Tuesday, May 23, 2017

The Covenant

Every organization that does not recruit new members will become extinct. Every year thousands of young teens are recruited to join gangs. Teens who have a dysfunctional family and little support are lured into the prospect of belonging to the “family” of the gang. They are proposed loyalty, support, and a true sense of belonging. Many of the initiation rites of gang members are designed to show the seriousness of their commitment and the courage of their conviction. There are a variety of initiation rites, everything from fighting your way out of a circle of gang members, to participating in a theft or in extreme cases committing murder. Whatever the initiation rite, it is designed to cost the prospective member so that they show their commitment.
            Gangs have a high cost of membership. Their membership is costly because the promised reward is great. They get to belong to something beyond themselves. Many of the gang members have never experienced the true loyalty and love of a family are desperate to belong and feel that sense of support from people who claim will always have their back. Sadly, gang loyalty is a mirage. A good friend of mine joined a gang in his earlier teens with the promise of people that will always be there for him. One day he was arrested and facing up to 40 years in prison. While he was standing in the court room, he turned towards the gallery to see his loyal “family” who promised to always be there for him. Except when he turned, he saw no one. He was alone. The loyalty and belonging was a mirage.
            Gangs make promises that they cannot deliver. And yet, their promises of belonging and connection are woven into our very make up as individuals. We want to belong to something beyond ourselves. We want loyalty and commitment. We want people to stand with us regardless of what comes our way. We want our membership to a community to mean something. Gang members want to experience “family.” And we are no different. We all want to experience “family.” It is easy to see the powerful allure of gang affiliation, which is why thousands of teens choose to walk through the painful and costly initiation every day. And without even knowing it, gangs are dimly reflecting a story that is far greater than the loyalty of fallen man.
            God promises loyalty and belonging to his people. The difference is that his commitment to keeping his promise or covenant is not like that of a gang member who bails at the first sign of real trouble, but a promise that is an everlasting covenant. Genesis 17 sets up the requirements and initiation rite of his covenant community. Genesis 17 pictures one of the greatest events in all of redemptive history. God makes his covenant with Abram, which marks off the boundaries of the covenant community of God with a sign.

The Covenant Stated

            Abram has already been received promises from God. In Genesis 12:1-3, Abram is called to leave his country and his kindred to go to the land that God will show him to make him a great nation and to ultimately bless all the families of the earth. In Genesis 15:1-6, God promises to give Abram a son and asks him to go out and look at the night sky and to number the stars to see how numerable his descendants would be and it says of Abram that, “he believed the Lord, and the Lord counted it to him as righteousness.” (Gen. 15:6).
Abram did not earn righteousness, but it was given to him. Abram has not been given requirements of the promise until Genesis 17. When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” (Genesis 17:1-2)
The LORD appears to Abram, who is now 99 years old, and introduces himself as God Almighty, or El Shadday. El Shadday is used throughout Genesis to show God’s ability to keep his promises specially to make the barren fertile. Thirteen years had passed since Abram tried to fulfill the promise himself by uniting with his maidservant Hagar to provide an offspring. Hagar gave birth to Abram’s first son, Ishmael. God reminds Abram with His name that He and He alone has the power to fulfill His promises. How often have we tried to take God’s place to do what only He has the power to accomplish?
            God tells Abram that he must walk before him and to be blameless. The language would have reminded the readers of Noah in Genesis 6:9, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” Literally, Abram is to walk before God wholly devoted to Him. Abram must totally surrender to The Lord, God Almighty, his Eternal King. As God made a covenant with Noah by putting his bow in the clouds, He is ready to make a covenant with Abram. The covenant is the Lord’s. Nine times in this chapter we see God refer to the covenant as “my covenant.” Abram gave the perfect response, Genesis 17:3, “Then Abram fell on his face.” Abram bowed in humble submission.
God inaugurates this new era in redemptive history by giving Abram a new name to clearly identify his promise.
Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:3-8)
God changes Abram’s name to Abraham to symbolize him being the father of a multitude of nations. Remember in Genesis 12, God says to Abram that, “I will make you a great nation,” but here it is a multitude of nations clearly alluding to his promise to bless all the families of the earth. The heart of this covenant is in the last five words, “I will be their God.” God promises an everlasting covenant to be the God of the descendants of Abraham.
Notice the verb tense in Genesis 17:5, “for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” God has already made Abraham into a multitude of nations before he even has received the child of the promise. God’s Word always accomplishes its purpose. Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11) God will fulfill his promise.

The Covenant Sign

            We know that God will fulfill his promise, but how will Abraham and his descendants show that they believe? God gives them a specific requirement in a covenant sign so that they will be a clearly identified as his people. God has already said what he is going to do, but now Abraham is receiving his marching orders. Genesis 17:9-14,
And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
The sign of given to Abraham is different than the sign given to Noah. Circumcision, unlike the rainbow, has to be performed by human beings to show their partnership in the covenant. Circumcision was a sign for the people to be marked off as God’s covenant community. They were to show that they were totally committed to God.
            Circumcision was a permanent sign in the flesh as a permanent reminder of the permanency of the everlasting covenant of God. Circumcision was a painful, bloody initiation rite into the people of God. It was not easy obedience. And yet, circumcision was appropriate because it was a physical reminder that God promised physical offspring to Abraham. That which provided the seed would carry the mark of God’s people and would be a constant reminder of the promised seed that was to come.
God establishes the seriousness of his covenant by providing a poignant word play for his hearers, Genesis 17:14, “Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” One scholar notes,
The warning that he “shall be cut off from his people” involves “a word play on cut. He that is not himself cut (i.e. circumcised) will be cut off (i.e. ostracized). Here is the choice: be cut or be cut off.” The one who will not submit to this painful rite of covenant membership has disobeyed the covenant stipulation and thereby broken God’s covenant. Therefore he has forfeited his privilege of being part of God’s covenant community, and God requires his excommunication from the community.
God takes his covenant very seriously. Circumcision played a huge role throughout the history of God’s people.
            How would the Israelites in the wilderness have received this command? The Israelites were being encouraged to continue with covenant faithfulness to God as they entered into the land of the Canaanites. Israel needed to be distinct from the surrounding world. God was very clear in his commandments, so wouldn’t all the Israelites already have been circumcised? God commanded Joshua 5:5-7,
Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD; the LORD swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way. (Joshua 5:5-7)
A whole generation had not been circumcised because of the sin of their waywardness of their parents. Now as they were becoming adults, they needed to fulfill the covenant obligations. Understanding that the original hearers were not circumcised underscores the importance of the covenant sign. Will Israel continue to walk with God?
            Outward circumcision is no longer the sign of God’s people. God is not after an outward circumcision, but the inward circumcision of the heart. Circumcision has been replaced with baptism. Baptism is now the covenant sign of God’s people. Paul makes this point explicitly in Colossians 2:11-14,
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Being buried with Christ in baptism is a sign that you have experienced the circumcision of Spirit.
Paul makes this point also in Romans 2. Circumcision is no longer outward and physical, but it is a matter of the heart. It is done by the Spirit. Paul was only drawing on Moses’s words in Deut. 10:12-16,
“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. (Deuteronomy 10:12-16)
The only way we can experience the circumcision of the heart is through the new covenant. Jeremiah 31:33-34,
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33-34)
And we demonstrate that we are children of New Covenant through rites of baptism and the Lord Supper which ensure we live in righteousness as God’s covenant community.
