Trust and Obey

Bibles with you, please open them up to Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

Well, this morning in Sunday school, we were looking at Paul's letter to the church at Colossae,

and one of the things that we heard there is just how excited and thankful Paul was

that the church there were people of faith and love.

And as a church here in Davidson, that's what we want to be known for too.

We want to be known for our faith in Jesus Christ and our love not only for one another,

but for people outside of our church, in our community.

And this morning marks the start of a new series of messages,

and faith is very much going to be one of the central themes of this series.

Time and time again, the apostles, they would point back in their letters

to the stories of men of faith in the Old Testament and hold them up as examples to follow.

And so there's a lot that we can learn from some of the stories in the Old Testament

about what it means to actually have faith and live by faith in Jesus.

And so for the next number of weeks, we're going to be looking at the story of Abraham.

He's kind of the, some have said, the father of our faith.

We're going to be digging into his story and understanding what God has to say to us through his life.

In Paul's letter to, to the church at Rome, he said this,

for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance taught in the scriptures

and the encouragement they provide, we might have hope.

He also wrote to Timothy and encouraged him to hold fast to the Old Testament scriptures.

He said, because they are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

They're able to equip you for every good work.

And so as we look back on this story of Abraham,

we are looking to see how the Lord will use that to equip us for every good work

and to teach us about what it means to live and to walk by faith.

Genesis 12 verse 1 begins this way.

Genesis 12:1

The Lord said to Abram.

It's kind of an interesting thing that all of a sudden in this story,

we go, we go right into dialogue.

We go right into a conversation between the Lord and Abram.

And part of the reason that's surprising is because of what comes before this in Genesis.

Moses has written and told us about the creation of the world.

He's then gone on to describe the rebellion and how God,

he gave a command and humanity, our first parents, broke that command.

They rebelled against him.

Sin entered the world.

Corruption entered the world.

After that, he moved on to describe how things got worse and worse and worse and worse.

All kinds of evil abounding to the point where God sent a flood to destroy almost everyone

except Noah and his family.

It was kind of a bit of a restart there with Noah and his family.

And then from there, Noah was a righteous man.

And so we would hope that it would kind of begin to trend in the right direction

and things would go well.

But it began to spiral downward again.

People just kind of living according to the sin in their hearts,

their own selfish desires, holding sway until they hit another low point,

another kind of global event, the Tower of Babel,

where in pride they sought to exalt themselves rather than God

and build this great tower, a place of worship, but not to the Lord.

And it was there that the Lord confused their languages

and they were scattered over the face of the earth.

And so, so far in this story, it's been big events.

It's been worldwide events.

And then almost out of nowhere, Moses focuses in on this one guy, Abraham.

Abraham was what he went by back then.

And we're kind of left to wonder, why Abraham?

Who is this guy?

Moses gives us a little bit of detail here.

He kind of traces Abraham's lineage down from Shem, one of the sons of Noah.

Abraham was Shem's great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather.

And, or sorry, Shem was Abraham's great times seven grandfather.

The lifespan of people was still kind of working its way down

from up in the 900s in the days of Noah.

And so Shem was actually alive at the same time as Abram was born.

Noah actually only died about 42 years before Abram was born,

which is pretty amazing.

He traces his lineage and he tells us just a little bit about Abram and his family.

Abram had a dad named Terah and he had two brothers.

And they lived together in a city called Ur.

And Ur is kind of along the Euphrates River.

It's in modern day Iraq.

It's kind of, I think, 300 kilometers southeast of Baghdad towards the Persian Gulf.

We've actually found the ruins of what was there.

And there's been quite a lot of excavation and archaeology kind of work done there.

That's where Abram grew up with his father and his brothers.

And Moses gives us two key details about Abram's family.

His brother, he died at an early age and he kind of left a son, Lot.

Lot's going to be a part of this story, as we'll see.

Another key detail, however, is that Abram's wife, Sarai, is barren.

She's not able to conceive and bear children.

And this is really all that we know about Abram until we come to chapter 12 of Genesis here.

