Abraham - Serving the Lord

I think the greatest need we have in our churches today, in our ministries today, is to start serving the Lord. Not serving people, not even serving the needs of people, just serving the Lord, doing what we do for others because we are doing it, first of all, for the Lord.

Gracious Father, I pray now that You will teach us from Your Word and that we might receive Your Word and apply it in our lives. Help us to be a blessing to You today and then we know we shall be a blessing to one another. I ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Abraham is teaching us how to live in the school of faith. Genesis 12 and 13, how to walk by faith. We saw that faith that brings us out and faith brings us in, and if we stumble and fall, faith brings us back and faith brings us through our problems and then faith brings us on that we might walk and make progress with the Lord. That’s Genesis 12 and 13. Genesis 14 and 15, we've learned how to war by faith as Abraham took his stand and claimed his ground for the Lord. Genesis 16 and 17, how to wait by faith. Abraham and Sarah ran ahead of the Lord, Ishmael was born of Hagar, and there were problems in the home. Genesis 17, the Lord said, I am the Lord Almighty, I am Almighty God, I am El-Shaddai, I am the God who is sufficient and therefore just wait, I'll take care of everything. Here are Abraham and Sarah as good as dead physically, but El-Shaddai with His power can bring about the birth of a baby. Abraham, father of a multitude, and he believed that and God performed His promise in Abraham's life. Sarah, princess on the throne, reigning in life through the grace of God and she gives birth to a son, Isaac, laughter. 

Now in Genesis 18 and 19, the emphasis is on working. We're going to find a new word here, servant. In verse 3, Abraham calls himself your servant. Verse 5, your servant. That word servant is used nearly 800 times in the Old Testament in one way or another, and here is Abraham, God's servant. Now in Genesis 18, we discover that Abraham not only receives a blessing, but he is a blessing. And you’ll recall that was a part of God’s agreement with Abraham. He said, now you get out and you go where I want you to go and you shall be a blessing. I will bless you and you shall be a blessing. Now most of us are praying, oh God, give me a blessing, send me a blessing. We ought to be praying as well, make me a blessing. Because though it’s wonderful to receive blessings from the Lord, it’s also wonderful to be a blessing to others. 

In Genesis 18:1-8, Abraham is a blessing to the Lord. That’s one of the greatest things in life, to be a blessing to others. Not just to be a channel of blessing, but to be a blessing. And you know when you are a blessing, you get a blessing and that just multiplies it all the more. In verses 1 through 8, we find that Abraham is a blessing to the Lord. He spends time with the Lord. He serves the Lord. He gives the Lord His very best. Oh, I hope you do that. I hope you are serving the Lord. Not people, not some church or some ministry, you’re serving the Lord. That keeps your conscience clear, it keeps your heart right, it keeps your motives right when you know you’re doing it for the Lord. He was a blessing to the Lord. I want to be a blessing to the Lord. I want to bring joy to the heart of my Father in heaven. I want that my Savior should be able to look upon our ministry and say, well done. That’s the greatest reward that anybody can have. Not the praise of men, not to have our names heralded around the world, but just to hear Him say, well done. 

But the blessing goes out. You see, if we are a blessing to the Lord, then we’re bound to become a blessing to other people. That may be a whole new concept to you, but it’s true. He’s a blessing to the Lord, and then in verses 9 through 15, he’s a blessing to his wife, to his home. If a man is not a blessing to his own home, he’s not going to be much of a blessing to the rest of the world. And then in the rest of this chapter, in verses 16 through 33, he is a blessing even to the lost and to the backslidden as he intercedes for Lot and for the people in Sodom. You can see how the concentric circles of blessing just, just ripple out through Abraham's life. At the very center, he's a blessing to the Lord, verses 1 through 8. Then he's a blessing to his own home, verses 9 through 15. Then he reaches out to other believers and even to a lost world there in the rest of the chapter. 

Let’s read Genesis 18:1-8 and find out what it means to be a blessing to the Lord. Because I am not going to be much of a blessing to my home, to my fellow workers, or certainly to a lost world if I'm not a blessing to the Lord. 

Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass by Your servant. Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant." And they said, "Do as you have said." So Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes." And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate. 

This is a typical Eastern setting. It's hot, when you're in the East at the heat of the day you don't want to do too much, and so Abraham, a man ninety-nine years old, is doing what other people were doing, taking a siesta. He was resting. And then he opens his eyes and looks and he sees three strangers. Now this is remarkable because in the East, people do not travel in the heat of the day. You would not see pilgrims going down the road in the heat of the day. They travel early morning or late afternoon. They would not travel at night, it would be dangerous. They would certainly not travel in the heat of the day because it would be uncomfortable and possibly dangerous from the heat. And Abraham sees these men and realizes there's something special here. 

Now some of the pictures that we see of this scene have missed it completely. They have halos over the heads of these three people. I can assure you there were no halos. There were two angels plus our Lord Jesus Christ. There's no problem here in recognizing that the leader of this committee was our Lord Jesus Christ come down from heaven in one of His pre-incarnate appearances as the Angel of the Lord. But Abraham immediately did not know that. Now he discovered it. He realized that one of his guests was the Lord. He was entertaining angels and his very Lord unawares. 

Now in verses 1 through 8, we find that Abraham is all wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever I read these verses, I think of what our Lord Jesus said in John 14. Now John 14 talks to us about our relationship to the Lord. And He says in verse 21, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Now verse 23, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." That’s a remarkable statement. Our Lord is saying here that when you and I are living as we ought to live, then He comes to us and He makes His home with us. 

There's an interesting statement in Ephesians, one of Paul's prayers, Ephesians 3. If ever you don't know what to pray, pray one of Paul's prayers. Ephesians 3, he prays in verse 17, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." Now that word dwell is a Greek word that means not just to live there, but to settle down and feel at home. So you can translate it, that Jesus Christ may settle down and feel at home in your hearts. Jesus Christ felt at home in Abraham's household. Now you notice in Genesis 19 that the Lord Jesus did not go to Sodom. He sent the two angels. The two angels went and visited Lot. Abraham had Jesus Christ in his home, Lot only had the angels. You see, the Lord Jesus did not feel at home with Lot. And of course you know the reason why, Lot was compromising, he was in a place of sin, a place of disobedience. Though his own righteous soul was vexed by what he saw day by day, he should not have been there to begin with. 

This passage in Genesis 18 also reminds me of John 15:15. It's a verse you ought to notice, John 15:15. "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you." Now in this chapter, we're going to see Abraham as the friend and the servant of God. You see, we are friends who serve and we are servants who are friends. The word that Jesus used there in John 15:15 is the word that means a friend at court, someone who is close to the throne, a friend of the king who listens to the king's voice and wants to please the king's heart. Now Abraham serves the Lord, then Abraham stands with the Lord as his friend and talks with him about Lot and about Sodom. 

Let’s notice in verses 1 through 8 how Abraham is a blessing to the Lord. The phrase "the Lord" is used fourteen times in this chapter. The emphasis is on the lordship of Jesus Christ. Here is Abraham, and I want you to notice his posture in this particular section. In verse 1, he is sitting. You notice that? We have him sitting. In verse 2, he is bowing. He sees the men, he runs over to them and he bows to them. Then in verse 16, we find him walking, and Abraham went with them to send them on their way. And then we have him standing, verse 22, Abraham stood still before the Lord. Sitting, bowing, walking, and standing. These are the spiritual postures we're studying in the life of Abraham from Genesis 18. 

Now if you know the book of Ephesians, you recognize immediately these postures. What do you find in Ephesians? Sitting, walking, standing, and bowing. We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. In chapter 3, Paul says, "I bow my knees to the Lord Jesus Christ." Then you find Paul emphasizing walking in Ephesians 4 and 5 and standing in chapter 6. We have Abraham illustrating here the posture, the spiritual posture of the victorious Christian life. He is sitting, he is walking, he is standing, and he is bowing. Now he’s also running. We notice that he ministers here to the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes and he meets the Lord Jesus Christ, bows down to him. He speaks to the Lord Jesus Christ. He feeds him. And here we have a beautiful illustration of what it means to minister to the Lord. Please keep in mind that we do not minister to people, we do not minister to churches, we are ministering first of all to the Lord. 

Turn with me to the book of Exodus 28. The garments for the priesthood are described here in Exodus 28, but there’s one little phrase that is repeated that needs to be emphasized. Exodus 28, God says to Moses, "Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest." Now verse 3, "sanctify him, that he may minister to Me as priest." Verse 4, the end of the verse, "that he may minister to Me as priest." Now verse 41 of the same chapter, "that they may minister to Me as priest." Exodus 29:1, "And this is what you shall do to them to hallow them for ministering to Me as priest." You see, your pastor doesn’t minister to you or to the church, he ministers to the Lord. My first responsibility is to prepare messages that please the Lord, that delight His heart. My praying and my giving and my witnessing, whatever it is I'm doing, I should be serving the Lord. 

You find the same thing in the book of Acts 13, where you find Paul and Barnabas, or Saul and Barnabas, being called to Christian service, that is, special ministry to the Gentiles. Acts 13, we have a list here of all the different people who were ministering there in verse 1. Notice verse 2, "As they ministered to the Lord," the Holy Spirit called them and said, separate Saul and Barnabas. They were ministering to the Lord. You and I are serving the Lord. Colossians 3:24, "for you serve the Lord Christ." We don’t serve Sunday school classes, we don’t serve mission fields, we serve the Lord. That keeps our ministry the way it ought to be. 

Now notice how he served the Lord. First of all, immediately. He didn’t wait around, didn’t appoint a committee, he just jumped up. Now remember, here’s a man ninety-nine years old, it’s in the heat of the day. You don’t see old men or even young men running in the East. A man does not run. A man takes it easy. The women might run, the children might run, but not the men. The Lord appears to Abraham. He comes to him. This is now the sixth time in Abraham's recorded experience here that the Lord has come to him. He ministered to the Lord immediately. No excuses, didn't say well it's too hot, I'm too old. He ministered personally. I would remind you that he had 318 slaves who could have ministered in his place. Abraham could have snapped his fingers and fifty servants shown up and he could have said, now you take care of these strangers. No, he did it immediately, he did it personally, he did it speedily. I notice the verbs here. He ran, verse 2. Verse 6, he hastened. He said to Sarah, do this quickly. He ran to the herd. He told the young man to hasten to prepare it. He is doing the King's business with speed. The King's business requireth haste. He served the Lord immediately and personally and speedily and generously. He gave his very best. 

Notice these little adjectives that he uses. He talks about fine meal. He talks about a calf that is tender and good. He’s giving the Lord, not the leftovers, but the very best. He is serving generously. He’s serving joyfully. We don’t find him complaining. He’s not like Jonah or the elder brother in Luke 15. Joyfully he serves the Lord. He does it humbly. He doesn’t brag about the big feast he presented. He said, I’ll bring a little water. I’ll bring a morsel of bread. Why, he spread a banquet for them, but he didn't brag about it.

This is the way you and I should be serving the Lord. We should be serving Him immediately, no postponement, no argument, no delay, no excuses. We should serve Him personally. Oh, how easy it is for us to get somebody else to do it. We should serve Him speedily. We should not linger. You’re going to find in Genesis 19 that Lot has a tendency to linger. Many of the saints are lingering saints. When it comes to going to the place of prayer, they linger. When it comes to reading their Bible through, they linger. When it comes to witnessing, they linger. When it comes to doing the will of God, there's always an excuse for doing something else. And I notice that after he had finished all of this, he stood by them to see if there's anything more they wanted. 

I thank God for saints like this. I want to be like Abraham. I'm not as old as he, ninety-nine years old in the heat of the day serving the Lord and he did it gladly. Well, let me ask you as I ask my own heart, are we serving the Lord? You say, well how can you tell? Well, number one, if you're serving people you're always looking for some kind of response, some kind of compliment, some kind of praise. Not when you serve the Lord, you're just happy to do it. When you’re serving people, criticism tears you apart. When you’re serving the Lord, you aren’t worried about people's criticism, you aren’t worried about their praise. You don't look for shortcuts. You just do what the Lord wants you to do and you do it immediately and personally and hastily, you do it generously and joyfully and humbly and you don't worry about it. I think the greatest need we have in our churches today, in our ministries today, is to start serving the Lord. Not serving people, not even serving the needs of people, just serving the Lord, doing what we do for others because we are doing it, first of all, for the Lord.