Time to set off

Introduction

Just a few verses to listen to this morning as we continue on this journey through Genesis.

But these 4 verses are really critical in understanding how the story of Genesis has progressed.

We started with the open end of the  funnel. Almost a geological time frame. The creation of light and darkness, of the cosmos , of the earth, of creatures and we reached this high point with the creation of man and woman endowed with these almost God like gifts.  Self- aware. Ability to speak, to create to imagine.

And then from this wonderful moment things crash down as we see the consequences of the misuse of the gifts and blessings the first man and woman receive.

And it looks like everything is going bad. But then God finds Noah, this one righteous man,  and after the flood a fresh starting point based on a promise that never again will the floods destroy the earth.

Then things go wrong again.  Noah, who God had hoped would re-establish a better world, plants a vineyard, gets drunk, passes out,  and there is this story of shame.  God notes that even a universal purge seems not to have changed the nature of human hearts.

And so looking back from chapter 12 it seems that this cycle of blessing, disobedience, destruction has solved nothing and just seems to repeat itself.

And by this stage we are left wondering what else God might do.

The answer comes in these verses today. God decides on blessing as the alternative to curse.

And so this great funnel of these huge stories comes down to one man, and one woman called and blessed. Called and blessed so that they can begin a whole new dynasty a whole new family of people whose primary calling is one of being a blessing to others and to nations. 

Reading…

Genesis 12:1-4

1 Now 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. 2 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. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.

Let us pray. May my words and our thoughts be acceptable in thy sight….

So  here we have  Abram.  Later to be called Abraham.  Occasionally people’s names to change to express a new future and purpose in God’s work.   Jacob became Israel for example. But we haven’t got to this yet, and so we are just dealing with Abram and Sarai.

In the preceding chapter we hear that Abram was a descended of Noah .

And we read, Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there.

So Ur a major ancient city in Southern Iraq. Their heading more or less to Canaan  which is roughly where modern day Israel is, and they stop in a place called Hanan.

I’m leaving Wellington to go and live in Auckland but I stop in Taupo. I quite like it there and 75 years have passed.

 But they are stopped on their way to somewhere else. To the land of Canaan. And the man who has led them, Terah, dies while they are stopped. 

So this Abram whose stopped somewhere on the way to somewhere else, gets spoken to by God.

1 Now 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.

And we have to pause at this point. And reflect.

All of Biblical history and it comes down to this.  God speaking to a bloke of very uncertain background with his wife who we’ve been told can’t have children, a brother, they’ve stopped in a place they never intended to stop at, and God saying to Abram to get going and I will make you a great nation.  It’s a bit of yeah right situation.  And we come across these quite often in the Bible.  Abram and the promise of being a great nation they don’t connect.

Do you remember those billboards.  That advertised tui beer. Half black half a red -orange colour?  On one side was a statement that says this year I will finally get myself organised. And on the red side are the words yeah, right.

Or I’ll do the dishes before I come to bed  and on the other side are the words yeah right. Or I’ll tidy up after I’ve had a lie down.  Or, I’ll be back straight after the match. And on the other side the words again yeah right.

I guess the yeah right ads tell us that perhaps  there are little lies that we can tell and can be quite funny and it’s no big deal. But if I went around now and asked what is one thing you most dislike other people doing to you  a lot of people would answer that they most disliked being lied to.  That might be a universal thing. Can I trust what I’m being told?

Two obvious reasons that being lied is disturbing for us  – lies  reflect badly on a relationship. And the second reason is that we want to be able to make decisions,  about people things, the future, based on what is true. What we can trust.  We can’t live with fake news.

No matter how honest or good or righteous I am,  if I trust in the wrong things  I am going to likely end up in the wrong place.  Knowing the truth at the start of a journey means that we have something solid to base our decisions upon.

Can Abram trust a promise?   

"Leave your country, your people, and your father's household and go to the land I will show you" Believing that he had heard the very voice of God, at the age of seventy-five "Abram left, as the Lord had told him and journeyed toward the land of Canaan

Some important points here.

The Biblical story has virtually no interest in what has happened in Abram and Sarai’s past. It’s all about the decision made today and the future that’s important.  Abram most likely worshipped the various pagans Babylonian God’s before he hears the voice of the Lord.

And the second thing , is that the call of God is from the known to the unknown.   All on a promise. So we get this ancient insight into the nature of Biblical faith.

 Everything is familiar here,  and even though you’ve been here for quite a long time, it’s still temporary there is still something more.  You’ve been around Haran for 75 years here, but there is something more. Can you believe that?  You’ve got all your stuff here. Your friends and family your camel out there in the paddock . But you haven’t arrived yet.

And as challenging as that is, as the story goes on, we find the promise giver is also the gift giver,  giving what is needed so that the promise will be fulfilled.

So what promises are we listening to? Do they lead us forward or leave us in the same place?

I think some of the most powerful promises we hear today are often about security holding on to what we have or improvements in what we own,  wealthier more attractive more secure.

But a promise that based on what you will discover when you move to an unknown place, that’s something quite different.

Abram seems to have no credentials at all.  

But here a promise that based on leaving our country leaving our relatives leaving our father’s home. If we aren’t prepared to move and change how cans God’s promises in our lives be fulfilled?

2 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. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. So Abram was born into a new reality that God called into being.

These are the founding stories of our faith.

God creating new beginnings.  Creating from a formless void. The man and woman. The new world after the flood.  Jesus, used that same language with someone called Nicodemus.  He said no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again.  The great affirmation of a new creation in Christ a new heaven and a new earth at the end of time. A security found not by holding on but by letting go.

These blessing here that uphold the promise.

An assurance of well being

An understanding that you are part of God’s good creation. God purpose for the world

A realisation that we have been blessed with talents gifts skills.  You have the things necessary to take this journey.  

The end of verse 2 shifts the focus from Abram as the recipient of blessing to Abram as the cause of blessing for others

C S Lewis is that "all of the roads belong to God," and that "the Saviour can use any road to bring us home." God who called Abraham can even use the wrong roads on our life journey to take us to the right places

So we take our place we set off with Abram and Sarai in this ancient story of faith. This story of promise and blessing.  With Abram  and those who have followed him. Something stirs in us. We realise it’s time to move on. For the sake of ourselves those  we love our world our faith.

There is something more for you and me. And though the doubter in us might say yeah right. We still are challenged to decide what promises to base our live upon.  I will bless you God says. I will bless those who bless you. And in you, in the history of God’s story in which we stand. , the families of the earth shall be blessed.   AMEN