Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone and I'm one of the pastors here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church and it's my joy to bring God's word to you today.
A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us. We're glad that you're here and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats, but because we're following Jesus together as one community.
And as we follow Jesus together, we've become convinced that there's no one so good. They don't need God's grace and no one so bad that they can't have it, which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in his word.
This morning, we're continuing our series in Genesis. You'll remember that Genesis tells two stories. It tells the story of the origin of the world.
That's in Genesis chapters 1 through 11. And then in chapters 11 through 50 to the end, it tells us the origin story of God's people of Israel, beginning with Abraham.
We are focused in on chapters 11 through 25 because we're looking at Abraham's story and we're doing that for two reasons.
First, it's preparing us to go back into our series in the book of Romans, where we will pick up in Romans chapter 4, which is about Abraham.
And second, it allows us to answer this question. What does it look like to follow God in faith?
I told you last week when we were in Genesis chapter 15 that we were in one of the most important passages in Scripture.
This week, Genesis 16, we're in one of the most painful and tender passages of Scripture.
Painful because of the way that humans act.
Tender because of the way that God acts.
As we come to this story in chapter 16, we all know the appeal, the temptation of a quick fix.
We know what it's like to wish that things would happen faster.
We grow tired of waiting for our lives and for circumstances to change.
And so we know the temptation that in the heat of life, we're tempted to choose our way instead of God's way.
We're tempted to go the fast way instead of waiting for God to act.
This passage we're going to see, Abraham and Sarah face the very same temptation, that very same struggle.
They have been waiting, unable to have children.
Remember, we found that out at the end of chapter 11 at the very beginning.
What's the first thing we found out about Sarah?
She is unable to have kids.
And then chapter 12, there's this great promise.
God comes to Abraham and says, look, you're going to be the father of this great nation.
The promise is then repeated at the end of chapter 13.
Last week, chapter 15, remember, Abraham asks God, hey, by the way, what about my heir?
You made this great promise.
I still don't have a son.
And God says, don't worry.
Your descendants will be as many as the stars.
And so there's this anxiety, this ache, this impatience as Abraham is caught between the gap,
the gap between God's promises for the future and his current reality.
And so as we come to this passage, Genesis 16 this morning, we're asking this question.
What happens when we do things our way instead of God's way?
With that, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 16.
If you're new to the Bible, this is the very first book, so it'll be easy for you to find.
You can turn in your Bible.
You can turn in your worship guide.
You can turn on your phone.
No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's word.
And Proverbs chapter 30, verse 5 tells us,
every word of God proves true.
He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
And so that's why we read now Genesis chapter 16.
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had born him no children.
She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.
And Sarai said to Abram,
Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.
Go into my servant.
It may be that I shall obtain children by her.
And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
So after Abram had lived 10 years in the land of Canaan,
Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant,
and gave her to Abram, her husband, as a wife.
And he went into Hagar, and she conceived.
And when she saw that she had conceived,
she looked with contempt on her mistress.
And Sarai said to Abram,
May the wrong done to me be on you.
I gave my servant to your embrace.
And when she saw that she had conceived,
she looked on me with contempt.
May the Lord judge between you and me.
But Abram said to Sarai,
Behold, your servant is in your power.
Do to her as you please.
Then Sarai dealt harshly with her,
and she fled from her.
Verse 7.
The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness,
the spring on the way to shore.
And he said,
Hagar, servant of Sarai,
where have you come from,
and where are you going?
She said,
I am fleeing from my mistress, Sarai.
The angel of the Lord said to her,
Return to your mistress and submit to her.
The angel of the Lord also said to her,
I will surely multiply your offspring
so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.
And the angel of the Lord said to her,
Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael
because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
his hand against everyone,
and everyone's hand against him.
And he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.
So she called the name of the Lord
who spoke to her,
You are a God of seeing.
For she said,
Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.
Therefore the well was called Bir Lahai Roy.
It lies between Kadesh and Bered.
And Hagar bore Abram a son,
and Abram called the name of his son,
whom Hagar bore,
Ishmael.
Abram was 86 years old
when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abraham.
