Devotional Materials. Week Commencing Sunday 19th June 2022
Call to worship
“The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” (Psalm 145:9)
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, just as in Christ, God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)
Today we come back to our series on the life of Abraham. We have come to the point where Hagar and Ishmael leave Abraham. The Lord shows compassion towards this mother and child.
We begin with the well-known hymn that tells of the Lord’s faithful mercies and includes the words, “Jesus, thou art all compassion. Pure unbounded love thou art.
Hymn
“Love divine” MP 449 (Piano)
Charles Wesley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q3jmXn6HTQ
Opening Prayer
We praise you Father for the wonderful love you have shown us through Jesus. When we consider the depths of your love, the forgiveness and mercy you have shown to us. The gift of your Spirit who works within us, strengthening and comforting through times of trial and anxiety. He refines our lives so we learn to love you more, and love sin less.
We want to praise and worship you this morning. You have lavished your love upon us. Filled us with your presence. Your love is made complete in us and we have assured hope that this love will constantly continue its work until we are perfectly restored in you - in heaven. There we will indeed be lost in wonder, love and praise.
Be pleased to lead us by your Holy Spirit this morning. In Jesus name we ask it. Amen
Reading. Galatians. 4:21-31
21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise. 24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written: "Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labour; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband." 28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Hymns
“Jesus, lover of my soul” MP 997 (Guitar)
Paul Oakley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1klYcs6LWuk
“There is a Redeemer” MP 673 (Piano)
Melody Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDgZ1v3l9go
Prayers
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for you have brought everything into existence, you are great and mighty in power. Be our strength in times of weakness, uphold us when we are down, protect us at all times; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lord, we wait, we watch, we long for you.
Renew our powers, refresh our spirits, restore our well-being, for you give new strength to the faint and power to the powerless. May your church be found working among those who lack resources or rights. May we seek to care for those who cannot care for themselves. We pray for the lowly and humiliated. We pray for relief organisations. Lord be to them a tower of strength.
We pray for the great powers of the world, the strong nations and mighty governments: may their power be used properly that the poor are protected, the weak are not exploited, and no one is oppressed. We would therefore pray for an end to the Russian offensive against Ukraine. We remember those who have accepted poverty and vulnerability for the sake of others.
We give thanks for all who have cared for us in times of weakness, for those who have uplifted our spirits and given us new hope. We pray for our friends and our loved ones, especially any who are finding life difficult at this time. We pray for any in our community that may feel neglected or rejected
We pray for all who are in weakness of body, mind or spirit, all who have come to the end of their own resources. We remember all who are losing their mobility or agility, those who are losing their memories, and all who have lost their grip on reality; for those who no longer trust in anyone, and those who doubt the love of God; for all who are caring for loved ones in illness. (Silence to remember/pray for individuals). Lord be to them a tower of strength.
Great are you, O Lord, and mighty is your power. (‘Traces of Glory’. David Adam).
We pray for the love of Christ. O God you are the Father from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named: bless us with the riches of your glory; make us inwardly strong, and powerful in your spirit; let Christ live in our hearts by faith; that, rooted in love and founded on it, we may surely grasp with all your people how broad and long, how high and deep is his love. So may we know that love which passes knowledge, and be filled with all your fullness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (Based on Ephesians 3)
Reading. Genesis 21:1-21
21 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob.
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
Hymn
“In Christ Alone” MP 1072 (Piano)
Stuart Townend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENtL_li4GbE
Sermon
After twenty five years in the land of Canaan, waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promise, Abraham’s faith was rewarded. As verse 2 of our passage states, “2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.”
The Apostle Paul refers to Abraham’s faith here. Speaking of the “God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that are not” he writes “18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead —since he was about a hundred years old —and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4: 18-22)
Throughout the New Testament Abraham is held up as the prototype of all those who are ‘justified by faith’. It was his trust in God- that God would keep His promise- which was credited to Abraham as righteousness. Abraham is saved on this basis alone. His salvation wasn’t in the keeping of rituals- Romans 4:9-12 describes how Abraham was credited with God’s righteousness before he was circumcised. Neither was Abraham’s salvation based on his ability to obey the Mosaic Law. Galatians 3:16-18 makes it clear that Abraham was credited with God’s righteousness long before the Mosaic Law was given. No, Abraham was justified by faith. He had faith in God that God would fulfil His promise, and provide him with his son.
