Written by: Hugh Palmer - Christ Church Fulwood, Sheffield

Genesis 18 v 6-8
Abraham hurried to the tent where Sarah was and said to her, “Hurry, prepare twenty quarts of fine flour, and make it into loaves of bread.” Then Abraham ran to his herd and took one of his best calves. He gave it to a servant, who hurried to kill it and to prepare it for food. Abraham gave the three men the calf that had been cooked and milk curds and milk. While they ate, he stood under the tree near them.

Notes
It's not the first or the last time this will have happened. 

Guests have appeared out of the blue and for some reason Abraham is determined to create an impression. Has some instinct told him what the writer has told us, that this is the Lord visiting him?

Whatever… it quickly becomes an early pilot for Ready Steady Cook, as Sarah is hustled into action and the servants speed into the kitchen. "Hurry Sarah… Abraham ran… the servants hurried to prepare the food". Just a few minutes later the visitors are sitting down to a meal fit for a king, or even the Lord.

The New Testament takes hospitality very seriously. "Keep on loving each other as brothers", we're told and then immediately, "do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have entertained angels without knowing it" (Hebrews 13:1,2)

Watch how you treat the stranger or passer-by who wanders into your life today. The Lord, Jesus, said that how we treat his people is how we treat him. "I was hungry and you fed me". How much better to hear that than, "I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat".

Genesis 18 v 9-12
The men asked Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?”
“There, in the tent,” said Abraham.
Then the LORD said, “I will certainly return to you about this time a year from now. At that time your wife Sarah will have a son.”
Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were very old. Since Sarah was past the age when women normally have children, she laughed to herself, “My husband and I are too old to have a baby.”

Notes
You've got to draw the line somewhere. You can't believe just anything. 
Be reasonable. People who speak like that have got a point or least they have to the Sarahs of this world.

The children thing had been a big issue for her and Abraham and it had brought strains to their marriage in the past. They both wanted a child but it hadn't got them anywhere. God had promised them one or so Abraham said but when three strangers turn up and start talking about the son Sarah would have in a year's time, what is she meant to make of it?

She thinks she's the one facing the facts. Abraham is knocking a hundred years old - the birthday card from the queen should arrive any day. Sarah won't see ninety again. And they're going to have a baby?! You can forgive her for laughing.

Of course, if God has promised something he will have the last laugh. It's not facing the facts to ignore who is making the promise. 

Are there any of God's promises you're in danger of quietly sniggering at? 
Do you ever catch yourself doing a Sarah and thinking, "not even God could pull that off"?

Genesis 18 v 13-15
Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘I am too old to have a baby’? Is anything too hard for the LORD? No! I will return to you at the right time a year from now, and Sarah will have a son.”
Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I didn’t laugh.”
But the LORD said, “No. You did laugh.”

Notes 
Ever been caught out muttering something you didn't want overheard?

Poor Sarah's little giggle behind the tent flap got picked up by the last person she wanted to hear. The Lord. Covered in confusion and fear and no doubt turning red with embarrassment she tries to lie her way out of it all. But as always the Lord knew. He'd heard the laugh.

"Is anything too hard for the Lord", it's the one fact Sarah had not faced up to.

"Nothing is impossible for God", Mary will be told when she questions the even more improbable birth of Jesus.

"The wind (the Spirit) blows where it pleases", Jesus tells Nicodemus when he can't get his head round the idea that you must be born again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and asks how you can be born a second time when you are old.

To be a child of Abraham or to be a child of God isn't something that we can pull off ourselves. It requires God to work. "It would take a miracle to get you to heaven", someone once said. Before we start laughing it's good to have programmed our mental software with the thought, "is anything too hard for the Lord".

Today, if one of God's promises seems ridiculous, factor that truth in. 
See if it can turn your nervous smirk into a confident thank you.

Genesis 18 v 16-19
Then the men got up to leave and started out toward Sodom. Abraham walked along with them a short time to send them on their way.
The LORD said, “Should I tell Abraham what I am going to do now? Abraham’s children will certainly become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. I have chosen him so he would command his children and his descendants to live the way the LORD wants them to, to live right and be fair. Then I, the LORD, will give Abraham what I promised him.”

Notes
Imagine… no for most of us it will only need to be remember. Remember that time when you found out you were the one in the group that did not know what was going on. You thought you were part of the in-crowd and discovered all the plans had been made behind your back. It left you gutted, wondering what kind of friendship you had with them.

Abraham never had that bitter taste in his mouth with God. As the Lord started out to Sodom, with Abraham the good host walking alongside the first bit of the way, he decides to let Abraham in on what he is planning. 
God's plans for the world will all be worked out through Abraham, "all nations on earth will be blessed through him". Yet this God does not treat him as a mere cipher, a cog in the wheel, but as a friend. One who is in on the plans and knows what God thinks about Sodom, about evil and how he will react. Then Abraham will bring up his family, "to live the way the Lord wants them to", You don't have to be good to be a friend of God but being a friend of God involves you in becoming like him in goodness.

