A New Life of Blessing

Introduction Few stories illustrate a change in someone's life as the story of Saul of Tarsus. Saul was initially hostile to the Christian faith, trying to stamp it out as a heresy, but after coming into contact with the risen Jesus, he radically changed direction, becoming the church's most effective missionary (even changing his name to Paul in the process). The change was so pronounced that Saul and Paul almost seem like different characters. It's not wonder that Saul wrote: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Ga. 2:20, NIV) and "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Co. 5:17, NIV). God has the capability to radically change people's lives. We see such a transformation in the life of Abraham symbolized by his new name. We see it in Genesis 17: 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers." 3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God." 9 Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner-those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." 15 God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her." 17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" 18 And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!" 19 Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year." 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. 23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen; 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. 27 And every male in Abraham's household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him. In this story, God gives Abraham three new things that will define his new life going forward: anew name (a new identity), the sign of circumcision (a new community), and clarifying the relationship of the promised son to the one that already exists (a new mission). In this story, we see not just Abraham's calling, but a foreshadowing of our own calling. Like Abraham as we walk with God, we are given a new identity, a new community and a new mission. 1. A New Identity While Abram means 'exalted father,' Abram had struggled to become a father: He didn't have Ishmael until he was 86 years old, and Ismael was born to a concubine rather than to Abraham's wife. But, in anticipation of how things are going to transform, God changes Abram's name to Abraham, "Father of a Multitude of Nations". The new name symbolizes a whole new identity for Abraham. To this point in his story Abraham has followed God, sometimes with bold faith, and at other times with disappointing cowardice. But through those experiences Abraham has become a new person, a man of deepening trust in God and of greater understanding. He has learned to trust God, in other words, he has faith. Abraham's New identity comes from his faith in God. Like him, we are given a new identity through faith in God. In the prologue to his gospel, John talks about how while most reject Jesus, those who believe in him-those with faith-are adopted as God's children: 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God (John 1:11-13, NIV). Through faith in Jesus, we become children of God. There is only one begotten Son of the Father: Jesus, yet when we have faith God adopts us into the family. What does it mean that we are adopted as God's children? Becoming children of God means that God takes responsibility for our wellbeing as a parent does. It means God takes responsibility for disciplining us as a parent does. And it means we are his heirs as children are. Here, we have to rejig our understanding of what 'heir' means. Since God will never die, there won't be an estate to be divided up among his heirs, but 'heir' here means that the promised glory that God gives Jesus will come to us too, but that glory is worked out through a life of suffering love. As Paul says: 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (Romans 8:14-17, NIV). Just as Abraham's new identity was marked by his new name. Our new identity is marked by our adoption to sonship by the Father through faith in Jesus. Our new identity is really about a new relationship with God, but Abraham is not just called to be related to God, he is called to be a part of a new people. So like Abraham, we're also a part of a new Community 2. A New Community The new community is a covenant community: marked out by God by promises and obligations. In Abraham's time, membership in the community is marked out by the symbol of circumcision. Circumcision is very male-centered, but the most important thing about it is that for Abraham and his descendants, it marked them out as belonging to a separate community: A community to whom God had made specific promises. At first, The community is ethnically defined-descendents of Abraham. Later, in the time of Moses, it is opened up for those who which to become a part of it through conversion (A Gentile man could be circumcised, assimilated to Jewish culture, and admitted into the assembly of Israel). At the time of Jesus, the community opens up further, no longer requiring people to become culturally Jewish. This is not God changing his mind about his standards, but rather it is the next phase in the plan God always had in mind. God's intent was always that the covenant community would extend from Abraham's family to all the nations. As Paul explains: "Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you" (Galatians 3:8, NIV). But if all people are welcomed, then a symbol that is associated with a single culture, no longer functions as a proper way of marking out the community so a new symbol must take the place of circumcision in marking out the covenant community: Baptism. Belonging in the baptized community is different from the way we belong in other communities in the world. Worldly communities often involve minimal accountability Basically, I'm free to do anything that doesn't directly stop you from exercising your freedom. So, for example, while I have a lot of freedom, I'm not free to steal your stuff because that interferes with your freedom to enjoy your own stuff. Being a covenant