Genesis 24:18-32 NKJV So she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink. (19) And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” (20) Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. (21) And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not. (22) So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold, (23) and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?” (24) So she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” (25) Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.” (26) Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the LORD. (27) And he said, “Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” (28) So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household these things. (29) Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban, and Laban ran out to the man by the well. (30) So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “Thus the man spoke to me,” that he went to the man. And there he stood by the camels at the well. (31) And he said, “Come in, O blessed of the LORD! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.” (32) Then the man came to the house. And he unloaded the camels, and provided straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
This is the Word of the Lord, Amen?
- Welcome back to our series on how to be a Good and Faithful servant.
Show “Series Title – How to Be a Good and Faithful Servant.jpg” in the Title Slides folder.
- If you are just joining us, welcome! We have been preaching through Genesis for more than a year now, and you join us as we talk about Abraham’s servant setting out on a journey to find a wife for Abrahams son Isaac.
- The Servant promised to find a wife for Isaac amongst God’s people.
- We now see the servant fulfilling his promise, going out and doing the thing he said he was going to do…
- So we are spending a few weeks looking at Abrahams servant, and seeing how this good and faithful servant went about serving his master, and we are applying that to our lives as Christians, so that we can be better faithful servants of our Master, amen?
- And one day I hope we will all hear those wonderful words “Well Done My good and faithful servant”.
- So, as I said, we are going to be spending some time here in Chapter 24. This series, how to be a good and faithful servant, is a 5 part series and we are on week three. Let’s take a look at that overview slide:
- This morning we will be going over these “All in” points… a Good Servant Goes All IN, and a Good Servant Gives All the Glory to God.
- So let’s get right into it with point one: A Good Servant Goes All In.
Point One – A Good Servant Goes All In
Genesis 24:19 NKJV And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”
- Now up until this point we have been examining the actions and faith of Abrahams servant.
- He has made the promise, he immediately left to fulfil the promise, he positioned himself for success, going to the well where women gathers at the time when women gathered.
- He relied on God completely, and asked for a specific sign.
- And even when that sign came, he stopped in wonder and listened… looking to determine if this was the woman God had for Isaac.
- But I want to turn our focus to Rebekah — Isaac’s future wife and Jesus’ 23-times-great-grandmother.
- Rebekah here shows us one of the most overlooked attributes of a good and faithful servant, she goes all in!
- Let me read two verse back to back and show you what I am talking about… ready… take a look at this and see if you can pick up what I am laying down.
Genesis 24:10 NKJV Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, for all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.
Genesis 24:19 NKJV And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”
- Did you catch it?
- A thirsty adult camel drinks between 20 and 30 gallons of water.
- There are 10 camels… so they would have drank between 200 and 300 gallons of water.
- Can you imagine?
- Now ancient water jugs used for fetching water from a well held between 2 and 3 gallons of water…
- Therefore Rebekah would have fetched water about 100 times to give all the camels enough water.
- This likely took between 2 and 3 hours of hot, hard, sweaty labor.
- Yet she went all in. Not just a drink for Abrahams servant, but hours of labor to water the camels as well.
- What I think is most remarkable about this is that Rebekah didn’t know she was auditioning to be the ancestor of Christ — she was just generous.
- She was all in.
- She wasn’t in it for herself.
- She had no idea what was in it for her. She had no idea that what she was doing for those camels would shape ETERNITY.
- She was just all in… she was passionate. She did everything as if she was doing it for God… and in this case, unbeknownst to her, SHE WAS DOING IT FOR GOD.
Colossians 3:23-24 NKJV And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, (24) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
- Everything you do church, be it while serving at the church, while at home with your family, while at work or at school… EVERYTHING YOU DO you should do as if you were doing it directly for King Jesus.
- The way you cook dinner.
- The way you raise your kids.
- The way you mow the lawn.
- The way you serve at church.
- The way you take care of your car.
- The way you work at your job.
- The way you study for school.
- EVERYTHING. 10 camels, 300 gallons of water. ALL IN.
- I have seen God bless people who do everything all in over and over again.
- I see success follow them.
- Not all of them are rich, but all of them are thriving.
- “Well that sounds exhausting pastor”… IT IS! Ask me how I know. It is why God commanded a DAY OF REST. One day a week you should go all in with RESTING… all in with resting in God’s presence.
- And six days a week, go all in for serving God, serving your spouse, serving your children, serving your parents, serving your job, serving your church… serving the random dude and his camels at the well. GO ALL IN.
- And truthfully, in almost every situation, offering the stranger a drink, but not his camels would have been good enough.
- It would have been rude not to offer something… but it would have been totally good enough if Rebekah just offered the servant a glass of water… but if she only did that she would have missed out on the move of God.
- BECAUSE IN GOD’S KINGDOM GOOD ENOUGH IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
- Jesus told a parable about this, it is where we get the phrase “Good and Faithful servant”
Matthew 25:14-18 NKJV “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. (15) And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. (16) Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. (17) And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. (18) But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.
