The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost Genesis 12:1-4 Rev. Christopher D.

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New Hope Lutheran Church, Toledo, OH St. Pauls Lutheran Church, Monroe, MI July 8th, 2012

HOMILIES ON GENESIS: THE CALL OF ABRAM When the General Manager of an NFL team prepares to draft a new player for his football team, he takes into consideration any number of factors there really is a science to it. Hell consider past performance, statistics, the opponents the player performed well against, those the player didnt play well against, how the player progressed from year to year, and how the player might fit into that particular teams systemnot to mention how the players character might affect the locker room. When drafting players, GMs have to consider any number of things; but if I were to oversimplify, I suppose they would boil down to past performance and future projection. Isnt that the pattern with which we make choices? Based on past performance? On the playground, the first one chosen is the one who has proven themselves to be the best at whatever game is being played. When people are chosen for a job, it is based on a certain set of qualifications that are met, pre-requisites that the prospect has completed. God makes choices in a much different way; not based on pre-requisites met, not based on past performance or proven faithfulness. His choices, no matter what they are for, for faith, for ministry, for leadership, no matter what they are, are purely by his grace. Once again we come to Genesis knowing that everything written in the past was written to teach us. Today, I pray we learn in the context of the call of Abram to faith and service that God has chosen us to be recipients of his divine blessings not based on past performance or proven faithfulness, which will always fall short of what God expects and demands, but simply on the basis of his love and grace which never change, which are constant and trustworthy. Weve seen a pattern in Genesis during our first four homilies. Whenever the human race became so corrupt with sin that it threatened the Messianic promise, the God of all power and might and grace stepped in and intervened. Eden, Cain, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, four major divine interventions where God stepped in to save, where he stepped in to preserve his promise. Leading up to the account where we are introduced to Abraham, were left with a couple of questions? What is the extent of Gods patience? What if the human race once again reverts to heathenism? What if, after Eden, Cain, the Flood and Babel, the world still gravitated away from the true faith in the coming Messiah? Would God have had enough? We find the answer with the account of Abram/Abraham. Nine generations had come and gone since the great flood. With brevity, the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to how things were different post-flood. Peoples lives were much shorter, becoming shorter with each subsequent generation. People were having children at a much younger age. Cities were being built. Civilizations were being established. There developed different classes of people, different levels of wealth, a diversity of cultures. And with that advancement in society, once again heathenism reigned supreme. I know, its a broken record, it seems. Just like the pre-flood era, just like the post-flood people at Babel, now in this advanced society, God has to step inand he did so in a very unique way, typifying how God ultimately deals with every sinner. The LORD said to Abram, Leave your country, your people and your fathers household and go to the land I will show you. How God communicated this message to Abram, were not told in Scripture. But this is one of those WOW moments that really gives us pause, and really forces us to consider the means by and the manner in which God calls people to faith in Christ Jesus.

