Parasha Lech-Lecha 5783

Me

(Pull out sling bag and computer bag and talk about my liking bags and what I carry in them and how useful they are, but how easily they begin to weigh you down too…)

We

And the reality is that, in one way or another, we all know all too well exactly how being weighed down by baggage feels, right… Emotional baggage… Relationship baggage… Familial baggage… Mental baggage… Work baggage… Spiritual baggage… Financial baggage… And the list goes on and on and quickly begins to look like the baggage claim carousel at the airport…

Some of us are sitting here today struggling with all the baggage that is weighing us down, much of the baggage was piled on us by and a fair amount (if we’re honest) we willingly picked up along the way…

Maybe we want a happy, healthy marriage, but we’re dealing with all the baggage we’re carrying from having watched our parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles marriages collapse, or we’re filtering our currently relationship through the baggage of all our past relationships.

Maybe we want to have well-adjusted, mentally and emotionally strong, G-d fearing children, but we’re carry all the baggage of our own spiritual and emotional wounds that have kept us from setting the example we desire to set most for them.

And odds are, each and everyone of us hearing this message right now can pinpoint any number of our baggage that are weighing us down and keeping us from walking out our faith as we truly desire…

God

This week we read Parasha Lech-Lecha, Genesis 12:1-17:27, which lays the ground work or the foundation of the building of what would become B’nei Yisrael. First we see a guy named Avram called out by Adonai to leave his family, to leave everything and everyone he’s ever known and to start traveling to a destination he doesn’t even know yet, but God will tell him when he’s arrived. (For the record, I trust my GPS apps a lot, but I generally like to put a destination in for them to map out before I leave… but, maybe that’s just me…) He gets to Canaan and spends some time wondering the land and getting to know it.

Then famine hits and he and his wife pack up and run to Egypt to try to survive, and there’s this whole debacle there and ultimately he is run out. Then in chapter 13 Lot’s people (Lot is Abraham’s nephew) and Avram’s people have some beef over the grazing of their herds (pun intended), so Avram and Lot separate and go their own ways. In Chapter 14 Lot and his family get kidnapped by some marauding kings and their armies, and Avram goes and saves him and brings him home. We also see, in chapter 14, the narrative of Malchi-Tzedek the king of Salem and Avram’s interaction with him, which is hyper-prophetic.

In Chapter 15 we see the covenant cut between Adonai and Avram and the fiery torch passing between the halves of the sacrifices.

Chapter 16 we see Avram and Sarai make more stupid choices with longterm ramifications. They have no kids yet, they don’t trust they ever will, so Sarai convinces Avram to take her servant Hagar as a wife and have a kid with her. Anyone that’s married or ever been in a romantic relationship of any flavor can imagine quickly how all of this can go horribly wrong.

Then in Chapter 17 we see the Covenant of Circumcision and Avram’s named changed from Avram (exalted father) to Avraham (father of multitudes) and Sarai’s name (meaning princess) changed to Sarah (noblewoman). And the ultimate sign of this covenant, aside from the physical sign of the circumcision, is the promise of a son through Sarah. In the covenant made earlier in Lech Lecha, Avram is passive (fire miraculously passing through the halves), whereas in this covenant he is active (physical circumcision).

Now, that we’ve covered a basic synopsis of Parasha Lech Lecha let’s dive into the text together. And as we do, understand that we could literally spend hours upon hours digging into this Parasha and still barely remotely scratch the surface of all that God is revealing here… So today we’re going to hone in on one specific aspect of Avram’s life and walk with God. And as we do, I want us to keep this spiritual principle in mind throughout…

Often what complicates our walk with the L-rd the most is the baggage we refuse to leave behind…

(Repeat)

If you have your Bible with you, let’s open up to Genesis 12…

Genesis 12:1–3 TLV

Then Adonai said to Abram, “Get going out from your land, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. My heart’s desire is to make you into a great nation, to bless you, to make your name great so that you may be a blessing. My desire is to bless those who bless you, but whoever curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

This is such an awesome reality to read year after year. I have always found so much encouragement in following the call of God through Abraham’s life.

But, to set this up a bit, let’s look at the end of last week’s Parasha…

Genesis 11:31–32 TLV

Terah took Abram his son and Lot, Haran’s son, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and he took them out of Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah’s days were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

We see that Terah, Avram’s father, took his whole family and they left Ur of Chaldeans and were heading to the the Land of Canaan. But along the way Terah comes across a town called Charan (which was the same name as his son who died back in Ur of Chaldeans, Lot’s father—Avram’s brother) and he settled there rather than journeying all the way to Canaan.

Then we read in the beginning of Parasha Lech-Lecha that Adonai calls Avram to leave his father’s house and all his family behind and to head toward a land that he had never known and that God would fill him in on where he was going along the trip. So, Avram hears this call from God and packs up everything and rolls out EXACTLY as he was instructed…

Well, close… He brought along Lot, his nephew with him, even though God told him to leave his father’s family behind. And it’s really interesting that Avram brought Lot along with him because what we see throughout a significant portion of Avram’s narrative is that he really struggles with the idea of leaving behind a legacy… I think this is a big reason why he brought Lot along, not because he felt he had to take care of him, Lot was a grown man by this point. But more so because if he was blessed and everything panned out, he’d need someone to leave it to and Avram didn’t have any kids of his own yet. We see this very same mental baggage is exactly what causes Avram’s discourse in Genesis 15 with God about Eliezer, his servant and right hand man. It is also why he went along with Sarai’s plan with Hagar producing Ishmael…

Adonai, presumably a God his family really didn’t know—or at least not well, calls out to Avram and tells him to pack up all his belongings, get his wife, and leave his entire family and all he’s ever known behind and begin a journey to a land he doesn’t know. He’s to simply start moving and trust God to direct him and to tell him when he’s arrived at this allusive destination. So, as all great heroes of faith should do, Avram listens and moves quickly to answer the call. Unlike Moses, or Gideon, or Jeremiah, Abraham doesn’t argue, he doesn’t try to pester God for more details, he doesn’t try to negotiate… He just packs up and rolls out with excitement and anticipation.

And this is where this narrative should stop… God said go, he went, the end… But no, unfortunately, we don’t get very far in before Abraham, our great hero of faith, has a very human moment that will ultimately blow up in his face…

Genesis 12:4–5 TLV

So Abram went, just as Adonai had spoken to him. Also Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.) Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions that they had acquired, and the people that they acquired in Haran, and they left to go to the land of Canaan, and they entered the land of Canaan.

We learn in verse 4 that Avram was 75 years old at this point. He recognizes that, even in consideration of how old people tended to live back then, 75 years old means he’s no spring chicken anymore… Sarai at this point is 65… They haven’t had any children yet, so if God follows through on all His promises to Avram who the heck is he going to hand things off to when he dies? He doesn’t have any kids of his own to inherit anything… So, what’s the point?

And, as is often the case in our own lives, a major weakness or doubt that we may have will rear its ugly head numerous times in our walk with the Lord, right? Avram, this great hero of faith is no different. And the issue of his fear of having no son to inherit all HaShem is doing for him will plague him for another 25 years and ultimately creates a generational curse that will wreak havoc on B’nei Yisrael even to this day...

So, God tells Avram to pack up and roll out and leave his family behind, leaving with only his wife and possessions and the next morning that’s exactly what he does. Well, almost… In a moment of weakness due to his doubts of having progeny to inherit HaShem’s promises, he takes his nephew Lot with him as well, kind of a backup plan in case nothing else develops in the progeny department.

And we’re not long into the story of Avram’s life in the Promised Land before this decision begins to bite him in the rump… Lot and Avram’s shepherds begin to beef over grazing their herds (pun intended) because they were right on top of each other. So, Avram and Lot end up going their separate ways. Interestingly enough, Genesis 13:13 gives us a bit of a snapshot about Sodom in advance of what God later does…

Genesis 13:13 TLV

But the people of Sodom were evil—very great sinners against Adonai.

And then at some point after they part ways, Sodom is attacked by a pseudo-empire of five kings, and Lot gets kidnapped and Avram’s old hide has to come in and save the day. So, it’s pretty quick that we start to see the immediate ramifications of Avram’s baggage causing him problems…

But the longterm ramifications will be problems that Avram’s future descendants, B’nei Yisrael, would wrestle with for generations. Not to go into all the details, but after Sodom is destroyed, Lot’s daughters think all of humanity is lost (why not, it’s happened once before and they’ve likely heard the stories). So they get their pops fershnickered and follow through on a terrible idea (read the story, you’ll catch on). This terrible idea (which would have never occured had Avram simply left Lot behind in Haran) ends up producing offspring who ultimately become the Moabites and Ammonites, two peoples who proved themselves to be a constant thorn in B’nei Yisrael’s side for a very, very long time. Yet, oddly, in a story of redemption, we get Yeshua through all this craziness because Ruth (a Moabitess) marries Boaz (an Israelite of the tribe of Judah) and they become the great-grandparents of Melech David, and ultimately in the lineage of Yeshua HaMashiach.

