Abraham, the Friend of God

(Genesis 18:1–21) This passage is about a new development in Abraham’s relationship with God. Previously God spoke to Abraham. God even appeared to him. But in this passage, things move to a new level.

God is on his way to Sodom, but goes out of his way to pay a visit to Abraham. In other words, God pays a social call to Abraham. Abraham loves God back by extending lavish hospitality. Abraham walks with God toward Sodom. He fellowships with God. God lets Abraham in on his secrets.

In addition, God appears to Abraham in human form. Most think it is the pre- Incarnate Christ accompanied by two angels. God is showing Abraham the future, how he is going to bless the world through God/man. The promises will be fulfilled when God takes human form. It will come through the gospel. The gospel of John suggests that Jesus was one who accompanied the angels.

(John 8:56) "56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”" In addition, for the first time Abraham eats a meal with God. This is the only time God eats a meal in human form in the Old Testament.

What has happened? Abraham’s covenant relationship with God has morphed into friendship with God. Today, we would call this intimacy with God.

The word “friendship” or “friend” does not appear in this passage. However, because of this event, exactly three (3) times future passages describe Abraham as the friend of God.

(James 2:22–23) "22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture

1 of 9 was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God."1 Abraham is the only person in the Bible with the title, “Friend of God.”2

The faith that makes us friends with God also motivates us to obey God. Why do we say this? In the previous chapter (17) Abram obeyed God’s command to be circumcised. His obedience did not save him. Rather, his obedience expressed the presence of saving faith. On the basis of this works-producing-faith, Abraham has become the friend of God. There is a parallel in the New Testament. It delineates the nature of this friendship.

Pg 902 (John 15:13–17)

(Love) "13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

(Obedience) 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

(Illumination) 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

(Election for Fruit) 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide,

(Intercession) so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. In summary, the symptoms of intimacy are transparent. Friends of Jesus obey Jesus. Jesus’ friends are not slaves. They are friends. Their Friend (God) lets them

1 (2 Chronicles 20:7) "7 Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?" (Isaiah 41:8) "8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend;"

2 The opposite of friendship with God is friendship with the world. That is the immediate contrast in the book of James. (James 4:4) "4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

2 of 9 know what he is doing. God speaks to his friends. He reveals himself to them. God initiates friendship with us, and gives the energy that produces the fruit that points to the existence of the friendship. God listens to his friends. He hears their prayers.

Everyone that has the faith of Abraham is, like Abraham, a friend of God.

SECTION 1. THREE THINGS THAT ABRAHAM’S FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD

IS NOT!

1.1. Abraham did not initiate his friendship with God.

When Abraham was 75 there were millions of people in the world. Yet in Gen. 12:1, out of those millions, God chose Abraham. He chose him by speaking to him. He did not do this because Abraham was better than others. He did this to make Abraham better than others.

(Ephesians 1:3–5) "3 God… chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,".

1.2. Abraham did not earn his friendship with God.

Abraham has both failed God and obeyed God. Like us he is fickle. He is a mixed bag. His character and faith fall woefully short of earning God’s favor.

Abraham’s faith failed in Egypt.

On the other hand, his faith was strong in the pursuit of the four kings of the East.

Then his faith failed in the temptation with Hagar.

On the other hand, his faith was strong when it came time for circumcision.

Abraham’s friendship with God is a reward for faith. Because Abram believed God credited it to him as righteousness (Gen 15). . Thirteen years later God

3 of 9 commanded Abraham to perform the covenant of circumcision. But circumcision did not earn friendship with God. Rather, it was a sign of the friendship that was already there because Abraham believed. 3

1.3. Abraham did not enter quickly into a friendship with God.

God first spoke to Abram at age 75. Abraham is now 99. Twenty four years have passed. Abraham’s relationship with God has grown slowly. It has grown as he has watched God’s amazing faithfulness despite Abraham’s unfaithfulness.

(1 John 2:14) "14 I write to you, fathers, because you know (ginosko) him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one."

SECTION 2. FOUR ASPECTS OF ABRAHAM’S FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD!

2.1. Friendship with God means being “known” by God.

God knows Abraham. As we have seen, to be known by God is to be chosen by him from before the foundation of the world. It is God giving us the privilege of becoming his friend at the cost of his Son’s life.

(1 Corinthians 8:3) "3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God."

(Galatians 4:9) "9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?"4 God chose Abraham, revealed himself to Abraham, and gave Abraham the power to believe that God might know him and be his friend.

3 (Romans 4:2–3) " 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”"

4 (Romans 8:29) "29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

4 of 9 God also knows Sarah.

9 They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10 The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” Sarah was back in the tent hiding and overheard their conversation. She imitates her husband, and laughs at God. Then she lies to God by denying that she laughed. Lying to God is a serious sin. But, the Lord was gentle and gracious with her. Why? He desired a relationship with Sarah also. Because of this he had already sent his Son to satisfy the demands of his just for her sin.

