Unlikely Heroes of Faith | Buzzard Bowling and Covenant Keeping - Genesis 15 | February 9

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Yes, if you do not know who I am, well, consider yourself blessed,

but you're about to end that blessing because I am the campus minister at Appalachian

State Campus Christian Fellowship.

We really have the privilege partnering with y'all.

We've done several events at this point where y'all have been coming out with

us and interacting with college students. We have a few of our college students here with us today.

We're a pretty small ministry right now, and it's a huge blessing to be a small ministry.

Sometimes you don't see it that way, but it really is. And we have a rock star of a crew right now.

And so five of them are here with us today. So thanks for coming out.

Y'all can go meet them. I'll let you introduce yourself and get to know them.

But Zach asked me to come and asked if I would share with y'all today.

And he said, basically, you know, just share anything like any scripture or

something that means a lot to you for whatever reason.

And so I was like, all right, I'll run with that. That gives me no direction whatsoever.

So, but the passage that we are going to share today is one that I think for

the last few years has really been super impactful for me for various reasons.

So even some of the application that I'll share today.

Well, I'll say one thing, part of the application that I share today,

I didn't even realize this until this morning. As I was preparing,

I was like, oh, this is what was going on.

So that's part of it. But the other part is this passage has come up over and

over and over again in so many different ways.

So the application I share may not be what actually hits you.

And that's what I love about scripture.

It's what I love about God. It's because that's what he does.

And so whatever it is for you, I hope something comes out and stands out.

But there's one rule that I have when we engage scripture.

I don't really share this all that often, but the rule that I have is it better

be fun. Now, how many of you here don't have fun in church?

All right. Trick question. Y'all gotcha. Okay.

No, we should, I think, have fun as we engage scripture as we worship together, of course, as well.

And part of that is because scripture is written in a way to make us ask questions.

It's written in a way to make us say, that's really weird.

And so we're going to do that a couple times today and just point out the weirdness of scripture.

But I want to start by sharing a scene with you from the Lion King.

Okay, so the Lion King, I am intimately familiar with the Lion King because

every drive we've had over two hours for the last seven years,

we have listened to the Lion King almost seven years.

He's not quite seven yet. But our oldest son loves The Lion King.

We have it on a little recording that he can listen to. And boy, we listen to it a lot.

He's actually changed to Finding Nemo lately. So we're kind of grateful for that.

Anyways, there's this part in The Lion King where Simba, after Mufasa,

if you don't know the story, I don't want to ruin it for you, but Mufasa dies.

And Simba, his uncle Scar, evil uncle Scar, tells him like, hey, you got to run away.

This was all your fault. And so Simba starts to run away, and he runs and runs

and runs across the desert to the point of exhaustion.

And finally, he passes out, and he's there, exhausted, basically left there to die.

And then the next scene we get is this warthog named Pumbaa and his friend,

the meerkat named Timon, coming, and they're charging through,

and they run the buzzards off.

And Pumbaa turns and says, I love buzzard bowling!

So today, I'm going to invite you to go buzzard bowling with me in scripture,

because I promise you it's there.

You may be thinking, what in the world is this guy talking about? Buzzard bowling?

To which I'd say, good, I'm glad you're thinking that.

Because in Genesis 15, verse 11, we have our verse for the day,

Genesis 15:11

and the verse is this, And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

So here we have Abram or Abraham. I'll refer to him mostly as Abraham.

But we have him running away buzzards, basically. He's buzzard bowling in scripture.

But I have two questions that I think need to be answered in order to understand what's really going on.

The first question is, well, what is actually going on in this passage?

Like in the greater context, what's happening?

The second question is, why in the world would this verse be included in the story?

Now, you have to think, as this was getting written down especially,

but even before that, as it was getting told to each other through story,

every detail would matter.

One, as it was getting written down, it was super costly to write these things

down, so you're not going to include extraneous details.

Two, as you're telling the story, when you include extraneous details,

people get lost in those details.

So when you include a detail, you want them to think about, why is this here?

So that's how the Old Testament especially is written.

So the question is, why is this verse included about Abram driving birds of prey away?

So let's go into the context.

And to do this, I want us to look at the greater story of Abraham up to this point.

And let's not go too far. Let's just go up to this point.

But if we go back a little ways, our first introduction to Abraham is actually

in the last bit of Genesis chapter 11. We're introduced to his family.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

And then we start in Genesis chapter 12, where God gives an invitation to Abraham.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

One of the greatest invitations in all of human history, I believe.

And his invitation is this, hey, leave everything that you have,

leave everything that you know,

every bit of security that you possibly have on this earth, and come follow

me, and I will bless you so that you can be a blessing to the entire world.

Now, for whatever reason, Abraham actually says, all right, I'll do this.

And as he does it, one little detail is Abraham's like, yeah,

I'm going to bring my nephew Lot along.

Now, the question is, why would

he bring Lot along? The second question I have is, why would Lot agree?

And Lot, in the same way, he's leaving everything that he knows,

everything he has, and yet he continues to go and say, okay,

I'll go with you on this crazy quest.

But why would Abraham actually bring him along? God shows up,

gives him an invitation and says, I'm going to make your descendants into a

great nation and I'm going to give you this certain land.

And Abraham's like, hey, Lot, come with me. And I think for Abraham,

Lot was his security blanket.

At that point, he knew his wife was barren. That would have been very apparent at this point.

And so he looked at God and said, okay, if you're going to do this,

you're probably going to do it through my nephew Lot. So Lot, come with me.

And this is what God's going to do through us.

And so the story continues. The next story that we actually get is Abraham and

Lot do pretty well in life. They end up being really wealthy.

And all of a sudden they come into this problem that they have of they have

too much. It's a good problem to have.

But they're sitting here, they have too much. And the land that they're sojourners

in, so they don't have one spot, and the land that they're going around doesn't

have a whole lot of water and doesn't really have a whole lot of green grass,

which is cool to have green grass in it.

So they come to the problem and Abraham comes to Lot and he says,

hey, we got to split up. We have too much.

I'm going to let you choose where to go. And Lot, like all of us,

says, I'll go to the green grass and the water.

And Abraham says, all right, Go ahead. I'll go the other direction. And so they split up.

Seems like a good choice for Lot until you realize that everybody wants the

green grass and the water.

So as the story progresses, the next story is Lot actually gets captured by

someone else and he's taken away to be his servant.

So Abraham comes and says, well, wait a second, that is my nephew.

So Abraham takes on this battle and goes into a battle he has no business going

into and no business winning.

And he actually comes out victorious. And this is Genesis 14.

And he gets to the end of this battle.

And he's coming back. And all of a sudden, the king over Lot's area meets Abraham

and says, Hey, nice job, Abraham.

If you don't mind just giving me the people back, you can keep all the spoils

and all the stuff. I'll just take the people.

Now, what you have to realize is Abraham won the people also in battle.

So Abraham has every right in that culture to say, hey, these are mine now.

And here he's finally restored with Lot.

This is his opportunity to say, no, this is God's plan to go through Lot and work through Lot.

Remember the whole security blanket idea.

And Abraham instead says, all right, here's the people and here's everything else.

I'm not taking anything. I don't want it to be by your hand that I've been wealthy.

I'm going to let that be through God. So I'm taking nothing.

And that's the context we find ourselves in. Abraham just says, I'm taking nothing.

And that's where we pick up our stories. So in the beginning of Genesis chapter

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

15, we're going to work our way through it slowly, but God shows back up on

the scene and we'll work through verses one and two to start.

It says, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.

Fear not, Abram. I am your shield.

Your reward shall be very great.

But Abram said, Oh, Lord God, what will you give me?

For I continue childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.

All right, we're going to pause there. So God basically shows up and says,

Great job. I love what you just did.

And your reward is going to be awesome.

And Abraham's response is like, OK, come on, God. I've heard this before.

You can hear the whininess starting to come out like, what are you going to

give me that's such a great reward?

I don't even have an heir to everything you've given me. I'm kind of tired of

the stuff. I just want an heir.

And God's, well, what does God do? Notice the next three words.

And Abram said, this is verse three.

If you want, yeah. And Abram said. So a little lesson in reading,

especially Old Testament scripture.

So Old Testament, when you have a conversation between two parties,

and then you have a phrase like, and Abram said, so the same person speaking,

then you have two different conversations.

So basically God says, hey, your reward's going to be great.

And Abram says, well, oh, what are you really going to give me?

Right now, Eliezer is my heir. I don't have any children.

And God just is like.

So Abram comes back and he says, so God, what about this? And let's pick up in verse three.

It's a whole different conversation. He says, behold, you have given me no offspring

and a member of my household will be my heir.

How far? Let's go through six. Let's go. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him.

This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir.

And he brought him outside and said, look toward heaven and number the stars

if you're able to number them.

Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be.

And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness.

So Abram comes back to God. He's still got the whiny tone a little bit.

And he says, hey, God, you remember this?

I have this member of my household who's going to be my heir, no children.

What's going on? And God finally says, okay, okay, I'll make this promise to

you that you will have a child and he will be your heir.

And let's do one more. Let's take you out. Go ahead and number the stars.

Yeah, that's as many as your descendants will be. And Abraham actually believes God.

So it seems, right? He just takes him at his word, which is crazy when you really think about it.

He just takes him at his word.

And then we pick up in verse 7, as we continue the story.

And he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out from the Ur of the Chaldeans

to give you this land to possess.

But he said, so notice this response.

Oh Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?

So God says, hey, I'm going to give you as many descendants as the stars in the sky.

And then God continues on in this, and he says, hey, and remember,

I'm the God who took you out of the land you used to be in, and I'm going to

give this land to you and your descendants.

And Abraham this time says, how am I going to know this?

It's like at first, Abraham says, yeah, okay, I'm willing to take you at your

word. You're going to give me all these descendants. Great.

And then as he chews on it, as time passes, he's still struggling with nothing happening.

And so when God shows back up and says, hey, I'm going to give you this land,

Abram says, how am I going to know?

The question he's wrestling with is, is this God actually a God who keeps his word?

If we put ourselves in Abraham's shoes, at this point, he's left everything he's had.

He's come to this place, and he's gotten wealthy and wealthy and wealthy.

And all these other things that God has invited him into are not happening.

He doesn't have a child. The land is not coming about.

In Abraham's shoes, he's starting to question, is this God that I've chosen

to give everything to, a God who's willing and able to keep his word.

So now here's where things start to get a little fun.

Let's pick up verse 9 and 10. So he said to him, this is God,

bring a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old,

a ram three years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.

And he brought him all these, cut them in half and laid each half over against

the other, but he did not cut the birds in half.

So notice what God asked Abram to do.

He says, hey, go get this ram, this heifer, these couple birds,

a female goat, get all these animals and bring them to me. And then what does Abram do?

He cuts them in half, right?

God never asked him to do that, But Abram knew exactly what to do. Anyone know why?

Because they were making a covenant together and Abraham understood it.

When God asked to bring these animals, he said, hey, let's make a covenant together.

And so Abraham did it. He came, he cut them in half, he set them up on either side.

And the way a covenant would work in this situation is you'd set the animals

up on either side and the two birds facing each other.

And then the lesser party, so each covenant had a lesser party and a higher party.

The lesser party would walk through the blood first, and he would stomp in the

blood to get blood on there, and they're saying, by the blood of this covenant,

I am agreeing to whatever terms you would have.

