The Abraham Chronicles
by Terran Williams
27 August 2008
Part 2: Trust God, Love People. Abraham's life of faith helps us make sense of our lives of faith.
Sunday 24 August 2008The Abraham Chronicles, Part 2: Trust God, Love People Terran Williams
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The talk
Message Summary
Genesis 12:10-13:18
Abraham leaves behind giant footsteps in which we walk as Christians. His life of faith helps us to make sense of our lives of faith.
12: 10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
1) Abraham fails to trust God.
* God had sent Abram into Canaan, and confirmed that this was the general area he was to stay in (v7). God had promised to bless him (v2). But now a test comes: famine. Abram feels the pressure, and sadly takes his life back into his own hands. He heads for Egypt without seeking God first, and without any leading from God.
* Still today, the pressures of life will try and take our eyes off of God, and his promises to guide and provide, and onto our own ability to save ourselves by our own initiative and resourcefulness. When this happens we no longer live by faith. Our faith fails.
* The interesting thing is that if you were to ask Abram if he believed that God would still provide for him long-term, he'd say yes. The problem was that he struggled to believe God would provide for him in an immediate crisis. Similarly, most Christians have no doubt that God will take care of us eternally, and in the long-term, but our true level of trust is revealed by how we respond to a crisis.
* And as we shall see, when our faith fails, one sin leads to another...
11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."
14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai.
2) Abraham fails to love his wife and Pharaoh.
* Abram, nervous that the men of Egypt will kill him to get to his wife, tries to make himself less threatening by making his own wife more available to them. How shocking. Instead of trusting God, he is attempting to save himself and himself alone. And his self-help strategy actually works - Pharaoh takes her in as one of his many wives. Abram doesn't seem to mind, and he enjoys a whole bunch of material benefits (v16).
* In the words of FB Meyer, 'When we lose our faith and are filled with panic for ourselves, we become unmindful of all and every tie and are prepared to sacrifice our nearest and dearest, if only we may survive.' However, the opposite is true too: 'faith expresses itself in love' (Galatians 5:6). People who trust in God's ability to look after them are more likely to look after loved ones, rather than themselves, when tough times come.
* Abram had a commission on his life: he was to be a blessing to the nations of the world (12:3). This would have included his own wife of course, and Pharaoh. But instead, Abram brings damage to his wife, and to Pharaoh.
* Still today, Christians have that same commission to be a blessing to people everywhere, starting with our own family, and then to people of other nations. And yet, oh what a tragedy it is, we so often live in modes of self-preservation, thinking only of ourselves, our own security and comfort and profit! And what damage is done to the name of Christ. Let us not fail to trust God. Let us not fail in our life's basic mission: to bless others.
18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!" 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
3) God disciplines Abraham for his lack of faith and love.
* When we as Christians live deceitfully, God will mercifully expose us. This is what he did to Abram. Somehow he revealed to Pharaoh that Sarai was his wife. Amazingly, Pharaoh spared his life - no doubt because of God's mercy at work behind the scenes. Being exposed is humiliating and may not feel like God's mercy at the time. But he is committed to restoring us, and bringing us to a place of repentance. God gives Abram another chance. Still today, God exposes us so as to restore us.
* We must also remember that Abram wasn't exactly commissioned to be a blessing (which is the way I stated it in the previous point) - God promised to make him a blessing. Still today, despite our persistent selfishness, God will not stop working on us (as painful as this can be at times) in order to set us free to be a genuine blessing to the people around us.
* The good news is that Abram humbled himself before God again (see 13:3) - and as we shall see became a person of genuine love once again (as we shall see in the way he relates to Lot in the next chapter). God is powerfully able to restore us to our life's mission.
13: 1 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.
5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarreling arose between Abram's herders and the herders of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
8 So Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left."
4) Abraham renews his trust in God, and his love for people.
* It appears that Abram had been lovingly disciplined by God not to look out only for his own welfare, but instead, based on his renewed trust in God, to be a blessing to others (12:17-3:4). And it appears that Abram was a new man because of it. Notice his love and maturity in dealing with a situation of serious conflict:
* 1) He initiates respectful dialogue. Instead of hoping the conflict goes away, he organizes a meeting to try resolve the matter (v8). Today, in conflict situations we should do the same.
* 2) He seeks to maintain peace through separation. After discussion, it seems that no real resolution is found, so he takes the option of agreeing to disagree. He does this by allowing Lot to go his separate way (v9a). We see this same principle in the New Testament when Paul and Barnabas go their separate ways (see Acts 15:39), and again when unbelieving spouses are freed to leave their partner (1 Corinthians 7:12-15).
* 3) He is very generous. Abram so trusts God that he allows Lot to take whatever land he wants (v9b). How desperately we who trust in God need to be ready to become generous, being fully assured that God will look after us.
