July 17, 2016 Text: Genesis 18:1-10a
Dear Friends in Christ,
“Wined and dined.” What an appealing concept. It’s quite enjoyable when it is happening to you. A company wants your services, and the job interview includes dinner at a restaurant you’d rather not pay for yourself. A five-star high school basketball player visits the University of Illinois and gets the full red-carpet treatment – seats behind the bench, name on the scoreboard, university employees showing some love and as we found out with Karson during his recruitment, a meal on a less elaborate scale. Dined but not wined.
It all feels great, but lets not be naïve. Your host isn’t doing all of this because of some goodness in their heart. They want you to take the job. They want you to except the scholarship to play for their school. It is all fair. You know what is going on and often it works.
On the other hand, if we try to play this game with God, that is not so good. It is unnecessary. We don’t serve God to get him to serve us. We don’t buy His services. We do serve the Lord in ways that He calls us to do, but in faith we remember who is actually serving whom, who is actually doing . . .
“THE GREATER SERVICE”
As these three men stand before Abraham he realizes that one of the visitors is the Lord himself, the preincarnate Christ, and he rolls out the red carpet. He falls before them; he shows old-world hospitality by offering water for their feet and rest in the shade. He offers a “morsel” but it is really a huge meal. These heavenly being eat the food. Does Abraham now have them where he wants them?
Such dining, along with the wining served with the milk, could have been just that, Abraham setting up the Lord to do something for Abraham. In the next verses – the Old Testament reading for next week – Abraham is going to ask the Lord for a huge favor: sparing Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of his nephew Lot. In Washington and Springfield they call it lobbying.
We know how to lobby God. When shells are all around, the soldier pleads: “Get me out of this, Lord, and I will worship every Sunday.” “If I operate my business on Christian principals, you’ll help with the rest, eh, Lord?” “If I pray hard enough, my husband will get well, right, Lord?” “I don’t get to heave on my works, but they have to be worth something?”
God doesn’t need our wining and dining. Our service to Him is almost surely not as good as we think because it is corrupted by sin. Sometimes our wonderful service isn’t so wise after all.
The Lord provides the greater service. When Abraham hosted the Lord, the Lord had already done something for him. He had been given the covenant of circumcision and God had told his wife, Sarai, that they would have a son Isaac in their old age. Now the preincarnate Christ comes to tell them how imminent that message is. Sarah will have a baby this time next year! It is as laughable as a virgin conceiving and giving birth. But both will happen.
Here is the miracle of the Gospel. This Greater Servant will serve us by living the perfect life that was required of us. He will serve us by going to the cross to secure our forgiveness – including our sorry efforts to manipulate God. He will sere us by coming out of the tomb alive, securing for us a heavenly wining and dining fit for a king. The food Abraham served could only satisfy for a little while. The banquet food and wine the Lord provides satisfies for eternity.
Our serving then comes about because He continues to serve us in His Word. For Abraham the Lord served with word of a son. This made him bold to plead for Sodom.
For us the Lord serves us with His Word in Baptism, “You are my child.” Then we know we can pray to him for loved ones who are sick or in need. The Lord serves with the word of Absolution, “I forgive you all your sins.” Then we can encourage those who are afraid. The Lord serves with words from the pulpit, “Christ died so you might live.” Then we can worship in thanks and joy because of our eternal future. The Lord serves us with the word of Holy Communion, “Given and shed for you.” Then we can give without getting anything in return, because the Lord has already given us everything.
Wining and dining. I’ve been through it a few times and it feels good. As a good Lutheran I have usually felt a little guilty about the fuss being made, but I understand. Our Lord Jesus provides the greater service as we saw with Abraham and Sarah, and through Baptism, for us too. Now, it is a privilege to be His vessel, and to share His grace with those the Lord places in our lives. Through our serving, we are sharing with the world that Christ Jesus is providing the greater service.
Amen.