Genesis #9: The Promise - Called Out and Brought In

Sometimes people turn out to be different from who you think they were.... and sometimes that is a good thing.

I used to think my grandfather hung the moon. He could do no wrong. He taught me to drive, at dinner all the food wound up at his end of the table, he would let us get desert first, he even encouraged us boys to be boys. Never once did he get mad at us for building things in the yard, or shooting guns too much, or spending too much time in the creek, or riding our 3 wheeler too fast. He was fantastic.

But as I got older. I began to see chinks in his armour. But instead of losing respect for him, my respect actually grew as I learned of his sacrifice and his generosity.

That’s how it is with people, the more time you spend with them, the better you know them, and sometimes that makes you love them all the more.

My grandfather was like that… and so was the man we will be talking about for the next several weeks, Abram…or as you my know him Abraham.

Today we begin a series “THE PROMISE”. Over the next several weeks we will be studying Abraham’s life

First 11 chapters… Adam and Eve… Cain and Seth… again and again, man falls short of God’s design.

Even after experiencing salvation from a flood, men continue to choose their way over God’s… building a tower so that god might come and make their name great

So far it’s been a story of disobedience, murder, deception, drunkenness, nudity, and rebellion all wrapped around God’ generosity, grace, forgiveness.

That was just the first 11 chapters.

Then in Chapter 12 comes Abram. Abram was a remarkable person. I say this because the three largest world religions all trace their history to Abraham. Christianity… Judaism… and Muslim-ism. All three claim Abraham as the father of their faith, that each follower is in face a seed of Abraham.

That’s not all. Both the old and new Testaments refer to Abraham as a “Friend of God”. Abraham is one who walked with God, who lived in God’s presence, and stands as one of the noblest people in all the world.

Why study Abraham? Because we are called to the same life.

Heb 11 describes the faith of Abraham, and concludes that with him as our witness, we should throw off anything that holds us back and run the same race with perseverance.

So who is this Abraham? And what was it about him that earned him the reputation of having such great faith?

That’s what we will discover over these next few weeks as we consider THE PROMISE.

We are going to see over the coming weeks that the story of Abraham is an amazing story… albeit an amazing story of a very normal man.

Abram… that’s his name when we first meet him in Chapter 11 of Genesis. He is the 10th generation from Noah in the line of Shem. His father is Terah and his brothers are Nahor and Haran. The youngest Haran dies there in Ur… that’s SE of Baghdad in modern day Iraq.

Terah takes his son Abram and his childless wife Sarai and his grandson Lot to go to Canaan, but instead they settle in Harran; which, today would be in SE Turkey. They remain there the rest of Terah’s life, perhaps as long as 125 years.

Then in Chapter 12 we see

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Genesis 12:1 NIV

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

That’s a big ask isn’t it? Abram, get your stuff and move. Leave your homeland, your culture, all you’ve known your whole life. Leave it. Leave your relatives too. Get all you need b/c you aren’t coming back to this place. Get out… come follow me.. We see

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God calls according to his plan

Now we often think of Abram having a supernatural faith. But I think when we do that we cheat ourselves. When we do lift him up as almost a mythical Abram, we make faithful obedience an impossible step for us.

So let’s look at where he was.

He has no children… no heir. His father had left his homeland already, so there are no roots for him to rely on. He has memories of his father taking him to Canaan, but he settled instead for Harran. He has his father’s inheritance, but in ancient Middle East, a mans identity was tied up in his place. And Abram was a traveler… he was a come here and would always be a come here… there was nothing he could do about it.

Then the Lord speaks.

Now we have no way of knowing that Abram was a God fearing man at this time. There’s no record of his faith prior to this. He lived in a pagan world and should expect he lived a pagan life.

God interrupted his life.

Interrupted his everyday life and called him out. Called him out in order to bring him into a relationship with him.

This is what faith is. It’s a seed planted in our soul that one day all of a sudden shows life. This is what Abram experienced, As Christians, we have experienced it too.

We were doing life… then life doesn’t look so fulfilling.

Doing life… then you become much less satisfied… and instead of wanting more, you want something different.