Baptism helps mark the boundaries for the people of God. As circumcision clearly identified the people of God in the Old Testament, baptism clearly marks the people of God in the New Testament. We all were at one time dead in our trespasses and the uncircumcision of our flesh. God fulfilled his everlasting covenant when he sent Jesus Christ to the cross. Jesus canceled the record that stood against us. The demands for our sin was literally nailed it to the cross and was paid in full by Christ. Therefore, for anyone who turns from their sin and calls upon Christ in repentance and faith is made alive by the Spirt. We are born again. We are new creatures in Christ.
The challenge in the West is that baptism does not have the same cost as it does in the rest of the world. Circumcision was painful and it was costly. It signified a permanent change. It is not uncommon in America to have people baptized two or three times, but in places where Christianity is vilified like in the Middle East and Asia, to be baptized is costly. Many of our brothers and sisters enter into the baptismal waters knowing that it may cost them their life. They literally understand the meaning of being buried with Christ. Their baptism literally may mean their death. Baptism is always costly because it says that you have died. You are no longer your own, but you belong, both body and soul, in life and in death to God and his Son Jesus Christ. Baptism is always costly because it came at the expense of the death of God’s own Son.
Let us not trivialize membership in God’s covenant community. In Abraham’s day, God said if you are not circumcised you will be cut off from God’s people. So today, if you have not experienced the circumcision of the heart, you will be cut off from God’s people. Baptism does not save you, but is a sign that you have been saved. Have you experienced the circumcision of the heart (i.e. believed by faith?) Have you been buried with Christ in baptism? The New Testament does not see those as mutually exclusive, but intimately connected.
The New Testament never explicitly baptizes infants. Infant baptism became popular in the church in the 3rd century under the leadership of Cyprian of Carthage. Paedobaptists, (those who baptize infants) believe that as babies were circumcised, so to should babies be baptized. Peter proclaims at Pentecost those all must, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins are forgiven,” and then says, “for the promise is for you and for your children,” recalling this passage in Genesis 17. Paedobaptists make their argument from anaology and silence. (By analogy see above). When I say by silence, this means that when they see households being baptized in the book of Acts, they assume there would have been infants. The Jewish believers would have connected baptism with circumcision so they would have naturally baptized infants. And yet, they miss Peter’s clear exhortation to repentance and the end the end of his quotation of Genesis 17 when he adds, “and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself,” and who, “received his word.” Circumcision is no longer outward and physical, but of the heart. Infants cannot experience repentance and thus they should not be baptized.
We cannot lose the distinctiveness of the covenant community. We are God’s people. We, like Abraham, are called to walk before God and be blameless. Baptism cuts us off from the world and unites us to Christ. Baptism is the entrance rite of the New Testament church as the Lord’s Supper is the continual rite that marks us off from the world. We need to celebrate baptism and the Lord’s Supper. God takes these signs very seriously. He took circumcision in the Old Testament very seriously (even excluding Moses from entering the promise land for failure to circumcise his children) and thus, we should take baptism in the New Testament just as seriously. It is not an add on for the Christian faith, but central to our expression as the New Testament covenant community.
Abraham took the command of the Lord very seriously. After receiving the sign, Abraham went that very day to obey. Genesis 17:22-27,
When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
The very first act of circumcision was done to all the people of the house including Ishmael, the house servants, and even foreigners. We see the beginning of the covenant people of God who chose to fully surrender to God.

