Ready For Great Things
Bible Reading:
Genesis 12: 1-20
PREPARED BY
KEN GEHRELS
PASTOR
CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
NEPEAN, ONTARIO
"Abram, it’s time. You must go."
And he went.
That’s the gist of Genesis 12 - the calling of a man from the city, challenged to move to a foreign nation and culture to serve a God not recognized in that place. An average man with an average faith.
Facing a challenging call - maybe even a bit threatening.
It’s also a call that echos through the pages of scripture, the same call that comes to believers down through the ages.
It is your call. And mine. Tonight I invite you to hear that call again.
When you read the opening verses of Genesis 12, it seems as if God spoke and without hesitation, in a flash, no questions asked, Abram picked up and responded. Truth be told, that response was years in the making. There was great big, "Ah, let me see, let me think about this" stuck in the middle.
The apostle Stephen, first martyr of the Church, tells the story of faith in Acts 7. In verse 2 he relates that Abram had been called while still in Mesopotamia. He was then re-called in Haran after his father had passed away. It is only then that Abram picked up and moved along to Canaan.
It’s a similar dynamic to the call given to the prophet Jeremiah, who was called by God, lagged in that calling, and then in Jeremiah 15:19-21 is re-called and re-posted as servant of the Almighty.
Perhaps it was the tugs and comforts of remaining with family; perhaps responsibilities to an elderly father. We’re never told. All we know is that something held Abram back, and God had to tap him on the shoulder a second time.
Familiar? Been there?
Had something pressed onto your heart, into your conscience - couldn’t escape it and knew that God was challenging you in a particular way....... but couldn’t bring yourself to go there, either. Push it away, rationalize that someone else is far better suited for this task; besides, you don’t have the time or the means. And yet - somehow it wouldn’t leave. Or, if it does fade into the background, soon enough - there it is again! Leaving you no choice but to respond.
Abram - his name is from the past. His challenges remain very real.
As real as the culture from which he came. He’d probably feel right at home here in Ottawa. Growing up in the big city, in a culture incredibly advanced with architecture, astronomy and math that was cutting edge, social structures that were very intricate, and economy that was fantastically wealthy.
He wasn’t from the fringes. No - Abram was from a culture as alive and moving as any, ever. Smart. Aware. That was the Mesopotamian culture of the day. And we can make a pretty fair assumption in judging that Abram was a slice out of that culture.
In it.
With it.
Till God says, "Come out of it."
And slices him away.
Leave the city streets you know so well.
The scenes you find so comfortable.
The social networks that keep you stable.
The recreation spots where your heart relaxes.
and go.
Just take the first step.
Don’t worry about forecasting and projecting outcomes.
Leave that to me.
Get.
And I’ll guide you.
Abram "gets."
Living out what Psalm 37 proclaims:
"If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm;
though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the Lord upholds him with his hand." [Psalm 37:23-24]
Living out the magnificent portrait of what we believe from the Heidelberg Catechism, Q/A 27, regarding the providence of God:
The almighty and ever present power of God by which he so rules... that all things come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand.
Whatever is ahead for Abram will be no fluke.
There’s no chance for chance.
God is drawing the roadmap.
God prepares the destination.
Abram’s job ---- our job ---- is to walk.
"Get!!"
And as you go, Abram -
I will bless you.
I will make you a blessing.
The world "blessing" - what does it mean?
It’s one of those great faith words we use so often.
In your daily prayers, how many times will you repeat this word?
Can you write, 20 words or less, what "blessing" means?
Blessing - from the ancient, pre-Hebrew word meaning "to transfer beneficial power which renders life fruitful."
It’s a term closely related to "shalom", which is a state of being where life IS fruitful and well-ordered, meaningful, as it should be.
Blessing in one’s life is the power that moves a person towards being shalom-filled.
Obey God by going and Abram will find meaning greater than any he could find by staying in the tech centre of the Ancient Near East.
Go with God and shalom will settle on you, Abram.
God with God and shalom will flow through you, Abram.
Remind you of a New Testament promise that Jesus made?
Remember that song we sing here sometimes, "There’s a river of life flowing out of me; makes the lame to walk and the blind to see; opens prison doors, sets the captives free; there’s a river of life flowing out from me."
