God calls Abram
Genesis 11:27 – 12:9
Good morning. Happy Sunday. Last week, we learned even if God hoped a new history through Noah’s descendants, they were rebellious against God by building the tower of Babel, God confused the language and they scattered over the face of the whole earth. In today’s passage, God does start a new history through calling one man, Abram. God called to make him a blessing so that all peoples on earth will be blessed through him. This is God’s virion for him. As God called him in Bible time, today, in Jesus Christ, God is still calling each of us to be a blessing to share God’s blessing to all peoples. I pray through this message we may hear God’s personal calling upon each of us.
1. Who is Abram?
Ch 11:27-32 explains the family of Abram. He was one of Terah’s three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. He married a beautiful woman named Sarai, but she was childless because she was not able to be conceive. According to Joshua 24, he and his whole family lived in Ur of the Chaldeans and worshipped other gods. Also, according to Acts 7, God appeared and called him to go to Canaan, but when he arrived at Haran, he settled there, and then after his father died, he came to Canaan. Based on these verses, we can see Abram lived in Babylon area, idol worshiping place. Also, he was not a special man. He was just an ordinary man like us. Yet, God chose him and called him. Then, what did God say to him?
2. God’s calling to Abram
Look at ch 12:1. The LORD had said to him, Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. God said to Abram to leave his country, his people and his father’s household. What are “his country, his people and his father’s household”? Literally, it was his home country, friends, parents, relatives who he knew from his childhood.
Why did God tell him to leave such places? It was God’s big picture; eventually Israel would live in the land of Canaan. But also, it was for Abram’s spiritual growth. He was surrounded by idol worshippers in his hometown. What did they speak about mostly? Money, idols, pleasures, and all kinds of worldly things. They did not need God. If Abram continued to live in such an environment, he could not grow spiritually. He could not get out of me-centered life nor family-centered life. But when he moves to a new place, he can start a new life of God-centered life, God’s mission-centered life. He would have much opportunity to experience God’s presence and his power in his own life.
This is the same spiritual principle when we start the life of faith. To some people, it means leaving physically, breaking human ties. To others, it means leaving spiritually breaking up with our past sinful lives. This is what God commands before he starts a new relationship with us. Then, we can learn how to depend on God personally.
Where did God tell Abram to go? Verse 1 says, The land I will show you. God did not tell Abram the exact place (you can google map if the place is good or not). Instead, he just told him to go to the land I will show you. The place where Abram lived, Ur, was an urban city, but Canaan was a countryside like DE. God wanted Abram to put his trust in God. He could not understand fully but wherever place would be best for him. Hebrew 11:8 says, By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
Let’s read verse 2 and 3. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing, I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
Let’s see God’s promise to Abram. First of all, he promised Abram that he will make him into a great nation. How many people are needed to establish one nation? At least millions. It is ridiculous when we think about Abram’s circumstances. How many children does he have now? None. He was getting older, to make it worse, his wife Sarai was not able to conceive. Yet, God promised that he will make Abram into a great nation. This is impossible with Abram, but God said I will do it. In fact, in verse 2 and 3, look at the subject: it is not Abram, but I God. God vowed himself, I will, I will, I will. As he promised, today, a great nation Israel exists. Also, Judaism, Christianity, Muslims all claim that Abram is their ancestor. God fulfilled his promise. He is above our human situations. Nothing is impossible with him.
God also promised Abram that he will bless Abram. Here “bless” means in Hebrew, not just only time, continue to bless. God is going to bless him abundantly more than he expected. Blessings after blessings.
Also, God said I will make your name great. Abram lived in Ur. In his hometown, people like his friends, family members, and his coworkers knew his name. But that is it. Out of his hometown, probably no one knew about his name. But God promised he would make his name great. Today, almost everyone has heard of the name ‘Abraham’. Many people want to name their children after him. People might not know George Washington (1st president of USA), but they know a name of Abram. As God promised, God made his name so great and so honorable.
God also promise that Abram himself is a blessing. What does “blessing” mean? Abram receives blessing from God, and through him, God’s blessing may spread to other people as well. He becomes a source of blessing. Through him, people see his blessing. They want to be like him that they come to God.
In verse 3, God also said I will bless those who bless you and will curse you whoever curses you. God will treat someone the way how he treats Abram. If a person blesses Abram, God will bless the person too. However, if a person curses Abram, he will curse the person. It seems unfair. But God is on Abram’s side. In fact, in Ch 13, though Abram messed up in Egypt, God inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household.
