Genesis 12:1-8 * February 17, 2008 * Lent 2 * Pastor Pagels
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
Some people say that I’m special, and maybe they’re right. Today God speaks to his people through his Word, but he spoke to me directly, not just once, but many times throughout my life. And when he did, he had some pretty amazing things to say.
You can read about my life in Genesis, where Moses dedicates
a quarter of the book (chapters 12-25) to my biography. You can read about my journey from
My name is Abram (you might know me better as Abraham), and
sometimes I think of my life as a journey.
There were ups and downs, good days and bad days. But through it all there was one constant in
my life, my relationship with God. The
Lord brought me to the promised land of
This morning I would like to take you back to the place where my journey began, to the opening verses of Genesis 12 where the Lord called me. That call was special. That call was unique, but it was not exclusive. In fact, the Lord has called each one of us. And even thought the focus of this sermon will be on me and my life, I want you to always remember that…
EVERY CHILD OF GOD HAS A CALL FROM GOD
I. A call to faith
II. A call to be faithful
I was seventy-five years old at the time, and by all outward
appearances my life was good. I was
married. I was established. I was successful. You could say that my life in
This was not the first time God told me to leave my country
and my people. I had done that before
when I traveled hundreds of miles from
This call was different. God was asking me to leave my loved ones behind. God was asking me to go to a land he would show me, a foreign land I had never seen before, a land where I had no friends or family to rely on. Even though I don’t know where I was supposed to go or why I was supposed to go there, I trusted God. I trusted that God had a plan for me. I trusted that God had a plan for my life.
And he did. Right after God revealed his plans to me he connected his plan with a long list of promises. He said to me: “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” (2,3).
God’s first promise was unbelievable, literally unbelievable. He promised to make me into a great nation, but at the time my wife and I were getting along in years and we didn’t have any children at all.
The next promise, the promise to make my name great, made a little more sense. The very fact people are still talking about me today suggests that this promise has come true. I can’t go into great detail about every promise. Suffice it to say that the Lord did bless me, and he blessed others through me. He helped me help others, and he gave me victory after victory over my enemies
The final promise on the list deserves special attention. God’s last promise was his greatest promise: “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” But how? How was God planning to bless all the peoples of the earth through me? How are you blessed through me?
In order to understand this promise you have to understand that it’s not really about me. It’s about someone who came after me. It’s about one of my descendants. It’s about the promised Messiah. This promise doesn’t mention anyone by name, but it is a prophecy about Jesus.
And with the benefit of hindsight we know that this promise has come true. Through Jesus all people are blessed. Through Jesus you are blessed. Through Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the grave you have the forgiveness of sins, peace with God, purpose for your life, hope for eternal life.
Sometimes people make a big deal about what happened
next. I left. I took my wife Sarai and my nephew Lot and all
of my earthly possessions and set out for
I don’t deserve any special recognition for that. I don’t deserve a medal or a pat on the back. Leaving everyone and everything I knew was an act of faith, but in addition to everything else I had God had given me my faith too. God gave me the faith to trust in him, to follow him. But I don’t deserve any credit for that. Wouldn’t any child of God do what I did? Wouldn’t you?
If the Lord appeared to you and told you to move to a place you had never been before, to a place you had never seen before, wouldn’t you start packing this afternoon? If God told you that even though you live in this sinful world you are not to be a part of it, wouldn’t you listen to him? Wouldn’t you obey him? If God asked you to carry a cross in your life (trusting that he has a plan for it and for you), wouldn’t you? Or are you too comfortable? Would he be asking too much? Would the cost be too great? Would the price be too high?
Even though I am held up as a great hero of faith, even though God did great things through me, the truth is that I am no better than you. I have failed to trust God. I have fallen short of the glory of God. And I am profoundly grateful.
Every day I give thanks to God because my salvation does not depend on me. It doesn’t even depend on my faith. It depends on the object of my faith. It depends on God’s promise of a Savior, for me it was a Savior to come, for you it is the Savior who has come.
It’s true for me. It’s true for you. It’s true for every child of God. Every one of us has been called to faith. And with that faith in God burning in hearts, with the desire to thank God for that precious gift, he gives us opportunities to respond to his blessings. And he has given us another call, a call to be faithful.
Traveling wasn’t too difficult for me (as a nomad I was used
to moving around), but not knowing my final destination was hard. Whenever I stopped for the night, I didn’t
know if that would be my final stop. It
trusted that God would let me know when I reached the end, and he did. When my caravan came to Shechem, when we reached
the great tree of Moreh in the middle of
And then I looked all around and I looked down at the ground and thought to myself: “So this is it. This is why God asked me to leave my home. This is the Promised Land.” Even though I didn’t have a single offspring at the time, I didn’t doubt God. I didn’t doubt, but I did do something. I did something to show what I was feeling. I built an altar to the Lord.
You might wonder what putting a bunch of stones in a pile meant. It meant a lot. Building an altar to God was my way of worshipping God. It was my way of saying: “Thank you, God. Thank you for your promises. Thank you for your protection. Thank you for everything.”
Your worship is more sophisticated. Your altar is more beautiful. Even though the way you worship is much different today, the reason you worship God is the same. Every time you gather in this sanctuary, God speaks to you. God reminds you of the great things he has done for you. And you respond. You acknowledge his greatness. You thank him for his goodness. You confess. You sing. You pray.
Worship is an ongoing conversation between God and God’s people,
but when you talk to God you are also talking to others. Let me give you an example. After I left Shechem I traveled south and
eventually pitched camp between the cities of
Remember that there were Canaanites in the land, and they were watching me very closely. They saw my caravan. They saw what I did. They heard what I said. And maybe you can imagine a scenario like this. Picture one of those curious Canaanites coming over and asking me: “What are you doing? What’s with that pile of rocks? Who is this God you are worshipping? Who is the one you call ‘Yahweh?’”
When I worshipped God, I didn’t worship in secret. I called on the name of the Lord in plain view. In a land filled with idols, I spoke openly about my faith in the one true God. And God blessed me.
You might be thinking yourself: “Okay, Abram. I understand how it worked for you, but things are different today. Most of the people in worship this morning are already Christians. The way we worship doesn’t really give us opportunities to witness, does it?”
It depends on your definition of worship. If worship is what Christians do for an hour or so on Sunday mornings, you might have a point. But if you use a broader definition, if you think of it like Paul did when he encouraged Christians to offer their bodies (their whole lives) to God as their spiritual act of worship (see Romans 12:1), then worshipping and witnessing go together. In fact, you can’t keep them apart.
You honor God when you get to work on time and when you get your work done on time, but did you ever think of your punctuality and dependability as a subtle form of witnessing? You glorify God when you are kind and considerate to people who aren’t so kind or considerate to you, but when you do you are saying something about the One who is infinitely kind. Responding to adversity in your life without grumbling or complaining speaks volumes about a Christian’s faith in God, but it also sends a powerful message to others.
And who knows when your friend or your neighbor or your co-worker will notice? Who knows when one of those people will come up to you and ask: “What makes you tick? What is it that makes you different? Who is this God I’ve heard you talk about before? Who is the one you call Jesus?”
The Lord has given us many different callings, but there is one calling we all share. God has called us to be faithful, faithful parents and children, faithful teachers and students, faithful employers and employees, faithful church members and citizens. And when we are faithful to our callings, we aren’t just doing what we are supposed to do. We aren’t just doing the things we have to do. We are worshipping God and witnessing to others.
I am special, but in the eyes of God I am no more special than you. I have sinned. So have you. I have a Savior from sin. So do you. It doesn’t matter if it’s 2000 BC or 2000 AD. It doesn’t matter if the Lord speaks to you personally or in the pages of Scripture. Every child of God has a call from God, a call to faith and a call to be faithful. Amen.