Lent
Genesis 12:1–9
1Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. 9And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
Three promises. That's the covenant the Lord made with Abraham. Land, offspring, blessing. I will give you a land. I will give you an entire nation of offspring, and through you I will bless all the families of the earth.
And Abraham believed God. We see his faith by his actions. Without hesitation or doubt, Abraham got up and did what God said. He left his country, his family and his father's house and set out to follow God not knowing where he was going. Without any reservation, he just obeyed and followed God. That's what faith is. Faith is simply obeying God, doing what God says without hesitation or question, even when we cannot see what the outcome will be.
Abraham left home "looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God." (Hebrews 11:10). Without knowing where he was going, he wandered until one day God appeared to him and said, "Here you are. This is the land I will give to your offspring." So Abraham built an altar and worshipped God. And everywhere he went in this land he built an altar and worshipped the Lord. Building an altar means he worshipped God with the sacrifice of an animal. For this land is holy land, the land where God's presence dwelt. This is the land where God was present with Abraham. This is the land God would give to Abraham's descendents when they came out of slavery in Egypt. Abraham himself never owned any of the land, save a cemetery plot for his wife, but he trusted the promise. So much did he believe that when he and Lot decided to part ways and each chose his own territory to live in, Abraham allowed Lot to choose first. When selfish Lot chose the richest and finest land and left Abraham with the dry, arid part, Abraham trusted God and gave Lot the portion he had chosen. This is the obedience of faith.
The second promise was that he would make a great nation of Abraham, that his descendents would be as numerous as the sand by the sea. But 10 years later, when Abraham was 85 years old and as good as dead, and his wife Sarah was past the age of childbearing, they were still without children. (Genesis 15), Hebrews 11). So God showed him the stars and said, "Your offspring will be as numerous as the stars." He believed the Lord, and his faith was counted to him as righteousness. And God reaffirmed the covenant with Abraham.
The third promise was that the Savior which he had promised to Adam and Eve would come from Abraham, and he would bless all the families of the earth through him. But then God told him to sacrifice his only son Isaac, which would have cut off the lineage of the Savior. (Genesis 22). Once again, in absolute faith and trust, Abraham did not hesitate or doubt God, but took his son to the mountain to sacrifice him to the Lord, trusting that if necessary God would even raise him from the dead in order to fulfill his promise. (Hebrews 11). This is faith.
On account of his faith Abraham was counted righteous. On account of his faith Abraham obeyed God in all things. Certainly he was a man of great faith as seen in his deeds. He was the foremost patriarch of the children of God. All who believe in Christ as Abraham believed, are the true descendents of Abraham.
But perhaps his great faith and unquestioning obedience makes it hard for us to identify with Abraham. The fact of the matter is, he was a sinner just the same as you. If he is an example of what a man of faith looks like, he is also an example of what a man of faith looks like when he sins. Because he was a sinner we can identify with him. When we see Abraham, we see ourselves.
Being a believer isn't just a life of perfect holiness from the day we first believe in Christ, and Abraham is an example of that for us. Having barely arrived at the land God had given him, there was a famine. Food was scarce, and Abraham's faith wavered. This was the land where God's presence dwelt, but as soon as he was faced with difficulty, Abraham packed up and moved somewhere else. Not trusting in God to take care of him, not even considering the purpose for which God had placed him there, he packed up and moved to Egypt. Abandoning God, abandoning his vocation, not trusting in God's promise, all because his faith faltered. We've all done it. At the first sign of problems at work, or dissatisfaction with where we live, or even in our marriage, we start looking around for something else, another job, another place to live, or think "divorce." God seems so great and we love and trust him so much, until a few little problems come along; sickness, old age, family problems, economic stress. Then we cry out, "Where is God when I need him?" We start to doubt God, doubt his promises, maybe even stop coming to church. Or is it that what we really want is a god who will make us happy and give us a good life. Maybe our chief concern isn't really to obey God and live in communion with him, but our real reason for religion is a way to get a better life, to have our needs met, to find friendship, and so on. But if that doesn't happen, then I'll just take matters into my own hands. And that's what Abraham did over and over.
But this lack of faith just got him into still more trouble. One sin leads to another, as we have all experienced in our own lives. When in Egypt he didn't trust God to keep his promise he lied about his wife and gave her over to the Pharaoh in order to save his own neck. When Pharaoh discovered this deception, he deported Abraham. Just as obedience shows our faith, so disobedience shows lack of faith. His faith faltered and the result was sin.
After being kicked out of Egypt he went back to the land God was going to give to his descendents, but he still didn't have a son. So once again he decided he had to take matters into his own hands and do something about it himself. Sounds a lot like us. In fact, isn't that what we usually do? Without consulting God, don't we often make plans, come up with a strategy, decide on a course of action and just go ahead and do it ourselves? Abraham came up with a plan. If God wasn't able to give him children, he was going to get a son by whatever means possible. He went in to his wife's maid and had a son by her. Now a weak faith led him to commit adultery. Just as faith is obedience to God's laws, so lack of faith is disobedience. His adultery didn't solve the problem, it just resulted in family strife and broken relationships.
So we see that Abraham was a man just like any of us. Yes, he believed in God. Yes, he believed in the promise of a Savior, but he was still a sinner. And so we can all relate to Abraham. There is not a single person here who has a greater faith than Abraham. If Abraham sinned, how much more do we sin each and every day.
So then, repent! Repent of your lack of faith. Repent of your sin and remember the promise. God told Abraham, "In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." And God fulfilled that promise because he "...so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). As Abraham left his homeland, his kinsmen and his father's house, Jesus likewise left the kingdom of heaven and his father's house to become your Savior. As Abraham was told to sacrifice his son on an altar on a mountain, God did sacrifice his only begotten Son on a cross on a hill. Beaten, smitten, humiliated, scorned and nailed to a cross, through the fiery torment of his suffering and death the Son of God atoned for your sin and earned forgiveness for you. The life of the one who believes in Jesus is a life of forgiveness. When we sin and are afflicted in spirit, we remember the promise that, "...whoever believes in him may have eternal life....For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:17).
And that is exactly what Abraham believed and his faith was counted for righteousness. Now the triple promise given to Abraham is given to you. God promised a land for Abraham's descendents. The one who shares the faith of Abraham are his true descendents and he is the father of us all, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations." (Romans 4). How do you become a descendent of Abraham? How do you enter into the land which he gave to Abraham's descendents?
God promised he would make a great nation of Abraham. God promised a land where all his descendents would dwell with God forever. Jesus tells us: Unless you are born again you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You are not descendents of Abraham. You must be born again to be his descendents. You cannot enter that land promised to Abraham's descendents unless you are born again of water and the Spirit. Just as Abraham crossed the River Jordan to enter into the land of Canaan, so we cross the waters of baptism to enter into the kingdom of God. Just as Abraham "believed in him who justifies the ungodly, and his faith was counted as righteousness," so when you believe in him who has justified you before God your faith is counted as righteousness.
Then you become a true descendent of Abraham when by your faith you are counted righteous. When you are born into the family of Abraham, you become a citizen of that land, the kingdom of God, and you inherit the dwelling place of God's presence. "For at one time you were separated from Christ, alienated form the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." (Eph. 2:11-12). Amen.