My dad was the king of shortcuts. While others stuck to the major roads, he took the back streets to avoid busy intersections throughout Tokyo where we lived. My dad had such a knack for finding these shortcuts that even the Japanese members of his congregation started to ask him the quickest way to get places. We all love shortcuts, but the fastest way to do something isn’t always the best way. Grilling hamburgers on the hottest setting, for example, won’t get dinner on the table more quickly, it will just burn the meat and actually delay supper. And while taking the shortcut under the rail overpass might work in your car, you shouldn’t try it with your tractor trailer (show picture of trailer stuck under bridge overpass).
In our continuing sermon series about Abraham we’re going to learn that when it comes to the journey of faith there are no shortcuts. Nevertheless Abraham and Sarah tried taking one, and the results were disastrous. Let’s see what happened, and look at what God did about it.
Abraham had now been in Canaan for ten years. That made him 85 years old while his wife Sarah was 75. They were still without children, but in our sermon last week we heard God reassure Abraham, with a blood covenant even, that he would be the father of many. Now while God had said that Abraham would be the father of many, he never said that Sarah would the mother of many. Could it be then that God was going to give Abraham children through someone other than his wife Sarah? This thought may have been going through Sarah’s mind when she approached her husband and said: “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her” (Genesis 16:2).
Now what Sarah proposed was the custom of the day. If you were unable to give your husband a child, you could offer him a servant to sleep with and then adopt the child that was conceived. What do you think about Sarah’s plan? It took great humility to suggest it, for what woman would willingly deliver her beloved husband into the arms of another? Sarah perhaps thought she was just being a practical team player. Ten years had already passed and neither she nor her husband were getting any younger. There must be another, quicker way to achieve their goal of having children so that God’s promise could be fulfilled.
But what Sarah proposed was not God’s will, for it did not conform to his plan for marriage. Only those who are married to each other should share each other’s bed—no exceptions, period. Oh, but Sarah was only trying to help God’s plan along. And anyway this is what everyone else did. Plus Abraham, that hall-of-faith believer, didn’t protest. And that is disappointing isn’t it? As the head of the house and spiritual leader of the family, Abraham should have thanked his wife for her concern, but then assured her that God would keep his promise. They just needed to stay the course and remain faithful to each other.
But Abraham did nothing of the sort. He welcomed Sarah’s servant Hagar into his bed and the results were predictable. When Hagar realized that she had become pregnant, it wasn’t just her belly that puffed, so did her head. She looked down on Sarah because in one try she had accomplished what Sarah had been unable to do in spite of years of trying. So Sarah complained to Abraham: “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me” (Genesis 16:5). Abraham’s response was equally pathetic: “Your slave is in your hands. Do with her whatever you think best” (Genesis 16:6). So Sarah did. She mistreated Hagar. How, we’re not told, but it was bad enough that Hagar fled the household and set out for her homeland, Egypt, even though she was pregnant and would have to cross a barren desert to get there!
Let’s pause to apply this situation to our own. Like Abraham and Sarah we live in a society that doesn’t particularly encourage God’s plan for marriage. I’ve even heard of parents who tell their children to move in with their boyfriend/girlfriend to see if, as they put it, they are compatible for marriage. Others look at moving in together as something that’s just practical. Why pay rent on two places if you’re already hanging out so much together? But moving in without first a public declaration of life-long love and commitment is not God’s plan. It’s a perceived shortcut to happiness and stability, but it won’t deliver. That living together time is more often than not a hiding period as you try to put your best foot forward to impress the other. But then that often changes after marriage. Your new spouse now has what he or she wants. They can settle in and be the person they really are, a person you never knew they were. And because you practiced only a half-hearted commitment while living together, when things get tough in the marriage, you figure it’s just easier to bail. But that’s not so easy nor is it cheap. It will only cause more heartache and headaches. Better to do things God’s way. First look for a partner that shares your Christian faith. Then do everything by the book. Don’t tempt each other to cross over the line by spending weekends together. Save sex for after marriage.
What other applications can we mine from this mess? Let’s pick on Hagar for a minute. Her arrogance was shameful. But she only acted the way we often do when we forget that everything we have comes from the Lord. Your fast feet, your beautiful voice, your organizational skills, your knack for fixing things, the ease with which you make friends—these are all talents from the Lord. Because you didn’t do anything to earn them you don’t have the right to look down on and make fun of others who don’t have the same skills you do. And anyway, your skills are God-given tools to help you serve others.
