Note: I am especially indebted to Man of Faith, a commentary by the late Dr. Ray Stedman, for a portion of the flow of this sermon.

       Patrick O'Shea served for twenty years as priest in the Irish parish of Ballybuck. One afternoon the Bishop of West Cork came to Ballybuck to visit his faithful priest. As Father O'Shea walked with the Bishop through the village, he told him, "Sure, your eminence, I get great honor as I walk through my parish. Many of the people lift their hats to me as a sign of respect. Some even genuflect. I get nothing but honor. But you know, your Grace, I think I'd exchange all of the respect in the world for just one friend."

       I believe that God feels the same way. Yes, He values our worship. But the worship He looks for is the worship that comes from a friend to a friend.

       Three times in scripture Abraham is called "the friend of God." For example, in Isaiah 41:8 God Himself says, "But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham, my friend."

       Why does God call Abraham His friend? It is because of the familiar and intimate way in which Abraham learns to know God -- which happens, partly, because Abraham is not too busy to spend time with God. If our scripture this morning says nothing else to us, it should at least tell us that God desires to be our friend and that if we are not His friends; it is not God's reluctance or distance that's the problem. It's our sin - or maybe our priorities and pace.

       There's a Peanuts cartoon where Marci and Patti are standing next to a tree. Marci says, "I signed up for a summer reading program at the Library." Patti replies, "God didn't make the sun for you to sit in the library, Marci." The next panel shows Marci and Patti reading together under the tree. Marci says, "You know more about theology than I thought, sir." Yes, she does.

       I believe that one of our great needs as very early  Twenty First Century believers in fast-paced Ventura County is to learn to "waste time with God. " Yes, prayers offered on the run, especially in crisis situations, are valid. They'd better be. But we will grow as we spend time just being in God's presence -- as we spend time with God without an agenda. This is the way we become God's friends - like Abraham.

       Genesis 18 is a very homey scene. It is what we might call kitchen-sink religion. It is faith-in-overalls - a combination of grace and groceries. These verses center around thee persons. We first see God in disguise, then Abraham in haste, and finally, Sarah in doubt.

       It seems very bold at first to suggest that Abraham and Sarah actually entertain God in some human form. But this is what it says -- Verse 1: "The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre."

       The three travelers who come into view that hot day and stand opposite Abraham as he siestas look like ordinary travelers. But there is more than ordinary politeness, even by Oriental standards, in Abraham's eagerness to entertain them. Abraham has the spiritual awareness or previous experience to see something special. Abraham doesn't yet know it's God accompanied by the two angels who will then go on to Sodom. But he sees something special.

       He does something special in response. He gives his personal best. Even though Abraham is 99 years old, he runs in the heat of day. Even though Sarah has several maids, he involves her personally. He asks Sarah to fix lunch with her own hands.

       Sarah quickly fixes a wonderful meal. She serves cottage cheese salad (curds, it says) with figs cut up nicely in it; a tall glass of cool milk; hot veal cutlets breaded and chicken-fried just the way they are most tender; and fresh hot bread right out of the oven, running over with melted country butter. To top off the meal is the gracious hospitality with which the guests are served. As they eat, Abraham visits with them and enjoys their companionship.

       We don't know what they talk about over lunch. But after lunch the Lord moves to the purpose of the visit. He's brought a gift. "Sarah will have a son."

       Now as we’ve seen already, Abraham and Sarah don't have many needs.  But there is one need that is constantly on their minds. They have no children. The Lord says precisely what Abraham most wants to hear. "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son."

       In this encounter, we see God's loving provision for our deepest needs. And, as the story continues, we also see that God expects us to tell Him the truth. That is also a part of being His friend.

       Sarah is in the tent listening to the conversation. In this culture, at this time, that's her place. She hears the promise. The text says, "Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughs. She laughs to herself as she thinks, "After I am worn out and Abraham is old, will now I have this pleasure?"

       This laughter is different from the laughter of Abraham in the previous chapter, which was the laughter of joyful acceptance or at least of wonder mixed with growing belief. Sarah's laughter is an expression of utter disbelief, as the response of the Lord to her laughter indicates.

       I do not know if, at this point, Sarah realizes that there is something special about these lunch guests. But even if she doesn't recognize the full identity of the one who makes the promise, her disbelieving laughter is still inexcusable. Because God has already promised many times that Abraham and Sarah will have a son. He has recently given special and solemn testimony to this. Now He's just giving the date. So to laugh, as Sarah does, is to say that God can't be trusted - "Oh, yeah, I've heard this before."

       The Lord turns to Sarah and asks her the embarrassing question "Why did you laugh?" When Sarah denies her laughter the Lord says, "But you did laugh." You know it, I know it, and you know I know it."

       Why does God push the issue with Sarah? Why doesn't He just say, "whatever"?