Where’s that come from?
John 7:37 –
"Jesus stood and said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within Him."
He quotes there from Isaiah 58:11:
"the Lord will guide you always;
He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail."
John 7 tells us Jesus is talking about the work of the Holy Spirit in and through us. John 4 uses similar language to speak about eternal life.
Shalom life.
Life the way it should be.
God’s way.
It may not be a way we understand.
It may not seem very permanent.
It may mean taking some unsettling steps.
It may even push us into strange, scary territory.
It may seem as if everything is coming apart at the seams.
But when you "Get!"
When you go with God
You are going towards shalom.
A shalom that will spread beyond you to those around you.
"Whoever curses you, I will curse....."
Curse - I’m sure you can figure out that it is a word meaning exactly the opposite of blessing. It means power that drains your life of meaning, that leaves you fruitless and empty.
Futile.
It strikes me every time I read contemporary literature, view contemporary art, dance or drama –
– do you notice it, too? –
how dark and empty so much of it seems.
No form. No structure. All over the place.
Tell me, honestly..... do we seem a society at peace, fruitful, in shalom?
or.... would curse be a better word?
Fruitless.
Empty.
Are we a nation, a city, with or without the Lord?
In His way, or.......
So - as average city-dwelling folk, not a lot different than Abram, what kind of challenge faces us?
You?
Me?
Well, Abram goes -
Into Canaan.
He builds an altar and "calls on the name of the Lord." That language means something stronger than a quiet, private devotional prayer. It’s public. Almost preachy. It’s loud. It’s strong.
Abram goes very public about God in a land where people were quite inclined to worship the creation, to interact with natural forces and powers and consider them divine. Abram points beyond them to the Divine Creator.
But notice - he never really settles there. Pitches a tent for a time, but never hunkers down to become integrated into their society.
Some of our Kuyperian Reformed leaders used to use the term "antithesis" to describe this dynamic as it plays out in the life of a believer.
You engage the culture.
You work with it. In it. Try to transform it.
But you DON’T allow yourself to become sucked up by it.
You don’t buy into its values and agendas and priorities.
You remain, to use the language of 1 Peter 2:11, "strangers... pilgrims."
Whatever the thesis, the core driving reason for being, that this society has, there remains something in you that is directly opposed to that,
anti...thesis.
Which, at times, can put you into a tight bind.
Abram finds his journey takes him to Egypt. Notice that not a single negative thing is said about that in the Bible. Where the problem comes is when the walls start to close in on Abram. He develops his own "Plan B" instead of continuing to rely on God’s "Plan A." Genesis 12 tells us the bumbling story in all its sad detail.
Interestingly enough, it’s not the only time that a "Plan B" gets pulled out of Abram’s planner. A very similar wife-swapping account happens with King Abimalech in Genesis 20. And when God promises a son, Abram figures out his own human way to produce one in ch.16.
If there was a way to chart it, I think that Abram would be classed as "spiritually developmentally delayed".
He doesn’t get. Not even on the second or third try.
Reminds me of the saying, "If at first you don’t succeed........
........you’re running about average."
Abram - an average believer trying to make his way through life guided by the rudder of faith.
And God,
well, God doesn’t give up, growing challenging, strengthening that faith, and using it to do great things
As He does later with David..... and Peter.
As He will do for you and me.
For we, too, face the call of God to "Get!"
to live as pilgrims, calling on the name of the Lord in a land which we engage but whose values and priorities we refuse to accept.
Antithesis.
We, too, follow the marching order of One who holds the outcome in His hands alone.
When we can’t see it, He does.
When we feel weak, He remains all powerful.
When we grow confused His holy awareness guides us.
Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me...."
Then He says ----
---- remember the next word???
"Go!"
He also said,
"And surely I will be with you always!" (Matthew 28)
Abram’s name is included in Hebrews 11, an accounting of heros of faith, believers who obeyed God’s call. One important refrain of that chapter is that they never saw full completion of their mission. It was handed down to those who followed...... including us. And then come these words, ending chapter 11 and beginning chapter 12. With them I close:
"As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses round us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end." [TEV Heb 12.1-2]