I invite you to pray with me
as we come to this portion of God's word.
Our Father in heaven,
we praise you and thank you this morning
that you are a God of seeing.
That you see us
in the midst of our struggles and trials and sin,
and that you haven't given up on us,
but instead you've given us your word,
and even more than that,
you've given us your son.
And so we ask that you would help us again this morning,
that you would open up your word to us,
that we would see it clearly,
that we would grow in our knowledge and love for you,
our obedience to you,
that we would see Jesus Christ
as more and more beautiful.
And we ask all of these things
in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
We live in a world of quick fixes.
We know that not just from others,
but from ourselves.
But the tragic reality is
often our quick fixes make the problem much, much worse.
You may be lonely and decide that to solve that,
you're going to go onto social media for a little bit,
but researchers tell us
that actually makes us more lonely.
We live in a culture of radical diets,
and so you may think,
I'm going to lose weight really fast,
I'm going to go on a crash diet
by eating almost nothing.
Well, what happens?
You do lose weight fast,
and then your body goes into starvation mode,
and your metabolism plummets,
and suddenly your problem is much worse than before.
Kids, you know this as well.
You get poison ivy, right?
And it itches so bad.
And so you think,
well, I'll solve this problem.
I'll scratch it.
What does that do?
Makes it much, much worse.
My journey as a homeowner
could be described in this way,
hiring professionals
to come in and redo and replace
what previous homeowners thought they could accomplish.
A quick fix is what Sarah does in this passage.
We find out in verse three
that she has been waiting for a long time.
She has, in fact, been waiting for 10 full years,
and she has decided it is time to wait no more.
God has promised her,
promised Abram that great nations will come from him,
and yet not only do they not have great nations,
they don't have a single child.
She blames God in verses two and three,
and this is true in a sense.
It is true that God has prevented her from having kids.
What she doesn't say is the other half of the story
that God has promised.
Right?
She knows that she doesn't have a child.
What she forgets is that she can hold on to his promise
that he is going to come and answer.
And so in the midst of that tension,
in the midst of her ache and anxiety and impatience,
Sarah takes things into her own hands,
fails to trust God.
This plan that she concocts,
and the words that are used actually echo Genesis chapter three.
If you're familiar with the book of Genesis,
you know that chapter three is when Adam and Eve
rebel against God by eating the forbidden fruit.
Here, verse three, we're told she takes Hagar
and gives Hagar to her husband.
Genesis chapter three,
Eve takes the forbidden fruit,
gives it to her husband.
Here, verse two,
Abram listened to the voice of Sarah.
Genesis chapter three,
God comes to confront Adam and Eve,
and what does he say to Adam?
You listen to the voice of your wife.
And so the narrator is telling us,
look, when Abraham and Sarah do this,
they are reenacting Genesis three all over again.
They are failing to trust God's word all over again.
And so the results are predictable here.
We ignore God's ways.
It does not fix our problems.
It makes them much, much worse.
It makes them worse in two ways.
First, we hurt ourselves.
Notice what happens in verses five and six.
Sarah gets exactly what she wants.
What she's asked for comes true.
And what's her response?
She is filled with rage.
She's livid with Abraham for going along with her plan.
Her shame and her frustration are actually worse
than they were before.
She now has this daily reminder that Hagar is able.
She is unable, right?
She has this raw anger in verses five through six,
which reminds us,
it's when our plans are thwarted
that we really get to know ourselves.
It's our emotions that tell the truth.
When we're angry or sad,
we get to find out what's really important to us.
Not only is she filled with rage,
the narrator here makes it clear to us
her plan did not work.
It worked in one sense.
It works in the sense that Hagar does,
in fact, become pregnant.
It fails in another.
Look with me at verse two.
The plan here is,
I shall obtain children by her.
The goal is that Sarai has a kid.
Now go to the end of the chapter.
Verse 15,
Abram called the name of his son,
whom Hagar bore.
Verse 16,
Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore.
In other words,
this is not Sarai's child.
The plan in an ultimate sense has not worked.
Hagar's gonna bear a child for me?
No.
