Video of this service can be viewed at this link - https://vimeo.com/476899390?fbclid=IwAR2DFTGdyHEJ3sDzIBfJn5PgrqSLHmiRwyFmukl2WIn9d1r_4FuX7l7UPm4
This morning we continue the series of messages titled A Tough Faith for Tough Times, and as I begin, I want to make a confession. I made this confession earlier this morning, to a Zoom Sunday School gathering, because of those who were online, I was the only male. I realized this week that all of the characters I chose for this study are men. I did not have one woman in this series, and that is quite an oversight. Women, obviously, have great stories of faith, and I will correct my mistake by adding several women to the list of characters we will study.
This morning we are studying the life of Abraham, and Abraham’s story is very much tied to the story of his wife, Sarah, as we will see.
Like the stories of Joseph and Moses, the story of Abraham takes place over quite a few chapters. Beginning in Genesis 12, with God’s call to leave his homeland, the story continues to chapter 25, where we read of the death of Abraham.
You will note that the Scripture text uses the name Abram, while I use the name Abraham. The name Abram means father, while the name Abraham means father of many. Names in Scripture are very important, as they tell us something of significance of the person. For Abram, the change to Abrahamcomes in Genesis 17:1-7 – 1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
For the sake of simplicity, I will use the name of Abraham throughout my message.
Follow along as I read this morning’s Scripture text – Genesis 12:1-9.
1The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “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.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
Each week I have offered a brief outline of the story, and I will do so for Abraham this morning.
The call of Abraham – Genesis 12:1-9.
Abraham in Egypt, and Sarah taken into the household of Pharaoh – Genesis 12:10-20.
Abraham and Lot separate – Genesis 13:1-18.
Abraham rescues his nephew Lot, who had been taken prisoner – Genesis 14:1-24.
God reaffirms his covenant with Abraham – Genesis 15:1-21.
Abraham has a child with Hagar, the servant of Sarah – Genesis 16:1-16.
Abraham makes a case to God to save Sodom – Genesis 18:16-33.
Abraham once again claims Sarah is his sister, allowing her to be taken into Abimelech’s household – Genesis 20:1-18.
Isaac is born, and Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away – Genesis 21:1-21.
Abraham takes his son Isaac on the mountain, thinking he would be a sacrifice – Genesis 22:1-19.
Abraham’s wife, Sarah, dies – Genesis 23:1-20.
Abraham dies – Genesis 25:1-11.
So let’s take a look at some of the lessons from the life of Abraham, the first being –
1. Like us, Abraham is a very human figure.
One of the realities of the characters in this series is that they are very complicated individuals. In their stories, we find admirable traits, and less than admirable traits. In some ways, they are people for us to emulate, while in others, they become examples of what not to do.
Abraham was a very flawed person, as well as a person who was capable of great things. He was a person of great faith but also a person of doubt as well. He was an archetype for all humanity, as we see ourselves in him, as he is a mixture of the best ideals of humanity and the lesser elements of humanity. Abraham had the faith, at 75 years old, to leave his home and follow God to a new and unfamiliar land. He left behind everything he knew, and all that was familiar to him, in order to travel to a land of promise. With almost no details about where he is going, and with no idea of what was ahead, Abraham had the faith to follow God into the great unknown. Exhibiting such faith is one of the best elements of humanity. But Abraham also exhibited some of the lesser parts of humanity as well. Two times Abraham passes his wife, Sarah, off as his sister. The first time is in Egypt, when he tells Sarah she must pose as his sister because I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you (Genesis 12:12). Pharaoh then takes Sarah into his household – into his harem, basically. Abraham is given, in return, sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels (12:16). When the Egyptians discover Sarah is Abraham’s wife – not his sister – they are alarmed at what has happened and ask him to leave (12:18-20). Not only did they not kill Abraham when they discover Sarah is his wife, they honored that relationship. They respected that relationship. Abraham does this not once, but twice. Chapter 20 tells us of the same deceit, this time with Abimelech. As with the Egyptians, Abimelech is alarmed to discover Sarah is Abraham’s wife, not sister, and Abraham is rewarded a second time for his deceit. Neither of these stories show us the better side of Abraham. Neither event was an example of Abraham acting honorably. This is one Abe we would not call honest. Abraham profited handsomely from what Sarah had to endure.
The reality is, we are all a mixture of contradictions, aren’t we? Personally, I find that Abraham serves as a metaphor of our time, and as an example of those contradictions. As Abraham is an example of the best of humanity and the worst of humanity, as we have moved through the pandemic, we have seen the best and the worst of people. We have seen the wonderful, beautiful examples of medical personnel, for example, who have not only placed their lives on the line, but in some cases given their lives in the service of others. We have witnessed great acts of kindness and generosity. But we have also seen some of the worst as well, with bitterness and harsh rhetoric and actions that have weighed heavily upon us all. So Abraham becomes the archetype for not only all we can aspire to be, but for what we should avoid as well. That Abraham was willing to follow God’s call without knowing any real details is a great testament to his faith, and that is a quality worth emulating. But we cannot overlook some of the other actions of Abraham.
I think the reality of our time is this – like me, you are probably beginning to really feel the strain of this time. Do you feel it? Some days we wake up and think, I just want to pull the covers over my head, go back to sleep, and avoid the world! I don’t want to face the day. I don’t want to put that mask on one more time. I don’t want to be reminded that there are many people I cannot visit in person. I’m just tired of it! And with so many other difficulties mixed in we are doubly and triply stressed. I told Tanya the other day, one of the things I feel badly about is there are days when I feel the stress and the tension so deeply. There are days when I don’t feel patient, when I don’t feel like being nice or being kind, I’m short-tempered and respond in ways that I regret. When we are under stress, we don’t always make the best decisions. We don’t show the better side of ourselves.
I’m not excusing what Abraham did, in relation to Sarah, but the reality is, when we are in times of difficulty, when we are living in difficult times, we don’t always let the better part of us stand out. What we must do, then, in these tough times, is depend upon our faith to make us the people we need to be, to act in the ways we need to act, to speak in the ways we need to speak, and to respond in the ways we need to respond. Do not give into the stress, do not give into that tension, and do not give into that fear.
2. Our decisions have consequences – for ourselves and for others.
As I have often acknowledged, when we study the Old Testament and the Old Testament characters, people will often ask, what relevance does that have for today? The story of Abraham has incredible relevance today, particularly in the geo-political sphere. Chapter 16 of Genesis tells of the birth of Ishmael. Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar, who was Sarah’s servant. God had promised, you will remember, that the descendants of Abraham would be numerous, but Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were advancing in age and feared that their opportunity to have children had passed. Sarah tells Abraham to have a child with Hagar, and he does, and this sets off a series of events that reverberate to our present day in one of the world’s most politically volatile regions – the Middle East. Among the world’s great monotheistic religions – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – Abraham is a very important character in all three. Abraham is especially important in Judaism and Islam because it was to Abraham that God promised the ownership of the land that became the nation of Israel. God gave the land to Abraham, but Judaism and Islam trace their connection to Abraham through two different lineages. The Jewish people trace their claim to the land of Israel to Abraham because they are Abraham’s descendants, through Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah. While the Jewish people trace to Abraham through his son Isaac, Muslims trace their lineage to Abraham as well, but through Ishmael, who was, technically speaking, Abraham’s first-born son. The fight over that tiny sliver of land, which has continued for centuries, is basically a squabble over an inheritance. It’s amazing to realize that the decision of Abraham and Sarah, made so many years ago, continues to dominate world politics, thousands of years later, in such a powerful way. I am sure that Abraham did not give much consideration to the impact of his decisions. He could not fathom that, thousands of years later, his decision would continue to have such an impact on the world and play such a dominate role in global politics. So yes, the story of Abraham remains incredibly relevant. We don’t always understand, especially when we are younger, that the decisions we make will have consequences for many years and for many people. Abraham was not a young man when he made his decision to have a child with Hagar, so he should have exercised the benefit of wisdom gained over his many years, but he did not.
When I was a young man, I did not always think about the consequences of the decisions I made. In fact, I rarely thought about the consequences of those decision, especially the long-term consequences. I did not think, as a 16, 18, or 21-year-old young man how some of my decisions would continue to affect my life these many years later. And not only did I fail to understand how those decisions would affect my life, I failed also to understand how they would affect the lives of others as well.
Our decisions have consequences not just for ourselves; they have consequences for others, and we need to use the wisdom God gave us, asking,what does this decision mean not only for me, but for my family and for others? And we must also remember that decisions – good decisions and bad decisions – have a cumulative effect. A good decision will often lead to another good decision, while a bad decision can lead to another bad decision, creating a complicate web that we wonder how we can ever unravel. Abraham did not realize he set in motion a series of events that would not only complicate life for many people but would reverberate all the way to 2020.
In these days of difficulty, then, we must allow our faith to lead us to make good, and wise, decisions.
3. How did Abraham repair his relationships?
I mentioned in the overview of Abraham’s life that he and his nephew Lot separated at one point. There was a conflict between their herdsmen, causing them to go their separate ways.
The real conflict, however, was between Abraham and Sarah. Talk about a complicated plot, and one worthy of a soap opera! Abraham’s story would not be one for a Hallmark Channel movie, I am certain. On two occasions Abraham allowed Sarah to be taken into someone else’s household, presumably as a member of a harem. Twice! I imagine the first time must have brought about quite a conversation between Abraham and Sarah. Or, perhaps, there was no conversation at all, as Sarah might have been too hurt and too angry to speak. And the second time? Imagine the tension that must have caused between Abraham and Sarah! Imagine the tension that was created by bringing Hagar and Ishmael into that relationship dynamic. Imagine the tension when Sarah tells Abraham that Hagar and Ishmael must be sent away. Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away, at Sarah’s urging, knowing that they might not survive (she [Hagar] said to Abraham, “get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac – 21:10). But Ishmael was Abraham’s son, and it distressed him to send them away. How do you fix, how do you repair, a relationship with that many plot twists and turns? How do you repair a relationship with that many major difficulties? Somehow, Abraham and Sarah stayed together in spite of those great difficulties. At some point along the way, there must have been some very difficult, very heartfelt discussions between the two of them.
One of the difficulties inherent in tough times is this – the stress of such times can tatter and tear and fray relationships. Perhaps the stress of this time has brought that about in our relationships. One glance at social media, for instance, reveals the harsh words and tearing of relationships that has happened between friends and family members. The year was already stressful enough, and when the contentious political atmosphere was added to the mix, social media revealed the plethora of relationships that were coming apart under the stress and strain. I have seen far too many posts that began with a variation of the words, today I unfriended some friends and family members…. Or, I have a friend or family member who is no longer speaking to me…. The question becomes then, how do we put things back together? How do we repair those relationships?
It is so hard to see such those posts, and I wonder how those fractured relationships are going to be put back together, or if they will be put back together. I don’t know how Abraham and Sarah repaired their relationship. It had to be incredibly difficult, and I’m sure there were more than a few tears shed in the process. But, somehow, they were able to put their relationship back together.
As we continue to move through these difficult times, one of the questions we must continue to ask of ourselves is, what can I do to keep my relationships healthy? Where those relationships have begun to show some strain and some difficulty, am I willing to do what I can to repair them, am I willing to say I am sorry for what I said or what I did?
We are such a divided people. I don’t think, I should add, that we will ever be a fully united people. That is not going to happen, and I do not believe that we should enforce uniformity or conformity upon others. We need to respect the fact that we are very different people, with different points of view and different ways of seeing the world. But we cannot settle for saying, well, my friend, or my family member, believes differently from me so I am going to move on from them. I don’t need them; I have other friends and other family members. But we cannot afford to be that way. So much is unraveling in our social fabric these days, and it is heartbreaking to see. All of us have experienced some measure of it, and now we must ask, how do we put things back together?
We need a tough faith in this time. It is a tough time, even though we sometimes say we are getting used to it. We can adapt, certainly, but we shouldn’t get used to such a time as this, not when it comes to the difficulties that pull us apart. These are unprecedented times, and it is okay to say to someone, I am not dealing very well with what is happening. I need to talk to someone. I need some extra support. I need some help. All this is really wearing on me. It’s okay to say, Lord, I need a greater measure of faith than I have ever had. My faith seems to be in short supply in these times.
We can take heart from these Biblical characters, such as Abraham. In so many ways, they were no different than you or me. They had many of the same struggles we face, even though they lived so long ago. And just as Abraham took that journey to the land of promise, one step at a time, through all the twists and turns – some of which he brought on himself, while some came about through no fault of his own – he continued on the journey. God gave Abraham the faith that was needed. God will give us the faith we need as well. God will give us a tough faith, for these tough times.
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