Living life… and one day you hear grandma or granddad tell a story of how they came to faith, you hear God’s word in youth group; Maybe it was a song in the car; or a story at work… Where ever you heard it, all of a sudden the world looks different, you feel God calling you out.

You are being called out in order to be brought in to God’s will.

Romans 10:17 NLT

So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

Well Abram was experiencing that right now. As Hebrews 11:8 tells us:

Hebrews 11:8 NLT

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.

We think of it as supernatural faith; it was inspiring but it wasn’t unheard of. Think about this, how much faith would be required to move from barrenness toward blessing?

How much faith would it take to move from no future to a possible future?

How much faith would it require for you to obey God who appears and speaks to you over any plan you could devise?

His plan is always better than our best guess.

Abram answered God’s call by faith.

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Genesis 12:2–3 NIV

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

God calls him… and goes right into the covenant promises.

I think of myself when I read this. How often I feel God prompting me to moe or speak and I respond right away with why that won’t work. I rarely give God time to show me the fruit of obedience that might come.

You don’t see Abram’s excuses.

No arguments why they should stay in Harran, no reasoning why Canaan isn’t really a good fit for him. Why he just got here 50 years ago and is getting settled in.

No excuses, no arguments why this isn’t the right time, etc. Do you struggle with arguing with God? I get it… for sure.

He simply listens. God lays out a promise.

And Abram may not know it yet, but he is soon to discover that

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God keeps his promises.

The world would be blessed because of Abram’s obedience. God would protect him. We will see this played out in the weeks to come but let me give you the cliff note version… here is a man with all his wealth, traveling throughout the middle east and instead of being beaten, robbed, and cheated at every step along the way, he grows in wealth, he grows in stature, he grows in reputation. Not because Abram is so great, but because God said I will, I will, I will.

But that’s not all.

Abram was instrumental in the blessing of the whole earth because it is through the line of Abraham that we get Jesus.

And we are familiar with:

John 3:16–17 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

You see ultimately, Jesus is the answer to the Promise made to Abram. But it took Abram’s obedience for it to be realized.

Remember: Abraham is being called out in order to be brought into God’s plan.

Now, we may not get promises directly from God like Abram, but we have been promised that:

Romans 8:28 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Yes, Jesus is the answer to Abram’s promise, but God is at work in and through us as God’s people… because God’s plan always includes God’s people.

That’s what it means when God said you are blessed to be a blessing.

Jesus & the church are the answer to God’s promise.

We often think of John 3:16 or Matt 28:19-20 as the directive of the church

We saw it in action Yesterday morning as people who love Rock Hall got together to provide a fun morning for some kids.

The church is the hope of the world… not because we are special, but because the one at work through us is.

That’s what we see next in our passage:

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Genesis 12:4–5 NIV

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

God said leave it all… and follow me. Abram thought, yea but why waste all this stuff?

Brought Lot… Later on we will see that Abram is far from perfect, in how he treats his wife, but he is faithful to God’s calling.

And I suppose God is grading us all on a curve in that we are all measured on the faith we have.

Abram wasn’t perfectly obedient, but he was faithfully obedient

Obedience is key to walking with God.

And walking with God is key to growing our faith, so we will see his faith grow over the coming weeks. As his trust in God grows, his dependence on God’s word grows, we will see him become a man of great faith. And to think it all began by leaving nothing for something.

As we walk with God, our faith grows.

The same is true for us.

You don’t feel like your faith is strong? walk with the lord… as you do you will naturally do the things that honor and please God.

We know this right?

How many of us followed Jesus into a drunken stupor?

Or into lusting after someone…not our spouse?

Or into cheating a client; or lying to the policeman who pulled you over

God doesn’t lead us to those places, we get there by doing just what we love to do… sin.

But Abram continued toward the land of Canaan because he had been called out of the old life. Abraham was called out in order to be brought into God’s plan.

Genesis 12:6–9 NIV

Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

And look what God did.

God knew the journey was long, filled with trouble and worry.

God didn't leave Abram alone on the journey, but rather...

God gives assurance for the journey.

