Word of Salvation – Vol.25 No.46 – August 1979

 

Abram Went… And You?

 

Sermon by Rev. J. de Kievit on Genesis 12:4a

Scripture Reading: James 2; Hebrews 11:1–16; Gen. 12:1–4.

Psalter Hymnal: 233:1,2,6; 483 (before sermon); 241 (after sermon); 233:7,8

 

Beloved congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ,

There’s nothing strange to US in these words about Abram.  “And Abram went, as the Lord had told him…!”

For WE’RE on the go ALL THE TIME!  If it’s not travelling to and from work, a couple of hours a day, then it’s at nights and on weekends.

It’s no wonder the energy crisis hits Western societies the hardest of all – we’re a MOBILE society!

So what’s so noteworthy about a man packing his belongings to ‘go walkabout’??  Most of US have come more than half-way around the world as migrants.  And many of us think nothing of going ALL THE WAY around — more than once perhaps.

And yet, this going of Abram forms one of the keystones in God’s plan of salvation for this world.  It reveals Abram as the FATHER of ALL BELIEVERS.  And, as such, as God’s instrument, through whom salvation has come down to you and me today.

For yes, even WE TODAY are not likely to just wander off without making SOME kind of plan, and UNLESS there is a great financial NEED for it.

Those of us who DID come here as migrants, said good-bye to our previous life and to all our friends and relatives, ONLY because we at least THOUGHT it would give us advantages, didn’t we?  Of adventure, perhaps, but more likely of a better life.

But HOW MANY of us would have done that just on the strength of some inner urge?  Of some kind of message from God?

If we were well established AS WELL?  And comfortably off?  NOT MANY of us, would we?

Now, that gives us SOME idea what this ‘going’ must have meant to Abram!  “Go from your country”, the Lord had said to him, “and from your kindred, and from your father’s house.“  That was to be his RESPONSE to the Covenant-promises of God.

Think of all the ties that had to be broken.  There was to be no shuttling backward and forward FOR HIM to see the family again at times.

Think of all the dangers that such a journey PRESENTED in those days – without the protection of the city or a large family-tribe.

And Abram had NOWHERE SPECIFIC TO GO except for the promise that the Lord would SHOW him as he WENT ALONG!

Think of what friends and relatives might say of such a crazy scheme.  It would be enough to turn many people back again.  Or to prevent them from going in the first place.

But think ABOVE ALL, of the tears from Abram’s CLOSEST relatives.  His PARENTS, perhaps, who probably couldn’t UNDERSTAND WHY their son would act so totally different from what was customary.  Was anything MORE LIKELY to pull at his heart-strings?  And keep him safely established within the circle of warm love and protection?

No, it was not AN EASY thing that the Lord asked from Abram.  Sure, He promised that Abram would grow into a great nation.  And that blessing would come to this world through him.  And these were great and BEAUTIFUL promises!

BUT – as yet they were NO MORE than promises.  And how likely did it look as if they were to become reality?  What could BE SEEN of them?  AND YET – in the meantime – the Lord demanded the WHOLE TOTALITY of Abram’s being and existence …ALL FOR HIMSELF!!  He demanded that Abram place himself COMPLETELY in His hands and under His control!  THAT’S what was involved when the Lord came to him, and demanded Abram’s response to His Covenant!

And before, we go on, brothers and sisters, that is EXACTLY what is involved STILL – in EVERY Christian life!  That’s what is involved when the Lord comes to us, as He does in the Gospel; in the Word of His grace.

He demands NOTHING LESS than the TOTALITY of MY BEING and EXISTENCE – ALL FOR HIMSELF!  He is NOT SATISFIED with just a token GESTURE of a bit of religion on Sundays, for example, good as that is.  Or of a few coins in the collection-bag,

No, the WHOLE of your life He wants – and EVERY BIT of it if we are to be His covenant -people AT ALL!

Oh yes, He promises us GREAT THINGS – of an absolutely perfect heaven and earth; of eternal life with Himself.

But look at the kind of world WE LIVE in – in which these promises COME to us。 How likely does it look TODAY that these will ever come to pass?  When the world is in a mess… when we ourselves live in sickness and death, rather than in life.

It’s easy to see, isn’t it, why many people simply LAUGH at promises like that; why they’ll call you MAD for taking the least NOTICE of them?  And why they’ll make it DIFFICULT for you because you’re not JOINING them in the ways of this world?

Others may have STARTED OFF on the way with God but gave it up when the realities of life and the DIFFICULTIES of life simply OVERWHELMED them.  So that they simply couldn’t BELIEVE those promises any more!

So what about OURSELVES – as God makes His TOTAL DEMANDS?  It’s terribly difficult to “GO” in THIS WAY!  And to KEEP GOING!  Humanly speaking, it’s TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE!

YET… Abram WENT, brothers and sisters.  As simply as that.
AND WHY?
Because he KNEW by faith that LIFE WITH GOD was worth infinitely more than life WITHOUT Him – EVEN if that would strip him of ALL PRIVILEGES, of ALL WEALTH, of ALL PROTECTION and warmth of family-living.

And that ‘life’ WITHOUT God would be worth absolutely NOTHING, even if it COULD give all his immediate heart’s desires; even if it could give him the world.

Yes, Abram REALIZED the great privilege that God had given him by coming to speak to him.

And therefore, WHENEVER we think of Abram – brothers and sisters – let us never FEEL SORRY for him for the people and things he had to leave behind.  Nor for the difficulties he had to face on his long journey and they were PLENTY!

