Father, sometimes even the good things that you promise us
frighten us at least a little bit, and sometimes a lot.
We thank you, Father, that you know our hearts,
you know what we're really like,
and we thank and praise you that knowing what we're really like,
that you love us.
And so, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would move gently
but deeply and powerfully in each of our hearts,
that we might hear the words of the Scripture,
that those words of your Scripture, in light of the Gospel,
might enter deep into who we are.
And we give you permission, Father, for your word to speak
and rule and heal and lead and guide in our hearts.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Saviour. Amen.
Please be seated.
Amen.
So, this morning I might touch on some things
which are a bit painful for people emotionally,
so I ask that you sort of give me a little bit of grace,
given that some of the things I say might be a bit painful to some of us.
But we're beginning a new sermon series.
It's on the life of Abraham,
so we're going to be going from Genesis 12 to Genesis 22.
This week and over the 10 weeks that follow,
we'll finish, God willing, in the first Sunday of July.
And so, if you turn in your Bibles to Genesis 12, verse 1,
Genesis 12, verse 1,
we're going to look at a very, very simple text,
a very profound text,
and for many people, a very scary text.
And why is it scary?
Well, let's look at how it begins.
And actually, I'm just going to say one thing before we...
No, I'll read the text, then I'll read it again.
I'll make a bit of a comment about it.
Here's how it begins.
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 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.
I will bless those who bless you,
and him who dishonors you I will curse.
And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Now, just before this, in terms of the context of the book,
the first 11 chapters of Genesis,
in Genesis chapter 1 and 2,
you have the story of the creation of the world
and the first humans
and sort of basically setting up
the fundamental Christian understanding of creation
and what it means to be human
and what it means to flourish.
And God saw that everything was good.
And in Genesis chapter 3,
we have the profound turning point in the cosmos
and in human life,
where evil and brokenness and bentness,
so to speak,
enters into the world
when Adam and Eve choose to exalt themselves over God,
to not trust his word,
to exalt themselves over God.
And there's this rupture,
this break that happens in humanity
and in all of creation.
And then there's other things that happen,
which we're not going to go into
between that moment and the end of Genesis 11.
But here's sort of the point.
Up until this point in time,
there are three judgments by God.
And there are five times
where God pronounces a curse.
So between sort of the first few verses
of Genesis chapter 3
and the end of Genesis chapter 11,
you have these three times
where a judgment is issued by God
against human beings
and five times
where he curses things.
And I know that just even
for many of us listening to this,
the whole idea that God would pronounce a curse
is both sort of hokey
and childish
and also just somehow seems wrong.
And I'll explain in a moment
what that means.
But mindful of that,
what you're now going to see
is this turning point
in the rest of the Bible.
And in some ways,
what God says to Abram
in these three verses
sets the agenda,
the program,
for all of the rest of the Bible.
All of the rest of the Bible,
in a sense,
is going to try to unpack that
and develop that
and unearth that
and deepen that
and extend it
and fill it in.
So mindful of the three curses,
sorry,
the three judgments
and the five curses,
we now have this statement again.
Hear it again.
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 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.
And I will bless those
who bless you
and him who dishonors you
I will curse.
And in you,
all the families of the earth
shall be blessed.
This,
in the original language,
five times the word blessing
in some form
is mentioned
in the original language.
Now what's the scary part of that?
The scary part of that
is the very first things
that God says to Abram.
Look again at verse one.
Now the Lord said to Abram,
go,
go from your country,
go from your kindred
and go from your father's house
to the land
that I will show you.
He's told to go
and leave behind his family,
his country
and his kindred,
in a sense,
the larger clan or tribe.
And he's told to go to a place
that he's not even told
where it's going to be.
He's just told to go.
And if you're watching this
and you're sort of a seeker
trying to figure out
what the Christian faith is
or you're maybe looking here
for more ammo
as to why you shouldn't be a Christian,
well, first of all,
welcome if you're here
and welcome if you're here.
