The Story of God: Abram’s Story… Our Story

When I was in College I was given an assignment to write a comparison/contrast paper. I chose to write a paper featuring my dad to show how serving as a golf pro was similar to serving as a pastor. In it I shared how my dad watched over his membership much like a Pastor watches over his flock. I shared how my dad was a teacher and counselor to his people. He’d teach them the basics of the swing and then listen as they shared their successes and struggles. But generally speaking my dad set the tone for the culture of the club. And the tone he set made Salem Golf Club a place you wanted to be part of. And the way he set that tone was pretty simple – it was his self-effacing style of serving everyone and always doing it with a smile. Didn’t matter who you were or how good a golfer you were, my dad always greeted you with a smile. On more than one occasion I witnessed him disarm disgruntled players or smooth out potential conflicts with his easy-going charm. His patience always impressed me. Then as I shared in the celebration of my dad’s life two weeks ago this realization about my dad hit me: Every time I’d go home to Salem Golf Club these past twenty years, people who knew my dad would always ask me one question: “How’s your dad?” And they’d immediately follow it up with, “I really love your dad.” What a legacy! After serving the members and public of Salem Golf Club for nearly fifty years, my dad left a legacy of love. In his very simple and easy way he made a profound impact with his life.

In a similar way, God has called each one of us to make a profound impact with our lives. That’s why in the Bible we have a record of the whole story of God. For as we encounter the individuals God uses in His story, He shows us how He is always there to help us fulfill our place in His Story. So, if you brought your Bible with you today, we are going to jump back into the Story of God by reviewing Abram’s Story. For Abram’s Story is our Story.   So if you have your Bible, let me encourage you to open them to Genesis 12, where once again we will see how we connect to God’s Story, but also how God is always there to help us fulfill our part in His Story. So, if you’ve found Genesis 12, we will begin our review by seeing how…

Abram’s Call…Our Call   (Genesis 12:1-3)   The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “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.” When God called Abram, there was nothing extraordinary about him. But what was extraordinary where the promises God gave Him:

1. God promised to make Abram into a great nation
2. God promised to bless Abram and make Him a blessing
3. God promised to bless the world through Abram
4. God promised to bless Abram’s offspring with land

God gave Abram this call because it was through Abram that God chose to bring about His loving reign in the world. He promised to make Abram into a great nation and give His offspring the Promised Land so that He could bless Abram/make Him a blessing and eventually bless the entire world through His offspring.

That blessing through his offspring found its fulfillment with the coming of Jesus. Jesus is the offspring of Abram who blesses the world.  This is why Abram’s call is our call. The New Testament clearly states: If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29 What this means is that when the promises given to Abram, were also given to us. We are heirs of the promise. More specifically, we are heirs to the promise that says: all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Therefore, Abram’s call is our call. Like Abram, God chooses the unlikely and blesses us with every spiritual blessing in Christ so we can bless others.   That’s why each one of us has the potential to make a profound impact with our lives. Our call is just like Abram’s. We have been blessed to be a blessing.

And that’s why last fall we took a detour from the Story of God to look at our place in the story as God’s blessing bearers. Jesus said it this way: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8  This is our place in God’s story. And our blessing strategies as a Church now come from Acts 1:8 1) In our Jerusalem strategy our goal is to bless others right where we live by loving and serving our neighbors. This Fall we want to expand on this by launching our first Neighborhood Groups so we can be more intentional in blessing others around us.

2) In our Judea strategy our goal is to be blessing to those in Eloy, Arizona City and Casa Grande, through ministries like the Food Bank. So we’ve just begun making a difference in lives by giving to the needs of the less fortunate among us. But there is so much more that’s needed. Last week I met a prof from Grand Canyon University who specializes in helping business leaders use their entrepreneurial gifts in ways to bless the next generation. This Fall I hope to bring him here to share with us how God might use your business and entrepreneurial gifts to help the next generation.

3) In our Samaria strategy our goal is to be a blessing in Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California by helping or even starting new churches. Right now we are preparing to bless Regeneration Church in Ocean Beach. But we’re just getting started. In the near future we want to begin investigating how we might possibly partner help plant a new church right here in Arizona.

4) In Our Ends of the World strategy our goal is to be a blessing to the nations that have little or no gospel witness by continuing to give 5% of our income to the Great Commission Fund and by expanding our outreach through ministries like OCC.

I share this with us simply to say that we have an incredible opportunity before us. God wants to bless our world. So like Abram, he has called each of us to be a part of what He wants to do: to be a blessing to the nations. Like Abram, God wants to HELP US make a difference in our world. This is why He sent Jesus. Jesus gave His life for you so that you can know God and join Him in His passion to bless our world. Abram’s Story is our Story. God blessed him and made him a blessing. But living out that blessing wasn’t always the easiest thing for Abram. All along the way, Abram faced tests to his faith, tests to his calling. And so like Abram’s call is our call,

I would also submit that… Abram’s Tests are Our Tests (Genesis 12-14) What God asked him to do was going to take faith. And his faith had to be tested if it was going to grow.   And the same is true for us. That’s why I’m thankful for Abram’s story. For it reminds us that even though we our faith will be tested, God will always be there to help us. So lets look at a few of the tests Abram faced. The first was

The test of religion: Will Abram compromise his faith? After all, the Bible tells us that Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. Genesis 12:4-6

The very first test Abram faced was a religion he was all too familiar with. Arriving in Canaan, Abram was confronted with a culture steeped in the worship of fertility gods.  That’s what was happening at the great tree of Moreh. Now, why would God place Abram smack dab in the middle of idol worshipers? To test his faith. Will Abram worship the God who called him or will he quickly cave to the practices of the people around him?   What happened? The Bible tells us that The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.  So what happened? After hearing from God, rather than bow to the fertility gods, he built an altar to God and worshiped Him. He refused to compromise his new faith. He passed this first test.

But he didn’t fare as well when he faced his next test: The test of famine!  Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. Genesis 12:10 When the famine hit the question was will Abram trust God to provide? or will he trust his own judgment to handle this crisis? We quickly learn that Abram failed this test. He didn’t stop and build an altar. He didn’t call on the Lord. He didn’t wait on God to provide help. He looked at the difficulties facing him and the grabbed the first means of escape. He went to down to Egypt. This was very symbolic. For in the figurative language of Scripture, Egypt always stands for an alliance with the world. So in his time of crisis, Abram opted for the way the world. He went down to Egypt so HE could provide food for his family. Second test: failure.

But once Abram got near Egypt a new test emerged: The test of courage! Will Abram trust God to protect? And immediately we see how Abram succumbed to fear rather than hold onto faith: As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.  When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.  Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” Genesis 12:11-13 Here Abram’s fear of man led him to concoct an elaborate lie to save his hide. But shortly after hatching his plan, it backfires. Look at verse 14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. Oops!… Abram’s deceptive ploy really screwed things up. He doesn’t trust God to protect him and he looses his wife. Brilliant! Abram fails the test of courage.

And yet, as Abram abandons faith in God, God never abandons Abram. Look at Verse 17, But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had. Genesis 12:17-20 Where Abram failed to protect his wife, the Lord overwhelmingly succeeded in doing so.

So we come to chapter 13, and we are told: So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. Genesis 13:1-2 God had prospered Abram in Egypt and God had protected Abram in Egypt, and God had brought him back to the land of promise. And all seemed to be back on track. Life was good. But now because of his new found wealth Abram faced a new test. Look at verses 5-7, Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.  But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.  And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. Genesis 13:5-7

So Abram faces a new test: The test of prosperity! But the question was the same one Abram faced in the famine: will Abram trust God to provide?

Faced with this conflict caused by their growing wealth, Abram could have been greedy and taken the best land for himself, but he chose to be generous. He gave Lot his choice of land. We now see the growth of Abram’s faith. Even though Abram failed to trust God to provide when he went to Egypt, God prospered him anyway. Now his growing faith allowed him to be generous with Lot because God had been generous to him. And so we read: So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Genesis 13:11-12 Abram passed the test of prosperity.

But it wasn’t too long until he faced another test: The test of war! Remember how Abram failed to trust God to protect him while in Egypt? Well once war came to the land of Sodom and word came to Abram that his nephew Lot had been taken, Abram is faced again with this question: Will Abram trust God to protect? And we soon find out: When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people. Genesis 14:12-16 There’s your answer: No fear this time. This time Abram was willing to risk his life for the sake of another. He even went on to defeat King Kedorlaomer and the other kings allied with him. What gives? Is this the same guy who lied about his wife to Pharoah?

Yes, it’s the same guy. So what changed? How did Abram all of a sudden transform from a guy who looked out for his own skin to a guy who was willing to risk everything for his nephew? What changed? I would say this: It was Abram’s growing understanding of the faithfulness of God.   That’s why Abram’s story is our story. That’s why revisiting his story today is important for us as we jump back into the story of God. Because Like Abram, God wants to grow your faith. And like Abram, you may have started well, but you are tempted to fall back into old habits: You are quick to trust in your own ways rather than God’s ways. It’s hard to live by faith when the world offers easy solutions. Like Abram, with a immature faith, we can quickly succumb to the ways of the world. Not only that, but like Abram, we can also allow our fears to get the best of us, rather than trust in a God who is always for us. Its hard to live by faith when we are afraid. So yes, we are not that much different than Abram.  We too need to grow in our understanding of God’s faithfulness to us

And so I want to conclude this morning by reminding us of God faithfulness by looking at three pictures from Genesis 15, where God Reveals His Faithfulness to Abram

Here’s the first picture: After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Genesis 15:1

So the first thing God reminds Abram of is this: God will always protect you! God protected Abram in a foreign land. And the truth is God watches over us in the midst of a hostile world. Like Abram, we are strangers in a strange land. This world is not our home. There will be times when we will be tested in this world to let fear control us. But do not fear. Take God as your shield. Believe God as your reward. He will always protect you. That’s the first picture. Now the second: But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Genesis 15:2-5

So the second thing God reminds Abram of is this: God will always provide for you! God provided provided Abram with wealth. He provided Him land. And here again He promises to provide him offspring as numerous as the stars.   Think about the wonder of that promise. The next time you look at the stars, remember that one of them represents you. God provided for Abram in ways beyond what his mind could imagine. And if God did that for Abram, He can do that for you. The stars remind us that God will always provide for you. Now the final picture: God also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.   As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” Gen 15:7-12; 17-21

With this covenant making picture between God and Abram, God’s made a sacred promise to Abram of His faithfulness. This covenant was meant to burn one truth into the mind of Abram, and into our minds and hearts as well. And that truth of God’s faithfulness is this: God will always be for you! That’s why Abram’s Story is Our Story. For it is the story of a God who is faithful to the core. That’s the nature of His covenant to us. He will always protect you; always provide for you; always be for you. And with a God like that we can live with confidence and we can live by faith, knowing that we have a God who will help us be the blessing He has called us to be.