Genesis 17:1-7, 15-17
God's Promises Are a Laughing Matter
1. Because they are amazing
2. Because they are certain
January 4, 2004
Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-17--"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord
appeared to him and said, 'I am God Almighty; walk before me and be
blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly
increase your numbers.' Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 'As for
me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have
made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will
make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my
covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your
descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the
God of your descendants after you'...God also said to Abraham, 'As for
Sarai, your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be
Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will
bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples
will come from her.' Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to
himself, 'Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah
bear a child at the age of ninety?'"
A few years ago there was a phenomenon among some churches called "holy
laughter." At worship, people would fall to the ground, laughing
uncontrollably, sometimes being unable to even stand up. Some people
unquestioningly endorsed this as the work of God and implied that "holy
laughter" was something for which all good Christians ought to strive. As
fads do, the movement seems to have lost quite a bit of its
popularity--although I'm sure it still exists in some form or other. It's
popularity waned as questions were asked about it--questions about what
purpose holy laughter served in the church and questions about where the
Bible ever mentions such laughter. Such questions caused many people to
finally decide that much of the movement stemmed from people's
imaginations and the power of suggestion, and that if there were any
power behind such a movement, it appeared to be the power of the devil.
However, our reading for today does talk about laughter. And it even
indicates that laughter can be an appropriate response to the hearing of
God's Word--and especially God's promises.
1. In wondrous amazement at God's promises
Before we dive right into our reading, some background is necessary.
Although Abram is 99 years old when the reading begins, the story really
began when Abram was 75. At that time God came to Abram , who was then
living in Haran, and he told him to pack up his stuff and to move to a
land (Canaan) that God would show him. 
This really took quite an act of faith on Abram's part. When my grandpa
was 75, you could barely get him to leave the county, much less the state
or the country. It wasn't that he was a hermit or that he was scared to
move, but just that he was comfortable and happy where he was. And
settled in. Although Abram may have felt the same, he uprooted himself,
changed his entire life, and got up and followed God's command, moving to
Canaan. 
Now God's command did not come without some promises. God promised to
give him this land which he would show him, and he also promised to make
Abram a great nation. This must have come as somewhat of a surprise to
Abram since he and his wife Sarai had no children yet. But Abram took God
at his word. 

Some years passed, and God came to Abram again. By this time Abram had
done some thinking about God's promise. He and Sarai still didn't have
any children, and Abram was trying to figure out exactly what it was that
God was thinking here. (This is not a good idea.) He decided that God
must mean that one of his household servants would be Abram's heir. But
when Abram suggested this to God, God told him that not only was he still
promising to make Abram a great nation, but that this heir would be
Abram's own biological son.
After God had left, Abram must have thought some more about how in the
world God was going to accomplish this. It wasn't enough for Abram to
hear the promise. He had to know exactly how. He was still kind of hung
up on the idea that this child certainly wasn't going to come from him
and Sarai, and he was still thinking about other possibilities. Finally
it hit him! God had said that this child would come from Abram, but he
had not said that this child would necessarily come from Sarai! 
And apparently Sarai had been thinking the same thing, too. Reasoning
that her biological clock had stopped ticking entirely, and reasoning
that Abram's was pretty close to winding down, it seemed to her that the
time for action was now! She came to Abram and told him to sleep with
Hagar, her servant, and to produce the child of God's promise in this
way. Abram saw things the same way, and he agreed.
A son named Ishmael was born, and for 13 years afterwards there were
apparently no messages from God. It's impossible to say for sure exactly
what Abram thought during this time. Perhaps he figured that Ishmael was
indeed the child that God had promised. After all, God had said that the
child of promise would come from Abram's own body. 
And yet I have to wonder if Abram wasn't more than a little concerned
during these years. While it was true that God had not actually indicated
any disapproval of Abram's action, in the back of his mind might he not
have had a feeling that the child of promise ought not come from an
adulterous affair of Abram's own making? And besides, where was a voice
of approval from God during all these years? And if this wasn't the child
of promise, then where was the child? After all, by this time Abram was
99 and Sarai was 90. It would appear that the time for God to keep his
promise had come. And gone.
