Abraham Series 01

Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

0 ratings

· 3 views

Notes

Transcript

The Journey Begins

Today, we begin a series of studies in the life of Abraham: This is Abraham’s story. It’s a story that will take us from Genesis chapters 11 - 25. But more importantly, it will takes us through a lifetime in relationship with God.

Stories. We all love them. When our boys were younger - no evening in our house was complete until we had made a visit to one of Dr. Seuss’ strange worlds … or to Narnia. And that is just how it was when I was a child too. Stories meant fantasy - enjoyment -being ushered off to faraway places ... to see things we otherwise would never see.

Unfortunately, we often are led to believe that stories are childish - they are, somehow, a lesser form of communication. They’re enjoyable, sure, but they are a stepping stone on our way up to the higher levels of communication. And if you want to know God, sure you can make a quick trip through the OT stories - but you really want to dig into the weighty New Testament letters - Romans and Ephesians - that's where you really get to know God. And if that is your feeling this morning - I say to you, "Hold on a minute! Not so fast!"

You don’t get that idea from the Bible. If we believe, as I hope we all do, that our Bible is the Divinely Inspired revelation of our God. That it was written by men, as they were carried along, directed by the Spirit of God - - then we must also believe that the form is also inspired. God could have given us Scripture in the format of the Muslim’s Koran - - point after point of systematic instruction. He could have given us 66 books of command after command, principle after principle. But our Bible is different.

Here in the Scriptures, where the God of glory reveals himself to us - - over 60% of this divine revelation comes to us as narrative: as story. This is not fiction - it is bedrock history, it is truth - -But it truth enfleshed in human lives.

Biblical narratives like the story of Abraham’s life, play a very important role for us: they lift our eyes from our own limited perspectives, and redirect them to a huge canvas where we realize that we don’t live in a vacuum - - we are part of a larger world that God made and sustains and in which he relates with people who may have lived in different times and places, but who are just like you and me. People like Abram. People who are shaped as they walk with God.

I love it that the Bible does NOT place in front of us characters that are so flawless, so perfect, that we are unable to even identify with them - - they just don’t seem human. No in the Bible we see people, even the heroes, as they really are - - warts and all. We will see that Abram, the father of the faithful is a very flawed, sinful, man of faith - a trophy of God's grace, just like every other Christian ever.

It is my prayer that, as a result of our time spent studying Abraham’s life-story, we will be encouraged to continue with confidence - our lifelong journey of faith; that we will catch a glimpse of the way that God is leading US forward, writing a story for our lives too.

As we begin the journey of faith today -

3 Points: 1)The Journey of Faith Begins in a Land of Comfortable Despair

2) The Journey of Faith Begins When God Breaks In

3) The Journey of Faith Begins When We Follow God Into the Unknown

1 THE JOURNEY OF FAITH BEGINS IN A LAND OF COMFORTABLE DESPAIR, 11:27-32

This story, like any story, needs a setting - a context in which the events take place. It also needs characters. We are introduced to the context and the characters in the last few verses of Genesis 11 - verses 27-32. These verses are mostly genealogy - and I know that NOBODY reads a story for the genealogies. You may feel the urge to skip right over to more interesting reading - when the action really starts, but let’s fight that urge and slow down over this section - because here, as elsewhere in the Bible, genealogies often carefully slip in crucial information.

Besides the names of the main characters - 2 things need to grab hold of us in these verses:

FIRST v. 28: The story begins in Ur of the Chaldeans. Abraham most likely lived about 2000 years before Jesus Christ - about 4000 years ago. Archaeologists found Ur in the last century, in Southern Iraq - along the banks of the Euphrates river. What they found was no primitive, caveman existence.

Abram’s Ur is a highly civilized city of 360 thousand people. As you walk from the golden soil of the plain, you enter the city through massive protective walls. They tower above the ground, thick enough for soldiers to easily walk on top of, to deal with any potential threat. And the outer side of the walls leans inward toward the city, so no enemy can possibly launch a surprise attack by secretly climbing over and inside.

When you get into this city, in Abram’s day, the first thing to capture your attention is the huge tower - the ziggurat. You could see it from far outside the city walls. It rises in three, increasingly narrow sections, to a height of 150 feet above the street below. In this tower, there is located a university. There is a library holding thousands of volumes. At the top of the tower, there sits a temple of blue and silver - surrounded by terraces which are lined with trees - and dedicated to Nannar - the moon god: the dominant god but just one of over 300 gods worshipped in this incredibly religious city.

As you explore the road along the Euphrates river - the river walk, you encounter the harbour. There the boats unload their raw materials, which they have carried up river from the ships docked in the Persian Gulf - ships from as far away as India.

Turn back into town and you enter the marketplace: a bee-hive of activity … here are the tradesman, busy at their work: shipbuilders, leatherworkers, carpenters, and jewelers all work their crafts. This is home. This is a place of culture - of civilization - of comfort. Surely there could be no reason to leave this place.

But wait - as is so often the case, there is a complication to life here in lotus land. The genealogy tells us, in just a few short words a fact that will be extremely important to the story.

That is the SECOND thing we need to pick up on here.

v. 30: “Now Sarai was barren. She had no child”. Four, short, simple words. But these four words drive the entire story. A rapidly aging - seventy-five year old man and his wife. No children. Every day is another painful reminder that there will be no legacy - - no one to leave the inheritance to. Every day, another reminder of powerlessness.

There is the lingering disappointment at never welcoming the soft pink flesh of a baby, never hearing its fragile cries of need for you ... the sadness of never hearing children’s laughter in the tent. And on top of that misery, there is also the stigma: barren. barren. It spoke of emptiness, of shame, of failure to realize one’s destiny. In Sarai’s culture, a barren woman is a woman who has failed to carry out her purpose - she has failed to birth the next generation and her life is marked: FAIL.

This is where the journey of faith begins: In the land of comfortable despair. It began there for Abram and Sarai - - It begins there for us. We in North America live in a society obscene with wealth and comforts - - but we have lost a sense of purpose.

Many of you are familiar with the book, 1984, by George Orwell. He wrote it in 1949. In his early years, he was fascinated by communism, until experienced a taste of it in the Spanish Civil War. In 1984, was looking ahead pessimistically to a future where he feared the government would control the rest of the population and take away freedom to live life to the fullest.

There’s another book that’s less familiar than 1984 - some of you may have heard of this one, too - it’s a book by Aldous Huxley, written in 1931, called "Brave New World". It is another pessimistic vision of the future - where humans aren’t free to live life to the fullest. Both authors see a dystopian world ahead, but they see it coming from 2 very different directions.

Neil Postman, in his own book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death" - contrasts the two books:

"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who would want to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information, Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared that we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies ... and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remared in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny, 'failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions.' In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In 'Brave New World,' they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."

As I reflect on the flowing current of our society since then - especially as I look at where we are right now - I'm not sure who’s vision of the future is more convincing.. With our cable television beaming 200 channels of nothing into our living rooms and our electronic devices permanently fused to our hands - morning to night social media - telling us a never-ending stream of trivialities ...

... I am so concerned for our lives and our children's lives - -

The Bible tells us that this creation is groaning for redemption. In so many ways we see that this world is not the way it’s supposed to be - and the temptation is to look around - see that this world is 'messed up' - and then stick the proverbial head in the sand

I have been privileged to hear many of your stories - people right here this morning. Stories of people saved out of alcoholism, drug abuse - - saved out of sexual addictions - saved when you were older, saved when you were younger … The specifics of your stories are so different. But what - every single one of those salvation stories has in common, is this: it started when you were at the end of your rope - - Saved when you realized that in a world of plenty, you were in despair.

2 THE JOURNEY OF FAITH BEGINS WHEN GOD BREAKS IN, 12:1-3

As Abram and Sarai contemplate the future, they may have felt as if trapped in a prison of hopelessness. But the steely-cold bars of that cell cannot keep out the options, when the Almighty God decides to pay a visit.

Chapter 12 begins with the prison doors being torn open. Up until now, this story has been confined to the human dimension - there are cultured cities, there are people - there is a barren couple -- - all on the human level. Chapter 12 begins with the introduction of a new character to our story - - - it begins with 2 words that forever change the course of life for Abram and Sarai. It begins, verse 1 of chapter 12: “The LORD” “The LORD” “… The LORD said to Abram”.

But now, seemingly out of nowhere, there is also God. And he speaks to Abram.

