Jun. 16,13 Genesis 12:1-9 FAITH OF OUR FATHERS Today is Father s Day. While Mother s Day generally gets most of the attention, Father s Day is a time to remember dear old dad. Thinking about that I was thinking about this morning s sermon lesson. I don t generally preach about mothers or dads but this week I thought about the many father s in the Bible that would be appropriate to speak about. I could have used Noah, Moses, Isaac, Jacob and his 12 sons, or some of the other giants of our faith. How about Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus? He would be a good one. Look at the faith he must have had. Look what he did. Look at the responsibility he shouldered. How would you have like to be the earthly father of God s Son? Would he question every move he made wondering if he was doing it right? When he had to discipline Jesus, and yes, I m sure Jesus wasn t always an angel, after all, he came to be just like us, I wonder if he was a little lenient on him. Seriously, look at how he took on the roll that God chose him for. It must have been very difficult. I mean, what can you teach someone who knows everything? There must have been struggles even after Jesus was born. But he did it. He trusted in the one who called him to do what he was doing. How about Paul, who we might say fathered many Gentile congregations and led so many to trust in Jesus? But then I thought let s begin at the beginning when God chose from all others one man to be the father of all his creations. No, it isn t Adam it s Abraham. Abraham s call came from God in the very beginning of the Bible. His story is found in Genesis 12 where it says, The Lord had said to Abram (that was his name because God gave him a new name later) Leave your country, your people and your father s household and go to the land I will show you. 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. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people on earth will be blessed through you. Did you catch it all? God promised Abraham many things such as, God would show him where to go, God would make him a great nation, God would bless him,
God would make his name great, Abraham would become a blessing to others through God, God would bless those who blessed Abraham, and the last one. What tremendous thoughts for this morning. Blessings upon blessings coming from God for all who belong to him, especially dare I say it this morning, fathers. Father Abraham, the father of our faith was truly blessed and we have been blessed through him. And thus began the journey of faith of our father who trusted in a God who called, set him a side, and blessed him. Thus began the journey of faith of a man God had chosen to be the father of all his children, even though, now remember this, he and Sarah his wife, did not have any children at that time. But when they settled in the place that God gave them, God promised numerous children to Abraham. They would be so many, they would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Generation and generations of believers who followed the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would be his children right down to we who sit in these pews. The journey began with a call to follow God s way, to pack up, leave the security of what was, to go forth trusting in what would be. And so it happened. This journey of faith took many twists and turns. After reading some of the things Abraham did you wonder how come God chose him to be the father of all his creations. But then I think, well, David was no saint either, but God chose him to be his anointed King of Israel, and blessed him mightily, even after he sinned. Paul wasn t a saint either, for he persecuted the early Christians until he had his dramatic conversion on the Damascus road. David is known as the one after God s heart. His journey of faith had lots of ups and downs too, but he made it to the promised land. Paul through his sufferings in jail wrote letters that we still use today that shapes our faith. Check out the Scriptures and you find many of the chosen were not saints. But God saw not who they were but who they would become. Just like he does today. And how about those who followed Jesus? If you were looking for 12 good men to follow you, you might look for like- minded men or women, those who are smart. Who did Jesus pick? Fishermen, hated tax collectors, women with bad
reputations, why, there was even a thief among them. God took all those disciples and transformed them to be the bearers of the good news of his son s death and resurrection. He transformed them to be seed planters of a new faith, to share his forgiveness, his love, his salvation message. He even grabbed the heart of a man who was persecuting Christians and made him his missionary to the Gentile nations. He took that fisherman who often put his foot in his mouth and gave him the keys to the kingdom. So when God chose Abraham he saw beyond who he was. That s why his journey could be our journey. Some people here this morning have packed up and left family and homes to go where God leads. Kids get married and leave home and start new beginnings often far away. Sometimes you even move back to the home place. Sometimes, like pastors in the UMC you go where the bishop appoints you. But through all of that, no matter how it happens isn t it possible that it is God who calls all of us to go where he leads? And you know what he says? He says, if you follow, I will show you the way and I will bless you. Our problem? Sometimes we want to be the leader. Sometimes we are like Abraham who took his own route not waiting on God. You see, a famine came to the land and it was tough for all the people. But instead of waiting for God to act, it seems to me, Abraham, thinking he was doing the right thing, taking care of his family, decided to go to Egypt where food was plenty. On the way he told Sarah that since she was so beautiful he was afraid when Pharaoh laid eyes on her he would want her for his wife and kill him, so they made a pact to say that she was Abraham s sister. Does that sound like a man of God? He flat out lied to save his own skin. Well, he only half lied. In reality Sarah was his half-sister. But that s another story for another time. Even when this happened God blessed Abraham through the king of Egypt but the king himself ran into problems all because he had taken Sarah as his wife and God was pretty upset with the whole situation. Eventually, the king of Egypt kicked Abraham and his family out of his country but with more bounty than he entered Egypt.
That journey of faith took lots of roads. Abrahams life was being transformed by God one step at a time, just as he does ours. Abraham was learning how to trust in the one who had called him to become the Father of all creations. The journey was difficult. But then I think, when God called me to follow him, he never showed me the whole picture. He just said take my hand and never let go. Sometimes it was scary, especially when at age 40 I began as a college freshman in the strange land of Wilmore, Kentucky. That journey of faith brought me to Central Illinois when there were no openings in the New England Conference. And like father Abraham, God blessed us for our faithfulness with blessings in each church setting to numerous to count, along with as many friends over these 30 years of ministry. The journey of faith is just that, a journey. In fact mine continues on as God has allowed me another year of service here. One final test was before Abraham. I believe that final transformation came after Abraham and Sarah had Isaac when Abraham was 100, and she 90. Finally the promised son. Finally the first of millions. However, when Isaac was around 12 or13, God spoke to Abraham and called him to offer his son as a sacrifice. Now we today would think this was a horrible thing for God to do. But think about it. God may not ask us to do something like that, but you know, he might ask us to do something else. He might test us in other ways. He is molding us. He is training us, transforming us to be more Christ-like. Maybe Isaac had become more important than God in Abraham s life. That would be understanding because it took so long to have a child with Sarah. And how would Sarah feel losing her only child, the one she waited over 75 years to have. So after much prayer, soul searching and struggling, Abraham brought his unknowing son Isaac to the mountain carrying on his back the wood that would be part of the altar on which he would become the sacrifice. When Abraham prepared the altar he must have done it thanking God for his son and reminding God that Isaac has been the promised son. Over and over again he must have prayed. Over and over again he ended his prayer with, Lord may your will be done. I surrender all to you. I surrender my son to you knowing
you gave him to me, and you will give him back to me. So he prepared his son to be that sacrifice to God, trusting that God had given him this son, and promised many more. Thus he bound his son after they prepared the altar. When he was about to bring the knife down to take his son s life, God saw how much Abraham s life had changed, how he was willing to trust his God fully, how faithful he had become, so he stopped him, and there in a bush was the sacrifice to be offered to God. And after that moment a new, let s say, born again Abraham and Isaac come down from that mountain perhaps much like Moses came from a mountain years later, glowing because they had heard, and saw their God. One commentator wrote these words about Abraham s journey of faith. To a man embarking on a perilous journey that involved famine and threats on his life God promised unique support and encouragement. Abraham s life was being severely tested, but he learned that even though his faith was at times shaky, his God was at all times steadfast. The commentator said that when he was preaching through the book of Genesis a man told him he had become excited about being involved in a church after many years of not attending. When the preacher asked what made a difference the man said, I love Genesis. I like the stories about all those guys like Abraham and Jacob because they re all worse than me and it makes me feel so good. The preacher being taken back by that, thought later that he agreed with him that Abraham was not perfect but he was a man of faith, and that we should not gloat over his failures but learn from his mistakes and emulate his strong dependence on his faithful God. On this Father s Day we remember those father s that touched our lives. Not all have been perfect. Not all have been good role models. But many have been. I learned lots of stuff from my dad. I learned from watching him. I saw his faith in Christ grow after being hit by a car when I was around 12. I saw how he became involved in the Catholic church, how he took care of my mother, how he sacrificed to make sure she was taken care of. I knew that if anything ever happened to my mom first, my dad, in his retirement, would enter into a monastery for the rest of his
life to pray for others. I saw his faith when he was dealing with his leukemia. He gave them permission to experiment on him so others later could have a better chance to beat that disease. I saw how when he was close to death God gave him a sign. On his hospital door my dad could see an outline of an angel and knew he was being guarded and prepared for his journey home. And when my dad died at the young age of 70, it was during Holy Week. His funeral was on Saturday before Easter. He was celebrating his own resurrection. And for me, my dad could not have picked a better time to go be with Jesus, his Savior and Lord. I ve often thought, I have fulfilled the call of my father to be in ministry. And so it goes this morning. We dads have many role models to learn from in scripture. We learn from the good, the bad and the ugly. We learn to trust in God, to go where we are sent, to count on God for all our directions. But those things aren t just for dads. They are for everyone. The faith of our father s lives on. Remember those who are no longer with us. We celebrate their memories. And we rejoice with all the dads that are still here. They may not always show it, but as a dad we are always proud of our kids. May all dads enjoy a great day. Father s, may the Lord bless and keep you, and give you wisdom to raise your family and give you extra love to be the father God has chosen you to be.