Lives of the Patriarchs - Abraham: Obeying the Call of God

The first Patriarch we’re going to look at is Abraham. Abraham is a pretty important guy. As we sit here this morning 57% of the world’s population look to Abraham as their father in the faith. That includes the world’s 2.2 billion Christians, 1.8 billion Muslims and 15 million Jews. You cannot understand world civilization if you don’t understand this man’s story. By the way, at this point in his story his name is not yet Abraham. It’s Abram. Abram means father, but Abraham means father of a multitude. He will never live to see that multitude, but they came to be, and that’s part of the story.

In Genesis 12 God calls a man who, to the earthly eye, was as unqualified as anyone could be to achieve the things God said would happen through him. He calls this man out of his home and makes a promise to him that would change the world forever. Abram’s life reveals the truism that God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called. One of the most amazing aspects of God’s relationship with mankind is that He uses imperfect people to accomplish his eternally perfect will. God is not interested in using people who think they have it all together, but rather is interested in using people that He can transform for his glory. Such is the story of Abram in Genesis 12.

Over the next seven weeks we are going to spend some time with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. We collectively know these men as “The Patriarchs”. They are the progenitors of the Jewish people and their lives provide us some rich practical lessons about life and God’s involvement in our lives. In the passage before us Moses, the author of Genesis, is writing to the nation of Israel to explain to them where they came from, how God formed them, and how God expects them to live.

[Read Genesis 11:27-12:9]

The Bible says that Terah, Abram’s father had three sons: Nahor, Haran, and Abram. One of those sons, Haran, dies while Terah is still alive. And to this point the family is living in a city called Ur. But after Haran dies, Terah take his family, leaves Ur, and eventually settles in a city named Haran (not to be confused with his son of the same name.) Scripture then says that Terah died at the age of 205. That is where we pick up the story in Genesis 12:1.

I. GOD CALLED ABRAM OUT ...

1. before God can bless him, and therefore bless the nations of the world, He has to get Abram out of the idolatrous religious mess and cultural influence he is immersed in and this means getting Abram out from his country, out from his kindred, and out from his father’s house

A. GET OUT OF YOUR COUNTRY ... TO A LAND I WILL SHOW YOU

1. Abram’s country was the center of civilization at that time

a. his ultimate destination, Canaan, had nothing to offer from the standpoint of culture or standard of living to attract anyone away from Ur

2. there is no place outside of the nation of Sumer that has anything comparable to offer Abram and his family

a. God is calling Abram to go to a place where nobody knows his name, and they’re probably not glad he came

b. anyone who has traveled outside of their own nation, knows what it feels like to be an outsider

1) everything about you — your dress, your dialect, your vocabulary, your mannerisms — all scream, “I’m not from here!”

2) and who wants that? — who wants to be a stranger in a strange place?

3. if he is going to be obedient to God, however, Abram has got to leave a thriving city, a thriving culture, a thriving economy in a thriving nation

a. by the time of our story, Abram and his immediate family are living in the city of Haran

1) Abram’s father, Terah, had moved the family there years before

2) like the great city of Ur, Haran was a large walled city that sat on major East/West and North/South trade routes

3) it was a prosperous city that had much to offer anyone with a little ambition

4) Gen. 12:5 implies that Abram had done well in the city

b. ancient Sumer was at the peak of its cultural and political splendor during Abram's time

1) it had a high level of literacy, fine cities, highly developed arts, well-established law codes and legal systems, a highly developed religious system, and for the day, technology that surpassed the surrounding nations

2) in other words, they were a sophisticated and cultured society

c. God has commanded Abram to leave one of the greatest cities in the world, in the most advanced culture of its day, and go to some place he's never seen, among a people he does not know

ILLUS. Imagine God speaking to a 75-year-old, sophisticated, throughly secularized, prosperous, life-long resident of New York City and saying, “Get up and go to central Wyoming, where I have something great planned for your descendants.”

