Genesis 12:1-4 – Abram and the PROMISE

Last week, we saw in Genesis 11 that sin was organizing itself, and that people traveled and settled eastward, or AWAY from God, and out of fear desired to gather and build a city and tower TO MAKE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES – in this we saw that the system of BABYLON, or direct opposition to God, was born, and God struck them with confusion through language and scattered them all over the earth, which was his plan to begin with.

In the last part of chapter 11, the author picks up where he left off in following the family tree from Noah to a man named Abram – There is nothing in Genesis 11 that tells us of anything special about Abram or his family, like we hear about in Genesis 6 with Noah, who found favor in God’s eyes – in fact, there are some oddities about the family that lay ground work for God-sized activity – Genesis 11:27-32 – Terah has three sons, one of whom dies, and at the end of chapter 11, Abram, his wife, Sarai, and his nephew Lot set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan.

Two things that are key nuggets in these verses – first in V30, we are told that Sarai couldn’t have kids – she was likely in her 70s when she is introduced to us, but it seems like an odd detail to give during a genealogy – second, they leave their home in Ur of the Chaldeans and travel WEST to Canaan – remember last week, EAST is away from God, now a family is headed WEST, or back toward God and his purposes – Why? This is where we pick up in chapter 12.

Genesis 12:1-4

V1 – another example of the author, Moses, filling in the blanks – at the end of 11, they are heading to Canaan, but now it is revealed “why” – “THE LORD SAID…” – we don’t know why God chose Abram, only THAT he chose Abram – He says “LEAVE your country, LEAVE your people, LEAVE your family, and GO to the land I will show you.” Abram is told to leave everything he knows and by faith follow God to a new place.

This is a big ask from God, but clearly Abram has an established relationship with HIM, because he knew that THE LORD had told him to go – This, again, is biblical precedence that God spoke and interacted with people SINCE THE BEGINNING – he spoke to Adam, to Cain, to Noah, and now to Abram – in the Narrative of the BIBLE, God wants to have relationship and BE KNOWN.

This is a BIG ASK from GOD – “LEAVE EVERYTHING YOU KNOW and POSSESS – I HAVE SOMETHING BETTER FOR YOU” – he is leaving everything familiar, everything secure – this is the beginning of every great God story – LEAVE and GO - God doesn’t fill in blanks until you’re obedient.

Illus – John and Tracy Rizzo left New York, gave up a successful law practice and family to come to Texas and work with Coreluv.  Jason Phillips left the security of working in his dad’s construction company to join our team at Restoration.  Yvonne and I left Dallas in 1997, the only home I had ever known, to come work at WoodsEdge.

For many of you, extraordinary GOD ACTIVITY will only happen when you take a step of obedient faith – What is God asking you to LEAVE and where is He calling you to GO?

V2-3 – What is the word that God uses here four times? BLESS – We saw for the first time in Genesis 1:27 that God BLESSED man, and now, post-sin, he is continuing this blessing.

“I will make you a great nation and will BLESS YOU” – God promises to BLESS Abram with land which will eventually become the nation of ISRAEL – What I love about this is that God promises to BLESS mankind IN SPITE of their disobedience.

“I will make your name great, and you will be a BLESSING” - remember BABEL? Genesis 11:4 – “Let us make a name for ourselves…” – Where Babel was a picture of man’s attempt to make their own name great, God tells Abram that he is the one who makes a name GREAT – not only will his name be made great, but God promises that Abram will BE a BLESSING.

What does that mean? Abram is BLESSED to be a BLESSING – Abram’s BLESSING wasn’t really for him, but for a GREATER PURPOSE – James 1:17, everything good is FROM God, and 1 Peter 4:10-11, everything good is FOR God.

When Jesus met the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, he invited wealthy young guy to give up everything, his IDENTITY and follow him – the reason we don’t know his name is because he couldn’t LEAVE in order to GO, BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING – Matthew 19:26, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD –

“I will BLESS those who BLESS you, and curse those who curse you” – “Either you are for me or against me” - God is drawing a line in the sand here – he is establishing roots here in Abram’s life – “I am FOR whomever is FOR you, and anyone who gets in the way will be cursed” – we literally see this played out in the last part of chapter 12 – what a cool promise!

“All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” – this is the beginning of a promise that he will cement in chapter 15 and again in chapter 17 – Genesis 15:2-5, your descendants will be as many as the stars in the heavens – remember the seemingly nondescript verbiage about Sarai in chapter 11? She can’t PRODUCE, so how is this going to work? Genesis 17:1-8 – COVENANT, or promise to Abraham – changes his name to FATHER of MANY NATIONS – KINGS will come from you – Genesis 17:15-16, I will BLESS Sarah and give her a child.

Why did God choose to BLESS Abraham and his family? Because GOD FINISHES WHAT HE STARTS – God is a covenant keeper – this is setting the stage for the rest of the Bible – God saw that mankind was broken, but made a promise to bless them anyway – God said LEAVE and GO, and I WILL BLESS YOU, but NOT ONLY WILL I BLESS YOU, YOU WILL BE A BLESSING, YOU WIL BE PROTECTED, AND GENERATIONS WILL BE BLESSED BECAUSE OF YOU.

V4 – “So Abram WENT as THE LORD had told him…” – FAITH and OBEDIENCE – Hebrews 11:8 – Abraham walked BY FAITH, and left not knowing where he was going, following a BIZARRE promise that he didn’t even fully understand –

End of chapter 12, we see an Exodus foreshadowing – Abram doesn’t trust God for provision, but heads to Egypt because of famine, has Sarai lie about being his sister out of self-protection, so Sarai is taken into Pharaoh’s palace as a captive, and Abram is blessed with sheep, cattle, servants and camels – And what does God do? He CURSES Pharaoh’s house with disease and Pharaoh releases Sarai and sends them away with their possessions – So, Abram doesn’t trust God, lies out of self-preservation, and yet God makes good on his promise and BLESSES ABRAM – why? Because God is a PROMISE KEEPER. – 2 Corinthians 1:20

Final thought today: flip over to Matthew 1 – the beginning of the New Testament opens with a genealogy, the genealogy of Jesus – and look at where it begins: Matthew 1:2 – Abraham – Matthew starts his gospel account making sure we know that Jesus is fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham – God promised that all the peoples of the earth would be BLESSED because of Abraham, and Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise – in fact, in John 1:12-13, anyone who receives and believes in Jesus is grafted into the family tree – you and I are still living under the covenant God made with Abraham – and in order to receive this blessing, all you have to do is LEAVE and GO – LEAVE your life of SIN, and GO forward with Jesus as your LEADER.

CLOSE:
1. Every great God story begins with LEAVE and GO. It is littered throughout the Bible, God inviting people into an extraordinary life. But in order to GO somewhere, you have to first LEAVE where you are.

For many, God has been waiting for you to LEAVE where you are – LEAVE your security, LEAVE your sin, stop trying to SPREADSHEET your life, and GO wherever he tells you to GO.

2. Obedience activates the EXTRAORDINARY. Again, for every Abram there are millions of rich young rulers. Your destiny comes by faith, EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT’S NEXT.

Illus – Yvonne, 1997, “We’re NOT moving to Houston…” – step of faith got us to Houston, and every step since has gotten us to Restoration. Can’t wait for what’s next!

3. All of God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus. Ephesians 2:10 – the path to your identity, your calling, your future goes through Jesus. He is the activator BLESSING in your life. As a follower of Jesus, you are grafted into the family tree, in the line of Abraham, under the covenant of BLESSING.