Gods Guarantee to All Nations
Gods Guarantee to All Nations
Goal: To celebrate God’s continued fulfillment of his promises to Abraham.
Genesis 12:1-8 (Romans 4:1-5, 13-17)
February 28, 1999
Today we celebrate “Bringing Christ to the Nations” through the “Lutheran Hour.” It is through Abraham that we receive God’s guarantee to All Nations. We have all heard the children’s song “Father Abraham.” But I wonder how many really understand that the Christian connection to God is through God’s promise to Abraham. How many know that bringing “God’s Guarantee to All Nations” is the reason for missions and outreach to the unchurched, and non-Christian world.
Let me tell you about a man who became a Christian at an older age. He loved to tell others about his Lord. One day at a meeting, he gave a beautiful witness to his Savior. Someone who had heard his words, though, was quite disturbed. “The man told us about God’s part,” he said, “but he forgot to tell us his part, the part before he was converted. He should tell us more.”
The aged man stood up again. With confidence he responded, “Friends, I forgot to tell you about my part. I sure did my part all right. I was running away from the Lord as fast as I could for 30 years, and the Lord just took after me until he ran me down. I did the sinning. The Lord did the saving. And that was all the part I had.”
Whenever the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ is proclaimed, God is chasing down sinners to bestow his blessing that guarantees salvation and forgiveness of sins. It was similar for Abraham.
1. Consider Abraham’s Call: Abraham was called by the mercy of God. Luther notes, “If you should ask what Abraham was before he was called by a merciful God, answers that he was an idolater, that is, that he deserved eternal death and eternal damnation” (LW 2:246). Luther was right. Before God ran down Abraham, so to speak, Abram was like any other pagan worshipper. What’s important to understand about this is Abraham did not merit God’s grace and mercy. But what he did, he did when God commanded him to leave the security and protection of his own country, was believe that the one who promised, would carry it out. So, Abraham followed God’s direction, “by faith” according to Hebrews chapter 11.
Commanded to separate himself from the comfort and heritage of that which he held dear, Abraham, by faith, obeyed. The calling is similar to that of every Christian. Listen to Jesus’ words in Mt 19:29: “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”
The call of God has always been a call to be separated from the world in which we live. Not a physical separation, but a spiritual separation. The apostle John informs us of this: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17 NIVUS)
So what is it that causes people to be separated from the world to God? It is the promise and guarantee that God himself gives.
2. The sevenfold promise God gives Abraham expands progressively to a wider circle—from personal blessings to blessings for others to blessings for all of humankind. These promises are still being fulfilled today.
“I will make you into a great nation and bless you”: Israel has become the “holy nation,” people separated from the world unto God. Israel is the people of promise, the church, spanning the globe, and two billion strong. Yes, I said it right. When we think of the biblical Israel, we should think not only of a physical nation, but also of a spiritual nation of God’s own choosing.
“And all people on earth will be blessed through you” says God: The Messiah came through Abraham to the bless the world. Again scripture explains. Gal 3:8 says “The 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."
“The Lutheran Hour, in 1930, began its first radio broadcast from Detroit. Its purpose and mission was to announce the promised blessing of God in Jesus Christ to the unchurched and non-Christian. It has been ongoing since. It is the world’s oldest continually broadcast Christ-centered radio program of Lutheran Hour Ministries. Now, its ministry reaches all over the world. Some 1200 radio stations carry its broadcast in North America alone. With modern technology its ministry reaches people today through radio and television, e-mail and the internet. When this ministry started it was because a few people had the foresight to see that this new media of the day could be used to bring Christ to the nations.
3. Now The “blessing of Abraham” continues to be fulfilled when by grace we Christians: Walk by faith and not by sight. I know how hard it is to move ahead on a mission project without knowing if it will succeed or fail. But we receive God’s extravagant promises as a child receives a trust but does not fully understand it. This is what mission and ministry is all about, receiving God’s extravagant promises, and as we receive them, freely, to pass them on, freely.
Unfortunately, we, all-to-often, are held back by a dependence on mundane, earthbound, created things. And we need to be reminded that we have been called out, like Abraham, to follow the will of God, in faith. We are called to leave behind the comfortable and old ways that hold us back. We have been called to move from evil toward good, and to share that good with “all nations.”
This is the good we proclaim, Jesus Christ, crucified and on the third day raised again. Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah of Israel. Jesus Christ, the one whose shed blood paid the price for the sins of the whole world. Jesus Christ, the one through whom all people are reconciled to God. Jesus Christ, the one who is Abraham’s blessing to all. Jesus Christ, Gods Guarantee to All Nations. So let’s reach out in faith to support the Lutheran Hour Ministries in their world-wide endeavors. Amen.