For what was he REALLY leaving behind Him?  A BURNT-OUT existence it would have been without God.
And Abram KNEW IT!

That’s why – gladly – he gave it ALL UP.  That’s why – gladly – he WENT!  “BY FAITH”, we read in Hebrews 11, “Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out not knowing where he was to go…. For he looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

The going of Abram was a matter of TRUST in God, therefore.  Nothing could yet BE SEEN of the FULFILLMENT of these promises.  But Abram KNEW that God could and would do as He HAD SAID!

AND BY THIS ACT OF GOING we CAN SEE his faith IN ACTION!  That it was REAL!  The apostle James goes so far as to say that Abraham was justified by his WORKS.  What he meant was that Abram didn’t just say NICE THINGS about God’s promises to him, but ACTED on them.  HE STAKED HIS LIFE, HIS EXISTENCE on them.  Or rather, on God!  Through showing such real faith, Abram stood JUSTIFIED before God.  And through SUCH FAITH TODAY, WE stand justified before the same God.

And so let NONE OF US ever start to feel sorry for OURSELVES or ANYBODY ELSE, for the things of this world WE may have had to leave behind in order to follow the Lord in the Covenant-response of OBEDIENCE.  For yes, the Christian life is ALWAYS costly from a worldly point of view.  WE probably won’t be asked to pack up and go in the same way that Abram had to… although SOME people perhaps receive God’s call to forsake the life they may have planned for themselves.  Or to “throw away” a promising career in order to do SPECIAL work which the Lord requires of them.  And that can bring painful conflict sometimes, UNTIL that stage of obedience is reached.  That is test of faith that some have to face.

But no matter WHAT work the Lord calls us to – special or not – our lives as Christians will ALWAYS BE, and ALWAYS ARE to be, TOTALLY DIFFERENT from the life of the unbeliever.

For the unbeliever lives to please himself, AND may sometimes seem to do VERY WELL out of it.  But the child of God who has heard the call of God, MUST ALWAYS, “get up and go”, according to the Lord’s command.  No matter WHAT the cost may be.  And in whatever capacity He calls us – as parents or children – as workers at our jobs.

And HAVE YOU GONE – brothers and sisters?
Are YOU ON THE WAY – with faithful Abram?
AS A PILGRIM – to the PROMISED LAND?

That MAY cost you the scorn of friends or even relatives who DO NOT UNDERSTAND you.  That may mean CUT TIES – yes – with those who may have been closest to us, and are STILL dear to us.

And that will ALWAYS mean self-sacrifice and self-denial, as we hand ourselves OVER – with our WHOLE EXISTENCE – to the care and guidance of this God of the Covenant.  EVEN if that DOESN’T always suit us.  Or even if sometimes we DON’T UNDERSTAND!

But would ANYTHING EVER be WORTH the REFUSAL of God’s Call?
“What profit is it” asked our Lord Jesus, “if a man gain the whole world but lose his own soul?

The promises of salvation MAY seem unlikely in view of the MESS the world is in.  Or its sin.  Or when you think of the sickness and death we too still have to undergo

But do we sacrifice anything REALLY? – when we travel with our hands in the hand of God?  When we see His great care and love for sinful mankind reflected in His coming down to Abram with His call?  But above all, when we see His great love and care reflected in the cross of Christ?  Where He sacrificed EVERYTHING – even His VERY OWN SON – in order to MAKE His promises come true to us?

It IS STILL a matter of TRUST in THIS GOD, and His promises, as it was for Abram.

It looked unlikely then too, when Jesus hung on that cross, that He would win ANY VICTORY over the realities of this world.  But He gave Himself – and through His death and rising from the grave, He CONQUERED sin and death.  THERE is the promise, and THERE is the GUARANTEE of OUR success; of OUR victory – IN Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Can ANYTHING keep us back then, when He says, “Follow Me.”?  Won’t WE ALSO with Abram GO then, as the Lord tells US?  And KEEP on the way – fully assured that in the hands OF THIS GOD we are eternally safe; eternally RICH?

So, are YOU on the GO?

If we are, then with Abram we, too, are blessed.  Then we too have our share in the SAME CITY that Abram was looking for; the same PROMISED LAND!  Together with ALL those who are God’s people..!  But more than that, then ALSO with Abram we will be instruments in God’s hand, for the salvation of the world.

For God’s purpose for calling Abram was NOT just that Abram might be blessed, but that THE WORLD might be blessed – THROUGH the blessing which Abram received.  And THROUGH Abram’s OBEDIENCE.  It’s for this reason that from Abram would spring a great nation – so that Jesus Christ the Saviour might be born from him.

It is through HIM that people were blessed (i.e. saved) who blessed Abraham.

And so, when we see this obedience of Abram – brothers and sisters – we see at the same time how his obedience HAS BORNE FRUIT over the ages – by the grace of God to bring blessing also TO US TODAY!

So that WE TOO may now stand in Christ in the freedom of the promise; of the blessing of Abram.

How thankful we may be – then – when we reflect on this gracious call of God to Abram, and the response which He worked in Abram’s heart!

And WE – in turn – now show forth OUR faith and gratitude by being heralds of the grace of God, to our sinful, stricken world, by OUR obedience.  So that the blessing promised to Abram may flow on ALSO to sinners in the world today, as we proclaim AND LIVE the Truth of God.

Let nothing hold us back – then – from the call; from the COVENANT of God.  But GO – to show the reality of our faith.  And GO – for the salvation of the world, according to the plan and purposes of God.

Amen.