Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ (Ro 1:7). Amen.
I don’t know if they are as common as before—a father and son business. Perhaps you still see a work van on the road and on the side it reads: “So and So and Son.” It could be a plumber or a painter. The dad has taught the family business to his child and the next generation has bought into it.
It is not that way in my family. My dad is a CPA. (I don’t even know what those initials stand for.) For him, a calculator is not something that you happily chuck once you are finally done with algebra II in high school. You actually keep it and consult it. His fingers fly over the numbers and he can make sense of them. I can’t. I did not follow my father’s footsteps.
But there is one whom we would walk behind and walk with. It is our spiritual father—Abram. We are more used to his other name that God gave him—Abraham (Ge 17:5). Those who believe are his children (Ga 3:7; Ro 4:16). Follow your father’s faith as you listen with attention and as you live with action. We read from …
Genesis 12:1-8
Dear People of God, blessed by God,
It could be on a sandy beach (like on a Spring Break) or a snowy field (like on a Sunday afternoon). The dad goes ahead. The little one lags behind. He strains and stretches his legs to match his father’s long strides. Finally he sits down because he is furious. “I can’t do that.” It is not possible even if he jumps from one to the next.
Possibly that is our contention as we consider Abram. “I can’t do that.” He is so much bigger and better than I am. And we slump down because we are frustrated.
But then we are looking in the wrong place. It is not down at ourselves, but up at our God. The Lord brings us to faith and builds up that faith with his words and with his assurances (Ro 10:17). What he did for Abram, he does for us.
Follow Your Father’s Faith
1. As you listen with attention (1-3)
2. As you live with action (4-8)
1. As you listen with attention (1-3)
There is hearing and then there is listening. You know the difference. Your spouse’s eyes are fixed on the TV or your teenager’s interest is glued to the phone. (You wouldn’t want to miss an awesome play during a game or incredible post from a classmate.) Not even for supper. There were waves of sound from your mouth, but no sign of some awareness. You might even prefer a blank stare than an awkward silence. They heard, but they didn’t listen. That is not Abram. Follow your father’s faith as you listen with attention.
We don’t know how: “The LORD had said to Abram” (Ge 12:1). He initiated the contact. But we know why: “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you” (Ge 12:1). He informed about the content. Maybe you recall that this is not the first time. Earlier God asked Abram’s whole clan to make a major move—from the city of Ur in the far corner of Mesopotamia heading northwest along the Fertile Crescent to Haran. As hard as that might have been, this one was more so. Note the three things that were to be in his rearview mirror this second time—each progressively more difficult:
• Leave your country (Ge 12:1)—the familiarity of the area.
• Leave your people (Ge 12:1)—the friends of that place.
• Leave your father’s household (Ge 12:1)—the family of his relatives. He might never see them again. This was long before facetime and Facebook, Instagram and iPhones.
This time it was just Abram, Sarah, and Lot, his nephew, along with the people and possessions that he had gathered—his stuff and his servants (Ge 12:5). Add to that he had a general direction, but not the exact location. You don’t just punch into your GPS “south.” There is a state, city, and address. But that is what the Lord told a man a bit past middle age, at least by our standards. He was not to settle down where he was staying now.
God didn’t send him on his way with nothing to say for the way. He packed a whole cluster of promises for him to take along—7 of them. The Lord is not shy with the pronoun “I.” “I,I,I” as he supports and strengthens Abram’s faith as he listens closely.
“I will make you into a great nation” (Ge 12:2). This was to a childless 75-year-old man who has a 65-year-old wife who happens to be barren (Ge 11:30). But nothing is too hard for the Lord (Ge 18:14). Later the Lord changed his name from Abram (“exalted father”) to Abraham (“father of many”) (Ge 17:5). Remember the time that God took him outside and told him to count the stars in the sky? That is how many descendants that he would have (Ge 15:5)—physical and spiritual (Nu 1:44-46). We are included in that shining number.
“I will bless you” (Ge 12:2). Abram was already wealthy, only to become wealthier (Ge 24:35). His bank account would grow bigger. Abram was not a self-made man, but a “God-made” man (Ge 24:35).
“I will make your name great” (Ge 12:2). There have been numerous Abrahams who are famous—like our 16th president. But there is no comparison. We are still talking about Abram, not from a little over a century ago, but many millennia ago. And then the Bible refers to him as “God’s friend” (2 Chron 20:7) and “father of us all” (Ro 4:16).
“You will be a blessing” (Ge 12:2). Abram was to live who he was to the glory of God. Really it was: “Be a blessing.” And Abram was. He rescued Lot when he was carried off as a prisoner of war (Ge 14), he entertained angels (Ge 18), he prayed for Sodom and Gomorrah (Ge 18).
“I will bless those who bless you” (Ge 12:3). The Lord would prosper the many who would speak well of Abram.
“Whoever curses you I will curse” (Ge 12:3). Anyone who dared to insult Abram would be the same as doing that to the Lord.
“All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Ge 12:3). This was hardly last or least. None of the others mattered without this one. All his assets would amount to nothing. The Lord puts Abram in the line of the Savior and the Serpent-Crusher whom God guaranteed in the Garden. This One would come from Abram. The Promised One would benefit every person in history—all people of all time. That is Jesus. Abram grabbed ahold of that in faith. In fact that famous Descendant once declared: “Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad” (Jn 8:56). The apostle Paul put it this way: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Ro 4:3). Abram’s faith was not in himself, but in his Seed (Ga 3:16).
It is good for us to study our forefather, Abram. Because God deals with us the same—not with demands from us, but promises to us. He comes to us. Through the waters of baptism: “Your sins are washed away.” Through the words of the Bible: “Your sins are wiped away.” He does it all. He saves us in Jesus. It is not something that we earn. Paul made the comparison that our wages are an obligation from our boss, not a gift (Ro 4:4). Grace is unmerited kindness from God (Eph 2:8,9). We have forgiveness because God hands it to us freely. Faith receives it joyfully.
We listen with attention when God pronounces us “not guilty.” We are right with him.
We listen with attention when he reminds us that he doesn’t slumber or sleep. “The LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” (Ps 121:8).
We listen with attention when Jesus is sitting by that well. He engages in conversation a woman—a sinner and a Samaritan. Jesus offers that unlikely candidate “living water” (Jn 4:10). Jesus quenches our thirsty souls and we become a “spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14). He can provide life on earth and in eternity because he is the Messiah, the Christ. We know him not as the One who was to come, but the One who has come.
Follow your father’s faith. Take God at his word. Trust him.
2. As you live with action (4-8)
So you mention something like “dinner’s ready,” and there is a nod from the other room or a grunt from the lazy boy. But you find that you are the only one at the table. They listened to the information. They just didn’t act on it. That is not what Abram did. Follow your father’s faith as you live with action.
God told him to get going and he got going. Immediately—no complaints, no questions. His obedience is outstanding. “So Abram left, as the LORD had told him” (Ge 12:4). Whether or not it was logical or rational was not an issue. God directed; Abram departed—gladly, willingly. That is faith (He 11:8). It goes forward. It doesn’t sit still. Luther once remarked: “Faith is a lively and powerful thing; it is not merely a drowsy and idle thought; nor does it float somewhere upon the heart as a duck on the water.” That is really worship. With faith in a faithful God, he took steps forward (Ja 2:17). And there were many steps on his way to Canaan.
Follow your father’s faith. Often we define worship as what we do once a week or twice a week (now that Lenten midweek services have begun). We take a bulletin in one hand and a hymnal in another. We sing. We sit. We stand. But that is too narrow. The devil convinces us that even God has to be satisfied with that. But worship is all our moments and with all our might. The apostle Paul puts it this way: “Therefore in view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (Ro 12:1).
Nothing is mentioned about the long journey. Just “they arrived there” (Ge 12:5). Abram apparently was not like a little toddler in the booster seat in the backseat: “Are we there yet? Now? How about now?” And then there is a bit of a travelogue—the great tree of Moreh at Shechem, Bethel, Ai. (Those would mean something to the Israelites when they entered the Promised Land under Joshua in the future.) And that is the way it was going to be for Abram the next 100 years—life as a nomad, putting down tent stakes and pulling them up again. This was the land that one day would belong to those after him. The Lord stated as much: “To your offspring I will give this land” (Ge 12:7).
How did Abram respond? “He built an altar there to the LORD” (Ge 12:7). The same thing happened a bit later. But there was also something significant. Where Abram went so did his faith: “He … called on the name of the LORD” (Ge 12:8). That is important because there was that observation: “At that time the Canaanites were in the land” (Ge 12:6). They did not worship the same God, the true God. They were idolaters. And Abram was announcing publically: “I don’t care whom you will worship, but I am going to worship the only God, the LORD, who is kind and compassionate, giving and forgiving.”
It is no different with us. We come together and gather together to worship the Lord. It is here that God reaches down to us because we could not reach up to him. We preach and proclaim the only Savior from our sin—Jesus, the One on whom every sin is placed and punished. It is here that we reflect on God’s grace and goodness in Jesus. Follow your father’s faith as you live with action—in life and in church.
I googled it—father and son businesses. They are still some around. The first one grabbed my attention. It was named “Mosquito Joes.” It started in a city in Texas close to where I lived for a number of years. I had to smile. Their homepage had this clever comment and play on words: “Mosquitoes suck, but we are confident that you won’t feel that way about our mosquito control services.” My mom doesn’t let me say that word. (I don’t mean “mosquito.”) I don’t know if all of the dad’s kids are concerned with pest control. But we follow in our father Abram’s footsteps of faith—as you listen with attention and as you live with action. God tells us of Jesus and we turn to him. Our lives now reflect our love for God. Abram’s footsteps are not so immense that our feet don’t fit. Where he went, we go. Amen.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you (Ro 16:20). Amen.
March 12, 2017
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