Often what complicates our walk with the L-rd the most is the baggage we refuse to leave behind…

But, that’s not all folks… The story goes on and immediately after we read of Avram and Sarai leaving Haran and coming to Canaan, we read of a famine hitting the Land and things get rough. Now, we don’t know exactly how much time has elapsed between their arrival in Canaan and their fleeing to Egypt, but what we do know is that we see Avram, our great hero of faith, make two of these poor decision we’re speaking of all in one...

Genesis 12:10–13 TLV

Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live as an outsider there, because the famine was severe in the land. Just as he was about to enter Egypt he said to Sarai his wife, “Look, please, I know that you are an attractive woman. So when the Egyptians see you they’ll say, ‘This is his wife.’ And they’ll kill me; but you, they’ll let live. Please say that you are my sister, so that I’ll be treated well for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you.”

The first failure we see is Avram doesn’t appear to turn to God in the midst of the famine and ask what he should do (and we see Joshua, another great hero of faith, make the same failure in Joshua 9 with the treaty made with the Gibeonites—who, based off Genesis 25, could potentially also be descendants of Abraham). Think about it, God told Avram to pack up and leave his family behind to come to a Land he’s never known and there God will prosper him and make him into a great people. Does it seem like God would have let Avram die off shortly after coming to the Land? Does it seem as though God would have wanted Avram to run to Egypt for protection and provision rather than turning to HaShem?

The second failure is that Avram, this great hero of faith, who is now running to Egypt for salvation rather than turning God, who doesn’t have enough faith through the trial to trust that God will protect them in the famine also doesn’t trust God can protect them in Egypt. He apparently is well aware that he married up, married way outside his league (as most men do, if we’re honest)… Apparently Sarai was smoking hot, she was a real head turner… And Avram was well aware of this (probably one of the reasons he married her). He was afraid the Egyptians would kill him to take her from him because of how hot she was, so he convinced her to lie if anyone asks and to just say they’re siblings. He even has the chutzpah to look her in the eyes and say,

Genesis 12:13 TLV

Please say that you are my sister, so that I’ll be treated well for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you.”

I don’t know about how you’re reading this, but it doesn’t seem as though this great hero of faith is too concerned with how his wife is treated, so long as HE survives…

And, sure enough, just as he feared, an Egyptian begins to cat-call her… But not just any Egyptian… Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So, Pharaoh took Sarai, who he was under the impression was just Avram’s sister, and brought her into his house to marry her. No worries though guys, it’s all ok because:

Genesis 12:16 TLV

But Abram was treated well for her sake, and he got sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys and camels.

He got wealthy off of all of this… For real though, how messed up is this so far…?

But, God is still faithful and protects them, especially Sarai. Pharaoh and his household get hit with a plague (foreshadowing much?) and he realizes what’s going on and returns Sarai to Avram and kicks their butts to the curb to fend for themselves. And I’d love to say that Avram learned a very valuable and lasting lesson here… But, he really doesn’t, and worse still he makes the same mistake all over again in Genesis 20 with Avimelech. And even worse still, it becomes a generational issue as we see Isaac later on does the exact same thing with Rebekkah.

What’s really interesting about Avram, who truly is a great hero of faith, is that we can actually relate to him. I mean, we may not have made the exact same mistakes (I know I’ve never tried to pass Danielle off as my sister to save my own hide), but we’ve all made mistakes along the way in our journey that have blown up in our faces and we had to rely on HaShem to restore us from. Imagine though, just for a crazy moment, if we left behind all our fears, all our worries, all our baggage, and truly relied on Him fully to begin with, how much easier would our lives be without the failures?

Often what complicates our walk with the L-rd the most is the baggage we refuse to leave behind…

We can look through the Bible and see our great heroes of faith falter, dragging all their baggage along with them, and make all sorts of mistakes along their journeys. And, truthfully, we’re barely scratching the surface with Avram, we haven’t even touched on Hagar and Ishmael and the havoc that is still wreaking on Israel and the Body of Messiah today… But, that’s another day’s discussion.