Jesus said to his followers, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15) Friends of God… let that thought sink in today.
In on God's plans…in on God's goodness… is that you?

Genesis 18 v 20-21
Then the LORD said, “I have heard many complaints against the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. They are very evil. I will go down and see if they are as bad as I have heard. If not, I will know.”

Notes
It must be a thankless task to manage a firm's complaints' switchboard. 
You weren't responsible for the original mistake, you can't always be sure there was a mistake, you will always be expected to put it right by yesterday, blood pressures will usually have risen even before the call is made etc.

Here we see the Lord managing his own switchboard and how he handles complaints. He is personally investigating, he is not going to act on hearsay, "I will go down and see if they are as bad as I have heard".

The idea of the Lord as a judge is not one many are comfortable with, although life without a judge quickly becomes meaningless. Imagine a game of football without a ref? What price the rules? What chance of a game? 
Imagine life if nothing ever really mattered. If the Lord looked at the holocaust; the killing fields; the genocide in Rwanda; September 11th… simply shrugged his shoulders.

The Lord as judge is a reassuring truth especially if we can be sure of what Abraham discovers here. It is not enough for the Lord to hear that the people of Sodom are very evil, before he acts he has taken steps to make sure, "I will know".

The Lord does not judge because he has a temper or has had a bad day at the office. He acts on what he knows. He judges justly. It's very reassuring… unless we've done wrong!

Genesis 18 v 22-26
So the men turned and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood there before the LORD. Then Abraham approached him and asked, “Do you plan to destroy the good people along with the evil ones? What if there are fifty good people in that city? Will you still destroy it? Surely you will save the city for the fifty good people living there. Surely you will not destroy the good people along with the evil ones; then they would be treated the same. You are the judge of all the earth. Won’t you do what is right?”
The LORD said, “If I find fifty good people in the city of Sodom, I will save the whole city because of them.”

Notes
"There's just one problem with that". When you think you've got everything sorted someone's normally ready to put a spanner in the works. It's Abraham's turn now!

It's not enough that God won't act in judgement until he really knows the score. That won't necessarily make it fair when he moves against Sodom,
"Surely you will not destroy the good people along with the evil ones, then they would be treated the same".

If the Lord didn't know it already Abraham should probably have declared an interest here because he has family in Sodom - his nephew Lot is there with his wife and daughters. This though is more than some personal family issue. This is for everyone, "you are the judge of all the earth, won't you do what is right?"

We have seen enough in recent wars, both to marvel at the accuracy of modern weaponry and precision bombing to know that it is not precise enough to avoid casualties. Some can accept that as part of the tragedy of war but can anyone accept the judge of all the earth causing innocent casualties?

We don't have to. The Lord judges justly. This Lord has a heart of mercy too! "If I find fifty good people in the city of Sodom, I will save the whole city because of them".

If you've ever been punished for something someone else did you'll know how vital it is to discover if the judge of all the earth would ever do that. 
Thank the Lord he wouldn't!

Genesis 18 v 27-33
Then Abraham said, “Though I am only dust and ashes, I have been brave to speak to the Lord. What if there are only forty-five good people in the city? Will you destroy the whole city for the lack of five good people?”
The LORD said, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy the city.”
Again Abraham said to him, “If you find only forty good people there, will you destroy the city?”
The LORD said, “If I find forty, I will not destroy it.”
Then Abraham said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me, but let me ask you this. If you find only thirty good people in the city, will you destroy it?”
He said, “If I find thirty good people there, I will not destroy the city.”
Then Abraham said, “I have been brave to speak to the Lord. But what if there are twenty good people in the city?”
He answered, “If I find twenty there, I will not destroy the city.”
Then Abraham said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me, but let me bother you this one last time. What if you find ten there?”
He said, “If I find ten there, I will not destroy it.”
When the LORD finished speaking to Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

Notes
Forty five - forty - thirty - twenty - ten? "When the Lord finished speaking to Abraham he left and Abraham returned home". I read of Abraham bartering with God and wait for the Lord to explode, but he never does. It comes to an end and he and Abraham go their ways as if nothing strange had happened at all. Does that give a licence to anyone and everyone to haggle with God?

No, it probably means I should go back and look at the whole episode differently. This friendship with God means more than I realised. The Lord has his plans but Abraham has his fears and misgivings. The Lord is content for Abraham to voice them, to raise his questions. What kind of friendship is it if you're not allowed to express your worries and your misgivings? The Lord doesn't go on the defensive with his friends as if he's got something to hide. He can stand the test of Abraham's questions and when he has Abraham can trust him all the more.

Abraham is not haggling and bartering with God. It's the justice thing that has got to him. Is the Lord serious about not punishing the innocent because of the guilty? Or only if there are too many innocent? It really matters that the judge of all the earth does right.

Do you have fears and misgivings about God and the way that he acts? 
Friends can voice them. But when you do, don't forget Abraham's humility. 
"Though I am only dust and ashes… Lord, please don't be angry…". He spoke as a friend sharing his concerns; he spoke as a friend to the Lord, knowing that his worries stemmed from his lack of understanding. Good to follow his example.


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes