Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Genesis

Genesis 12:2-5 05/05/02

Introduction: Someone once said 'As gloves are to a surgeon's hands, so are Christians in service for God. It is actually 'God's Hands' doing the work. We are but used by Him.'

 In our text today is one of the most profound theological concepts in all of Scripture. God has chosen to work in the world through human beings. God will take any one human being and in some wonderful way touch the world through them.

 We have begun to look at faith in the life of Abram. Part of Abram's journey of faith was his own struggle to trust God to do through him what he could not do on his own. And that struggle on the journey of faith, is still experienced by every Christian today.  So, Abram's journey will be a guide for our own.  His victories will be an encouragement that we too will be victorious, when we trust God in every area of our lives.His failures will be a warning, that we too will fail, when we trust in our own abilities in any area of our lives. It's important then, that we look at the life of Abram with one eye and at our own life with the other, so that we might learn from this great man of faith.

Background:
Read: Genesis 12:1a

 You will remember from last week that Abram, an idol worshipper, was called by God to leave his country, his people and his family and go to another land.

Read: Genesis 12:1b-3

 Do you notice anything here? Does something, a couple of words that perhaps stand out over the other words in the passage? I WILL!  And who is saying these words? Almighty God. God was making promises to Abram!

 If God would make promises like that to us, we would obey too. the reality is however, God has made promises like the ones to Abram to us, but if we were honest, somewhere down deep, at times we least expect it, we really don't believe all of God's promises, do we? If we did, we would all act very differently.
 
The late James Boice reminds us that Abram could have said...

     But God, suppose I misunderstand your leading or get out of your will? God would reply 'I will make you a great nation'

     But God, suppose the time comes when my descendants become idolaters? Suppose they fall down and worship idols of gold?  God would reply ' I will make you a great nation.'

     But God, suppose my people become so hardened of heart against you that they crucify your Son? God would reply 'I will make you a great nation.'

     But God, suppose I stop at Haran and wait till my father dies? God will say, 'I will bless you'

     Suppose I am so distrustful of your promise to make me a nation that I take Sarah's servant Hagar as a concubine to have children with her? 'I will bless you'.

     But why Lord, why will you still bless me after all that? God answers 'It's because it pleases me to do so.' That, Child of God, is grace!

 Now, the particular promises made to Abram do not necessarily belong to us, but there are parallels in God's promises to the church. Although the specifics may vary, the principals are the same and one such principal is that God accompanies his call to faith and discipleship with promises.

 Scripture says all of the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. Are you saved? Are you in Christ Jesus? Then all God's promises to you in His Word and YES and AMEN! And nothing compares to the promises we have in Him!

 Wow, there is so much to be said about these 3 verses that I could spend the whole message and then some right here....but I won't. Just 4 important implications from these 3 verses.

First: Notice that everything that Abram was told to give up, God promises to replace them many times over.

 If Abram would leave his country: God would give him his own land/country.
 
 If Abram would leave his people: God would give him an entire nation of people.

 If Abram would leave his household, which meant giving up his inheritance and blessing from his father: God would bless him beyond measure.

 God's precondition to these promises is a call for Abram to leave behind his natural sources of security and trust wholly in God.

 Responding to God's call means that we too must give up our natural means of security and trust in an unseen God and his unseen promises.

ILL: Martin Luther once said 'I have held many things in my hands and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.'
 What are you holding on to this morning that needs to be placed in God's hands? Let it go and trust God.

Second: Do you see a connection between
Gen. 12:1-3 and Gen. 11:1-9?

 At Babel people said 'Let us make bricks, Let us build a city with a great tower that reaches to the heavens and Let us make a name for ourselves and Let us stay together in one place.'  Let us, Let us, Let us...Talk about being a bunch of vegetables! Sorry! Everything the people at Babel did, failed.

 We can learn from this that our attempts to make a name for ourselves and to be great are rooted in the same thing as the people in Babel, security and personal fulfillment. But God calls us to tear down the wall of comfort and security. And go outside what we know, from that which we are secure, in order for God to do His will and His work in and through those who will trust and obey.

Third: God tells Abram that He will bless him so that he might be a blessing to others.
 
 This is the choicest promise of all. This is the glory and grace of being used by God to bless others. It is the joy of a fruitful life. There is nothing like being used by God to bring blessing to another.
 
 It's hard to describe the blessing you get when you realize that Almighty God has used you..
     the words you have spoken,
         the things you have done,
             the example you have set,
  to help someone move along in their own journey of faith.

 God blesses us not for our own good but for the good of others. Have you been a blessing to another...recently? Have you taken what God has given to you, it could be wealth, physical ability, spiritual gifting or even time and have you shared it with another?

 I believe we miss so many blessings from God, because God's people are unwilling to be the blessing other so desperately need. We are too busy, too needy, to tired or we just don't like or get along with some of God's children...God forgive us.

 Children of God, be the gloves on the surgeons hands and be used of God to be a blessing to one another.

Fourth: Through Abram all the nations of the world will be blessed. How did that happen? Through one who would come as a descendent of Abram...Jesus Christ.

 This promise is the crown of all the others, for it points to Jesus Christ in whom all the promises of God are yes and amen! And through whom all the nations and people groups inthe world will be blessed.

 If we can put this all together, the great lesson here in vs 1-3 is that faith is rooted in the Word of God. God spoke to Abram and told him what He would do FOR him and THROUGH him...if he would just trust and obey.

How you respond to God's promises will determine what God will do FOR and THROUGH you in your life.  How did Abram respond?

Read: Genesis 12:4-5

 Verse 4 is one of the high points of this passage. Abram goes. This is one of his best moments. Abram, by faith, responds to God's call and leaves Haran to travel to the unknown. He may not of known exactly where he was going or what he would do once he was there... but he had faith in the one who would go with him, Jehovah God.

 God called Abram to a new future and Abram was willing to risk everything for that future because God's call came with God's promises. That's faith and obedience. If you say you have faith, you will obey God. If you are seen to obey God then it is a testimony to your faith in God. It's a vital part of the faith journey each one of us is on. According to J.M. Boice, you are in one of four places on that journey of faith.

First: You are an unbeliever with no awareness of spiritual things and have not yet taken your first step of faith.

 For you there is hope. Abram had no spiritual understanding when he was called by God either. Yet God saved him by His grace and it may be that God will do the same thing in your life too.

Second: You are an unbeliever with a beginning awareness of spiritual things. You are seeking to know God and what He requires of you.

 Well, there is hope for you as well. Abram responded to God because God first showed an interest in him. In the same way, if you are beginning to have an awareness of a need for God in your life, it is because God is already at work in you. Trust Him and respond to Him as he speaks to you.

Third: You are a believer stuck in Haran. This is the believer who is yet unwilling to take any risks in their spiritual life.

 Perhaps you are convinced that there is only one way to truly do ministry, or one way of preaching or do evangelism..you may be stuck in Haran.

 Perhaps you are convinced that there is only one kind of song that is acceptable to God in worship...you may have chosen the stability and status quo of Haran.

 Perhaps you like things the way they are in your life and in this church and don't want to see any changes in either. Then you may have chosen to comfort and security of Haran.

 Listen, like Abram, as long as you stay in Haran you will not go any further in your journey of faith. The desire for stability and the fear of change may just cost you a blessing because the future for the believer is not in Haran.

Fourth: You are a believer who recognizes and accepts the risks involved in the journey of faith.
 For you, the life of Abram will show the great and mighty things God can do through those who are willing to trust and obey.

Conclusion

Soren kiekegaard, the Danish philosopher and Lutheran theologian used to tell this story.

 'Once a wild goose dropped down into a farmer's yard to share the corn with the tame geese there. The corn was good and it was plentiful and the wild goose stayed on. But he got fat and lazy, like the tame geese, and he lost all interest in flying. Little did he know that the farmer was fattening the geese in preparation for sale to the butcher shop. Once in a while, when a flock of wild geese would fly overhead, he would hear the honking and the old call of the wild would thrill his soul. He would flap his wings and try to fly as he used to, but couldn't seem to get off the ground. The once-happy wanderer soon gave up and went back to pecking at the corn on the ground. And so it was until the end came.'

 Our text this morning is not about comfort or the easy way or even the preferred way.

 It's about the road less traveled.

 It's about risk and insecurity.

 It's about the unknown where God's possibilities lie.

 It's about not staying in Haran where it is comfortable and safe.

 It is not about maintaining the status quo and thereby getting fat on what we know.

 No, it is about keeping fit by exercising our faith and soaring with the Holy Spirit and looking expectantly to the unknown.  And it's about the promises God makes to those who will step out in faith and follow the Spirit's call.

 One of the sayings I particularly like from the 'Experiencing God' discipleship study and believe it applies here is 'You can't stay where you are and go with God.'

 The problem is not that God could not have blessed Abram where he was in Haran. The problem was that Abram could not respond to God adequately unless he was willing to take the risk of going.
 
 Are you willing to take the risk?
 
 Are you willing to commit your all to God and trust Him to keep His promises to you?

 Are you willing to alow God to do through you what you are not able to do yourself?

 Are you willing to let God take you and His church...where ever He desires so that He will be glorified in us?

 Then let us all take a step forward, let God do a new things through you and through His church. Let us leave Haran and in faith and obedience follow God, wherever He may lead us. Constantly trusting in the wonderful promises of God.