10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
5) Lot fails to trust God and to love others.
* Just while Abram is showing signs of spiritual maturity (v-19), Lot shows signs of spiritual immaturity:
* 1) He makes a decision without reference to God (v10). He does not seek God, but simply looks around. He is drawn totally by what seems to be best (v1). Still today, we dare not make big life decisions without reference to God, judging only by what seems best. It is a sign of spiritual immaturity.
* 2) He makes a decision without care for anyone but himself (v11). Lot did not think of Abram at all, just himself. While Abram had been generous (v9), Lot was greedy. Whenever we make major decisions without thinking how it will impact others, that's a sign of immaturity.
* 3) He makes a decision without discerning spiritual danger (v12,13). Lot is drawn to the buzz, the wealth, and the apparent security offered by nearby cities. He purposely lives near a city, but fails to discern its great sin and depravity (v13). We too are spiritually immature when we make decisions without attempting to discern the spiritual implications this could have for us, and the people closest to us.
* Today, when we make such decisions as where to live, what career to take, what jobs to accept, what company to keep, who to marry, where to send our kids to school and what to do with our money we are in danger of making all three of the mistakes that Lot made. Later we will see how destructive this kind of spiritual immaturity is (Genesis 19).
* There is one more major insight here: our spiritual immaturity may be hidden by the fact that we are connected to more spiritually mature people than ourselves. This was the case with Lot. Lot appeared to be as close to God as Abram, and as blessed by God as Abram - all because he lived with Abram. But the truth is that, as helpful as keeping company with more spiritually mature people than ourselves is, the time will come when our levels of maturity will be revealed. It is not enough to be associated with others who are spiritually mature - we need to very intentionally seek our own spiritual maturity.
14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring [or 'seed'] forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."
18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the LORD.
6) God encourages Abraham's trust and love with a fresh promise.
* Just when Abram is probably discouraged - by his failure in Egypt (12:10-20), and his separation from Lot (13:1-13), God encourages him by reminding him of his promises over his life. God is still like that. Often when we are most discouraged, God kindly seeks to encourage us by reminding us of his promises over our lives. Notice what is promised to Abram:
* 1) God promises him much land. Abram stands on the heights of Bethel from where a 360-panoramic view of the whole land is available, and promises him everything he can see (even the very land that Lot had just claimed for himself). Similarly, the life of a Christian is a life of expansive promise. Unlike Job, we are not over-excited about a little wealth and security - we understand that somehow we, as God's children, will inherit the whole new heaven and new earth one day (see Matthew 5:5). Although we don't own the world, we get to enjoy it - it belongs to our father. We hear Paul's words to us, 'Everything is yours - whether Paul, or Appollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death - all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God' (1 Corinthians 3:22,23).
* 2) God promises offspring. The word 'offspring' or 'seed' is an interesting word, because it can be taken both as a single person, or as multiple people. In other words, it refers to Isaac (his son-to-be-born), on the one hand, and to the whole nation of ancient Israel, and the Jews of today. But even more interesting is that the New Testament will add that it refers to spiritual descendents too - so, on the one hand it refers to Jesus (see Galatians 3:16), and on the other hand it refers to all those who believe in Christ (see Galatians 3:7-9). Amazing as it seems, our faith in Christ is in some ways a result of this promise God made to Abram, 4000 years ago! This promise makes us also anticipate that the number of Christians will continue to radically increase in number. All because God never makes a promise that he does not keep.
* 3) God invites him to enjoy the future now (v17-18). So far Abram had only set up altars to his God in the north (in Schechem - 12:7), in the central region (in the area between Bethel and Ai - 12:8) - but now, in response to God's promise that it will all belong to him and his offspring, and in light of God's instruction that he walks through the entire land (v17), he confidently sets up an altar in the south too (in Hebron (v18)). It is as though Abram is enjoying now what will be his one day. God's deep assurance about the wonders of Abram's future changes his very approach to life in the present. His anticipation of a certain future energizes and thrill him as he lives his daily life. Similarly, we should be filled with joy and hope by the power of the Spirit, as we anticipate the glorious eternity God has for us (see Romans 15:13), and as we taste of the powers of the coming age (see Hebrews 6:5).
Small Group Conversation Questions:
* Based on point 1 in the message: Can you identify with Abraham as he fails to trust God when a crisis comes? In what ways?
* Based on point 2 in the message: Can you see the link between loss of faith in God, and loss of love towards people in Abraham's life?
* Based on points 3 and 4 in the message: Have you experienced God disciplining you for your lack of trust and love in a way that restored your trust and love?
* Based on point 5 in the message: Can you identify with Lot's mistakes in decision-making?
* Based on point 6 in the message: When last did you experience God encouraging you with fresh promise?
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