First Reading: Genesis 12:1-9
1Now 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. 2And 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. 3I 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.” 4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5And 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, 6Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
Psalm 121
1I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come? 2My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. 3He will not let your foot be moved and he who watches over you will not fall asleep. 4Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep; 5The Lord himself watches over you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand, 6So that the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; it is he who shall keep you safe. 8The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth forevermore.
Second Reading: Romans 4:1-8, 13-17
1What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” 13For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring — not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations” — in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
Gospel: John 3:1-17
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Blessed to Bless Others
In the book of Acts we read, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (20:35). Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38). And the writer of Hebrews wrote, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (16:13). These passages seem counter intuitive in a free enterprise culture, but we must remember, God’s wisdom isn’t our wisdom (Isaiah 55:8-9) and all good gifts come from God (James 1:17). Search the Bible and you’ll find 20 such passages. Once again proof that God’s ways are not our ways. But to act on these verses, we must have faith in the One who gave these promises.
King Solomon wrote, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6). The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit (17:7-8). And St. Paul wrote, “We live by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Again, for the self-made man culture we live in, these passages seem to smack of dependance over independence. There are 56 such verses in the Bible about placing our faith in God. Today, our First Reading from Genesis highlights our need to have faith in God and about God’s plan to bless His people and all creation.
During the Lenten season three disciplines are emphasized, prayer, fasting, and alms giving, or blessing others as God has blessed us. In our lesson from Genesis, we see the latter of these disciplines practiced. Consider the story of the call of Abram. The first remarkable thing we learn about Abram was that he was willing to believe God, and to place his faith in God, which enabled him to set out on a journey to an unknown land. Without the security of country and kindred, Abram relied solely on the promise that God would take care of him. How many of us, after having established ourselves, bought a home, obtained those things that would ensure a comfortable retirement, and secured our place in our community, would be willing to make that kind of journey, to make that kind of commitment, based solely on God’s word?
At first it seems like an intriguing proposition: a great nation, a new land, blessings promised to those whom Abram blesses, and curses on those who dishonor Abram. What does Abram have to lose? But when you stop and consider it, there are many things that come to mind: A sense of stability, worldly comfort, family ties, a reasonable expectation for the future. Any retirement plans Abram had would need to be put on hold–no weekend getaways, no card games with other retirees, no 18 holes of golf at the local courses, no pot-luck dinners at the church you’ve been a member of for decades, no long afternoon naps, or easy chair nights watching your favorite TV shows. Let’s face it, you’ll need to find a new market, a new dry cleaner, a new mechanic, and so on.
One thing’s for certain, by accepting God’s call, Abram and Sarai would get to travel, but that would be without the luxury of knowing they can come home to everything you need. Imagine God appearing at our adult Sunday school class and asking for volunteers for such a journey! How many of us would be ready to go? Not many, I suppose. But Abram, despite his age, despite his physical condition, despite the riskiness of pursuing God’s promises… Abram said “Yes” to God and set out on a 3400+ mile journey from Ur to the land of Canaan with only the possessions he had, a few family members, some livestock, the servants he acquired, and a bagful of promises from God. But I wonder if Abram really understood the larger vision.
I’m relatively certain Abram felt he understood the promise of many blessings: the gift of a great nation, of a new land, and of many descendants. But did Abram really grasp the bigger picture, the one that most of us really don’t see and that even fewer pursue? Do we fully comprehend God’s “master plan” here to Abram? Do we fully grasp the purpose God had for the Hebrew nation? Do we comprehend the overview of the Old Testament, indeed a key theme of the whole Bible? That key theme is here in this passage. Let me reread the verses that contain it.
“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 the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:2-3). What was and is God’s overall plan? To make the Hebrew people great? To reward the Jews for their goodness? To separate out a chosen people simply to honor them, serve them, to please them? To play favorites with His chosen ones? No, No, No, and No! The purpose behind God blessing the children of Abraham is to bless the world.
The role of the Hebrew people isn’t to solely be the favored sons and daughters, to be spoiled and selfish brats, but to ensure that all of God’s children, Jews and Gentiles alike, enjoy God’s promises, blessings, and presence. Simply put, Israel was blessed in order to be a blessing to the nations of the world. Their primary task in life wasn’t to act as if they were No. 1, but to ensure that even the least of all peoples would experience the showers of God’s blessings. Abram’s mission was more than to father an heir or to claim territory. His mission was to set God’s plan, started at creation, into motion. God’s desire is to bless every last creature who lives and moves and has it’s being! That’s a task worthy of leaving retirement plans behind! That’s a task worth the risk! That is a purpose worthy of ultimate commitment!
That’s the reason God called the Hebrew people and gave them a commission. It was, and still is, more than survival of a family. It was given so that all families of the earth could survive and thrive. God’s chosen people must concern themselves with more than the gift of the land; they must also be concerned with how they are to fulfill the call to bless all people — and that means even their enemies. But this call to bless isn’t exclusive to the Hebrew people, we too have been grafted into that call.