So was Sarah justified for running Hagar out of the house because of her attitude? Of course not. Believers are not just supposed to act decently, we are to react decently as well. No, Hagar wasn’t being nice. But then again didn’t Sarah only have herself to blame for putting her servant in the position she found herself? There must have been a better, more patient and forgiving way to handle Hagar’s attitude than to cause a pregnant girl to run off into the desert on her own.
And then there’s Abraham. How could he go along with Sarah’s plan to mistreat Hagar? I suppose he just didn’t want to get in the middle of that fight. Let Sarah and Hagar duke it out! Likewise does our laziness keep us from speaking out against sin in our family? Do we give in to our children’s sense of entitlement because we don’t want to have that argument again with them? Do we just keep our mouth shut when our spouse proposes a schedule we know will make it consistently hard to get the family to church? Sure it’s hard work to keep the family on track on the journey of faith, but there are no shortcuts! Your faith will not grow stronger because you have good intentions about doing home devotions or getting everyone to church.
So what did God think about the mess in Abraham’s household? He knew what was going on of course. The Angel of the Lord made that clear when he intercepted Hagar. Now this Angel of the Lord was no created angel like Gabriel, for he said things about himself that only God would say—like promising Hagar: “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count” (Genesis 16:10). Bible students have identified the Angel of the Lord as God’s Son before he took on human flesh and became known as…Jesus.
So what did the Angel of the Lord have to say to Hagar? There was first a mild rebuke. “Hagar, servant of Sarah, what are you doing here?” He might as well have said: “You’re out of bounds, Hagar. You have abandoned the role I have given to you to be Sarah’s servant. Go back.” Go back? Didn’t God know what Sarah had just done to her? Of course he knew, for God sees everything. He sees our misdeeds, but he also sees our misery, and he deals with us mercifully. That’s why the Angel of the Lord promised to give Hagar descendants that would be too numerous to count. In other words, God’s plan was to bless Hagar, not make her even more miserable. To her credit Hagar did return to Sarah even though God never promised to make her life with Sarah easier. But Hagar knew that life would certainly be more bearable knowing that the Angel of the Lord was watching over her. And that’s why she called him El Roi, which means: “the God who sees me.” Indeed, he is the God who cares enough to watch over even a sassy servant girl.
This God sees you too! He sees how overwhelmed you are caring for aging parents. He sees the challenges you have with your job. He sees how not everyone treats you well at school. He sees when loneliness eats away at you. He sees, and he cares. For this God, the Angel of the Lord who would become Jesus, would not abandon his role as servant to the world. Even though he himself was ridiculed and persecuted without reason, he stayed the course until he was finally led atop a desolate hill and nailed to a cross. With the pounding of each nail, God hammered home this truth: everyone in the world now stands forgiven of their sins. When God looks at you now he does so with love, not disappointment or disgust. But now what are you running from this morning? A difficult relationship? A tough job? Bitterness that your life isn’t easier? “Go back,” says your Lord, “and serve with my grace and power.”
In time Hagar gave birth to a son whom she had been instructed to name Ishmael, which means “God hears.” The name would forever remind Hagar that God did indeed hear her cries for help. But then years later God would instruct Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Why? Because Ishmael, though Abraham’s firstborn, would not inherit the Promised Land. That would go to the descendants of Sarah’s son, Isaac. The Apostle Paul tells us in the book of Galatians that the sending away of Hagar also illustrates how God deals with us on the basis of his promises, not on the basis of our pathetic efforts. To put it another way, the only way we’ll safely finish our journey of faith, the only way we’ll make it to heaven is by relying on God’s promises, not our own works. Abraham and Sarah failed to do that in today’s text and made a mess when they tried a human shortcut. Likewise if we insist that there is something we can do to earn heaven, or if we continue to ignore God’s will for us in regard to marriage or any other part of our lives, we will make an eternal mess for ourselves. Don’t let that happen. Instead continue to rely on God’s promises to you which are centered in Jesus, the Angel of the Lord, the El Roi. He has done everything for your salvation, and continues to see you, to listen to you, and to answer your cries for help. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
(2 questions) What foolish thing did Sarah suggest to Abraham in our text? Why didn’t Sarah consider it to be foolish?
What sins was Hagar guilty of? (list at least two)
What sins was Abraham guilty of? (list at least two)
Abraham’s society didn’t appreciate God’s plan for marriage. Nor does our society today. How can you tell? (list at least two examples)
(2 questions) Who was the Angel of the Lord who intercepted Hagar? How do you know?
(2 questions) Hagar called the Angel of the Lord El Roi. What does that name mean? How does it bring you comfort to know that God is El Roi?
Why did God eventually tell Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away?
(For discussion with the family) We learned today that there are no shortcuts on the journey of faith. But what shortcuts have you been tempted to take? How can you fight those temptations?
