Scripture reading: Romans 4:13-17.
Sermon text: Genesis 12:1-8.
This week, I remembered a line from the movie The Green Mile. In the movie, a condemned man, Arlen Bitterbuck, asks prison guard Paul Edgecomb, “Do you believe that if a man repents enough for what he done wrong, than he'll get to go back to the time that was happiest for him and live there forever? Could that be what heaven's like?”
I’m certain that if Adam asked that question, he’d remember his first days in Eden, before God expelled the first man and woman from the Garden for disobeying His command regarding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam probably thought of those days thousands of times over the span of his life. Even worse, Adam knew he and his family could never return to that land or to the pure relationship they had enjoyed with their Creator.
As I grow older, I find myself remembering times that I wish I could replay. Sometimes, I wish I could replay good times in my life; sometimes, I remember major mistakes I’ve made and wish I could relive those times so I could avoid the mistakes. I still remember one of the classic lines from the 1980‘s comic strip Calvin and Hobbes in which Calvin mutters, “My life needs a rewind switch.”
Today’s sermon text reminds us that while we can’t return to special moments in our lives, God can take us to new places of blessing when we obey His call in our lives. God called Abram from the comforts of Ur and commanded him to go to an unknown land. When Abram obeyed the command, God blessed him beyond his expectations. God also blessed all humanity by keeping His promises to Abram. Jesus, the divine Son of God, came to earth as a direct descendant of Abram.
First, I need to remind you that we know Abram better by another name he received later in his life. You probably know him better as “Abraham,” the name God gave him after he demonstrated his faith in God in Genesis 15. (God renamed Abram (which means “exalted prince”) to “Abraham” (“father of many nations”) in Genesis 17:5.) I’ll refer to him as “Abram” in this sermon to maintain scriptural accuracy.
You also need to know something else about Abram: He’s not a myth. We know the the dates of Abram’s life (2166-1991 B.C.) and the cultural context in which he lived. Abram lived in Ur during the last golden age of the Sumerian civilization, which lasted from roughly 2100 to 1900 B.C. During this time, the Sumerians achieved a high level of sophistication unknown to most humans in history. Ur boasted indoor plumbing, paved roads, and other amenities we consider “modern.”
It’s important to remember these facts because the memory eliminates a common excuse I hear today: “God wouldn’t take me away from all this and put me somewhere more primitive.” If you hear this line from someone, you can reply, “Just ask Abram.”
In 2091 B.C., God spoke to Abram and told him, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
The words of God to Abram continued a process began in Genesis 3:15, when God promised Eve that her offspring would “bruise the head” of Satan, the deceiver who had cost humanity the bliss of life in the Garden of Eden. God’s promise assured Eve that He would restore the relationship destroyed by her sin. God’s promise also assured Eve that, although humanity could never return to the Garden of Eden, He would take humanity to a better world untouched by sin and death.
God commanded Abram to leave more than just the lifestyle he enjoyed in Ur. God also commanded Abram to leave “your kindred and your father’s house.” Abram may have lived in Ur, but ethnically, Abram was a Semite. At some point, Abram’s ancestors had left the ancestral home of northern Mesopotamia and traveled to Ur. God commanded Abram to leave Ur, but He also made clear that Abram’s call was not a return to Haran, his ancestral city. Instead, God called Abram to leave everything and travel to “the land that I will show you.” Abram received no clear destination, meaning he would have no choice but to rely on God for direction in his life.
God then gave Abram a series of promises if he obeyed the call. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Keep in mind that at the time of his call, Abram and his wife Sarai (better known as “Sarah”) had no children of their own. In fact, Sarai had already turned 65 when Abram received his call. Yet, God promised to make a “great nation” of Abram. This implied that Abram and Sarai would one day have children of their own.
God also promised Abram that He would “make your name great.” Abram could already claim a great pedigree. His family descended directly from Shem, Noah’s godliest son. Abram could look into his ancestry and see numerous men who had made a name for themselves. God now promised Abram that He would insure Abram’s inclusion in that list.
Next, God promised Abram, “you will be a blessing.” Actually, in the Hebrew text, this reads more like a command itself. God commanded Abram to bless all those he would meet in the fulfillment of God’s call in his life. As you read the book of Genesis, you can see how God blessed many people in the land of Canaan as they came to know Abram.
After promising Abram these blessings, God then made a promise of protection to Abram. “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.” When you look at Abram’s life, you can see how God fulfilled this promise. The people who inhabited Canaan came to recognize that Abram enjoyed the protection of God and often allied themselves with him. The people who aided Abram in his endeavors received great blessings.
