Last week, when we were thinking about the Tower of Babel, we thought about God’s scattering, about the command of God on humanity to fill the earth. At the beginning of this evening’s reading, we have the same dynamic at work – God is still scattering, moving Abram and his family on, but there is also a change on the horizon, an indication that God is going to settle Abram’s family and root them on the earth in a land that will be theirs.
There is another new theme that has just appeared in the narrative, that is important for understanding this passage, but actually isn’t in it. If we go back a few verses, to Chapter 11, verse 30, we read that “Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.” This is the first that we hear of the idea of childlessness in the Bible. Now, I want to step lightly here, because I know that this may be a painful topic for some here. However, it is important background to know about Abram and Sarai, so that we can have a more complete understanding of the outrageousness of God’s promises later, and of the depth of faith that was required to trust them.
It is also perhaps worth noticing that the witness of God’s word is that from Sarai to Rachel, from Hannah to Elizabeth, God can overrule childlessness literally and that in the lives of Jesus and the Ethopian eunuch we are shown those who were childless and yet had many spiritual children.
So, having set the background we move into the account we heard read a few moments ago.
The Lord speaks to Abram and tells him to leave the place that he knows, the security of his father’s house, to step out in obedience and faith and to go to the place God is going to show him. It is important to note that God does not tell Abram where he’s going. God doesn’t try to persuade Abram or bribe him, God just commands Abram to get moving without knowing the destination, just that the destination is set.
I wonder if you’ve ever played that game with a friend or your children, where you’ve organised a trip for them but you don’t tell them the destination, you just tell them to be ready by a certain time, because that’s when you’re leaving. You might tell them that they need to bring certain items with them, but it’s a surprise for them. When I do that for my kids they spend the whole journey asking where we’re going, guessing where we’re going to end up. I wonder whether Abram did that or whether he just kept walking.
It seems to me that it is worth noting that there is one command, four promises, and five uses of the word blessing in these few verses. That’s an interesting ratio. Following God is really not about following lots of commands in order to receive a bit of a reward. It is completely the other way round. Follow a few commands – Love God, love each other – and receive so much promised blessing that you won’t even be able to count it – live forever with Jesus, joy, peace, love, hope, wholeness, healing, your heart’s desires. It seems to me that it is important that we remember that ratio and tell people about it.
And what were those promises for Abram? They were that he would become a great nation, that his name would be great (note the difference between God doing that and the people of Babel trying to make a name for themselves), that God will protect Abram and that through Abram all people will be blessed. Did God keep those promises? Yes. Abram did become a great nation, a nation that still exists hundreds of years later. Abram’s name and repute is great, he is honoured as the forefather of three world faiths, and held up as an example of faith by the writer of Hebrews. God did protect Abram’s nation, bringing them out of captivity in Egypt and exile in Babylon. Finally, all peoples on earth are blessed by Jesus, who came from Abram. All four promises kept, as one command was followed.
As it says in the beginning of verse four. “And so Abram went…”
So much conveyed in four simple words. “And so Abram went…”
God commanded and God promised and Abram responded. It has echoes for me of the call of the disciples. Jesus walking along the shore of the lake of Galillee and calling out to Peter, Andrew, James and John. Follow me. And they left their nets, and their colleagues, their boats and their homes and they followed. Matthew is there at his tax booth and then he’s gone – Jesus has called him to follow.
“And so Abram went…”
How did Abram go? Did he leave the family behind and go and have a bit of a check out of the land with the plan of sending for them if it all turned out OK? No. He took everything, his wife, his cousin, his flocks, all that they had acquired and off they went. Abram was fully committed to this, no half measures. God had commanded, Abram obeyed.
Again I am reminded of those who came to Jesus and asked to follow him but wanted to go and say good bye to family, or to bury a parent, or were put off by the fact that Jesus had no permanent place to live. Jesus tells them to let the dead bury their own dead, that anyone who puts a hand to the plough and turns back is not fit for the kingdom of God. Hard words indeed, but it seems to me that Abram understood them long before Jesus said them.
As Walter Brueggemann writes of this, Abram understood that:
“To stay in safety is to remain barren; to leave in risk is to have hope”
“To stay in safety is to remain barren; to leave in risk is to have hope”
“And so Abram went…”
And having gone, he arrives in Canaan, to find a load of Canaanites living there. It quickly becomes apparent that this is not going to be a nice, straight forward, move into a land that God has conveniently pre-cleared, or arranged to be empty – there are already people living here.
And then God appears. This is another new thing, God has spoken before, but this is the first time that God actually appears to one of the patriarchs. And again we note that what God appears to deliver is not a command or a rebuke but another promise.
“To your offspring I will give this land”
Now remember what we said about Sarai being unable to conceive. God has brought a childless couple to an already inhabited land and promises them that their offspring are going to inherit it.
I wonder how I would have felt, left everything behind, uprooted my family, got to the new place only to be told that it wasn’t for me, it was for my descendants, and there are already people living there. This is not an easy promise to believe. In fact it is more than that, it is a difficult promise to believe. It can only be believed if Abram believes that God is God, that God can give a child where there was no natural way for a child to be, and if God can remove the obstacles that exist to the land becoming theirs.
I might have been a bit miffed that I’d been led all this way and then told that actually the land wasn’t going to be for me, it was going to be for my descendants. I might have been doubtful that God could actually deliver on what was promised. I don’t know – but we don’t have to wonder what Abram’s reaction was, we are told. What did Abram do? He built an altar – he worshipped – he expressed his faith that the promise maker would be the promise keeper.
He expressed his faith that the promise maker would be the promise keeper.
Then he keeps going. God hasn’t told him to settle yet, so he keeps moving, on towards the Negeb, worshipping as they went, building another altar, calling on the name of the Lord.
That’s an interesting phrase, isn’t it, “calling on the name of the Lord.”
In Psalm 105:1-2 we read, “Give praise to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.”
Here, calling on the name of the Lord is an act of praise, not just of telling God how great God is, but telling everybody how great God is. Unless we are telling other people how great God is, then our worship is, at best, incomplete, and at worst not worship.
In Psalm 116:3-4 we read this, “The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me”.
Here, calling on the name of the Lord is a call of petition, of asking for rescue, of expressing our need to God
I suspect that Abram was doing both as he called on the name of the Lord. He was declaring his faith and worship for the things God had done for him already, and asking God to do yet more, in the face of childlessness and opposition.
So, we leave Abram heading on into the desert and down to Egypt, but that’s a whole other sermon series.
What of us, what might we draw out of this story that might shape our stories?
The first thing that I’d like to highlight is God’s insistence on moving people on, and not telling them where they’re going. In this story that moving on was literal, God was moving Abram to another country. That might be the case for some of us here this evening. Even if that isn’t the case, God may very well be commanding us to leave behind a way of doing things, a way of thinking, a habitual sin, a job. God may be commanding us to move to a new thing, but hasn’t shown us what it is yet.
Change is difficult, we yearn for stability and security, it is how we are created. The good news is that God knows that, and gives us the stability we need – God’s nature, as revealed in Scripture, by the Holy Spirit, is a foundation that won’t be shaken. Jesus is our anchor, our cornerstone, and will never leave or forsake us. Where is God sending us, where is Jesus calling us to follow? Will we stay in barren safety, or leave in risky hope? Will we go?
The second thing that I’d like to highlight is the multi-generational nature of God’s relationship with people. As Breuggemann writes, “The text stands in opposition to the one-generational ideology of our culture, which demands everything now”
As part of the church of England we know this. When I was instituted here a few weeks ago we heard this as part of the service, “faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation”.
Since that service I have had the encouragement of worshipping with different congregations through the week, and seeing cross generational sacrifice in the different congregations. I was particularly inspired by the retired people at toddler praise worshipping with the youngsters, encouraging them in their faith. I’ve been meeting lots of people, and have loved hearing testimonies of those who were brought to the church and to faith by saints who have now gone to glory, but who they are looking forward to meeting again.
All Saints has been a church for generations, holding to the promise, to the person of God, but we have not yet seen the promise of God’s kingdom come in Wellington in all its fulness, we pass on that promise from generation to generation, as we trust the promise maker, and follow the command to keep moving. Because that is what Christian discipleship is all about, it is following the Way, always moving, always worshipping, always calling on the name of the Lord in worship and in prayer, never settling for what is less than the Kingdom of God in all its glory.
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