Community Church Sermons
June 19, 2005
Genesis 21:8-21
It is one of those wonderful coincidences that brings together a special day like today – Father’s Day – with a scripture reading like this one from Genesis 21. The story we have just heard is a perfect Father’s Day scripture! It strikes me as being nothing less than a fascinating tale of two fathers.
Now, one of the fathers in this story is a dad pretty much like me – and perhaps like you. He is a man full of good intentions, and down underneath it all truly has a loving heart. But sometimes this dad – like me, and perhaps like you – can’t always deliver on those good intentions. This father – like me, and possibly like you - suffers from a certain disabling genetic defect. He was born…a guy.
And you know how guys are. There are good things about us, and not so good things about us. But even beyond the good and the bad, there is a whole lot of something that only can be described as guy-ness. You men here today who felt sorry for Ray Barrone in Everybody Loves Raymond when Ray videotaped a football game over his and Deborah’s wedding video know exactly what I’m talking about. It could just as easily have been one of us, couldn’t it? That’s guy-ness! It’s not easy being a guy! Consider the young dad in my hometown who one day had responsibility to take care of the baby. He took the child with him to the grocery store and when he came out, set the car seat with the baby in it on the roof of the car while he placed the groceries in the back seat. Then, absent-mindedly, he got into the car and drove off - with the baby still on the roof! He actually got up onto the Expressway and was zipping along at 55-miles an hour before realizing that all the cars honking their horns were honking at him. He pulled over, and when he got out of the car got the biggest surprise of his life! But the baby was still there, safe and sound, and smiling away! Thank goodness. And every guy here today knows this truth. It could just as easily have been one of us! Guy-ness! It’s not easy being a guy.
And a good case in point is the first dad in today’s scripture lesson. His name was Abraham, and Abraham was just a guy like the rest of us. Abraham had a pretty good life going on. But then, one day, he got the itch to make a big career move. Sound familiar, guys? So Abraham told his wife Sarah about the dream he had – a dream of going off to a place he had never even seen before where, he said, he would start up a family business that would one day grow into a huge multinational corporation with offices in New York, London and Tokyo. This, he said with a gleam in his eye, was going to be such a globally important enterprise that the number of employees would be counted like the grains of sand on a beach! This is the kind of dream only a guy could come up with!
Well, Sarah listened to her husband’s dream, and looked at him the way only a wife can look at a man she knows has lost his cotton-pickin’ mind. How did he think he was going to start a family business without having any children? And without any hope of ever having children? You see, Sarah was unable to have babies. Obviously Abraham had not factored in that little detail.
Not only that, but how many times before had Abraham gone off half-cocked to pursue some new get-rich-quick scheme? There had been Amway, and A.L. Williams, and…oh, too many other things to even mention. And now this. Sarah wasn’t sure she wanted to leave behind the comfort and security of home for the uncertainty of another one of Abraham’s wild dreams. And she told him so.
But then Abraham played the G-card. “Honey, it’s God who wants me to do this!” And then, Sarah knew it would be no use arguing any further. Never stand between a man and his God-given dream – no matter how stupid it is! So Sarah packed his bags, gave him a kiss, and sent him off to pursue his new career. She stayed home to pack the furniture, sell the house, arrange for a moving company, and take care of all the details that go into supporting a guy who is pursuing his God-given dream to start a global enterprise from a family business built around a son who hasn’t even been born yet to a mother who can’t have babies.
Only a guy could come up with something like this! But wait, it gets even better!
Ten years go by. No baby. No family business. No multinational corporation with offices in New York, London and Tokyo. No employees as numerous as the grains of sand on the beach. And you know what happens next.
They cook up this idea of having a surrogate mother! Sarah’s maid Hagar is young, beautiful and fertile. Maybe through her, Abraham can get the son he needs. Now, everybody here today knows this is not a good idea and will lead to unbelievable complications. But, Abraham is a what? Abraham is a guy! So wiping the smile off his face, old Abe goes in to Hagar and does his duty. And sure enough, Hagar becomes pregnant. Nine months later, little Ishmael is born.
Now the dream can be realized! But then comes one more surprise!. Just about the time Abraham is ready to bring Ishmael into the business, a miracle happens! Sarah gets pregnant! And sure enough, nine months later, Abraham and Sarah give birth to a child of their own. They name the baby Isaac.
And the Bible paints an amazing picture of this happy family. There’s Sarah. There’s Hagar. They hate each other’s guts. And there’s Ishmael. And little Isaac. And they hate each other’s guts. And there’s Abraham – down at the local bar trying to figure out what in the world he can do to solve the problem he’s helped create.
It’s not easy being a guy.
And you know what happened next, because we heard the story read a moment ago. Abraham decides to send away Hagar and Ishmael. He packs them a lunch, and gives them a canteen full of water, and sends them on their way.
And let’s not be too harsh in our criticism of Abraham. He was just trying to do what he thought was right and best for everyone involved. Its just that the choices we face in life aren’t always clear, and sometimes the choice is not between right and wrong, but between two wrongs.
Like me – and maybe like you – Abraham was full of good intentions. But sometimes good intentions are not enough. In this case, the good intentions almost turned to tragedy.
Genesis 21 tells us that Hagar and Ishmael ended up lost in the desert – out of food – out of water – and out of hope. They were beyond the protective reach of Father Abraham. But, remember, this is a tale of TWO fathers! Listen:
“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.”
And the second dad in this tale of two fathers stepped in where Abraham was unable to go. God reached in where Abraham was unable to reach. God caught in the grip of his love the boy and his mother way out there in the desert where Abraham was unable to be.
And God saved them.
I guess it probably was when my children first went off to school that I realized that a dad’s reach is pretty limited. The way life comes at us, our kids sooner or later go out into the desert where we can’t be with them. You watch your little girl go off to her first school dance. Your son strides out for the first time to the pitcher’s mound. And there’s nothing you can do. They don cap and gown at graduation – walk down the aisle to be joined to a husband or wife – move away to begin a career – have children of their own. All kids move to the desert.
Sometimes they move out there simply because that’s what kids need to do as they grow. Other times they end up in the desert because of things that go wrong in life. Cancer. Divorce. Alcoholism. Depression. Wrong choices. Sometimes our kids end up in the desert because we moms and dads chase them there because of our own weak humanity.
One of the hardest things I know as a father is that I can’t protect my kids from life. I’m just a guy, and guys can only do so much, reach so far, protect so long.
So God’s Word tells us something beautiful. We dads are not the only fathers to our children.
Life is a tale of two fathers. One of them an ordinary guy. The other one, a loving and faithful God who hears our children’s’ cries when we cannot, and comes to their side when we are unable, and takes care of them for us in life and even in death when we cannot take care of them ourselves.
I think the story in Genesis 21 is a beautiful Father’s Day gift to every dad, and to every mom. God reassures us that our children are never beyond his reach and that he takes care of them even when they are far away from us.
So I invite you today to trust God with the lives of your kids. Pray for them. Think about them. Imagine them surrounded by a love greater than your own. Teach them about the God who is with them. Be an example of what it means to walk each day with God.
And even more than that, I hope you will see in this story the importance of children having more than one father. In the same way that God reached into the life of Abraham’s child, you and I are called to reach out to the children of other fathers and mothers, too. This is why our church has such a strong commitment to caring for kids even though they are not the majority of people in our community. This is why its important for all of us to learn to listen for the cries of kids in the desert and do what we can do to help.
We are all in this together!
I wish you all a blessed Father’s Day. Along with all the golf balls, ties, and silly cards you get, I pray for you one more gift – the confidence that God is with you, and holds your children in the hollow of His hand!