Genesis 20: When a Pagan King Rebukes God's Prophet

Introduction

On an online forum for former Christians, a young man asks a question: "Why do some non-Christians seem to live out Christian values better than Christians themselves?" The day before, he had gone to church with his girlfriend, who had been invited to a baptism service. The service was beautiful, and there was a lot of talk about the church family and about welcoming people. Yet apart from the person who greeted them at the door, no one came to speak to them. In the bar he goes to, he says, there is almost always someone who reaches out to a newcomer.

The preacher sees a misunderstanding here, perhaps mixed with pain: the idea that Christians think they are better than everyone else. But the question remains a fair one, and the Church needs to face it: how do we respond when non-Christians behave better than we do?

Genesis 20 stages exactly this scenario. On one side, a prophet of God who acts foolishly. On the other, a pagan king who does what is right. This message opens the series "Faithful where God has placed us" at Église Saint-Lazare.

Outline of the message

1. Those who know God are not as good as they should be

• This chapter is "a cold shower." For several chapters, Moses has been highlighting Abraham's conduct and contrasting it with that of his nephew Lot: Lot settles in Sodom and sinks into immorality, Abraham rescues him, receives the blessing of Melchizedek, and sees Lot narrowly escape the judgment on Sodom.
• All of this flows from the call in Genesis 12, where God blesses Abraham, makes a covenant with him, and promises that all the families of the earth will be blessed through him.
• Then comes Genesis 20. In verse 2, Abraham lies: he passes off Sarah, his wife, as his sister. Verse 13 shows that this was a habit, already practiced in Egypt: "at every place where we shall come, say of me, 'He is my brother.'"
• In verse 9, he becomes a stumbling block: instead of leading others into conduct that honors God, he exposes his wife to dishonor and Abimelech to sin.
• In verse 11, he fears people more than God. The irony is sharp: he claims there is no fear of God in this country, yet he is the one acting without the fear of God.
• The portrait is damning: liar, coward, unbeliever. "Not quite the hero we were expecting."

2. Those who do not know God are not as bad as they could be

• If Abraham's corruption stands out so sharply, it is because Abimelech's integrity is remarkable. In verse 5, he declares that he acted "in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands," and in verse 6 God agrees with him.
• The heart of the text is Abimelech's rebuke in verse 9. In essence: "Are you out of your mind? Why have you done this to us?" He is not only complaining about the wrong done to him, he is reproaching Abraham for drawing him into sin.
• Between verses 8 and 11, the irony turns bitter: on one side, Abimelech's servants are seized with great fear; on the other, Abraham excuses himself by claiming that there is no fear of God among them.
• Abraham's sin looks more horrible to the pagan king than to the prophet himself. "It is serious when my sin as a Christian is seen more clearly by a non-Christian than by myself."
• In his teaching method, God uses a pagan king to rebuke his prophet.

3. Shining through integrity

• Some sentences are terrible to hear, like the one from the colleague who, after two years of working together, discovers over a lunch break: "Oh, you're a Christian?" Those who spend time with us should not be surprised to learn it.
• The preacher advises, especially young people, to say early on that they are Christians. Not to introduce themselves in an artificial way, but to take a stand. First, it makes us accountable and keeps us on the path. Second, it serves as a lens for others: "He does that because he is a Christian."
• He gives the example of a brother whose integrity changed the culture of his workplace: his colleagues eventually gave up inappropriate remarks and dubious jokes because they knew he did not like them.
• "That is our goal": that our integrity would spread and change others, rather than corruption spreading and changing us.

4. Shining through humility

• We do not always behave as we should, and this should feed our humility. "A Christian is not someone who thinks he is better than others. A Christian is someone who knows he is not better than others."
• The preacher quotes Spurgeon: "Brother, if anyone thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him, for you are even worse than he thinks you are." And again: if someone paints your moral portrait and it is ugly, be glad, because a few darker strokes would only bring it closer to the truth.
• We want to be holy because our God is holy, but humility displays the grace of the gospel like few other things. It testifies that God does not love us for our qualities, but in spite of our sin.
• The Christian is not the one who says, "Thank you, Lord, that I am not like him." He is the one who beats his breast and says, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."
• If the people around us think that we believe God loves us because we are good, "we need to correct that."

