesis 18:1-2, we read, “And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground.”

I would like for us to look at two things about Abraham in this passage when this unexpected company arrived. First, we need to consider:

I. ABRAHAM’S HOSPITALITY

Today when you go to a home, 9 out of 10 times you are interrupting a television program. Most of the time they will turn it off or turn it down, but you know you are intruding and you need to make your visit as brief as possible.

Illus: The last thing you want to do is visit a home where some of these fellows who love cowboy movies are watching “Matt Dillon.” The best thing you can do is state your business and get out as fast as you can.

Illus: Sometimes when I visit homes, I feel like I am in a restaurant that has very uncomfortable chairs and is named, “Eat It and Beat It!”

Our society has been labeled as impersonal and self-centered. Before they had television, radio, and computers, most people would invite you into their homes and make you feel welcome. But for many homes today, it seems as if they have taken the welcome mats inside.

The Bible has a lot to say to Christians about Christian hospitality.

We read in 1 Peter 4:9, “Use hospitality one to another without grudging.”

WHAT IS HOSPITALITY? In the dictionary, the word “hospitality” is wedged between two words.

• The word “hospital”, a place of healing

• The word “hospice”, a place of shelter

The root of all 3 words is the Latin word translated “guests”. Our homes are meant to be places of shelter and healing, havens of rest.

The Greek word for hospitality (philoxenia) in the New Testament means “a love of strangers”. We need to turn our homes into homes of hospitality.

Look how Abraham greets these three strangers that came to his house.

Look at Genesis 18:1-8, we read, “And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.”