- A talent was a unit of measurement, here Jesus is talking about talents of silver, which are worth about a years wages. 1 Talent would be worth about 32,000 dollars, maybe more… 5 talents would be 106,000 dollars or more.
- The master in this story lends LIFE CHANGING amounts of money to three servants.
- Two of the servants invest it and work hard to grow the money, they want to have something to show for it.
Matthew 25:19-21 NKJV After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. (20) “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ (21) His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
- Well done my good and faithful servant… you went ABOVE AND BEYOND. You took the money and doubled it! Enter into your joy.
- He said the exact same thing to the man with 2 talents who had worked hard to turn it into 4 talents.
- But what about the servant who buried the talent? He buried the money. When the master came back he gave his master his money back… every penny of it.
- I would say that is good enough.
- Most of the time when I loan someone money I never see it back… so to get it back when I want it back… hey that is pretty good.
- BUT NOT IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN… remember this parable started with “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like this…
- So the servant gives the 1 talent back… he did the bare minimum… he didn’t do the work… he sat on what God gave him… how did that turn out for him?
Matthew 25:26a NKJV “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant…
- Man when I see Jesus I want to hear “Well done my good and faithful servant”
- I certainly DON’T want to hear “You wicked and LAZY servant”.
- Have you ever thought about that, Jesus calls out LAZYNESS in the same breath that He calls out wickedness… you WICKED AND LAZY servant!
Matthew 25:30 NKJV And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Church when I say “We go all in” I am serious… we are talking about matters of heaven and hell here…
- The lazy servant was cast into hell! He thought he had done good enough… but while everyone else was giving there all, he was fine with the bare minimum… But it turns out God is not fine with the bare minimum.
- Now note, none of the servants knew what was in it for them… they did not know that they would be rewarded, or in the case of the lazy servant, cursed. They just did what their character would have them do.
- Rebekah did not know what was in it for her… she just did what her character would have her do.
- But Laben… oh Laben… this dude shows us what FAKE Christianity looks like…
Genesis 24:29-32 NKJV Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban, and Laban ran out to the man by the well. (30) So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “Thus the man spoke to me,” that he went to the man. And there he stood by the camels at the well. (31) And he said, “Come in, O blessed of the LORD! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.” (32) Then the man came to the house. And he unloaded the camels, and provided straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
- So it came to pass when Laban saw the gold nose ring and gold bracelets on her wrists… THEN he was all of the sudden he took notice of the situation.
- Interesting…
- Laban didn’t care when the man was sitting at the well.
- Laban didn’t care when his sister was out there busting her tail off for hours watering these camels…
- But when he saw the GOLD! Oh, now there is something to be interested in, huh, Laban?
- Now you want to feed and water the Camels… now you want to entertain this man.
- Rebekah already offered to feed the camels too, bro… why you coming in so late‽
- I just find it very interesting… it seems to me that Laban is lazy and wicked…
- This isn’t conjecture, either, because we know Laban’s character from later in Genesis when he tricks his nephew into work 14 years of hard labor for him.
- And so it is here… Laban is the Lazy and wicked servant in this case… only going all in when it seems profitable for him.
- But as I mentioned before, Rebekah did not know she was auditioning for the role of ancestors of Jesus… she had no idea this would be profitable for her… she just had a character that goes all in.
- I wonder church, how many blessings, how many opportunities have we missed because we had a “good enough” attitude.
- If that is you, repent right now. Set in your heart “I am going to be an ALL IN servant of the King”.
- And while you are at it, set in your heart that you will always give all the glory to God.
- That is our second point this morning “A Good Servant Gives All the Glory to God”.
Point Two – A Good Servant Gives All the Glory to God
Genesis 24:23-27 NKJV and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?” (24) So she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” (25) Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.” (26) Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the LORD. (27) And he said, “Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”
- Consider how unceremonious this miracle was.
- I think we can all agree that it was indeed a miracle… I mean the servant prayed “Let the woman who offers my camels a drink also be the one you have sent”.
- Now you know how EXTREAM of a sign he was asking for… he wasn’t asking for a rainy day in Seattle, he was asking for a random stranger to offer up freely hours of hard labor, out of the blue.
- That is definitely miracle territory.
- By the way, when you are an all in Christian you become peoples miracles… but that is a sermon for another day.
- I think we can all agree this is a miracle… but it is not that flashy of a miracle.
- God did not part the seas here, an Angel did not visibly appear at the well.
- There was no Ram stuck in a thicket…
- It was just a girl, getting water for camels.
- Now Abrahams servant could have easily thought “I am so smart, I thought to come to the right well” after all God did not tell him to go to THAT well… “I cam at the right time of day” after all God did not tell him to go at that time of day… “And now I have impressed this women with my masters gold! I am good at this, I should start a YouTube channel blogging how awesome I am!”
