Pericope: Genesis 21:14 – 21 (14) 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. (15) When the water in the skin was gone, she put

the boy under one of the bushes. (16) then she went off and sat

down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot

watch the boy die.” And as she sat there nearby, she began to

sob. (17) 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. (18) Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will

make him into a great nation.” (19) 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. (20) God was with the boy as he

grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. (21) While

he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him

from Egypt.

Sermon Text: Genesis 21:17 - 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.

Sermon Title: Clean Up in Aisle 1

Mess 1: I’ll do it my way - Gen. 16:1-4 - Now Sarai, Abram’s wife,

had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named

Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from

having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a

family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after

Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took

her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his

wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew

she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

Mess 2: Elevated Entanglement Gen. 16: 5 Then Sarai said to

Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my

slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she

despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”

Mess 3: This ain’t funny Gen. 18:10-12 - 10 Then one of them

said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and

Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the

entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and

Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of

childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought,

“After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this

pleasure?”

• After ten plus years of making a mess of her life and

       Abraham’s God once again steps in to clean it up and she

       laughs God off.

• Mess making is not a laughing matter.

Mess 4: Borne Trouble - Gen 21:2, 5, 6, 8-10 - 2 Sarah became

pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very

time God had promised him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old

when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Sarah said, “God has

brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will

laugh with me.” 8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the

day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah

saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to

Abraham was mocking, 10 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.”

• What else should Sarah expect from young teenage boy

         who has brown up with his father? Now this baby comes

         along. According to tradition Ishmael is the heir not Isaac.

• God has to step in and clean up this mess.

Mess 5: Good riddance – Gen. 21:8 10 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.”

• You cannot always get rid of a mess you made in your flesh

         without the help of God.

• Sarah feels like the only way to clean up my mess is for this

         slave girl to get lost and take her son with her. She doesn't

         even call her by name.

Mess 6: God’s Got You – Gen. 21:17-18, 20 (17) 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. (18) Lift the boy up

and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

• Once again God steps in to clean up the mess Sarah made.
• God makes Ismael a great nation of 12 tribes just like Isaac

         became 12 tribes.

• God’s grace and favor even cleaned up the mess Sarah

        made of other people’s lives.

• Sarah’s short sightedness, selfishness, operating in her

        feelings still was not enough to stop God from cleaning up

        her mess.