Stephen, later on, many years later, thousands of years later in the New Testament,

as he's telling the story about Abraham, this is what he said.

He said,

And so this, what we're going to read this morning is the account of what happened in that moment

when the Lord, the God of glory, the one who created the world and everything in it,

appeared to Abraham.

Genesis 12, verse 1.

Genesis 12:1

The Lord said to Abraham,

Go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land I will show you.

The first thing that the Lord says to Abraham is a command.

It's a directive.

Go.

Leave your country, Babylonia, ancient Babylonia.

Leave your people.

Your clan, your relatives, your extended family, the city of Ur.

Leave that all behind and go to the land that I will show you.

Now imagine for a moment what that would have been like.

I mean, imagine that here you are, modern times.

Let's say you're in your bedroom, making your bed.

And then all of a sudden, the God of glory appears to you.

And we don't know what that was like for Abraham.

It doesn't tell us what he saw, what he experienced in that moment.

But the God of glory appears to you, Yahweh, the Lord.

And he says, Go.

I want you to pack your bags, load up your moving truck, and leave your country.

Leave Canada, Saskatchewan, Davidson, and go to the land I will show you.

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

That's quite the thing to ask of someone.

It's quite the thing to expect that if you ask someone to do that, they'll actually do it.

Unless, of course, you are the Lord of glory.

God says, Go to the land I will show you.

He doesn't even tell him where he's going.

The destination is not clear.

And so you can imagine Abraham as he's thinking about this.

How do I prepare for this?

How do I pack for this?

What do I put in the suitcase?

I mean, this is not just like a trip to Hawaii for a vacation.

You know, pack my sandals, pack my sunscreen, and that kind of stuff.

He has no idea where he's going.

All he knows is he's going out of country, which is far away.

So we're going to need some heavy-duty pulling animals and equipment and carts.

We're going to, who knows how long this is going to be.

We're going to need some tents.

This is a big deal.

To leave it all behind.

Move and go.

And yet, not even a hint is to where in this moment.

But in those words, to the land I will show you,

there's also a faint whisper, a faint promise

of an ongoing relationship with the Lord.

This is not just going to be a one-moment thing.

Just do what I want you to do, and then never hear from the Lord again.

No, go to the land I will show you.

At a future time, I will appear to you again.

I will speak to you again.

I will show you where to go.

And there's more.

The Lord goes on.

He says,

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.

Wow.

Wow.

What a thing to have said to you by the Lord of glory.

I mean, even just think for a moment of how this story has gone so far.

Humanity has rebelled against the Lord.

It got so bad that he wiped almost everybody out with a flood and restarted.

And then it got bad again all the way down to the Tower of Babel.

And it's continuing in that direction.

This is kind of the last thing that we expect to read.

God appears to a man and says,

not I will punish you.

Not the gavel is coming down upon you.

This is enough.

But I want to bless you.

I want to bless your socks off.

I'm going to make you into a great nation.

And not only that.

At the end, he says,

all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Maybe the story of this one man that seems to come out of nowhere

actually has more to do with this big story of the world than we originally thought.

What an unexpected mercy

and gift of grace

in a world that is spiraling downward and out of control.

God promises seven things.

Seven statements he makes.

I will make you into a great nation.

What a thing to promise.

I'm going to make you into a whole country.

a great country.

And not just an average country.

A great one.

I will bless you.

I will put my special favor on your life.

I will make your name great.

I'm going to make you famous in the best way

so that you're revered and you're respected

among all the people.

Verse 3.

I will bless those who bless you, Abraham.

And I will curse whoever curses you.

Just in case anybody would come and threaten what I've promised to you,

I'll deal with them.

I'll be against them if they're against you.

You'll be under my watch,

my care,

my protection.

And if they're for you,

then I'll bless them.

What an amazing thing to promise to a person.

And finally,

you will be a blessing.

All peoples on earth

will be blessed through you.

As good as all these things are,

Abraham,

this is not just about you.

My plan and my purpose

is to bless all the families of the earth

through you.

That's the last thing that I was expecting to hear

out of the mouth of the Lord

after everything that came before this.

I want to bless.

I want to be gracious.

I want to show my kindness and goodness

to this world of people

who are sinning and rebelling against me.

Not just a few people,

not just you, Abraham,

but all the families of the earth.

Worldwide.

What an amazing promise.

So would you do it?

Would you pack it all up,

load up the moving truck,

and leave your country

after hearing this?

Verse four.

So Abram went as the Lord had told him.

And Lot went with him.

Abram was 75 years old

when he set out from Haran.

He took his wife Sarai,

his nephew Lot,

all the possessions they had accumulated

and the people they had acquired in Haran,

and they set out for the land of Canaan.

And they arrived there.

There's a bit of a timing issue here.

You kind of hear that with the story of Haran.

But basically,

some of this is made up for in chapter 11.

Abram was called by God

when he was in Ur.

He packed up,

and he decided to go.

And his dad actually decided to go with him,

Tara.

And Lot came as well.

They traveled 1,000 kilometers northwest

along the Euphrates River.

And remember,

they weren't flying,

they weren't driving.

They were walking,

or they were on animals.

They were packing major

with this caravan here.

They came to a city called Haran,

which is kind of the southern border of Turkey.

Abram's dad, Tara,

decided he's going to stay there.

They settled there for a little while,

and then probably the Lord

appeared to Abram again

and encouraged him,

it's time to go.

It's time to move on to the land

that I promised to you.

And so Abram leaves his dad,

Tara,

literally he leaves his father's household.

He takes Lot with him,

along with all that they had accumulated

while they were in Haran already.

The Lord is beginning to prosper,

Abram,

and bless him.

And they go down

into the land of Canaan.

The land of Canaan,

of course,

is called that

because Canaan,

the grandson of Noah,

his descendants,

had settled in that region.

And Moses tells us

that Abram traveled through the land

as far as the site

of the great tree of Morah

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.

So yes,

Abraham did

what the Lord told him to do.

He just kind of simply accepted,

Yes,

you'll show me where to go.

And he moved

all the way from Ur,

thousands of kilometers,

around the Fertile Crescent

into Canaan.

Can you imagine

what he must have been feeling

as he kind of rolled into town?

People there are kind of like,

Who are you?

Nobody,

you're not related to anybody I know.

You know,

like,

Man,

this guy looks like he's come

from a long ways away.

Who's your grandfather?

Who's your,

you know?

He's a foreigner.

He walks into the land of Canaan.

He goes to a town

called Shechem,

which is kind of partway

into Israel,

or the land of Canaan

as it was known.

And the Lord appears to him again.

Verse 7.

The Lord says to Abraham,

To your offspring,

literally,

to your seed,

to your offspring,

I will give this land.

I mean,

think about that.

Just to put this into perspective,

it's maybe not the same size of land,

but imagine that you walked into

Montana,

and the Lord appeared to you

and said,

I'm going to give this land to you

and to your offspring.

Like,

what?

Just before this,

Moses has already made it

quite clear

that at that time,

the Canaanites were in the land.

This land is occupied.

It belongs to someone else.

Abraham's here as a foreigner.

Here he is,

sitting in his tent.

And the Lord says to him,

I'm going to give this land

to your offspring.

You've got to wonder

what was going on in Abraham's mind

as he heard that.

Like,

how?

How are you going to do that?

When is this going to happen?

Like,

that's crazy.

And yet,

that's what the Lord promised.

And it seems that Abraham

just took his word for it.

He responded.

He built an altar there

to the Lord

who had appeared to them.

He worshipped the Lord.

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 Abraham set out

and continued toward the Negev.

So Abraham's working his way

southward

through the land of Canaan.

He's getting the lay of the land.

He's kind of going towards

the southernmost boundary,

the desert.

And all this time,

this promise is rolling around

in his head.

To your offspring,

I will give this land.

When he comes down

to this second place

near Bethel

where he pitches his tent,

it says,

he built an altar

to the Lord there

and he called

on the name of the Lord.

This is a two-way relationship

between Abraham

and the Lord.