The New Testament affirms that “Abraham is the father of all who believe’ (Romans 4:11). So all who are ‘justified by faith’ are saved. Like Abraham they believe God’s promises and they believe that what God has promised He has power to bring about.
If you are a true believer this morning, like Abraham, you also are ‘justified by faith.’ Your trust is in God and His promises to provide your salvation:
Throughout The Old Testament God promised He would send the Messiah to save us from our sins and the condemnation that would follow these. God Himself has come to us in the person of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to be that Messiah.
Christ procured the Salvation we needed through his atoning sacrifice on the cross. He the perfect one, died in our place- we the guilty ones, to bring us to God. By turning to Him in repentance and faith we find forgiveness of our sins and the assurance we are accepted by God. More than that we are accepted as sons and daughters of God who share in a wonderful inheritance.
None of this is to do with our merit. It is all to do with the grace of God- His showing of undeserved favour towards us. Like Abraham, we who believe are now credited with God’s righteousness.
It was through Martin Luther and subsequently the influence of the Reformation that this emphasis in Paul’s writing was rediscovered.
In 1513 Luther, who was Professor of Sacred Theology at the University of Wittenberg, agonised as he sought to ‘find a gracious God.” He was struck by the prayer of Psalm 31:1, ‘in thy righteousness deliver me.’ But how could God’s righteousness deliver him? God’s righteousness would surely condemn him rather than deliver him? His attention was directed to Paul’s words in Romans 1:17: ‘For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed- a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘the righteous will live by faith.’ This was the turning point for Luther. Hear him in his own words:
“I had greatly longed to understand Paul’s epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, ‘the righteousness of God’, because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and acts righteously in punishing the unrighteous…Night and day I pondered until…I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, He justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before “the righteousness of God” had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven.”
Like Abraham, we who believe are now credited with God’s righteousness. Not a righteousness of our own through the keeping of rituals or even the Mosaic Law, but through faith in His promises of salvation and His provision of that salvation in Christ alone.
Sarah nursed Isaac until he was probably three years old. And we read in verse 8 that the day of his weaning was marked by a great feast.
Hagar and Ishmael were also at the feast. Ishmael was now about seventeen years old (Genesis 16:16; 21:5), and for a long time had been the only son. It wasn’t his fault nor his mother’s, that his birth had been contrived due to a temporary lapse of faith on the part of Abraham and Sarah. However, he clearly resented his younger brother getting all the attention, and was mocking him. It was arrogant and cruel of Ishmael to mock a little boy of only three. Sarah saw it.
Sarah had resented Ishmael and Hagar ever since Abraham had sexual relations with Hagar- to produce an heir- even though it was at Sarah’s own insistence that he do so. She began to pressure Abraham to send them away. She insisted that Ishmael not be allowed to share in Abraham’s inheritance, all of it only going to ‘my son’ Isaac.
Abraham was a kind and generous man, as well as a loving father. He had previously interceded for Ishmael. (Genesis 17:18). Sarah’s attitude grieved him.
However God spoke to Abraham. Although Sarah’s attitude was wrong in one way, she really was acting consistently with God’s own promises and plans. It really was not possible for the two families to exist together, and Abraham should follow Sarah’s request, though it went against his personal feelings and would no doubt seem harsh to others.
The Lord’s instruction to Abraham here is consistent with his earlier instruction to Abraham in Genesis 17, where Abraham had interceded for Ishmael. There God said to Abraham
“Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
And here, in Genesis 21- our passage- the Lord reaffirms He will make Ishmael ‘into a Nation’, but it is through Isaac that Abraham’s offspring ‘would be reckoned.’
This conflict between Sarah and Hagar, between Isaac and Ishmael, has been used in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul, as an allegory. He uses it as an allegory of the continuing conflict between law and grace, between the flesh and the spirit. Galatians 4:22-31, our first reading, develops this contrast in a lot of detail.
I will give you an over view of what that passage says. Because this is how the New Testament applies what we are to learn from this separation:
Paul writing in Galatians 4: 22-31 says that those who are born after the flesh, are the spiritual descendants of Hagar. They are great in number, but nevertheless under the Law. They seek salvation through the impossible task of making sinful flesh- also called our ‘sinful nature’- keep the Law of God. The Law speaks of the Mosaic Covenant, a conditional covenant- a covenant that God would only keep with you if you obeyed that covenant’s demands. That old covenant was given on Mount Sinai in Arabia (where Ishmael dwelt), and centred in the earthly Jerusalem.