community, however, means that we belong to each other, and so we are responsible to each other. For Abraham's community, this mean that everyone who refused to do as God directed (in that case, being circumcised) would be cut off (removed from the community). For Christians it means that sometimes do need to correct one another. Appropriate correction needs to happen with sensitivity, love and integrity. This is why Jesus instructed us to take the log out of your own eye before trying to take the spec out of your brothers.' Being responsible to each other means we must consider how our choices affect the church and its witness. For example, I've seen how some American Christians embrace of xenophobia and political idolatry becomes an obstacle to the witness of the church in Canada. Or when we are quick to extend cheap grace to people who have victimized others, without requiring genuine repentance and reconciliation, we make the church feel like a place that is safe for perpetrators but not victims. Our belonging together means that we must consider how our actions affect not just our own reputation, but also the reputation of the whole church Belonging together also means that when other Christians rebuke or correct us, we need to consider what they say, inviting the Holy Spirit to expose places that might need to change. This doesn't mean that every time someone corrects me, they're doing so with wisdom and pure motives, but our posture towards correction should be humility, rather than defensiveness. All of this being one community brings us to the third part of God's blessing to Abraham: a new mission. 3. A New Mission When God announces his plan for Isaac, the as yet unborn son, to inherit the promises, Abraham pleads with God on behalf of Ismael, the son born to him when he tried to make the promise happen on his own. God essentially says, "Sorry, this promise is for Isaac, the child I had promised you, but I'll still bless Ishmael." The promise that Isaac inherits isn't about whom God will bless, it's about who will be the one God uses to bless everyone else. God has chosen to use Isaac's line as an instrument of blessing to all the other nations. The covenant community is to be separate, but its separateness is meant to serve those outside itself. The covenant community is meant to be the servant of the Lord The servant of the Lord is a character Isaiah speaks of. He's a figure who is somehow both Israel and someone sent to Israel. He is the representative Israelite, the one who perfectly embodies Israel's mission (With hindsight we understand to be Jesus.) About the suffering servant Isaiah says, "I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth" (Is.49:6). Israel's mission, embodied by the suffering servant, is to bring salvation to those outside the covenant community. So the purpose of distinguishing between Isaac and Ismael is not to choose who is worthy of salvation and who is not. Instead, the purpose is to create a community, shaped by God, to send to all other communities. The aim to to save people, no matter if they are Jews or Gentiles. For Gentile Christians, we've been invited into the covenant community of promise, for the same reasons: Our difference isn't meant to be about excluding those on the outside, It's about showing them why they would want to come to the inside. We're meant to be a living invitation to those who don't know God so they can come to him. To carry out this mission, we have a difficult balancing act: We must be in the world, while not being like the world. We may fail at this by not being in the world - by being so insulated from religious outsiders that they can't see how we're different. The Jewish religious authorities in Jesus' day fell into this trap: in order to avoid the temptations presented by the nations, they cut themselves off from the nations to whom God had sent them. Our Anabaptist forebears also struggled with this problem. After the savage persecution they faced in Europe, they came to North America and set up very insular communities where they tried to live out the good news, but in a community so removed from normal folks that no one knew them. Today certain anabaptist communities like Amish and Old Order Mennonites don't welcome people in who weren't born in the community. We may also fail at this by being so integrated into the community that we become indistinguishable from it. If our coworkers and neighbours have no idea that we have faith, it's hard to see how our faith might be something they would desire to have too. The difference also isn't meant to be cultural (we always wear Jesus T-shirts) but foundational - different values and desires To be Faithful to our Mission, we must live alongside people who don't know God, but we must also be transformed at a core level. Our primary desire can't be dreams of Health, wealth, comfort or status, instead, our desire must be to see God's kingdom come on earth as in heaven. If we start from that foundation, then we will be the right sort of different. If that truly is our deepest desire, then we'll naturally cultivate friendships with those outside the church. Because we'll love outsiders, and desire to see them find the freedom and love that come from being an adopted child of God and a member of the community of God's promise. Conclusion Christians often speak about how our faith isn't a religion, but a relationship. While there is some truth in it: Being a Christian is relational rather than rules-based, We can easily forget that its not just 'me and God and my bible'. Christian faith is about a new identity: That God has adopted us as his children. It's about a new community: the relationship isn't just between me and God, but also between me and God's people, And it's about a new mission: revealing God's love, wisdom and holiness to those who don't know him, so they can understand why they would want to know him. When we embrace this three-part calling, then we are faithfully living as Children of Abraham. A New Life of Blessing | A NEW LIFE OF BLESSING