Hagar is going to bear a child for Hagar.
It's not just Sarai who hurts himself.
Abram also hurts himself.
What does Abram want?
He wants what any husband wants,
peace.
Fortunately,
he wants peace at any cost, right?
And so instead of getting peace,
he gets the opposite.
He gets his wife cursing and yelling at him.
As we look at verses five through six,
we can say on the one hand,
Sarai's anger is irrational, right?
On the other hand,
it's justified.
It's irrational in the sense
that she actually asked for this.
It's irrational that Abram
did exactly what she said.
It's justified in another sense.
Abram should have known better.
What is God saying when he says,
hey, Abram, you listened to your wife?
He's saying,
you should have been leading your family.
She's saying this to him,
why did you let me do that?
You should have known
that I wasn't thinking straight, right?
You knew I was overcome
with my own pain and shame.
Shame.
Why didn't you stop it?
You chose the easy way
rather than the right way.
Unfortunately,
we don't just hurt ourselves.
We also hurt others.
Hagar ends up
as the collateral damage
of this passage.
Verse six,
she is driven out.
Abram says,
look, your servant's in your power,
so he's continuing
to try to have peace.
Do to her as you please.
Then Sarai dealt harshly with her
and she fled from her.
Notice before that moment,
the way that Abram and Sarai
speak about Hagar.
This is gonna become important
in a moment.
They are unable
to refer to her by name.
Verse two,
a female Egyptian servant.
Sorry,
verse two,
go to my servant.
Verse five,
my servant.
Verse six,
your servant.
When it comes to Abram and Sarai,
Hagar has no name.
When we do things our way
and not God's way,
we end up using
and dehumanizing
the people around us.
God's laws,
what we're seeing here,
are not arbitrary.
They come out
of his fatherly care
that he wants
only for us
what is best.
And so Sarai and Abraham
choose to learn that
the hard way.
Sarai loses her servant.
Abram loses his peace.
Hagar loses her home.
everyone loses.
Now it'd be easy
for us at this point
to throw them
under the bus
for what's happened here.
The reality is
that what Hagar
happens to her here
is actually
a common cultural practice.
In the ancient Near East,
if you can't have a kid
and you're wealthy enough
to have a servant,
this is the accepted wisdom.
This is the way
of the world.
This is just
what you do,
right?
If you have enough money,
if you have enough resources,
why not?
Just like Sarai,
we are tempted
to do things our way
rather than God's way
in the midst
of our own impatience
and pain.
Sarai has a hard time
waiting 10 years.
In our culture,
we have a hard time
waiting 10 days,
if not 10 minutes.
Sarai and Abraham
knew nothing
of two-day prime delivery.
We, in fact,
want the most efficient way,
right?
We want things
to be fast
and practical.
We want to have
justice now.
And so instead
of waiting on God
to act,
we do it ourselves
through our gossip.
We see riots
more and more
across our country
as people believe
it is up to us
and only us
to make things right.
You may be married
and you've seen
the dreams
of what you thought
your marriage
would be shattered.
and instead
of doing
the hard work
of rebuilding,
you bury yourself
in kids
or work.
Maybe you're single
and you want
desperately
to be married
and you're tired
of waiting.
And so you decide,
you know what I'm going
to do?
I'm going to date
someone
who does not share
my deepest
commitments
and values.
because being
with someone
is better
than no one,
right?
God has not
brought me
someone who
believes in him.
I will find
a Hagar.
Of course,
the problem
is this.
There are more,
there's more
than one way
to be lonely.
One of those
is worse
than the other.
Parents,
temptation,
right?
like Abram
is to want
peace
and comfort.
And so you decide,
you know,
I'm not going
to discipline
my kids.
Of course,
if you don't
discipline now,
things will be
much,
much worse
later.
We always
constantly
face this
temptation,
the temptation
to do things
the fast way
rather than
to wait
for God.
Amen.
Where do we
get the power
though?
Where do we
get the power
to do things
God's way
and not our
way?
To find that out,
we're going to
have to move
away from
Abram and
Sarai.
They're negative
examples for us
and we have to
turn to Hagar.
Hagar here in
this passage
is the one
person who
is willing
to trust
God.
It's not the
heroes of the
faith who
help us here.
It's an
unexpected
character.
It's the
Egyptian slave
woman.
She's the one
who shows us
what it looks
like to trust
God.
In verse 6,
she flees.
In verse 7,
we find out
she's near the
border of Egypt
which makes
sense, right?
Remember,
she's an
Egyptian woman.
Of course,
she is fleeing
to head back
home.
It's possible
that she
became part
of Abram
and Sarai's
family back
when they
were in
Egypt.
Remember,
at the end
of chapter
12.
She's on
the return.
She's going
back to her
home.
Verse 7,
this angel
of the Lord
meets her.
There's a
debate over
the angel.
People ask
questions like,
is the angel
God?
Is the angel
a representative
of God?
I'm just
going to make
it really
simple for
us.
Whatever
the angel
sees,
God
sees.
Whatever
angel
says,
God
says.
Whether
it's God,
whether it's
pre-incarnate
Christ,
whether it's
an angel,
those things
are true,
okay?
Abram and
Sarai have
had a hard
call to
wait.
That's why
Sarai accuses
God.
Verses 2 and
3,
you haven't
given me a
child.
Hagar
also receives
a hard
call.
Verse 9,
the angel
of the
Lord said
to her,
return to
your
mistress
and
submit
to her.
Return to
the woman
who won't
call you
by your
name.
Return
to the
house of
dysfunction
and shame
and anxiety.
return.
It will
not be
a quick
fix.
Return
and just
wait.
Return
to Sarai
who's a
hard
mistress.
Return
to a
place
where
you have
a child
but no
power.
What
does
Hagar
do?
She
takes
God
at his
word
and she
goes
back.
We know
that because
in verses
15 and
16 it
tells us
she bore
Abram
a son.
What is
it that's
different
about
Hagar?
Why is
she able
to trust
God
and return?
It's
for one
reason
and one
reason
only.
God
and his
overwhelming
grace.
Remember
I told
you this
passage is
painful
and tender.
It's
painful
because of
human
failing.
It's
tender
because of
God's
mercy.
Verse
seven.
The
angel of
the
Lord
found
her.
Hagar
is not
looking
for God
but God
is looking
for
Hagar.
Verse
eight.
God
addresses
her
by
name.
Hagar
servant
of Sarai
where have
you come
from
and where
are you
going?
this is
the only
time
in the
entirety
of
ancient
Near
Eastern
literature
that a
God
addresses
a woman
by name.
I'm going
to say
that again.
This is
the only
time
in ancient
Near
Eastern
literature
that a
God
addresses
a woman
by
name.
Remember
what Abram
and Sarai
did.
They
couldn't
say
Hagar's
name.
They
could
only
say
servant.
And
the reason
is this
that names
are
reserved
for people
of great
power
and influence
and here
God
comes to
this
Egyptian
woman
who has
no
power
no
influence
is
pregnant
and
stuck
in the
desert.
sees
her
not
as a
servant
but as
a daughter
in need
of help.
Verse 8
he doesn't
just call
her by
name
he gives
her
dignity.
He
engages
her
in
conversation
something
Abram
and Sarai
never
did.
Where
have
you
come
from
and
where
are
you
going?
Hagar
is no
longer
a
one
way
recipient
of
commands
and
orders
she
is a
person
to be
loved
and
engaged.
God
cares
for those
who have
no
power
and no
influence
and he
calls by
name
those
who
others
will
not
name.
God
does
give
her
to
return
because
the
God
who
tells
her
to
return
shows
her
that
he
cares
for
the
powerless
and
the
downtrodden.
God
doesn't
just give
her
dignity
here
though
although
he
does
do
that
he
also
gives
her
great
hope.
Verse
10
we have
some
practical
promises
here
I
will
surely
multiply
your
offspring
so that
they
cannot
be
numbered
for
multitude.
It's
not just
that God
knows
Hagar's
name
it's
that now
Hagar
has a
future.
