Believe Big and Multiply (Genesis 18)

Last Weekend – Series – Multiply – Based on a sermon series my sending church did but adapted for Garden City. Why God has blessed us and what God intends to do with that blessing. – Church and personally.

Multiply Commitment Card – Time to pray, hear from God, and fill out together at the end of the message today. Represents – Reordering our lives around God’s priorities. Defining moment for us individually and as a church – God doing a work in us. And will lead to our city and the nations – their eternities changed. – If this is your church – Garden City is your church – Invite you to commit with us today as we fill out these CARDS together.

Life of Abraham – Today – God used and multiplied Abraham as he believed big things of God. And why are we leveraging our time, talent, and treasure – to what end, what purpose, what’s at stake.

Gen. 18. Bibles. Turn. – Three unknown men have come to talk with Abraham. 2 purposes: 1) To tell Abraham and Sarah that she will become pregnant with their promised son. 2) That two wicked, Sodom and Gomorrah, are going to be destroyed. – Wicked and grave sin – sexual perversion, pride, and prosperity that led them to oppress the poor and the needy.

Text: Gen 18 16 Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” 20 Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” (One of the three men is God himself. The other two, we’re not quite sure.)

22 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. (If you remember from last weekend, Abraham’s nephew, Lot, lives in Sodom.) 23 Then Abraham drew near (Hebrew word – draw near – like when you approach a judge in a courtroom. IOW – Abraham is about to present a case to God as in a court case.) and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” (You see what’s going on here? Abraham is trying to make a deal with God -Negotiating – We don’t often approach God like this. Can seem almost disrespectful. God spoke – Shouldn’t it be as he says. Who are we to negotiate with God? Isn’t it more respectful to just listen and do? (Kids – Dessert) – God goes along with it…) And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. All of a sudden, the negotiation stops.

2 Questions: 

1. Why is Abraham praying for the city in the first place? The people there are evil. They deserve God’s judgement. Well, it might be because he wants to save his nephew Lot. But Abraham could’ve just asked God to save Lot specifically – Would’ve been a lot easier. 

BUT instead, Abraham stands before God and pleads for the whole city. He even puts himself at risk. He’s puts himself on the line for the city. – I know I’m asking a lot, and I keep asking you – please don’t get angry with me – please don’t get mad. – He knows he’s pushing his limits with God – How many of you would do that with God? Put yourself and your well-being on the line – for the sake of wicked people (vs. love) ?

Again – Why is Abraham praying for the city in the first place? – Because he understands that God has chosen him to be means of blessing and mercy for the nations – Remember – vvs.17-19 – 17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him…

See what’s going on here? Abraham has taken God at his word! – God shares his plan with Abraham so that Abraham could start asking and pleading with God to be faithful to his promises to bring blessing for the nations instead of destruction. (US)

The city didn’t deserve it. Abraham didn’t owe them anything. But Abraham understood it wasn’t about deserving – Because if it were – He knows that he wasn’t deserving at all either. He failed God many times. But God blessed him anyway. (Not about us – God’s faithfulness.) And so now, he’s pleading with God to show the same mercy that he has experienced himself. It becomes his responsibility, his purpose to gain access to God’s blessing for others. 

If you have experienced God’s mercy and his grace – It changes you. It changes your heart from saying – They deserve to be punished and I hope they do. I hope God gives them all they deserve… To – I deserved to be punished for my sin, but God has shown me unimaginable grace and mercy and I hope he does that for everyone else too.)

2. Why does Abraham stop at 10? Abraham was on a roll. He got down from 50 to 10 – Who knows how much lower God would have been willing to go. So why stop there? Petaling – You keep going lower and lower and lower until they can’t anymore.

So why doesn’t Abraham get God to go down to 1? Probably because it becomes clear to Abraham that even if he were to get God to agree with 1 – there is not even one person in the city that is righteous. 

And this story leaves us with a big problem doesn’t it? – There is no one who is righteous enough who can plead with God on behalf of all the wicked to stay/keep back the wrath of God. So what hope is there for any of us? There is none. – And that’s why it was necessary for Jesus to come – for the only one who is righteous and knew no sin to be sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2Cor.5:21)

And in light of this, Garden City, we’ve been placed in a similar situation to Abraham/Jesus…

1. Each of us is placed into a community to pray and sacrifice on its behalf. Think about all the places God has you right now. God has placed you in your family, in your community, in your neighborhood, school, workplace – so that you could ask for God’s blessing and mercy for those people – that’s why he’s put you there. – God has sovereignly arranged where you live and work and play so that through you, your advocacy – the city might be saved.

Do you recognize this? And are you being faithful in praying and pleading with God for them? He’s directed and put you in all these places for you to stand in the gap like Abraham did for Sodom and Gomorrah. Like Jesus has done for us.

Ask: If God were to answer all your prayers today. Would anything in this world change? Would any people or nations be saved? Would their eternities look different? Or would you just have less problems and more comfort in your life?

Garden City – That is why God has placed us here in this community, in KL. The very fact that we are here today – and God is growing our church and we are planting more churches in this city – shows us clearly what God’s intention is for KL. It’s proof that God desires to work and save people in this city.

BRP – Jesus – “Unable to do works because of their unbelief.” When we withhold our lives and our time, talent, and treasure from God – What we are really telling him is – I don’t believe. I don’t believe you can. I don’t believe you will…And I don’t want to be part of it. – I don’t want me/you/us to miss out on because of our unbelief and X engagement.

Two: Calendar and Bank Account – I will show you what you’re truly living for and what you treasure. Percentages.

Calendar – Who are you living for? What do you spend your time doing? Are you communing with God on a daily basis? Do you regularly serve in the church and outside of the church reaching our city? Two easy steps – Serve 1, Attend 1. 1.5hrs/wk. Not that much. – More time scrolling on phone a day. Serve in our refugee ministry.

Thoughts on stewarding your treasure/finances…

1. Start somewhere. Ask – How much should I give? A good starting place is 10%. Not the cap – I’m giving 10% so I’m good. God is getting his part and the rest is for me. No. We want to grow in generosity – How can I give more and leverage more of what I’ve been given for God.

Gross. Right off the top – We give to God first. (vs. leftovers.) And then the government takes their part – taxes, the wife takes her part, my four kids take their part, and so on.

3. Start now. There will always be reasons to put it off until next month. Until the next job, until the next promotion. It’s never convenient to give. So start now. Just do it.

4. Make a plan and stick to it. There are extreme factors like losing a job. But outside of those kinds of exceptional things, commit to sticking with the plan. Things are going to come up but don’t let your giving be the first place you dip into when you need. 

5. Give cheerfully. I can’t think of a better, more important place to give. Perspective: Not begrudgingly – this is something I have to do – but joyfully – I can’t believe this is something I get to do and be a part of. Not exaggerating when I say this – When you give to the church, you are making an eternal impact as people are reached with the gospel.

Give to the church first. The church is the one institution Jesus established and left behind for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. When my family does our budget, the first thing we do is carve out what we are giving and we give generously to the church. And then on top of that, we also give to other good things. But our first and best goes to the church and then we give to other things. 

Objections:

1. Of course the pastor wants me to give – He wants to take money out of my pockets and into his. Listen – Your giving doesn’t go to me. Our budget is set. Goes to everything we do here – ministries. And the more you give the more we get to give to missions and church planting efforts in our city.

2. I don’t trust the church – Give somewhere else first. If you’re not in a place where you feel like you can trust and give to this church joyfully, then give it somewhere else for now, another church. But don’t use that as an excuse not to give/be generous. And after 6 months, if you still don’t feel like you can trust this church, we want to help you find another church you can trust and fully engage. 

3. I don’t have a lot to give…It won’t make a difference. It’s not about how much you give. The person who gives rm1 may be more generous than the person who gives rm100m. Your heart and your faithfulness is what God is after.

5. I have real needs. I understand. Challenge to you – Whatever you decide, between you and God, and maybe counsel with other believers – trust God with your giving and with your needs. 

Giving will cost you something. Question: Is it worth it? Is giving your time, talent, and treasure to do whatever it takes worth it to advance Christ’s kingdom in our city? For others to hear the gospel and be discipled? For churches to be planted and nations reached for Christ?

2 Cor. 8:4, 6 – The opportunity to give is a grace given to us.

2 Cor. 9 10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. – God supplies and he multiplies so that we can be generous towards his purposes.

We owe it to our city. Not that the city deserves it. Romans 1:14 – Paul says he’s under obligation – he’s a “debtor” – to those who have never heard the gospel. These are people Paul has never met. How could Paul owe them anything? – It’s not that these people loaned something to Paul or did a favor for Paul and so Paul owes them one back. Rather – Paul, like Abraham, understood that God had blessed him with the gospel for no reason at all other than God’s grace. Paul – Chief of sinners. He didn’t deserve it. It was purely God’s grace. And that meant he owed the gospel, the free gift God offers to everyone in Christ Jesus, to everyone who had not heard, who was no more unworthy than him. 