In Genesis 12:1, Abraham is called: “Now the LORD said to Abraham ...”. Stop right there and put aside your familiarity with this part of the Bible. Every story has a context - and the historical context makes THIS story of Abraham absolutely stunning. From a human perspective, this call is inexplicable ... I can’t explain it! Why would God say ANYTHING to Abraham?

We’re only 11 chapters through the book of Genesis … and we’ve already seen the Fall, in chapter 3, the Flood in chapters 6-8 and the Tower of Babel, in chapter 11. The Bible has barely started and we’ve seen a world that is stubbornly determined to do without the Lord’s kingship to say nothing of God’s friendship. This is a world where the first couple, placed in the paradise of Eden’s garden, given everything to enjoy and administer - see the ONE thing God has told them not to eat, for their own protection … and choose to defy His word. In their rebellion, Adam and Eve bring death into the world, bring a curse on the human race and end up expelled from paradise to toil over the soil for food and suffer pain in childbirth.

Then there’s the story of the flood - where the LORD saves a remnant, Noah and his family, but destroys the earth because the wickedness of the human race was so great, as Genesis 6:5 puts it, “every intention of the thoughs of his heart was only evil continually”. Noah is faithful. His family is saved. But no sooner do the waters dry and life gets going again - when Noah’s own son, fresh from the rescue - acts shamefully. God makes a covenant with Noah, after that - with full knowledge of the post-flood human heart. Genesis 8:21, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

Then comes the beginning of chapter 11, where a human race looks up at the starry sky and the heavens above and instead of deciding: “Let’s get down on our knees and worship the God who would create such wonder” … instead of worshiping God, they decide to try to dethrone Him. Even though God had said: “Spread out … fill the earth and subdue it ...” - the human race said, “No way. We will gather together - build a city … AND a tower that reaches to the havens. And we will make a name for ourselves.” You know how that story ends - with God confusing their speech and scattering a defiant race. Look back at Genesis 11:9, “Therefore its name was called Babel,because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD disperesed them over the face of all the earth.”

What about three-strikes and you’re out? After the tower to heaven attempt, the Judge should arrive, the hot lava of judgment should start to flow - and the end of this rebellious mess should come. Oh, but God has a stubborn determination to bring BLESSING to His world - to all of the nations He himself has scattered across the face of the earth.

But “Where will the rescue of the human race come from?

The answer - from the descendants of Shem … the family of Terah … from Abraham. God starts here, wit this one man - as the fountainhead of the salvation to come. This is the beginning of the story that ends up in Revelation 9, with multitude no one can number, from every nation, tribe and language, standing before the throne and befoe the Lamb.

And that story begins with Abraham. Here again, as we find throughout the Scripture, we brought face to face with the doctrine of election. There are many who hear this word election - or its companion word - predestination - and they cringe. "Nooo - we want God to treat everybody EXACTLY the same. If someone gets a privilege - we want everyone to get the exact same privilege."

But election is a biblical word - predestination is a biblical word - 'chosen' is a biblical word. And the reality that these words point to is unfolded throughout the entire Scriptural history. We’ve already seen it: Remember the very beginning of creation - God creates one man and one woman - Adam and Eve. That's Genesis 1. And then through Genesis 1-11 we see the human race growing and growing - everyone is wiped out in judgment through the flood - except for Noah and his family. But the human race builds again and builds and builds - until Genesis 11, when the human race, filled with such arrogance against the God who created them - tries to humble God - tries to be better than God by building a tower all the way to heaven:

"We don't need to worship God - we don't need God - we will storm the gates of heaven ourselves - we will build a tower that God cannot keep down ..." But of course God does stop it -

Verse 9 of chapter 11, there is God - He confuses their speech and scatters the people who thought themselves inseparably united as one - now a vast, separated mass of humanity.

But God looks into all the mass of humanity - - he looks into a city lost in the darkness of paganism: people bowing to the moon -- -- and instead of turning His back on them, He calls out 1 name: “Abram”.

Why Abram? There’s no reason given for this choice - NOWHERE does the Bible tell us that Abram was searching for God. Abram is a good citizen of Ur - his father was an idol worshipper - worshipping the 300 gods of his people. But then, God takes the initiative - He steps into the life of this idol worshippers son and says: “Abram, I will bless you”.

In vv. 1-3 of chapter 12 God gives this individual a command and a promise.