The call to be a blessing is a call to all who are Christians. The charge that was given to the Hebrew people — to bless all people — was taken up by Jesus, for He came to be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for the glory of your people Israel (Luke 2:32).” And that charge was passed on to us, His church: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19). We, no less than the Hebrews, have been entrusted with blessing our world and its peoples. We too are commanded to minister to the needy and the vulnerable, not simply to the worthy and the influential.
As a country, we’re glad to claim God’s blessings. We don’t totally ignore the many privileges we enjoy. That’s not our primary problem. We have no trouble seeing that God has blessed America. Our struggle is that we’re confused as to why God has blessed us. Many of us think it’s because we’re a great nation. Many think it’s because we’ve earned it and been good. Some sadly even think God has nothing to do with the advantages we enjoy, they are solely the result of our hard work or ingenuity or shrewdness. What did St. James write, “all good gifts come from God?” The truth is, the blessings God has showered on the United States are not for the sake of our indulgence or a reward for our great behavior, but are for a singular purpose, a purpose much the same as that of Abram and his people — that we are blessed in order to be a blessing.
What we need to understand is that we, as a country, need to move from the role of kingdom building to that of humanitarians and evangelists. Yes, we need to continue to help those people who are being dominated by oppressive regimes. Yes, we need to stand up to drug cartels and human traffickers and those who would enslave others. But we also need to see that these people need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news that God loves them and cares for them. We need to share, with all nations, the fact that God has compassion for all peoples of the earth. We need to recognize that to whatever extent the this country has been blessed, it’s to that extent that we’re being asked to be a blessing. God isn’t asking us simply sit back and count our blessings, we’re being commanded to be a blessing to others. As the writer of Hebrews instructs us, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (16:13).
Sadly, there are too many people today who feel a resistance to the word “share.” Far too many in our churches would rather hear the promises of our text as exclusively given to us, the promises of blessings and greatness, and forget these promises were given so all creation can be blessed. Our text does not end with a blessing for the Hebrews or God’s chosen people. It does not stop with a national blessing but reaches its rightful conclusion only with an international blessing.
Today we desperately need a reorder our thinking. We don’t need a new political structure to maintain peace, as important as that is. What we need is to remember our call is based on Genesis 12:2-3 where every nation and all God’s people see its mission beyond blessing itself. The renewed vision can only be understood when we recognize that God isn’t exclusively on the side of one nation, but of all nations. God doesn’t love some of His people and despise the rest. He proclaimed all that He created was good and chooses to bless all He has made through His people.
Would you be surprised if I told you that Genesis 12 isn’t just the story of Abram, not just the story of Israelites, not the story of the Bible, not just a focus of Jesus’ ministry, not just a purpose of the church? Would you be shocked if I insisted that Genesis 12 is our story, and not simply Abram’s purpose, but our purpose as well? We have been blessed in order to be a blessing. When was the last time you asked yourself, why have we been blessed? Is it because we’re somehow been better than others? Is it because we’re somehow more special than another group or nation? What does it mean to accept Abram’s call; how can we order our lives accordingly?
Are we willing to accept the risks, to make some sacrifices? Perhaps. Even past the age of retirement? Possibly. What’s needed is to place our faith in God’s call and trust that He will not only supply but will bless those whom we bless. St. Paul addresses this aspect of faith in our epistle reading for today. Starting with verse 3 we read, “what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” There’s something very subtle going on here. Paul said Abraham believed God.
As the pastors and I were studying this passage, the question was asked, can you believe someone without believing in that person. The answer is no. To place your faith in someone you must believe in them. If a perfect stranger, someone you’ve never met or heard of, walked up to you and said leave everything you know and do this and you will be blessed, I can believe in the one speaking is a person. They’re speaking to me. That doesn’t mean that I believe that person. I’ve never met them before; I have no reason to believe them. We must know, or have some evidence, before we believe someone. And when we believe someone, we act accordingly. Abram not only believed in God, but when God came to him, Abram believed what God was telling him.
It was in Abram’s faithful response that God not only blessed Abram and Sarai, but all the nations of the world. You and I have the privilege of believing in and believing God. The question is, do you believe Him when He commands us to bless others as we’ve been blessed? Are we willing to place our faith in the fact that God will give us our daily bread, and from that blessing we reach out and bless others? More than that, Jesus commanded us to go and share the good news with others.
It’s in our sharing and caring that others come to believe in God. And once they believe in God, then they will be able to believe the promises of God. We are called to go, to share and to bless those in need. And because we respond in faith, we too will not only be blessed, but that will be counted unto us as righteousness. God came to Abram and told him to go and Abram responded. The call Abram received is our call as well. The nation that came from Abram was blessed and from that nation came a Savior; and from that Savior, a church, and from that church, people committed to continuing Abram’s call.
It isn’t a call to status and favor; it isn’t a call to privilege and honor. It isn’t a call to amass blessings for ourselves but to be a part of a kingdom where God’s master plan unfolds… the blessing of all His children. You and I have been blessed with a variety gifts, and our call is to share those gifts with others so that God can continue to bless His people and all creation. In faith Abram believed God and because he believed and responded, you and I have been adopted into God’s family. It’s now our turn to believe and respond so that others can say the same.
Amen