How much shorter and easier would Avram’s story have been had he not dragged Lot along with him? How much easier would B’nei Yisrael’s journey to and existence in the Promised Land have been had Avram not brought Lot along for the ride?

But Avram isn’t the only biblical example we see of this issue… Humanity has a uncanny tendency of not leaving our baggage, our crap behind when we follow God. For whatever reason, we love the theory of freedom, just not the practical reality…

We see this very issue in Joshua’s life… Joshua, who witnessed everything God did for Israel throughout their journey… Joshua who brought back a good report of the Promised Land… But, he’s also the same Joshua that came running to Moses to tell him to make Eldad and Medad stop prophesying when the 70 elders received a portion of the Ruach HaKodesh in Numbers 11 because the people were afraid and he was afraid they’d riot. He’s also the same exact Joshua who made a peace treaty with the Gibeonites in Joshua 9 after God specifically commanded Israel to not make treaties or covenants with any of the people in the Land.

What about Melech David? Dude was a great leader of Israel and a great man of God. But, he was also a bit of a train-wreck at times and definitely had issues with dragging his baggage along for the ride too… The biggest and most obvious is that David had a thing for the ladies… Deuteronomy 17:14-20 gives us a series of commands specifically for the future kings of Israel, and verse 17 specifically says:

Deuteronomy 17:17 TLV

Nor should he multiply wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn aside, nor multiply much silver and gold for himself.

But David quickly threw this command out the water… (and later Solomon too as he followed the generational curse of carry baggage along).

What about Jonah? Jonah was commanded by HaShem to go to Ninevah and to preach to the Ninevites that if they didn’t repent and make T’shuvah to the Lord then He would wipe them out. Jonah wanted nothing to do with this call… So much so that he hopped on a ship and attempted to sail in the opposite direction. Then in his running away he actually ends up risking the life of the whole ship’s crew. Ultimately, after being swallowed by a great fish Jonah repents for running from the call of God and get’s spit out on shore to make follow through on what God had called him to do. But, while Jonah decided to follow through on preaching to the Ninevites, he never really had a change of heart and he carried his baggage into ministry with him.

He goes into Ninevah, spends three days preaching to the Ninevites to repent or die. Low and behold… They actually repent…

But what is Jonah’s response? He’s mad… He is still carrying his baggage. He climbed a hill outside Ninevah and waited for the fireworks because, while he preached “repent or die,” he wanted nothing less than for them all to die… And when they repented and turned to God and God relented what was Jonah’s response?

Jonah 4:1–3 TLV

But it greatly displeased Jonah and he resented it. So he prayed to Adonai and said, “Please, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my own country? That’s what I anticipated, fleeing to Tarshish—for I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and full of kindness, and relenting over calamity. So please, Adonai, take my soul from me—because better is my death than my life.”

Jonah says, “Are you kidding me, God…? This is exactly what I knew would happen and exactly why I didn’t want to come to Ninevah to begin with…”

Now, most of you have probably heard me talk about this before, but I think the most disappointing part of this story is that Jonah’s heart never changed… He preached “repent or die” and they did in fact repent. But Jonah couldn’t get past his baggage, his hatred and fear of the Ninevites, and because of this he never attempted to disciple the freshly spiritually renewed Ninevites in walking with the God of Israel. And because of his baggage, 100 years late Ninevah is wiped out because they ultimately turned their hearts away from God again, as we see in Nahum.

Often what complicates our walk with the L-rd the most is the baggage we refuse to leave behind…

Probably one of the most iconic biblical narratives of letting one’s baggage get in the way of our walk with God, we see Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and part of the ruling class of Pharisees. He was a very learned man and he was curious about this Yeshua guy… In John 3 we see Nicodemus comes to Yeshua to investigate his Messiahship… But, because of his own baggage he comes to Yeshua under the cover of night so that no one would know. Kind of like being a part of a denomination that believes partaking of alcohol is a sin and driving to the next town over to hit up the liquor store…

Nicodemus is a brilliant and righteous Pharisee, and he has some real curiosity about Yeshua and has a tremendous conversation with Him as he investigates who exactly Yeshua says He is. And it’s in this narrative about Nicodemus coming to Yeshua that we find Yeshua’s teaching on being born anew and where we read:

John 3:16–21 TLV

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. The one who believes in Him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not put his trust in the name of the one and only Ben-Elohim. “Now this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness instead of the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. But whoever practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be made known that his deeds have been accomplished in God.”

