“Father Abraham had many sons.” How many of the young people here this morning know that song? The song “Father Abraham” is one our children love to sing. I am sure we will sing it once or twice this week during vacation Bible school. In addition to singing about Father Abraham there are some actions that go along with the song. Can one of the younger members of our congregation tell me some of the actions that go along with the song “Father Abraham”? That’s right. When we sing it we also say, “Right arm, left arm, right foot, left foot, chin up, turn around...” As we sing about each of those actions we do them.
In addition to being fun to sing “Father Abraham” reminds us of two important things. The Bible says that all who receive God’s promises and believe in them like Abraham are considered to be children of Abraham. So the song is a good reminder for us to hold on to God’s promises by faith. But did you ever think that the actions that we do in the song may also have a message for us? When we move our arms and legs and bodies as the song tells us to we are reflecting the way Abraham did what God told him to do. God called Abraham to leave his home and go to a new country. Abraham did that. God also asked Abraham to obey him in the way he lived--in the things he said and did. Throughout his life Abraham followed where the LORD led him and he gladly obeyed God’s commands. So when we do what the song “Father Abraham” tells us to do we can also remember how Abraham did what God told him to do.
If we are looking for an example from the Bible of a person who experienced the fact that God keeps his promises Abraham is one that naturally comes to mind. Many times God appeared to Abraham and made promises to him. Abraham believed them and God kept his promises.
For our sermon let’s look at one of those times when God repeated his promises to Abraham. From Genesis 17:1-9 we will see how Abraham received God’s promises by faith and how he responded to those promises in faith. In these verses we learn how to be the spiritual children of father Abraham. May the Holy Spirit lead us to:
WALK IN GOD’S PROMISES
I. Receive His promises by faith
II. Respond to His promises in faith
Twenty-four years before the events in these verses from Genesis 17 Father Abraham had received a similar set of promises from God. He received them by faith. In other words, he accepted what God promised as something that was true and would happen. Abraham then responded to God’s promises by the way he lived.
Although we live at a different time and in a different culture we share certain things in common with Abraham. We live in a faith relationship with God. In love God has made some amazing and awesome promises to us. Through those promises he has enabled us to put our faith in them and live our lives according to his will. Both the faith we have in God’s promises and the actions that are produced by our faith in God’s promises are God’s work in us. That is why we walk in God’s promises.
I.
One of the keys to understanding why the Bible calls believers children of Abraham is understanding the fact that Abraham didn’t do anything to cause God to make promises to him. The LORD simply chose him. In undeserved love God came to Abraham to make a covenant--a binding agreement. Abramham wasn’t looking for the true God. He wasn’t an extra nice guy who caught God’s attention. No, God decided to shower his love on Abraham and give him blessing after blessing.
The kind of covenant that God made with Abraham was almost unheard of in the ancient world. People made covenants with other people. Kings and nations made covenants. But they were typically two-sided agreements. The stronger person, or stronger king, or stronger nation demanded things from their weaker counterparts. Among those on more equal terms who entered into a covenant both sides promised to share equally in responsibility for keeping the agreement. If either party failed to live up to the covenant then the agreement was canceled.
In the case of God’s covenant with Abraham the One who was obviously superior made all the promises. The LORD outlined his covenant. He said, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.” Although Abraham and his wife Sarah didn’t have any children God promised that many nations would come from his family tree. To remind him of this promise the LORD changed Abraham’s name. “No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” Abram meant “exalted father.” Abraham meant “father of many nations.’ The LORD went on to tell Abraham, “I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” Driven by love God poured out promises upon Abraham. He even promised a permanent home for Abraham’s descendants. “The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” Given the fact that he had wandered from place to place for almost one hundred years that promise must have been especially exciting. In love God stacked one promise upon another.
And what did father Abraham do with all the promises that God gave him? He simply received them by faith. With his heart acting like open hands he received what God promised. Romans 4:3 tells us, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Whenever someone makes a promise the person to whom that promise is made has two options. He or she can believe it or not believe it--accept it or reject it. But what causes a person to believe a promise made by another person? It is the trust or confidence that a person has in the one who is making the promise that makes the difference, doesn’t it? We could also say that the type of promise and the ability of the person to keep the promise will influence whether or not we accept what they say. You probably wouldn’t accept a promise from someone who said, “I promise to make it rain tomorrow.” In the case of Abraham all of those factors apply. God put faith in Abraham’s heart through the promises that he made so that he trusted God. He reminded Abraham that he had the power to do everything he promised because he is God. So, Abraham walked in God’s promises. He received these promises by faith.
“Father Abraham had many sons, I am one of them and so are you.” Do you see how we are like Abraham? Like Abraham God comes to us in undeserved love and makes some awesome and amazing promises. In his love letter to us that we call the Bible God outlines the covenant he has set up. He tells us that our sins are forgiven. Upon our dry bones he sends the breath of spiritual life to make us his children and enable us to serve him. He changes our name like he changed Abram’s name to Abraham. Actually in the sacrament of baptism he gives us a new name. He puts his name on us. Through God’s decision we are taken from being a sinner to a saint, from one condemned to one cleansed, from one eternally forgotten to one eternally forgiven. We are even given a permanent home in the Promised Land of heaven.
