Everyone eventually learns some “economics.” Maybe you took a class in high school called “Economics 101” or “Home Ec.” You learned practical lessons about budgeting and credit cards and interest rates and mortgages. Such classes introduce students to concepts such as “supply-and-demand” and the basics of investing. Even if you never took a formal class called “economics” you live “economics” every day. All of you who must purchase household items and put gas in a car know all about “inflation” and what that does. “Economics” is all around us. One political adviser a few years ago became famous for summing up what every election is really about: “It’s the economy!”

The children of Israel had come to a pivotal moment in their history. After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, they stand on the border of the Promised Land. They are about to receive the real estate the LORD had first promised to Abraham hundreds of years earlier. This is big! No longer will they be a “nation without borders.” They will have their own land to call home. They will be “the new kid on the block.” And it will be a rough neighborhood. All around them are nations and peoples with different gods and different values.

It was on Maundy Thursday evening as he was gathered with his friends that Jesus spoke those beloved words to his disciples: In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2) Jesus’ words evoke images of a huge, magnificent mansion. We may think of mansions we have seen this side of heaven. Places like the Palace of Versailles in France or the Biltmore in North Carolina.

To begin our sermon we are going to talk about one of those “church words.” It is a word you likely have said many times. It is the word “amen.” In our service this morning, you will say the word “amen” at least 14 times! Why? Why do we say this word so often?

I don’t know if our text today shocked you at all when you heard it. There is something shocking about it. In our text a man who admits he is but dust and ashes (v. 27) stands before the LORD God, who is called in our text the Judge of all the earth (v. 25). That’s a pretty bold move! That’s a pretty vulnerable place, don’t you think? Especially when the Judge of all the earth has just shared his secret with you that he is going to carbonize wicked, impenitent Sodom and Gomorrah to dust and ashes! Abraham, himself a sinful creature of dust and ashes, is bold enough to speak to the Lord, and bold enough to ask him to change his course of action!