How does God make you laugh?
Passage: Genesis 21:1-21
Big Idea: God brings laughter through the Son of Promise and graciously saves tearful fools who used to laugh at his promises.
1. The Son of Promise brings laughter
2. The foolish laugh of the son of the flesh
3. God graciously saves the tearful fool
Who makes you laugh?
For some of us who are parents, our kids often make us laugh.
Kids just do silly things sometimes, don’t they?
They don’t need to even try; sometimes, they just talk funny, or they just look funny.
In fact, it doesn’t have to be our kids; we laugh when kids of other people do silly things.
Some kids are just good at making us laugh, whether they know it or not.
For other people, it might your friends who make you laugh.
You know them so well that all it takes is one word, or one look, and you both start laughing out loud.
In today’s passage, we see an unexpected person who makes people laugh.
Did you see it? In verse six, Sarah said, “God has made me laugh”
God makes people like Sarah laugh.
God can make us laugh as well.
How does God make you laugh?
If you have your Bible with you, please open up to Genesis chapter 21, beginning from verse 1.
We’ll see three things:
1. The Son of Promise brings laughter
2. The foolish laugh of the son of the flesh
3. God graciously saves the tearful fool
Before we look into it, let’s pray,
“Father, by your Holy Spirit, please open our eyes, that we might understand, believe and obey our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.”
1. The Son of Promise brings laughter
Up until this point in the book of Genesis, God made a promise to both Abraham and Sarah, on separate occasions, that they will have a son together.
God has said it, God has promised it and it happened just like he promised!
Look with me at verse 1, “The LORD came to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.”
Sarah, who was ninety at the time, became pregnant and had her first son.
And Abraham, who was One Hundred years old, (one hundred!), became a dad again!
They named him Isaac, the name that God had already given to Abraham and Sarah one year before he was born.
The name Isaac means “laughter”.
From the very beginning, even before he was born, God wanted people to think about laughter when they talk about this boy.
Abraham laughed when God told him he’d be a dad and that the mother would be Sarah.
Sarah laughed when she heard God talking to Abraham about her pregnancy. Imagine all the laughter on the day when Isaac was born!
They’ve been laughing about God’s promise about the boy and now this boy, who’s name literally means ‘laughter’, is here.
Over the past few years, I’ve seen so many babies born and grow up in our church, in this very service.
These babies bring so much joy and laughter to our service.
It’s clear that there’s life here!
Someone once said, ‘if you don’t hear a baby crying, your church is dying.’
And so, parents, your children and very welcomed here.
Abraham and Sarah were both very old.
Their bodies were as good as dead when God made his promise to them.
But they trusted in God’s word.
Look with me at Romans 4:19-21,
“He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.”
They have a living faith in God because God himself is the living God.
What God promised he would do.
The great Christian writer John Calvin said, “God never feeds men with empty promises.”
After seeing how God has fulfilled his promises, Sarah responds with this beautiful verse, in verse 6, “Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.”
God made Sarah kaugh not because God said anything funny, but because he did the impossible.
It’s sounds so impossible, that it might even sound silly, but it happened!
God’s commands and God’s promises make us laugh, not because we don’t believe them, but because we do believe them, and have seen how good it is when God kept his promise to us and we kept his commands for us.
We laugh because we trust in him and we’re thankful for what he’s done.
It’s not forced laughter, but genuine laughter.
Sarah’s response here to God is very poetic; it’s like a song.
She’s playing with the word Isaac, which means… laughter.
It would’ve sounded like this, “God has made me Isaac, and every who hears about Isaac will Isaac with me.”
Sarah used to laugh about God’s promise because she was doubtful and cynical, but now she laughs because she’s joyful.
Who would’ve said that Sarah would nurse her children?
God did!
And now, Sarah is so happy to bear a son for Abraham in his old age.
What makes you laugh?
A joke that’s funny to one person may not be funny to another.
That’s why I think it’s tough to be a great comedian.
How do you figure out what makes someone laugh?
Well, in Sarah’s case, God knew what makes Sarah laugh.
God made Sarah laugh the first time when he promised Sarah she’d have a son.
Sarah thought he was joking.
Imagine telling an 89-year-old woman she’s going to be a mother!
It would’ve sounded like a joke, but God turned it into reality.
That’s what made Sarah laugh the second time — the fact that God wasn’t joking with her.
She laughed because God’s promise to her was real and God kept his word.
God’s faithfulness made Sarah laughed, this time, in humble gratitude.
Now, I wonder if God makes you laugh too?
I hope he does, not because he tells jokes, but because he makes what might have sounded impossible, so impossible that they sound like jokes, come true.
Like when God says that he forgives sinners and gives them a second chance. And we respond by saying things like, “No, God, you can’t be serious about giving that guy a second chance!
Don’t you know what he’s done”
To which the Bible says, it’s not a joke, God says there’s forgiveness, even for that guy, because, God says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Other people might say, “you can’t be serious about being sure about what happens after we die!”
But Jesus is serious.
It might sound impossible, but Jesus wasn’t joking when he says, in John 14:2 “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it weren’t so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?”
Christians laugh with humble confidence and thankfulness at God’s seemingly impossible promises in Jesus, because God makes impossible promises come true.
Over the years, I found that I often laugh the most in Growth Groups.
It’s great to have brothers and sisters who trust each other, as we make observations about life, and have genuine fellowship.
It gives me great joy to celebrate what God has done!
It’s such a joy to see someone come to know Jesus here at Church and in our LIFE Courses and Christianity Explored Courses.
In all these, it’s God himself who makes us laugh
God wants to see you laugh too.
He doesn’t want to make you laugh with jokes, but he wants you to see the joy of how he’s kept his word.
Prayer meetings are a great way to see how God answers our prayers.
He’s kept his promises to many of us in this Church.
So, have faith and laugh with us!
2. The foolish laugh of the son of the flesh
Laughter, especially laughter of faith, are great!
We all need more of it in our lives.
But not all laughs are equally good.
Look with me at verses 8, “The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.”
Back in the day, before modern medicine, child mortality was high.
And so, when little Isaac was weaned, most probably at the age of three years old, it was a time to celebrate.
This little one might make all the way to adulthood.
To see this little one weaned is a confirmation that God will keep his promise.
For many Chinese families, there’s a celebration when the child turns one month old.
Some families also celebrate when their children turn 100 days’ old.
These are major milestones in a child’s life that Chinese families celebrate.
For many Christians, one milestone is a child’s baptism.
Another one is when they grow older and they want to take their faith more seriously, usually when they become teenagers.
That’s when these young teenagers will go through a course in order to publicly affirm their beliefs and to have their faith confirmed by the bishop in the confirmation service.
Now, there was a teenager in Abraham’s family at the feast Abraham had set for Isaac.
For Isaac wasn’t Abraham’s firstborn.
Abraham’s firstborn was Ishmael, who was the son of both Abraham and Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave.
A few chapters ago, back in Genesis chapter 16, Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham so they could have a son.
After Hagar became pregnant, she looked down to Sarah, who was childless. Sarah told Abraham to kick Hagar out, but God saved Hagar and brought her back to Abraham.
When Abraham heard about the birth of Isaac, Ishmael was already 13 years old. So, add about a year after that, and another three years for Isaac to be weaned, and Ishmael was probably around…..17 years old.
Can you imagine that?
Imagine you’re a 17 years old, with an 103 years old father who’s put on a party for your three years old half brother.
But instead of being all happy and excited for his little brother, Ishmael started mocking.
The Bible doesn’t say, but it was probably Ishmael mocking or laughing at Isaac, and Sarah caught him.
We don’t know exactly what he was mocking, but the word that’s translated as “mocked” here actually comes from the same root as the word for “laugh” in Hebrew, the original language.
So, Ishmael was laughing mockingly about how silly and how cringe Sarah and Abraham looked as parents, really old parents.
Imagine Ishmael, the teenager, saying something like, “Ew, Sarah.
You sure you don’t need to feed Isaac anymore?
You should keep feeding him, make him strong.
Who knows, you might die before he gets to my age.
Who’s going to feed him then?”
It’s not in the Bible; it’s just something that Ishmael could’ve said.
Now, here’s the thing: Ishmael was the firstborn, so if Isaac hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t need to share his inheritance from Abraham.
But with his laugh, which might have been accompanied by a poorly timed joke, he got Sarah worried.
Ishmael’s mocking showed that he was a threat to Isaac.
Sarah said that everyone who heard about Isaac would laugh with her.
But she wasn’t expecting Ishmael’s mocking laugh.
Sarah was so worried that she told Abraham to get rid of Ishmael and his mum, Hagar.
Sarah wasn’t keen on Isaac sharing his inheritance with Ishmael.
She was in fact echoing what God had told Abraham earlier about Ishmael and Isaac.
Look with me at Genesis 17:20-21, “As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”
God’s promise would be confirmed through Isaac, Sarah’s son, not Ishmael, Hagar’s son.
Isaac’s inheritance wasn’t up for discussion.
Ishmael and Hagar had to go.
Abraham was distraught. He was described as very distressed. It was the only time in the Old Testament of the Bible that anyone was described as very distressed.
Abraham was here very distressed because of Ishmael.
Ishmael was his son too! How could he send Ishmael away?
But listen to what God said to Abraham in verses 12-13, “But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressedaabout the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac, 13 and I will also make a nation of the slave’s son because he is your offspring.”
God told Abraham to listen to Sarah because she was right.
God’s covenant would be with Isaac.
And God reminded Abraham of what he had said to him about Ishmael: God would make him into a nation as well.
It would be a heartbreaking choice for Abraham to send Ishmael and Hagar away, but God would look after Ishmael.
God had promised to look after both of Abraham’s boys.
The next morning, the boy Ishmael and his mother were sent away with very little.
Abraham had to trust that God would keep his promise about Ishmael, just like he had kept his promise about Isaac.
What makes you laugh?
In Ishmael’s case, God’s promise to Abraham about Isaac made him laugh.
Unlike Abraham and Sarah, unlike most people in Abraham’s household, Ishmael’s laugh wasn’t one of faith but one of mockery.
He sniggered at how God had kept his promises to God’s people and God’s people themselves.
Do we snigger at God’s promises and God’s people?
Sadly, I’ve seen and heard how people snigger and laugh at Christians, who were just wanting to live by faith in God.
These Christians might not be the richest, the wisest, or the cleverest people in the room, but they trust in God, they walk in Christian love, and they follow what Jesus teaches.
But God’s foolishness is wiser than man’s wisdom and his weakness is stronger than man’s strength.
Those who belittle and look down on other Christians do it to their own shame and judgement.
That’s especially worse if those who snigger at other Christians call themselves Christians.
If you want to know how immature a Christian is, just listen to how they laugh at other Christians.
Listen to the Ishmael in them.
In Galatians, we get a clearer picture of how wicked Ishmael’s sneering really is.
Verse 22-23 says, “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and the other by a free woman. 23 But the one by the slave was born as a result of the flesh, while the one by the free woman was born through promise.’
Verse 28-31 continues, “Now you too, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as then the child born as a result of the flesh persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit, so also now. 30But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never be a coheir with the son of the free woman.” 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave but of the free woman.”
You see, those who trust in Jesus are children of the promise, but those who don’t trust in Jesus but trust in their own goodness, are those who trust in the flesh, are like Ishmael.
Those born of the flesh persecute those born of the Spirit.
Ishmael mocked Isaac and possibly his mother Sarah, and those who are of the flesh today persecute those born of the Spirit, those who belong to Jesus.
Now, I know that for some of us who’ve been in Christian circles for a while, there might be a temptation to look down on other younger Christians.
For those who are richer than others, there might be a temptation to laugh or snicker at those who are poorer.
Friends, don’t be an Ishmael.
Don’t laugh at other Christians as they learn to follow God.
We shouldn’t mock or persecute Christians.
That kind of snickering has no place in our lives, especially here at Church.
3. God graciously saves the tearful fool
After Hagar and Ishmael left, Hagar took Ishmael and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
She was wandering because she probably got lost.
Here’s a picture of the wilderness in Jordan when Jenny and I visited almost 14 years ago.
That would’ve been like where Hagar and Ishmael were.
It would’ve been a dangerous place to be if you get lost there, even today.
After wandering around the wilderness for a while, they had no water left. Hagar left the boy under one of the bushes to let him die.
She couldn’t bear the sight of her teenage son dying.
It would’ve been horrible!
She went a bowshot’s distance way.
She wept loudly for her demise and her son’s demise.
What was Ishmael doing? He was crying too.
How do we know? God said he heard Ishmael crying.
Now put yourself in Ishmael’s shoes.
He was 17; he was basically a grown man.
What was he doing here in the wilderness? He was dying!
All because he mocked Isaac and Sarah saw it.
Like many teenagers, he could’ve had been angry about the injustice he received.
But it’s more likely that he was truly sorry for what happened.
He would’ve thought, how could he had been so stupid!
If he kept his mouth shut and not make that stupid, mindless joke about Isaac, he could’ve still be safe in Abraham’s household.
He would’ve been with Abraham his father, Isaac his step-brother, Sarah, the not-so-great boss of his mum, and his mum wouldn’t be weeping a bowshot away.
If he didn’t make a mocking smirk on his face, but trusted that the God of his father, if he had feared honoured and loved his father’s God, his mother wouldn’t be here.
She wouldn’t have to die with him in the wilderness.
There’s no joke, no mockery, in all the world, that’s worth what he’s going himself into.
It would’ve been painful, and so he cried.
We don’t know whether he cried a prayer to God, but God heard his crying.
Look with me at verse 17, “God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the boy crying from the place where he is.”
God told Hagar to not be afraid but to help the boy up.
He promised that Ishmael would be a great nation as well.
God then opened her eyes and she saw a well.
God’s salvation wasn’t far from them at all!
She got water from there and gave it to the boy.
He grew, took up archery, and settled in the Wilderness of Paran. His mother even got an Egyptian wife for him.
A common theme we see through the past few weeks in Genesis is God’s mercy.
God saved Lot, even though he was a coward.
God gave Abraham a second chance, even when he told a lie that could’ve ended a nation.
And God saved Ishmael and his mother Hagar, even though it was Ishmael’s own foolish mockery that landed them to almost die of thirst in the desert. Our God is a merciful God!
These people were saved by God’s mercy, they were saved by God’s grace, not by how good they were as people.
I don’t know what your life was like this week or where you are in your walk with God right now.
You might have made some foolish mistakes, that were costly, whether in terms of money or in terms of relationships.
Or you might have committed sins that affected not only your life but the lives of others around you.
If that’s you, bring yourself before God in humble prayer.
Cry if you have to, express your sorrow to God.
The Bible tells us that godly sorrow leads to repentance.
Though it’s painful at the time, don’t run away from it.
Instead, bring your pain before God and let him know your pain, even as you express it through your tears.
He will understand. He will hear.
Though Ishmael didn’t write it, he would identify with the psalmist who wrote Psalm 56:8 You yourself have recorded my wanderings.
Put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
God knew Ishmael’s wanderings and God heard his cries and saw his tears. And God saved Ishmael.
God knows your wanderings but has he heard your cries?
Has he seen your tears?
Have you cried out to him because he’s the only one who can save?
Today, on this side of the cross, we must cry out to Jesus to be saved.
Isaac was the son of promise for Abraham and Sarah.
But even Isaac was but a shadow of Jesus, the true Son of Promise.
How does God make you laugh?
God has given us his Son Jesus – He is the reason for our joy; he’s the reason for our laughter.
It’s Jesus who will one day wipe away every tear of everyone who had put their trust in him.
It’s Jesus who saves us fools who had once laughed at his mercy.
Here are three questions to think about for this week:
1. What makes you laugh?
2. When was the last time you laughed by faith for what God has done?
3. When was the last time you wept for a sin that mocks what God has said?
Friends, remember: God brings laughter through the Son of Promise and graciously saves tearful fools who used to laugh at his promises.
If you have been wandering in your life, not knowing where you’re going, turn back to Jesus today.
Follow him, return to him, cry out to him.
He’s the one who will turn our tears to laughter.
Turn to him and find joy.
Turn to the One who can make us laugh because he’s the one saves us, because he’s the one who makes the impossible come true.
Let’s pray, “Father, thank you for keeping all your promises to us in Jesus. Thank you for your faithfulness. Father, please forgive us for our sins, our mockery of your promises and your commands, our sniggering of your mighty acts. Hear our cries for your mercy. Turn us back to you, that we might find joy and laughter in your salvation. Lord, make us laugh laughter of faith as we see your promises come true in Jesus, for we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”