Let’s take a look at the promise, first: Chapter 12, verses 2-3,

“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." Notice the word “bless”. It is used five times in these two verses. Now, we have watered down “bless” in our usage, until now, where it hardly means anything. I hear someone sneeze and I say, “Bless you”. I am saying farewell to someone, so I throw in “God bless you.” Bless becomes a vague, hopeful wish.

That’s NOT the case when God is involved. In the Old Testament, when God blesses someone, He fills that person with the power of life: Power to enhance life, to extend life.

Abram and Sarai are in need of that kind of blessing - a filling with the POWER of life, enhancement of life. They are powerless to produce one child for themselves - just one child. Do you see what God is promising to do for this couple?

First: God says, “You’re worried about your lack of a single child. Don’t be. I am going to bring an entire nation into being, through YOU.” In other words: I will give you enough descendants to fill an entire country - - and I will give you the land for them to live in.

Second: He says “I will make your name great”. Not only will your loins be fertile but your name will be famous. Here’s another contrast with the Tower of Babel incident. Those builders had big dreams: “Let us make a name for ourselves.” As we saw, they did get an ironic name for their city: Babel. Their aggressive ambition is matched by Abram’s passiveness. If his name is ever to become great it will not be because of any self-initiated effort.

The great name will be a gift, not an achievement.

God has shown himself faithful again. He has preserved this book, and preserved the story and name of Abraham throughout the centuries. Abraham was never a king. He wasn’t a world leader in his day. Do you know a single contemporary of Abraham. Oh, but you know HIS name: “I will make your name great.”. Remember - Three faiths trace their roots back to Abraham: Christianity and of course Judaism, but also Islam. Well, there are 2.38 billion Christians in the world today; 1.8 billion Muslims in the world and 15 million Jews. That is over 52 percent of the world's population looks back to Abraham as the father of their faith - "I will make YOUR name great". God keeps His promises.

Third: God says, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” The importance of this promise CANNOT be overstated. He is saying, “Abram, despite all of the rebellion of humanity until now - and despite the rebellion that I know will continue, it is my intention to bless the world. And YOU will be the agent of blessing for the entire world.”

This promise points forward to a single descendant of Abram’s, one who came about 2,000 years later. Galatians 3:14 says that God, “redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles (that’s us) through Christ Jesus, so that by faith WE might receive the promise of the Spirit.”

Jesus Christ is the One who ultimately brings God’s blessing to the world.

I am struck by the “I”s of God in the promises to Abram: I will . . . I will . . . I will” God does it all. Abram can’t wrench the blessing from God's tightly clenched fist. And neither can you.

Do you see what this means for you and me? Are you here today as one who has followed Abraham. You have embarked on the journey of faith, through your trust in Jesus Christ. You can be sure that it is only because you have been called. God, in His sovereignty has stooped down into the ranks of humanity, He has called you, not as a number - “41836”, but by name, George, Katie, John. He has called us out from the ranks of humanity to participate in His own redemptive purpose.

That means that there is a purpose for your life - NOT something that you concocted as a fantasy to make yourself feel important, when deep down inside, you feel insignificant . No, you have a purpose for your life given to you by none other than the Creator and Sustainer of the universe Himself. And God's purpose for you is to BLESS YOU - and make you a blessing of eternal consequence.

3 THE JOURNEY OF FAITH BEGINS WHEN WE FOLLOW GOD INTO THE UNKNOWN, 12:1, 4-9

Take a look again at God’s command to Abram in chapter 12, v. 1: “GO” the Hebrew is emphatic here: “lk lka” . It is very hard to translate into English - “Going … go”. The idea is to GO by Separating yourself entirely. You get an idea of that by the way God unfolds the command: Verse 1 again: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house - to the land that I will show you” This call is a call for absolute abandonment. It is a call for Abram and Sarai to leave your country, leave your kindred - the comfortable hometown, where your extended family lives … open the door of your safe, warm house and step into the cold outside world, leaving your own home behind for an unknown future.

Notice where God is sending Abram to?? .... Verse 1, the end of the verse: “… to the land that I WILL show you.”

“Where’s that?”

In other words - “I’m not even telling you where you’re going - just away from here.”

God is asking Abram and Sarai to leave behind every security they’ve ever known - - - all on the basis of the word of a God they couldn’t even see! What a decision to have to make.

Oh, the land of barrenness may have been a land of childless despair - but at least it;s safe - - it was home! At least we know what to expect here … and there’s a certain comfort in that, isn’t there?