Paul goes on to contrast this with those who share in God’s heavenly promises which are centred in the heavenly Jerusalem (this is now being prepared by Christ and destined one day to come down out of heaven to the new earth). Those who share in God’s heavenly promises are the children of faith, like Isaac.
Paul points out that the Law can never give life. But God’s promise received by faith, does give eternal life. These children of faith are not in bondage to the Mosaic covenant. The terms of the Mosaic covenant are impossible to obey. Rather, the children of faith are under the Abrahamic covenant. A covenant given unconditionally and appropriated solely by faith in the promises. The true Israelite is the man or woman of faith-like Abraham- who appropriates salvation through faith in the promise and provision of God.
Paul goes on to describe in Galatians how ‘those after the flesh’ ridicule and persecute those ‘born of the spirit’. (Just as Ishmael tormented his younger brother Isaac). However it is those who are ‘born of the Spirit’ who will ultimately receive the blessing. They are free, not in bondage, just as Sarah was a freewoman and Hagar a slave. There must be a separation between those who are in bondage and those who are free in Christ.
Those dominated by the sinful nature- persecute those born by the power of the Spirit. This is what we read of in Church history.
In this month’s ‘Barnabas Aid’ magazine their Director Dr Patrick Sookhdeo cites an anonymous letter addressed to someone called Diognetus, thought to date from around 130 AD. It is the earliest known piece of Christian writing explaining Christianity to pagan readers. This is a small part of it.
“Christians…busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require. They love all men, and by all men are persecuted…They are treated by the Jews as foreigners and enemies, and are hunted down by the Greeks; and all the time those who hate them find it impossible to justify their enmity.
To put it simply; what the soul is in the body that Christians are in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world.”
The writer goes on to explain that this is why Christians are hated and persecuted, for they are like the moral conscience of the world, and humans always have a tendency to be rebellious and resentful against their consciences (see John 15:18-19).
That persecution continues to the present day. May’s edition of ‘Open Doors’ magazine had this in their covering letter:
‘Dear Reverend Barnes, imagine if 1 in 7 of your congregation were refused a job because of their faith. Or placed under surveillance? Or arrested and put on trial? What would it do for your church?
At least 360 million Christians around the world experience systematic discrimination, unfair treatment and persecution. That means an astonishing 1 in 7 Christians are affected by extreme, very high or high levels of persecution.’
Open Doors compiles the World Watch List: a list of the countries where Christians face the most persecution. They publish a top ten list and a top fifty list of such countries.
These magazines describe individual acts of persecution. It is a sobering fact that there have been more martyrs for Christ worldwide during the last hundred years than in all the centuries put together beforehand.
Men and women dominated by the sinful nature persecuting those born by the spirit. What about this country and the West? There has been a strong Christian heritage here so laws about freedom of religion and speech are still in place. We Christians face lower levels of persecution, perhaps mockery for our beliefs. But the persecution is real nonetheless. It comes in the form that what we believe doesn’t matter. Our beliefs are largely ignored. They are not considered ‘real’. R E teaching is a catch all of religions and now takes on a more philosophical character; that is mere human speculation about life. Secondary Schools are a closed door for Christian Ministers. Biblical doctrines are disregarded when it comes to explanations of our origins or the uniqueness of Christ and the Salvation He brings or why knowing Christ and living to please Him, including living by Christian ethics are of greatest benefit to the family and society as a whole. The media bang on and on about special interest groups who in their opinion are treated unjustly, but do they ever mention the most persecuted people in the world…
As our society turns increasingly to atheism in the form of secular humanism, observers of the political scene note how close we are to facilitating overt persecution of Christians through badly conceived legislation. For example, legislation at the moment, known as the ‘Conversion Therapy Ban’ is being used as a vehicle for those who want to endorse LGBT theology on Bible believing churches using the force of criminal law. The legislation itself rightly wishes to outlaw coercive and forceful measures to turn gay people straight. But extremists want to pervert that aim and widen the ban so that it includes a ban on biblical teaching against homosexuality and a ban on counselling those who wish to turn from homosexuality to heterosexuality. Ministers who do not comply would face imprisonment. As you can imagine I have written a detailed paper about it to my MPJ.
Christian organisations such as ‘Christian Concern’ the ‘Christian Institute’ and ‘Care’ will help you be aware of what’s going on. Don’t only rely on what you hear through the secular media. These Christian organisations provide materials that are free to help inform you and for you to pray intelligently for those persecuted abroad and to pray into key concerns from a Christian perspective in this country. 1 Timothy 2:1, 2 says “I urge then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all people- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and peace”
This is not a day to be a soft Christian.
Let’s turn to the last part of our passage. Genesis 21: 14-21
There we read the very next morning, after God spoke to him, Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away. In this Abraham was obedient to God. It doesn’t look like he has given them much provision of food and drink- ‘some food and a skin of water’. However it’s likely that he was observing directions God had given him in this. Abraham was trusting God to provide for them as God himself had promised to do. It looks from these verses that God wanted Hagar and Ishmael to learn to rely on Him directly, and no longer on Abraham to supply their needs.
No doubt the food and drink they were given would have been enough to enable them to reach another settlement. But it looks like Hagar and Ishmael lost their way.
After wandering for some time Ishmael was at the point of death. He finally fell down, unable to continue. Hagar put him under a bush to give him some shade. She didn’t want to watch him die and sat further away. She wept and prayed. Ishmael was also praying. God had allowed them to come to the point where they could no longer endure in their own strength and would have to depend on Him. That apparently was His purpose all along- that they, like Abraham, might learn to trust him.
God heard them. An angel was sent to comfort Hagar. He provided water for them from a well which he either created, or they had been unable to see. Hagar and Ishmael decided to stay in that place. A desert region in what is now the Sinai Peninsula. Hagar became so identified with Mount Sinai that Paul could say in Galatians 4:25 ‘Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia. We are told Ishmael made a living for himself and his mother through archery. He married. And according to Genesis 25: 13-15, he finally had 12 sons, and thus the ‘great nation’ God had promised him began.
God provided for Ishmael and Hagar. The Bible testifies of His general grace shown towards all people. In Matthew 5:45 Jesus teaches of the Father “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Every harvest time we give thanks to God, for He provides us with material benefits. Every created gift is from Him.
We Christians have very specific promises in this respect. “Seek first His Kingdom and his righteousness and all these other things (material necessities) will be added to you.”
George Mueller opened three orphanages in Bristol. He refused to ask for funds or speak of the ministry’s financial needs. He believed in praying earnestly and trusting the Lord to provide. And the Lord did provide, though sometimes at the last moment. The best known story involves a morning when the plates and bowls and cups were set on the tables, but there was no food or milk. The children sat waiting for breakfast while Mueller led in prayer for their daily bread. A knock sounded at the door. It was the baker. “Mr Mueller,” he said, “I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow I felt you didn’t have bread for breakfast, so I got up at 2 am and baked some fresh bread.” A second knock sounded. The milkman had broken down right in front of the orphanage, and he wanted to give the children the milk so he could empty the vehicle and repair it. Such stories became the norm for Mueller’s work. During the course of his ninety- three years, Mueller housed more than ten thousand orphans, and “prayed in” the finance needed.
The famous missionary to China Hudson Taylor wrote “depend on it. God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.” Like Muller, he proved that many time. It is a principle that every church must keep foremost in its decision making. Faith in God’s provision.
Conclusion
Our focus then is on the Lord- His promises and provision. Every material and spiritual blessing we have in Him. Our response is one of trusting faith.
Our faith is in Him for the meeting of our material needs.
Our faith is in Him for our salvation: “Abraham is the father of all who believe’ (Romans 4:11). So too we who are ‘justified by faith’ are saved. Like Abraham we believe God’s promises. We trust God in His promises of salvation realised in Christ. The provision of His atoning sacrifice so we are credited with His righteousness.
Our faith is in Him even in the facing of trials and persecution. Peter tells us “these have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:7).
Reading some of the accounts of persecuted believers abroad are harrowing but it is amazing how these believers are given courage by God, to show love and forgiveness even towards their persecutors. The Barnabas Fund who supports such believe “in the power of prayer to change peoples’ lives and situations, either through grace to endure or through deliverance from suffering.” When you read these accounts you see God’s provision to these believers over and over again- in the granting of endurance or in deliverance. So too their faith is in Him for the promised day when all will be righted and they enter into eternal joy. They, and we who have trusted Christ for salvation.
Our faith is in Him. Augustine wrote ‘Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to his love, and the future to his providence.”
Hymn
“What a friend we have in Jesus” MP 746 (Piano)
Joseph Scriven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi1-5kmbkyQ
Communion
Blessing
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.
David Barnes 15/6/22