After the lesser party walked through, then the greater party or the higher

party in whatever situation would walk through, and they would splash the blood on them saying,

according to this blood, I am agreeing to whatever terms this covenant would have.

So as they were making a covenant together, we get to our verse where Abraham

drives the birds of prey away.

It says, and when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

So now that we know what's going on in this situation, why do we think this

verse would be included?

And I think Abraham in And this moment had two realizations that led him to

hesitate and stop himself.

The first one is he realized he would never uphold his end of this covenant.

As much as he would love to say he could, he knew he would come up short.

He knew there would be moments where he wouldn't be ultimately committed to

living life with this God.

And so, he hesitates.

But then, I think in a realization of genius, he had one more significant realization.

He realized that if this God he had chosen to follow was actually the God he

says he was, then he would be willing to make the covenant to himself.

Because this would be a God, for him to be the ultimate God,

he would be a God who simply kept his word to himself.

And so when Abraham waited, when we get to this verse,

we realize that driving the birds of prey away is Abraham waiting in expectation

to see if God is a God who keeps his word to himself.

And what happens in the rest of the chapter is pretty fascinating.

So let's read. We'll read the rest of the chapter.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and behold,

dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.

Then the Lord said to Abram, Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners

in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there.

They will be afflicted for four hundred years, but I will bring judgment on

the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a

good old age, and they shall come back here in the fourth generation,

for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a

flaming torch passed between these pieces.

And on that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying to your offspring,

I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

the land of the Canaanites, the Canaanites, the Cadmonites, the Hittites,

the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites,

the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

So we see this.

Well, God shows up to Abram in this deep vision.

He says, hey, just so you know, it's not coming in your lifetime. It's coming.

But now I'll tell you, it's not coming in your lifetime.

But I'm willing to do this. And God comes and he shows up both as the lesser

party and the greater party. And he says, I am the God who keeps my word to myself.

And so he makes this covenant with Abraham.

And so as we, well, we'll kind of finish up. There's really two places I want to go and want to land.

The first, as we talk about driving your birds of prey away,

I want you to learn to love to drive your birds of prey away.

And it means two things. One, just kind of an encouragement,

but it means that as God's children, as his people, we strive to be people who

keep our words to ourself.

So I may make an agreement or a covenant with you, but it's not about me keeping

up for you. It's about me keeping it up for myself.

It's found in science, actually, that the basis of self-confidence and self-esteem

is ultimately you being able to keep your word to yourself.

I find that fascinating. And our God is a God who keeps his word to himself.

But two, I think even maybe more profoundly, as we think about driving our birds

of prey away or buzzard bowling,

it is the invitation to wait with expectation and let's see if God will be a

God who keeps his word for himself, to himself.

So this could look in so many different ways.

Sometimes it's just the willingness to forgive someone else.

And let's just see if God will show up in that situation.

If he'll be someone who keeps his word to himself, ultimately.

Sometimes it's in showing incredible patience to your kids or to your spouse.

She's not even listening.

All right. Or to friends, whatever it may be.

Sometimes it's in having really big patience with the college students that

you hang out with. Oh, is that just me that needs that? All right.

In all situations, it's showing up with the expectation to see if God is a God

who will keep his word to himself.

And the reality is it may take a lot of waiting. Sometimes it's waiting through

our lifetime. But God is always a God who's willing to keep his word to himself.

So let's pray and I think we'll do another song.

Father, we thank you. Honestly, we thank you and we praise you that you are

a God who keeps your word to yourself.

It's not about us.

And yet you work through us and you partner with us and how awesome it is.

So God, I pray that we can realize that all the more, that we are waiting with

expectation to see how you will keep your word to yourself.

And I pray that we can walk in that and we can wait with patience for you to

show up as only you can, Lord.

In the name of Jesus, I pray, amen.

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Thank you for listening to Mountainside Church's podcast. We hope you found

inspiration and encouragement in today's teaching.

To learn more about our church, stay connected or partner with us, visit mcboone.org.

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