Belief credited as Righteousness

 Read Genesis 15

So sometime after Abram’s victory over the 4 marauding armies and after his encounter with Melchizedek, Abram received the word of the Lord in a vision. The vision came with 3 main points.

First, don’t be afraid. We see those words from the Lord and his messengers a lot.

Second, God is your shield, your protector.  You think Abram might have figured part of this out after defeating 4 armies with 318 men.

Third, God told Abram that he had very big rewards for him.

And Abram said, thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord! Not exactly.

The conversation in this vision probably went more like this.

Are you kidding me?  I have no children.  You have given me no children.

One of my servants will inherit everything I have.

The Lord’s reply came again with 3 main points.

Your servant will not be your heir.

Your heir will be of your own flesh and blood.

Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Abram believed the Lord and the Lord credited Abram with righteousness because he believed.  Abram sure couldn’t see how any of this would happen, but he believed the Lord.

Abram had lots of questions, but he believed.

But the Lord had more in store for Abram.

He 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.”

Abram was old and childless, but he was not blind.  He knew that there were many people already living in the land.  It very much seemed to be the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

And Abram had one more question for the Lord.

How can I be sure of this?

God had just credited Abram with righteousness for his belief, but he still had questions.  God, of course, had his answer, but God answers as God answers.

He did not give Abram an advance copy of the history of the next 500 years. Here you go, read this, and check the copyright date before you start.

God did not give Abram the details of his plan and the when and where each piece would unfold.

God did not give Abram a vision of armies and peoples running from his descendants in fear of the army that was preceded by the Lord.

God answered in his own way.  He told Abram to prepare a sacrifice and prescribed the animals to be used.  After fighting off some scavenger birds, Abram fell into a deep sleep.

We are told that a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.  That’s some imagery—thick and dreadful darkness.  I went back to look at some of the original language and the best straightforward definition that I could find was that the darkness was terrifying.

Understand that Abram slept through the darkness, so I think it means that the terror invaded his sleep.  Why such darkness.

God’s message was the good news, bad news sort of thing.

Yes, you will have descendants as I promised.

But they are going to do a stint in slavery, about 400 years.

Take heart, I will deal with their captors. 

God did not stop with answering Abram, he made a covenant with him concerning the land promised to him and sealed it with the fire passing through the middle of the sacrifices.

The Lord had made reference to giving this land to Abram, shortly after Lot had departed. Now, even though it was centuries down the road, this whole Promised Land business was a done deal.

This covenant process was a tactile and kinesthetic thus saith the Lord.

So, the story of Abram continues.  He is still childless but has God’s promises that he will have children and grandchildren and more great-grandchildren and…

He still doesn’t own all the land around him, but God told him that one day his descendants will and his belief in everything that God told him was credited to him as righteousness.

God told Abram that he would live to a ripe old age and die in peace.  I’m thinking that peace would come from knowing God’s promises to be true.  Abram had some more living to do in the meantime, and some more lessons to learn and share with us.

For now, understand that we can believe God and still have questions. We can not understand and still have faith.  We can fail to understand the what or why of God’s ways, but still be his child and a faithful follower of Jesus.

It’s sort of like we know that God has good plans for us even when we don’t always know the plans.

Our human nature wants to put God in a box so we can understand everything.  God wants to take us beyond our own understanding so we can be blessed by steps that only he knows are good for us.

It’s ok to have questions, just keep the faith.

It’s ok to wonder how is God going to take care of this or of me or of my loved ones, just don’t doubt that he will.

It’s ok to have a conversation with God about difficult things, just listen more than you speak.

It’s ok to have more questions than answers, just know that you know the One who is the answer.

I saved the rabbit trail for the end.  God had just explained how his descendants would go into captivity and be slaves for a long time. Then we get this statement from God.

In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

What does it mean that the sin of the Amorites had not yet reached its full measure?

I can find no direct explanation for this phrase, but think that I have some understanding.  God is righteous and will judge.  He judged some in Old Testament times.  Consider the flood.  That was judgment on a big scale.

Consider what happened to Sodom.  That’s a couple chapters down the road, but that’s judgment. Think about God’s desire to spare Nineveh if they would repent.  Jonah didn’t want to hear that but God got his attention.

Now consider that God is not rushing to judgment.  He is patient.  He desires all to come to repentance and profess Jesus is Lord and know eternal life.

Now to the Amorites.  They were sinful.  They would receive judgment in this age.  It would come at the hands of Joshua and his army.  It was a solid defeat by Joshua’s army, but the Lord threw in some hailstones at the end that killed more than the soldiers did.

Don’t read this account if you don’t like Daylight Saving Time.  What?  Now you have to read it.

