February 6, 2005 Genesis 18:1-15
Dear friends in Christ,
The writer to the Ecclesiasties had this to say about laughter -
Ecclesiastes 2:2 “Laughter is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?”
Ecclesiastes 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.
Ecclesiastes 7:6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.
It makes you wonder how much time we waste, then, watching sit-coms which are specifically made to make us laugh. America’s quest for laughter, according to an elderly Solomon, is foolish. When we take a good look at this world, what is there to laugh about?
What am I talking about? Look at yourself. Is it funny when you see how much time and money you waste on yourself, when you could be spending it telling people about Jesus? Is it funny to listen to yourself complain about the very gifts God has placed in your lap and given you for your enjoyment? Is that funny to you? Is it funny when you know you ought to work harder at work and not talk badly about other employees, but you do it anyway? Does God laugh when he hears you complain about doing your chores at home?
Look at the world. Is it funny to know that a majority of them will end up burning in hell? (Matthew 22:14) Does it make you laugh when you see people struggling as to whether marriage should only be between a man and a woman? Is it a laughing matter to hear the teachers of our schools telling us that the world evolved - that we are here by our own design and strength? Is it funny to you that Mormons believe that their “living prophets” are really sent from heaven? Does it make you chuckle when your purse is stolen? Does it bring a smile to your face to be diagnosed with cancer? This is no laughing matter.
Yet somehow in the midst of this completely corrupted world, we try to ignore all of this and do our best to laugh. We joke along with our co-workers. We laugh at the perversion on the television. We make fun of those who are caught in sin and publicly embarrassed by an affair or a lawsuit. We close our eyes to the spiritual truth that without Christ - they will end up in hell. This is not a good laughter.
Our text for today introduces us to another kind of sinful laughter. It’s the laughter of doubt. God had told Abraham that Sarah - his 89 year old wife - was about to have a child in accordance with time. In other words, this child wasn’t going to come from a stork flying through the sky or by some kind of scientific extraction of DNA having developed in some man made incubator. This child was going to be the product of Abraham and Sarah having natural sexual intercourse. Nine months later, the baby would come popping out. The DNA story might have been more believable for Sarah. “Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” After having about twenty five years with Abraham’s word - telling her that she would be a mom - she seemed to grow cynical. How could she - a worn out old woman - be able to have a child? So she laughed it off as a pipe dream. Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? The LORD was not happy with Sarah’s response.
I can recall about eight years ago there was a strapping young man that I was trying to reach out to back in Norton. I had taken him through one or two Bible Information Classes - which he started in response to some marital difficulties he was having. As time went on, he dropped out of class, ended up getting divorced because his wife was unfaithful, and ended up remarrying. About two years later I happened to run into him in the grocery store. I encouraged him to restart his Bible classes with his new bride so they could get on the right foot. How did he respond? He laughed - thought it was funny - and more or less blew me off. I don’t think he was trying to be rude, but that really made me angry. Here I was trying to offer him a view of salvation and heaven and a wonderful foundation for life, and he laughed it off. The 1st Commandment says, “we should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” It is one thing to laugh at God when He tells you to DO something. This is a bad enough slap in the face of the LORD. But when God tries to promise you a wonderful gift, and you laugh it off - isn’t this even worse? I mean, you can understand someone being too lazy to do something you tell them to do. But why would someone laugh off a free gift? When you pass off the Lord’s Supper as no big deal - something you don’t really need, isn’t that the same as laughing at God. When you forget your baptism and act as if it were no great thing - you are saying to God, “ha, thanks for the bath - but don’t expect me to hang it on my wall!” When God offers you a pastor and a church and fellow members to help bless you - and you instead cynically ridicule and make fun of your fellow Christians or your pastor - or laugh them off as not that important - isn’t that the same as laughing at God? The same could be said for prayer, personal Bible study, you name it. The LORD was not happy with Sarah’s laughter. He isn’t happy with ours. We shouldn’t take these matters lightly.
I. It is sinful to laugh at the LORD’s promises
God knew Sarah’s attitude. The neat thing about this text is that even though this was a sinful attitude that angered the LORD, in His love He didn’t want Sarah to remain in her cynical laughter. He wanted to change it, and so actually He goes to visit them. It’s a very interesting text. The very reason I chose it for this Transfiguration Sunday is because it seems to me to be a prelude to the manifestation of God in the flesh hundreds of years later. The Transfiguration is about Jesus showing Himself to be true God on the Mount of Transfiguration with two MEN - Moses and Elijah. Here it would appear that Jesus manifested Himself in the flesh to Abraham with two ANGELS. (John 8:56) See the connection?
Moses starts out by saying, “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. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread.” Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree. Here the LORD appeared with two angels and sat and ate and drank with Abraham - as what seemed to be a normal man. Moses even called them “three men.” They sat and ate and drank with Moses as any other men. But their main order of business was not to eat and drink. Their main order of business was Sarah. So after they ate they asked, “Where is your wife Sarah?”
This was not a normal question for men to ask. It was usually considered rude in their culture to ask about the spouse of someone else. Yet their knowledge about Sarah and their question about Sarah showed they knew more about Abraham than the normal man. Sarah was the NEW name that God had given her. Abraham’s heart must have leaped at the words - having been holding on to the promise for so many years. Maybe this was the reason why he was outside his tent - eagerly awaiting more news from the LORD? With this personal visit, Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Note the time and the effort the LORD went through to personally assure both Abraham and Sarah that she was going to have a son. Here God was willing to come down in the appearance of a man and eat and drink with them, just to deliver this message and get Sarah to stop laughing - to look forward to the future.
