Amen
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Please pray with me. Lord may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you. Amen.
One of my favorite people in the Bible is Abraham. In this morning's Old Testament lesson from Genesis 15, we heard a story about God's covenant with Abraham. In the story God reaffirms a fantastic promise to Abraham that is almost impossible to believe. God promised Abraham that Abraham and his wife Sarah would have children. What makes the promise so hard to believe is that Abraham was 75 and Sarah was 65 years old when God made the promise to them. The promises that are impossible for us to believe are always possible for God to do. Because of that, I like to call God the Ultimate Promisekeeper.
Although our story today about Abraham is in chapter 15 of Genesis, the story of Abraham and Sarah really begins in Genesis 11 with a comment about Abraham's family and that his wife Sarah is barren, she had no children. That will be an important fact as the story unfolds. You will also note that Abraham's name is different. He is called Abram, which means, "exalted father". Sarah also has a different name. She is called Sarai, which means "princess". God will alter change their names to the ones we are most familiar with. The name Abraham means, "Father of many".
In Genesis 12 calls Abram to do something
incredible. God tells Abram to leave his home country and family
to move to place that God will show him. God makes an unconditional
promise to Abram called the Abrahamic Covenant:
1) to make Abram into a great nation
2) to bless Abram
3) to make Abram's name great
4) to make Abram a blessing to others
5) to bless those that bless Abram and to curse those that curse
Abram
6) to bless all people on earth through Abram
7) to give the land of Canaan to Abram's descendants
That is an incredible promise by God, especially considering Abram's and Sarai's age and the fact that they did not have any children yet. There are two things that catch my eye about their situation. The first was that God was not calling them to move to a retirement community in the Sun Belt. God had great things in store for Abram and Sarai and it was at a point in life where most people are ready to retire. The second thing is the impossible nature of the promise. How can two people at their ages begin a family for the first time that will grow into becoming a great nation. That is a tall order, but no order is too tall for God.
We learn that Abram is obedient to God and does exactly what God called him to do. We learn from Abram that age or personal circumstances should never be a barrier in serving God. Our first thoughts are that Abram must be a tremendous man of faith. But quickly we learn that Abram is a person just like us, a person with some character flaws. There is a famine and Abram moves his to Egypt. But Abram is fearful for his life because he thinks that the Egyptians will kill him for his wife. We learn that Sarai is so beautiful that Pharaoh wants her to become part of his harem. Abram tells Sarai to lie and tell everyone that Abram is her brother, not her husband. The Egyptians show favor towards Abram and shower him with gifts to make him rich. Eventually Pharaoh finds out that Abram is Sarai's husband and kicks them out of Egypt. So our first experience with Abram was that he was a liar and profited from it, and his lies almost jeopardized God's promise for Abram and Sarai to have children.
That brings us to today's Bible reading. If
you would like to follow along it is printed in your bulletin
and we will unpack what God's Word is saying to us.
15:1
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a
vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield: your
reward will be great."
This is the first time in the Bible that the
phrase, "the word of the LORD came to" is used. It will
be used many times again as God speaks especially to God's prophets.
Notice that God's first words to Abram are "Do not be afraid."
Throughout the Bible when God or angels speak to humans, that
their first reaction is to be afraid. I must admit that as much
as I would like to hear God speak directly to me that I would
be afraid and immediately wonder why me? What have I done? Thus,
it is common for words of reassurance to calm our fear. God immediately
tells Abram that God will be his shield or protector. Abram should
have nothing to fear because of God's protection. God is all the
security that Abram needs. God also indicates that Abram will
receive a great reward. The Hebrew word translated reward also
means being paid wages for a job well done or a free gift. God
has in store a great job for Abram and Abram will receive back
far more than Abram ever gives God. Is God your shield and reward?
15:2-3
But Abram said, "O LORD God, what will you give me, for
I continue childless, and the heir of my household is Eliezer
of Damacus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no offspring,
and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir."
That big word "But" appears. Abram finally confronts God about the impossibility about God's promise and we sense a little of Abram's discouragement. Are you honest with God when you have doubts? Human knowledge knows that it is impossible to have babies when biologically it can happen no longer. Especially when past history shows that Sarai is barren. Plus another 5 to 10 years have passed since God first made the promise to Abram. The clock has been ticking and things do no look like they will be getting any better.
Evidently the practice in the culture at the
time was for childless families to adopt one of their trusted
servants to be their legal heir and to receive all their property
when the father died. The servant was also responsible for giving
the parents a proper burial.
It is interesting that God does not rebuke Abram for pouring out
his doubts to God. Instead, God reassures Abram. God can and does
work through our doubts.
15:4-5
But the word of the LORD came to Abram, "This man shall
not be your heir; no one but your own issue shall be your heir."
God brought Abram outside and said, "Look toward heaven an
count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then God
said to Abram, "So shall your descendants be."
15:6
And Abram believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him
as righteousness.
Abram believed the unbelievable. Abram will not just have a son, but he will have more descendants than the stars in the sky. In other words Abram will have so many descendants that he will not be able to count all of them. Abram had faith and trusted God despite all human odds being against him. And as a result, God accepted Abram not because he led a perfect life and was good, but because Abram believed God's promises.
This verse is one of the single most important verses in the Old Testament. It is quoted three times in the New Testament (Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23). Paul uses this verse to show that a relationship with God has always been based upon faith and was not anything new with because of Jesus.
One of the controversies that threatened the early Christian church was over the issue whether new believers first had to become Jews before they could become Christians. Paul uses this verse from Genesis to prove that a relationship with God is open to all people and not restricted to just Jews. In Galatians 3:6-8 Paul writes:
In the same way, "Abraham believed God, so God declared him righteous because of his faith." Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. What's more, the scriptures foresaw all along that God would justify the Gentiles by faith when God told the gospel to Abraham by saying that "All nations will be blessed by you."
Abram is called our Father of Faith or "Father of all who believe" (Romans 4:11). We are called the children of faith because we are adopted into God's family through faith and faith alone. That was the Battle Cry of the Reformation that Martin Luther used to call the Church backs to its roots. And it was that way from the very beginning. Faith in God has always justified us. As a result God treats us just-as-if-we'd never sinned. We are saved not because we are good, but because God is good.
15:7
Then God said to Abram, " I am
the LORD who brought you from Ur (Iraq) of the Chaldeans, to give
you this land to possess." But Abram said, "O LORD God,
how am I to know that I shall possess it?"
Abram was brave and assertive. Abram asked
the question we all ask, "Then how we will know? God give
us a sign or guarantee." Early in my Christian walk I used
to ask God what I should do when I faced a decision. I used to
flip a coin to determine which direction God wanted me to go and
when the coin came up opposite of the way that I wanted I would
tell God, "Let's make it two out of three".
15:8-12
God said to Abram, "Bring me a heifer three years old,
a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle
dove, and a young pigeon." Abram brought God all these animals
and cut them in two laying each half over against the other, but
he did not cut the birds in two. And when the birds of prey came
down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going
down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying
darkness descended upon him.
15:17-18
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire
pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day
the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants
I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates."
The scene described is an ancient ceremonial practice for making a covenant or in modern language signing a contract. The cutting of the animal in two signifies the two parties of the contract. A path is left in the center of the two halves and when the parties walk through the center it signifies them coming together and legally agreeing to their contract. It also means that if one party breaks the contract that a curse may be brought on them that they would be torn in two like the animals. Throughout the Bible the presence of God is symbolized by fire. When the fire passes down the middle God is sealing the deal and signing the contract. In effect God is subjecting God to this punishment if God breaks the contract to bless Abram. All Abram has to do to receive the benefits of the contract is to believe God. Abram who is childless and does not own any land will not only have children, but will receive land as well. That is a great reward!
And the bottom line is that God is reliable. God's promises can be trusted. We can rely on God. God will never let us go. Two of my favorite scriptures are:
Joshua 1:5 The LORD said, "I will never leave you or abandon you."
Hebrews 13:5 God said, "I will never fail you. I will never forsake you."
Several years ago a man tried to commit suicide in Kansas City, Missouri by jumping off a bridge into the Missouri River. As the man prepared to jump a fireman descended in a harness to try to talk him out of jumping. The man jumped and the fireman jumped at the same time and caught the man in mid air. The people up on the bridge could hear the fireman scream, "I will never let you go. If you are going down so am I." Just as the fireman saved the man trying to commit suicide by not letting go, God promises to never let us go and we can depend on God because God is reliable and keeps all of God's promises.
The take-home that I would like you to remember is that God is the Ultimate Promisekeeper and we are keepers of the promise. With the promise comes a responsibility. Notice in the story the importance of heirs. An heir is someone that receives an inheritance. We have all received a spiritual inheritance from those that have gone before us in the faith. In the hymn that we just sang "Blessed Assurance" the words are that we are "heirs of salvation".
Our responsibility is to tell others so that they can receive the same spiritual inheritance of a restored relationship with God and eternal life that we have received. My hope is that we begin to think of ourselves not so much as descendants, but ancestors who will pass on the spiritual inheritance that we have received to others. We do that by telling them about Jesus and letting them know that God's promises can be trusted. Someone once said that, "the Church is only one generation away from extinction." What that person meant was that each generation is responsible for passing on the spiritual inheritance of faith that it has received from the prior generation. If the world is to know about Jesus it is up to us to tell them.
In closing, I would like to refer back to our gospel lesson where Jesus compares himself to a hen gathering her babies. A Hen cares for and protects her babies and instinctively will never abandon them.
I read a story in National Geographic that
illustrates my point. There was a forest fire in the state of
Washington that devastated a forest. Afterwards a park ranger
was walking through the smoldering debris and saw an interesting
sight. He saw a petrified bird that had been burned by the fire.
When the park ranger touched the remains they crumbled and revealed
five baby chicks. The mother had protected her babies with her
wings to save their lives even though she could have flown away
to save her own life. That is what Jesus has done for us. Jesus
promises to save us and we know that we can believe that promise
because Jesus gave his life to save us. John 3:16 says,
"For God so loved the world that God gave His only son that
whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life".
That is Good News! And you can rely on it because the Ultimate
Promisekeeper made it.
Amen