Lent 2A

2nd Sunday in Lent

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The idea of leaving “home” is not foreign to me…although it hits a little harder these days than it used to…especially when I consider that one of my children is about to do that in just a few short months. Frankly, I still remember - very clearly - when I left the comfort of my parents’ home. That was a LONG day, the very quiet ride to the Air Force Recruiter’s office, the 3-hour bus ride that seemed like a thousand hours...heading off to basic training. Not an easy thing.

More recently, I remember leaving the military - the only job and way-of-life I’d known as an adult - and packing up and moving to seminary. I *knew* God was calling me to do this. I’d had lots of affirmation along the way. But let me tell you… it was scary. Leaving behind a 20-year career and all of my friends and colleagues to go back to school, old enough to be the father of almost all of my classmates… not what my plans were.

Raise your hand if you’re over 70 years old. If your hand is up, how comfortable would you be to take your family and move right now? This is the part of Abraham’s story that always hits me first. God didn’t call him when he was young and full of energy. God waited until he was already 75 years old to call him. And, by the way, all through his life until this story in Genesis 12, Abram was not familiar with our God. Martin Luther believed that Abram was worshiping other gods with his father in the land beyond the Euphrates river (Luther’s Works Vol. 2). So this call from The Great I Am really is quite a shock to Abram.

“So Abram went, as the LORD had told him...” Such a simple statement, but it’s so powerful. He packed up his wife, his nephew, and his possessions and off they went. There’s no mention of hesitation, of arguing with God, of “not me, God, I’m too old.” He just does what God tells him to do. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

Now I’m leaving out an important part of this command: the promise. This command of God has a promise attached to it: “2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

There are 4 elements to this blessing that God has promised:

that Abram’s family & lineage would grow to great numbers

that Abram would receive both material and spiritual prosperity

that Abram’s very name would be “exalted”

that Abram was appointed as both recipient and dispenser of the blessing.

“Abram was not only to receive blessing, but to be a blessing; not only to be blessed by God, but to become a blessing, or the medium of blessing, to others.” [Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 123.] We can think of this moment as Abram’s “born again” moment. This is, in Old Testament terms, a very good picture of what Baptism is for us.

Although Abraham would never see it in his lifetime, his line through Isaac, Esau and Jacob, and then Jacob’s sons would grow in Egypt into a people numbering in the tens of thousands over just a couple of centuries. The first of those four elements certainly came true.

As for material prosperity, Genesis 13 tells us that “[Both Abram and his nephew Lot ... had become so wealthy in livestock that their herdsmen were constantly quarreling...” [Ronald B. Allen, “Abraham,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 12.] There was definitely material wealth. So what about spiritual prosperity?

Throughout the Scriptures, Abraham is looked upon as the pinnacle of faith. He believed God’s promise and followed it. He followed God’s call to him at the start, and he continued to do so throughout his journey. Sure, there were times that he had some questions, but ultimately he did what God called him to. Did he make mistakes? Of course he did. And God still accomplished what He wanted to accomplish. But his faith was such that it is - even today - looked upon as an example for all to follow.

And that lends itself quite well to the third element: the exaltation of his name. That he is remembered more than 3,000 years after his death is remarkable in and of itself. That he is still looked upon with honor and respect is that much greater. He is “Father Abraham” for many. We describe our God as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”. Abraham, in fact, is the one person in Scripture that you can have as the topic of conversation between Christians, Jews, and Muslims and very quickly find common ground. His example is respected by all, and certainly his name as well.

Which brings us to the fourth element: he was to be both the recipient and the dispenser of this promised blessing from God. The first three elements certainly provide a good overview of the blessing Abram received. Even the change of his name reflects the blessing. “Abram” means “the father is exalted”. This was the name given by his parents in the region of Ur, which was known for its own pagan deities. When Yahweh changed his name to “Abraham”, this name means “father of a multitude” - this was a statement of God’s promise to Abraham that he would have many descendants.” [Allen, 11.] His very name proclaimed the promise that God had made to him.

But look carefully at the promise again: “…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” How do you suppose Abraham thought that would happen? I don’t know if God told him the whole plan in its entirety or not. We only know what we’re told in Genesis. But let me share this with you: the journey that we are on today begins right here in Genesis 12:3… because the blessing that God describes here is fulfilled in Jesus Christ and will be finally and fully realized when Christ returns. His death and resurrection ensured that this blessing *will* be fulfilled. And because of that blessing, our eternity with God is secure. Thanks be to God!

“ALL the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Jesus is the ultimate blessing to the whole world, that God has promised since He first called Abram. We know from the Gospels that Abraham’s line can be traced all the way to Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph. So Jesus is from Abraham’s line. And Jesus definitely *is* the blessing to all the families of the earth.

But God didn’t command Abraham to just sit and let God do all the work; God commanded Abram/Abraham to “go” and to “be a blessing”. Abram was called to do something with this promise that he was given. And in that respect, we are in precisely the same boat. We, too, have been given a promise from God. And God’s Son - the very Blessing Himself - also gave a commandment that has been extended down to us: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” (Notice the command *and* the promise here, too?) What are the verbs in that command? “Go”, “make”, “baptize”, “teach” - that’s the job of the church, a command that still applies to us today… this passage and the command it contains is what is called the “Great Commission.”

If you look at our Vision Points, the very first one captures this. We want to be “a Great Commission church”. Or, if you prefer, we have discerned as a church family that God is calling us to be a Great Commission church. Really what that means is not that God has suddenly decided that we should do this. Rather, we have heard God’s call to do what He’s wanted us to be doing all along, and we’re going to put our efforts into re-focusing on that call. It will take some work. It will take some change. It may take us moving out of what’s comfortable and following God somewhere that’s unfamiliar. We may have to do some things that are out of the ordinary. We may have to leave behind some things that are *very* familiar. But nowhere in God’s promises does He ever say “I promise you’ll be comfortable” or “I promise this will be easy”.

Like Abraham, we are blessed by God. We have received many, many blessings that we give thanks to God for. But also like Abraham, we are blessed to be a blessing. All that we have been given ultimately came from God, and He has given us stewardship over it. We are to use it according to His divine will. How does He want us to use our blessings?

Over the next year, we are going to be talking a lot about that. We have some introspection to do. Prayer is a big part of this, but we also need to talk with each other, as a church family, about what all of this means. There’s a lot of potential in all of this, but there’s much that will be uncomfortable and some that will be unfamiliar. But this is a family decision. We’re on this journey together, and God has brought us together for exactly this purpose: to receive His blessing and to share it with others. Our task is to determine how to do it.

What’s our “land of Ur” - what are we called to leave behind? What’s our “Promised Land” - what is God leading us to? Please consider these questions as you take your Lenten journey to grow your faith these next few weeks, and let’s see where God is leading us. It may be a little unnerving at first - the unfamiliar usually is - but if Abraham’s story is any indication of what’s ahead of us, then certainly we can expect blessing upon blessing to fall on us and upon our neighbors. Won’t that be a nice contrast to the negativity that seems to be everywhere else? Let’s follow Him and see what He has in store.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.