It's not just

the Lord appears,

gives instructions,

and then Abraham

doesn't hear from him

for a long time

and wonders,

well, what's going on?

No, Abraham,

this is two-way.

This time,

in the second place,

he camps.

Abraham,

he builds an altar

and he calls

on the name of the Lord.

What do I do?

Where do I go?

Where do I settle

in this land?

We don't know exactly

what he asked of God.

But this is a two-way relationship.

Which kind of brings us

to this big question

that is kind of,

I hope,

bubbling under the surface

for all of us

of why Abraham?

Out of all the people

on earth,

why does God

pick Abram?

As one of my favorite

commentators,

Dale Ralph Davis,

says,

we kind of have

this stereotype

of Abraham.

We see him

as this kind,

grandfatherly old man

with a long beard.

God probably chose him

because of how righteous

he was,

just like Noah.

But the surprising thing

is that this is not

the picture of Abraham

that the Bible gives us.

In fact,

there's indications

that it's the opposite.

Joshua,

much later in the story,

as he's reminding

the people of Israel

of where they got

their start,

he said this,

he said,

long ago your ancestors,

including Terah,

the father of Abraham,

and Nahor,

lived beyond

the Euphrates River

and worshipped

other gods.

Did you catch that?

Abraham was not

a devout,

righteous,

God-fearing man.

Not at the start.

He worshipped

other gods.

They've even dug up

some of the remains

of the ziggurat

that was at Ur.

It's kind of like

a temple-y

kind of tower thingy

where they worshipped

Nana,

the moon god.

That's where Abraham

and his family

had their start.

And so why Abraham?

This guy

who's a sinner

like all of us

as we're about

to find out

who worshipped

other gods.

Why Abraham?

This is the amazing thing

is there's no reason

given.

It doesn't say.

It certainly

doesn't seem to be

because he was

good,

he was righteous.

Probably the closest

that we get to an answer

is what

the Lord says

to Moses

400 years later.

I will have mercy

on whom I will

have mercy

and I will have

compassion

on whom I will

have compassion.

Some of us

might wonder

well

it doesn't seem

fair

that God

chose him

and not others.

But remember

the promises

that have been made

to Abraham

are not just

for Abraham.

through this

one man

God intends

to bless

all the families

of the earth

and he has

the freedom

he's God

to decide

how this

this plan

is going

to unfold

and who it's

going to begin

with.

This story

is about

the faith

and obedience

of one man

but it's about

even more

than that.

It's about

a God

who

has this

incredible

and deep

unexpected

surprising

love

and mercy

towards the

people

he has made

sinful

though they are.

It's about

the Lord

Yahweh

the God

who shows up

and just

makes promises

like that

to nobodies

for no apparent

reason.

What an

amazing

gracious

unexpected

surprising

love

and mercy

he has.

As we hear

these promises

we're wondering

well how's the

Lord going to

do this?

How's he going

to keep

these promises

and if we're

honest

probably

even with

all the

revelation

we have

today

filled out

in the rest

of the pages

of our Bible

we're still

kind of

wondering

how does

this work

out?

We're going

to come

back to

these promises

again and

again and

look at that

but for

today

for this

Sunday

I want us

to just

think about

what Abraham

is thinking

and seeing

through his

eyes.

He doesn't

know.

He has

no clue

how God's

going to

do this.

I mean

that would

take a

miracle

to make

you into

a great

nation

to give

you this

land

that's

occupied

by all

these other

people

and as we're

going to see

in the weeks

ahead

these promises

they stretch

and reach

even further

than Abraham

probably ever

imagined

or thought

that they

would.

And so

where does

this story

speak to us

today?

I mean

Abraham

he's

he's an

ancient guy.

Here we are

in 2019

in Davidson

Saskatchewan.

What does

the Lord

have for us

through the

story of

Abraham?

In many

ways

there's a

lot of

similarities

between us

and Abraham.

Just like

Abraham

we don't

know the

future.

We don't

know what's

coming.

God

doesn't

always

tell us

this is

where you're

going.

This is

how it's

going to

turn out.

But

inside

that

God

also has

an

invitation

not just

to

Abraham

but to

us

for that

ongoing

relationship

characterized

by faith

characterized

by trust.

We too

like

Abraham

have

received

the

word

of

God.

It

hasn't

come in

the

same

way

as

Abraham

got it

but we

have

here

the

words

of

God

and in

some

ways

we even

have

an

upgrade

over

Abraham

we have

all this

extra

stuff

we have

the

words

of

Moses

in the

law

we have

the

word

of the

prophets

that help

us see

just how

sinful

we really

are.

We have

the story

of Jesus

which helps

us to see

despite the

fact that we're

sinners just

how loved

we are

by what

Christ

came into

our world

to do

for us

Abraham

was

promised

some

pretty

amazing

things

but we

too

have

some

amazing

promises

given

to us

by God

to look

forward

to

and so

here at the

beginning of

Abraham's

story

I think

the simple

question

that we're

all left

with is

what will

we do

in our

lives

in our

situations

with the

unknowns

that we

have

with the

words that

God has

given to

us

will we

do what

Abraham

did

and simply

trust

and obey

do what

the Lord

has asked

us to

do

there's

all kinds

of ways

that this

this really

hits the

road

and this

seems to

be where

the New

Testament

writers

point us

to

the author

of Hebrews

said this

he said

by faith

Abraham

when called

to go

to a

place

he would

later

receive

as his

inheritance

he obeyed

and went

even though

he did

not know

where he

was going

we're meant

to look at

him as an

example

how does

this show up

in our

lives

it shows

up in all

kinds of

ways

we've been

talking about

the election

coming up

we've been

talking

with some

of you

about

just how

things are

not going

the way

that we

want them

to

in our

world

there's

things

that are

happening

our world

has a

different

view

of how

we should

respond

to

authority

it has

a different

view

of sexuality

there's

all these

number

of issues

there's

all these

voices

that just

kind of

clamor

and weigh

in

this is

what you

should

think

this is

what you

should

believe

perhaps

it was

the same

for Abraham

rolling

into

Canaan

oh

you're

worshipping

who

we don't

do that

around here

you know

that

that ancient

God

Yahweh

who's that

the question

is

whose voice

are we

going to

listen to

whose voice

are we

going to

trust

and obey

the voices

that we

hear around

us

or the

voice

of the

Lord

of glory

who has

spoken

to us

and at

times

it's not

easy

often times

we're

tempted

to make

excuses

we don't

read about

Abraham

making

excuses

and

why he

shouldn't

go

why he

shouldn't

make

the

trip

but we

do

that

you know

if I

if I

if I

don't

speed

I'm

going to

be late

fill in

the

blank

well if

I give

to that

thing

then I'm

not going

to have

enough

money

left

for

fill

in

the

blank

if I

if I

don't

just

if I

hadn't

twisted

the

truth

just a

little

bit

in

this

conversation

then

fill

in

the

blank

all

kinds

of

ways

all

kinds

of

situations

but what

we learn

from

Abraham

is that

despite

how we

feel

or what

we

see

or what

we

understand

of the

situation

however

impossible

it

may

be

what we

need to

do

is simply

trust

the

Lord

of

glory

and

obey

his

word

in the

words of

my

one of

my

favorite

musicians

get up

off your

seat

move

your feet

just do

what he

says

let's

pray

father

father we

don't want

to be

hasty

to move

beyond

these

words

in this

moment

you are

the

lord

of

glory

and

so

right

now

in

these

moments

we

want

to

call

on

you

just

as

Abram

did

we

want

to

invite

you

to

direct

the

story

of

our

lives

we

thank

you

for

the

details

that

you

withheld

from

us

on

purpose

so

that

we

would

draw

near

to

you

so

that

we

could

have

a

relationship

with

you

teach

us

what

it

means

to

live

by

faith

reveal

yourself

to

us

in

a

deeper

way

as

we

go

on

this

journey

through

Abram's

story

we

pray

and ask

this

in

Jesus

name

amen