But God tells Abram that in fact the time is still coming. Our reading
begins by telling us that the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "I am God
almighty...I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly
increase your numbers." Then he goes on to say, "As for Sarai your wife,
you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless
her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she
will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her." 
And at this Abram laughed. He fell facedown, laughed and said to himself,
"Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child
at the age of ninety?" It was almost too much for Abram. (By the way, in
this chapter God changed his name from Abram, meaning "exalted father",
to Abram, meaning "father of many.") 
He could scarcely believe that he was hearing such a wondrous promise. He
could scarcely believe that two people as old as he and Sarah would have
a child. He laughed in wondrous amazement.
It would have been quite something for God to promise to make Abraham a
great nation. But it was something else entirely for God to promise to
make Abraham a great nation by giving him--100-year old Abraham--a son!








2. Because they are certain 
But at the same time as he laughed in wondrous amazement at God's
promises, his laughter also came from a joyous trust. By laughing,
Abraham wasn't saying, "Hoo, boy! I'll bet! That's a good one!" He wasn't
saying, "Well, I sure hope so. Then again, I've heard an awful lot of
talk, but I haven't seen a whole lot of action on these promises." 
Abraham wasn't laughing like we sometimes do about people's promises when
we say, "Oh, yeah. Yup. They assured us that they would have that work
done by tomorrow"--even though this person has proven themselves time and
time again to be unreliable. He wasn't even laughing the way we might
laugh when some kind-hearted soul makes a well-meaning, but seemingly
impossible promise. Maybe you have a spouse who can't ride in a car at
night for more than 10 minutes without falling dead asleep, but on an
overnight trip--a trip that will last till 6 in the morning, they assure
you that they will stay awake and keep you company. You laugh at that
promise--not because you think they're being deceptive, and not because
you doubt whether they desire 100% to keep that promise, but simply
because everything in past history has proven them to be incapable of
keeping such a promise.
No, Abraham laughed because believed the promise. Abraham believed that
the fact that he was 99 and the fact that Sarah was 90 did not make the
promises any less likely--simply more wondrous. 
And Abraham had every reason for believing this. 
Abraham could draw special assurance that God would keep this
promise--and all the promises that were a part of the covenant--from the
name that God gave himself when he appeared to Abraham. He said to him,
"I am El Shaddai." The NIV translates this, "I am God Almighty." 
Or in other words, "Don't worry about me making promises and then not
being able to keep them. I can do anything I want to."
And not only did Abram have the assurance that God had the power to do
such a thing, but also that God had the commitment to do such a thing.
For immediately after saying that he was God Almighty, the Lord said, "I
will confirm my covenant." 
Because God had both the power and the commitment to fulfill his
promises, Abraham laughed at God's wonderful promises--not only because
they were amazing, but because they were certain.
And the fact is, of course, that God did every seemingly unbelievable
thing that he said he would. Abram and Sarah conceived and had a son. The
descendants of that son would eventually become a great nation. And from
that great nation would come the one through whom all nations would be
blessed--the Messiah, Jesus Christ. If you really stop and consider it
all and what it all means, it makes you want to laugh.
It makes you want to laugh, realizing that God always keeps his promises,
realizing just how--for lack of a better word--independently,
independently of all human counsel, and yet just how wisely and
wonderfully he keeps them. 
Abraham thought God should have fulfilled his promise earlier than he
did, and Abraham thought God would have been forced to fulfill his
promise in a different way than he did. But Abraham was wrong.
Fortunately for Abraham, God waited until the time was right, waited
until Abraham was forced to rely on God alone, and then he kept his
promise. It's not that we're laughing at Abraham, and yet we have to find
the whole thing a little amusing and completely wondrous. Abraham did. 
It appears that Eve thought God was going to keep his promises
differently and on a different timetable than he actually did. When she
gave birth to Seth, she assumed that God was now going to keep his
promise to send a Savior. Little could she have imagined that God was
going to do it approximately 4000 years later, and even less would she
have been able to guess that God would have that Savior be born of a
woman, yes, born under law, yes, but also born of a virgin. 


Again, God waited until the time was right--or, as our epistle lesson
said, until "the time had fully come"--and again, God had done it his
way, the best way, the way which was best for us--in order that Jesus
might redeem those under law, in order that he might take away our sins
and the curse under which our sins had placed us, in order that we might
be called sons of God., in order that we might be part of a "great
nation" of believers who share the faith--and the forgiveness of
sins--which Abraham had. 
It should make you want to laugh a little. Oh, I don't expect that any of
us will burst into laughter here within the next few moments, and truth
be told, I think I'd find it somewhat distracting. But I hope that when
you contemplate the wonderful promises which God has kept-- I hope that
you feel a little giddy, I hope that you feel that joy, that release that
happy laughter brings.
As we saw the fulfillment of God's promise to send a Savior at Christmas,
we were overjoyed. Like Abraham, we may have laughed to ourselves,
thinking, "The Son of God was born to an ordinary young woman? And he's
my Savior?" It's too wondrous for words. And yet God did it.
And I hope that gives you confidence to trust in God's other promises. I
pray that we don't just laugh joyously about the promises, the covenants
that God has kept, but also about the promises that God will keep, the
covenants that God will confirm. 
Because like Abraham, we hold some amazing promises from God. Even
better, those promises from God are certain. For he is El Shaddai, and
therefore he will and can keep his covenants with us.
For instance, God has promised that if we call upon him in the day of
trouble, he will deliver us. That's a promise. And God keeps his
promises. We might be tempted to raise our eyebrows and say, "Well, it
doesn't look like he's delivering me this time, because I've been in
trouble for quite some time." 
Abraham thought God was taking an awful long time, too. But God
delivered.
If this situation with your health, or this situation with your job, or
this situation at home has been troubling you for quite some time, God
will keep his promise to deliver you. And he will do that just as soon as
the time has fully come. It won't take 4000 years for the time to fully
come, as it did before the time was right for Jesus to be born. It may
not take 24 years for the time to fully come, as it did for
Abraham--although, in fact, it may take longer. But the time will fully
come, and then God will fully deliver us. Perhaps he'll deliver you by
taking you to heaven, perhaps he will deliver you by removing the
problem, and perhaps he will deliver you by giving you the strength to
deal with the problem. But he will confirm his covenant, he will keep his
promises. 
And that means that Jesus will keep another promise--his promise to come
again. Sure, that promise is 2000 years old, but all that means is that
we're 2000 years closer to the moment when the time has fully come. Will
God really take sinners to heaven to be with him? Just as surely as God
has forgiven sinners through Jesus. 
Holding onto those sorts of promises, it sort of makes you want to laugh,
doesn't it? Because those promises mean great security for you and me.
They mean that as we face a new year, we have nothing to fear--nothing.
Because God has promised to be with us and to care for us. Go ahead.
Laugh if you want. But laugh because it's so amazingly wonderful, and so
amazingly comforting to know that we are in the hands of a gracious and
loving God--a God who calls himself El Shaddai. 
There's one last thing about God's promises. After God keeps them--and we
know he will--praise him. Laugh if you want, or sing like Zechariah did
in our gospel reading this morning. At the birth of Isaac, Abraham
thanked God by obeying God's command to circumcise Isaac. We thank God by
obeying his commands, by praising him, maybe with a big smile as we think
about what God has done for us. And maybe as we think about what God has
done for us--and what he will do for us--maybe it will even cause us to
laugh as Abraham did. Such a laugh is a laugh of faith. What a privilege
and what a blessing it is to be able to laugh such a joyous, certain
laughter. Amen.