We'll be in Genesis 12 today. We're not gonna
be walking through the John passage though. That
is a beautiful passage We're gonna be in Genesis
12, which I would argue is one of the first great
commissions or calls within scripture So that's
what we're gonna be hanging out today Let me
set context. Okay, we're in Genesis Not a whole
lot has happened yet, so we've got God speaks,
right? Nothing's really happening. God opens
His mouth, breathes in the universe that's still
expanding today. Massive things happen when God
speaks. We're going to see God do some speaking
in verse 12 also. But God speaks, creation into
being. Then unfortunately, humans, man and woman,
question His provision, question, is He really
going to give us all that we need? Should we
become maybe God -like too? They take... the
fruit of the tree and the fall happens so all
sudden now things are not so awesome within creation
then world spirals even worse and God's like
we're gonna push reset but thanks for Noah we're
gonna preserve him and his family and we're gonna
build a big arc and then we're gonna push reset
and I'm gonna we're gonna roll down and put a
rainbow up and we're gonna promise that I will
never have that behavior again But then unfortunately
again, Noah wasn't amazing either. He parties
too hard after everything dries out and exposes
himself in front of his boys like not a great
dad moment for his boys. And then his boys kind
of drift away as well, dive into some other things
that aren't super great. One of his sons, Shem,
has another son and then that son has Abram,
the man that we're going to be introduced today.
Abraham's resume is not looking so good. It might
feel like maybe your resume or my resume. And
so he's not coming to the table with everything
in order. He's not coming to the table as a righteous
man per se. He's not coming to the table with
any reason for God to choose him outside of the
fact that God is God and he loves all people
as the John passage says. So the gospel and the
calling is for all things. So Abraham's behavior
and his mindset is not one that should call God
to go, let's pick this guy. Even Abraham's behavior
afterwards would also say maybe some of the same.
So the question I want you to ask yourself whenever
we walk through these verses is, what do we learn
about God? What do we learn about Yahweh, which
is the Hebrew name for God in the Old Testament?
What do we learn about Yahweh's character? Because
one thing's real. In the ancient Near East, there's
no such thing as there not being a God. That's
a Western thought. Western folk think we can
outsmart things and like maybe we can have all
the stuff and not have one. That is not the case
in ancient Near East. The ancient world, everybody
understood that there's a God. The question was,
who is it? And so whenever Yahweh is presenting
Himself in Scripture through creation, through
the flood, through this call of Abraham, you've
got to ask, what are we learning about this God,
the true God? Because there's tons of false gods.
People are worshipping anything and everything
under the sun in order to try to get what they
want or add some clarity to their life. But when
God manifests Himself in these Scriptures in
life, we ask, what do we learn? about the character
of this Yahweh, this God. And so, the verses
pick up in verse 1, chapter 12. I'm going to
read just a few and then I'll pause and we'll
unpack some. So again, the Lord had said to Abram,
God, it is pause. Your identity and my identity
is not informed. Your value, my value is not
informed by things that we do. Remember the context.
Things are not awesome in Abram's world. But
God still speaks into Abram's world. And so I
don't know how you feel this morning. I don't
know if you feel awesome as a Christian. I don't
know if you feel like you've drifted some. I
don't know if you feel like you don't know where
God is because he's just not answering prayers
maybe. Maybe a prayer that you've had your whole
life and he's not answered it the way you wanted
it. And so maybe you and God are a little...
You are just kind of having some beef with one
another. I understand that. I've been in those
seasons. I don't know where you are. But if it
feels like there's nothing to offer, well, you
can relate to Abram. He didn't have anything
to offer. The world didn't have anything to offer.
But when God speaks, stuff happens. So the Lord
said to Abram, leave your country, your people,
your father's household, and go to a land I will
show you. Pause again. What did he just ask Abram
to do? He asked him to leave his identity, his
security, and his meaning. So I don't know what
you're building your identity, security, and
meaning on these days. Maybe it's your prowess.
If you're a high school student or college student,
maybe it's your academic GPA. I don't know. If
you're retired, maybe you're asking that question,
I don't really know what my meaning or value
is anymore. I don't know where you stand. But
here God speaks, calls Abram out of his identity,
out of his security, out of his meaning, and
said, I'll show you where to go, but we're leaving
everything you know. Then he says seven promises.
This is a Hebrew poem. It's it's kind of like
a cross ticket the middle thing the number four
is the most important Okay, he's actually going
to repeat it in the seventh place too, but number
four is where all points Okay, so let's read
it. So the Lord speaks And he says I will make
you into a great nation. I Will bless you. I
will make your name great So that you will be
a blessing Bingo. I will bless those who bless
you and whoever curses you I will curse and all
the people of the earth will be blessed through
you. So let's pause. What do we learn about Yahweh
based on these handful of verses? Will we understand
quickly that Yahweh initiates identity, value,
meaning? Abram's bringing nothing to the table.
If you feel like you don't have anything you're
bringing to the table, welcome to the club. That's
the only prerequisite of being a follower of
Christ. Having nothing but maybe a happy meal,
you know, from the kid who had his little sack
lunch and he didn't think he had much, but then
they served thousands of food, right? So you
might not feel like you have much like Abram,
but what we learned about Yahweh is he doesn't
need you and me per se. He's going to speak value
into us, then all of a sudden now I have purpose
and meaning. So yes, He does need us, but He
doesn't need my actions, my resume. So He's gracious.
A lot of times we hear grace as God's riches
at Christ's expense, which is a beautiful description.
But if you really dive into the Hebrew language
and understand what grace is, grace is all about
God's value into you. Abraham didn't bring value
to the table outside the fact that he had a pulse,
and he was created in God's image. Where did
his value come from? In God's speaking life into
him. Where do you and I's value and security
come from? By God's grace, that he's going to
speak into your life and call you into a purpose,
into meaning. That's what we learn about Yahweh.
He doesn't need our resumes He just needs his
voice to speak life and value and truth into
your world So if you're feeling on the edge or
on the outside or like a little lost and what
you should be doing listen for God's voice Because
he's calling He's either calling through this
congregation. He's calling through his word.
Maybe he's calling through me. I don't know he's
calling He's speaking so listen So what do we
learn about Yahweh early on? It's that He speaks
and that's where our identity and that's where
our value comes from. What's the second thing
we learn? We learn that Yahweh, God, is missional.
Again, Abram's not necessarily the most stand
-up man at the time. God didn't pick him because
he was righteous. Abram's willingness to follow
God's lead, now we accredit to him as righteousness.
If we read Hebrews or if we read other John passages
or other Romans passages or some Ephesians passages,
we start to see that, oh, it was Abram's response
to God's call that we would say is righteousness.
He wasn't chosen because of his righteousness.
So God is a missional God. He goes to you and
to me and to Abram who might feel like we're
on the outside or really not sure of our place
and he goes, I got you, I want to use you. He's
missional in his DNA, God is. That's who He is.
His heart is outward focused. His heart is seeking
those who maybe the church will say, you don't
belong here. He would go we'll bring him to my
feet. That's what the disciples learned right
whenever they thought children shouldn't bother
Jesus Right and then the lesson of the day was
actually children are pretty important in Jesus's
economy, so bring him We might say some people
shouldn't belong here and God might go slow down
I Don't need their resumes. I don't need their
righteousness That's what I'm for. So God is
missional in His DNA. He initiates value through
His voice. And whenever we think about this idea
of being missional, He's calling us to potentially
leave something. It's something that you might
be... I don't know. I mean, I'm not wearing my
Aggie ring because I'm probably not a nice guy
as your pastor. I'm not ringing my Aggie ring
because I got a little backwards on what that
thing really meant to me. And so is my identity
in this thing? So I had to ask myself that question
when I was working at Home Depot as a church
planter with my class ring on that my ministry
was Home Depot and the people of Home Depot.
Well, not many people at Home Depot have master's
degrees. Much less an undergraduate degree, and
that's not a hit on them. It's just some of the
reality So when I worked with my class ring on
and people asked where did you go to school?
And I said Texas A &M. It was an automatically
an offense to them It became a stumbling block
to the gospel because I from their perspective
was better than them So let's remove the stumbling
block Put it in the drawer, which I haven't worn.
I just I'm gonna take it to that I was like I
think I kind of want to wear this thing now Maybe
I'm more mature to be able to wear this But where's
my value come from I? Don't know where you might
be putting your value in whether it's your status
whether it's your work whether it's whatever
what you have on I don't know But God goes just
look to me for your status. That's where your
purpose comes from and I'm putting you on mission
for a purpose. What's the purpose? The fourth
reason. It's not just a spiritual forgiveness
purpose. So that is amazing. The purpose of Christianity
isn't just so people can be forgiven. That's
an amazing piece of it. But we can't say it's
all of it. Because whenever Jesus comes back
and He says, whenever I come back and I bring
in the New Kingdom, the New Kingdom, there will
be no more tears, there will be no more grief.
Why? Because there will be no more death because
there will be no more cancer because there will
be no more anxiety Because there will be no more
hunger because there will be no more homelessness
You see the kingdom of God is huge Spiritual
forgiveness is a part of it, which is amazing,
but it's not everything So whenever God says
I am going to cause you to be a blessing to the
world You get to bring people to your chili cook
-off because chili is fun and good and come to
a bounce house because it's a glimpse of God's
kingdom There's flowers on the altar in a boot
Why? Because we want to have fun Why because
in heaven it's probably going to be fun Because
you don't have anything burdening you down You
could actually be free and beat and just be silly
and not worry about someone judging you because
you can't dance Right? You see, that's glimpses
of the kingdom of God. And that's what this blessing
is about. He's calling Abram to go give people
glimpses of my kingdom. Go be a blessing. Not
just go forgive people. It wasn't even a concept
then. Jesus did the same thing when he sent out
the 72. He didn't say, go out and tell people
that Jesus loves them. He didn't say, Go out
and tell him the gospel. He didn't say that either.
He said, go out and tell him that the kingdom
of God is near. Why? Because the kingdom of God
is all encompassing all of me and all of you.
And it has to do with my spiritual forgiveness,
yes, but it has to do with me having food in
my tummy. And it has to do with me feeling secure
and welcome in front of you like I belong somewhere.
You see, so what do we learn about Yahweh? When
He speaks, He gives you purpose. We see that
Yahweh is missional in his heart. We see that
Yahweh restores all of us. That's what blessings
are. You see, so this Yahweh, this God, is much
different than the other gods that people were
worshipping in the ancient. So now all of a sudden
people start to go, that's a different God. He's
using that guy? And they're doing those cool
things? Yes. So we are all included in that.
He's calling you. He's calling us to be missional,
to be parts and glimpses of restoration to the
world, to have fun, to do ministries that actually
solve problems. Because in heaven, there are
no problems. So you're just giving glimpses of
God's kingdom. That's who our Yahweh is. That's
who the God who's calling you. And finally, He's
relational. absolutely mind -blowing for the
people of the day. He wants to dwell with you.
I don't know if you caught it. The Lord said
to Abram, leave your country, your people, your
father's household and go to the land I will
show you. Not go figure it out. Like better than
the twelfth man. Like the twelfth man just stays
in the third deck. Jesus got out of the stands
and put on human flesh and died for us like he
wants to be with us When he comes back on the
last day, he's gonna dwell with his people So
he's going to say I'm removing you from your
security Abram But I'm not gonna leave you alone
and I'm gonna show you where we're going to go
next. I am with you And I love Abram's response.
What does he do at the end of this verses? He
builds an altar and he worships before he builds
his own house. Why? Because he realized that
God speaks and his identity changes. He realizes
that Yahweh is missional and he's important.
He realizes that he... There to be a blessing
not just to build a house in the name for himself
like his ancestors tried to do just a chapter
before in Genesis 11 when they tried to make
a name for themselves for the Tower of Babel
and God goes now That's not the wrong. That's
the right. That's the wrong order So your pride
is not how this is gonna go tears it down distributes
the people and then uses a Guy like Abram to
make his name great not for his own names sake
Abram's name, but for God's name so that he could
be a blessing and the people could know it. That's
what God's calling this congregation. That's
what God is calling you to do because he loves
you. He sees you. He's going to speak into your
life so that you can be a blessing and he's going
to continue to walk with you until he comes back
on the last day.