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.