You know Abram had second thoughts when the journey got hard; its natural. But Abram saw these as an opportunity to display his faith and practice obedience.

+++problems @home, @work, @church…WHY? Opportunities to display faith in God’s word and practice obedience to God’s will.

God showed up and gave Abram a gift of a homeland.

You think that meant much to a nomad?

You think a promise of a homeland, an inheritance for your children wasn’t an encouragement to Abram and Sarai? Granted they didn’t have kids, but by this time they are probably thinking… OK, so God hasn’t forgotten us… maybe children are a possibility...

Abraham was called out in order to be brought into God’s plan.

This was God’s idea, to include Abram. God knew the trip would requires tests and temptations, challenges and battles, but God is there to see him through.

God is there to see you through everything he calls you to as well, because:

When we walk by faith, God draws close.

He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.

That In him… nothing is impossible.

That in him we can endure all things,

When we are weak he is strong

All we are asked to do is obey… follow him.

I say that and I have a good guess that many of us think… Yea, but life is so different today than it was back then.

I’ll challenge you on that. I don’t think it is.

I’ll agree the pace of life is different for most of us, we drive or fly rather than walk or ride a donkey. We scroll the news instead of seeing it happen. The way we live may be different, but life is really the same.

The options of who we live for, us or God, are the same.

The choices of our priorities, me or others, are the same.

The manner of our living, greed or generous; prideful or humble; they are the same.

Life is the same.

Abram saw God’s calling as an opportunity to leave nothing of value and gain something of immense value.

God’s calling is the same for us today. To leave behind what we have for something better, to be a part of his plan.

God is calling you.

As wesleyan’s we understand that the calling of Christians has 3 layers.

The first layer of our calling is salvation. We are called to repentance. To turn from our way and follow Jesus in to a relationship with God our father.

The second layer is a call to simplicity. Once we’ve received a call to salvation, the direction and the course of our lives change, but things get harder and more complex, not easier. We want to follow Christ, but we have to work. We have a family. We have friends and social obligations.

So I don’t mean simple as easy, but simple as in focused. As Steve DeNeff wrote in a blog I read: in answering the call to simplicity,

We change our way of life – the way we act, the way we treat people, the decisions we make.

Just like the disciples were called to become fishers of men. Their whole life no matter what they did, was focused on making disciples.

Let me tell you,if you answered the first call, but are debating God on the second. Get comfortable. I promise this to be a nagging issue for you. Some of you know this to be true right now. God wants all of you… no matter what you do.

The third calling is a call to mission.

When we are called to a mission, we are summoned to one particular cause and assigned a specific task. It may seem like an extension of our call to simplicity, but there are important differences. For starters, the call to a mission may require us to change our career. It can mean a move. It can mean gaining more education, earning less money, working alone, or living in a place we’re not fond of. It is a jealous and guarded friendship with God, under his anointing, while we accomplish a certain task, and then it is over. This is one of the tell-tale signs: there is a beginning and an end. People who have this call speak of being under orders or of carrying a mantle that others do not have to carry. There will come a time when the mantle is lifted and placed onto someone else—usually someone younger—but for now they must do it.

My calling

Sometimes we think of the call as a place to realize our dreams—and sometimes it is—but there are times when it can cost us our very lives.

If God has put a fire inside you—if he’s asked you to join him in some cause—then leave what comfort you have for whatever he has called you to do. Don’t negotiate. Don’t think about how inadequate you are. And don’t think that it is too late.

Those who are happiest are those who have taken the greatest risks. They stepped out into a place that was uncharted and unsafe. They didn’t know how it would end. They only knew what they were supposed to do next. So whatever God has told you to do, say yes.

I know God has called you because that’s what God does.

So, when I talk about opportunities to serve in worship helping with technology, or in our learning hub working with children; or in our youth ministry helping young adults discover Christ.

These are exciting places where God is at work and he may be calling you. I don’t know if he is calling you there… But I do know he is calling you… but I’m not sure where or how.

So I leave you with a question...

The question is, if God is for sure calling his people… and you aren’t sure what that calling is, what are you doing to figure it out?