On the other hand, those who tried to oppose Abram found themselves removed from God’s blessings. As you read Genesis, you’ll see numerous examples of kings who opposed Abram or who tried to take Sarai from Abram. Without exception, every one of those kings found themselves cursed in some way and forced to turn to Abram for relief.
God made one last promise to Abram in His call: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Abram may have wondered how God could use him, a Semite leaving civilization and going who knew where, to bless all the families of the earth. God gave Abram no details, only a promise that his obedience would lead to blessings for all humanity. As his ancestors’ sin had cost humanity a relationship with God, Abram’s obedience would play a role in restoring that relationship.
Abram obeyed God. He packed his family and belongings and left Ur, never to return. After a stop in Haran, where his father Terah died, Abram left for Canaan, going where God led.
God led Abram to Canaan, the land between the two great civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. This land contained pagan Amorites who, for the most part, had no knowledge of God. (You can read Genesis 14 to find an exception.) When Abram arrived in Canaan, he began a routine he continued for the rest of his life. Abram would arrive where God had led him and then build “an altar to the LORD.” Interestingly, Abram’s first altar at the “oaks of Mamre” would have caused many conversations with the pagan Amorites. The Amorites considered tree groves as sacred areas because groves demonstrated the presence of water. The Amorites therefore built their sanctuaries in tree groves for worship and training of their priests. Abram built his first altar in Canaan right beside a Canaanite “seminary” and “called upon the name of the LORD!” God called Abram to bear witness to Him in the midst of the depravity of Amorite polytheism.
Abram’s call reminds us that God still cares about humanity, His greatest creation. Abram’s call also comforts us when we see the greatest fulfillment of God’s promise to bless the nations through one obedient man. Reading the account of Abram’s call also reminds us that God still calls people to obey Him in worship and in service.
God demonstrated His care for humanity by sending His Son, Jesus, into the world to pay the price for Adam’s sin. Jesus, the Christ, was born of the Virgin Mary, Abram’s descendant through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of the world. On Easter Sunday, Jesus rose again from the dead, defeating sin and death. St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22). In Jesus’ death and resurrection, God demonstrated His fulfillment to bless all nations through Abram.
Jesus’ death and resurrection empowers God’s work in the world today. Following Jesus’ ascension into heaven, God sent the Holy Spirit into the world on the day of Pentecost in A.D. 33. The Holy Spirit calls people to believe in Jesus’ sacrifice and victory.
We receive our first call from God when we sense the Holy Spirit’s convicting power in our lives. At that moment, we realize our separation from our Creator and that we cannot remove the separation on our own. Jesus, the divine Son of God and Abraham’s Descendant, said to His disciples, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Like Abram, we must obey God’s call when we sense the Holy Spirit leading us to believe in Jesus and confess Him as Lord of our lives.
Once we believe in Jesus and confess Him as Lord, He then sends the Holy Spirit into our lives to lead us and guide us as He guided Abram. The Holy Spirit guides us through Bible study, through prayer, and through corporate worship.
The Holy Spirit also calls us to carry Jesus’ message of victory into our lives. This doesn’t mean you need to build an altar everywhere you go as Abram did, but it does mean that, like Abram, the people around you should recognize you worship the true God and that this worship molds your lifestyle and the choices you make in life.
History and experience tells us that while God may not call everyone to leave kith and kin as He called Abram, He reserves the right to do so. God calls some believers to serve the Church as pastors, teachers, evangelists, or other positions of responsibility. God calls every believer to bear witness to Jesus’ victory in our lives.
Many people say, “I don’t want God to call me away from what I know.” These people really mean, “I don’t want to give up anything or suffer for Jesus.” It doesn’t work that way. When we confess that Jesus is Lord of our lives, we give Him our full allegiance and control over all we have and all we do. As our Lord, Jesus may exercise His right to command us whenever and however He chooses. John Calvin gave us a profound insight in his commentary on the book of Isaiah when he wrote, “The Lord has not redeemed you so you might enjoy pleasures and luxuries or so that you might abandon yourself to ease and indolence, but rather so you should be prepared to endure all sorts of evils” (Commentary on Isaiah, XLIII.ii).
Those who obey the call of God find that the promises of Abram still stand. God still protects His people, but He also uses our sufferings to bear witness to Jesus, to strengthen us, and to prepare us for the glorious eternity He has prepared for us. God still uses His people to bless the nations of the world. St. John the Evangelist wrote that he saw people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” engaging in eternal worship (Revelation 7:9).
One day, Jesus will bring a new heaven and a new earth into existence. In that eternity, we’ll experience the fullest completion of the promises God made to Abram in 2091 B.C. In that eternity, we’ll forget all those times we wish we could relive. In that eternity, we’ll experience true joy and peace, exulting in the presence of our Jesus, our Creator and King.