Lastly, God promised that all peoples on earth will be blessed through Abram. We can see the reasons why God wanted to bless him. It is not just for him, but through him, all people will be blessed. This is God’s vision for him. This is God’s heart for him. In chapter 6, God planned a new history through one man Noah and his three children. But as descendants of Noah’s three sons multiplied, sin multiplied too. People began to be corrupt in God’s eyes once again. They were under God’s wrath. But this is not what God desires. He wants everyone to be under his blessing. So, God called one person Abram, an ordinary person, bless him that through him, all people on earth will be blessed too.
And this blessing came true when Jesus was born through Abram’s line. Through Jesus, not only Jews but all Gentiles, basically all peoples on earth could be saved from their sins, become God’s people, receive God’s blessing. Most importantly, they got to know who God is and who Jesus is.
So, we can see here true blessing is not a material blessing. Of course, God made Abram rich. He had many sheep, cattle, and servants. But more importantly, the true blessing is that I myself develop personal relationship with God, get to know him personally, and he uses me a source of blessing to others that others may come to God and receive the same blessing.
As God called Abram to be a blessing, in the NT, Jesus called each person to be a blessing. He called ordinary people like Peter or Matthew to follow him. Peter was not spiritual at all. While all people gathered around Jesus to listen to his message, Peter was washing his net. But Jesus called him and spoke to him, ‘follow me’. When Peter left his boat and followed Jesus, Jesus made his name great. Matthew was a tax collector. He chased after money. He was a money worshipper. Yet, Jesus visited him and called him. He left his tax collecting booth and followed Jesus. Then, he was saved from his sins and received God’s blessing to be disciples of Jesus. Jesus made him a blessing. His name became great. Most importantly, people got to know about the good news: the gospel through them. They became a source of blessing to many peoples on earth.
Today, God is still calling one person in Jesus as he called Abram in 4,000 years ago. Galatians 3:14 says, He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus. God is calling one ordinary man to make him a blessing. And through one man, he wants to bless all people on earth.
Pastor Jacob lost his parents during the Korean war. His life could be very sorrowful and miserable. But in college, God called him to be a blessing. John 3, You must be born again to see the kingdom of God. He accepted Jesus as his Savior. He later accepted God’s calling to leave from Korea and go to the land God showed him: Maryland in USA. God was pleased with his decision. God has made him a blessing to many people, not just Maryland but all over the world. Through him, I also received God’s blessing a lot (grand grand spiritual son). Even though he is retired, but God is still using him as a source of blessing to Indonesia, Korea, and America.
Now let’s look at verse 4. How did Abram respond to God’s calling? Verse 4 says, So Abram went as the LORD had told him. Wow! He did not calculate. He did not wish- wash. Instead, he put his trust in God’s words. He believed God’s calling. He left and went to the land of Canaan.
Was it easy for him to leave and go to the new land? Verse 5 says, all the possession he had and the people he had accumulated. He has already settled down in Haran. In Abram’s time, Haran was a good fertile Plain area. It was a big city. He lived a comfortable life. He was also 75 years old, not young age. Yet, he was so thankful that God called him a blessing, he left and moved to Canaan to start his new life journey with God.
Thank God for calling this sinner as a blessing too. I was typically an ordinary man. Nothing special from my family. I was an idol worshipper too. But in college, God called me to be a blessing. I did not know he had a vision for me. But through Genesis 12, I found out God had a hope in me that through me, many people would be blessed. He called me to leave from my country, my people and go to the land God would show me. As Aram had lived in Ur, then Haran, and eventually went to Canaan to obey God, in a sense, my country was South Korea, my Haran was Maryland, and now my Canaan is DE, the land God showed me to go. It was not easy to come to DE. However, God’s vision for me enabled me to overcome anxieties, fears. Now, though my life is so busy, but I am happy to get to know about God and Jesus personally. I am thankful that God uses me to help young people learn Jesus in their own life. My prayer is that God may use me as a source of blessing to many young college students that they could grow another Abram.
In conclusion, Abram was just an ordinary man. But God called him to be a blessing. He left and went to Canaan by faith. Like him, God is calling each of us to be a blessing that through us, his blessing would spread to all peoples on earth. I pray God may convict us in our heart about his calling. I pray God may help us obey his calling.
