Loving God, Faithful Abraham

Introduction

So we have finished the book of Galatians, and now we are going back to Genesis!

Genesis is a really important book. I cannot stress how important it is - it is not just a bunch of fun stories, but Genesis helps us understand the entire Bible.

Now it’s been a while since we did Genesis, so let’s do a quick recap:

In the beginning, God had created everything good. All of creation was perfect, Adam and Eve were created good, in perfect relationship with God and in perfect relationship with one another, in the garden, with God’s blessing.

But then sin entered the world and ruined everything. All relationships broke down, Adam and Eve were driven out of God’s presence and were driven out of the garden, and rather than God’s blessing, God’s curse was upon them.

But in the middle of this tragedy, we see a great hope . Read Genesis 3:15 “15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””

We see in this verse that God promises a descendent/offspring of Adam and Eve, who will receive a minor injury from Satan (just a small bruise on his heel), but in return this descendent/offspring will completely crush Satan. In another words, this descendent of Adam and Eve will completely crush Satan, will completely destroy evil and sin, and solve humanity’s problem of sin and curses, and return humanity back to that ideal good state, in perfect relationship with God and one another, in God’s place just like the garden of Eden, under his great blessings.

So the story of Genesis, and actually the entire Bible, is constantly asking, ‘Who is this descendent?’. Who is going to be this descendent of Genesis 3:15 that will crush the head of Satan and save us from our sins?

We move through the story, and we realise it’s definitely not Adam and Eve, it’s definitely not Cain because he murders Abel. Noah is righteous but he also ends up a drunk man. His sons (Ham, Shem, Japheth) aren’t much better. Then we get to the tower of Babel, and humanity is corrupt again again, rebelling against God, building a tower to try and overthrow him. So who is this descendent that will crush Satan and solve the problem of sin, and restore humanity back to God?

This is where we got up to in Genesis, being left to wonder, who is this serpent-crusher descendent? And as we get back into Genesis, we begin with the story of Abraham - and through the story of Abraham, we start to get a picture of who this serpent-crusher is going to be; the one through whom God will fulfill his promise and save us all.

So, let’s read through the story and see what we can learn about how God will save us through this serpent crusher, and what that means for how we are to live before him.

Read Genesis 12:1-19.

1. Covenant - God’s commitment to us (12:1-3)

So the first thing we learn from these verses is that God is completely committed to us.

Let’s read Genesis 12:2–3 again: “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.””

What we see in these verses is a covenant, and it is through a covenant that God will save humanity, and bring about this serpent crusher. A covenant is an agreement between two people, but it is not like a business contract. A covenant is an agreement where you commit yourself to each other, just like marriage. And here, we see the almighty God, committing himself to us, mere humans. That’s crazy - the God of the universe, who can do whatever he wants on a whim, chooses to enter into a covenantal agreement with mankind. God is actually restricting himself so that he is bound and commits himself to keep his promises to people like us, when He doesn’t have to as the Creator. So God entering into covenant with us is an act of mercy and grace and love.

And what we see in this covenant is God’s promise in Genesis 3:15 being fleshed out in more detail. In Gen 3:15, we had a vague idea of how God will save humanity. Through a descendent of Adam, who will crush the head of the serpent. But now, we get more details. If we read Genesis 12:2-3, What God promises Abraham is a great nation (many descendents!), a great name, land (as we will see later on in the passage), and most importantly, blessing. The word blessing is repeated again and again. So what God is committing and binding himself to, is to love us and bless us. And notice how it is not only Abraham and his descendents, but God says in Abraham ‘all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ Through Abraham, God is going to bring about the serpent crusher and bless the whole world.

There are many ideas about who God is. Some people look at Christianity, and they see a God of judgement. A God who punishes. A God who is strict and mean. A God who sends people to hell. Yes, God is a judge, and God is holy and God does uphold justice. But what does the Bible tell us, more than anything, about God’s heart towards us? Love. He desires to bless us. Before anything else, first and foremost, God loves us. And he desires to bless us by bringing us back into perfect relationship with Him, meeting all our needs - emotional, physical, spiritual - just like in the garden of Eden, in perfect relationship with one another. So God enters into relationship with us by covenant, and that is the ultimate expression of his love.

2. Faith - Our response to God (12:4-9)

So then what should our response be to this great and all-powerful and loving God? Faith. Abraham is a great model of faith, and this is how Christians are to live. And living a life of faith is a life trusting in God and obeying him despite what life may look like.

For Abraham, everything in his situation screamed against trusting in God’s promises.

God promised a great name and a great nation - Abraham was a previously unknown person, and he didn’t have any land of his own because he lived in a foreign country.

God promised many descendents, especially a descendent that would be a serpent crusher, but Abraham was old and his wife was barren, which means someone who is physically unable to have a child.

And God promised blessing, but Abraham’s family appeared cursed, symbolised by Sarah’s barrenness.

But despite all this, Abraham still believed in what God told him trusted in God. And he moved that trust into action by obeying God - he left everything behind and left his homeland. Abraham was able to trust in God, because Abraham trusted in God’s greatness and power over all things, and God’s loving faithfulness, more than he feared his circumstances or situation. When we trust in God, we are not swayed and controlled by our circumstances and difficulties in life, like a ship in a storm, but we plant ourselves firm in secure promises of God, no matter what our circumstances look like.

And sometimes living a life of faith, obeying God, means that we have to leave behind a life just seeking after comfortable and safe things. We prioritise relationship with God above all other things.

Let’s read Genesis 12:1 “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.”

He commands Abraham to go, and leave the land, from ‘your country and your kindred and your father’s house’. Notice how it repeatedly says ‘your’. All the comfortable and familiar things for Abraham - his country, his family, his house. God is telling him to leave them all behind for this great promise to Abraham. And Abraham leaves it all behind and obeys.

Abraham is abandoning things that are comfortable, safe, and secure, because he prioritises his relationship with God more than the secure and comfortable things in life.

Sometimes the life of faith means going from comfort to discomfort, because we know that the comfortable things in life doesn’t always mean it’s good or right. Sometimes the life of faith means cutting ourselves off from bad habits, from bad friends and relationships, from bad jobs, even if it means causing ourselves temporary discomfort.

And we can see that for Abraham, the most important thing was his relationship with God, living in God’s presence, because the most important thing for Abraham was not the easy comfortable and secure things in life, but the most important thing for him was being with, speaking with, living life in the presence of God.

Conclusion

So what do these things mean for you?

Don’t forget who our God is. Our God is first and foremost who loves us, so much so he binds himself to keep his promise of blessing towards us. And God promises this to us regardless of what state we are in, no matter how sinful we are. And we see the fulfillment of this promise in the Bible, because through Abraham, we eventually get Jesus. Read Matthew 1:21 “21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”” Jesus is the promised serpent crusher of God, and through Jesus, God brings us the ultimate blessing, saving us from our sins, restoring our relationship with God.

Don’t forget how you are meant to live before this loving God. You are to live a life of faith like Abraham, which means trusting in God and obeying him, which means we prioritise God over the comfortable and pleasurable things in life. And we can only do this when we realise who God is - He is an all powerful, loving God, who is completely committed to us by covenant. We can only entrust our lives to Him when we realise how trustworthy He is. And we know how trustworthy He is when we realise his greatness and his power, and how he is commited to using his power and greatness to love and bless us.

Discussion questions:

Read Hebrews 11:1 “1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” & Hebrews 11:8–9 “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. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.” Read 2 Corinthians 5:7 “7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.”

What does it mean to live by faith? In living by faith, what do we not look to, and what do we look to instead?

Living by faith means prioritising God over the comfortable things in life, just like how Abraham prioritised God over the comforts of his own country and family. What are comfortable things in our lives that we prioritise over our relationship with God?