And some of you are aware, I was out of the pulpit this past month because of the very generous provision of this church of a month of annual study leave. And I used that occasion to teach a course at Gordon Conwell, Theological Seminary and also for some other projects. So I am very grateful to the church for that permission. And I would say that really one of the greatest advantages of it for me personally, the most refreshing part of that month is just the privilege of sitting in the pews and drinking in deeply from the superb preaching with which we were blessed by our various guest preachers. I know there are some of you are secretly hoping and praying that I will have picked up some pointers. And brother was so bold as to bring the matter to my attention after Reverend Bruce Wall preached. And with his extraordinary gifts began the message singing Blessed Assurance, Acapella. And the congregation responded so positively this brother later on came up to me and asked me whether I might be inclined to follow that example. The good news is I will spare you but it did recall for me an incident a couple years ago when I forgot to turn off my lapel microphone for the hymn that immediately follows the sermon. And immediately thereafter the switchboard downstairs was jammed with phone calls from concern listeners all across New England enjoying up to that moment our broadcasts on WEEE. But now wondering whether appropriate medical attention was being given to whoever it was that was moaning in terrible pain. We all have differing gifts but it was a reminder to me of something that is actually very important lesson to keep in mind and that is the microphone is often on. Even when you are not aware of it it is those tests that come in an unexpected way sometimes even of which we are unaware while we are being tested that are the proof of the metal of the character of the Christian and of the reality of our faith. Now of course many tests come in life well announced well advertised students at courses in school always expect that the syllabus will announce well ahead of time the exact day when the midterm exam will be given and the final exam that really counts. In athletic contests it is the same isn't it? It doesn't matter if you complete the pass during practice what counts is when the empires are on the field the clock is running the cameras are rolling that's when it matters that the pass is completed and the touchdown is made. As I say in our walk with God it is the unexpected unannounced tests that are often the ones which are the most revealing and the most important in our lives. The lapel mic is on all the time according to our Savior Jesus said I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken for by your words you will be acquitted and by your words you will be condemned Matthew chapter 12. C.S. Lewis in his inimitable way once compared it to rats in the cellar he said surely what a man does when he has taken off guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is. If there are rats in the cellar you are more likely to see them if you go in very suddenly but the suddenist does not create the rats it only prevents them from hiding in the same way the suddenist of a provocation does not make me an ill tempered man it only shows me what an ill tempered man I was all along the rats are always in the cellar perhaps not in your cellars but in many cellars and in the cellar of our lives always in the cellar but if you go in shouting noisily they'll have taken cover before you switch on the light apparently the rats of resentment and vindictiveness are always there in the cellar of my soul that's why it's the unannounced tests that are so revealing so accurate testing is the explicit purpose of course of this visitation of the lord with his holy angels that's recorded in the text that I read in Genesis chapter 18 this chapter is actually just a preface to chapter 19 where the angels then proceed to the city of Sodom where that city will be tested by its response to the presence of those angels the lord said in chapter 18 verse 20 the outcry against Sodom and Gamora is so great in their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me if not I will know now I'm aware if you heard that passage and listen to it in a relatively kind of superficial frame of mind it actually is a rather disturbing passage because it may seem to imply that we have a god in this text at least who does not know everything it seems that he you know has to find out some facts that up till now have alluded him yes to come and examine the situation to know if it's so or not the reality is of course from Genesis to Revelation the god who is the god who has revealed himself in Scripture has exhaustive discernment of every single fact every detail in the universe nothing alludes his attention in Genesis 18 is no different we see other evidences of this god knows exactly what he's going to do to Sodom in fact he mentions this in verse 17 shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do no ends ifs or buts it appears God sovereignly predicts the birth of Isaac to Sarah and Abraham even though humanly speaking this is utterly impossible a god knows exactly what's going to happen one year from now even though any obstetrician would say it can't possibly happen he knows also the details of Sarah's life and reads her heart like an open book doesn't he Sarah thinks that she's undetected there behind the flap of a tent she's thinking to herself these doubting thoughts it just is too good to be true and so she laughs and of course then confronted by the reality of a god who reads her heart like an open book she even tries to escape through dissembling I did not lie oh yes you did laugh that Scripture tells us oh Lord you have searched me and you know me you know when I sit and when I rise you perceive my thoughts from afar you discern my going out and my lying down you are familiar with all my ways before a word is on my tongue you know it completely oh Lord then what if this is the case and if Genesis 18 confirms this exhaustive knowledge of God then what's this business about going down to check it out well of course what we have here is something that is familiar to us in many passages of Scripture it's what we would call an anthropomorphism it's an accommodation to human limitation and finitude where