Sunday 21 June |
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Reading: – Genesis 21: 1-21 The Birth of Isaac
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
Abraham held a great feast. But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned. I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bow shot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob. 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. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So, she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
Message: - Where do we truly stand on equality?
Today is the day that we are encouraged to remember the Jamaican families who came to Britain in response to the Government’s call families known as the Windrush generation. For many of them, they were openly discriminated against both at the time and even in more recent times the same government decided to deport them as they didn’t have papers giving them leave to stay even though it was the government who didn’t issue them. Thankfully that deportation decision has been overturned as I understand it.
Discrimination is nothing new however. It can be found in our reading today too.
When Sarah had Ishmael and Hagar sent away, was she not being elitist too? Was it not discrimination? A “servant’s” son was not going to share her son’s inheritance!
Did God say in John 3:16 that any white middle class European who loves his son etc? Of course not. What he said was,
'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life'.
That is world with a lowercase W of course, so it wasn’t the planet he was speaking of but it’s population and “whoever” means any one person out of that population! Again, he shows us he is against discrimination and he is for freedom of choice as we see in the story of the rainbow. God placed it in the sky as a reminder he would never again impose his will on the world.
Again, turning to our reading, God proves he is against discrimination when he provides for Hagar and her son.
God had told Abraham he was to become the father of nations and that was going to happen and did happen through Isaac. Ishmael was also blessed just as Isaac was. He too became a father of nations. Once again God shows us, he is against discrimination.
In our world in 2020 there are 2.3 billion Christians and 1.9 billion Muslims. Not that much of a difference in number but a huge difference in the way they are treated.
It was from Isaac’s lineage that Christ came and it was from Ishmael’s that Mohammad came. Between them, that accounts for 53% of the world’s population! 4.2 billion people who claim to believe in the same God yet here we are in 2020 and humanity still differentiates on stuff other than an individual’s ability. Also, minority groups campaign for equality and often there will be positive discrimination in favour of minorities regardless of ability.
When we look at our world today, what we see in the media today is “black lives matter” and they do! There is no room in my heart for them not to! What I see as being contrary to the teaching on equality in the Bible is the hatred, the violence and the looting that we see in the name of justice! Everything I read in the Bible tells me Jesus treats every one of us the same. That treatment is always in accordance with God’s good and perfect plan for that individual. However, our eyes are drawn away from the truth “that it is lives that matter” to “black lives matter” and then distracted into trying to work out why so many people, both black and white, should think rioting, looting, vandalism and all the other stuff in the media is appropriate! Along with that, can come the negative feeling that good people don’t behave like that and there we are on the verge of discriminating once again. We need to keep the observations of things that are just wrong from controlling how we see God’s children and that is what these people are! God’s children! Misguided, I think but, and once again it is a big but – they are my heavenly brothers and sisters, led astray by the wiles and ways of Satan yes, but brothers and sisters none the less. We should be driven to prayer when we see injustice and prejudice not judgement!
So how should we combat prejudice? Should we not be offended when others are treated unfairly? Should we not look to ensure that we treat everyone we come into contact with, with the same degree of appropriate behaviour? Most importantly, should we not seek God’s heart for the discrimination and abuse we see around us and pray? Then when we have prayed, we should pray some more. We need to pray against negative discrimination and we need to pray against positive discrimination too. Also, I dare to say, we should pray that any remnant of discrimination within us will be taken from us that both they and we will be open to God transforming us from a typical worldly person to the image of Christ, a heavenly person.
As I was advising last week, we need to put on the full armour of God so that all we think, say and do is to his glory now and always.
I pray you will have a good week and be able to see and respond to injustice as God would wish.
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
Abraham held a great feast. But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned. I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bow shot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob. 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. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So, she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
Message: - Where do we truly stand on equality?
Today is the day that we are encouraged to remember the Jamaican families who came to Britain in response to the Government’s call families known as the Windrush generation. For many of them, they were openly discriminated against both at the time and even in more recent times the same government decided to deport them as they didn’t have papers giving them leave to stay even though it was the government who didn’t issue them. Thankfully that deportation decision has been overturned as I understand it.
Discrimination is nothing new however. It can be found in our reading today too.
When Sarah had Ishmael and Hagar sent away, was she not being elitist too? Was it not discrimination? A “servant’s” son was not going to share her son’s inheritance!
Did God say in John 3:16 that any white middle class European who loves his son etc? Of course not. What he said was,
'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life'.
That is world with a lowercase W of course, so it wasn’t the planet he was speaking of but it’s population and “whoever” means any one person out of that population! Again, he shows us he is against discrimination and he is for freedom of choice as we see in the story of the rainbow. God placed it in the sky as a reminder he would never again impose his will on the world.
Again, turning to our reading, God proves he is against discrimination when he provides for Hagar and her son.
God had told Abraham he was to become the father of nations and that was going to happen and did happen through Isaac. Ishmael was also blessed just as Isaac was. He too became a father of nations. Once again God shows us, he is against discrimination.
In our world in 2020 there are 2.3 billion Christians and 1.9 billion Muslims. Not that much of a difference in number but a huge difference in the way they are treated.
It was from Isaac’s lineage that Christ came and it was from Ishmael’s that Mohammad came. Between them, that accounts for 53% of the world’s population! 4.2 billion people who claim to believe in the same God yet here we are in 2020 and humanity still differentiates on stuff other than an individual’s ability. Also, minority groups campaign for equality and often there will be positive discrimination in favour of minorities regardless of ability.
When we look at our world today, what we see in the media today is “black lives matter” and they do! There is no room in my heart for them not to! What I see as being contrary to the teaching on equality in the Bible is the hatred, the violence and the looting that we see in the name of justice! Everything I read in the Bible tells me Jesus treats every one of us the same. That treatment is always in accordance with God’s good and perfect plan for that individual. However, our eyes are drawn away from the truth “that it is lives that matter” to “black lives matter” and then distracted into trying to work out why so many people, both black and white, should think rioting, looting, vandalism and all the other stuff in the media is appropriate! Along with that, can come the negative feeling that good people don’t behave like that and there we are on the verge of discriminating once again. We need to keep the observations of things that are just wrong from controlling how we see God’s children and that is what these people are! God’s children! Misguided, I think but, and once again it is a big but – they are my heavenly brothers and sisters, led astray by the wiles and ways of Satan yes, but brothers and sisters none the less. We should be driven to prayer when we see injustice and prejudice not judgement!
So how should we combat prejudice? Should we not be offended when others are treated unfairly? Should we not look to ensure that we treat everyone we come into contact with, with the same degree of appropriate behaviour? Most importantly, should we not seek God’s heart for the discrimination and abuse we see around us and pray? Then when we have prayed, we should pray some more. We need to pray against negative discrimination and we need to pray against positive discrimination too. Also, I dare to say, we should pray that any remnant of discrimination within us will be taken from us that both they and we will be open to God transforming us from a typical worldly person to the image of Christ, a heavenly person.
As I was advising last week, we need to put on the full armour of God so that all we think, say and do is to his glory now and always.
I pray you will have a good week and be able to see and respond to injustice as God would wish.