Isn’t this why God became man in the flesh through the virgin Mary? Isn’t this also why Jesus showed His true glory on the Mount of Transfiguration? Weren’t these visible visitations meant to remove the laughter of doubt from the disciples? Weren’t they meant to assure God’s people that He was with them? For those people who doubted the Messiah would ever come, Jesus said, “HERE I AM.” For those disciples who wanted to laugh at whether Jesus was really God made man to save the world, Jesus Transfiguration would remove any laughter. Isn’t this also why God offers His own flesh and blood in the Lord’s Supper? It’s for those of you who have doubts and fears - who seem to laugh at God’s promises and wonder - could it be true? As you eat His body and blood - God comes to you and says, “YES, it is.” When the Holy Spirit actually inhabits your body in baptism, His presence in your soul removes the laughter of doubt. He removes the cynicism of life and gives you a fresh optimism.
The part that amazes me is the amount of effort our God is willing to go through to remove our doubts and our cynical laughter. The Almighty God climbs down into our crib, enters our mouth, is digested into our stomach, comes dashing through some water, and enters our soul. He is willing to actually come through elements like bread, wine, and water. Why? Because He cares about us so much. Instead of storming away in anger at our laughter, He enters our world to take it away. It makes us bow in wonder at the compassion that God would have - to actually come into our world and wipe the smirks off of our faces.
II. God visits us to change our laughter
This doesn’t mean that God hates laughter. The Psalmist writes in -
Psalm 5:11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
Paul encouraged the Romans by saying -
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Scriptures continually encourage us to rejoice and be joyful. It is even permissible to smile on occasion - even in church - but only if you aren’t German. (Tongue in cheek.) But this is talking about a different kind of joy - not the kind of joy that just likes a good one liner. This is illustrated in our text for today.
The three visitors did not give Abraham a comedy act. They didn’t cheer him and Sarah up by just arriving there. As a matter of fact, their arrival caused them much work - getting cheese curds, meat, and bread ready to fix them. It wasn’t the physical visit that ultimately changed their bad laughter to good laughter, but their WORDS. The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” This shouldn’t surprise us. It wasn’t just the physical appearance of Jesus that first brought joy to the disciples on the way to Emmaus, but mainly His exposition of the Scriptures! It was the WORDS he was speaking.
When Sarah doubted these words of the LORD, He would not allow her laughter to continue. With some strong words, the LORD said, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” What can we say of these words? Were they harsh? Yes? Were they true? Yes. But they were also COMFORTINGLY harsh. The LORD would not allow her to laugh this off. He openly confronted her doubt. As she laughed to HERSELF, thinking these “men” couldn’t hear her, the LORD suddenly revealed to her that HE was no ordinary MAN. His rebuke in fact told Sarah, “I am the LORD who can read your thoughts.” When she embarrassingly denied the LORD’S words - He STILL didn’t condemn her, but simply said, “yes, you did.” Wow! What a loving rebuke! With these words the pre-incarnate Christ was saying to Sarah - “do not laugh at this promise - unless you are laughing in joy!” He wouldn’t allow her to continue on in her cynical laughter. So what happened? When Isaac was born Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” (Genesis 21:6) The LORD changed her laughter into laughter.
Don’t we need these kind of Gospel rebukes from time to time? When Thomas was doubting that Jesus really raised from the dead, Jesus said to him, “stop doubting and believe!” When the disciples saw Jesus hanging on the cross, Peter and James could look back at the Transfiguration, and think about the conversation Jesus was having with Moses and Elijah. Those words would say to them, “stop doubting!” Sometimes we need that! That’s what the Lord’s Supper is for! In it, when you come before God with your sins, God very physically and verbally says to you - “hey! This is shed FOR YOU! Stop fretting over your sins and believe!” It’s ok to smile as you leave the Supper - it’s a good thing! When you wonder if God could really love you - that he could forgive you - God’s Word says, “God so loved the WORLD! What are you doubting for? Jesus died for the world! Aren’t you a part of the world? Aren’t your sins committed in the world? So what are you doubting for? Knock it off!” When Hebrews 10:10 says that you’ve been made HOLY through the blood of Christ - and Galatians says that those who are baptized into Christ are CLOTHED in Christ - God is yelling at you - “what are you worried about! You’re holy through faith in Christ! Listen to what I’m telling you! Stop doubting and believe!” These kind of rebukes - like the one given to Sarah - it’s harsh - but lovingly harsh - and sometimes we need it! Oh that God would open our hearts to listen to these rebukes and welcome them as the warm sunshine on a cold day!
III. God speaks to us to give us a different laughter
Every once in a while something will happen that makes us want to laugh, but we have to hold it back. When a little child gets angry and tries to scold you, you can’t help but laugh - but you try to hold it back. Again, you might hear a joke that makes you laugh - but because of the nature of it - you know you shouldn’t. When Fidel Castro fell over a chair, some there may have wanted to laugh at him - but knew they better not.
God is not somebody you ever want to laugh at. When He tells you to do something, do not laugh at him. More importantly, when he wants to give you something - do not laugh at it. God wanted to give Sarah a baby. Even though she laughed at Him, He gave it to her anyway. Even though we laugh at God’s law - in His mercy - He still gave us His Son. As a result of that sacrifice, God now says, “let me change your laughter into laughter. Instead of laughing at me, laugh with me. Don’t laugh at my Gift. Laugh at the devil. Laugh at death. Laugh at hell. Because in Christ - they have no power over you.” Amen.