God’s grace is off the charts.

2.2. Friendship with God means ‘knowing’ God.

1 Jn 2:14 “I write to you fathers because you ‘know’ him who is from the beginning.” What does it mean to know someone?

1st Knowing God meant that Abraham knew God’s habits and ways. He knows how God will act or react in certain situations. My wife knows me. She knows that in some case I am recklessly bold. In other situations I respond with impatience. (Mailbox example).

Knowing someone takes time, patience, and experience. Our Elders want to get to “know” our potential leaders this way. That means observing how they react to life’s ups and downs over time. It means patience.

Abraham has walked with God for 24 years. He has listened to God, watched God react to his successes and failures. He has come to “know” God experientially.

2nd Knowing God meant that Abraham knew God’s voice.

(Anecdote of Bruce only recognizing voices.)

5 of 9 This is what Jesus meant when he said, “My sheep hear my voice.” Abraham immediately recognizes that it is God in human form. He recognizes him because of his experience with him. He recognized his voice.

2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3 and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 3rd Knowing God meant that Abraham wanted to imitate God. You can’t know God and not want to be like him. God is a father. Abraham will also be a father of many nations. However, his fatherhood will not start with nations. It will start with Isaac. Abraham will try to imitate God’s fatherhood. His capacity to father “nations” will be tested by his capacity to father Isaac.

19 For I have chosen him [Abraham], 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.” We become what we worship. Men who worship God the Father become fathers like him. They imitate his patience, hatred of evil, love of authority, faithfulness, gentleness, etc. They sacrificially love women and children.

God called Abraham to know him and thus imitate him.

Not only did Abraham imitate God’s fatherhood, but he also imitates God’s hospitality. God is the ultimate model of hospitality. At the cost of his son, he has prepared a mansion for us with many rooms. “In my father’s house are many rooms…I go to prepare a place for you” (Jn. 14:2-3).

Abraham has been affected by God’s grace. He want to imitate God. So he lavishly extends hospitality to these three strangers.

6 And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a

6 of 9 young man, who prepared it quickly. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. On the basis of this passage the writer of Hebrews exhorts us to show hospitality.

(Hebrews 13:2) "2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

1 Tim 3:2 “Therefore, and elder must be…hospitable.” Hospitality begins on Sunday mornings.

I and the Elders are thankful to pastor such a hospitable church.

2.3. Friendship with God means Walking With God.

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. Despite Abraham’s many failings, of which he was painfully aware, he felt comfortable walking with God (and the two angels) as they proceeded toward Sodom.

Walking implies fellowship. Enoch walked with God. Noah Walked with God. Why was Abraham not intimidated to walk with God? He should have been. He wasn’t because he knew God. He knew the ways of God. He understood that God is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and mercy.” On the basis of that grace, not his performance, he eagerly walked with them.

This kind of faith pleases God.

2.4. Friendship with God means Hearing From God

God speaks to his friends. He communicates with them.

7 of 9 Jn 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.5

10 The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” God has already let Abraham in on the knowledge of Isaac’s birth. He has also told Abraham about the future Egyptian enslavement of his descendants and how they will be released to occupy the Promised Land.

Now God tells his friend about the future judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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? Sometimes being the friend of God means hearing things that we would rather not know about or think about. Think of the infants and women suffering the judgment of fire. However, when God speaks unpleasant things we had better pay attention. This is what it means to be a friend of God.

(Jeremiah 9:1) "1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!"

(Jeremiah 13:17) "17 But if you [Israel] will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive." In Summary, friendship with God means hearing both Good New ((Isaac) and Bad News (Sodom and Gomorrah) from God.

5 (Amos 3:7) "7 “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets."

8 of 9 SECTION 3. CONCLUSION

If you share the faith of Abraham, you are a son or daughter of Abraham, and like Abraham, you have the right to friendship with God.

Are you taking advantage of this amazing privilege?

God’s friendship is for weak, undisciplined people. The Pharisees accusation of Jesus should give us great comfort.

(Matthew 11:19) "19 [The Pharisees said, ‘Look at him!... a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”"

Today we are going to share the Lord’s Supper. Would those who are helping please come forward.

The Lords Supper is a picture of our friendship with God. It is a covenant meal. Just as Christ shared a meal with Abraham, he is going to share one with us this morning. Our eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ is our confession that God wants to be our friend, that he has made that friendship possible by the blood of Christ shed on the cross, and that we have agreed to be his friend. The cross is the measure of God’s desire to be your friend.

You only need to do two things to be God’s Friend. First believe the gospel. Second, on the basis of that faith turn from all known sin.

The Lord’s Supper is only for those who believe the gospel and have been baptized.

Our default is wine, but we have grape juice for those who take exception.

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