There was a popular movie a number of years ago, entitled: “As Good as it Gets”. I didn’t see it, but the title struck me. It seems that it pretty accurately describes the philosophy that many in our society live by. "There's no point in dreaming that I was created for anything more than video games and cash and self-interest". So pass me another pop and the remote control - and I will pour out the precious water of my life on the desert sand of convenience."

What God tells us here is “You cannot stay in the land of barrenness, and enjoy fellowship with me: you need to choose one or the other.”

That’s the same message Jesus gives in the Gospels Mark 11: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

Are you listening, this morning - and you’re already disheartened in this new year. We’re only 3 weeks into 2024, and already you’re discouraged. Not because your resolutions to get in shape and eat right this year have already gone to pot. Keep working on them - but you’re in good company. No - I mean - you were tired of living in a spiritual desert and you wanted for this year - to experience the living water that you know Jesus intends for you to know in your life.

… and You’re not there. You’re still so dry - you want more - but you don’t know how to get it. Jesus says that you’re never going to experience everything He has for you - UNTIL you are willing to deny yourself - and lose your very life for him and the gospel. He must be all. Abram learned that lesson.

Acts 7 tells us that Abram first received the call from God in Ur. But chapter 12, verse 4 tells us that Abram is leaving from Haran. The Bible doesn’t contradict itself. It seems that God called Abram in Ur - chapter 12:1, "Now the LORD said" - that's a past tense - "The LORD had said ..." already - "Go and leave everything comfortable and everyone ...". He said it to Abram in Ur, but like so many of us - - Abram couldn't quite bring himself to leave EVERYONE behind - - still wanted to cling a little - at least to his father's house. So, he went with dad and the family up to Haran and settled there for years. He started the journey, but got stuck.

Finally v. 4, we read that Abram makes the right decision. "Abram went, as the LORD had told him ...". He leaves, just as God says, and he steps out in faith. Follows God to the Land of Canaan. This is the land that will be his. But when he gets there … wait a minute! I’m not sure what Abram was expecting - but this is no vacant frontier that he can homestead, there is no vacant mansion on a palatial estate he can just move into. This is the land God promised to HIM … but it’s already full of inhabitants: the Canaanites: the most lascivious people in the Ancient Near Eastern world worshiping their pagan gods.

Don' t miss what Abram does - doesn't mope. Doesn't say - "well, if you can't beat them, join them". No - v. 6, "Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh." Under the oak trees is where the people would build their shrines and make their religious sacrifices - there were altars there. But verse 7 tells us that he didn't use one of the already existing altars - he built a new altar there - to the LORD who had appeared to him."

Verse 8 tells us that "From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD." - There is Abram - dead center in the middle of the land he has been promised - claiming this territory for the one True God who has promised it to him.

Abram marches from one side to the other of this land - staking out the territory.

Abram the pilgrim becomes Abram the builder. But don’t miss what he’s building: he’s not building a tower for his glory … he’s not even building a home for himself … he’s moving around, pitching his tent - that’s good enough for him. The only lasting construction project he’s engaged in, is altar-building.

Stops dead center in the middle - and worships.

From one side of the land, to the other - and dead centre in the middle, Abram is saying, “I don’t care what it looks like now - doesn’t matter who seems to be dominating on this day … I am living by faith in God's promise that this will be mine". And today … I will worship Him.

CONCLUSION

A great demand is laid on us when we are called into the long journey of faith. When we are called to leave our security behind and travel into the future, waiting for His promise. But God’s command - - the “You must” is completely overshadowed by His “I will’s”. “I will make you a great nation” “I will bless you. I will make your name great” “All nations on earth will be blessed through you.”

Question for you this morning, as we begin a new year: “Where are you on this long journey of faith?”

-Still back in Ur. Hiding in the safety of what is known: Encourage you to listen very closely - - Could it be that you are hearing God call your name: “Come, follow me.”

-Are you in Haran: You have accepted Christ: You have begun the journey of faith. But you’ve gotten to a certain point and said: “This far and no farther” “I’m comfortable here”. Where is it that God is calling you to go now?

-Maybe you’re here today and you have followed God to Canaan. You have given up everything to go where you sensed him leading you. You have denied yourself, taken up your cross and followed him - - You thought that this life would be a promised land of delights ... but all you can see now is that it is filled with dirty Canaanites.