The LORD told Abram to leave; to abandon what he knew, what he embraced, what he had become accustomed to. Notice he called it your country, your people, your fathers household. What Abram had become accustomed to was the good life in Ur; he was accustomed to the idols of the Chaldeans; the fertility cult worship practices of the region that not only offered pleasure for the flesh, but a false sense of eternal security. Into all of that, into that new mess, which was really just another manifestation of the old mess, God stepped in once again and called Abramfor HIS land, for HIS people and to be the father of HIS household, the family of believers, to be the father of Israel who would serve as the cradle for the coming Savior. Simply put, Abram, leave what you know and follow me to what you dont yet know. Isnt that what God asks of all of us? Isnt what God asks of Abram typical of what he calls us for, to follow in faith not fully knowing by experience what the end is going to be like, only trusting the promises of our Savior God? Recall the definition of faith from Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. What we know by experience is what were surrounded by, which isnt unlike Ur of the Chaldeans, where Abram came from: wealth, lucrative lifestyles, a plethora of religions, a modern society, an organized civilization where ungodliness appears to not only thrive, but is approved of and commended. Its into this mess that were used to that God calls us to faith in his promises, just as he did with Abram. Its in the realm of this sin mess that Gods living and active Word resonates to save, calling people to faith in the One who was and is and who is to come, the Lord Jesus, calling people to grasp the promises of God in the crucified and risen Christ, and make them their own, a call that goes out to undeserving recipients. Even though Abraham is one of the heroes of faith, think about this: Who was Abram before God called him? Was he not just a pagan? Was he not just another unbeliever in the world who worshiped the Chaldean idols? Gods call to Abram was purely by grace, because he chose in his divine wisdom to do it. God did not look around on the earth to find the best qualified one for the father of believers, the best available human being, like in the NFL draft, because there was no such thingall have fallen short of Gods glory He picked Abram by grace to serve HIS purposes for HIS people in a land HE chose to prepare the world for HIS chosen Messiah. It was all Gods work and Gods choice in the context of his great salvation plan. We need to remember that lest we become self-righteous and think that we are in Gods family because of some pre-requisite that weve met, or because God saw something in us that would make him want us. Thats not how God works with sinners. Thats not how he chooses to deal with sinners. And even if he did, would God choose us based on OUR performance? Would we ever leave everything behind as Abram did? Would we be so bold in faith as to leave our nets and follow Jesus as Peter and Andrew did? Would we be so committed that we would leave our families, our lives behind and sacrifice worldly wealth and honor to give ourselves fully to the work of the kingdom as the early apostles did? God chose us to be recipients of his eternal blessings by grace and not because weve proven ourselves worthy to be recipients of it. He chose to bless us without any contribution on our part to deserve such blessing. The second striking element of this account of Abrams call is that God was the active component the entire time. Abram did absolutely nothing to facilitate that relationship with the one True God. Gods call to Abram did not require Abram to seek him out, or to meet God half way, just as the call to Saul (St. Paul) in Acts didnt have a pre-requisite of an active seeking outGod calls us! He reaches out to us, we who would never be able to reach for him and grasp him. He calls out our name and reaches out to us in the water and Word of Holy Baptism, in the revelation of his salvation in the Scriptures, in the simplicity of the supper. He condescends to us, just as it was with Abram, reaching out to us in the depths of despair to pull us out of the darkness of unbelief into the marvelous light of Gods abundant grace in Christ Jesus. He is the facilitator. He is the active party. He is the one who causes us to be blessed with his forgiveness. He is the one that makes us to be a blessing by moving us to influence others with our lives and our Christian confession. He is the one that takes imperfect men, born in sin, surrounded by evil, and makes

them to be his ambassadors to the world. He is the one that takes a cattle rancher, Abram, and makes him the father of believers. He is the one that takes persecutors and makes them missionaries, who takes fishermen and makes them fishers of men, who takes tax collectors and makes them gospel writers, who takes ordinary sons of ordinary men and makes them preachers, who takes ordinary people from ordinary walks of life and works the extraordinary miracle of faith through the message that they are called to carry, and its all by his gracious choice. And, as if that were not enough, the God who called Abram to faith and service did so with the intention of preserving mankind through the great Descendant who would come from Abrams family line. It all centered in Christ, the call of Abram, the cluster of promises in verses 2-4, it all pointed to the Great Sacrifice, to the cross, to the blood, to the shame, to the humility, to the death, to the tomb by which the entire world would be blessed. Every bit of Gods work to call Abram to faith, and to bless him in service, had its focus on Christ and the cross, and the forgiveness of sins that the Christ would bring to all people. That same God who took the initiative to rescue an undeserving mankind, calls out to you today through his Word, and invites you to follow him in humble faith, to entrust your future to his loving hands which time and again have shown their power and might, and have exhibited the very definition of love by being stretched out for your salvation on the Friday we call Good. On the basis of his performance, on the basis of his history of love and compassion, trust in the Lords guidance. Faithfully follow his Word, as Abram did, and the God of all grace will lead you to the blessing of the heavenly Promised Land. Amen.