Obey God and You Will Bless the World

Genesis 12:1-8

Tonight we are starting a series of sermons that will look at the life of one of the greatest men in the Bible. Before these verses many things had already happened. Man had sinned, the flood had occurred, the Tower of Babel had been attempted to be built, man had constantly been in trouble with God, and as we begin our study the situation was no different. Idolatry had become the order of the day. What was God going to do? He has promised that he won’t destroy the world with water again. The first worldwide judgment had been largely ineffective, humans were still sinners and had to be redeemed to live righteously.

God begins a new approach. He would choose a man and start a new race of people. Through this man’s descendents he would do two great things. First, he would reveal his character as holy. This would be in contrast to the false gods that had no life and no moral qualities to challenge mankind to proper conduct. Second, in the fullness of time, he would send a redeemer to bring salvation and forgiveness to all people regardless of who or where they are.

Where could God find this kind of person? The whole world was contaminated with sin, so where could he go? He goes to Ur of the Chaldees and chooses a man by the name of Abram. What kind of a man was this Abram? Well, Jewish tradition has a story that says that his father was the keeper of a store that sold idols. Abram didn’t like this, and protested quite often to his father, to no avail. One day when the boy was left in charge of the store, he took a stick and destroyed the idols. When his father came home, he wanted an explanation of what had happened. Abram, according to the tradition, replied, “They all got into a fight and destroyed each other.” The father insisted that this couldn’t have happened as they had no life in them. Abram then asked, “Why do you worship them, then?” This is the kind of man God needed to begin his story of redemption, and he called Abram to a new job and gave him a new name – Abraham.

Our surroundings do not always determine our service, there are times that we need to get into a new location to start a new work.

God had reserved the land of Canaan for the place to start his new people. He relocated Abraham and got the new race of people started. From secular history we know that there was a great migration westward about this time. Some went as far as Egypt, where they were successful in taking over the throne and holding it for many years. The call to Abram, though, was not one to be a political leader, but a personal one. Although he left Ur with his family, he knew it was only time before he would be on his own.

God reveals himself to all people, but he selects certain ones at certain times for certain tasks. He chose Abram, but knew that there had to be a definite break with the old land and its traditions. Too many memories remained there, and the temptation to yield to the customs of that environment might be too strong. Abram needed to move, he needed to head west, to serve God the best. We have to be willing to leave the old behind as well.

To do what Abram did, required the realization that God was with him. We don’t have any idea how long it took Abram to follow what God was telling him. It may have just been a few days, it may have been a much longer time. That really isn’t what’s important. What is important is that he followed God’s instructions. It required a lot of faith to do what Abram did. Faith was required at the beginning of Abram’s walk with God, and it was required for everything else that eventually took place. Faith is what makes eternity as real as today. It gives a reality to the new and limitless future where we will forget the sorrows and losses of our present day and age.

As great as faith is, we need, however, to ask an important question about it. In what are we to place our faith? The answer is simple, God’s provision. What did God offer Abram? The promise at first reading sounds fabulous to us, for God offered him so much. But look a little closer and we realize that the material things offered to Abram by God were not the most important things. God offered Abram an opportunity to bless the world. God promised to make of Abram a great nation, to bless him, and to make his name great. If we look a little deeper, though, we find even more. VERSE 12:2. If we were to literally interpret the Hebrew, he was telling Abram to BE a blessing, not just to his family and friends, but to the entire world.

So, which is more important – to bless or to be blessed? Unfortunately too many people today would say that it is better to be blessed. We have the wrong motivation to even become a Christian. Far too many people just want to be saved to escape the horrors of hell and go to heaven. Nothing wrong with that. We should want more, though. We should come to Jesus because of who he his and the life of service that he offers. Most of us, though, have to grow in Jesus before we can really understand and seek that. Abram received blessings, you and I receive blessings too, but most of all, God chose him to be a tool that he could use, you and I are the same. God wants to use us, but we have to be willing to allow him to use us.

Although we emphasized the necessity of Abram leaving home to gain a new identity, the time comes that we have to settle down where we are and serve God in that place. We cannot be constantly moving when the going gets tough.

Abram served God where God placed him. At first God wanted Abram to stay in Haran for a while. We don’t know for sure why he did this, but Abram waited patiently for God’s word to go on. In the book of Acts we learn that after his father’s death, Abram had the message to go on to Canaan. Nothing stopped Abram from doing God’s will as he understood it.

One thing that characterized Abram was that wherever he went, he built an altar and worshiped the Lord. We need to worship where we are. The other side of the fence often looks better, but just adjust to where God has put you.

Why did Abraham go down in history as such a great person? He had faith. Abraham’s faith was proved by his faithfulness. God counted this faith as righteousness, and through his seed salvation has come to the world. We, too, can be a blessing if we will just obey.