5. Two paths to grow in humility: confession and forgiveness

• Confession: confess your sin to God every time you see it. God asks for it and promises to forgive. You cannot put to death a sin you do not confess, nor grow in the Christian life without confession.
• Confession makes you sensitive to your own sin. The preacher admits to being more understanding toward his own faults than toward those of others: "We should be uncompromising with ourselves and full of grace toward others."
• The time of confession in the service fights hypocrisy: week after week, it tells the world that God does not love us because we are good, but by his grace, in his Son.
• Forgiveness: the world does not know forgiveness. After a conflict, people wait for it to blow over and hold on to resentment. Saying "I was wrong, I should not have reacted that way, please forgive me" often leaves the other person speechless.
• Asking forgiveness is a sign of integrity and points to grace: it is telling the other person, "I need you to show me grace." To forgive is to do good to those who deserve our anger.
• Abraham, for his part, stammers out excuses: Sarah is half his sister (verse 12), then "when God caused me to wander" (verse 13). He blames his wife, then God. Excusing your sin is talking like the devil: "It's not that bad, others do worse, he started it."
• When someone says to us, "You're a Christian and you do that?", the right answer is: "You're right, I should not have acted that way, please forgive me."

6. Common grace: giving glory to God for the good in others

• This story illustrates the doctrine of common grace. The preacher quotes Wayne Grudem: it is the grace by which God gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation. It is distinguished from particular grace, the grace of salvation.
• God distributes his gifts as he sovereignly chooses: some are wiser, more gifted, more skilled than others. Without this, it is hard to understand why non-Christians so often surpass us in morality, wisdom, or competence.
• "Because of sin, Christians are not as good as they should be. But by common grace, unbelievers are never as bad as they could be."
• Calvin goes further: failing to acknowledge these gifts would be a first step toward blasphemy. If the Spirit is the only source of truth, we must never despise truth wherever it appears.
• This changes how we see our neighbor: if the carpenter makes a beautiful table, if the baker makes good bread, if the musician composes a beautiful melody, if the lawmaker proposes a just law, it is by the grace of God. "Through us, God blesses others, and through others, God blesses us."

7. The real center of the text: God carries out his plan by grace

• The moral of the story lies neither in Abraham's character nor in Abimelech's. What they have in common is God's grace: he held Abimelech back before he sinned, and he used Abraham despite his sin.
• The real problem is the possible consequences of Abraham's sin. If God had not intervened, what would have become of the covenant and the promised descendants?
• In his providence, God restrains our corruption and does not let our sin run its full course. That is no reason to lower our guard or to live "on autopilot": our actions have real consequences and sin does damage.
• God rarely stops us with a dream, but often through a brother or a sister. He calls us to watch over one another to stir each other up to good works (Hebrews 10:24). Sometimes he even does it through someone who does not share our faith. "It is humbling, but it is a grace of God."
• God blesses those who bless Abraham and curses those who curse him (Genesis 12:3). As soon as Abraham prays, Abimelech's household is healed (verses 17-18). And right after: "Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken" (Genesis 21:1).
• After his rise, this shameful episode shows that Abraham cannot, by his own virtue, be what God calls him to be. Everything is by grace. God does not treat us according to what we deserve, but according to his goodness.

Key takeaways

• Those who know God are not as good as they should be, and those who do not know him are not as bad as they could be.
• A Christian is not someone who thinks he is better than others, but someone who knows he is not.
• Confession and asking forgiveness make humility grow and make grace visible.
• Everything good, beautiful, and true in others comes from God's common grace and deserves that we give him glory for it.
• God carries out his plan in spite of us and through us: often, he stops us on the path of sin through the people around us.

Personal application

1. Do the people who work or live next to you know that you are a Christian, and does your conduct confirm it?
2. Are you more lenient toward your own faults than toward those of others?
3. Whom do you need to ask forgiveness from this week, without making excuses?
4. When someone says to you, "You're a Christian and you do that?", how do you respond?
5. What good do you see in a non-Christian around you that you can recognize as a gift from God and thank him for?

Verses cited

• Genesis 20
• Genesis 12:1-3
• Genesis 12:10-20
• Genesis 21:1-2
• 1 Peter 1:16
• Luke 18:9-14
• 1 John 1:9
• Hebrews 10:24

Frequently asked questions

Why do non-Christians sometimes behave better than Christians?

Genesis 20 shows exactly this situation: the prophet Abraham lies, while Abimelech, a pagan king, acts with a clean heart. The preacher sums it up: those who know God are not as good as they should be, and those who do not know him are not as bad as they could be, by God's common grace.

What is common grace?

The preacher takes up the definition of the theologian Wayne Grudem: common grace is the grace by which God gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation. Wisdom, talents, skills: all of this comes from God, even in those who do not know him. We should therefore give glory to God for it.

How should you respond when someone says, "You're a Christian and you do that?"

Do not look for excuses, as Abraham did. Answer: "You're right, I should not have acted that way, please forgive me." It is an opportunity to humble yourself and to proclaim the gospel of grace: no one is good enough to be accepted by God on the basis of their own morality.