When God Calls, Faith Walks

Introduction

Genesis: We are continuing our sermon series through the book of Genesis, and we come to Abraham. This is the first of ultimately three sermons that will focus on Abraham. He is a critical piece of our understanding of redemptive history, and our understanding of Christ and how he fulfills the promises made under the Old Covenant.

Genenal Introduction: At this point as we have studied Genesis 3-11 we have seen what we might call the double problem of sin. The first issue we have seen is that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Each individual, even Noah after the flood, fell into sin. There is a human sin problem. And the second problem we see is that sin extends beyond the individual and into soceities and nations. Since Babel (Genesis 11), nation has been divided against nation. This is the cause of war and strife around the world. Into that context comes the story of Abraham. The end of Chapter 11 ended with the separation and spreading of the nations around the globe. And the beginning of chapter 12 God calls one man, from among the nations, to be set apart, Abram.

Main Idea: As we are introduced to Abram today, there are aspects I want us to consider. First, is that Abram story is unique and important. What God did through this man is he began the nation of Israel which would be the conduit through which the Messiah would come. All of that story begins here today. While his story is unique, there are aspects of his story that are similar to ours. And so we can look to him understand how to be faithful. The core idea I want you to remember today is very simple. “When God calls, faith walks.” The question I want to answer today is “How does faith walk?”

Meaning & Application

I WHEN GOD CALLS, FAITH WALKS BY LEAVING OUR PAST BEHIND US

First, when God calls, faith walks by leaving our past behind us. The first step of faith is always a step away from something. We turn from what once defined us, in order to turn to something else. We read in verse 1:

Genesis 12:1 “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.”

Go!:This is the first of seven times that the book of Genesis records God speaking to Abraham. The very first word that God speaks to Abram is the key word for us right now, “Go.” Go means more than “move.” It means leave this all behind. It means leave behind the world you have known and lived in, and begin a new life with me.

Circles of Security: Specifically Abraham was to leave three major circles of security in his life: his country, his kindred, and his father’s house.

His Country (Ur): First, his country. We know that he was living in a city called Ur of the Chaldeans (see Genesis 11:31). Ur is a well known city in ancienty Sumeria. Ur was a prosperous city where kings came from. It was also a deeply idolatrous city. Archaeology has uncovered a massive ziggurat in ancient Ur, with a temple at the top of it to the moon god Nanna, worshipped with the symbol of the crescent moon. You can imagine Abraham visiting that ziggurat and worshiping the gods he had grown up knowing and worshiping.

His Kindred: Second, he was called to leave his kindred. These were his “people” or his “relatives.” This is a little lost on modern ears, but in those ancient days a clan was your protection, it was the people that you lived among, within the broader context. It was his roots and sense of security. To leave your roots was to set out and to start with nothing.

Father’s House: Finally, the smallest unit was his father’s house. This was the smallest but most important from an identity level. His own brothers and sisters. This was the closest family unit, the home under which he slept each night, and the family that he knew closer than anyone else in the world.

Why Would He?: Abram is called to leave all of this behind. His land, his religion, his people, and his closest relatives. Why would any man leave all of those things behind? Why would any man take such a risk? Because God called. And our God is the greatest treasure any man could ever gain! He is the treasure in the field that a man sold all he had to gain. And so when God calls, faith walks by leaving behind what once defined us.

Christian: What is our parallel here. First, every follower of Christ has been called like Abram. Abram did not become a faithful man because he decided to start seeking out God and then by his effort found God. No! Abram was a pagan living in a pagan nation, and God called him. This is your story Christian, whether you realize it or not, God called you.

John 6:65 “And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.””

But further, when a man comes to Christ, he is called to examine his life, and discover what various idols and false forms of worship, and sinful behaviors he must leave behind. He must decide in his heart that Christ is better than those old allegiances. This is some of the hardest and most difficult work. Because, like Abram, sometimes it can feel like you’re giving up your land and your kindred. Let me give you a few examples, and then give you a question to reflect upon.

#1 Personal - Debauchery: When I first came to Christ, I was a senior in High School, seventeen years old. Right about the time I became a Christian, my three best friends (the guys I had grown up with in the suburbs of Chicago), started toying with all kinds of debauchery. I remember how tricky of a time this was for me, because I had just learned to love Christ. I was an infant in my faith. And yet the guys, my best friends, all I knew, were going down a path that was ungodly, that ould have been consistent with my life before Christ. I had a decision to make. And I’ll tell you, it was hard and I probably got it wrong more than I got it right. Because of those decisions, my friendships with those guys did experience a change. They weren’t lost forever. I didn’t burn the bridge. But God had called me, and therefore I knew faith had to leave that behind.

Straddling Two Worlds: Some folks do this so well. Their like Abram, God calls and they are bold out of the gate! For many, leaving behind your past is really hard, especially those who are very relationally oriented. But what can happen, is that instead of walking like Abram, we do our best to straddle two worlds, one foot with Christ, one foot dabbling in your old life, the old places, the old scenes. More often than not, despite all the excuses we make, this is a faith issue. For Abram to leave the way he did took a lot of faith.

Our Problem: Perhaps I can turn this on each of us, and allow the Holy Spirit to draw his own conviction. Is there anything in your life that God is calling you to leave behind in order to walk with him by faith? Maybe it is something that has been weighing on your conscience for some time, and you just haven’t had the courage to say “I’m done. I don’t want it anymore. Christ is better than this.”

Is it a particular vice: drinking, pornography, anger, certain movies or music (for me it took ages for God to take away the music that I had been listening to)

Is it a particular group of people that just drag your soul backwards when you’re with them

Today is the day. You’re studying Abram today. And when God called Abram to go, Abram went. Don’t hold onto things from your past. Repent of of the past. Look to Christ has set you free, and walk by faith by leaving those things behind.

II WHEN GOD CALLS, FAITH WALKS WITHOUT SIGHT

Second, when God calls, faith walks without sight. Abraham was not given a map, he was given a series of promises, and told to go on those.

Four Promises: Let me highlight four promises we see in this text, that drove Abram’s actions.

A Land: First, there is the promise of land. After God calls Abram away from his old life, he then calls him to a new place and a new life. But God does not specificy the location. God simply says,

Genesis 12:1 “… to the land that I will show you.”

Abraham is invited to just start walking. Imagine that! With no physical map. No GPS. Keep in mind the danger of a journey like this. He is leaving his security. While he had a small caravan with him, a trip like this could have a been a death sentence.

Hebrews 11:8 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

God said go, and so faith walk without sight.

A Nation: Secondly, God promises to make of Abraham a nation.

Genesis 12:2 “And I will make of you a great nation…”

A nation! Abram was 75 years old at this point, with no heir. He was moving half way around the world. Abram was one man, with a barren wife, and no successors. Human logic could not make sense of this promise from God. Yet where humanity sees one man, God sees a nation.

Isaiah 51:2 “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.”

In his own lifetime, Abram would not live to see the fulfillment of his descendants becoming a nation, Israel. Yet God said it, and so faith walks without sight.

A Double Blessing: Third, God promises what I call a double blessing. God says

Genesis 12:2–3 “… 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…

This language of blessing, on the one hand is a reference to material prosperity and fame. Abram is leaving behind wealth and prosperity and security, family and livestock, in order to follow God on the promise that God will give him true prosperity.

But the second side of the blessing is that he will be a blessing. As Abram’s fame rises, his great blessing will be that others around him will be lifted up. The hope of God is going to flow through Abram into others around him. He is going an agent of light. He is going to be a cause for many others to find God. God said it, and so faith walks without sight.

A Universal Hope: Lastly, God promises a universal hope

Genesis 12:3 “… and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””

This little verse here Abram would have no idea how it was going to be fulfilled. This is so far beyond comprehension. That through this one man, all the families of the earth would be blessed. How could that be. Abram didn’t have all the details. It must have seemed almost outrageous. Yet God called, and so faith walks without sight.

Applications: I think this can be applied to this room in three ways.

1 Nonbeliever: First, let me apply this to the nonbeliever. When Abram first heard these promises from God, he was a nonbeliever. He was a pagan worshiping likely at temples to false gods. And yet God spoke to him and he had faith that God’s Word was truer than the words he had listened to before.

Illustration - Fire: To borrow a picture from a sermon I once heard. Your condition today is like that of a little boy in a house that has caught on fire. As the flames begin to roar, he finds himself on the second floor, with smoke billowing. He edges to the window, but being on the second floor he is too fearful to jump, but knows he cannot stay on the house lest he be burned. And so he hangs out the window, with his hands clenched to the windowsill, afraid to move either way. Then he hears a voice. It’s his father’s voice. “Son, let go! I’ll catch you.” The voice of his dad: strong, reliable, trustworthy. He knows in his mind the qualities of his dad, but that is not faith. Faith is letting go of the windowsill.

