Sermon Tone Analysis

*Abraham:  Cultivating a Life of Faith*

Introduction:  Our */need to be in charge/* of ourselves, others, and situations often makes our relationship with Christ life's biggest power struggle.

We are */reluctant to relinquish/* our control and allow Him to run our lives.

We may believe in Him and be active in the church, but trusting Him as Lord of everything in life can be fearful and difficult.

Even though we pray about our challenges and problems, */all too often what we really want is strength to accomplish what we've already decided is best for ourselves and others/*.

Meanwhile we press on with our own priorities and plans.

We remain the script writer, casting director, choreographer, and producer of the drama of our own lives, in which we are the star performer.

Romans 4.16 indicates that Abraham is the father of us all; that is, he is the prototype of what you and I would become.

The Seed of Abraham would become the Source of blessing to all the nations of the earth.

Those of faith are sons of Abraham (Gal 3.7); “so then, those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Gal 3.9).

Abraham is an example of the outworking of faith in the lives of those who trust in Christ for salvation.

Understanding Abraham’s life is foundational for you and me.

That’s why his story begins in Genesis 12.  “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.

And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb 11.8).

“He waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11.10).

The great culmination of our own pilgrimage is that of Abraham’s:  */salvation secure in that heavenly city/*.

Psalm 37.3 admonishes us to “*/Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.”/*

Abraham fed on the faithfulness of the Lord.

God abundantly blessed him for it.

The whole of our Christian walk is seen in Abraham’s development in faithfulness.

Abraham’s story must be our own.

Trust!

Do good!

Dwell in the land!

Feed on His faithfulness!

By examining Abraham’s life carefully, each of us will be able to share in the triumphs of Abraham’s life and avoid the tragedies (and when we cannot avoid tragedy - know what to do when we dig our own hole).

Our productive Spirit-filled lives as men of God in our community ought to pose quite a contradiction to the lives of the men of the world.

What do the men of the world look like?

·         They use people.

While interested in them, they are motivated by what’s in it for them.

While they maintain friendships, they do so to advance themselves.

Worldly men have friends in as far as they are willing subjects in their own little kingdom.

Likewise when it comes to family.

If you were to ask worldly men if this were the case, they would deny it.

But their attitudes and actions betray him.

·         Men of the world are self-sufficient and self-centered.

They yearn to be that masters of their own fate and not even God will stop them.

Worldly men buy into the lie of Satan:  */You can be like God.  /*

·         Most men of the world will realize that they are not sufficient in themselves, and that the world does not revolve around them.

However, given an opportunity, they will ascend their thrones and rule.

What does a man of God look like?

We need go no further than to the life of Abraham…

The barrenness of Sarai (Gen 11.30) sets the stage.

The power of a man of God is based upon a sense of personal weakness.

Worldly men are self-confident; godly men recognize their need for dependence.

The fact that Abraham had a barren wife in the culture in which he lived indicates a great need.

His sense of dependence and faith becomes the figure for all men.

Abram’s entire family knew that God had revealed Himself to Abraham.

All of them had the responsibility to respond.

Terah, Abram’s father, responded with apparent obedience at first (11.31).

Halfway to Canaan, however, Terah chose to return to idolatry (1 Thes 1.9 cf.

Josh 24.2).

Abram settled in Haran with his father; but when Terah died, God mercifully renewed His promise with Abram.

This is where Genesis 12.1 begins.

Abram obeyed this second call in Genesis 12 and went to Canaan.

He began to travel through that land and at Shechem he built an altar to the Lord.

*/He began to cultivate faith/*, “to trust in the Lord, do good, and dwell in the land.”

*The Decision to Cultivate Faith Is Tested*

Instead of a land filled with milk and honey, Abram found famine (12.10).

He knew what God had revealed to him at Haran, but he rationalized that his first calling was to his family.

The famine reveals doubt in Abram.

Out of the will of God and moving toward Egypt, Abram enlists his wife in the deception of Egyptians (12.11-13).

Abram had determined to lie even before getting to Canaan (cp.

20.11-13).

The Lord allowed Abram’s blunder into Egypt in order to reveal the spirit of deceptiveness in him.

God will not tolerate sin in the lives of his children.

Abram lied and Pharaoh took Sarai for a wife.

He must not have thought about this possibility.

Abram doesn’t pray, but God graciously works on his behalf (12.17).

Abram would receive a stern rebuke from a heathen king in the form of some pointed questions (12.18b-19).

These are questions Abram should have asked himself.

Pharaoh, disgusted with Abram, ejects him from Egypt.

*It’s Not All About You!*

Do you realize that God’s commission in Gen 1.26-27 will ultimately be fulfilled?

Of course, Abram and others who follow must understand that God is sovereign.

Abram will learn this as a nomad in the Promised Land.

Thurman Wisdom wrote, “To the extent that man, through the Redeemer, submits to God as absolute Sovereign, to that extent he develops in the image of God, preparing to fulfill his destiny of reigning with Him” [Thurman Wisdom, /A Royal Destiny:  The Reign of Man in God’s Kingdom/, (Greenville, SC:  Bob Jones University Press, 2006),  176].

Wisdom indicates throughout his work that the story of Scripture is the story of two kingdoms - God’s and Satan’s.

Not a duality …simply a winnowing process allowed by God.

We now the final score as it were.

What we must understand is that our lives fit into the grand scheme of things.

History is truly His story and not our own stories.

It’s all about Him.

This is forcefully illustrated in Abram’s exchange with Lot in Genesis 13-14.

Lot chose his lot in life (13.10-11)!

Why would Abram help him when he ran into trouble with the four kings of Genesis 14?  Abram had familial responsibilities to Lot.

He was a faithful man.

He couldn’t stand by when his nephew was in trouble.

Abram and 318 of his servants trained in warfare pursued the enemy for 150 miles.

He divided his small army into companies and attacked from different directions at night.

The enemy panicked and fled to the north.

Abram pursued the enemy for another 70 miles to insure victory.

He rescued Lot, the goods, the women and all the people.

And then came the real test for Abram (see Gen 14.18ff.).

The king of Sodom traveled 50 miles to be a part of the ceremony when Abram returned.

He was the first to meet Abram.

At about the same time, Melchizedek, the king of Salem, came with physical refreshments and spiritual blessing (14.19b-20 cf.

Heb 7.1-4).

The two kings of Sodom and Salem presented Abram with two choices.

Note carefully 14.21b and the King of Sodom’s acknowledgement of Abram’s right to the spoils of battle.

All that money.