       He has to. He has to push the relationship, if Sarah is going to be the whole and happy person God wants her to be. To her culture she may belong in the tent. But to God she belongs at His side. And God needs truth from us in order to heal us and establish His friendship with us. Now Sarah probably doesn't feel that God is being her friend. But later Sarah comes to value what God has done in being real with her - even though it stings at first.

       Sarah's laughter is cynical and unbelieving. And God makes her face the reality of her own heart. Now God could have then said, "Well, since you don't choose to believe me, the promise is off. I will establish the Redeemer's line in some other way." But God doesn't do this. Sarah's unbelief does not turn His announced promise aside. Instead God gives Sarah the opportunity to grow.

       In the book of Hebrews, in the wonderful eleventh chapter, Sarah's name appears with these words: "By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age since she considered Him faithful who had promised."

       Obviously Sarah grew beyond her cynical stage.

       What happens to turn the laughing, lying Sarah of the Genesis 18 into the giant of faith Sarah of Hebrews 11?

       Well, After the guests leave, Sarah thinks about what she has heard. The words of the Lord come home to her heart with power - especially the question God asks her, "Is there anything too hard for the Lord?"

       As Sarah thinks about it, she has to face that question. We all need to face that question. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Think of the Creator, the one who called out of nothing the vast universe in which we live. Think of what lies beyond, this planet, worlds without number that circle us in the limitless reaches of space. Think of the One who sustains from day to day all the mighty, complex forces of earth, who brings the sun up on time, who guides the planets in their whirling courses, who predicts human events, and who centuries later brings them to pass exactly as He has promised.

       As Sarah begins to think of God, she feels the full force of His question, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" And then she begins to look beyond the contrary facts of her own barren life and beyond the contrary feelings of her own barren heart. She says, "Of course not. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. If He has promised, then it will happen." Then, in the words of Hebrews, "through faith Sarah received power to conceive when she was past age, because she counted Him faithful who had promised."

       Sarah believes God. And as a result, she receives a son. She names her son Isaac.

       Now that's interesting because the name Isaac means laughter.

       Laughter? I thought laughter was the problem.

        Well, it is the problem in Genesis 18, where it is the laughter of unbelief. But there are other, better kinds of laughter. Genesis 18 isn't Sarah's last laugh -- or her best.

In Genesis 21, which contains the account of Isaac's birth, Sarah says, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age." When Sarah finally sets her eyes on God, rather than herself or others, she received the promise and began to walk in the freedom of laughter.

       Is this unbelief? Not at all. This is laughter of unbridled joy and delirious wonder at God's goodness. Sarah laughs at her own earlier laughter -- "I was such a dope!" Sarah laughed in unbelief. But God had the final word. He turned her unbelieving laughter into a joyous and grateful laughter that honors God.

       Because we, too, hear the promises of God, we can experience laughter in our relationship with Him as well. This begins with the promise of new life through Jesus, and continues as we grow in Him and learn to hear His voice - and His specific promises to us - more clearly. We can learn to laugh at our own "barrenness." We can chose to believe that Jesus is willing, able, and faithful to do what He has promised. We can choose to take our eyes off of ourselves and look to Him. As we grow in these areas, we rejoice.

       If you want a wonderful Bible study experience, take your New Testament and use a concordance to look up  two little words, 'but God." See how many times human resources are brought to a complete end; despair grips the heart. Pessimism and gloom settle on people because there is nothing that can be done. And then see how the Spirit of God writes, "but God." And the whole situation changes into victory.

       Abraham and Sarah experienced compassion from God in their need to have the son of promise. We have experienced a much greater compassion.   There is no greater love anywhere, no greater compassion, than that the Jesus Christ should die for us.

      God responds to us the same way as He did to Abraham. He expects obedience from us as He expected it from Sarah and Abraham. Jesus tells us this explicitly -- "You are my friends if you do what I command." God expects truth from us as He demanded it from Sarah. And, in return, He gives us Himself.

       Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from prison, wrote about knowing God. Listen to his words and make them your own: "I don't want the God of the gaps," he wrote, the God who only helps me in my crisis, but I want the God who is able to be at the center of town -- the God of my joys -- the God of my fulfillment. Not just the God I call on when everything else fails, but the God who comes to the center of my life in my celebration as well."

       This is who God wants to be to us. God comes to us. We need to welcome Him and give Him our best. We need to spend time with Him. We even need to get off our agendas and schedules and waste time with Him. We need to tell Him the truth about our hearts -- He knows what's in there anyway. We need to trust His goodness and His promises. Then, like Abraham and Sarah, we will be His friend.

       I believe that this is what the Lord really wants from us. Can we put into God's mouth the words of Father O'Shea of Ballybuck? "I get great honor as I walk through my church. Many of the people lift their hats to me as a sign of respect. Some even genuflect. I get nothing but honor.

      And does God say to us: "I value what you do. But I would trade all the distant respect in the world to have you as my friend."?