- No! He recognized “God did this, and God should get the glory!”
Genesis 24:26-27 NKJV Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the LORD. (27) And he said, “Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”
- The great Bible commentator Matthew Henry points out a few things about this passage that I think any good and faithful servant should recognize.
- First, this servant of Abrahams was someone who relied on God, we talked about that last week.
- In verse 12 the servant prays for God to give him success, and now here he gives God the glory for the success.
- So here is what Matthew Henry says about it… you ready? This is so good:
- “What we win with prayer we must wear with praise.
-Matthew Henry
- What we win with prayer we must wear with praise! God get’s all the glory.
- I remember a miracle that happened in my life back when I was just dating Pastor Amanda.
- I was working an overnight shift at an Internet Service Provider. My boss was a devout atheist… but I was working hard to share the gospel with him.
- On night he was so upset, so desperate… His father had given him his wedding ring when he died… and somehow he had lost it before work.
- He had looked everywhere, he had spent hours looking… now at work he was weeping… frantic… and in a lull during work he cried out in our mostly empty office “HELP ME JESUS! HELP ME GOD! HELP ME FIND MY FATHER’S RING”.
- I looked at him and said “Will you give Him glory?” He said “Whatever man… whatever it takes” I said “I am going to pray, you are going to go home and instantly find that ring, then you better give God glory:.
- You know what happened? He went home and there was the ring, on his bedstand, where he always leaves it…
- My boss never did give God the glory… but you better believe I did… Because I mean it when I say it… WHAT WE WIN WITH PRAYER WE WEAR WITH PRAISE! I hope every time he looks at that ring he remembers the miracle and that scrapy curly head kid who prayed and gave God all the glory.
- Now back to Henry’s notes on this passage… henry also points out that the servant had not yet received the full miracle. This girl has not agreed to come back and be Isaacs wife… she had simply invited the servant in for dinner…
- None the less, even before the miracle has been completed, the servant gives God all the glory.
- So Matthew Henry says this:
- “When God’s Favors are coming towards us we must meet them with our praises!”
-Matthew Henry
- Before the blessing gets there, give glory to God.
- Man, nothing defeats doubt like a bit of praise.
- When everything is going your way… Give God the Glory.
- When things are falling apart and everything is a mess… but You know that You serve a God who makes a way when there seems to be no way… GIVE GOD THE GLORY.
- When you are desperate and don’t know what to do… Give God the Glory.
I’ve seen You move, You move the mountains
And I believe I’ll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe I’ll see You do it again
- Listen church, whatever your situation… weather you are waiting on your blessing or walking in your blessing… GIVE GOD THE GLORY.
- Get in the habit of praising Him.
- “Blessed be the Lord God, my Master! Blessed be the Lord God who has not forsaken me! How leads me and guides me! Who has more mercy and truth for me! Who makes a way when there seems to be no way! Blessed be the name of the Lord!”
- Now we are going to talk more about giving God glory next week as we talk about publicly testifying… but we will leave it here this week.
- If God gave you a new Job, raise, or promotion… Have you praised Him for it…
- Come up to the altar during worship and VERBILIZE it to Him… not everyone at the altar is here because they need prayer… come and give praise.
- In your secret and quite place… Give God Glory for that blessing.
- Maybe you are needing a new Job.
- Give God glory for what He is working… He will provide… give Him glory.
- For healings received and healings asked for.
- Give God the Glory.
- For restoration in relationships, for freedom from addiction, for wisdom for today, for a word for tomorrow… for the breath in your lungs, for the forgiveness of sins, for the empty cross and the empty grace….
- GIVE GOD THE GLORY.
- A GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT GIVES ALL THE GLORY TO GOD.
- Alright, let’s wrap this thing up, if someone can come play we will conclude this message.
Show Title Slide and keep up as service closes.
Conclusion
- Church, we are an ALL IN CHURCH.
- It is one of our values… and we mean it…
- The way that we serve… ALL IN.
- The way that we love… ALL IN.
- The way that we forgive… ALL IN.
- The way that we live… ALL IN.
- Not just in church, but in our personal lives, as good and faithful servants of our Master King Jesus, WE ARE ALL IN. We do everything as unto the Lord!
- And church, when it comes to giving glory to God, WE ARE ALL IN!
- All the Glory, for all good things, even the things to come… we are ALL IN! Because a good and faithful servant is ALL IN FOR GOD’S GLORY!
- Gospel Call
Join us this Sunday at either 8:30AM or 10:30AM for worship followed by this message from the Word of God.
Christian Life Church of Cedar Rapids
2808 Schaeffer DR SW,
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
www.CedarRapidsChurch.com
Join us this Sunday at either 8:30AM or 10:30AM for worship followed by this message from the Word of God.
Christian Life Church of Cedar Rapids
2808 Schaeffer DR SW,
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
www.CedarRapidsChurch.com
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