1) you can understand the incredulity

4. the country of Sumer is his culture, and he got to get out from among it

B. GET OUT FROM YOUR KINDRED ... I WILL MAKE YOU A GREAT NATION

1. according to our text, Abram immigrates to Canaan with small band of people

“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.” (Genesis 12:1, ESV)

“So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,” (Genesis 12:4–5, ESV)

a. they’re there for fifteen years, and it’s going to take the death of his father and the calling from God to get Abram moving to where he needs to be

2. we don’t know how large Abram’s extended family was by this time, but he’s got a brother and all his brother’s family also living in Haran

a. but kindred in this passage means more than one’s immediate family — it’s a reference to the entire society of people he resides among

b. the people of Sumer are his kindred, and he got to get out from among them

3. Abram is 75 years old and childless when he finally leaves his country and his kindred

C. GET OUT FROM YOUR FATHER’S HOUSE ... IN YOU ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED

1. we know Abram best from “this side” of his encounter with God

a. from other places in the Scriptures we pick up bits-n’-pieces of his life prior to his calling

2. one of the things we learn is that he was an idolater coming from a family of idolaters

a. in Joshua 24, Joshua is speaking to the nation of Israel and he says: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many.’”

b. the man we know as Abraham, then known as Abram, was entrenched in polytheism when he heard this call from God

ILLUS. In the ancient city of Haran, where Abram was living, there was a giant temple complex dedicated to the Chaldean moon god Su'en who was the city’s chief god. But there were other gods and goddesses. There was Anu — father and ruler of all the other gods. There Ea — son of Anu, husband of the goddess Damkina, and father of Marduk — god of wisdom, arts, and crafts. There was also Ishtar, goddess of love and war. There were many others.

1) the gods of Babylon were thought to be capricious and whimsical, capable of either good or evil

2) the gods of Babylon also had the same sort of problems and frustrations that human beings had, but on a more cosmic scale

3) like every nation around them, knowledge of the One True God had been lost

c. Jewish tradition has an interesting outlook on Abram’s idolatry

ILLUS. The Talmud, which consists of century’s old Rabbinic commentary, teachings and opinions on the Jewish Scriptures and Jewish life and which is over 6,000 pages in length, tells how Abram, as a young child, realized that idol worship was foolishness. His father Terah was supposedly a shop owner who made and sold idols in the city of Haran. One day when he was asked to watch the store, Abram took out a hammer and smashed all the idols — except for the largest one. His father came home and demanded to know what happened. Abram replied that the idols had gotten into a fight and the biggest idol won. The Talmud teaches that his father was angry but understood that Abram had discovered the truth of monotheism.

1) it’s a nice story, but Scripture tells us that Abram was as thoroughly idolatrous as the rest of his family up until the time he encounters God which was well into his adulthood

3. Abram’s family is as far from worshiping the true God as you can get

a. therefore, before God can bless him, and therefore bless the nations of the world, he has to get Abram out of the idolatrous religious mess and culture influence he is immersed in and this means getting Abram out from his country, out from his kindred, and out from his father’s house

II. GOD CALLED ABRAM WHEN HE HAD NOTHING TO OFFER

1. listen to the promise that God makes to Abram, then listen to Abram’s life circumstances

a. in Genesis 12:2: I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great

1) that’s the promise

b. here is what was going on in Abram’s life — Genesis 11:30: Now Sarai [Abram’s wife] was barren; she had no child

2. does anyone see the problem here?

a. God is promising to make Abram’s descendants a great nation

b. a great nation implies a populous nation

1) only he doesn’t have any descendants

2) it would be one thing if he had a half a dozen sons or so to work with

3) for that matter, even one son would have made the situation more believable

c. but Sarai had been unable to bear children, and even if she happened to get pregnant, what was the guarantee it would be a boy?

3. from any measure of potential, Abram appears as an unqualified candidate for greatness

a. he was a pagan idolater, in a family of pagan idolaters

b. he was a city boy with no children

c. if God were accepting resumes for the position of national patriarch, Abram’s would have been placed at the bottom of the pile

4. when it comes to accomplishing the task to which God is calling him, Abram has nothing to offer God

a. indeed, Abram was not looking for God, but God came looking for Abram, and that changed his life, and it changed the world

III. ABRAM OBEYED GOD WHO HAD EVERYTHING TO OFFER

1. in Gen. 12:4 the wording is simple but the meaning is profound: So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, ...