the inconceivable unfathomable character of God is being revealed in a way which allows us an accurate glimpse into who he is but using the language that is analogous to our own experience this is why the Bible talks about God going down to see I mean God is everywhere isn't he the Psalmist and talks about how if I make my bed and shield how aren't there God is everywhere but here in language that's accommodating itself to our experience to analogies with which we're familiar to illustrate and emphasize how careful the scrutiny will be he goes down to see what's happening in Sodom what is the point of that kind of anthropomorphism to describe this judicial inquiry this fact-finding mission in precisely this language well I think the point of it is just to assure us that the judge of all the earth will render his judgments not in some arbitrary way not according to prejudices and preconceptions but according to incontrovertible facts God is the God of justice that's the assurance that comes through to us in this language it's exactly the same it seems to me as we find at the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation chapter 20 when we read how I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were open and another book was open which is the book of life and the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books now certainly by the time you get to the book of Revelation the last book of the Bible we have the fullness of revelation of who God is there isn't a sub-Christian view of God in that book I God cannot be more transcendent more sovereign than he is revealed to be in the book of Revelation so then you say well what are these books does God have a memory problem that he you know doesn't quite trust his recollection of the details of my failings today and yesterday well of course that's not it the point of the books again it's an anthropomorphism it's it's a metaphor to allow us the assurance that God's judgment will be based on the incontrovertible facts of what has immutably occurred it's it's not that our judgment will be grounded in what we hoped to do what we intended to do what we wanted to do it's going to be based on what we did the life that we lived the faithfulness and trust and God period well anyway I think that's at least one purpose for the language in our text and one other that I might add to it is not only to assure us of God's immutable, valuable justice but also to indicate his disposition that gracious disposition to be forgiving in wrath God remembers mercy the Bible tells us what's the point of revealing to Abraham the terrible jeopardy in which Sodom and Gomorrah right now are finding themselves what's the point of announcing ahead of time this impending judgment well of course it's hard not to understand the at least this intention is there that a God intends to elicit the prayers of intercession from Abraham for these cities that prayer life of Abraham is a reflection of God's own desire who doesn't take any pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that they should repent indeed the final visitation of those angels when those angels come to Sodom as they will in Genesis 19 we haven't read it yet but the point of that final visitation is this is the one last chance here's an opportunity even now it's not too late even now although we who know Sodom and Gomorrah all too well we don't have a much hope for the situation but even now if they will only repent and receive appropriately these messengers from God then God will relent indeed the Bible tells us there's always this fine print in God's announcements of judgment and Jeremiah 18 if at any time I announce that a nation or a kingdom is to be uprooted torn down and destroyed and if that nation I warned repents of its evil then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned it's not too late Sodom it's exactly like the parable of the wicked tenants you remember how Jesus in Luke chapter 20 talks about Israel under the figure of vineyard tenants and how God sends his servants to go collect the rent the servants who represent in terms of the analogy the prophets who went in appeal to Israel to produce the fruits that were in keeping with righteousness and the servants come and the vineyard tenants who are renting the vineyard abuse one after another rejecting them beating them wounding them and so on finally in exasperation the owner of the vineyard knowing all this nevertheless sends one last ambassador and it's none other than his very son what shall I do the owner of the vineyard said I will send my son whom I love perhaps they will respect him but when the tenants saw him they talked the matter over this is the air they said let's kill him and the inheritance will be ours and you see then when the tenants respond to the son the very incarnation of the owner of the vineyard even as Sodom responds to these angels sent from God himself his personal representatives they thereby reveal the incorrigible flagrant nature of their rebellion against God and they seal their doom the righteous judgment that then falls upon them well if that's what's going on in Genesis 19 when God sends his angels to Sodom and Gomorrah I maintain and this is the point of the sermon this morning that God is doing the very same thing in Genesis 18 this also is a test if he sends his angels to test Sodom he's sending his angels in his own presence to test Abraham although it's not announced and although it's not advertised ahead of time it's one of those instances where Abraham's response proves the worth of his character the depth of his faith this connection between chapters 18 and 19 I think is apparent in a number of ways one I suppose just the logic of it after all does God need a better inertial guidance system I mean why does he touch down on planet earth there by the oaks of memory rather than at Sodom if the purpose was to come to Sodom you think he'd be able to land you know square rate on the crosshairs well no he comes over here for purpose and watch the parallels there at least eight verbal situational parallels between the chapters and I know I'm operating with you at a disadvantage for you because you have an red chapter 19 but just listen you'll pick up on some of them chapter 19 opens up the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city our chapter begins that Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent you see the analogy when the angels arrive for Abraham versus for Lot both at the entrance then we go on when Lot saw the angels he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground Genesis 19 one back in our chapter 18 when Abraham looked up and saw them he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground very same gesture of honoring and respect once again in chapter 19 Lot offers them water that they might wash their feet here in chapter 18 Abraham offers them water that they might wash their feet in chapter 19 there then is the invitation of hospitality in here in chapter 18 Abraham offers extravagantly this hospitality to the angels and we could go on and as I say there are many more you would pick them up when you read them at your own leisure what then if that's the purpose in chapter 18 then now I think we can explain why the Lord and his angels appear in the mode that they do sometimes you know when God appears to human beings in the Old Testament he appears in the form of a fiery pillar of cloud that's the theophany the glory cloud that he assumed when he led Israel out of Egypt this massive terrifying reality that stood before them and defeated the Egyptians and delivered the Israelites in our text though God assumes a very much more modest appearance in fact indistinguishable from human beings eight times in Genesis 18 and Genesis 19 the Lord and his angels are called by the simple word men because that's what they appear to be oh that the chapter opens up and says it's the Lord who's appearing but from Abraham's perspective he doesn't know that yet we know it and so we're watching carefully how will Abraham respond when he doesn't know that this is a life affecting test but he all he sees according to the text verse two Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby eight times in the verses called men though in fact later on identified as angels the two attendants and eight times the person who speaks with Abraham is called the Lord or Yahweh in Hebrew well how then if this is a test how does the father of our faith Abraham do in the test and here's how we then apply it to ourselves well of course he passes the test with flying colors and there are really two sides the test the first half of our chapter is how he passed the test with respect to showing love in action and the second half of chapter 18 is how he shows love in his prayer life and ministry of intercessory prayer so first of all this response of love in terms of the action of hospitality 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 I want you to hear in this just how spontaneous and irrepressible is that well that gracious welcoming outreach to these strangers Abraham does not do what I sometimes do I admit to my shame in that you know if you're seeing somebody who you possibly could benefit from your attention and you're busy you have an appointment to go to you sort of hope they don't notice that you didn't notice them and you know you kind of do this little game you you try to remain out off each other's radar screen so that you won't be guilty of bad manners or whatever or if you make an invitation the invitation is given in such a half-hearted way that really you're signaling to the other person that they you hope they're busy so that they can't take advantage of your invitation to come over for dinner or whatever Abraham's offer is by no means the bare minimum requirement of good manners of etiquette it's not offered in a paffunctory way it's not begrudging he runs he runs to these three strangers he's a aggressive in his love in his outreach in the warmth of his welcome the tokens of respect that he offers he bows low to the ground even as Paul tells us to honor one another above ourselves that's already expressed there isn't it and then what I think is most intriguing is he says if I have found favor in your eyes my Lord do not pass your servant by you see he's stressing it would be an honor to him Abraham to have these three strangers take advantage of his hospitality it would be doing him a favor you may you know I realize look at that be a little dismissive and think oh that just must be their false humility or standard etiquette or something but no I want you to to hear in that what really is going on what Abraham is doing by stressing that it would be an honor to him is he is saying that this expression of hospitality comes with no strings attached that he is not at the end of the day going to be expecting that they'll return the favor that they will send a thank you note which will include an invitation over to their tents next week you know to keep the score somewhat in balance no what Abraham is saying is it would be an honor to me and so even at the end of the meal all you will have done is done me a favor you see enough now you see the love is then given in an unconditional way the kind of love of the kind of administration of that that we most appreciate and other people when they're giving us counsel when it's a nurse at the hospital and she has to clean you and bathe you and you're thinking oh this must be disgusting for I feel badly and she's no it's an honor it would be a privilege for me to help you in this way it makes it receivable it makes love receivable when we imitate Abraham in this kind of manner and then of course the costly lavish nature it's a feast fit for a king you can see it why does Abraham do this