So what do we take from this somewhat obscure statement?  How about God will judge the earth, but he is not in a big hurry to do it.

Nonetheless, we should have an urgency in the fulfillment of our commission.  We should take the good news to the world like there will be no tomorrow in this age, only in the age to come.

Back to Abram. Abram didn’t do much in this chapter.  He had a conversation with God and made a sacrifice.

God, on the other hand, did big things.  He made a covenant with Abram and formalized his promise to give Abram the land in which he now lived, with borders that went far beyond what he could see. Check out the First Light message for some provocative thoughts on the boundaries of the Promised Land.

God did another really big thing too.  He credited Abram with righteousness because he believed God.  Abram had questions and Abram could not comprehend how God could do what he said he would do, but Abram believed God.

God counted this belief as righteousness.

Do we see this anywhere else in the Bible?

How about in the words whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

How about what Jesus said later in John’s gospel.

Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

Those who believe—who have faith in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ—are made right with God.

God promised Abram countless descendants, a land just for them, and that he would die peacefully at an old age.  Abram believed him.  God counted Abram’s belief and faith as righteousness.  God knew that Abram would still have struggles ahead of him, but God blessed Abram for believing.

God has promised us life, life abundant, and life eternal.  He has told us that one sacrifice made with the blood of Jesus made us right with God. We still have struggles ahead of us but do we believe God and do we believe his promises to us?

Do we believe?

If we don’t, this whole course of study is an exercise in futility, but if we do, we have received something that we could neither comprehend nor achieve on our own—right standing with God.

Believe God and believe his good news.

In our belief, God credited us with righteousness.  The righteousness came from Jesus who fulfilled the whole law and went to the cross as an unblemished lamb, but it is imputed to us in our belief.

God credits our belief in Jesus as righteousness.

Believe!

Even when we don’t understand, believe.

Amen.

Boundaries of the Promised Land

 Read Genesis 15

In the just wondering category, have you ever wondered about what defines the Promised Land?

If you have followed history for the past 100 years, you know that Israel’s boundaries have moved more than once.  Sometimes this is the result of a war and sometimes a war results from moving the boundaries.

But what are the boundaries?

In this chapter of Genesis, we see them defined.

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, and others…”

So what is the wadi of Egypt?  Most would say the great river of Egypt, but that is the Nile, and it is well within Egypt.

What about to the great river—the Euphrates?  That river is north of what we think of today as Israel.  It’s north of Lebanon and into Syria.  We have never seen the kingdom of Israel stretch that far, have we?

Well, that’s just one account.  God could have refined these basic boundaries later.  He did.

I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you.

So maybe the western boundary is the Red Sea and not the Nile River, but the eastern boundary still appears to be the Euphrates River. That’s a lot of territory that present-day Israel does not occupy today.

But if we go to Ezekiel, we see what is surely a prophetic dividing of the Promised Land among the 12 tribes for the land was already divided when Joshua entered the land following the time of slavery in Egypt.  In Ezekiel’s account, the Promised land goes north of Damascus. It goes all the way to the Euphrates.

We have seen the Israeli Army fighting in the Golan heights area, especially in the Yom Kippur War, but that doesn’t get close to the Euphrates River.

So why does no one ever bring this up?  Why does no one note the discrepancy?

Perhaps it is not a discrepancy of geography but of time.  It seems that Joshua may have never claimed all that God set aside for his people.

It seems that in the mid-20^th century, the land returned to God’s Chosen People was not the full amount described in Genesis or elsewhere in the Bible.

It could be that the entire Promised Land will not be delivered until the end of the age or perhaps in the millennial reign.

As we have seen much biblical prophecy fulfilled so far, so too is there much to be fulfilled. It’s food for thought.  Nothing in this line of discourse affects your salvation.  Nothing impacts your abundant life.  Nothing here upsets your right standing with God.  That is very much intact.

But for those who are interested in more than being a workman approved to rightly divide the word of God—that is to put God’s words into practice—this might prove an interesting course of study.

Our charge as Christians is to put the words of Jesus into practice, but for some of you, you might be called to study more.  Here is one of those tidbits that scholars don’t give too much attention.  So, if you have plenty of time on your hands, and you want to venture into an area that has not been over-explored, this invitation might be for you.

Let me know how it comes out.  I’m on to chapter 16.

Amen.

Abram and the King of Sodom

 Read Genesis 14

Abram had saved Sodom’s bacon.  They should have been in his debt.  Yes, they still had been defeated in battle but Abram’s 318 men had defeated the 4 marauding armies. There had to be a little redemption in that.

