Blessed to worship God

Chapter 12:

Structure:

Big idea: God's blessings lead to a life of worship that would serve as a witness to the world of God's grace and mercy.

Have you ever felt like you’re not the right person for the job?

Whether it’s a random task at home, or a task given to you by your boss.

At one stage I signed up to be a part of the teacher’s union. One thing led to another, I found myself rather deeply involved and rather quickly given the title of treasurer for the Auckland branch.

As I’m not exactly a numbers guy, I was quickly overwhelmed and failed miserably to keep up with what was expected.

Simply put, I was the wrong guy for the job.

I’m sure you’ve had a situation where you have felt out that you were the wrong person for the job, and it’s pretty stressful, you might agree, to be in this situation, but no matter how out of your depth you might feel about the job that you’ve faced.

Take a moment to consider Abraham.

Our passage this morning is from the last part of Chapter 11, and the beginning of Chapter 12. A pivotal moment in the storyline of the book of Genesis, as we shift from hearing about a world of people that continually choose to live sinful lives, to a promise of blessing and hope through the seed of Abram.

Who will later change his name to Abraham, so I’ll use the name Abraham today as we refer to him.

This shift in trajectory is a major moment in Genesis, and we will look to unpack our passage by seeing three movements in the narrative,

First we will see the kind of person that God Chooses for his tasks

Second we will see God’s call, or inotherwords God’s invitation to Abram to God’s task

And lastly we will see that the response of God’s choice and call upon Abram, leads to the worship of God.

God Chooses

God Calls

God is worshiped

God Chooses (11:27-32)

In our first section of this passage

we really pick up the reality of Abraham’s inadequacies for the task that God is about to give him. Because when we have a read through, what is basically a list of all that Abram has to his name. We see that Abraham is indeed an unexpected choice for God to use as a seed of blessing and hope.

Inadequacies

As we read the end of Chapter 11, we note that Abraham grew up in Ur of the Chaldean's. It’s where he spent the first years of his marriage to his wife Sarai. Abraham was raised in Ur and his resettlement in Harran is still within the greater region of what will later be known as Babylon.

The significance of this location is that the people of this land did not worship God. In fact, they predominantly worshiped the moon among other false gods.

As the book of Joshua will give us this insight in Joshua 24:2, it reads “And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.”

Now, we have to understand that serving other gods, is actually a way of saying Abraham lived a sinful life, that he was born into a world of sin and he was very much apart of that world.

Abraham is a sinner.

And not only that, but Abram does not have children, nor is he able to even conceive a child with his wife Sarai, as she is sadly barren.

Which means that Abraham is not expected to pass on his name or linage onto the next generation. Simply said, Abraham’s life trajectory was basically to live and die, and be forgotten.

Chapter 11 has not exactly described someone with a glowing resume, there really isn’t a lot to be said about his worthiness for being chosen by God.

Except that he had two things going for him:

First, we should note that he belonged to the line of Shem. Who is the blessed son of Noah from when God flooded the world in Genesis 9.

And secondly, far more importantly, God chose him.

And I wonder how much we sit back to reflect on how amazing it is that God would choose someone like Abraham to be useful for his work in the world.

I mean, Abraham didn’t really have anything to offer God, there was really nothing he had done in his own strength to suggest he was a worthy choice.

And it’s this reason, that I would propose that we ought to read Abraham’s biography and rejoice.

Rejoice that God would see a man as inadequate as Abram is, and still choose to use him to be useful for God’s work in the world.

Because, much like Abraham, how many neighbours, friends, and family members do we look at their life and think… No chance that God’s going to choose you mate.

We might see others and think, well that person is pretty deep into their worship of work, success, social influence. I don’t expect God to choose them.

Which is really the summary and challenge of our first point.

God chooses to use the inadquate and unexpected people to bring great blessings to others.

We should remember Abraham’s origin story when we look at the world around us, remembering that God is the one who chooses his people.

And so Abraham is a wonderful expample of an unexpected man of God because on his own, there is no way Abraham could do what God has planned for him to do.

as we now look to the start of Chapter 12 where we see that

God calls (12:1-3)

Abraham to “Go” and “Be”

Let’s have a quick re-read of verses 1-3, for they are very important.

Genesis 12:1–3 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 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. 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.””

Go

Now, there’s a lot to be said about these three verses as they are foundational to understanding the Christian faith.

And the first thing we should notice is the first imperrative, or first command given to Abraham, which is verse 1 “Go, from your country

Go, God tells Abraham. Go

Now, here we have one of the many moment in the Bible where God uses someone to create a picture of a bigger lesson that he wants us to learn from.

The picture here is really the picture of repentance.

See, God’s command of “Go” from this country from your family, to live in the land that I will show you. Is far more than God simply giving Abraham a cool new house and mountain views.

Rather God is calling Abram out of a life of sin, out of your idol and into a life of trusting God and recieving his favour.

Which is actually a cool way of understanding what it means to repent of your sin,

Because for us to repent, means to do what Abram did, to repent, we have to leave our life of sin and trust God.

Repentance is not just saying sorry and turning back to sin. Repentance is turning away, departing from sin, and moving towards God.

Which is what we see Abraham, here in verse 1 being called to do.

Go, is the first command, and the second is this,

“Be”

Verse 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.”

Now, before wee unpack the command of be, first notice all the things that God is doing in this verse.

God will make a great nation. God will bless Abraham and God will make Abraham’s name great.

Notice that God is really the one doing all the things. God is the one making the nation. God is making the name great, God is giving the blessings.

So to really stess the point here, let me ask, if God’s doing everything, then what is Abram actually supposed to do? What does it mean that you will be a blessing?

Now, language is fun isn’t it? In the Hebrew, this word is clearly marked out as an imperrative, which is a command word.

Which we might find easier to read in english as simply be a blessing. But God’s not telling Abraham is just be a blessing to others. God’s telling Abraham that from all the blessings God is giving Abraham, Abraham will bless others.

And really how could he not? Abraham is being told that the God of all blessing is going to be actively at work blessing him. Surely this is the easiest task you’ve ever heard.

For example, if I were to say, hey John, I will make the pies, I will give you the pies, all you need to do John, is give my pies to others.

Now John might ask...

But what kind of pies are you giving me?

And what if you give me too many pies?

or what if they pies get old? Can they be reheated?

Now, God’s not exactly giving pie’s to Abraham, but we could imagine Abraham asking those kind of questions to God about his task of blessing others.

And so God gives further clarity in verse 3 God goes on to say: “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”

I wont continue the pie substitution here, but notice that God is doing a lot of blessing. It cannot be overlooked the shear volume and disproportionate value that God has of blessing.

There is cursing from God in verse 3, and that is because should someone choose to dishonor all the blessings that God is bestowing upon the world through Abraham, then the dishonor is not actually directed at Abraham, rather the dishonor is directed at God himself.

Which is quite understandable. The key thing from this is not to read that Abraham gets to live as he pleases and God will smite all who object Abraham. But rather, God is calling Abraham into his presence and favor so any dishonor in that context is actually dishonor against God.

But that brings us back to consider the question of what is Abram actually supposed to do?

Because we can get relatively confused with all the mentions of blessing, as to what it all means.

Is Abram just supposed to be nice to people, show kindness and give his stuff to others? Is that what being a blessing is?

And the answer is no

Now, while kindness and generousity are blessings. God has something far greater to give.

The true blessing that God is giving Abraham, is the blessing of life in God’s favor, life in God’s presence, a right relationship with God.

A right relationship that is expressed in being blessed. Blessed to live with God, in his place, with his people, under his rule.

The blessing that God is promising the world through Abraham, is the blassing for the world to living in a right relationship with God.

Which is why Abraham must go from his country, from his sin of worhsipping a false god,

because God is holy. And the holy God does not allow sin to live in his presence. Hence the picture of repentance that I mentioned earlier.

Now this is the incredible part of God’s call to Abraham, I mention also that this text is foundational for understanding the Christian faith, and that’s because God’s blessing to the world through Abraham is going to come from the most unexpected place,

his seed.