why does Abraham reach out to these strangers in this amazing way this exemplary way well I say the answer is it's because Abraham knows what the purpose of life is and he certainly knows what the purpose of his life is and what is that purpose you say well it starts back in Genesis 12 when God called him and told him I'm going to bless you in order to make you a blessing to the nations the purpose of your life Abraham or your life Christian is that God is blessing you in every imaginable way in order to empower you and enable you to be a blessing to others that's the purpose of life everything else we can do better when we get to heaven worshipping God exploring the universe you name it it'll all be done writing the novel you always wanted to write you get the heaven it'll be fine you'll have tons of time and it'll come off better anyway but in this life alone we have the privilege of loving others into the kingdom reaching out to the strangers to those who don't yet know the gospel haven't yet experienced the reality of God well anyway it's a love by the way that comes sincerely not just because it's the job description it's written on Abraham's heart because you see he's been there I he himself by fate made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country God fitted him for a ministry of hospitality by taking him out of order in Haran in Mesopotamia and moving him a thousand miles from home that's how God taught Abraham to be so hospitable to reach out the stranger so it's just intuitive it's written in his nature and I've observed this as I'm sure you have here at Park Street Church or in any other fellowship context who are those who are most involved in reaching out for example to your international the international community the church what's those who've been internationals who've lived in India or in Ghana or somewhere else and have this burden and know and and can experience well reaching out in love with real not just sympathy but real empathy a feeling the very feelings of those to whom we are trying to minister because you've been there who are those who are most effective in hospital visitation it's those who've been on their backs in an intensive care unit as part of the curriculum to get them ready to minister to the sick it's the same way with Abraham and of course it's the same way with you and me welcome one another Paul writes in Romans 15 therefore just as Christ has welcomed you did Jesus reach out to you did he leave the 99 and come after you when you are running in the other direction when you were lost and without hope when you were desperate if you've experienced that then you'll have no trouble doing the same reaching out to the fellow sheep out there that need to be found and are desperate and have given up hope to love with the love with which you've been loved our Lord Jesus tells us that our situation is exactly the same as Abraham Abraham invited three guests over that day and it turned out to be the Lord himself and his angelic ambassadors our Lord Jesus and Matthew 25 says the same when the son of man comes in his glory and when he separates the sheep and the goats and final judgment and he invites those on his right the sheep to come you were blessed by my father and take your inheritance you'll explain it because I was hungry and you gave me something to eat I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink I was a stranger and you invited me in I needed clothes and you clothed me I was sick and you you looked after me I was in prison and you came to visit me and then the righteous will answer him Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you you know the lapel mics were off we didn't know we were being tested we didn't know that it mattered that we reached out to that friend that neighbor that person in need when when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink when did we see you a stranger and invite you in and the king will reply I tell you the truth whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did for me how can we do a better job of following the example of Abraham and this irrepressible love that reaches out in hospitality this fulfilling of the calling to be a blessing to the nations how can we do a better job I think there are many different answers as there are brothers and sisters in this congregation God has to direct every one of us according to his will how to put these things into practice but there are many who are doing an excellent job I think of the adopt the student program of this church there are 20 families in this body of Christ who have opened up their homes to a student here in the Boston area and I know that schedules are different a lot of times the families will have the student over once a month something like that and imagine how how beneficial that is for those who moved here from Texas and have no home no family here or from California or Utah or wherever or from across the world at the same with our friendship partner program for our internationals and you know God has laid on your heart don't hesitate call the church ask how can I take part in something like this it isn't difficult there are those who are very eager to enable that kind of hospitality to happen within the body of Christ here parents and recent months have been encouraged to invite the Sunday school teachers of their children over their homes that's hospitality that's the same kind of outreach of love that we're encouraged to do in imitation of Abraham and there are many other examples even within this congregation I'm mindful here we got I don't know how many standing around in the back of the church and I feel badly about that but we're at the maximum for this 11 o'clock the average attendance is way too large for the sanctuary some of you though I know it is inconvenient and it would be an honest to goodness sacrifice but some of you ought to consider moving to the 830 service 830 we got plenty of room here we don't and yet by just that even relatively relatively passive step although I don't want to minimize the cost it means cheating yourself out on sleep and I love my sleep but just by doing that we can be more hospitable we can continue to pray that more people will come from off this community outside of the walls of this church and be welcomed in it's hard to be as welcoming when we don't have room there's another example though and I'm gonna spend much less time on this but it's not less important another example the second half of Genesis 18 is the example of Abraham's love that motivates him to pray not just the ministry of hospitality as important and vital as it is but a ministry of intercessory prayer the real hard work that is often left undone Richard Foster writes if we truly love people we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them and this will lead us to prayer intercession is a way of loving others you see prayer is not just the desperate cry of a drowning man we begging God to take care of your need biblical prayer always has this other element in it it's the hearts cry of a lover of souls a way of praying and benefiting others if you love someone of course you there are things you can do to show that love hospitality is just one of them but more often