A thirsty faith and a tree-planting hope
Passage: Genesis 21:22_34
Big Idea: The Lord Jesus is with those who call on him, whose faith thirsts for righteousness and whose hope plants testimonies.
1. Abimelech’s vow in response to God’s promises
2. Abraham’s vow driven by a thirst for righteousness
3. The hopeful plants according to God’s promises
No matter where you go in the world, no matter what language you speak, and no matter how old you are (unless you’re under two), almost everyone understands one simple gesture.
It’s the thumbs-up.
What do you think of when you see someone with their thumbs up?
Usually it means that they approve of something, or that they’re ok with something.
It’s so universal that Facebook uses it as their like button, and it’s been used as an emoji in many online conversations around the world.
It’s even here in the sermon script and the subtitle: 👍
When someone is in trouble and you asked whether they’re ok, if they have a thumbs-up, then you know that they’re alive, that there’s hope.
But if there’s nothing, you get worried.
What sign do you give to tell people that you’re ok?
What sign do you give to inspire hope?
In today’s passage, we’re going to see the sign that Abraham gives because he has hope and he wants to inspire hope in others.
And so, if you have your Bible there, please open up with me to Genesis chapter 21, beginning from verse 22.
We’re going to see three things:
1. Abimelech’s vow in response to God’s promises
2. Abraham’s vow driven by a thirst for righteousness
3. The hopeful plants according to God’s promises
Before we look into it, let’s pray, “Father, you are the Fountain of Living Water. Please flood our hearts today by your Spirit so that we’ll rest our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.”
1. Abimelech’s vow in response to God’s promises
Look with me at Genesis chapter 21 verse 22, “At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.
“At that time” most probably refers to big feast that Abraham had for his son Isaac.
Many years before this, God gave Abram a new name, Abraham, which means “Father of many nations”
God even promised him that this son that he’ll have with Sarah will be from his own body, even though they were both pretty old at the time.
It was physiologically impossible, but not with God!
And now, God was starting to fulfill his promise by giving Abraham a son, Isaac.
By the time in this passage, Isaac was weaned. Can you believe it? This little boy was very likely going to make it into adulthood!
So, Abraham threw this grand feast and invited all sorts of people, which most probably would’ve included Abimelech, the king of the land.
The name “Abimelech” means “my father is king.”
That’s probably why they didn’t need any extra introduction.
He was there ‘at that time’, that is, during the feast Abraham threw for Isaac.
Abimelech was there and he brought his commander, Phicol, with him.
Abimelech made this observation about Abraham and said this to Abraham: “God is with you in everything you do.”
He saw how Abraham was doing so well, growing in power and wealth.
And now, he had seen the son God had given to this old man Abraham.
God was with Abraham, indeed.
Life must be good for Abraham to have God on his side.
It’s like playing basketball and having Yao Ming on your team.
Who’s Yao Ming? Anyone?
At one stage, he was one of the tallest NBA basketball players in the world.
Wouldn’t it be amazing to have Yao Ming on your side?
Abimelech was saying something similar to Abraham.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have God on your side?
God was with Abraham.
God made the impossible happen for Abraham.
If God could fulfil his promise to give a couple with a combined age of almost 200 a son, then this God can do anything.
What else did he promise?
This is what God promised to Abraham, in Genesis chapter 12 verse 2, “I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”
God had promised that Abraham’s descendants would keep multiplying and growing, and they would become many nations.
So, Abimelech decided to make a vow with Abraham.
Look with me at verse 23, “Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a resident alien.”
He said, “Be loyal to me, just like I’ve been loyal to you.
Treat me and my children with kindness, just like I’ve treated you and your family with kindness.”
Abimelech had been kind to Abraham by not kicking him off his land, even though Abraham had lied to him about Sarah.
Abraham was a resident alien, and Abimelech could have kicked him out, but he didn’t.
Abimelech’s is basically saying from now let’s treat each other kindly and let’s make this official by swearing an oath.
Abimelech’s move to make a vow with Abraham tell us that Abimelech believed that God would keep blessing Abraham.
What happened to Abraham proved that God was true to his word, and Abimelech saw and believed that Abraham’s God would keep his word to Abraham.
That’s why he wanted Abraham to make a vow with him, so that his children and his nation would continue to exist, even as God continued to bless Abraham.
Abraham’s feast showed God’s faithfulness, and an outsider noticed this and responded accordingly.