a. Abram obeyed and in the obedience revealed his faith

b. He believed that God would do what he said he was going to do

1) this is the ultimate nature of faith — trusting God to keep His word to us

2) that He will do all that He has promised to do

2. Hebrews 11 amplifies the story by reminding us that Abram responded to God’s calling with an act of faith

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:8–10, NIV)

a. not only did Abram believe that God was going to give him a great earthly inheritance, he also believed that God would give him an eternal inheritance

1) as great as his homeland was, its foundations were not heavenly ones

2) and as great at Haran was, its designer and builder was not God

3. what a change the call of God makes in a person’s life!

a. Abram had an encounter with the glorious true God; and he left an awful lot to follow him in faith

IV. LESSONS FROM ABRAM’S CALL

A. GOD CALLS US OUT OF OUR WORSHIP OF IDOLS

1. certainly if we are to follow Abram’s example we must first cast aside all of our false gods and commit ourselves to the true God through faith in Jesus Christ

a. but it goes far beyond that

b. we must continually kill all traces of idolatry in our lives

c. the last words of the Apostle John in his first letter are: “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:21, NIV)

1) why would the Apostle say this if idol worship wasn’t an on-going temptation?

ILLUS. John Calvin, was correct when he said that our hearts are “idol-making factories.”

2. the idols in our lives need to be discerned, exposed, and destroyed

a. one of the scandals of the church — particularly in America — are the number of self-identified ‘born again’ Christians who don’t live their life any differently than their lost neighbors

b. their idols are never confronted

ILLUS. Tim Keller, senior pastor of pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, says that an idol is a good thing that becomes an ultimate thing in our life. When you look to anything to give you what only God can give you, that’s idolatry. It’s anything in your heart-of-hearts that is so central, that if you were to lose it, your life would become meaningless or valueless.

c. our culture if rife with all kinds of idols

1) there are Personal Idols — finances, romantic love, and family (especially children)

2) there are Religious Idols — spiritual gifts, personal morality, worship preferences

3) there are Cultural Idols — a certain lifestyle, or political identity

d. many things pull on a Christian's time and demand attention: work, family, friends, hobbies

1) these are all good things and have a place in a healthy Christian's life, but if as Keller says, we allow a good thing to become an ultimate thing in our life, that’s idiolatry

3. absolutely nothing is to take the place of Jesus in your life

a. he has called you out to worship him alone

1) do not go crawling back to your other gods

b. you serve the one, true King

1) don’t allow money to have your highest affections

2) don’t allow your job to consume your life

3) don’t allow your family to be your ultimate source of satisfaction

c. all of those things are good, but all of those things are not God

ILLUS. David Clarkson, a 17th century Puritan minister penned a sermon in which he writes of the twofold worship due only to God. The first is our external worship. This consists of the acts and gestures of the body—standing, kneeling, bowing, lifting hands—all intended to testify of God’s divine honor.

The second is our internal worship, or what Clarkson calls our “Soul-worship”. Soul worship is when our mind is consumed with the grace and glory of our God, the heart with its affections are set upon a gratitude and thankfulness for his saving acts in our lives, and our will motivates us to respond with a desire for holy living.

Clarkson goes on to write that just as there is external worship there is external idolatry, and just as there is soul-worship there is soul-idolatry.

1) when the mind is set on anything more than God; when anything is more valued than God, more desired than God, more sought than God, more loved than God that is soul-idiolatry

4. idolatry is one of the easiest traps for us to fall into

a. it’s so easy to slide something into God’s place in our hearts

1) and sometimes we don’t even recognize that it is happening

2) we have to be so very careful not to bow before the altars of our televisions, or our computers, or our smart phones, or our cars with iPod connectivity and turn-by-turn navigation systems

5. Abram teaches us through his obedience to this call that all idols are worthless and they are to be set aside in order to follow hard after Christ

... God Calls Us out of Our Worship of Idols

B. GOD CALLS US OUT OF OUR RELIANCE ON EARTHLY ATTACHMENTS

“If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:15–16, NIV)

1. if Abram would have kept his mind focused on where he came from, he could have been seriously tempted to return to the big city and back to his former life

a. but he desired a better country

b. he desired a kingdom that God would give to him that was not limited to this world.

2. it would have been more comfortable for Abram to stay where he was, or once in Canaan to go back to where he came from

a. there would have been no risk involved

b. he was wealthy and could have made a good life in Haran or Ur

1) but he followed God away from sure comforts because he was confident that God would bless him

2) when God calls us to personal sacrifice, he compensates by great promises of blessing

“Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 10:28–30, NIV)

3) isn’t it interesting that Jesus tells the disciples that all the things they willingly leave behind for Him and His sake they get back a hundredfold in this life along with eternal life in the age to come with a little persecution thrown in along the way

c. the promises that God gives to Abram unfolds into three general areas—land, descendants, and blessings and are found in Gen. 12:2-3

1) I will make you into a great nation

2) I will bless you

3) I will make your name great

4) You will be a blessing

5) I will bless those who bless you

6) Whoever curses you I will curse

7) All peoples on earth will be blessed through you

3. the point is not that you can’t have resources or comforts, but that you must be willing to give them up if Christ asks you to

a. and if your do, you’re compensated with more blessings than you can imagine

4. therefore, like Abram, we must be willing to leave comfort behind if we are called to

a. what makes Abram a great man is not the multitude of people that will spawn from him, but his faith in God when God came calling upon his life

b. what makes your life special and distinctive is the call of God

1) when you’re living for God, you’re living a big life ... an important life ... an eternally significant life ... even if the rest of the world has no idea who you are

ILLUS. We live in a culture that has empathized the importance of the individual above everything. Radical self-autonomy — the idea that the world rises and sets around us personally was supposed to lead the culture into an era of freedom and success. Instead, tens of millions of Americans struggle with unprecedented increases in anxiety, depression and suicide rates. 96% of Millennials and Gen-Zers report feeling significant anxiety daily! 2-in-3 young Americans say they are emotionally exhausted or burned out. Evidently, radical self-autonomy is not the panacea so many thought it would be.

ILLUS. But guess who’s flourishing? Guess which group of Americans are mentally and emotionally whole? Yep. Christians. But not just any professing Christian. It’s Christians who attend services weekly. In a survey taken in March of this year (2022) by the Gallup organization, the pollster revealed that just shy of 70% of weekly church goes reported feeling “very satisfied” with their lives. The conclusion of the report revealed that believers who attend worship services weekly are thriving. Weekly church attenders are more generous with their finances, their time, and their service to neighbor and community. They have a greater sense of purpose in life. Religious participation is the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. Gee ... go figure.

5. want to live a big life? ... live for Jesus

a. radical self-autonomy leads to anxiety, depression, burnout and suicide

b. radical Christianity leads one into radical service the leads to emotional, intellectual, and spiritual flourishing

... God Calls Us out of Our Reliance on Earthly Attachments

C. GOD CALLS US OUT DESPITE OUR LACK OF CREDENTIALS

1. God does not call us to salvation because we are good enough to be a part of his family

a. and once a part of his family, he does not call us to service and ministry because we are adequate in and of ourselves to perform what he asks

b. He calls us to do things we cannot do without him, so that we and everyone who sees us recognizes that the glory belongs to God

“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (1 Corinthians 1:26–29, NIV)

2. God loves to save those whom the world rejects

3. and he loves to use those those whom the world would not expect

a. so if you think you don’t have what it takes to serve God, you’re right

b. but that’s exactly where he wants you

... God Calls Us out Despite Our Lack of Credentials

D. GOD CALLS US OUT AND WORSHIP IS THE ULTIMATE RESPONSE

1. twice in this passage we see Abram building an altar

a. in verse 7 we read that the Lord appeared to Abram, and He renewed his promise regarding Abram’s offspring and Abram built there an altar to the Lord

b. in verse 8 Abram moves further south toward Bethal and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord

c. wherever Abraham pitched his tent Abraham built an altar to God

2. Abram erects these altars as a spontaneous acts of gratitude as he seeks to honor God’s name and consecrate himself entirely to God

... God Calls Us out and Worship Is the Ultimate Response

Con. So the only question is this: Will We Obey Because We Trust Fully in God? Will we set aside our idols and our earthly comforts in pursuit of God’s calling on our lives? Just as Abram obeyed God’s call, we are called to obedience as a result of our faith.

So what is it that God has called you to do? Have you heeded his call to salvation through faith in Christ? And if so, to what sort of ministry has he called you? Whatever it is, trust him and follow him; and you, like Abram, will have his blessing on your life.

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