Abraham, the childless man at 75 years old, is being promised that from him all the families of the world will be blessed.

And if you keep reading Genesis, you will soon read that God miraculously gives Abraham a child.

A miracle to say the least, because it is quite clear that Sarah is unable to concieve and yet in their older years, God does a miracle and begins the family of Abraham.

Then, speed forward 2000 years and the great great great great and so on, grandson of Abraham, will be born in a manger. And his name will be called Jesus.

And it is through the life, death and ressurection of Jesus that God provides the full blessing that the world has been hoping for, the blessing that Abraham puts his trust in.

Through Jesus, God blesses the world by taking the punishment for sin, that all who believe in the name of Jesus, trusting that God has done what he promised to do. Those who trust in Jesus will live forever in the presence and favor of God. Forgiven of sin, and blessed to live eternally with God.

the Apostle Peter, in the book of Act would confirm this, as he declares to the those whom put Jesus to death in Acts Chapter 3:25-26, “You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abram, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent Jesus to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

And so, Abram, you will be a blessing.

You will be a witness to the world, of God’s blessings to you.

First, the blessing of salvation from your sinful ways,

and secondly, a witness of the provision from God’s hand.

Abraham, go from your life of sin, and be a witness of my glory.

For this is what Abram is being told.

which,

Unsurprisingly is exactly what we too are told to do,

Peter in the book of Acts a little earlier on in Chapter 2 verse 38 and 39 says “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself”

So Abraham, repents, he goes, and begins his life as a witness of God’s promise of blessing, Abraham is now a follower of God.

verse 4, “So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran”

And this little travel narrative of Abraham’s obedience, shows each of us today, how someone who is chosen by God, called to repent and live with God, the correct response to God’s blessings.

in verses 4-9 we see that

God is worshiped

Notice, as he and his group, which is probably a decent handful of folk, as they travel into Canaan. God stops them to declare, here is the land I will give to your offspring.

And Abraham responds in worship, Verse 7 as he passed through Shechem: “So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him”

Again in Verse 8 as he reaches the hill country: “And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.”

Abraham’s response is to worship God.

Building an altar is a way of Abram to praise God, to rely on God’s provision, God’s direction, and God’s continued mercy. As Abram lives to be a blessing.

And rightly so given the blessing of living in a right relationship with God.

I wonder, do we respond to God’s blessings the same?

Not that we are to build altars, but that we are to praise God and seek his glory in all that we do.

See, Abraham is not so unlike us today.

He’s simply a man who recieved God’s grace in a very unexpected place. And while he is to Go from his land and be a blessing to others. It’s easy to see that God is the one who truly blesses, God is the one who does all that things that Abraham, that you and I are being asked to do.

Our job is to bless others by giving God the glory.

Our task, like Abraham’s is to stop in our tracks to give praise to God, to recognise the gift of having a right relationship with God, to recognise that our sins are forgiven, not because we deserve it but because God chose to make a way for his creation to be united with him.

Our task is to worship God for the blessing that we have recieved through Jesus, who is the promised blessing from God, the seed of Abraham.

Because what’s truly amazing for us today, God is still at work in this world. He is still chosing inadequate, unexpected people, to recieve the blessing of eternal life through the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus.

Now, it worth noting that Abraham will go on to falter, he will time and time again make the wrong decision, he will continue to sin, and show that he is infact still a man, tempted and struggling to live as God has commanded him to live.

which is very much the reality that we face when we follow God. We are still sinners, and the way to deal with that, like Abraham does, return to God. Go from your sin, and live in the presence of God.

Because, if you keep reading Genesis, you will see that God does not give up on Abraham, rather he grants him new mercy each time he faulters. For God is merciful, he blesses abundantly, and he is calling each of us today to repent of our sins and bear witness of his glory.

Let’s get out there into the world, and worship our God.

let’s pray

We are reminded again by Ps 67

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face to shine upon us, Selah

2 that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations.

3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

Let us sing out final song ‘The blessing’ with this in mind – That as we worship and sing the lord’s blessing over one another, we do so with the desire for God to show his saving power through us to the nations.