I just want to share with you
that Christians find this idea
frightening as well
because part of what it means
to be human,
but not the best part
of what it means to be human,
is desire to have
a lot more control
over things.
And so one of the fears
is that
if you actually sort of
launch yourself
in the Christian faith,
that it's just going to be
this open-ended thing
and before you know it,
like you get weird
and you get weirder
because God just gives you
this command just to go
and he doesn't even tell you
all the steps
that he's going to give you.
He doesn't tell you exactly
what it's going to look like
and that on one hand
is sort of very frightening
to people
and it's frightening
at different times
to Christians.
But what's actually,
I don't know if this
will make it easier
and this is where I might,
I need your grace
because I might touch
on a couple of things
which are very
uncomfortable for you.
Some of the things
which are most key
to human flourishing
involve the same type
of step
into the unknown.
Now,
just before I give you
these examples
and I know that there are
people in the room
who long to be married
and haven't been able
to be married
and I know there are
people in the room
and people watching
who have been married
and their marriage
is either in the process
of dissolution
or has broken up
and it's been very painful.
And I know there are
people in the room
who would desperately love
to be able to have children
or more children
and haven't been able
to have children.
I know there are people
in the room
who have had miscarriages.
So I know that
this example
can be painful
to some.
But,
well,
I'll use a personal example.
When
I got to hold
Elizabeth,
my daughter,
my sixth child,
in my arms,
I didn't know
that five years later
I would spend
a couple of days
in the intensive care unit
of the children's hospital
watching her
fight for every breath
and not know
whether she was going
to live
or whether she was
going to die.
And I didn't know.
I mean,
she ends up surviving.
Those of you
who don't know me,
she survived.
Turned out she had
a very rare form
of pneumonia
that usually only
very elderly people get.
But somehow or another
it's very rare
for a five-year-old girl
to get this type
of pneumonia
that usually
only elderly people get.
And they were able
to treat it.
But, you know,
some 16, 17 years,
18 years later,
whatever,
I got to walk her
down the aisle
because she's going
to marry David.
And
just a couple of weeks ago
I got to hold
her fourth child
in my arms,
Levi,
the grandchild.
Now,
the point of all
of this is
that we all know
that there are areas
of human flourishing
that when you take
that first step
into it,
you have no idea
what's going to be
down the road.
And that's why
I shared
that in some ways
I know I'm touching
upon things here
which can be
very, very difficult.
So that one of the things
that's really important
for us to know
as Christians,
two of the things
which are very,
very, very wonderful,
profoundly,
emotionally important
for Christians.
From the outside
you might not realize it
but once the gospel
grips you
there are two things
about the gospel
and the biblical narrative
that are of profound
emotional importance.
And the first one
is that our flourishing
as human beings
doesn't depend
upon being married
or upon having children
or upon having
certain types
of professional accreditation
or having a large family
or any family at all.
that one of the things
which is so profoundly
beautiful and important
about the Christian faith
is that every individual
just by the virtue
of them being born
and becoming God's children
by adoption and grace
the possibility
of flourishing
is there.
Like real flourishing.
In fact,
one of the things
there's this wonderful book
if you get a chance
to read it
by a scholar
who taught
at University of Edinburgh
he died
just a couple of years ago.
he wrote two books
before he died
on how on earth it is
that anybody
in the ancient world
would have become
a Christian
given that it involved
such a profound break
from your culture.
The man's name
was Larry Hurtato
and both of the books
there's a more scholarly one
published by Oxford University Press
or something like that
and a bit of a more popular version.
But you see,
one of the things
which was so profoundly important
to these
that the gospel brought
is that slaves
despite the fact
that they were profoundly constrained
were fully loved by God
and if you read
the New Testament
and you read it
and see that there's
this profound message
that even though
they're constrained
even though they're slaves
that Jesus loved them enough
to die on the cross
for them
and that given
even their constraints
it's possible for them
to flourish in that
and to be vehicles
by which the gospel
becomes known
and people are saved
and good is done
in the city
and God is praised
and women
who were profoundly powerless
in much of the ancient world
the gospel is profoundly
powerful to them
because they come to realize
that even though
there's all these limits
and from the outer view
they're unqualified
they're unsuitable
it's unlikely
that God would use them
but God uses women
he blesses women
and they're able to flourish
even in the midst
of constrained situations
and so one of the things
which is very powerful
about the Bible
is this profound message
that you are not
of more worth or value
if you're married
than if you're single
or of more worth or value
if you have children
than you don't have children
that there's this profound
flourishing
and gift of blessing
which every human being
in Christ gets
and they just get it
but at the same time
we acknowledge
well that
there are things
like marriage
that we embark on
and some of us
in the room
know the pain
of the marriage
that doesn't work out
and we know
that there are
I know that there are
people here
whose moms and dads
rather than loving them
abuse them
some in quite horrendous ways
but we all
if you think about it
for a second
if you think about it
for a second
if you were to meet
a human being
and they decided
that because of the fact
that there is a possibility
of pain
in a certain path
that they weren't
going to take
any path at all
and maybe they just spent
the rest of their life
because they had
a little bit of money
that having Uber
deliver food to them
and they never go outside
they never talk to anybody
they never engage
in anything
they never try anything
and by doing
all of those things
they never give
their heart to anything
and by doing all of that
they in a sense
they protect their heart
from any type
of being broken
but we would not
look at anybody
like that
and say that
they were flourishing
and so for many people
in our culture
who desperately
would love to have
a person they could spend
the rest of their lives with
but maybe they themselves
have been
you know
divorced
or their parents
were divorced
maybe multiple times
and there's a lot of
just
I mean
at the end of the day
the bottom line is
that the step
that will lead
to flourishing
involves
a step
in a sense
it's not a leap of faith
it's a step
into the darkness
at least it's darkness
because you can't see
what's beyond
that next step
or two
and part of what
we learn
actually
is that while you
step into that darkness
in things
which really are
connected to human
flourishing
what looks like
darkness on the outside
when you step into it
is actually
bright
but there's still
that next darkness
before the next step
that you need to step into
and you step into
so in the Bible here
when we see the Lord
calling Abram
to leave behind
his family
his kindred
his nation
and to go in a place
where I don't know
on one hand
that's the exact same thing
that's required
for all human flourishing
and it's the exact same
type of thing
of being bound
to in a sense
to a path
that is also
key to flourishing
just as we don't
really think
that the person
who flourishes
is the person
who has a different
girlfriend every night
I mean I know
that goes against
the playboy philosophy
and I know it goes
against how most
of Hollywood
presents things
where the hero
or the heroine
has a different
boyfriend or girlfriend
every show
and they never show
any type of remorse
they never have
any type of
emotional breakdown
any type of
emotional wounding
any type of
hollowing out
or deadening
or anything like that
they just go from
one to one
to one to one
as if there's
no consequence to that
but in real life
if we were to meet
a person who had
a different girlfriend
every night
and they'd been
doing that for 20 years
we would not use
view them as an example
of human flourishing
most people wouldn't
the part of flourishing
is some types
of commitments
into darkness
which as you walk
turns to be light
and that's what
the Lord calls
Abram to here
he says
go from your country
and your kindred
and your father's house
well he can't go
if he has them
with him
can he
he has to leave
them behind
and he doesn't know
where it's going
to take him
God doesn't tell him
where he's going
to take him
so on one hand
it's very frightening
and part of the
frighteningness
is because it reveals
a little bit
about the fact
that we have
a deep
not fear of God
in a way
that's healthy
but a type of fear
of God
of the fact
that when we
at the end of the day
if it's God
that we're dealing
with
there's no way
getting around
the fact
that you lose
control
I mean in a sense
all relationships
is going to mean
you lose some control
I mean even parents
with little kids
you know you might
think you have control
but they poop
when they're going
to poop
they throw up
when they're going
to throw up
they cry
when they're going
to cry
they do all those
things whenever
they're going
to do it
and you just
have to deal
with it
it's your commitment
to them
and your love
to them
and it's part
of human flourishing
and that's actually
even here seen
in the text
and the thing
which we should
really jump out
at the text
is not the problem
with cursing
which I'll explain
in a moment
but the fact
that it's so
and use a big word
asymmetric
it's so unbalanced
God merely asked
Abram to do
on one hand
it's a very simple
thing
it's a very scary
thing
but it's a very
small thing
on one level
compared to all
of the good
that comes to it
that God does
look at it again
go from your country
verse 1
and your kindred
and your father's
house to the land
that I will show you
and I will make
of you
a great nation
and I will bless
you
and make your name
great
how is it
he's going to make
your name great
how is he going to
bless
he's going to
bless us
so that we're
a blessing
it's an image
in a sense
of that
it's like
an image
of where
not only
does God's blessing
going to come
into his life
to bless him
but that it
doesn't just
sort of become
he doesn't become
like a big
bloated blessing
you know
as if
you know
in those cartoons
where the hose
goes into a person
they just get
fatter and fatter
and fatter
you know
or the air hose
goes into a person
they get fatter
and fatter
and they eventually
float away
that's in a sense
I mean
if anything like that
actually happened
it would be a form
of torture
to kill you
so it's not
as if the blessing
just comes in
and you just become
like this dam
this reservoir
this dead sea
of blessing
but he blesses you
so that it will
flow out
that you
are a blessing
to others
and verse 3
and I will bless
those who bless you
and him who dishonors
you I will curse
and in you all
of the families
of the earth
shall be blessed
you see this
piling on a blessing
that's very
incommensurate
so what does
blessing mean
blessing very simply
in the bible
is this
at least in this
particular type
of a context
a blessing
is that
it's the power
and the presence
of god
to flourish
that's what it means
it's the power
and presence
of god
to flourish
and to thrive
and it
and in the bible
it either
refers to physical
things
creational things
or to spiritual
things
and spiritual
things are also
created
but they're not
of this created
order
and it can
either be
creational
just like physical
or very just
merely human
so to speak
it can also be
spiritual
it can be both
and it's in a sense
a coming from god
of a type of presence
and a power
into your life
that causes you
to thrive
or to flourish
some of you get
emails from me
and I often
end them
I hope you're
thriving in jesus
and when I say that
I'm in a sense
saying I hope
you're being blessed
to be a blessing
because that's what
blessing in a sense
means
what does cursing
mean
well cursing
is the opposite
of it
and fundamentally
in the bible
I mean it's in a sense
a decision
that's made by god
but fundamentally
what it usually
means
is it means
in a sense
a removal
of presence
and power
that leads
to your diminishment
you know
it would be
as if
you know
to give you
an example
some of you
maybe have
known elderly
couples
and while
the couple
is still alive
they seem
to thrive
and then
the wife
dies
and all
of a sudden
you see
that the man's
life starts
to completely
and utterly
fall apart
you know
because maybe
it's because
of his wife's
involvement
in his life
that the house
is tidy
that there's
food in the
fridge
eats his
vegetables
there's a whole
pile of things
that allows
him to thrive
but his wife's
absence
means that
the natural
tendencies
towards being
slovenly
to being lazy
to just eating
fast food
those natural
tendencies
of his
just come out
and what you
see
is his
diminishment
not his
thriving
just a bit
of an aside
I think
it's still
the case
I don't know
how COVID
has affected
it
married
I think
something like
a man
who's married
lives
I don't know
10 years
longer
20 years
longer
something
crazy
it makes
no difference
to the length
of time
the wife
lives
but it makes
a big difference
to the man
I can see
from myself
I eat way
more vegetables
because I'm
married to
Louise
and I probably
would naturally
all by myself
and my diet
is definitely
more healthy
and I'm more
likely to actually
go see a doctor
all those types
of things
but you can see
that in that
example
a little bit
of what is
meant
it's not so
much that God
all of a sudden
starts throwing
things at you
to make things
bad happen to you
but by
in a sense
a slight
withdrawal
the natural
tendencies
of you
towards
diminishment
and destruction
begin to have
some type of
current
and weight
one of the
ideas which is
presented in the
New Testament
about the same
line is
it's almost
as if grace
is the rope
that binds
the boat
to the dock
there's a dock
on a river
and there's
current
and there's
a rope
that binds
the boat
to the dock
and what
happens is
it's almost
as if
the cursing
is where
God in a
sense begins
to let the
rope
loose
where it
has play
and the
natural
current
starts to
take the
boat away
and that's
what's behind
this idea
and you see
at the heart
of it is
if what has
caused us
to be
fallen
creatures
is our
separation
from God
then ultimately
true blessing
has to involve
reconnecting
to his presence
and his person
and to be
connected to his
presence and his
person is also
to be connected
to his power
for us to
thrive
whether it's
in physical
things
or whether
it's in
spiritual
things
and even
if you look
at it
it's a very
subtle thing
which you
can't actually
see in
English
very very
well
but when it
says to him
who dishonors
you I will
curse
sorry I will
bless those
who bless you
plural
to him
singular
who dishonors
you I will
curse
it's a
very simple
level at the
in the
in the original
language to
emphasize that
God's fundamental
heart is to
bless
that the
blessing in a
sense has the
greater weight
and the greater
distance
and that it's
not his heart
to curse
that his
fundamental
heart towards
you is to
bless you
it's why
I think it's
in the book
of Ezekiel
three different
times
that it has
this idea
and those of
you who do
morning and
evening prayer
from the book
of common
prayer
you'll get
this phrase
that God
takes no
delight in the
death of
God takes no
delight in the
death of a
sinner but
rather that he
will turn from
his wickedness
and live
and that captures
perfectly this
idea of the
blessing and the
cursing that his
heart is to
bless you his
heart is to
know you his
heart is to
have you receive
his presence into
his life his
heart is that you
will trust him to
leave and to go
and to trust him
as he leaves as he
leads you and
takes you that you
will trust him and
it doesn't mean in
your life that you
will never have bad
things or hard
things happen to
you but because
you know it isn't
as if blessing means
that you'll never be
stretched you'll
never be tested you'll
never have just
very very hard
things happen to
you but it means
that as you as
you come to these
things you have his
fundamental promise to
help you you have his
presence and his
power to help you
face those things and
deal with those things
which are very very
hard and very very
difficult and so in a
sense what you're
seeing here remember
what you're seeing
here in a sense the
pattern of the rest of
the Bible the program
of the rest of the
Bible the promise of
the rest of the Bible
these are all things
are unknown Abraham
doesn't realize of
course that him
taking these small
steps of faith will
down the ages culminate
in him becoming a
mighty nation becoming
the people of Israel
that the Torah and the
prophets would all be
revealed to his
offspring through the
years and that
eventually because
salvation comes from
the Jews that the
actual Messiah who will
be the person who is
the profound blessing
for the present the
future and the past
Abraham is going to
give birth to the one
who gives birth to the
one who gives birth to
the one who gives
birth to the one that
eventually will bring
about the Savior that
Abraham needs himself to
be made right with God
that this on one level
small step away from his
family his friends his
country in obedience and
trusting that God who has
called him to do this it
culminates in these
profound blessings down
the world down the road
so what happens in the
rest of the text the main
thing about it is you
wonder is there something
special about Abram well
that's sort of the
question is there
something special about
Abram well the rest of the
story these next 17
verses will help to make
that far more clear let's
look and see what happens
verse 4 so Abram went as
the Lord had told him and
Lot went with him Abram
Lot is his nephew Abram
was 75 years old when he
departed from Haran and
Abram took Sarai his wife
and Lot his brother's son and
all their possessions that
they had gathered and the
people that they had
acquired in Haran and they
set out to go to the land
of Canaan when they came to
the land of Canaan Abram
passed through the land to
the place at Shechem to the
oak of Moreh at that time
the Canaanites were in the
land then the Lord appeared
to Abram and said so he's
appearing to him at the oak
or the terebinth tree of
Moreh in Shechem and the
Lord appeared to Abram verse
seven and said to your
offspring I will give this
land so Abram built there an
altar to the Lord who had
appeared to them let's sort of
pause here one of the things
which are very important
about the Old Testament
stories which is why it's
important for us to read
them is that stories prepare
our imagination and sort of
our our mind to receive
abstract ideas it in a sense
that it prepares us to
receive these things it's one
of the reasons why I know
that parents of children you
I mean obviously the kids are
going to watch different
things on TV and other
places you know we've all
seen over the last little
while that you have to be
very careful about that what
you let your kids watch but
one of the most important
things that parents can do
for their children is to read
Bible stories to them like if
you're if your children are
just getting a diet of purely
Disney type stories and never
hearing Bible stories they're
going to be deeply impoverished
and it's going to be hard for
them to understand different
things in the Bible and here in
this very simple story God has
taken Abram to the very center
of the promised land to a place
where paganism is celebrated and
taught because more means teaching
so right in the very center where
Canaanite religion is celebrated and
taught in a sense pagan you is right
there and right in the center right
In the face of it God says I don't
care if if all those gods that are
being worshiped believe they control
and own the land in a sense today he
says I don't care if Apple thinks
they own everything I don't care if
Google thinks they own everything I
don't care if Disney thinks they own
everything I don't care if the
Supreme Court thinks they own
everything I don't care if Trudeau
thinks he owns everything I don't
care if the CBC thinks they own everything. I own everything. I'm giving you the land.
The land is yours. You see, in a very simple way, it's preparing us for this idea of God being
almighty and owning the whole, all of the earth, that he would lead Abram to the center of the
promised land where it's ruled by other people and paganism is celebrated. And God says,
disregard these gods. I am the true God. The land is going to be given to you because it's mine to
give, not theirs. But is Abram special? That was a bit of an aside. Look at verse eight.
From there, he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent
with Bethel on the west and A on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called
upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negev. And Abram sounds
like just a very, very faith-filled, special type of guy. In fact, some of us might be saying,
well, George, the problem I have is that I'm not Abram. I don't have that type of faith. I don't
have that type of self-possession. My life is more fits and starts with more fits than starts.
I'm more the type of guy that I can take three steps forward. Yeah, but then I end up taking seven
steps back. I'm the type of guy that if you play snakes and ladders, I'm always getting the thing
that sends me backwards and very rarely climbing up. And so I can't relate to Abram. But we'll look
what immediately happens right afterwards in verse 10. Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went
down to Egypt to sojourn there for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt,
just one moment, one moment. God has just given the promised land. Abram's having a hard time.
Abram says, I'm just going to trust my reasoning and thinking abilities to sort this out for myself.
Abram says, I'm just going to trust my life. And he leaves the promised land.
He gets frightened by his circumstances. And it gets worse. Verse 11, when he was about to enter
Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, I know that you are a beautiful woman in appearance. And when the
Egyptians see you, they will say, hmm, this is his wife. Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.
Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared
for your sake. Now just pause. This is never good advice.
Like don't...
So Abram thinks he's going to solve this by his ability to deceive people. And in the process,
he wants to pretend he's not married to his wife. But one moment, how's God going to make a mighty
nation if he's not married? Like all of these promises, all of them just flee from his mind.
He doesn't consult God. He just depends upon his natural human reasoning.
And look at verse 14, and when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very
beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was
taken into the Pharaoh's house, which means his harem. Well, how is this plan going to end well
for Abram? Like we might say, what were you thinking? I mean, actually, what were you not thinking?
Like, how did you actually think any of this was going to work out?
And for her sake, he dealt well with Abram. And he had sheep and oxen, male donkeys, male servants,
female servants, female donkeys, and camels. So Abram, with the consent of his wife, Sarah,
the two of them come up with this plan. It ends up that Abram gets very rich, but she ends up in the
Pharaoh's harem, and they're not in the promised land. But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house
with great plagues because of Sarah, Abram's wife. The Lord intervenes. So Pharaoh called Abram and said,
what is this you have done to me? Why did you tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say
she is my sister, so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go.
And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning Abram, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
Now, here's the thing. One of the things that you don't know in this text, and you know it from
archaeology, in the Hebrew, if you go back to the bit just before chapter 12, and you look at the names,
you can see that there's a connection to the moon god in all of them.
God only blesses the unlikely, the unsuitable, and the unworthy.
Abram was a moon god worshiper when God called him. A moon god worshiper. He wasn't like some profound,
it wasn't as if God looked around and said, gosh, look at Abram. He's so spiritual, he's so profound,
you know, he's so deep, you know, I just gotta have him on my team. No, it's not like that.
The thing about it is, and see, one of the persistent problems for us as Christians is,
it's very hard for us to accept that Jesus knows the worst about us, and dies for us knowing the
worst about us. But that's, remember, that's what we looked at last week. He died for our sins in
accordance with the scriptures. In other words, he looked at me, and he looked at you, he saw the worst in us,
and seen the worst in us, what it elicits out of him is love, and the love is not merited,
it's not worthy, it's a pure, complete, and utter gift, and God, purely and utterly, out of his mercy
and love and desire to give, he pours his love and his grace upon the unlikely, the unsuitable,
and the unworthy. And that's what Abram's revealed to be. He's a worshiper of the moon when God calls
him. He's a guy who's going to try to pretend that he's not married to his wife. He's a guy who's
going to try to figure out, to pretend that he's not married to his wife, they're going to work it
out together so they can make money, and they can be protected, and it's, and he's not listening to
God, he's not consulting God. He's not particular, and this is all, like, not, why is he, I mean,
the other thing about it is, as if we didn't talk about it beforehand, but it's in the part before
this, is that Abram's old, his wife, they've been married for many, many years, his wife is old,
they haven't been able to have kids, they worship the moon, by their very nature that he's going to
try to think of ways to lie and deceive, to get himself out of problems, he's going to forget what
God has said, he's going to do it, he is completely and utterly unlikely, unsuitable, and unworthy of God's
grace, as am I, and as are you. God never gives his grace to the suitable, the likely, or the worthy.
He only gives his grace to the unsuitable, the unlikely, and the unworthy, of which I am one.
And so we see the very, very pattern of the rest of the scripture and the very gospel itself is set
before us here in these very early words of the scriptures. I'd like you to stand.
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
Father, we confess before you that we who are Christians, that we very, very quickly forget
your scripture, and we imagine that there are things about us that are really worthy, that
make you sort of need or have to give us grace, or have us on your team, or have us have you as your
child, that there's just things within us, Father, that sort of just compel that, or that somehow,
Father, that we easily fall into thinking that we've done some things for you that now put you in our
debt, and then you need to reciprocate and give us some blessing. And Father, we confess that there's
something deep within us after you have blessed us by giving us saving faith, that that's still there.
And we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would gobsmack us with just the graciousness of grace,
the depth of grace, the depth of your love, that you never are in our debt, that you never weigh our
merits, that you are never in need, that we are always in need, that we are always in need of your love,
we are always in need of your grace, we are always in need of your mercy.
And that to be your child is to learn to be on life support from you for the rest of our life,
and that this is a good thing. Father, we ask that you bring home to us our profound need for grace.
And we ask, Lord, that you bring home to us ever more deeply our need to respond to what you are offering us,
that you would help us respond, respond in a way that accepts your grace, that trusts you, that trusts you with our future, our present, our future.
And we give you thanks and praise for all that Jesus has done for us.
We thank you for the way that Abraham has been used by you to be that first step that would lead to Christ, that would lead to us receiving grace.
And we ask that you make us deeply grateful and to trust you more and more, whether it's with our money, our sexuality, our time, our career, our past, our future, our place in culture, that you would help us to trust you.
That Jesus is our Savior and our Lord, that he is our hope of glory.
And we ask all these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.