Genesis 12:1-9 Altar and Tent I had the hardest time coming up with a sermon title for today. Did I want a title such as Leaving Home or Moving Day, which would be true to our text, while still celebrating this occasion and our guests, the Muskes? Or should I emphasize the initiative of God in these events of Genesis 12, concerning Abraham and his family, with a generic title like God s Call or The Call of Abraham? Now, both are worthy starting points for our study today, but I hope rather to deal with the response of Abraham in a manner that shows him as the exemplar of faith: namely, these two constructions mentioned in the scripture- the altar and the tentthat demonstrate his complete trust in the Lord God. What we should know is that Abraham had come from Haran, far to the north, a foreign land, and as scripture presents it, at God s command, Abraham without question packed up and went. So many points here told in few words, or implied. Abraham goes to a place he doesn t know- he hadn t been there, didn t even know where he was headed- in verse 1 God simply says, To a land I will show you. So he is going without a map, and going with all the uncertainty any of us would feel at such a call. But perhaps strangest of all is that this God who speaks to Abraham is unknown to him. He was originally from Mesopotamia,
Southern Iraq, he had no previous connection to the God Yahweh; he wasn t Jewish or Hebrew- there were no Jews or Hebrews at that time- but still he follows where God leads. The call to Abraham comes out of nowhere- one of those mysterious movements of God- and his faith in this God comes from nothing. There was no precedent for it, no explanation for it, and nothing in Abraham s personal history could have prepared him for it. Yet he believes God and goes. In Haran, Abraham was settled, he was rich, he was part of a powerful family- his city was named for his brother, yet he left at God s call and became an immigrant in a far-away land. Much like Bill and Jan when they relocate a few weeks or months from now in that strange and far-off land called College Station. God calls Abraham to leave his father s house, his country, to leave everything he has known, his family and heritage- the things that we use to define ourselves, those solid, dependable things we can take strength from. But at God s word all that was upset- from now on, his only trust could be in God, and he could understand himself only as God s man. This leaving home could not have been a desire to stretch his wings or to find his fortune in the wide world, not at all like your excitement when you first left home to go to college or to take your first real job or to start your own home.
Abraham was 75 years old. Already he was wealthy, many possessions and servants. Nor was this anything like a move to the retirement villages of Florida or snowbirding down in the Valley. Abraham still had work to do, and as the Bible wants us to see it, he was just now beginning his work. So, Abraham and Sarah headed south, with Lot, his nephew. Somehow he believed God s promise, even though he had no children himself, and at last they came to Canaan, to Shechem, where God tells him, This is the land I will give to your descendants. But here, an interesting thing has happened: God appeared to Abraham. Earlier, in Haran, it had just been words, but now, as though to guarantee the promise, God shows himself to Abraham. (As you read through your Bible, notice how few times God appears to someone; it s rare, and it always signifies an important- or an essential- moment.) God appeared at a place that was to become a center of worship for Israel, and there Abraham built an altar and worshipped. Soon after, he moves a little farther, between Bethel and Ai and pitches his tent, meaning that he is living here- though temporarily- because he is always on the move- he isn t settled down, doesn t build a house or plant trees or vineyards. Remember, this land is for his descendants. Despite the greatness of Abraham, and not just to the biblical writers, but the man, even today, half the
world s population calls Father ; even so, Abraham is always the wanderer, the immigrant, the one never with a place to call home. It is at Bethel that he builds another altar, and there calls upon the name of the Lord. An important statement, for in this act Abraham sanctifies the place for God. Here, at Shechem and Bethel, where the Canaanite gods had been worshipped for ages, Abraham claims these ancient places for the Lord. Here, where later on Jacob dreamed of the angels ascending and descending to heaven; where, like his grandfather before him, he pitched his tent, as well; and centuries after, it is where Joshua gathered the tribes of Israel to covenant themselves to God after the conquest of the Land. Here, Abraham has sealed God s promise with this act of worship- calling on the name of the Lord. So, out of Abraham s obedience to God s call, God s plan to make a covenant people begins to take shape. (Well, a son has to be born first, and that will still take a while.) But through Isaac, and Jacob and Joseph, and the people gathering in Egypt and growing in number, their deliverance from bondage in that nation, and the conquest of the Promised Land; here, after long generations the promise will be fulfilled: descendants, a land of their own, a nation; instead of a
crude altar in the wilderness, a holy, shining temple; instead of Abraham s tent, homes and gardens and orchards, and cities. But there is another part of the promise we may too easily overlook: that through Abraham other peoples will be blessed. So we can see that God s promise to Abraham is not just for Abraham and his family, not just for Israelites and Jews, but it is for all people everywhere. Here in Abraham s call is the sublime concept of God s universal grace- God s love for all the world. An affirmation that God does not have in mind just this one man, does not love just this one man, and not only those that carry on his genetic line, and not limited to the people of any race; but that in this one man God found faith, and through him might fulfill his plans for us all. And it is right for us to be thankful, that by faith we too are Abraham s descendants, here today praising our Lord and sharing in the blessings of God s love. Five years ago, when I moved down here from Dallas, unlike Abraham, I knew where I was headed. I wasn t sure what I was getting myself into, so it was a step of faith- if not a full leap. Though I still think you showed the greater faith, hiring me. But I think every move we make, and every change in our lives, is an act of
faith: we don t really know what s out there. And even the changes that happen to us, we must meet faithfully, for there is always the likelihood of God s blessing finding us in our new situations and new places. And so, I guess the call to discipleship is in this: that we will take the opportunities God gives us in our blessings, to become blessings for others, in all the places we may go. That means it may cost us something. That is our wish to you, Jan and Bill, that you will enjoy the blessings of God all the coming years, that you be a blessing to your old friends as you return to College Station, and a blessing to all the new Aggies you will meet; but first, that you remember this, what a great blessing you have been to us.