When visitors come to our Church, what will they see in our lives?
Will they notice God’s work among us?
While I don’t rule out the possibility of old couples having children, like what he did for Abraham and Sarah, that’s probably not how God will work among us.
Instead, God works among us as we love one another.
Look with me at John 13:34-35, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The world will notice that we are Jesus’ disciples when we love one another just as Jesus has loved us.
That’s what we mean when we say in our motto, ‘See the Gospel’.
We want our church to be a place where people see the gospel in action.
Having a baby in your old age told Abimelech that God was with Abraham.
When we love another at Church, loving people from different backgrounds, with different views, across the age range, we tell the world that Jesus is with us.
Before people hear the gospel from us, they will see the gospel in us, as we interact with one another.
Will an outsider see the gospel in us?
Will they know that we are Jesus’ disciples, and that our Lord Jesus works powerfully among us his people?
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been teaching the Partnership Course with some of our new friends, and guess what?
We really need to update some of the contents of the course, for good reasons.
That’s because back in 2019, one of the main goals we had for the Church was to provide a masterplan of how our Church site will develop.
Now, we were a small church, and we still are.
We’re not wealthy and we don’t have a lot of people with free time to help us to plan and strategise a masterplan.
So, how are we going to make this happen?
Well, God has in his kindness and providence provided a way forward for us to collaborate with the school as it prepares for redevelopment.
If things go well and we plan wisely, under God, our church will expand from here to the other side of the school.
We’ll have a capacity for 500 people and more!
God has a masterplan for us that’s even better than what we could have ever imagined!
But here’s the thing, the goal of this new development is not just about enjoying ourselves and getting comfortable.
It’s going to mean some hard work over the next two years as we work with the school during its development.
There might be some disruptions along the way, but if we stick with it, which I hope we will, God will give us venues where even more people can gather together on Sundays.
But it’s far more than just about the venue; the hard work, perhaps the hardest work, is to love one another, and the determination to love one another, just as our Lord Jesus has commanded us.
Far more important than getting the use of the a lot of spaces is the determination to keep loving one another, even when things get tough.
It’s about having a thirst for God’s righteousness.
2. Abraham’s vow driven by a thirst for righteousness
You would think that Abraham will be all happy about the king coming to make a treaty with him.
King Abimelech asked Abraham to make a vow.
He promised to be kind to Abraham and his children, and in return, Abraham had to do the same for the king.
Sounds fair enough, right? But Abraham wasn’t exactly thrilled.
He just said, “I swear it” in verse 24.
Not exactly a sign of enthusiasm, huh?
Why not? Well, there was a backstory to this whole thing.
You see, Abraham was complaining that Abimelech’s servants had taken over his well.
In our modern world, we can get water whenever we want.
It’s like a basic human right, and we don’t really appreciate it until someone turns the water supply off, like when a plumber comes to fix something.
What happens if we have no water? We can’t cook, we can’t shower, we can’t even wash our hands!
Back in Abraham’s day, they didn’t have running water on demand.
What makes it even worse was that they were in a dry place where water was scarce.
Without it, they couldn’t survive.
That’s why digging wells was so crucial for Abraham and his family.
There would’ve been a lot of hard work!
They had to find a spot where they thought they might find underground water.
They probably tried and failed a bunch of times.
But once they found a good one, they could use it for themselves and for their animals.
Now, Abraham had dug a well, but Abimelech’s servants just took it over, by force.
It would’ve made Abraham’s stay on the land really tough.
Abimelech said he was going to be kind to Abraham and his children.
Abraham was basically saying, “let’s test that, shall we Abimelech?
What will you do about the well your servants seized?”
Abimelech said he didn’t know about it.
Maybe he was telling the truth, but he wasn’t exactly doing anything to fix the problem.
Maybe he didn’t care all that much about Abraham after all and so he didn’t feel any urgency to do the right thing.
However, rather than leaving it there, Abraham took action.
He gave Abimelech his flocks and herds to make a covenant with him.
By doing this, Abraham agreed to show Abimelech and his children kindness in return for Abimelech to show kindness to Abraham and his children.
Abraham then added another 7 ewe lambs to the other animals.
Abimelech was puzzled by this, and so he asked Abraham, “Why?”
Abraham explained that he gave these seven ewe lambs to say that from, now on, he wants this well to be officially known as Abraham’s well.
Abraham dug it, it’s his.
From now on, Abraham and his family could use this well freely and securely, without fear of Abimelech’s servants seizing it by force again.
Why was this such a significant event for Abraham?
It’s because God had promised his family would thrive, and Abraham was driven to work tirelessly to ensure that this happens.
You see, God’s promises and Abraham’s hard work belong together.
Since God had promised to bless Abraham by making him the father of many nations, Abraham responded by physically working hard, digging wells and even standing up to Abimelech, the king.
God has promised to make it happen, Abraham lived as if God already making it happen.
Abraham’s unwavering belief in God’s ability to fulfil his promises gave him a profound drive and an unquenchable thirst to live in accordance with God’s promises.
If Abraham had not truly believed in God’s power, he would have lacked motivation to take action.
Just as we bring our umbrellas when we pray for rain, Abraham acted in response to God’s promises.
Jesus himself emphasised the blessings of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, saying that they’re blessed because they will be filled.
Those who have understood and believed in God’s promises are driven by a thirst for God’s righteousness.
They long to see God’s righteousness shown as the good news of Jesus Christ is proclaimed.
They long to see God’s righteousness lived out in their own lives and in the lives of others.
While some people thirst for comfort and power, those who are truly blessed by God are driven by a thirst for righteousness, God’s righteousness.
Just as a healthy person experiences thirst due to the fact that they’re alive, those who are made righteous in Christ will have a thirst for righteousness, a sign of their spiritual life.
They are filled with urgency, sometimes even desperation, to do righteous things.
I long to see more people who have an urgent and desperate desire to see God’s righteousness.
They can sound a bit intense and even desperate.
But I’m not that worried about them; that’s what a thirsty person looks like.
However, I worry about those who lack a thirst for righteousness.
Those without a thirst for righteousness are complacent just to keep the status quo, and not take any risks at all.
CityFest, a public evangelism event at St John’s Parramatta, is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
I’ve been blessed to be part of the founding members of CityFest back in 2015.
CityFest was an event that we held on the lawn of the Church, where we encourage our church members to step out of the Church building and to engage with the local community.
It was hard work, it wasn’t always successful, but our brothers and sisters from the Church and other local churches had a thirst to see God’s righteousness proclaimed in the middle of Parramatta.
Since then, it has encouraged church members, even the shy ones, to share the gospel.
Friends, while our community isn’t exactly like Parramatta, we have members of our community who visit our site almost every day of the week.
How can we, as a Church, step out of our building and engage with them?
After spending months or even years accessing our site, will they hear and see the gospel?
My prayer is that they will see the gospel and hear the gospel as we work hard to engage with them.
3. The hopeful plants according to God’s promises
Abraham and Abimelech made an oath with other at that place and that’s why they named the place Beersheba, which means “Well of Oaths.”
Whenever you think of this place, you’ll remember the oath between Abimelech and Abraham.
Abimelech and Phicol went back to the land of the Philistines, and then Abraham planted a Tamarisk tree.
Why a Tamarisk tree, you might ask?
As he was thinking about this verse, a Christian father asked his seven years old daughter whether it was ok if planted a tree in their neighbour’s backyard.
And the girl said no.
What if it’s our front yard, the father asked.
“Yes” the girl answered, “it’s our yard”.
Well, that’s why Abraham planted the tree.
He planted a tree because this was finally where he was going to stay.
Now, Abraham didn’t have a land title for this place, but he did buy his first piece of land, a very small piece of land, with seven female ewes!
This land was small, but it does have the famous well of the place now known as Beersheba, the Well of Oaths.
Abraham was still a resident alien in the foreign land, but this well was his.
He knew he was going to settle here, around this well, for many days to come.
And that’s not all! Abraham planted a Tamarisk tree.
Tamarisk trees are evergreen, which means they have leaves all year round.
They can grow up to ten meters tall and provide shade for weary travellers.
It’s at this Tamarisk tree that Abraham called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.
This is where he prayed.
As the tree grew and provided shade for Abraham throughout the year, it would’ve reminded him of how the everlasting God had been there for him all along.
But this tree is more than just a reminder of God’s awesome work.
It’s a symbol of hope for the future.
God promised Abraham land and people, and now, he’s given him a son and a well at Beersheba.
It’s a small beginning, but God’s promises are coming true.
That’s what this tree represents; it’s a symbol of hope in God’s promises.
Where are God’s symbols of hope in our world today?
When we gather as God’s people, under God’s word, in the name of our Lord Jesus, we become God’s symbol of hope to the world.
We’re a small group of people, gathered in a little church, sharing our joy and excitement about the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus will return and bring in the kingdom of God in all its glory.
And even though we’re small and imperfect, we’re like little signs that point to the coming of God’s glorious kingdom.
And so, as a church, we gather, as a sign of hope.
But more than that, as a Church, we want to plant more signs of hope.
We want to keep planting Churches.
We invest in people, we invest in buildings, we invest in church planting because whenever God gathers his people by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, they become signs of hope.
That’s why we want to keep thinking about how to multiply and grow new congregations.
We plant Churches because we have hope in the Lord Jesus.
We plant so that those who are heading to a hopeless end will have an endless hope in our Lord Jesus.
Church planting is challenging, with a high failure rate, with some studies saying that 2 out of three church plants fail.
You don’t want to start a new church or a new congregation without much prayer and a willingness to sacrifice.
Despite the difficulties, we must continue planting churches, relying on God’s guidance and promise to build His church.
Why plant Churches when the cost is so high and the failure rate is so high? It’s because if we don’t plant Churches, the failure rate won’t be just 66.66%, it will be 100%.
If we fail to try, we will fail.
And so, in God’s timing, if God does lead us to plant a Church, don’t be afraid, for even when we fail, God is with us.
And when we succeed, we give all the glory to God, and get ready to listen to him to plant the next one.
Only remember to pray.
Do not rely on yourself, or experts nor strategies.
Rely on the Lord Jesus – for he is the one who gives the best strategies, he’s the one with the true expertise, he’s the only one you can rely on to plant churches that hope in Him.
He’s promised to build his church, let’s pray and live according to his promise
What sign do you give to inspire hope?
Give the signs that God gives to inspire hope.
Point to the Lord Jesus, the One who died and rose again.
And point to his people, the Church.
The all-knowing God, the almighty God, points to the Church as the place where he shows his multi-faceted wisdom.
Be the people, the Church, that God points to as signs of his hope to the world.
Friends, the Lord Jesus is with those who call on him, whose faith thirsts for righteousness and whose hope plants testimonies.
About two months ago, I invited Edwin Kwok to speak at our Church.
On Friday, I went to the funeral of his son, Jeremy Kwok.
He was 31 years old. I didn’t know Jeremy personally, but the Rymans did.
Though his life was short, he has had a wonderfully powerful impact on the lives of many people.
Edwin his father preached and pointed out to this passage: Isa 25:7-8, “On this mountain he will swallow up the burial shroud, the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations. When he has swallowed up death once and for all, the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the LORD has spoken.
Parts of this verse is repeated in Revelation chapter 21 verse 4.
This is the hope that all Christians have.
The nurse who told Edwin about his son’s condition said Jeremy had no hope.
But Edwin told us yesterday that Jeremy had hope because he has the Lord Jesus.
In his short life, he lived by faith and worked so hard to be the kind of follower Jesus wanted him to be, and he planted many seeds of hope in people when he shared the good news of Jesus with them and served in various churches. Jeremey’s hope is now fulfilled.
He’s now more alive than he ever was because he’s in the presence of the everlasting God.
Friends, if you don’t have hope in Jesus yet, would you call on Jesus to save you?
If you have hope in Jesus, work hard to live a life worthy of the calling you have received in Jesus.
Spend your time and resources to plant seeds of hope that ultimately points to Jesus as the hope that we all need.
Here are three questions for us to think about this week:
1. How does your faith compel you to work hard and thirst for righteousness?
2. What “trees” of testimonies are you helping to plant in light of God’s promises in Jesus?
3. If you trust in Jesus, will you friend come up to you and tell you that they know that God is with you? Why / Why not?
Friends, the Lord Jesus is with those who call on him, whose faith thirsts for righteousness and whose hope plants testimonies.
Let’s pray, “Father, we thank you for the joy and the blessing it is to call upon you. Thank you that you are with us. Father by your Holy Spirit, give us a thirst for your righteousness. Let us seek your righteousness in our lives as we follow Jesus and as we encourage others to follow Jesus. Give us also a hope that plants testimonies. Give us the patience to plant, to build and to nurture a people, a nation that lives and breathes the gospel of our Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray, Amen.”