Children of Abraham

March 12, 2017 We are children of Abraham Genesis 12:1-4 Lent 2 Imagine that you are going on a long journey – we are all going on a long journey, - we are going to divide up into groups, some of us are going to the artic, some of us are going to antartic, some are going to climb mount Everest. All of these are pretty long trips. We all need to get together and plan our journey together. What do we need to know before embarking on a journey? What do we need to take with us and what needs to stay behind? What is the one thing that we need from home on such a long journey to comfort us? What problems might we encounter on the journey? How are we going to get there, what is the cheapest way to get everyone to their destination? Lent is supposed to be a journey – a long journey from to faith for us. But nevertheless we all go on a journey in order to get to easter. Lent is our time to take some time to plan how we are going to get there. I think that is why we are going to continue to look at the book of Geneses today. The first 11 chapters of the book talk about the creations story and the first family of Adam and Eve. Chapter 12 is the story of another first family – Abram and Serai. Most important it is a story about a long journey that they must take. God comes to Abram and encourages him to leave home. Most people today never go any further than 50 miles away from the place that they were born. So the fact that God was able to get a 75 year old man and his 65 year old wife to just pull up and leave is a big deal. They did not go by themselves, Abram’s dad also went along, and his nephew. But what was it that made a 75 year old man just pick up and leave everything that he knew, all of his family, the life that he led and just walk away and start wandering around in the desert. It was his faith, his willingness to trust God even in the midst of the unknown . It was a faith that was so strong that we now call him the father of 3 faiths. Today more than 60% of the people in the world are either jewish, Christian, or muslim. And we are all called children of Abraham. The scripture from romans points out that we are not genetically related to Abraham, but we all inherited his faith, and more importantly, we all inherited the promises of God that God made to Abraham for following him. For being willing to take a long journey. I am reminded of the journey that many of our forefathers made. One of the best books that I ever read was the warmth of other suns – by Isabel Wilkerson. She follows the journey’s of four individuals who were born in the south, and traveled north, west, east to a new life. The title of her book comes from a poem from Richard Wright – I have been looking for the longer poem, but this stanza says- I was leaving the south to fling myself into the unknown… I was taking a part of the south to transplant in alien soil, to see if it could grow differently, if it could drink of new and cool rains, bend in strange winds, respond to the warmth of other suns and perhaps to bloom. I am reminded of the story that my cousin just told me last week of my uncle, her father. Who grew up on a farm, my grandmother rented a house on that farm. When he grew up, and more than likely all throughout his teenage years, he worked on that farm. My grandmother was a maid, so she was never home with them. But as he grew up, he became a sharecropper, and worked from sun up to sun down on that farm for little of nothing. He married early in life, and the owners of the farm wanted his wife to work as a maid, and my uncle insisted that we was more than willing to work as hard as he could for them, but his wife never would have to work. And as they began to have children they wanted a better life for them. So when the opportunity presented itself to move to Illinois and work in the factory he took it. As a matter of fact, not only did he leave, but all of his brothers, male cousins, and other male relatives all relocated to Peoria, IL. My other uncle retired from caterpillar as a very rich man. What was it that made them all leave their mother, their life, - Langston Hughes says it in a poem one way ticket – I pick up my life And take it with me And I put it down in Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Scranton, Any place that is North and East— And not Dixie. I pick up my life And take it on the train To Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Seattle, Oakland, Salt Lake, Any place that is North and West— And not South. I am fed up With Jim Crow laws, People who are cruel And afraid, Who lynch and run, Who are scared of me And me of them. I pick up my life And take it away On a one-way ticket— Gone up North, Gone out West, Gone! They wanted a better life for their children! They did not want their children to suffer the way that they did. My mother is 20 years younger than her brothers. But when she became an adult, she followed them- for many of the same reasons. We all heard the Ben Carson quote this week where he said that slaves were immigrants. I was going to try to give him the benefit of the doubt, but there is no saving him. As he talked about slaves coming here on slave ships as immigrants so that their children could have a better life. But that is just stupid and wrong. I was going to say that maybe he got his timetable wrong. The great migration was the story of former slaves wanting a better life. I even have an article from the 1917 Englewood Methodist Church newsletter entitled the negroes - which talks about all of the black people coming to the south side from the south. I am still looking for the article from 1920 entitlted “The Negroes are coming” at least they talked about how they needed to welcome them and be open and understanding. My point for this morning is that long journey into the unknown are not strange, not even for us. As I do my family history, I have relatives that remind me that my family history does not begin and end in Arkansas. That before they came to Arkansas, they came from somewhere on the east coast – when the crops started to fail in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia – many farmers and their slaves moved to the delta states where the soil was better. And they came to the coastal states because they came off of boats from parts of Africa. Not that far from where Abraham would have wandered. So we are a long, long long way from home – in a new land, doing things in a new way – still practicing the same faith that Abraham practiced, still worshipping the same God, most importantly still keeping the same promises. The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your land, your family, and your father’s household for the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, those who curse you I will curse; all the families of the earth will be blessed because of you.”[a] That is seven promises that we live in when we have the faith of Abraham. The Promises of God Are True Tom Long says that while he was at Princeton, he went to a nearby Presbyterian church that prides itself on being an academic, intellectual church. Early on, he said, he went to a family night supper and sat down next to a man, introduced himself, told him he was new, and said, "Have you been here long?" "Oh yes," the man said. "In fact I was here before this became such a scholarly church. Why I’m probably the only non-intellectual left. I haven't understood a sermon in over 25 years." "Then why do you keep coming," Tom asked? "Because every Monday night a group of us get in the church van and drive over to the youth correctional center. Sometimes we play basketball, or play games. Usually we share a Bible story. But mostly we just get to know these kids and listen to them. "I started going because Christians are supposed to do those kind of things. But now I could never stop. Sharing the love of God at that youth center has changed my life." And then he said this profound statement. "You cannot prove the promises of God in advance, but if you live them, they’re true, every one." During this Lenten season how are you living the promises of God? Where is it that God is calling you to go? Our ancestors came from a very long way for us to get where we are – but we still have a long way to go – especially in our hearts and souls. The genesis story says that when Abram set out – that not only was he75 years old – but he had not children. His wife was barren. So when God said come follow me – he had nothing to lose – but he had nothing to gain. When God started making these promises to him about becoming a great nation it meant nothing to him personally because he did not have any children of his own. His future was barren, he was not even thinking about the next generation and his legacy because there was no way that he was ever going to have a future. But this is how amazing God is – he created a future. In the beginning God created adam out of nothing – but he created Abraham’s future out of barreness. Suddenly no hope – became hopefulness! No future became a bountiful future; everyday routine because a lifechanging adventure. Imagine looking at your life one day and seeing absolutely nothing and the next day looking at the same place and seeing a gold mine. The journey that we have to go on now – is a spiritual journey. A journey within our hearts and souls. It is up to us to take those 7 promises and to create a future of hope and fulfillment for those who are yet to come. A story from Yugoslavia tells of four angels who witnessed creation. The first angel observed God’s handiwork in awe and said: “Lord, your creation is beautiful! How did you do it?” That’s the worldview of a scientist. The second angel observed in awe and said: “Lord, your creation is beautiful! Why did you do it?” That’s the worldview of a philosopher. The third angel observed in awe and said: “Lord, your creation is beautiful! Can I have it?” That’s the worldview of a materialist. Finally, the fourth angel observed in awe and said: “Lord, your creation is beautiful! Can I help?” That’s the worldview of God’s faithful. (8) That is the kind of obedience that God honors. God told Abram to leave his home and God made Abram a promise and an assignment—that he would be blessed and that he would be a blessing. May we be blessed and may we be a blessing to others as well. Amen. Other illustrations… Lane Alderman, Asking All the Right Questions “I was leaving the South to fling myself into the unknown . . . I was taking a part of the South to transplant in alien soil, to see if it could grow differently, if it could drink of new and cool rains, bend in strange winds, respond to the warmth of other suns and, perhaps, to bloom” ― Richard Wright “One-Way Ticket” by Langston Hughes I pick up my life And take it with me And I put it down in Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Scranton, Any place that is North and East— And not Dixie. I pick up my life And take it on the train To Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Seattle, Oakland, Salt Lake, Any place that is North and West— And not South. I am fed up With Jim Crow laws, People who are cruel And afraid, Who lynch and run, Who are scared of me And me of them. I pick up my life And take it away On a one-Gone up North, Gone out West, Gone! “It poured rain the day I left. But I was filled with excitement, a strange sense of taking wing. I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew what I needed. I needed a new land, a new race, a new language; and although I couldn’t have put it into words then, I needed a new mystery.” (John Fowles, The Magus, (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 965, pg. 150) Children’s sermon… Object: A cap Boys and girls, How many of you like to wear caps? Some people do and some people don't. I read somewhere that if your feet are cold, you should put something on your head. That didn't make sense to me until someone explained that your body works extra hard to keep your brain warm. It will even let your feet freeze in order to keep your brain warm. That is why a cap is so important on a cold day. But why does the body work so hard to keep the brain warm? Your brain is the most important part of your body, isn't it? What do you do with your brain? That's right, you think. That is also where you see and hear and feel. Your eyes let in light, but it is your brain that turns that light into a picture. Your brain is by far the most important part of your body. Your brain is where you dream. It is where you dream at night--some of those dreams can be scary, can't they? And it is where you day dream during the day. Do you ever dream of what you will be some day? Do you dream of being an astronaut or a policeman or a teacher or a mommy or a daddy. Dreams are important. Dreams help us have a road map of where our lives will some day lead. Some of those dreams come from God. In fact God has a dream for your life. Did you know that? God has a dream for you--a dream in which you will grow up to be the kind of loving, honest, courageous person that He has created you to be. He dreams that you will be like His Son, Jesus. Gee, we have dreams and God has dreams. Wouldn't it be great if the dreams were the same? Then someday we could be all God means for us to be. Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan