PENTECOST 10
August 1/2, 2010
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Genesis 18:20-32

“YOUR PRAYERS GO TO THE GOD WHO IS…”
1. Accessible.
2. Patient.
3. Merciful.

Genesis 18:20-32 (NIV) “Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know." 22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" 26 The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake." 27 Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?" "If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it." 29 Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?" He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it." 30 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?" He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there." 31 Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?"He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it." 32 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?" He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."

Three men came to visit Abraham and Sarah. Only they weren’t men. It was the Lord Himself and two angels appearing in human form. They had come to do the work of God which we often summarize in the two main teachings of the law and the Gospel. You heard the first part of the story last week in the Old Testament lesson. The Gospel was proclaimed as the Lord revealed His timeline. Isaac would be born in one year’s time. That was the Gospel work of the Lord as Isaac is a direct ancestor of the Savior Jesus Christ that all people need. Now it was time for some law work of the Lord. Sodom and Gomorrah would be dealt with. The people there had rejected God persistently. The sign of their rejection was their indulgence in the perversion and unnatural relations of homosexual activity. These weren’t people struggling with sinful desires. They demanded their right to sin and forced their sin on others.
In this part of God’s word though the camera of Scripture focuses our attention on an interesting parley between the Lord and Abraham, an interplay that teaches us things we need to know about prayer just as was emphasized by our Savior in the Gospel lesson. While we could focus on Abraham and how he prayed let’s instead focus on what enabled Abraham to pray, the nature of God. So that we are encouraged to be steadfast and faithful in our prayer lives let’s look at the one to whom we pray.
First we find that He is a God who makes Himself accessible to us. “Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know." 22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.” Now remember the nature of God. If we use those big words we learned in the catechism we described God as omnipresent—everywhere all the time. He doesn’t need to go down from heaven to see anything. Also we know that God is omniscient. He knows everything. He doesn’t need to check anything out to see what’s happening. He already knows! So why the words? Did you notice who was standing right there? These words were for Abraham’s benefit. We don’t know if Abraham had become weak in his prayer life. Maybe while waiting so long for the son he had been promised to be born he had grown lax or discouraged. But the Lord here gave Abraham an opportunity to pray and was showing just how accessible He is.
He is just as accessible to us too. We don’t have to climb some mountain in Tibet. We don’t have to go through some sci-fi cleansing ritual like the Scientologists offer. We serve a God who is accessible to us 24/7. He doesn’t have office hours. He doesn’t sleep. At every moment of every day He stands ready to hear our prayers. Maybe that’s why we grow weak and lax in prayer. When you have something so easy we tend to take it for granted. Think for a moment on your average day. How many minutes are really spent in prayer? They can be as many as you want for the God we pray to is accessible.
He is also very patient. Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 26 The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake." 27 Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?" "If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it." 29 Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?" 30 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?" 31 Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?" 32 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?" He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it." OK! If this was us with one of our children at what point would we have snapped, “Enough already! I told you what I would do.” First Abraham asks for what he has no right to ask for. Then he keeps asking, multiplying the request as he goes for the sake of just five more until it’s down to ten. From a human perspective Abraham was being a pest. God had the right to shut him down.
But he didn’t. God is not like human parents. He is patient beyond understanding. Now kids, you need to remember that. Your parents are not God so you need to learn that fine line between proper child like asking and pestering when you go to them. You don’t have to learn that with your God. You can’t pester your God. Just like He loved it when Abraham kept coming to Him in prayer, just like Jesus taught with His parable on persistence, God loves it when you keep coming to Him in prayer. Don’t worry about coming too often or even about what you are asking. That’s just the Devil who knows the power of prayer trying to dissuade you. The God we pray to is ultimately patient.
And ultimately merciful. Abraham was praying for people who had rejected God and showed it by rejecting God’s will for sex as a blessing reserved only for husband and wife within the boundary of marriage. Abraham asked for all to be spared for the sake of the righteous, a Bible term for those with faith in the Savior God. Abraham’s rapid reduction reveals he knew the true state of affairs in Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet what was God’s response? "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.""If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it." "For the sake of forty, I will not do it." "I will not do it if I find thirty there." "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it." "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it." Law and Gospel. God is just and must punish sin. God is love and it breaks His heart to punish people. He wants to forgive and to spare. God’s nature is Gospel dominated. That’s why Jesus came. God’s one and only Son volunteered to be punished so His Father could spare the people who sinned. That’s a type of mercy that does not exist amongst us but is most certainly enjoyed by us.
The God you pray to is that merciful and desires to help and bless you. The Devil is right when he pokes and prods you and reminds you that because of your sins you don’t deserve to pray and God shouldn’t listen to you or help you. But you still get to pray because God is merciful. Your right to pray does not depend on you but on Him. Your answer to prayer is not dependent on your nature but on God’s. He is merciful.
So pray, Christian, pray. You know the rest of the story, how God was not able to spare Sodom and Gomorrah because there weren’t even ten believers between the two cities. Yet God did answer Abraham’s prayer in a better way. He spared Abraham’s nephew Lot and as much of Lot’s family that would listen. He wiped the evil off the face of the map so it would not spread. That’s the God you get to pray to. The one who is always accessible, ever patient and filled with mercy. May these truths encourage you to be more steadfast and faithful in prayer than you were when you came in. Amen.