than not you scratch the surface and you discover that the needs are well beyond your ability to address that brother or sister is desperately lonely maybe depressed you don't know how to bring the joy of the Lord into their hearts only God the great wonder counselor can bring emotional healing to that other person if you love them you'll see there are things that go beyond your ability to address and so you cry out to the God for whom nothing is impossible there'll be those who will be a crossroads in their lives making life affecting decisions you you would not be so arrogant as to think you've got the wisdom that will allow them the right make the right decision but you know someone who does the God the creator of heaven and earth who owns them he has the right to tell them what to do so if you love them you'll pray for them if their marriages are in trouble that you can't patch it up and give them an ability to be forgiving where there was only resentment and bitterness and a laundry list of offenses but if you love them you'll pray for them that God will be the reconciler the principal piece and restore them in their relationship and it goes on and on doesn't it we had time we could look at Abraham's example of intercession but I'd rather just take a moment and see it in the wider context all of God's mighty men and women the heroes of our faith have this kind of ministry of intercession it was characteristic of Abraham to pray even for Sodom think of it these aren't his friends they're not in his political party they're the other side of the aisle they represent the antithesis of his life but he is sole agonizes in their behalf indeed our Lord Jesus said we're to pray even for our enemies not those alone whose lives are caught up in the decadence of that fallen culture of Sodom and Gomorrah but anyone we are called to a ministry of intercession like Moses remember when he was standing on referendum raising his hands and a gesture of prayer and submission to God that's when Israel down below was winning the battle against the amuletites when his hands fell down the gesture of prayer removed then Israel fell behind and was defeated by their enemies we need that kind of Moses-like intercession and in fact I frankly admit that as hard as the news of Russell Skinner's death this last week was for all the obvious reasons of losing a dear friend an amazing example of the Christian life and godliness someone who has a pillar and leader of this church in so many ways so faithful so reliable so giving what is to me the most painful aspect of it is realizing we've lost a prayer warrior that has very few others of equal stature in this body every morning at 5.30 he began to pray for this church and for many others who are on his list for all of our missionaries by name who's going to take up the mantle of that ministry of intercession Ezekiel chapter 22 God says the people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien Israel has become a kind of second Sodom in Gomorrah and God is in despair over it they're denying one another justice and so on I looked the Lord says for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so that I would not have to destroy it but I found none who will stand in the gap and pray for this country pray for our political leaders pray for the initiatives that would be encouraging to righteousness and civility in our culture pray for the leaders of education of medicine and science who will stand in the gap and pray for those who don't even know their own need for prayer our Lord Jesus commends such prayer for us Israel was told to pray for even Babylon when they went off into exile Jesus tells us to pray for one another the scriptures encourage a ministry of intercession confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed we need to love each other enough to pray in nineteen eighteen fifty one there were two members of park street church who had a burden for the city and they started to meet together every single day to pray they decided to meet and one of the other sister churches so it would be clear this wasn't a park street church thing and others gathered together and soon there were scores praying every single day they prayed for six years in an eighteen fifty seven that example of intercessory prayer began to spread and igniting their example ignited a another group in the city of New York under the leadership of Jeremiah Lampier to pray together within six months ten thousand people were praying together every single day in the city of New York then it grew to fifty thousand and in a space of one year eighteen fifty seven to fifty eight church historians tell us that one million Americans came to Christ as a result of those prayer meetings we're called to stand in the gap if God does not exist intercessory prayer is the most colossal waste of time that you can imagine when you pray for your own needs at least itself therapeutic if there's no God you know if you confess your sins and meditate on yourself you know it's restful and lowers your blood pressure and all the rest of it but intercessory prayer if there is no God in heaven it is a colossal waste of time but if there is a God in heaven and if it is a God who answers prayers and a God for whom nothing is impossible including a pregnancy for a hundred year old man and a nine year old woman named Abraham and Sarah if nothing is impossible for him then there is no better expenditure of time than to pray for one another Harold John Akinge once throughout the challenge the former pastor of this church if Christianity is what the Bible says it is if prayer is what it says it is if there is a privilege of affecting God and man and history and current events then let's get with it let's pray let us pray father in heaven we ask that we might follow the example of the father of our faith this example of Abraham may we have the kind of aggressive love for one another that would cause us to be hospitable and welcoming and unconditional and reaching out to one another because we know we've been called to be a blessing to the nations but above all Lord may we not forget his example of intercessory prayer may we pray for those many of whom don't even know their need for prayer may we pray with opportunity persistence faith and especially love we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus