Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Abraham - Gen 15
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
But please, before the end of the night, if you can say hi, give a big hug, congratulations to those who are baptized. It's really important that as a community, we come around and and support people in that as well. And, again, just let me mention this. If you were baptized as a child or you were baptized as an adult years ago, we would love to invite you after the service just to come forward and touch the water. We don't believe in magical holy water or anything, but it's a way to remember the vows that we've made and the ways that we've been invited into Christ's family as well.
Speaker 1:And so this is a communal experience for all of us, not just those who are being baptized tonight. So we invite you to do that. Now, as of this moment, we are halfway through our series in the story of Abraham. Tonight is week five of eight. And if you have missed any of the conversations thus far, they are all available on Internet.
Speaker 1:Check commons.church, and you can find the links there. Last week, we moved through chapter 14 in the book of Genesis, Genesis, and it was an odd story. If you have trouble making sense of Melchizedek, you are not alone because people have had trouble making sense of Melchizedek ever since he showed up. But to look back quickly, we faced into this strange interaction with this strange character with the strange name Melchizedek, and he appears out of nowhere. His name is king of peace, king of righteousness, and he blesses Abram.
Speaker 1:And Abram gives him a tenth of everything he has, and that's all we hear from Melchizedek. But the really interesting thing that comes is in the blessing that Melchizedek gives. Because Melchizedek blesses Abram in the name of a high god of the Canaanite pantheon, god most High El Elyon. And yet, rather than reject that blessing, rather than chastise him for his use of unorthodox language, Abram accepts the blessing only to respond by adding the personal name for the Hebrew God when he speaks again. Abram says, the Lord God most high creator of heaven and earth.
Speaker 1:In Hebrew, it's Yahweh El Elyon Kone Shama'im Va 'aretz. And it's as if Abram hears Melchizedek use the language of Canaanite religion, but he recognizes in him this faith that goes much much deeper. And so he says to him, yes, I know that God. His name is Yahweh. And as deeply technical and distant as that conversation may have been last week, it's actually remarkably important for us today that we remember that our language is not what invites us to the table of God.
Speaker 1:In some sense, it's not even our theology that invites us to the table of God. It is our ability to trust, to hand ourselves over to something bigger, to believe that God will do good for us. This is what invites us to God's table. And this is important because I had a conversation with somebody this week about how we do things here at Commons. And yes, we are probably more intellectually biased than other faith communities.
Speaker 1:We are here to wrestle with our faith. Now, we're here to question things. We're here to dig deeply into bias and come out on the other side. Now, some of us need that before we can ever trust. We need the history and the questions and the wrestling, the study before we can hand ourselves over to faith.
Speaker 1:That's what we built this community for. Those of us who felt like there was no place for us to ask the questions we needed to ask. But we also need to remember that when it comes right down to it, when we strip away all of our thinking and studying and debating the gospel at its heart is simple enough for a child. I mean, after all, Jesus tells us that. And so whatever language we want to put on it, sin, forgiveness, enlightenment, love, theology, orthodoxy, the question at the heart is simply this, are you ready to come to a place where you know you can't do what needs to be done for yourself?
Speaker 1:And you are ready to simply trust God to do good for you. So faith is all about. And you don't need any advanced theology or ancient languages or contextual analysis to do any of that, although it helps for some of us. But is this faith and trust that invites us to God's table. So Melchizedek using trusting the one true God is invited by Abraham to learn his name.
Speaker 1:May you carry the name of Jesus into every conversation you enter with the grace and peace that welcomes others to know him wherever they are. Now today, we have already celebrated baptisms. We have had people across all of our services today entering into this ritual where Christ meets us, and we celebrate that. But we do also want to continue in the story of Abram. And so this week, it will be chapter 15 in the book of Genesis.
Speaker 1:But first, let's pray. God of our father Abraham, would you give us opportunity to ask whatever questions it is we need to ask of you? Would you grant us community to wrestle with whatever it is that we need to wrestle with? Would you speak truth and love into whatever concerns that we have brought into this room with us today? And in that, would you invite us to trust you more today than perhaps we did yesterday?
Speaker 1:If there sin or brokenness in our lives, would you help us to trust that you are faithful to forgive? Where there is pain or scar tissue in our hearts, would you help us to trust that you are faithful to heal? Where there are old wounds from broken trust in the past, would you renew our faith in the goodness that sits at the center of all creation? And as we read of your promises today, would you speak your faithfulness and care into the deepest parts of our soul? In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen. Amen. Okay. Last week, we moved into the start of chapter 15 just a bit, but we didn't get much chance to spend a lot of time there. And so I wanna backtrack to the start of 15 verse day to verse 15 verse one today.
Speaker 1:And this is what we read when we get there. After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. Now, we're gonna keep going, and we are actually gonna make our way through to the end of this chapter.
Speaker 1:But there's a few things I wanna talk about here already. Because first of all, God starts with what is arguably the single most common command in all of the scriptures. That is fear not. After we finish Abram, we will move into the season of Advent. And in Advent, we are gonna see God say fear not a whole lot.
Speaker 1:To Zechariah, shepherds, Joseph, Mary, God says fear not. So this is not particularly surprising except that we've just read a story where Abraham is definitely not fearful. Verse one says, after this. Well, that after this ties what we're reading now to the story in chapter 14 of Abram routing an alliance of kings in battle. This should not be a guy who is particularly fearful.
Speaker 1:He's on top of the world. This is like if you were to finish a big meal, like a huge thanksgiving meal, and God showed up in a vision and he said to you, don't be hungry. And you were like, okay. Sure. Like, thanks for that.
Speaker 1:Good talk. Maybe we'll talk again tomorrow. Thanks, God. This would be like, if God showed up to me one morning and said, Jeremy, your hair looks great. Trudeau esque even.
Speaker 1:And I was like, yeah, I know. I see the mirror. It's all good. But here's the thing. The conversation that is about to unfold is about Abram's concern over not having an heir, a son.
Speaker 1:He's rich. He's powerful. He doesn't have a son. Can I suggest? The oftentimes the fears you struggle with the most are rarely the ones that sit on the surface of your experience?
Speaker 1:The fears that haunt you are probably not the ones that everyone else sees. The fears that strip you and stop you and keep you from moving forward in your life, they're not the ones that other peoples notice. As we look at Abram. He's rich. He's wealthy.
Speaker 1:He's powerful. God says, fear not. We say, well, why would God ever say that? But there are fears deep down inside of Abram that God is about to speak to. You know what my biggest fear is right now, personally?
Speaker 1:It's next Sunday. One of the best things about being a pastor is that when you really just mess things up, like you do a terrible sermon and it's boring and you know it and everyone knows it and it doesn't really make sense, you can just get up Monday morning and say, oh, well, there's always next Sunday. It's great. Hopefully, people will come back. I'll get another shot at this.
Speaker 1:The worst part is actually when you know connected with something powerful. And you did your part well, and God showed up, and he did his part amazing, and it all came together, and it was beautiful because all of a sudden on Monday morning, you realize you've got to do it all again in seven seven days. When you're part of something like we've been part of here at Commons, when you go from zero to 300 to 450 to 600 people in twelve months since you opened the doors, it's really hard not to start building these unhealthy internal expectations about the next six months. Right? Because we should be at, like, 800 people by Easter.
Speaker 1:Isn't that it? Maybe a thousand people by next September. Isn't that how this goes? You gotta keep the train moving. Like, how do you keep all that rolling?
Speaker 1:And so this is the part where God has to show up and say to me, listen, don't be afraid of this. You're a part of this. Sure. But let's be honest, you're just a part of this. And there's an amazingly compassionate and engaged community here.
Speaker 1:There's an incredible staff team. My spirit is present. I've been guiding and shaping. So this isn't really on you or Joel or Devin. This isn't on the board or any single one person.
Speaker 1:I got this. Of course, God's right. And of course, it is mainly my ego that sends me down that anxious spiral to begin with. Right? So I need to recenter and pause and get back on track from time to time.
Speaker 1:But that's not the fear that sits on the surface of an amazing year, being afraid of what comes next. And so God has to come and say, I know what keeps you up at night. It's okay. Don't be afraid. Are there fears in your life that no one else recognizes?
Speaker 1:And yet perhaps what God is saying to you is don't be afraid. By the way, the the reason I talk about this stuff publicly from time to time is because I think way too many pastors and a lot of churches just pretend that they don't struggle with this stuff. Like ego, I mean, mainly. And trust me, nobody takes a job where you strap a microphone to your face and stand on a stage for the majority of your week unless you already have ego issues to deal with. It just comes with the gig.
Speaker 1:But when we talk about it and we name it, when I tell you what it is that's going on inside of me, what it does is it disarms this. And so letting you into it means it has less power over me and that's confession does for us. And so maybe this is my own little personal therapy moment here. Thank you for being gracious. But perhaps you can take this away.
Speaker 1:God knows what you're afraid of. So find the safe places where you can be honest with yourself and with friends. And if you don't have that, then please come talk to myself, talk to Joel, talk to anyone on our team because we have home churches where we can get you connected in. And we all need those spaces where we can be honest with this kind of conversation and confession about what it is that we're afraid of. Now, we've only read one verse so far, and we need to get moving, but there is one more thing I find fascinating here already.
Speaker 1:God says this, don't be afraid. I am your shield, your very great reward. Remember, God is about to tell Abram about the gift of a child and heir and the promise of land. But what he says to Abram is that I am your reward. Now, in Hebrew, the word is sakar here.
Speaker 1:And generally, that means something like wage. But the thing is wage or reward gives the sense of payment for services rendered, and that's really not what's going on in the text here. This is definitely not a payment that God is making. And so probably better would be something like this, don't be afraid, Abram. I am your protection.
Speaker 1:I am your gift. Here's the key for me. Abram is rich already. Abram is powerful. Abram is about to be given a son.
Speaker 1:Abram is to be promised the land on which he stands. But the gift that God offers him in this story is actually himself. Have you ever confused the good things in your life with the gift of God that is really self. Because I think when we do that, when we confuse those things, it can be very easy to assume that if the good times ever end then somehow the gift of God has left us. And yet what we're reminded of here is that regardless of what you have, if God is near to you, if God is walking with you, if you are loved by God and you are, then you are blessed.
Speaker 1:This is the gift of God that he gives to you. Okay. Verse two, and we're gonna need to speed up a little bit here. But Abram said, sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Elazar of Damascus? Abram said, you have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir.
Speaker 1:Now what Abram is describing here is a very common practice that we understand from ancient cultures. We actually know this from something called the Newsy texts. And these are clay tablets from roughly 1,500 BCE in Mesopotamia, and they talk about a process whereby a wealthy childless couple would legally adopt a servant or a slave as a son. And the slave would continue to be a servant. They would serve them for the rest of their life, then they would bury them, and they would mourn this couple, but then they would become the presumptive heir.
Speaker 1:And if you've ever wondered, this is what these clay tablets look like. These are the Nuzi tablets. Earlier in this series, I talked about the Amarna tablets, very similar discovery we made as well that helps us understand what's going on in this time frame. But you can see them. They're not easy to work with or translate.
Speaker 1:They are incredibly fascinating for archaeologists and bible geeks alike though. Now it sounds like Abraham has already done this with Eleazar. He is assuming that this man will be his heir after he dies. Fortunately, that's not really a problem for the story because the legality of it according to the newsy texts, is that if a natural heir is born, he automatically trumps the adoptive heir. Now luckily, for Eleazar, he would still remain a secondary heir, which is much better than just being a slave.
Speaker 1:So you don't need to feel bad for him. He's gonna do better than he would have initially anyway. So that's good. Story continues though. Then the word of the Lord came to him.
Speaker 1:This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. He took him outside and he said, look up at the sky and count the stars if indeed you can. Then he said to him, so shall your off spring be. Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness. Now, we talked about this section already last week, but we have a chance here to dig a little bit deeper.
Speaker 1:So a couple things. First, God's promise is very basic. You're gonna have a kid and then a lot of grandkids. Good news. Yay for you.
Speaker 1:That's basically what God says. What's interesting though is Abram's response here. Abram believed the Lord and he credited to him as righteousness. Now you may not have noticed this this first time we read it, but there is a certain ambiguity in the text here. Who exactly is crediting who with righteousness?
Speaker 1:And it actually works pretty well either way. And from the Hebrew, could very legitimately be translated either way. Abram believed the Lord and he credits God with righteousness. You're righteous. I believe you.
Speaker 1:Abram believed the Lord and God credits him with righteousness. I see your faith. I credit you with that. Now, Paul in the New Testament clearly reads it the second way. Romans four three and then in Galatians three six, Paul quotes this passage.
Speaker 1:But when Paul quotes it and writes it in Greek, he makes it very clear that he sees Abram as the one who is credited with the righteousness from God. And even though the text is ambiguous, Paul is definitely not on his own here. In fact, the majority of Jewish rabbinic teaching also reads the passage the way that Paul does. I wonder though if the ambiguity isn't part of the story. Remember in Hebrew, righteousness and justice are the same word.
Speaker 1:Is it possible that at the same time God is crediting Abraham with righteousness because of his faith? Abraham is crediting God with justice because he trusts him to keep his promise. In fact, that's how I think faith works. That the more we learn to trust God, the closer he pulls us into his hearts and his righteousness, and the easier it becomes for us to believe that God is just and good. Now, I'm not gonna pretend that faith is easy, but I think there's a sense that if you can open yourself up to the possibility of goodness, to the idea that maybe the universe is not the cold and calculated darkness you've been told.
Speaker 1:That perhaps love and grace and generosity, goodness are not anomalies in our world. They are fundamentally the stuff of the universe. That if you can crack that door even for a moment, then all of a sudden trust doesn't seem so naive anymore. And God doesn't seem so hard to find anymore. And righteousness actually sounds like a life that's worth pursuing.
Speaker 1:And, so, Abraham trusts God and God sees that as righteous faith. God is just to Abraham and Abraham trusts trusts him. But Abram still has a few questions here. Verse eight. But Abram said, sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of the land?
Speaker 1:So the Lord said to him, bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. Abram brought these all to him, cut them in two, and arranged the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abraham drove them away. Verse 17.
Speaker 1:When the sun had set and the darkness had fallen, a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham and said, to your descendants, I give this land. Now, this is let's be honest here, another one of these strange weird images and stories in Genesis. And this is the last section we're gonna cover today, and so we'll need to come back to this here. But first, one of the things that I do when I write a sermon is that I use a big whiteboard in my office.
Speaker 1:And I like to visually map out all the things that I've been reading as I've done my research throughout the week. All of the tangents that the text has taken me in as I've reflected on it. And so what I do is anything that might possibly make it into the sermon on Sunday goes up on the whiteboard. And then I go through and I cross stuff off, and I say that's irrelevant to the big picture, or I circle stuff that's really important, and I make sure it wants to get into the Sunday. And then when I sit down, I sit in my desk, and I look up at this whiteboard, and I start to write.
Speaker 1:And that works really well for me. This is the whiteboard diagram that's in my office right now. I was there all week for, this sermon. And so if it ever feels like my sermons are kind of scattered, this is probably why. Most of it looks like nonsense.
Speaker 1:I think we can agree on that. I can only ever read at best 50% of what I'm writing. Don't expect you to do better. However, I did have someone come by this week, wanted to have a grab a coffee and talk about something going on in their life. They came into my office and they sat down, and immediately, they picked up on a certain phrase that was written on my whiteboard as I was taking notes.
Speaker 1:And so if you haven't noticed it yet, I will circle it here on the screen for you. And yes, that does say smoking pot. However, I promise this was in reference to the smoking pot of Genesis 15 and not any particular desire I have to discuss pending federal legislative changes, at least not tonight. That's not the point. So if anyone was in my office this week, and you came and talk, and you were just too polite to say what is going on up there, here's the answer.
Speaker 1:It's all very innocuous. Thank you. Very yeah. Now, that out of the way, we still do have this very strange image here in Genesis of a smoking pot with a blazing torch. Please don't say anything.
Speaker 1:And a series of sacrifices that are cut in half and put on display. So let me say this to start. This is a very different world that Abraham lives in. And so we should not be surprised that his experience of the world is very different than ours. In fact, I would add that we shouldn't be surprised that his experience of God is very different than ours.
Speaker 1:Now, one of things that we see clearly in the scriptures over and over again is that God is continually willing to accommodate the languages, the rituals, the images, the patterns of human beings. In fact, this is an incredible part of the graciousness of God that he speaks to us his message in terms that we understand. That seems to be what's going on here. There is only one other passage in the Bible that has a similar scene. It's in Jeremiah 34.
Speaker 1:God makes a covenant with the leaders of Judah and Israel and they walk between the pieces of sacrifice. Just like this. Now that would have been in the fifth century BCE. We do, however, have some indication that this practice was much more common back in the very ancient world. In fact, we've discovered a treaty from the seventeenth century BCE.
Speaker 1:This is incredible when you think about it. Now, we're talking about, thirty seven hundred years ago. But in this treaty, there is a guy named Abin who has just gifted a city named Ala Lak to one of his subjects named Yorimlim. Yes. They all had weird names back then.
Speaker 1:But the treaty says that Abin placed himself under oath to Yerimlim and it cut the neck of a sheep saying, let me so die if I take back that which I give thee. The point being that in the ancient world, this kind of ritual seems to be a way of saying, if I don't follow through on my promise, may what has happened to these sacrifices happen to me. Now, two things here. Abin is the king. Yarimlim is his vassal vassal or his servant in the treaty.
Speaker 1:Abin gives the city. Abin makes the promise. So it is Abin, the more powerful party, the one making the gift that is under the terms of the contract. In Genesis 15, it is God making the promise. It is God who walks through the pieces of the sacrifice.
Speaker 1:It is God who puts himself under the terms of this contract. This is not a threat. And I know it's a violent violent image. Image. It's It's a a bloody bloody image.
Speaker 1:Image. And it's it's an uncomfortable image, if we're honest, to imagine our God walking between the sacrificed parts of an animal. But in the way this would have been received by Abram, in the way that anyone from this culture would have perceived this image, this is the height of God's gracious, humble generosity. And he says, promise I you with everything I am says God. I will put myself completely on the line for you.
Speaker 1:And as unsettling as a story like this is, the Hebrews told these tales because they believed that their God had put himself on the line for them. Now, thankfully, we don't use rituals like this anymore. Now, God continues to express his grace in images, patterns, rituals that we understand in our culture. But in a very different way, we have celebrated the exact same conviction today in our service. When we practice baptism, we use the ritual of water to symbolize the death and the resurrection of Christ.
Speaker 1:That God will put himself on the line for us. This conviction that somehow all of the anger and the frustration, all violence of the world could be directed at Jesus. And that it would be absorbed by God. And then instead of being pointed back at us, God would forgive it so that we could be welcomed home. God puts self on the line for us and says, you're forgiven.
Speaker 1:And perhaps in your journey you have wondered if God is for you. You have wrapped your head around the idea of a God. Maybe you're working your way through the concept that there is something bigger that is holding the universe together. But you have never experienced the profound assurance that the Lord God, most high, creator of heaven and earth would put everything on the line for you. That he would speak into the unspoken unspoken fears that you have never given voice to and he would say, don't be afraid.
Speaker 1:That he would offer you gift after gift after gift in your life, but ultimately he would extend the experience of himself to you. That he would invite you to enter into a truly mutual relationship with him. Whereas you learn to trust him, as you come to know that he is just and good, he welcomes you as a righteous friend. And perhaps today, after all of the questioning, after all of the digging, after all of the discussion and conversation and context that we need to wrestle with what such a strange and distant story. You would hear the voice of the spirit of God reminding him you that he put himself on the line for you.
Speaker 1:Would you simply trust today? And would God credit that to you as righteousness? Let's pray. God, as we engage with this story of Abraham that is separated from us by so much culture and change, would we be able to hear the voice of your spirit in the midst of what we read, speaking the incredible grace and invitation that you offer to us? That you would not only say the right things, but that you would put yourself on the line to show how much you care.
Speaker 1:That is we remember that invitation. As we look back to the moments of our baptism if we've experienced that. As we watch others who go through this ritual, would we somehow be able to experience this profound sense of your grace and your love in our world? And may we then be empowered to carry that same commitment for others into every conversation that we enter. In the strong name of the risen Christ we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen.