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Matthew 28:19-20 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Genesis 12:1-9 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.”1 4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak1 of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring1 I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on 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 invoked the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
The Call of Abraham
This morning we move forward ten generations from the story of Noah to the story of Abraham. The sermon is titled, “The Call of Abraham” but perhaps a better title would have been “Go!”. One word, only two letters. Ah, but that word, it’s a powerful word. Go! God said go to Abram and he left home and family and journeyed off into the unknown, trusting God. Think about that. Off into the unknown. There were no maps in those days, no GPS. Abram had no idea where God was going to lead him. God promised him many blessings but they were all for the future. Abram was a wanderer all his life. Driving his flocks from place to place. He never had a permanent home. Everything was for the future. Through it all Abram trusted and believed God and God reckoned it as righteousness.
So, why did God call Abram? Who was he? Last week the sermon was about Noah. Abram is a descendant of Noah’s son, Shem. Abram started out in Ur in what is now Iraq and journeyed with his father, Terah and family to Haran in what is now southeastern Turkey. We aren’t told that there was anything special about Abram. We were told that Noah was a righteous man but we are given no reason for God to single Abram out. So, why, why Abram? This is what is called the scandal of election. God’s choosing of a particular person or a particular nation.
God’s call to Abram is a call to serve, to be a blessing to others, but it is also a declaration of love: God loves Abram, and God loves the world and so sends Abram on a journey that will bless the whole world.
One Old Testament scholar said of election: “Even if that love brings with it a call to serve, that service is secondary to being loved, not the core of being loved. So too, the Israelites are loved for themselves, prior to any impact for good that they may have on others”
God tells Abram to go and in this initial encounter between God and Abram, the promise is pure grace, given for no apparent reason whatsoever. This is the same grace that we receive from Jesus Christ. It is not from any merit of our own, we can’t earn it. We are forgiven and reconciled to God through Jesus Christ because we are loved.
God promises Abram a three-fold blessings; God would make of him a great nation, his name would be great and Abram would be a blessing to all the families of the earth. These promises were certainly kept. Many different people groups trace their lineage back to Abraham including both Jews, Christians and Arabs, Abraham’s descendents became many great nations. All the nations in the Middle East are descended from Abraham. Abraham is revered as the Father of the Faith in three major religions, Judaism, Christianity and Moslem, that’s a pretty great name. Finally and best of all for the rest of us Abraham is a blessing to many and to us since he is one of Jesus’ ancestors. The covenant God made with Adam, Noah and Abraham continued and changed through the many generations. It eventually became the new covenant we have through Jesus Christ. Jesus has saved us from our sins and given us eternal life. He promises to be with us always. I think we have an even greater blessing than Abraham did.
One of the things I like about Abraham and Sarah is that they are real people. They make mistakes, they get things wrong but God still loves and guides them. Think of what they did. God has promised Abraham that Sarah will have a child yet twice Abraham risks her to save his own life. Both times he tells Sarah to say she is his sister, not his wife. When Pharaoh wants her for a wife Abraham gives her to him. Abraham profits greatly because of this but God has to intervene to save Sarah. Then when Abimelech wants Sarah as his wife Abraham again lets her be taken and God has to intervene again. That’s Abraham, now how about Sarah? Sarah decides she needs to help God out so she gives her slave, Hagar to Abraham and thus Ishmael is born causing jealousy and many difficulties. Sarah laughs at God when she is told she still will become pregnant at ninety. I must admit I would have laughed too. Yet, despite her age Sarah does give birth to Isaac. God kept His covenant promises to them despite everything they did. It gives me hope that God will be patient with me despite my own mistakes. God is patient with all of us.
Now let’s turn to our New Testament scripture which is Jesus’ last words to His disciples. It’s got the same word as God’s call to Abram. Go! Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” These final instructions were not just for the disciples but they are for all Christians. It’s a three-fold instruction: one: go and make disciples, two: baptize them, three: teach them to obey everything I have commanded.
We’ve heard God’s call to Abram. We’ve heard Jesus’ final instructions to His disciples. In both cases it was to go, to leave what is familiar and venture off into the unknown. So our first question this morning is; Where is God calling us to go as individuals? Sometimes God’s go involves physical relocation. I left my family and friends and moved to south-central Pennsylvania to pastor a church there. I’ve known people who serve in various parts of Africa or South America as both pastors and missionaries.
Sometimes God’s go is temporary. People go on short-term mission trips both within our country and outside of it. I know a dentist who yearly goes to various places in Africa and India and provides dental care to the people there. I have several friends who went on trips to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Sometimes God’s go is to a particular ministry in our church. Some of you are in the choir or provide special music. James runs our sound and video systems and Tom plays the piano. Many of you have heard God’s go as a call to volunteer for other jobs in the church. Donna Marie was our treasurer and now Michele Kane has that job, for many years Ruth was our Clerk of Session. Every week Bill counts our giving. Erin does many various things in our church. She’s the head of Music and Worship, the Care and Fellowship and Christian Ed. Many others of you are either serving now or have served in the past as elders and deacons.
Our second question is where is God calling us to go as a church? Well, it’s a pretty big building, so I don’t think God wants us to move the physical church but where is God calling us to go as His church in Aston? Not a physical relocation but perhaps a spiritual one. What has our church done for the community? I know a number of years ago members of our church started the Aston Presbyterian Church Learning Center where many preschoolers are cared for and educated. I have Bible Time with the children where they learn that God loves them and hopefully they learn to love God. We have no way of knowing how many people the Learning Center has reached, not just the children but through the children their families, friends and neighbors. I know a number of our members have worked in the Learning Center. This is a wonderful and on-going way that we bring the love of Christ to others outside our immediate church family. Several AA groups meet in our church. Just letting them use the building is a form of outreach. Does God have any other tasks for our church? Are there any other ways we can go out into our community to bring the love of Christ to our neighbors? How are we to fulfill Jesus’ command to go and make disciples? What else does God have in store for us? We don’t know. We can only listen for God’s call.
There are two things that are necessary to hear God’s call. First, you have to listen. If we want to hear from God we need to be listening. That means spending time before God in quiet, in stillness. If the only time we pray is to give God our list of what we want God to do for us and others then there is no time or space for God to speak. That is not a relationship. We are treating God like the person at the drive up window at the fast food restaurant. We shout our request in at one window, give our offering at another and drive away with our blessing. Ok, I admit it’s a stretch to call fast food a blessing given the fat and calories but I think you get the point. There is no relationship going on there.
Now compare this to a family dinner. It is prepared with love. We gather together intending to spend time with each other. We each talk of the happenings of our day and we share with each other. We listen to each other. We learn new things about each other. That is a relationship. That is how we are meant to be with God. Not a hurried list of requests but lingering together, spending time enjoying each other’s company. Time in unhurried worship and adoration. How wonderful it is to spend time contemplating the wonder of our indescribable, uncontainable God. What a privilege it is to worship and adore God. To live in His love and listen to His voice.
Second, you have to be willing to go. What would have happened if Noah hadn’t built the Ark? What if Abram refused to leave Haran? There are many pivotal moments throughout the Old and New Testament where history would have been much different if people hadn’t agreed to go where God was sending them. Suppose Mary said no to Gabriel or Joseph hadn’t believed his dreams?
Being willing to go involves surrender. Surrender of our own will to God’s will. It involves trust. We need to be able to trust God or we won’t be willing to go. Abram was doing quite well in Haran. His father and other family were there. Scripture tells us they were settled in Haran. They had a home. God was calling them to become wanderers, to never again have a permanent home yet Abram said yes.
Listen for God’s voice calling you. Where is God telling you to go? Will you say, “Yes”? May each of us trust God enough to follow His call in our lives.
Let us pray. God of covenant, you promised Abraham land, descendants, and blessing so that he might be a blessing for all. Show us how to honor the covenant, so that we might be a blessing to others. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.