The king of Sodom wanted to get his people back.  He told Abram, give me the people and you keep the stuff, much of which must have come from Sodom and the other 4 cities.

Abram said, no deal.  I serve the Lord God.  There is no way that you are going to get credit for anything here.  Nobody is going to say that the king of Sodom made Abram rich.  No deal.

Abram seems to be respectful in language, but doesn’t give an inch on having dealings with this man that might appear to give him some standing in Abram’s life.

You have to wonder if Abram didn’t know that Sodom was on God’s hit list because of their evil ways, though later he would plead for the people of Sodom.

Remember, this whole encounter would have just been a footnote in history—a JAWAP:  Just Another War Among Pagans if Lot had not been taken captive.  God did not make a covenant with Abram to be the referee of many nations.  He was not sent from the land of the Chaldeans to be the Warrior of Warriors among nations.

He would be the Father of many nations.

I noted previously that we did not see evidence that God gave Lot a special mission or purpose or calling, but Lot seemed to keep Abram busy at least until the destruction of Sodom.

Abram said that his men should get their rightful shares, so Abram probably left what was left to the King of Sodom.  These would be the spoils of war.  The commander could rightfully claim everything as spoils, but Abram only wanted what his warriors deserved.

It’s a subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless.  Abram agreeing to what the king of Sodom offered and Abram just leaving what didn’t belong to the men behind for the king are different things.

Somewhere along the way, Abram had sworn to God not to play the game of politics with the king of Sodom. Abram rescued his nephew and others, came away with things of value that his warriors would consider ample pay for their duty in the reserves, and parted company with the king of Sodom without exchanging email addresses or inviting each other to the company parties.

Abram had accomplished what he set out to do and that was that, So remember this part of the story as we go forward.

Amen.

Combat and the Tithe

 Read Genesis 14

 

For 13 years, the kings of cities in the areas of Sodom and Gomorrah were subject to Kedorlaomer of Elam.  In year 14, they rebelled.

We don’t know the details but typically if you lived subjugated to another king or kingdom, you had to pay some sort of tribute—a tax for being conquered and allowed to live in your own homeland.  We might suspect something similar here. That yoke must have finally seemed too heavy.

Realize that we are not talking war among next-door neighbors here. Kedorlaomer of Elam was from the area of Ur of the Chaldeans.  Do you remember when Abram left this area with his father and the rest of the family?  It was not a day trip.

The rest of the invading armies—marauding armies might be more accurate—were along the route that Abram took to get to the Promised Land.  They came from what we call the fertile crescent.  They defeated cities and pillaged them on their way to defeating the rebels.

If you have to mobilize for war, you just as well profit from it. That seemed to be the case.

The locals gathered to fight the invaders in the Siddim valley. This appears to be the area south of the Dead Sea. The four kings and their armies from the north defeated the five from the south or from part of the area that God had promised to Abram’s descendants.

When you are the winner, you take the spoils.  That’s money, gold, silver, cryptocurrency, as well as people.

This story of the 4 marauding armies defeating the 5 local armies would have just been a footnote in history and likely not found its way into the Bible were it not for the fact that one of those people collected as part of the booty or the spoils was Lot.

Lot had gone his own way but not too far.  He kept his flocks in the vicinity of Sodom but lived in the town itself.  He got snatched up with many of the longtime residents.

Word of his capture got to Abram. Abram had to act quickly as the invaders were headed home with their spoils, including Lot.

This part of the text jumps out at me.  Abram had 318 men who were trained for combat.  This man with great wealth and many flocks also kept a militia.  They were not a standing army but essentially, his personal guard and reserve force. I wonder if it was a one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer sort of deal.

In any case, these were not just a bunch of shepherds with rocks and staffs.  They were trained. We don’t see that in the story but Abram had a trained militia. 

But how do 318 men take on 4 armies that just defeated 5 armies?

Abram divided his forces into 2 groups.  That did the trick.  Really?  We get no explanation of how these few men defeated so many.

This is not the story of Gideon where God wanted to make sure that everyone knew he was with Gideon and his victory as he whittled the number of combatants who would save Israel down to 300.  This is Abram with 318 men and without further explanation.

Did Abram’s men conduct a single envelopment?  Was it a pincer movement? We don’t know, at least at this point. We don’t know but we do know that Abram routed his enemies as they fled from what would be northern Israel to Damascus.

After the battle was complete and Lot and many others were rescued and the spoils of war were gathered, we see God providing an explanation through a person to whom we have never been introduced and don’t hear of again until the New Testament.

Melchizedek, the King of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought out bread and wine for Abram and his warriors.  He also brought something of an explanation.

Abram defeated these 4 armies because he was blessed by God and God himself gave him the victory.

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

    Creator of heaven and earth.

And praise be to God Most High,

    who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

 So, perhaps this was a bit more like the story of Gideon, or if we keep to the chronology of the Bible, the story of Gideon was like that of Abram’s victory over the 4 armies.

What do you do after such a victory and a blessing from a priest of the Most High God?  You make a tithe.  You give a tenth of all of the spoils to the Lord.

This is a story where we would have liked more information.

When did Abram form this militia?

Did they have shirts made that said:  THE FEW, THE PROUD?

Who is Melchizedek and why don’t we hear of him again for a long time?

How did Abram know to make a tithe?

There is plenty of information that we don’t have, but what we do have is that God made Abram for a special purpose.  He equipped him despite his blunders.  And when needed, he gave him victory in combat.

We don’t know how Abram knew to make a tithe, but he did.  He essentially defined the tithe for all generations.  It is a tenth of what we receive in our pay, dividends, social security, or in the spoils of war.

God would talk to his people more about the tithe once those descendants of Abram returned from slavery into the land promised to them, but for now, we see Abram returning a tenth of that with which God blessed him.

Abram was blessed by God.  Abram had made mistakes and would make more but he was blessed by God and knew to bless God from his blessings.

On most days, we don’t anticipate being called to duty for combat.  We don’t expect to have our relatives taken away by marauding armies.  We don’t expect to do physical battle.

We expect to tend our flocks—do our jobs, get the kids to school, cook dinner, and do the laundry.  Yes, laundry is eternal.

But sometimes we are called to do more.  If it is God who is calling, then God will equip us.  When he does, let us not forget to give him thanksgiving and praise for those unexpected victories.

Let us give him praise not only in our words but in our offerings. Abram gave a tenth of what he had acquired.  He set the bar for the tithe.  Tithe means tenth. Let us never forget to give cheerfully to the Lord out of all that we receive.

Amen.

Let Us Call Upon the Name of the Lord

 Read Genesis 13

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.

 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.

So, Abram left Egypt with his head tucked between his legs for the stunt that he had pulled, but he came out of Egypt with a whole bunch of money and stuff.  Neat trick.

God had already factored in Abram’s shortcomings before he chose him and now God has equipped him.  Abram returned to a place that he had been before.  In fact, he had built an altar in this place before he headed west.

Now he is back and what does he do?  He calls upon the name of the Lord.

Does that mean that there had been no prayer or communication between God and him while he was on the road?  Was it a don’t text and drive sort of thing?

What is it to call upon the name of the Lord?

Most would say it involves something vocal, not just the inclinations of the heart.  We know this.  We say praise the Lord every week, perhaps every day, and for some, it’s an ongoing thing.

We don’t just think it.  We say it.  We say:

Jesus is Lord!

He is risen.  He is risen indeed!

We sing praise God from whom all blessings flow.

These are affirmations.  We need to say them or sing them or proclaim them.

But what is it to call upon the name of the Lord?

Abram had followed God’s directions since he was in Ur.  For the first part of that journey, God’s directions came through Abram’s dad, but lately, God has been directing Abram personally.  And now Abram is in this place in a land promised to descendants that he doesn’t have.

Abram could have made a business plan. He had lots of assets.

Abram could have made a retirement plan.  He was getting older and didn’t have any kids. He had never been on a cruise. He had never been to Branson or even the Great Wolf Lodge.

Abraham could have gone out and got a tattoo—better yet, he could get circumcised.  Okay, that last part is a few chapters down the road in between having a kid with his side chick and having Isaac by his wife.

But Abram called upon the name of the Lord. He had made some blunders along the way.  He would make some more and even repeat some of the same mistakes, but he was now in this place where he had been before and he didn’t know what was next.

He knew what God had promised, but how did that translate into what he would do today or tomorrow?

Imagine Abram standing alone in a field with arms outstretched and looking to the heavens.  Imagine him saying.

O Lord, my God, I am your servant whom you called out of Ur in a place of false gods.  I am here because you have brought me here.  I have heard your promises but I don’t comprehend them or how they can become reality.

O Lord, my God, I have made a mess of so many things; yet you have blessed me.  I don’t know what is next but I call upon your name because you are the only person, place, or thing to which  I can turn.  I trust you.  I don’t understand you much of the time but I trust you.

I call upon you my Lord and my God to show me what is next. I call upon you to show me what pleases you. I call upon you because I am a complete mess when I try to figure it all out on my own.

I call upon you Lord.  I call upon your name.

Sometimes, we just need to speak aloud those things that we wrestle with in our hearts and minds and affirm to the Lord out loud that we are calling upon him to show us the way.

We need to call upon the name of the Lord and do it in our out loud voice.

How many times do we come to a crossroads in our lives?  It could be a job change, moving, disease, loss, opportunity, success, or so many other things that occupy the attention of our hearts and minds.

God wants us to take our inner turmoil and thought processes and decision matrices and speak aloud to him in a spirit of trust and obedience.

O Lord, my God, Jesus my Lord and my Savior, man have I really gotten into some stuff.  Some of it could be good.  Some seem to be leading me away from you.  Some things are just cloudy—like looking into a glass darkly.

But God, I trust you.  I trust in the name of Jesus.  I know that you have good plans for me.  Just help me to see my next step.

Jesus, I know that my sins are forgiven because of what you did or the cross, but I want to live in grateful response to that mercy and grace.  Help me.

Lord, I will trust in you and receive your peace—a peace that this world does not know.  I trust you and I will take your yoke and learn from you.

For now, just show me the next step.

Lord, I call upon your name to show me what to do.

Abram had left Egypt in good shape financially.  His decision-making paradigm was iffy but he made it to what would be the Promised Land in good shape.

He and Lot would soon part ways, at least for a while.  That seemed to be an unusual example of wisdom on Abram’s part, but there was much more to come in Abram’s story and he needed to know what was next.

More importantly, he knew who to talk to—vocally—and seek his answers. Calling on the name of the Lord is a demonstrative thing.  It shows our belief and faith in God by talking to him out loud.

In the words, Abram called upon the name of the Lord is a simple but enduring message for us.  Let us call upon the name of the Lord before we resort to our planning and scheming and human decision-making processes.

Let us call upon the name of the Lord.  We are, after all, his people.

Amen

A Calling and Calling Upon the Name of the Lord

 Read Genesis 13

One of my favorite verses comes from Isaiah.

Before they call I will answer;

    while they are still speaking I will hear.

God already knows what we need, what is best for us, what his plans for us are; yet he hears us and speaks to us in the moment. He is the author of eternity but ever-present in our now.

God calls us to his purpose and we call upon the name of the Lord. We are called to relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters.

Collectively, we are called out of the world as a group.  We are the ecclesia.  The word’s Greek roots could just connote only the assembly or the gathered, but in our context, it is those called out of the world by God.

Abram, who we most often call Abraham, was called out of a sinful world by God.  That call began in an area in Mesopotamia and Babylon—big areas of paganism. God’s call to Abraham gave no standing to his geography.

We are called out of the world, set apart for God’s purpose, and sent back into the world with a purpose and mission.  We are commissioned to take the love of God that we know in Christ Jesus to the world.  We take the gospel to the world.

What do you call a group called out of the world by God, set apart for God’s purpose, and sent back into this godless world with good news?  That’s right, we are the church.  We are the Ecclesia.

God didn’t pick Abram because of his resume.  God didn’t promote him to be the father of many nations because of his job performance.  We can see by his stint in Egypt, he already has a couple negative job evaluations.  They had to add a new category to the eval—passing off your wife as your sister to save your own skin.

OBTW—Abram with the help of his wife and handmaiden is going to come up with some other schemes that are not as God directed.  Yes, keep reading your weekly chapters, Father Abraham is going to have a really big hold my beer moment soon.

Why did God pick Abram? Do you want the clinical term?

God only knows.  I think it is still in the DSM.  They are up to a 4^th edition of this manual for mental disorders.  I haven’t looked in one for a while but God Only Knows—it was GOK in the manual—was a diagnosis.

It certainly didn’t give reverence to God but this most secular of manuals had to acknowledge him in the fact that sometimes we have to admit that we don’t have a clue. Only God knows.

Why did God call Abram? Only God knows. God only knows. 

The fact is that God did call him.

There is a Corrie ten Boom quote that says:  “Don’t bother to give God instructions.  Just report for duty.”

I would add don’t bother to ask God why.  Just report for duty.  Just answer his call.

So we are told that Abram came back from Egypt to where he had been before in what we will call the Promised Land.  He came back a wealthy man.  He had flocks and servants and seemed to be doing well.  He could have said, life is good.  Let’s just settle down and enjoy it.

But God had placed a calling upon Abram. Abram couldn’t just eat, drink, and be merry.  God had plans for Abram.

So, Abram called upon the name of the Lord.  He called upon the name of the Lord.  What does that mean?

Most would agree that this is an audible call.  People use their out loud voices.  Sometimes I use my out loud voice and people give me funny looks. 

It’s more than a thought or a state of mind.  It is manifesting that state of mind aloud.  I have nothing to hide from the world.  I will call upon the name of the Lord.

I think calling upon the name of the Lord is a type of prayer.  Perhaps it is a prayer of affirmation.  You are the Lord!

We are your people, the sheep of your pasture.

For us today, I think to call upon the name of the Lord is to mark a point of reference in an ongoing conversation.

God called Abram according to his purpose.  Abram called upon the name of the Lord.  This is a God-centered, God-driven relationship.

And then there is Lot.  Why is Lot here?

Once again, God only knows.  He has not been called as far as we can tell.  We have no record of God assigning Lot a mission of any sorts.  He is family and when he wants to come along with Abram, Abram treats him like a brother.

Lot also has some worldly possessions and these possessions—mainly flocks—seem to have caused a little conflict.

Abram told Lot that the situation was not good.  Lot’s servants and Abram’s servants did not need to be at odds with each other.  Abram told Lot to go one direction and he would go the other.  There was no paper, rock, scissors moment.  Abram just told Lot to pick the real estate that he wanted.

Perhaps we see a glimpse of wisdom in the man who would later be known mostly for his faith.

There were other peoples in the land but they were incidental to Lot’s decision.  Lot saw the lush area near the Jordan and took what he thought would be best for him.  The land was fertile but the people of that area had embraced evil and evil practices.  In any case, Lot went his own way.

The Lord told Abram to look at everything else.  This land would be claimed as promised by his descendants who would be too numerous to number.  Abram settled in Mamre.  Abram was still responding to God’s call and was calling upon the Lord.

This time we see Abram setting up an altar.  That meant that some sort of sacrifice or offering was made.  This God-given calling and relationship continued.

Let’s consider Lot. It seems that he was just along for the ride, reaping some benefits then and later from his association with Abram.  Again, to the question.  Why was Lot traveling with Abram?

What was Lot’s purpose?

We don’t see one.  He goes the same places as Abram, at least until they decide to go separate ways after having returned to the Promised Land. They both have grown in wealth. They both seem to be men of some standing, but Abram has a God-given purpose.

God did not command Lot to accompany Abram.  We don’t see any evidence of God giving Lot a mission or calling.  It seems that Lot was just along for the ride.

Abram and Lot are not a case of Naomi and Ruth.  There is no: Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.

When the time came for Abram and Lot to go separate ways, Lot looked to what would benefit him.  Abram trusted God to direct his steps wherever they might lead.

So were Abram and Lot the same?  They both started in Ur near Babylon. They went to the same places. They both acquired wealth. They both ended up in the land that God promised Abram’s dependents.

I would suggest to you, that while neither man was perfect only one was called by God to go to these places, father many children and nations, and bring about the seed that would redeem humankind from sin and death.

For Abram, God directed his steps.  For Lot, tagging along seemed like it was as good as anything else.  Abram, though flawed, was called according to God’s purpose and called upon the name of the Lord.

Lot seemed to just be along for the ride.

Let’s come to the present day.  How many Christians are responding to God’s calling?  How many are just along for the ride?  How many think they might just hedge their eternal bet somewhat by logging a little pew time?

We live in a time when everyone is called by God.  Christ died for all, but all do not respond.  So, the question for us is do we call upon the name of the Lord—undaunted, unashamed, and unconcerned about who might condemn us for it?

Do we receive and accept the calling that God has placed upon our lives?  You may not be called to ordained ministry but you are called to respond to the incredible mercy and grace that you have received from the Lord.

You are all called to proclaim the good news.

You are all called to love one another.

You are all called to be light and salt in this world.  You are called to be a person through whom others may know God and his love and the life he wants for you.

Some are just along for the ride.

Several years ago, I made some people angry.  It wasn’t the first time and probably won’t be the last.  I made some people angry.  Actually, I have been told that I’m pretty good at it.

I introduced my metaphor of the vending machine.  I won’t rehash that literary device here and now, but the essence of the metaphor is that we—Christians—must not be transactional.  We are called to be transformational.

The precipitating event was that people started calling the church office in November asking about what kind of free stuff they could get.  It was all about the stuff—food, gifts, and other things that came at no cost to them.

They were not really free.  You and I paid for most of the free stuff.  Some of the food came from the community.

But in the minds of so many, the church was about free stuff.  The church was the most popular vending machine around.  Put in your form. Get out some food and gifts.  Here’s your stuff.  See you next year.

We don’t play that vending machine game anymore.  So take a guess.  How much has our food distribution gone down over the past years?

It goes up every year.  We give out more food every year; yet, we have become so much less transactional.  We are moving away from the vending machine model.

What does this have to do with Abram and Lot?

To look at their lives from the outside, they were about the same.  They came from the same place, traveled together, grew in material things, and seemed to be successful men.

To look at how we take care of the least of these our brothers and sisters, what we did before and what we do now looks about the same, at last from the outside.  We give out food and clothing and gifts and school supplies.

We give out stuff.  So, how is one different from the other?

Abram was called and he called upon the Lord. God’s work and his plan and his redemption of humankind would come through this imperfect man that we will eventually call Abraham.

We are all called to share God’s love and his invitation to life and life eternal.  We have purpose. We are so imperfect, yet we have been given a call by the Lord. We have God-given purpose. 

We are going to feed some people and cloth some people and help people with stuff, but the stuff is secondary to the relationship that we desire for people.

We want people to know the God of mercy and grace that we know.  We want them to have a relationship with the one true God.  That relationship just might need to start with a relationship with us.

From the outside, it might look the same to a lot of people.  We know differently.  It is all about relationship.  It is about knowing the one true God. That’s person-to-person contact not a name on a list.

It is about helping someone come to a moment of professing Jesus is Lord passing from death to life.

Abram and Lot seemed to be on the same track but Abram was on a mission from God.

We are the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ who give out food and other material things to begin a relationship with people with the hope of bringing them to a vital relationship with God.

We are not people who give out food and money so we don’t have to deal with the least of these my brothers and sisters and they don’t have to listen to us.  We are not the get it and go, see you next year people dressed up like the church.

We are people of purpose.

We are called.

We call upon the name of the Lord.

The world, including much of the Christian world, has just been along for the ride.  In the last century, that ride often included attending worship on Sunday mornings.

Today, few make an appearance in worship just because that’s the place to be.  Today, the place to be is online.  That’s what the crowd follows, but we are still called to make personal connections and share God’s love.

So here is your challenge.  Are you answering the call that God has placed upon your life?

Are you calling upon the name of the Lord?

Things may look the same from the outside, but for those who know—and you know—it’s about living for God’s purpose.

It’s about relationship.

It’s about answering your call.

Some of you are still scratching your heads about how Tom got from Abram and Lot to answering God’s call on your life, but we are here nonetheless.

As we wrap up one year and will soon begin the next, ask yourself this question.

Have you answered—responded—to the call and calling that God has given you?

If the answer is not straightforward, yes, then I urge you to spend the rest of this year in prayer and meditation to get to yes, to answer the call that God has placed upon your life.

Amen.

 

Blessed to be a blessing

 Read Genesis 12

Father Abraham had many sons.  He also had a promise and a blessing bestowed upon him by the Lord.

Hear the words of Genesis 12.

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.

So, 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.

Further instructions upon the land promised and circumcision would follow. For now, just note that everything that God promised would come to fruition.  Everything that God told Abram to do took time and some missed turns along the way.

 The first seemed to be passing off his wife as his sister in Egypt.  God cursed the Pharoah even though the Pharoah wasn’t in on the scheme.

Later we know that Abram would not trust God for the promise of the being the Father of many nations and had a son by his servant maiden, Hagar.

Each time, God insisted on doing things his way in his time and not what the short-sightedness of Abram could envision.

I will make this point again in the next service, but we must trust God, to include his methods and timing.  We should be creative and resourceful.  We are, after all, made in this image and likeness and are meant to be creative, but our creativity must not move us away from God’s directions

The blessing of the world would come through the line of Abram.  We know this blessing as Christ Jesus, but Abraham’s line was called to do more.

The line that goes through Isaac and Jacob—Israel was meant to take God's love to the world.  Instead, the alienated the world from God because God had not chosen them as his people.

Let us not make the same mistake.  Let the love of God always shine through us.  The church is called out of the world, to be set apart—made holy, and then sent back into the world.

Let’s don’t leave out that last part.  Let’s take the love of God to the world.  We have been blessed by Christ as children of God.  Let us pay this blessing forward as is the term these days.

We are blessed to be a blessing.

Amen.

Abundant life lies outside of you comfort zone

 Read Genesis 12

To get to the story of Abram, whom you will eventually come to know as Abraham, we have to go to Ur near Babylon and Abraham’s father, Terah.

Ur was south, southeast of Babylon near the southern edge of the Fertile Crescent.  The Tigris and Euphrates still govern this area and merge into the Khor Abdullah or the River of God as it flows into the Persian or Arabian Gulf depending upon which shore you stand.

God directed Terah to pick up his family and go to Canaan.  He went north along the Fertile Crescent but stopped and settled in the northern part of the crescent. Harran—a town with the same name of his son who had passed away and was about as far north as Nineveh but farther east.

So, if you want to find this northern city go north of Damascus and east of Nineveh. In any case, this is where Terah, the father of Abraham stopped and settled, along with other family members. Terah would die in Harran.

But God had other plans and geography in store for Abraham. God told Abram to pick up and leave Harran and go where he sent him.  This journey was precedent by a covenant.

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.

God said:

·       I will bless you.

·       I will make your name great.

·       You will be a blessing.

·       I will bless those who bless you.

·       I will curse those who come against you.

·       All the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you.

So, Abraham picked up his wife, Sarai, who was still barren at this point.  His nephew Lot threw in with them. His father and grandfather were already dead at this point.

Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 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 now add to the covenant blessing, a Promised Land. So now, perhaps we see a part of the curse that Noah placed upon Canaan, in that the land would be given to the descendants of Shem and Abraham as the Promised Land.

In any case, this land was not to be delivered to the people of Abraham for several centuries.  Abraham now continued through the Negev to Egypt because of famine and hardship in the land where his descendants would return  He build an altar and made an offering to the Lord before he headed down to Egypt.

It is in Egypt that we see Abram’s human weakness exposed.  Despite the promises and blessings of God, Abram feared for his life.  His wife was beautiful and, in his mind, if the Pharoah saw her, he would kill him and take her for his own wife.

 

So, Abram concocted this story to pass his wife off as his sister.  It was sort of a half-truth.  She was like a half-sister.  Family trees didn’t branch that much back then, but the effects would be as promised by God.  The Pharoah would be cursed—afflicted-for taking Sarai believing her to be available to marital consummation.

Abram was compensated nicely for his deception but the Pharoah was no dummy. He figured out what had happened, scolded Abram, and sent him and his family packing with everything they had. So Abram pick up some livestock from his time in Egypt and they left.

Abram had not placed much stock in God’s promises to him but God held up his end.  We have our children sing of how Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had father Abraham. Those promises would be fulfilled later on.

For now, we see a very human Abraham.  He follows God’s directions but when left to his own decisiveness, we don’t see much faith.  Faith would come.  Faith would be tested, but for now, we just see a man with human weaknesses.

God will use Abram for great things.  The Savior of the world will come through his line. For now, he is just a man with human fault.

Adam and Eve sinned.

Cain killed.

Noah though he found favor with God, got drunk and shamed himself.

Terah didn’t follow through on instructions.

Abraham deceived didn’t trust God to protect him and gave up his wife to save his own skin.

Need I say more that God uses imperfect people.  He perfects us in Christ, but we come to him in full Ikea mode—some assembly required.

One of the more comforting memes that has been floating around for a few years is one that reads:  GOD ALREADY FACTORED IN YOUR STUPIDITY WHEN HE CALLED YOU TO HIS PURPOSE.

God factored in my intelligence or lack thereof, my hardheadedness, my stubbornness, my heart that seeks after him but sometimes get distracted, my boldness that sometimes comes off as too strong, my critical and creative thinking that sometimes should just yield to obedience, my innate propensity to speak the truth and my struggle to make sure it is spoken in love, my dashing good looks and corresponding dry humor in mixed propositions, and other things.

God already knew those things when he called me to my purpose.

I fought against the goads of God calling a crusty old Marine into ordain ministry.  Why does God want someone who can peel the paint of the walls with colorful language?  I was asking the wrong question. You don’t ask God, why?

You may ask, Is it I, Lord?  Is that you calling?  But his sheep know his voice. 

Our reply is just, send me.  I am ready to serve.  I will obey.  I will trust.

I’m sure that God has already factored in a list of things that you might think disqualifying as well.  Maybe you are afraid of failure.  Maybe you fear success.  Then God will expect more.

Maybe you have a hard time directly confronting an issue or a person.  Maybe you are afraid that you will have to fix the copy machine.  Maybe you can’t say no. 

Maybe you are afraid to venture out of your comfort zone.  If that’s part of it, remember that most of life—abundant life—lies outside of your present comfort zone.

Today, just take note that Abraham was just a man, with flaws, with doubts, and who made mistakes.

God did not kick him to the curb.  He would become a patriarch in the line that would produce Israel and the Christ.  God had great things in store for him and one day he would be noted as a pillar of faith.

Remember that our salvation comes in a moment.  Our discipleship takes time.

Look to the beginning of the story of Abraham and see that God took a man—a simple man—and chose him to do great things.

Never doubt what God will do if you are willing to receive him, his directions, take his yoke and learn from him, and trust him over your own understanding.

We struggle.  God is faithful.

We resist patience.  God is patient, desiring all to come to him before the time for judgment.

God is the Potter.  We are to be the clay.

I will conclude as I have many times before.  Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight.

God will equip and provision you for the calling he has placed on your life.

Amen.