Make The Most Of Our Visits With God

God came to visit them. In two of our Scripture readings for this Sunday two pairs of believers hosted God in their homes (well, to be exact one was a tent). Abraham and Sarah welcomed the LORD God who took on a human body to be able to visit them on a personal level. They heard God’s promises and his plans for them. And they served a meal for God to eat. Mary and Martha also welcomed God into their home when they hosted a meal for Jesus and some of his followers. They too heard God’s Word and promises. And they too served him a meal.

Although we regularly come here to “God’s house,” I want you to imagine that God is coming to your home this week. How are you going to prepare? And what would you plan to do when he visits? I imagine that most of us would do our best to clean our home or our apartment. We would get rid of as much clutter as we could. Perhaps we would mow the lawn and plant some flowers. After all, God is coming for a visit. And what would you serve for a meal with God? Don’t worry, he doesn’t have any allergies. And there is no food that he dislikes. You would probably make something special, or “order in” something special if cooking isn’t your thing. And what would you expect from God when he came to visit you? Since his love for you is overflowing you could expect that he will remind you of how much he loves you. His ears will be open to your needs, your struggles, and your doubts. He loves to spend time with you. Will he mention your sins? I suppose only if those sins are separating you from him and pushing him away. But that’s not going to be the focus of his visit. He knows that his holy awesomeness will already be heavy on our hearts and move us to repent of our sins without his prompting. And the look of love on his face will invite us to lay our sins at the foot of Jesus’ cross. If he senses we need it he will reassure us that we are forgiven and declared not guilty in his sight because he has taken away our sins.

In keeping with the theme of our service this morning, Abraham and Sarah, and Martha and Mary received the one thing they needed—God’s presence in their lives through his Word. Let’s ask God the Holy Spirit to do the same thing for us today and every day. Yes, when we spend time in the one thing needed—God’s Word we are invited to:

“MAKE THE MOST OF OUR VISITS WITH GOD”

I. Receive God’s love by faith

II. Respond to God’s love in faith

This visit by God in our Old Testament lesson wasn’t the first time that the LORD had appeared to Abraham. The first recorded appearance of God to Abram, later named Abraham, occurs when God calls him to leave his country, his people, and his father's household to go to a land that He would show him. God promised to make Abram into a great nation, to bless him, and to make his name great. We find that in Genesis 12. Later in Genesis 15 God spoke to Abram in a vision. You may remember he promised to give him descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. The LORD challenged Abraham to count them if he could! God then confirmed his covenant with Abraham through a ceremony involving the cutting of animals, symbolizing the seriousness and binding nature of the covenant. Then, in Genesis 17 we are told that God appeared to Abraham and repeated the promises he had made in the vision many years earlier. Shortly after that the LORD came for an in-person visit. He again strengthened Abraham’s faith and shared the news that his wife Sarah would finally have a son even though she was well beyond the age of bearing children. As we read about this particular visit it becomes obvious that it accomplished two things. It allowed Abraham to both receive God’s love by faith and to respond to God’s love in faith.

God wants to do the same for us when he visits us through his Word. Yes, it’s true that God’s visits to us may not be in the same manner as His visits to Abraham and Sarah, and Mary and Martha, but he still comes to us with his love. And our response to God’s love may not take the same form as theirs but we still show our love for God by what we do.

I.

Let’s return to our First Reading for today. “The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.” That one verse says so much about the LORD, God, doesn’t it? God came in person to visit Abraham. Although He is the creator of the universe, he loved to visit with the creatures he formed out of the dust of the ground. The One who made the sun was willing to let it beat down on him so that he could appear in person to Abraham. In spite of the fact that God is present everywhere he was willing to confine himself to time and space to spend time with Abraham. Even though God doesn’t need food to live he was willing to sit on the ground in Abraham’s tent and eat and drink whatever was served. Friends, I pray that we don’t miss the grace of God that we are shown in that one verse.