The Covenant Son
           
Abraham was not the only one who had their name changed that day. God changed Sarai’s name to Sarah because she was going to bear a son. Remember God’s introduction, He is El Shadday, God Almighty, Genesis 17:15-21.
And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
Abraham didn’t fully believe God right away. He laughed at God’s suggestion that Sarah could bear a child. We know he still trusted God because he was willing to be circumcised and to circumcise his house.
Abraham walked in obedience even when he did not fully understand, because he fully convinced that God was El Shadday, God almighty who had the power to bring about his promises. Let me close today with a call for all of us to have hope. In hope to believe against hope that God is able. God is mighty to meet your needs. God is mighty to heal your sickness. And God is mighty to save. Romans 4:18-25,
In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:18-25)

The promise made to Abraham was written for our sake so that we would be counted as righteous who believe that God delivered up Jesus for our trespasses and raised him from the dead for our justification. God promised an everlasting covenant to Abraham so we would always have hope in Christ. Beloved, walk before God and live in righteousness as we await the blessed hope of the appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 

The Call (Genesis 12:1-3)

A few days before the 1980 Olympics, The Russian national hockey team clobbered the United States in an exhibition game 10-3. The United States entered the Olympics as a 7th seed with the odds of winning the gold medal as 1,000 to 1.[i] Herb Brooks coached the US into a rematch against the defending gold medal champions and number 1 seeded Russia. Russia was supposed to crush the Americans again, but the improbable happened. America held a 4-3 lead with a minute remaining with Russia charging hard for a tie. As the waning seconds were ticking off, Al Michaels gave the greatest “call” in modern sports history. With five seconds remaining, Michaels, bellowed, “Do you believe in miracles?” Michaels helped coin America’s gold medal win as the “Miracle on Ice.”
       Although Michaels owns the greatest call in sports history, the greatest “call” in all of world history asks us the same question, “Do you believe in miracles?” God created a very good world only to see it corrupted by sin and death to the point that God had regretted that he made man on the earth and said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land…for I am sorry that I have made them.” (Gen 6:7). God sent the flood cleansing the world and restarting his covenant relationship with Noah. The first thing Noah did after hitting dry ground was to build an alter for Lord. Noah was reclaiming the earth for the worship of the Lord. Tragically, sin continued in the hearts of man forcing Noah to curse Canaan and leading to the great rebellion against God in at the tower of Babel where the man attempted to make a name for themselves. In response to man’s effort to make their name great, He confused their language and scattered them across the world. Things have only gotten worse since Adam and Eve took of the fruit and ate it in Garden. Rebellion and sin abounded on the earth. It would take a miracle to fix this problem. “Do you believe in miracles?”
       God’s call to Abram is so glorious and its implications are so extensive it shapes the rest of the Bible. If we understand the call of Abram, we will understand the gran-metanarrative of the entire story of human history. John Stott writes, “God made a promise to Abraham. And an understanding of that promise is indispensable to an understanding of the Bible and of the Christian mission. These are perhaps the most unifying verses in the Bible; the whole of God’s purpose is encapsulated here.[ii]” The greatest challenge in preaching this passage is to preach it in such a way that drives home its beauty and significance. I pray that you will glorify God as we see his immense mercy in the call of Abram, beginning in a barren land.

The Call from Barren Land

       In order to fully appreciate the miraculous call of Abram, we must first understand the origins of Abram and his family when he received the call. Abram’s story begins with the announcement of the generations of his father Terah. Genesis 11:27-32,
Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren; she had no child. Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
The writer, Moses, highlights that Abram’s wife, Sarai, was barren. There is the double emphasis in 11:30, “Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.” Abram had no future. His line was going to end with him.
Abram was not have been the ideal choice to re-establish the kingdom of God. Noah had three sons and daughters-in-laws and was righteous. Abram was childless with a wife who could not bear children and was an idolater. Joshua 24:2, “And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.” Abram worshipped the pagan gods of his homeland Babel as John Calvin notes, “Abram was plunged in the filth of idolatry.[iii]” Abram brings nothing to this new endeavor to establish God’s kingdom. He is childless idolater with no future and yet God chooses to this unlikely candidate to establish his kingdom on the earth.
       Friend, God delights in using sinners to accomplish his purposes. Abram was a sinner in rebellion against God and God in his kindness extends his hand of grace to call Abram to His glory. God repeatedly calls unlikely sinners to service in his kingdom from the idolatrous Abram, to the swindler Jacob, to greedy Zacchaeus, and the terrorist Saul. The prologue of Israel’s history, Genesis 1-11 shows that pervasive nature of sin. The amount and degree of sin is designed to highlight the beautiful grace of God, but before we can see the beauty of grace we have to see the grossness of sin. DA Carson writes,
Sin is so warping that it corrodes every facet of our being, our wills and affections, our view of others and thus our relationships, our bodies and our minds. Sinners incur guilt, yet they need more than forgiveness and reconciliation to God (though never less), since the results of sin are so pervasive: they also need regeneration and transformation.[iv]
The point is that because of the fall sin spreads to all in men in all ways. Sin has affected every aspect of our lives. Our sin incurs God’s wrath and justice. We deserve to die, like Abram, for our sin. Without God’s call, we, like Abram, are in a barren land, with nothing of value and no hope for a future. We are sinners awaiting God’s judgment. “Do you believe in miracles?”

The Call to a Blessed Land

It is out of the utter hopeless and idolatry that God calls Abram to re-establish his kingdom. Hear the glorious and miraculous call of Abram,          
Now 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. And 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 him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)
In my living room sits a trunk with the inscription, Marlla Melas 1843. It was the trunk that held all the belongings of from my ancestors who left Norway to America. We live in a nation of immigrants who have ancestors like mine who left their homeland to restart their life here in the United States. Our world has become transient and it is not uncommon to leave family and travel across the world, but for ancient man to leave his people and his father’s house would have been almost impossible. Abram was identified by his relationship with his father for he was, “Abram son of Terah.” God was asking Abram to live his father’s goods and his father’s gods. God was inviting Abram to leave all and follow Him.
The call of Abram to leave all and follow God is nothing less than what God calls us to do. Jesus said,
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:37-39)
God demands all. He wants all of our life. When you heard God’s call to come to Him, did you understand the full ramifications of what He was asking you to do? When God calls us, He asks us to leave all behind and become fully devoted to Him. It sounds hard, but that is only if we do not understand the call. If we understand how glorious the call God extends to sinner, we would not consider the call hard at all. Remember that Jesus says,
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Matthew 13:44-46)
Abram believed in the immense value of the call of God and was willing to leave all behind. So what did God promise Abram?
       According to Sydney Greidanus, the call of Abram is wrapped up in three promises. First, God promises to bless Abram personally. He tells the childless Abram that he will become a great nation and God will make his name great and will be blessing in a land that he will show him. The settlers at Babel wanted to make a name for themselves while here God is going to give Abram a great name. Second, God promises to bless his contemporaries, “I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse.” Lastly, God will bless all the families of the earth through this one man. God has not abandoned his creation, but will spread his glory over the whole earth.
       Another way to group these great promises which I believe help to frame the rest of the Bible is God promises Abram: Land, Nation, Name and Blessing. If we focus on these headings, it sheds light on the rest of the biblical storyline. First, God promises to bring Abram into a land. When Abram heard the call he did not know it was going to be a land flowing with milk and honey, but he knew it was going to be his inheritance. Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” The promise of land is a key theme throughout the Bible. One can trace the entire idea of land from Genesis 1- Revelation 22. God prepared a land for his people in Genesis 1, God expelled his people from the land in Genesis 3, God is now promising a new land in Genesis 12, God brings his people into the promise land in Joshua, God removes his people from the land again in the exile, God promises his people a new land in an eternal inheritance in the New Testament, and God fulfills his promise by giving the land of the new heavens and new earth to his people in Revelation. The story of God’s people is a story of entering the promised land.
       Secondly, God promises to make Abram a great nation. Abram has no child and his wife is barren. The only way that Abram will become a great nation is with offspring. Abram’s offspring will not only become ethnic Israel, but all who are Abram’s children by faith. The Lord shows his love for Israel not because of their greatness, but rather because of His. Deuteronomy 7:6-9,
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.
A key question throughout the Bible, “Is who are God’s people or who belongs to the nation?” One of the main conflicts in the New Testament is the whether Gentiles belong to the nation and can be part of God’s people. A misunderstanding of God’s covenant people will wreck havoc in the church from the 1st century to now.
       Thirdly, God promises to make Abram’s name great. As the story unfolds, we will see that Abram will receive a great name not because of what he had done, but because his name will become wrapped up in God’s name and be identified in what God has done. In Genesis 17, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham and reiterates his promise to Abram. As Abram will be identified with God’s name, our greatest treasure is that we bear his name. We are Christians. We belong to Christ.
       Lastly, God will make Abram a blessing to all the families of the earth. The goal of Abram’s call was cosmic in scope. It brings a reminder to the reader of the seed of the woman that was promised in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” We know that the blessing promised to Abram was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Galatians,
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith; so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatian 3:7-9;14).
Jesus Christ came to redeem his people from the curse of sin by becoming a sin for us and was raised on the third day to give us living hope for our glorious inheritance through faith. Jesus is the blessing to all the families of the earth. He is the hope for all people. For everyone who receives Christ Jesus as Lord has been given the right to become children of God. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:28-29)
       The great promises to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3 are the great promises given to all of God’s people in seed form. Genesis 12:1-3 provides an outline of the rest of human history in how God is going to fix the problems of Genesis 3. God is going to establish his kingdom on earth through the offspring of Abram, Jesus Christ, and all who bow to Him as Lord. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth…blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Those who understand their sin and desperate need and turn to God in faith will receive the glorious promises of Genesis 12:1-3. “Do you believe in the miracle of the promise?”

The Call to Build a Land

       How do we show we believe? Abram believed in God’s promise because we see his response to God’s call. Genesis 12:4-5,
So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And 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.
Abram obeyed God. We show that we trust in God’s promise by obeying his word. “By faith he (Abram) went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land…For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:9-10) Abram lived by faith.
       Abram left his father’s gods to believe in the one, true God. Abram believed in the glorious promise of God, but was faced with a decision as soon as he entered the land for, “When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.” The land was not empty, but occupied with the cursed Canaanites. Abram realized that when he entered the land that the task was not going to be an uneasy one. He trusted God, but now was met with difficulty. Would he turn back or continue to trust God? The oak of Moreh was the center of Canaanite worship where they came to offer their sacrifices to their gods. It was at this place that the Lord spoke again to Abram, “To your offspring I will give this land.”
       Imagine a group of Israelites gathered looking over at the land of Canaan. Their fathers had gotten to the edge of the promise land like they had, but turned their hearts against God and were forced to wander in the wilderness. Now they are again in the same place. And they see their forefather receive the great words from God, “To your offspring I will give this land,” and then they see his response at the place of Canaanite worship, Abram, “built there an alter to the Lord, who had appeared to him.” Abram was claiming Canaan for God. As Noah built an altar after God cleansed the earth, Abram was reclaiming this land for the worship of God. Abram would travel throughout the land of Canaan and strategically build altars in the places of false worship. The Israelites were on the edge of the promise land confronted with the choice: will they turn like their fathers in fear of the mighty Canaanites or will they reclaim the promised land for God like our forefather Abram?
The message would have been clear to the Israelites. God has promised to give us this land. We must enter the land and reclaim it for the worship of God. Canaan was just the beginning. God’s goal in the promise to Abram was never to stop at there, but to see his glory fill the earth. The Israelites knew of God’s great promise to bless the whole earth. “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14) Israel knew of God’s call to bless the earth, but sadly, their light never fully reflected the glory of God. The charge to fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord has been given to the church. Jesus told his disciples after his resurrection, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:46-48)
Beloved, we are witnesses of the promise. We have been called to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ is all nations. And we, like the Abram, are in a land full of “Canaanites,” called to reclaim the land for the worship of God. We reclaim our land for the worship of God not by building altars, but by going to make disciples by baptizing people in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them all that the Lord has commanded. Will we shrink back in fear or will we boldly believe in the promise of God and work to build the kingdom through proclamation of the gospel?
Abram could have turned back. The Disciples could have turned back. We could turn back. Abram believed in God’s promise and built altars for the Lord. The Disciples believed God’s promise and built God’s kingdom through the gospel. They both believed the miraculous call of God to save sinners through the promised seed, Jesus Christ. Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe in the miraculous call of God to save sinners through the promised seed? Do you believe that God wants to bless all the families of the earth? If you believe in the miracle of salvation, go and reclaim our city and world for Christ by faithfully sharing the promise of God that He will save all sinners who trust in Jesus.



[i] http://vancouver2010.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/how-miraculous-was-the-miracle/?_r=0 odds ranged from as high as 1 in 1000 to as low as 17-1 depending on various calculations.
[ii] John Stott. The Living God is a Missionary God. 3.
[iii][iii] Quoted by Dereck Kidner in his Genesis commentary.
[iv] DA Carson, Christ and Culture Revisited. 50

Sunday, May 21, 2017

The Proud (Genesis 11)

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” and “He that lies down with dogs, shall rise up with fleas,” are only a few of the witticisms of Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin is known as a key figure in American’s quest for liberty and one of the drafters of the Declaration of Independence. Although he was a key figure in the early days of the American experiment, his wit and wisdom published in his Poor Richard’s Almanack in 1732 continues to find its way into American culture. At the age of 20 Benjamin Franklin created a list of 13 virtues that he tried to instill in his life every day:
  1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
  2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
  3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
  4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
  5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
  6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
  7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
  8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
  9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
  10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloths, or habitation.
  11. Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
  12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
  13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.[i]

Benjamin Franklin tried to cultivate these virtues throughout his life.
A man who is a giant in American history, known for his intellect and common sense, reflected on these virtues in his autobiography saying,
In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.[ii] Pride is devastating. Franklin is right, we can disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as we please, but there it remains.
Pride is a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in conduct. Pride, the inflated opinion of our own importance, is devastating for marriages, friendships, societies, and churches. Have you ever experienced the devastating effects of pride? I have seen too many times how my pride has harmed relationships with people whom I love and with my God who loves me. Friends, we must deal with our pride, or it will be dealt with. There are four aspects of pride I want us to consider in this text. First, let’s focus on how pride hinders our mission.

Pride Hinders Mission

       The story of the Tower of Babel has many parallels to the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. As I have shared before, the wordplays throughout Genesis help to focus the narrative in a particular direction. Israel passed on its history orally through storying which makes word plays significant to the original audience. We pick of the story after the flood and with Noah’s descendants. The flood was a cleansing of the Earth and Noah was given the same charge from God that Adam and Eve had in the Garden, Genesis 9:1, “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Noah and his sons were tasked to fill the earth. And they begin to fulfill that mission before they settled in the plain in the land of Shinar. Genesis 11:1-2,”Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.” The whole earth had one language and the same words. There was unity on the earth so that God’s people could accomplish their mission to fill and subdue the earth, but instead of fulfilling their mission, their pride forced them to stop.
       The people chose their desires over God’s words. They followed in Adam’s footsteps choosing to be wise in their own eyes rather than submitting to the Eternal King’s decree. Their pride caused them to settle rather than fulfill God’s mission. Pride hinders mission. What motivated the people to settle? What motivates us to settle rather than to fulfill God’s mission? It could have been a desire for comfort. It would have been difficult to continue to travel throughout the earth. It would have been much easier to settle and lay down roots. It could have been a desire for community. It would have been hard to send away friends and relatives to new places. It would have been much easier to stay together and united.
       Regardless of their motivations for settling, we do know that they did not want to be scattered across the face of the earth (Verse 4). They did not want to fulfill God’s mission. They placed their desires above God’s desires. Their pride hindered the mission of God as human pride will always hinder the mission of the God. Has our desire for comfort or a “closed” community hindered our desire to share the gospel? Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” but too often we just “settle” here and try to build something for ourselves.
       Beloved, God has given us a mission to fill the earth of his glory by calling all nations to the obedience of faith in Jesus Christ. Our goal is not a full sanctuary, but to impact the lostness of our city, county, state, nation, and world with the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder how much of our mission has been hindered because our pride has exalted our desires above the Lord’s? How many times we have drifted from our mission of making disciples to focus on the complaints of people’s prideful preferences?

Pride Highlights Man

       Pride hinders mission, because it highlights man. After settling in the plain, men speak to one another. Notice how similar the language here in Genesis 11:3-4 is to Genesis 1:26,
And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
First, notice the two main motivations for building a city, to make a name for themselves and to avoid being dispersed over the face of the whole earth.
They wanted to build a city and a tower with its top in the heavens. This could mean that they just wanted to build a really tall building like our modern-day skyscrapers as it is used in other parts of Deuteronomy (1:28, 9:1), but the language more accurately points to how they are trying to build a city without God. This is prideful autonomy. They do not want to acknowledge God, but want to serve themselves. Like Adam and Eve’s desire to be wise in the Garden, they desired to make a name for themselves. Mankind is attempting again to usurp divine prerogatives and trying to live without him.[iii] They are attempting to place Man at the center Earth’s story.
We see a picture of the secular city that is opposed to God. Babel, which is where we get “Babylon”, is a common theme of the worldly kingdom that is set against God. Israel was on the edge of the promise land and saw the great strength of the Canaanite nation states and was filled with fear. The mighty kingdoms of this world often strike fear in hearts of God’s people, but all the kingdoms of this world will not stand against the power of God. God’s people need to remember that the kingdoms of the earth will fall. Revelation 18:1-2,
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.” “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls! For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” (Revelation 18:1-2;10;16)
Babylon, and mighty kingdoms that are set against the Lord will fall.
       Throughout Scripture, Babylon is the symbol of the world while Jerusalem is the city of God. God’s people have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Hebrews 12:22-24, says that we,
have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
With which city do you identify: the city of the man or the city of God? Babel highlights man as the center of things while Jerusalem places God at the center of life. Are you trying to make a name for yourself, or do you rejoice in being identified with the name of God?
       Christian, we are called to be in the world, but not of the world. We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. America is not Israel. America is Babylon. My fear with the church is that we care more about building a great nation on earth than we do with filling the earth with God’s glory. One Day God is going to call his scattered people out the nations of this world into his eternal kingdom. We, like Israel, need to be reminded not to fear the power of the great kingdoms of this world, but rather to trust in power of our God.

Pride Humbles Man

       Man has set up its mighty city to build a name for themselves so that they would not have be dispersed over the face of the earth. The mighty city of man, the Lord had to stoop down to see.
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:5-9)
The Lord saw that the unity of rebellion set against God would hurt the children of man. He saw that they were one people with one language and this prideful autonomous city was only the beginning of what they would do. It was going to get much worse so God confused their language and forced them to fulfill his command to fill the earth.
       Babel was known in the ancient world as the gate of god. It was viewed as the center of civilization and power. And this mighty city was so low that God had to come down to see it. It was not the gateway to God, but a place of confusion and folly. Anyone who stands against the Creator-God is one who is confused and foolish. It will not end well. Psalm 2:1-6,
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
The Lord looks at the plans of the nations and laughs. It is a fool’s errand to stand against the Lord. It may look like the nations are winning, but they will all come to an end. The pride of Babel lives in our hearts. And Psalm 14:1-3,
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
And Romans 1:21-23,
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools…
It is foolish to stand against God. It is foolish to exalt ourselves in the place of God. It is foolish to live in pride. God opposes the proud. Benjamin Franklin is right; pride is the hardest passion to subdue. We cannot subdue it so God sent his Son to destroy prideful boasting on the cross.

Pride Hammered by Meekness

       The only way to overcome pride was to kill it on the cross. Jesus overcame human pride through humility and meekness. Jesus did not overcome pride by making a name for himself, but by humbly submitting to the Father. He lived to make God’s name great. And through his perfect obedience, God gave him the name that is above every name. Philippians 2:5-11,
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus Christ hammered pride to the cross. The Cross is an indictment on human pride.[iv] The cross shows that no man can make a name for themselves, for the cross destroys boasting. “The cross describes a way of salvation which according to 1 Corinthians 1:29 has this purpose: "that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”[v] Jesus Christ removed boasting in the cross, but he did so much more.
       Zephaniah prophesied of a day when God would convert the speech of the nations: “For at that time I will change the speech of the people to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord.” Jesus was crucified, dead and was buried, but rose on the third day. He ascended to heaven and sat at the right hand of the throne of God. The ascended Christ sent forth his spirit on earth at Pentecost. Acts 2:1-12,
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
This means that through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that God began to reverse the curse of Babel. This means Jesus has restored the unity of diverse peoples through the power of the Spirit. This means Christians are one in the Spirit. This means that you have more in common that a Christian Syrian Refugee than you do with your lost American neighbor. This means that God is asking you to lay down your pride by joining with his people in the local church. This means that God wants his people to fill the earth with his glory.
       The cross has removed human pride. No one can come to God except through Christ. Pride was hammered to the cross. If we boast, we boast in the cross. Paul writes in Galatians 6:14, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” We cannot master our pride except through the cross. We must repent of trying to make a name for ourselves. We must humble ourselves by repenting of our pride in all its manifestations and boast fully in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
       On the plains of Shinar, God said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” Imagine if God now looked at the people of Park Baptist and God said, “Behold they are one people in Christ and they have all one language by the Spirit, and this is only the beginning of what they will do for my glory. And nothing that they propose to do in Christ will now be impossible for them. For with God all things are possible.” What if God wanted to take our small, old Baptist church and use us to fill the earth with this glory? What if God wanted to take our unity and display the power of the cross? What if God wanted to display his manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places through the church?
Beloved, kill your pride. Do not live to make a name for yourself, but let us live for the name that is above every name, Jesus Christ, who was ransomed for people from every tribe and language and people and nation. He who has made us into an unshakeable kingdom and priests to our God that shall reign on the earth forever.



[iii] Gordon Wenham, Genesis 1-15., 240.
[iv] http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/how-the-spirit-helps-us-understand access 3.6.16 Piper uses this line, but I had thought of it before I looked it up. I did like his reference to 1 Corinthians 1.
[v] Ibid Piper