It's
not all
lost
it's
not all
in vain
no
she's
going to
return
and wait
for God
to do
what he
has
said
he
will
do.
It's
not a
dead
end
it's
a
future
with
many
children.
None
of this
by the
way
goes
over
Hagar's
head.
Verse
13
she
called
the name
of the
Lord
who
spoke
to
her
you
are
a
God
of
seeing.
Truly
here
I
have
seen
him
who
looks
after
me.
Brothers
and
sisters
when
we
know
and
believe
that
God
looks
after
us
we
can
wait
as
long
as
we
need
for
him
to
fulfill
his
promise.
I
have
seen
him
who
looks
after
me.
Verse
15
she
goes
back.
She
goes
back
because
God
has
given
her
dignity
and
given
her
a
future.
Of
course
it's
going to
be
normal
life
right?
We
have
this
great
mountaintop
moment
and
it's
also
not
the
end
of
Hagar's
struggles.
Her
problems
aren't
all
solved.
Her
relationship
with
Sarai
will
still
be
strained.
In
fact,
if you
stick
with
us
for
a
couple
more
chapters,
you're
going to
see
that
things
for
Hagar
get
worse.
But
she's
no
longer
alone.
And
that
is
enough.
Christian,
the
Lord
calls
you
by
name
as
well.
When
people
look at
you,
they
may
see
all
sorts
of
things
first.
They
may
look
at
you
and
see
your
wealth
or
your
poverty.
They
may
see
your
power
or
your
lack
of
power.
They
may
see
your
status
or
your
health
or
your
unhealth.
The
Lord
sees
you
as
his
children.
He
sees
you
as
his
people.
And
I
don't
just
say
that
as a
sentimental
thing.
I
say
it
because
it's
true.
And
I
know
it's
true
because
our
Lord
Jesus
says
these
things
in
the
Gospels.
Luke
chapter
10
rejoice
that
your
names
are
written
in
heaven.
John
chapter
10
I
am
the
good
shepherd.
I
know
my
own
and
my
own
know
me.
He
doesn't
see
first
your
stereotypes
or your
failures.
Doesn't
see you
first
as a
soldier
or a
civilian.
Doesn't
see you
as
someone
who's
old
or
young.
He
sees
and
knows
your
name.
If
you're
not a
Christian
I
imagine
you
know
what
it's
like
to
be
known
only
by
your
class
or
your
abilities
by
labels
that
people
put
on
you.
The
Gospel
is the
only
thing
that
offers
you
freedom
from
that.
God
sees
you
even
if
the
world
doesn't.
He
sees
you
even
if
you
have
nothing
spectacular
to
offer.
Verse
7
we
saw
that
God
pursues
Hagar.
Of course
this is
an angel
in one
day in
the
desert.
God
pursues
us
even
more.
We
know
that.
We've
seen
his
pursuit
for
us
in
Jesus
Christ.
Romans
chapter
5
tells
us
but
God
chose
his
love
for
us
in
that
while
we
were
sinners
Christ
died
for
us.
He
sent
his
son
like
he
sent
the
angel
to
Hagar
when
we
weren't
looking
for
him.
But
he
was
looking
for
us.
Just
like
he
promised
Hagar
a
future
Christian
he's
done
the
same
for
you.
Why
do
we
do
things
God's
way
and
not
the
easy
way?
What
allows
us
to
wait
for
10
years
and
even
more?
We
do
it
for
two
reasons.
God
knows
our
name.
He's
given
us
a
future
and
a
hope.
We
might
put it
this
way.
I
will
honor
him
for
this
I
know.
I
belong
to
the
Lord.
I
am
not
my
own.
Let's
pray.
Our
Father in
heaven,
we do
thank you
and praise
you that
we belong
to you,
that you
look for
us even
when we're
not looking
for you.
in the
midst of
our
failure
and
mistakes,
you meet
us with
great
grace.
We
ask that
you'd
remind us
of that
truth,
you'd
drive it
deep
into
our
hearts,
that
it
would
cause
us
to
follow
you
no
matter
what.
We
ask
these
things
in the
mighty
name
of
Jesus
Christ.
Amen.