Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20060813.htm

THE PREINCARNATE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST
Part IV: Christ's Ministry For Abraham's Servant: Excelling In "Regular" Service Efforts For Blessing
(Genesis 24:1-67)
  1. Introduction
    1. When God calls us to serve Him well for His blessing, He intends to bless us as we obey Him in this.
    2. Now, God's ways are vastly superior to our ways as Isaiah 55:8-9 states, so a believer may presume that he must make some unusual effort or be especially creative to gain the most of God's blessing in service!
    3. However, God's blessing us in our service is something He does independent of such "special efforts"; He merely wants us to excel in the normal realm of effort, a lesson taught in Genesis 24:1-67 as follows:
  2. Christ's Ministry For Abraham's Servant: Excelling In "Regular" Service Efforts For Blessing.
    1. Abraham's servant was given the seemingly overwhelming task of finding and persuading the right young woman of Abraham's kin in his hometown to return with him to wed his master's son, Isaac, Gen. 24:1-4.
    2. Troubled at the difficulty involved in fulfilling this assignment, the servant asked that if he found the right woman but she was unwilling to return, was he to take Isaac back to Abraham's hometown, Genesis 24:5.
    3. Abraham replied that he was not to take Isaac back; that was not God's will, cf. Genesis 24:6 in light of Genesis 12:1-3. Rather, Abraham's servant was to trust the Lord Who had taken him from his homeland into Canaan and sworn to give it to Abraham to send His Angel to help Abraham's servant, Genesis 24:7!
    4. If the woman was not willing to return to Canaan, the servant would be cleared of his responsibility in the matter; yet, the servant was not to take Isaac from Canaan back to Abraham's original hometown, 24:8!
    5. Now, as we have learned in this series of lessons so far, this Angel of the Lord Who would guide Abraham's servant is the Preincarnate Lord Jesus, and His deity is revealed in Genesis 24:27, 48.
    6. Well, the servant succeeded by way of the Preincarnate Christ when he functioned in NORMAL ways:
      1. First, Abraham's servant functioned in accord with his "normal" assignment to his superior, Abraham:
        1. Since Abraham had told his servant to make a solemn oath unto him, he obeyed him, Gen. 24:1-4, 9.
        2. Then, the servant took his master's camels and goods and left as Abraham had ordered, Gen. 24:10.
      2. Second, Abraham's servant worked in line with the "normal" customs of his day, Genesis 24:11:
        1. Though he knew the name and location of the hometown (Genesis 24:10b), Abraham's servant did not know the location of the house belonging to Abraham's hometown kinfolk.
        2. Accordingly, he placed his camels by the well outside the city to meet the damsel, for it was the custom for women to come out late in the day to draw water for their household chores, Gen. 24:11.
      3. Third, Abraham's servant understandably prayed to God for help with the superhuman, Genesis 24:12.
      4. Fourth, Abraham's servant used "normal" common sense along with the former steps for blessing:
        1. In his prayer, Abraham's servant asked that God might reveal the right woman by having her volunteer to go beyond his asking her for a drink and to water his ten camels, Genesis 24:13-14, 10.
        2. He considered this to be a "normal" sign of the kind of wife one should expect for his master's son, one who was cheerful, strong (watering ten camels notorious for consuming much water) and superior in hospitality, cf. H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, p. 665!
      5. Hence, God worked in all the supernatural issues involved to bless the work of Abraham's servant:
        1. Before Abraham's servant had finished praying, the Preincarnate Christ brought Rebekkah along to do just as he had asked in prayer, Gen. 24:15-26. He then praised God for this help, Gen. 24:27.
        2. The Preincarnate Christ also moved Rebekkah's relatives to let her return with Abraham's servant (Gen. 24:28-53), and for Rebekkah to agree to return to Canaan and marry Isaac (Genesis 24:54-58).
        3. Abraham's servant then returned to Abraham and Isaac with Rebekkah (Gen. 24:59-61), she respected Isaac upon meeting him (Gen. 24:62-65) and they were wed in God's will, Gen. 24:66-67.
Lesson: When directed to achieve the humanly herculean task of finding and returning to Canaan with the right wife for Isaac from Abraham's hometown kinfolk, Abraham's servant took NORMAL steps in his experience, and God worked out all the supernatural details to bless him in his effort!

Application: To find God blessing us as we obey Him in service, He wants us to (1) function in accord with our NORMAL assignments to our superiors, (2) to align within NORMAL customs, (3) to use NORMAL common sense and (4) to pray for the SUPERNATURAL! He will bless us in the process!