Which is a powerful teaching not just about the love of God, redemption of man, and eternal life found in Mashiach… But it is also a powerful and gut punching accusation toward Nicodemus for coming to Yeshua under the cover of night instead of our in the open. And why did he come at night? Because of his own baggage… He wasn’t willing to let go of his baggage… Even though he was sitting across the table from the One who could literally set him free, Nicodemus was too scared to give up all he had or to be seen with Yeshua by anyone he knew.

Later in John 7 we see Nicodemus kind of sort of try to speak up for Yeshua before the Pharisees and then cower away again after someone basically accused him of being a follower of Yeshua.

Then, again, in John 19 we see Nicodemus appear one more time on the down low with Joseph of Arimathea to burry Yeshua after His crucifixion.

But imagine how much of an impact such a Pharisee could have had for the Besorah had he simply set his baggage aside and trusted in Yeshua publically… Imagine how different Nicodemus’ story could have been had he come and had the exact same conversation found in John 3 out in public in the middle of the day, or had he spoken up boldly in defense of Yeshua before the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin. But Nicodemus couldn’t bring himself to take the risk, to make the sacrifice of risking it all for Messiah.

Often what complicates our walk with the L-rd the most is the baggage we refuse to leave behind…

And, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve probably all had these moments in our lives, maybe even this past week, where we knew exactly who we’re suppose to be, exactly where we’re suppose to be, and exactly what we’re suppose to do… We knew without a shadow of a doubt who we are in God, but yet for a fleeting moment lost all sight of that and made our own moment of failure from poor decisions or a momentarily lack of faith in God’s plan and Truth as we clung to our baggage instead of to freedom in Messiah. We’ve all had our own Abraham-esque moments of epic failure from time to time over the course of our walks with the Lord. But, what is so amazing is not the how or why, but it’s the restoration… It’s the forgiveness… It’s the reality of the depth of Adonai’s compassion and love for us despite our baggage…

That’s the most important part of these moments of humanity and failure in the lives of our great heroes of faith throughout the Bible, there is always the opportunity for restoration. And despite our momentarily lacks of faithfulness to HaShem, as we see with Adonai having to save Sarai and Lot because of Avram’s baggage, He is always faithful to restore when and if we are faithful to return.

You

(CALL WORSHIP TEAM BACK AND UNMUTE)

So what kind of baggage are finding yourself carrying that is hindering your walk with the Lord?

Is your relationship with your children struggling because you’re carrying around all the baggage from your strained relationship with your own parents?

Is the witness of Messiah in your life just not shining through the way you desire most because of all the distrust, pain, and anguish you carry from spiritual, emotional, and mental baggage you just can’t quite figure out how to toss off?

Are you finding yourself struggling to truly trust God in your life because of all the baggage weighing you down?

You are not along in your moments of weakness in your walk.

Often what complicates our walk with the L-rd the most is the baggage we refuse to leave behind…

We

In fact, while we are busy beating ourselves up over all the baggage in our lives that we have allowed to hinder our walk with the Lord, the truth of the matter is we are in great company. As we discussed earlier, all the great examples we have in the Bible are all people who had to overcome their own baggage in order to live our their walk for the Lord. Some figured it out quicker than others, some gave in to the weight and the burden of it all and threw in the towel (like King Saul and Judah of Iscariot).

We’ve got examples like Paul who suffered tremendously for the Good News of Messiah Yeshua yet never gave up. We read his encouraging words to this effect in 2 Timothy 4:16-18

2 Timothy 4:16–18 TLV

At my first defense, no one stood by me; instead, they all deserted me—may it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be proclaimed in full measure, and all the nations might hear—and I was rescued from the lion’s mouth! The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and will deliver me safely into His heavenly Kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

And to this end, the author of Hebrews encourages us with these words…

Hebrews 12:1–3 TLV

Therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also get rid of every weight and entangling sin. Let us run with endurance the race set before us, focusing on Yeshua, the initiator and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame; and He has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and lose heart.

So no matter how heavy the load you are carrying is… No matter how much baggage you feel is bearing down on you… Know that Adonai is your Helper, your Strength, and your Shield.

More importantly, know and trust that you can lay all your burdens, all your baggage down at the foot of the Cross!