7-20-2025

“WHO GETS THE LAST LAUGH?”

Text: Genesis 18:1-14

Sunday July 20, 2025 – Pentecost 6

Trinity – Creston

       Grace, mercy, and peace is yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Our text for this Sixth Sunday after Pentecost is the OT lesson form Genesi18 that was just proclaimed.

Let Us Pray: Dearest Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to remind us that the in repentance of laughing at others and your word for us, we in joyful repentance laugh with you and our fellow redeemed at the joyful wonder and what you have done for us.  Amen.

Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ:

Laughter is one of the most prevalent and contagious of all human emotional experiences. Little is known about the physical and psychological mechanisms behind it. But scientists tell us that when you laugh, it induces physical changes in your body, stimulating organs, enhancing oxygen intake, and releasing endorphins, all of which can result in a relaxed feeling.

But that’s not always the case with laughter, because there are different kinds. Laughter not only communicates humor at humorous words or amusing situations. It may be triggered by embarrassment, doubt, or other social discomforts.

And so, it’s important to note that laughter can mean different things at different times. It can express joy, relief, and satisfaction, or it may convey suspicion, skepticism, and even scorn.

We witness such differing responses in today’s Old Testament Reading. Certainly, as we’ll see again, the Word of God is never to be laughed at, for

God’s Wonderful Word
Is Powerful, Effective, Deserving of Our Trust.

But, we may discover, God’s Word may sometimes be so good that it can be laughed for.

       I.   God’s Word can be “too good to be true” or just flat-out hard to believe, bringing laughter for it or at it.

A.  Abraham believed with joyful laughter for God’s Word that seemed “too good to be true.”

1.   In Genesis 15, Abram received God’s Word of promise: his offspring would be as the stars of the sky, and God would give his descendants the land of Canaan. “He believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (15:6).

2.   In Genesis 17, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, Sarai’s to Sarah, established the covenant of circumcision, and promised a son by Sarah who would be the child of promise.

a.   “Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’ ” (17:17).

b.   Martin Luther understands this as laughing for joy, faith in what certainly seemed impossible.

3.   Now in our text, Abraham bows down before the Lord in submission and trust (v 2). And in grateful faith, he seeks to provide generous hospitality and service (vv 3–5).

B.  Sarah skeptically snickers, laughs at, God’s Word.

1.   God asks about Sarah before Abraham to make sure she is listening to his Word. She may have heard God’s promise from her husband, but now Sarah hears it directly from God (vv 9–10).

2.   Sarah laughed to herself a cynical chuckle, recognizing her advanced age and post-menopausal condition (vv 11–12).

a.   This is immediately acknowledged by God, who brings it to Abraham’s attention, asking a rhetorical question, literally, “Is any word too wonderful for God?” (see vv 13–14).

b.   Sarah denies she laughed. But God gently corrects her: “No, but you did laugh” (v 15).

3.   Long before this, Sarah had been beaten down.

a.   She’d been trying and praying and hoping to have a child for decades, meanwhile observing other women bear children, including her own servant Hagar.

b.   But she’d remained barren and, based on how she treated Hagar and Ishmael, become bitter.

c.   All of this then affected how she heard God’s Word—and the kind of laughter with which she responded: laughing at it.

C.  For us, too, God’s promises may seem to go beyond “too good to be true” to laughable (at!).

1.   Like Sarah, we may struggle to believe God’s Word when beaten down by unmet expectations:

a.   Family anticipations with respect to marriage, children, other family members.

b.   Vocational prospects, goals, and aspirations that never pan out.

c.   Anticipation of youthful activities and sports or a long, active, healthy retirement ruined by injury or illness.

2.   Like Sarah, our sinful flesh can cause us to 
question—even laugh at—God’s promises.

a.   Confronted with contradictory worldly views, we can question God’s Word based on what we think is possible or not.

b.   Our sinful pride can result in us thinking we know better than God.

3.   Satan can attack us when we’re most vulnerable.

a.   “Did God really say?” he whispers when we start to doubt God’s way to happiness.

b.   The evil accuser can cause us to question whether or not God’s wonderful promises are actually for me.

       II.  But there is no Word too wonderful for God!

A.  God said “Let there be,” creation was formed out of nothing, “and behold, it was very good” (1:3, 31; also Jn 1:1–2; Heb 11:3).

1.   “You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy” (Ps 65:8).

2.   “The meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy” (Ps 65:13).

3.   “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it!” (Ps 96:11–12).

B.  God’s wonderful Word brought faith to Sarah.

1.   God’s Word confronts Sarah with her sin. She is gently told that she lied (18:15).

2.   But she also has God’s Word of promise (v 14).

3.   According to Hebrews, God’s wonderful Word brought not only conception but faith too: “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised” (11:11).

C.  The child of promise, Isaac, carried the seed of the Messiah, Jesus.

1.   He would crush the head of Satan (Gen 3:15).

2.   He would be a blessing unto all nations (18:18; 22:18).

3.   “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14).

a.   Jesus’ perfect life, suffering, death, and resurrection has reconciled us to God the Father (2 Cor 5:19–21).

b.   This is the day Abraham delighted (maybe even laughed!) to see (Jn 8:56).

4.   This should bring us great joy and even laughter as well (Lk 1:47).

D.  God’s wonderful Word comes to you again and again.

1.   God’s Word calls you to repent and believe the Gospel (Mk 1:15).

a.   The wonderful Word is connected to water in Baptism (Acts 2:38–39; Rom 6:3–4), is proclaimed (Rom 10:17; Jn 17:17; 1 Pet 1:23; Eph 6:17), with bread and wine gives you the very body and blood of Christ for your forgiveness (1 Cor 10:16; 11:23–26).

b.   The wonderful Word thus works faith in you (Rom 1:16; 10:17).

2. God’s Word guides our lives (Ps 119:105) and is the good portion not taken from us (Lk 10:42).

a.   The wonderful Word is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:20–21; Jn 14:26; 16:13–14).

b.   The wonderful Word is true and enduring (Is 40:8; Ps 119:89; Mt 24:35; Lk 21:33; Jn 10:35; Mt 5:18).

3.   Therefore, “We should fear and love God  so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it” (Small Catechism, Third Commandment). “Gladly” can mean with joyous laughter!

Brothers and sisters: God’s wonderful Word works repentance and faith. That Word has brought forth joyous laughter for Sarah, Abraham, and God’s people ever since. About a year after the three visitors came to Abraham and Sarah’s tent, Sarah bore a son, and Abraham gave him the name “Isaac,” which means “he laughed” or “laughter.” “And Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me’ ” (21:6).

Yes, we have been laughing with Abraham and Sarah ever since, laughing for the wonderful, powerful message of God’s Word. You might say that God’s wonderful Word gets the last and longest laugh. It will do the same for you. Therefore, let us always hold it fast, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest God’s wonderful Word. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.  Amen.