And what do we do with God’s promises? If we are children of Abraham we receive them by faith. As we journey through life we are invited again and again to walk in God’s promises accepting them by faith. Galatians 3 gives us this encouragement to receive God’s promises. “Consider Abraham: ‘He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham...So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”
One of the beautiful things about God’s promises is that they have the power to convince us to believe them. It is the power and character of the One who makes these promises that causes us to believe them and receive them by faith. He can and will do what he says because he is God. With all power to keep them and with the inability to lie or deceive we have every reason to accept what God promises by faith. The Apostle Paul expressed this confidence, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1:20) Yes, children of Abraham, walk in God’s promises. Receive his promises by faith.
But a covenant typically has two sides. One person promises to do this or that. The person on the other side of the agreement also promises to fulfill certain obligations as part of the agreement. What did God ask Abraham to do to keep his part of the covenant? Before the LORD listed his promises to Abraham he said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.” And after he made his promises the LORD also said, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.” Abraham was asked to keep the covenant God made with him. He was asked to live his life according to God’s commands with a sincere heart. He was asked to respond to God’s promises in faith--with actions pleasing to God.
II.
If we look only on the surface we might be led to say, “See, there was a catch! In order to receive God’s promises Abraham had to live a blameless life and keep his end of the deal. If he didn’t keep the covenant God wouldn’t bless him.” But let’s consider that idea in light of the life of Abraham. Did God withdraw his promises when Abraham didn’t trust him as he should have? One time when Abraham went down to Egypt because of a famine in Canaan he lied to protect himself. He told everyone that his beautiful wife Sarah was his sister. She was then taken into Pharaoh’s harem and Abraham was given lavish gifts as compensation. This man of God sold out his wife to save his own skin? Did God end his covenant with Abraham for that lack of faith? No, he repeated his promises. Abraham did the same thing another time with a ruler name Abimelech. And when the son that God had promised Abraham was not coming from Sarah Abraham had sex with her servant Hagar to try to make God’s plan work out. Did God at that time withdraw his promises? Once again he did not.
So how did Abraham keep up his part of the covenant? He could only do it by staying focused on God’s promises. In the example of Abraham we see how God makes a covenant with a person. When he asks for people to obey his will and keep his commandments he creates that desire and ability in them. Obedience comes through faith. Abraham based his obedience to God on God’s promises. When he sinned God forgave him and empowered him to respond to his promises with new obedience. James 2:22 tells us about Abraham’s response to God’s promises, “You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.” Abraham was saved by faith alone but his saving faith was not alone. It produced the life God asked Abraham to live.
In light of the example of Abraham I have a question for you. Why do you obey God? Do you do it to get something from God, to cause him to love you? Do you try to be good so that God doesn’t turn off the tap of his blessings? If you try to obey God in order to win his love and keep him from taking away his promises your motivation is backwards. God loved you first. Can you imagine if a child had to first win the love of his or her parents by doing what they said before the parents would show that child any love? It wouldn’t work. The parents first love the child and then he or she learns to lovingly obey them. That is how our heavenly Father deals with us. 1 John 4:19 says it well, “We love because he first loved us.”
Let’s look at this in a slightly different way. Are you walking before God and being blameless? Where do you find the power to change your life when you are stuck in sin? Again, if you are looking inside yourself you are looking in the wrong place. Abraham did what God asked him to do because of the promises that God made to him. His faith was made fruitful through God’s repeated promises. In the same way we come to God for the power and motivation to obey his commandments and keep the covenant he has made with us. 2 Corinthians 5:1415 says, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” Our motivation to keep God’s covenant comes from the covenant itself. God makes promises that invite us to obedience. The Apostle Paul explained this in his letter to the Ephesians, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) Like Abraham we do the actions of faith through God’s work in us. In his letter to the Christians at Rome the Apostle Paul declared that through Jesus we are called, “to the obedience that comes from faith.” (Romans 1:5) When God asks us to walk in his promises he not only enables us to receive them by faith but also to respond to them in faith.
So now we can go back to our song, “Father Abraham.” When we sing that song we don’t have to tell the children to do the actions. They love to follow along, “right arm, left arm, right foot, left foot.” The song is fun and inviting and so the children gladly do what the song says. In a similar way we are not forced to do what God asks. We obey because he makes it a joy for us. When we walk in God’s promises we will respond to them in faith like Abraham did.
“Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them and so are you. So let’s all praise the LORD!” That song for children carries an important message. We are children of Abraham by faith. God has showered his love on us. Like Abraham we walk in God’s promises. We receive God’s promises in faith. We respond to God’s promises by faith. Amen.