And that’s how we should see ourselves – As debtors to our city. God saved us purely by his grace and we desire for other unworthy sinners to experience the same. – See before we are Abraham in this story, we were Sodom and Gomorrah. We deserved to be destroyed for our sin. We didn’t deserve one bit of God’s mercy. But in Jesus we got grace we didn’t deserve.

As debtors – our lives should look radically different. – Give – Time, Talent, Treasure – It’s not how much do I have to give – but how can I give and do whatever it takes to reach more people with the gospel.  

You might be tempted to think at this point – Well Abraham did his part, and God still destroyed the city. So why would we even try? What would make things any different for us?

2. We can pray and give expectantly because of the worthy sacrifice of Jesus. We can plead with God in confidence because of Jesus.

Unlike Abraham, there is one who is truly righteous enough to spare the entire city – no matter how wicked and evil – and because he died the death we all deserved in our place – we all get to be saved. Jesus – stood in the gap for us – He took upon himself the full wrath of God, down to the dregs, so there is not even one drop left for us. And it is upon this great and worthy sacrifice that we call on God for the people in our city.

God has placed us like Abraham to plead for KL – God will you destroy this entire city? When Jesus has died to rescue them? – For his sake, for his glory, have mercy and save the city. What an incredible responsibility and joy God has given to us. To serve in that way.

God promised Abraham that his offspring would be more than the stars in the sky and the sand on the earth – And God is fulfilling that promise through us – as we ask and plead for God to save people in our city. Listen, there are something like 8+mil people in this city that are not Christians, most of them have never heard the gospel. And on one hand you can be overwhelmed – there’s too many people. The task to reach all these people is impossible. OR we can look and say in faith – look at all these lost people – we’re going to get a front row seat to God doing something incredible in our city.

So we can’t just be happy with what God has already done at Garden City and settle/stop. We have to continue looking forward to what God still desires to do as we trust that his past grace is a promise of his future grace.

Again, this is why you are here. This is why we are here, Garden City. We need to take God at his word, hold him to it, beg and plead for the city, dream big and expect God to work all because of Jesus’ worthy sacrifice demands that we do. 

Some of you may not feel comfortable interacting with God the way Abraham did – David – Hey if you don’t do it, I don’t lose out on anything. It’s your glory at stake – God, if you don’t work, it’s your loss. There is a time and place to pray with that kind of audacity with God. And I believe God desires that from us.

Multiply – Not about how much we can give to God. It’s how can we leverage all of our lives in response to what he has done for us in Jesus so that others can find joy and life in the gospel as we have?

Multiply – 1) God changing us. 2) Reaching people. Who’s Your One? (WY1) – The one person you are praying for this year. For God to save. For you to faithfully pursue and share with. Friend, Family Member, Coworker, Classmate. Identify: Who’s Your One? – 1) Who is close to you but far from God? 2) Where have you been sent?

Series – Eternal impact. By believing big in God, people’s eternities are going to be changed.

-Because Abraham/Jesus followed, you are here. – Who will point to you and say, because he or she followed…

-Because Abraham/Jesus trusted God, you are here. – Who will point to you and say, because they trusted God…

-Because Abraham/Jesus surrendered, and prioritized, and believed God for big things…Who will point to you and say, because they surrendered, and prioritized, and believed God for me – I’m here.

God’s ultimate desire is to save. 2 Pe 3:15. Jesus is the proof. There was none of us who was righteous – who could save us. We all deserved to be destroyed because of our sin. BUT JESUS. Isa. 53:11 – Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Multiply Commitment Card and Connect Card. Give you some time to look and pray over and fill out these cards. It’s ok if you’re not able to fill in all the blanks right now. This is not a contract. Faith commitment.

The Multiply Card – You’re not going to turn in. That’s for you. But we are asking today that you fill out the Connect Card. – First step for many. – I’m going to do what I can to serve and give myself to reach people starting in this church. Connect and get engaged in the mission.

Couple mins – Think/Pray/Write – Spouse/Family.

This is not – Look how faithful we are to Jesus. But Jesus has been so faithful to us. – And he’s working in us to make us more like himself and using us to reach our city and the world.

Invite you to in a posture of giving our lives – ***On our knees together.*** At seats or at the front. God, help me to believe big. Multiply me. 

Like Sodom and Gomorrah, because of your sin, you deserve death and God’s judgement. But Jesus died the death you deserved so you could be saved. Believe. Receive. Free gift.