Reprobate: If you have not yet trusted death and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins, then you are quite literally in the same condition as that boy. Your house is on fire. The end, if you stay put, is death as a consequence for sin. Separation from God eternally. But Christ in his mercy stands below you saying “Let go! Let go! I’ll catch you!” It is not faith simply to acknowledge that Christ is able to save you. Faith is releasing yourself from your hold on the windowsill of this life, even when you can’t fully see below because of all the smoke. Abram went. And you must go as well. Heed his voice. Christ’s promises will not fail.

2 Biblical Promises: Secondly, this idea can be applied to us as we faithfully seek to live out God’s Word. There are differences and similarities between us and Abram. Abram had direct revelation from God in the form of a voice that spoke to him from heaven. We do not have that in that exact way. We need to be cautioned against putting our hope in misty ideas that appear in our mind. I have heard many Christians over the years have their hope pinned on something they God told them would happen, only to be disappointed. God does not speak through direct revelation as he once did to the prophets. But God has spoken. And His Word is alive and active today, just as much as it was in the days of Abram. And we like Abram are called to depend on the promises of God, to cling to them by faith. Let me give you an example. Let us say that you are in a season of just feeling beat down, and in despair. You feel like giving up. And you turn to the promises of God. You read in Isaiah.

Isaiah 42:3 “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench…”

Here is a situation where you are called, like Abram to hold onto the promise even though can’t see the end. God may bruise you, but he will not break you. God may let your flame flicker in the wind, but he is merciful, and he won’t let it go out.

3 Steps of Courage: The third application of this is with what I call wise steps of courage. Sometimes we face decisions in life that are not necessarily directly told to us in scripture. Maybe God is calling you to a new job? Or maybe God is calling you to take a new step of faith that is overwhelming, a new step of leadership, a new step of submission. We don’t have God speaking with a voice telling us what to do. But because we have the Spirit, and we are sensitive to the way God opens and closes doors, and how he speaks through other people into our lives, we get a sense of something God is calling us to. But its going to take courage! We go! We’re Christians. We don’t see the whole thing before we start out. We believe that God is good and that he will not forsake us, and then we step out in faith. We cling to the promises. We behave wisely. We stay in prayer. And we believe that God will lead his church.

III WHEN GOD CALLS, FAITH WALKS IN UNASHAMED OBEDIENCE

Lastly, when God calls, faith walks in unashamed obedience. The rest of this passage was read to us, and in it we saw the details of Abram’s journey.

Three Obstacles: There are at least three obstacles that stand in Abraham’s way as he begins in faith.

Age: First is his age.

Genesis 12:4 “… Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.”

Most people would see being 75 years old as an obstacle, a reason to take it slow. But Abram was only just starting. Faith doesn’t retire. God had an entire new work to do in Abram’s life. So whether 18 years old or 75 years old, when God calls, faith walks in joyful obedience.

Canaanites: Second, we read in verse 5 that when God finally revealed the land to Abram, it was the land of Canaan.

Genesis 12:6 “… At that time the Canaanites were in the land.”

This is a huge obstacle. The land is already populated by people. There is a clear tension here, between God’s promise and the present reality.

Worship: But what does Abram do? His first step after arriving in the land, and hearing that it is this land of Canaan that God has planned to give to Abram and his descendants, is he worships.

Cultic Worship (Oaks of Moreh): Where does he worship, at the Oak of Moreh. For this particular tree to be mentioned by name, it must have been a significant landmark in Canaanite culture. In fact, later Moses would bring it up as a meeting place for the people of God. More than likely, as were many large trees in those days, it was a place of a cultic worship for the Canaanites and the people of that land.

Builds an Altar: What does Abram do? He walks right into the middle of the Canaanite false worship practices, and he builds an altar to the one true and living God. Abram could not worship alongside the Canaanites. He was no longer a polytheist. He was standing in the land of promises, and he meant to worship his God.

Blood: While the text does not explicitly say it, it is not difficult to imagine what kind of worship was offered on this altar. The word for “altar” in Hebrew quite literally means “place of slaughter.” And so Abram in his new faith, instructed by God, declares himself in allegiance to God, by entering into Canaanite territory, where he is certainly the minority. There in the middle of that culture, he offers to God a sacrifice of blood. This is a pattern with Abram that we will see repeated next week in Genesis 15 when God formally establishes his covenant with Abraham and seals it with the sacrifice of animals.

Imagine Abram: Imagine Abram. He shows up with his motly crew in Canaan, sees the false worship and the wicked practices of the Canaanites. And right in the middle of them, he gets down on his knees, he worships the God who has called him. And builds an altar in the presence of the Canaanites, offers the blood of a lamb, as he had likely been instructed to do, and joyfully gives thanks. Unashamed. Undeterred.

Illustration - CEO: Faith must be more than acknowledgement, it requires obedience. Imagine for a moment a company that is in disarray. The stock price has plummeted. Employee moral is low. Product innovation is sorely lacking. But they the Board of Directors make a decision to hire a new CEO. And they bring in someone with an incredible track record of turning companies around. The CEO gets there and all the employees are exited, and state their trust and faith that this CEO can turn the company around. So the new CEO begins to give out orders. He tells the accountants the reports he’ll need. He tells the strategy a new direction. He lays out a vision for the marketing team. And lets Customer Service know the new software they’ll need to begin using. After a month, the new CEO goes to these departments, and finds the employees not about their business. Some are napping. Others are missing. None of the work he originally doled out had been completed. He says to them “Why have you not done the work I commanded?” They respond “Because we trust you. You’re the CEO who can do this. You said you’d be able to turn this company around, and we believe you. It’s been such a hard season, we felt it best to be comfortable, and we just trust you’ll turn it around.” What will that CEO reply? He’ll say, “You don’t trust me. You’re mocking me! If you trusted me, you would do what I have commanded you to do. If you trusted me you would obey me, and then this company would be turned around.” So it is with Christ. Our faith is not simply in our heart detached from our actions. Real faith obeys. And a faith that does not obey, is not real faith.

Personal: We are talking about a life unashamed for God. Sometimes I feel that we live in this world just a little ashamed of our faith, a little weak around the knees. We see the rise of secularism, and the mocking of Christian faith, and we begin to think that maybe if we just kept our faith private, to ourselves it might be better. And look at Abram, he walks to the Tree of Moreh, and builds an altar right out in public. Stake in the ground! “I don’t worship your God, I worship the one true and living God.” Unashamed! Why? Because he was called by God. And if you’re a Christian, God has called you by name, to follow him, and live unashamedly for him. Faith doesn’t whisper its allegiance, it builds an altar in enemy territory.

Christ!: And he has secured you in that promise. Abram could not see the cross of Christ with clarity from where he stood. But in his worship at that altar, he was foreshadowing what God would ultimately do through his descendendants. The book of Matthew begins by demonstrating that Christ was a direct descendant of Abram. It does that to show that Christ can legitimately be the Messiah, the descendant of Abraham through whom every family of the Earth will be blessed. And Abram sacrifice on that altar in Israel (Canaan as it was called then), is a foreshadowing of the cross, that final altar where the final sacrifice would be made. There in the midst of enemy territory, Christ offered his body as a willing sacrifice upon the altar. And God the Father received it, and applied it as the fulfillment of the promise to bless all the families of the Earth. Becuase whether you are Jew or Gentile, there is salvation in the name of Jesus!

What Boldness!: What boldness we ought to have as Christians. What Abraham only looked forward to, the ultimate fulfillment of his promise, we are living in. Abraham saw from a distance, we would live in, Christ crucified on our behalf.

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…”

Church, where you have been too timid in your faith? Where has God called you to be bold? To speak? To invite? To Confront? to stand for Christ unashamedly? I’m always amazed when Muslims walk through Chicago and at certain times stop on the sidewalk or in the middle of a meeting and pray to their God. I see that, and I often think, they’re unashamed and they’re worshiping a false God, in a largely Christian culture. You don’t need to apologize for your faith. You don’t need to be overly sensitive that you’re going to step on someone’s toes.

Do not be ashamed of the gospel, because when God calls, faith walks in unashamed obedience.

Conclusion

This story of Abram is critical to our understanding of Redemptive History. It is the beginning of God’s salvation of his Church. God called Abram out from Ur of the Chaldeans, to become a new nation, a nation through whom the Messiah would one day come to bless the very nations from where Abram had come. Yet, while Abram’s story is unique and one-of-a-kind, he is also a prototype of our faith. He demonstrates, imperfectly yet faithfully, that when God calls, faith walks.