Breaking the Old...Embracing the New!

Intro: A Fresh Perspective of Abraham’s sacrifice

In my humble opinion, few stories capture the concept of breaking away from old things and embracing the new things- indeed, the new life- that God has for us like the story of Abraham. Time will not permit me to delve deeply into his story at leangth, but please allow me to turn your attention to how it all began, which will be more than sufficient to make my point.

Before we apply this text tu us personally, let us consider what the Lord is saying to Abram.

Having recorded the story of Babel, the final major rebellion of humanity in Israel’s prehistory, the narrator quickly moves bto the account of Noah’s son Shem (11:10) in ten generations to Abram (11:26). Because God had scattered humanity at Babel, he can now call an individual (Abram) to carry the banner for God’s kingdom. In contrast to Babel, where people sought to make a name for themselves (11:4), the Lord here promises Abram, “I will make your name great” (12:2).

Genesis 12:1-2: 1 Now the Lord said to Abram,

“Go forth from your country- Abram would break away from his national identity to embrace a spiritual identity that would supercede it.

And from your relatives- In the same fashion, Abram was called to break away from his familial/ethnic identity, to embrace a new and greater identity- to be engrafted into the vine, to be a part of God’s family and to perpetuate His spiritual family line on the earth!

And from your father’s house- finally, Abram is called make a personal sacrifice, to lay aside his earthly inheritance & break his most intimate bonds, to embrace the greater inheritance of his Heavenly Father, of which he could not legally partake as an outsider. This is an early prototype of the same call and sacrifice that Christ would Himself expect of His disciples. Matthew 12:29- “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

The Lord concludes His call to Abram by telling him, “After you have left these things, I take you ‘To the land which I will show you.’” God does not tell Abram where he’s taking him- because obedience must precede the blessing. You must answer the call before the Lord allows you to peer into His plan!

In verse 2 and in the ensuing verses God begins to articulate His blessing- the reward for Abram’s obedience and, more importantly, His plan for redeeming humanity begins to unfold. I have no desire today to entice you to accept God’s will when He calls you to break away with His promise of blessing; rather, I want to point out to you His pirpose in blessing us as expressed to Abram at the end of this verse:

2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall BE a blessing;

There are 2 things that I wish for you to take notice of here: the first is that for Abram then and for all of us today, we are blessed to be a blessing. Our talent, time, treasure and another prescious commodity that we take for granted- FREEDOM- are gifts that the Lord has given to us, not to be squandered like the man with one talent (Matthew 25:14-30), but to be used to benefit those who are bereft of these things. The second- and, perhaps less obvious- thing to which I must call your attention is to whom this verse is directed. Although He refers to Abram’s future pdgeny as a “great nation”, God still address Abram the individual- and we see a reversal of his fortune and reward for his sacrifice. He gave up his country, relatives and home and is left alone; and this is where God begins: I will make you a great NATION (his temporal earthly citizenship is traded for an eternal heavely one), I will make YOUR name great (a new family name is given in place of the old) and I will bless YOU (your house).

A New Name and a Revealed Purpose

Biblically speaking, one’s name is associated with their purpose. In order to change Abram’s mind, the Lord begins by changing his name. Abram's name means "Exalted Father", which may have proven to be an embarrassment as he aged without children. This fits with God's promise, but he didn't receive that name from God but from his father. God gives him the name "Abraham", which means "father of many". This reinforces God's promise to Abraham that he would not only have a son through Sarai, but also that he would be the father of many nations. This is true through Ishmael, Isaac, and the sons of Keturah--the wife he took after Sarah died. And he was not the only one to go through this transition. Abram could not see the fulfillment of God’s promise alone- Sarai was an integral part of God’s plan, and God was changing her as well. Her name was changed from Sarai to Sarah. The difference is more subtle, being from "princess" to "princess of many". God may have given their parents a glimpse into their destinies, but in God alone would these destinies be fulfilled. People- whether well meaning of mean spirited- cannot be aloowed to label you. If others make your world for you, you can rest assured that they will always make it too small. God reserves the right speak His purpose over your life.

Purpose Tested

In Genesis 22, we see a final breaking of sorts…but not one of external affiliations, but one rooted in one’s heart and mind. The promise was received and believed; but receiving God’s promise was one thing…understanding it was something else entirely. God needed to make one thing perfectly clear: the promise was not predicated on Abraham’s faith and abilitiy, but upon God’s faithfullness and power. Natural efforts could not acheive or sustain what God was prepared to do; natural bonds could not hold together the spiritual edifice that the Lord Himself was building.

You are no doubt familar with the story of Abraham’s call to sacrifice Isaac. So I will only refer to the account summarily, and call you to contemplate difficulty & importance of this moment. Isaac joins his father in a journey to Moriah to offer a scrifice to God. Abraham alone knows the truth: God has called him to sacrifice his only son- the same one that God promised to him- when he reached his destination. When Isaac inquires as to where is the sacrifice- the lamb that God would provide for the offering, Abraham speaks these words in faith: “God will provide Himself the lamb for the burnt offering my son (V.8)”. And the Lord did provide- in more ways than one! I submit to you that there were 3 sacrifices on that hill in Moriah:

The ram- ths was the visible token of the greater sacrice that would be made.

The son- Although his was not slain, Abraham lost a son that day- but he was immediately returned to him. His bond with his son was like those natural bonds the Lord called him to give up in chapter 12:1. What he gave up was returned to him, but with a more perfect bond- a spiritual bond, through God the mediator- revealed to us as Christ alone.

The Lamb- That day, the Lord stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son; but several centuries later, His own Son would be given up as a sacrifice on that hill…and this time, the deathblow would not be stopped. God did indeed provide the Lamb…one without spot or wrinkle...

Viewing & Connecting with All Things Though Christ, the Mediator

I want to conclude with the Lord’s words in Luke 14:25-33. I will not elabote, as it is my hope that what you have heard and considered with me in Genesis will make the intention of our Lord in these verses plain to see:

25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

Let me face head on the question that is circling in most of our minds now: “Hate? Do you really want me to hate?” Yes! Christ calls for us to make a clean break from our former estate- with such decisiveness and fervor that it comparable to hating the former things; indeed, we must hate the inferior things that limited us, our abilities, our realtionships, because it has been tainted by sin. But do not fear the cost, or shrink back form the implcations here. As the Lord has shown us in the brief study of Abrham, if we can give it up…we can have it all- the way He intended!

I will leave you with Mark’s recounting of Christ’s words to Peter, who dared to boast in his sacrifice:

Mark 10:28–30 (NAS): 28 Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.”

29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake,

30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.

Know now that God will be a debtor to no man- He will return 100 times anything we’ve give, but with this provision- with persecution.