Gen 127

This is Who We Are. Genesis 11:27 -- 12:9 Cascades Fellowship Nov 4, 2001

When I was in basic training, there was a song my company commander used to play to whip us into a patriotic frenzy -- I'm proud to be an American by Lee Greenwood. In the hands of our company commander it was our battle cry, a call to arms. It stirred our souls. On one occasion, we had really blown an inspection. After about two hours of calisthenics -- or however long it takes the floor to get slippery from all the sweat -- our commander called us to the front of our open bay barracks and told us listen carefully. He was going to play a song that told us why we were part of the world's finest navy.

I'm proud to be an

American. The whole company cried like rats eating onions. It didn't matter what the real reason was behind our entering the military, from that day forward it was because we were proud to be Americans. We thought as one organism. We displayed what is known as corporate personality. Boot camp is designed to take a group of radically different individuals and mold them into a cohesive -- almost familial -- unit. A corporate personality. Despite the differences in race, creed, color, social standing, or place of origin, the group of young men or women who come into basic training as a disparate mass of pluralism must come out as a manifest single -- a unity. To accomplish this, the services use a very simple, yet very effective process. I call it identity deprivation therapy. The therapy goes like this: first you're immediately put into formation the minute you step off the bus. This is the first picture of the corporate identity. Then, they begin stripping away everything that identifies you as an individual. Your hair, your clothes, your personal toiletries are all taken

from you. At first, even your name is taken – you're simply called recruit. By the time you are processed and formed up into a company, you have the same haircut, same clothes, same toiletries, and same address as everybody else. And the whole lot of you smell like mothballs. Over the course of basic training you eat, breathe, and live the core values of the military. In a real sense, all the barriers that you used to rely on to keep distance between you and your neighbor are broken down and made into bridges. Differences don't mean much, because you all have a common experience -- there is a common goal. Graduate and become part of the world's finest navy. As a result a real bond takes root between you and the others in the company. When you graduate, you do so as a single, unified entity -- a corporate personality. One of the messages of Scripture is that the elect -- those who call upon the name of Christ -- are to be a corporate personality. We are to be of one mind and purpose -- Paul told us as much in the letter to the Philippians. Part of what makes us so is a shared history. The reformed faith calls it redemptive history. This morning, we are going to look at the foundation for redemptive history -- particularly the promise made to Abraham when God called him to a life of sojourning in the land of Canaan. To begin our foray into the foundation of redemptive history - which, by the way, is our history -- we will look at what led up to call of Abram, that is the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Sounds like a tall order, doesn't it? The second thing we will look at is the call of Abram itself. The final point we will ponder is what the promise of a great nation means for us. There is a lot of ground to cover in Genesis chapter 1-11, but I think this morning we can narrow it down to three major events which provide the framework we need to understand what happens in the rest of Genesis. The

first major event is the creation/fall story of Adam’s rebellion and the resulting curse. The story is well known. God, in the beginning, brought order out of chaos - out of the formless empty earth. Within that creation, he created Adam and gave him dominion over the earth to keep and guard it. He commanded man to be fruitful and fill the earth. Man was to be God’s regent - his steward over the earth, maintaining the order God established. Our first parents, however, chose to listen to the voice of the serpent and their own whims rather than obey God. The result was the curse of sin and expulsion from Eden. But not before God had given the mother promise -- the promise that one would come who would "crush the head of the serpent." Chapter 6 records that the ramifications of the curse grew until the Lord was grieved because every inclination of man was for evil. To relieve the creation of the wickedness of man, God sent a flood -- a big flood. But the Lord did not destroy all men. He found one man -- Noah -who yet called upon his name and preserved him and his family plus a representative collection of animals in the Ark to repopulate the earth once the waters subsided. Once the Ark found dry ground and the animals and people left the Ark, God reinstated what is known as the cultural mandate -that is the original instructions given to our first parents. In Chapter 9 God tells Noah to "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." The same mandate given to Adam and Eve in the Garden. What we see going on here is a pattern of re-creation. God is re-instating order to his creation through the removal of the free-radical -- man. It doesn't take long, however, for Noah and his family to miss the mark. Sin was still present, still breeding chaos in the midst of God's created order. Which brings us to chapter 11, the Tower of Babel.

At the time of Babel, man shared a common language. As they moved eastward, they found and settled in a place called Shinar, so they also shared a common community. In other words, they ceased to fill the earth as God mandated. Then they decided to build a tower. A huge tower. A tower that reached to the heavens. They built it to make a name for themselves. Note that because it's important. They wanted others to whisper their name in awe. They also wanted to ensure that they would not be scattered over the earth. You see, what the people of Babel were doing was keeping and guarding the earth, but not because God told them to. It was so that they could make a name for themselves. They wanted to draw everyone into one place. They wanted to keep from being scattered, having their strength diluted. They wanted to bring their order to the world. But bringing order to chaos is God's job. They wanted to do God's job -- just like Adam and Eve.

What they didn't realize is that despite the greatness of human

accomplishment, it is always in the context of the curse. So God stepped in, again. He confused their language, immediately scattering their strength by making communication difficult, if not impossible at that point. But that's not all. God scattered the people over the face of the earth. He sent them out of Babel again to fill the earth as he originally mandated. God restored his plan for bringing order to creation. This is the history of the curse in a nutshell. Man aspires to be God, God intervenes and restores his order to creation.

Notice the pattern. God

creates, man rebels and attempts to usurp God and his order, God intervenes and recreates. Now there is a definite reason why we needed to look quickly at these three major events in chapters 1 through 11. Notice who God is

dealing with in these chapters. He is dealing with the nations. All nations; not just one nation, not just Israel. Now, think about who the message of Genesis is intended for, why it was written. One nation. It was written for the Israelites originally, so that they could know the God that brought them out of Egypt. You see, what we have here is God's subtle reminder to Israel that they are chosen for a purpose. God is deeply concerned about the nations, not just the nation. He wants his chosen people – which includes us – to understand their identity as a chosen nation comes in the context or framework of his concern for the nations. It is because of God's concern for all of creation that the call of Abram occurs. Abraham's narrative in Genesis reveals the Creator's approach to addressing the problem that began in the Garden. It is another act of re-creation. The Lord begins again with Abram. In the same way that the Lord sent the flood to address man's growing wickedness, he calls Abram to plant the seed of blessing among the curse. But he does this by beginning a new stream of history, a subtext within the history of the nations. Look at chapter 11 vv. 27-32. This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren; she had no children. Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

I want us to notice the place of this genealogy in the Genesis narrative. Right after Babel. It is after God has scattered the nations that he calls Abram out from the midst of them to be the father of a new, chosen nation. Now, what we have to remember concerning the first 11 chapters is that the history of the nations is the history of the curse. It reveals the depth of the curse, how it pervades throughout humankind. A history that is still being made today.

It is from this history -- from Ur the land of the

Chaldeans, a land of idolatry -- that God calls out one man to begin a new nation, a new history: the history of blessing. But I want us to notice a few peculiarities in this new history. The first thing I want us to notice is that the call of God requires a complete separation from the history of the nations -- that is the history of the curse. Abram is to leave his country, his people, his father's household. Everything that would have identified him in his culture, he is told to abandon. What we see here is a precedent being set. Do you want to be a part of the people of God? Do you want your history to be the history of blessing? Then you must abandon the history of the curse. Everything you use to identify yourself must be put aside for the sake of the call of God. Like Paul in his letter to the Philippians, we must consider all things loss for the sake of Christ -- the history of blessing. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. A second peculiarity we need to be aware of is Sarai's barrenness. Look for a moment at vv.2-3. “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 peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

The call of God came with his promise; his promise to make Abram a great nation. Only, there was a problem. The mother of the great nation was barren. Sarai's barrenness stands in stark contrast to the continued posterity of those who remain in the history of the curse. In a very real sense, Sarai brings with her a part -- a symbol, if you will -- of that history with her. Her barrenness is a reminder of the curse. It stands as a monument that only God can turn curse into blessing. If there is going to be a new nation intended for blessing, then it must be a nation of God's creation. You see, the message here is that God must do wonderful things for Israel to exist. Apart from his choosing, there can be no history of blessing. What I want us to notice here is that the Lord starts over with Abram. Abram and Sarai become the first parents of the new humanity -- those who are redeemed in Christ -- just as Adam and Eve were the first parents of humankind. This is what God is promising Abram when he says he will make him into a great nation. So what does all this mean for us? What are we supposed to draw from all this history of the curse and history of the blessing stuff anyway? Well, I'm glad I asked. There are a lot of points I would like us to get out this passage, but for today I'll limit it to two. The first concerns what is known as the scandal of particularity. What this means in a nut-shell is that the church is marked by a scandal -that one nation is essential if there is to be any saved among the nations. It

is to the seed of Abraham -- Jesus Christ -- that the promises were spoken. In him, all the promises of God find their fulfillment. So apart from him, there is no blessing. That one nation, one people, should be chosen as the means through which salvation would come was to the rest of the world is the epitome of arrogance. Then that one man -- Jesus Christ -- should be necessary for salvation, to the rest of the world is unthinkable. It is a huge stumbling block.

Just try sometime telling someone in our pluralistic

society that Jesus is the only way, the only truth and the only life and you will quickly learn how big a stumbling block it is. Yet, the apostle Paul makes it abundantly clear in both the Romans 4 passage we read today and in Galatians that the true children of Abraham -- those who inherit the blessings of the promise -- are those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way to become part of the history of blessing. This is the scandal of particularity and we're part of it. The second point that we must draw from this passage is similar to the first. Because of the scandal of particularity, in order for us to be a part of the history of blessing we must become part of the corporate personality that is the great nation. Now by this, I mean that we must remember to what purpose God called us out of the history of the curse -- in order to be a blessing to the nations. Just as in boot camp, where all the members of a company share a goal and the experiences that lead up to that goal, we must remember that we share a history with a goal – to be a blessing to the nations. So, our people are not the people who were born in the same community as us or during the same year. Our people are not those who we work with or who share our skin color. No, our people are those who share our history. Those who have joined Abraham in believing that the promises God has made, he will keep. Our people are those who recognize that God

has called them to a purpose and who seek to be a bless others by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ – by sharing our history. Folks, I don't want us to miss this, because this is who we are. Part of the great nation. A nation separated by God from the history of the curse to take part in the history of blessing. Think with me for a moment about Babel again. They sought to make a name for themselves through building a tower. What does God promise Abram in Genesis 12, the last part of v.2? That God will make Abram's name great. Here's the point -- oddly enough, the same point that Paul wanted to communicate to the Philippians. We often want to identify ourselves according to our human heritage or the social strata we fit into. Today, we like to talk about diversity as if it is the greatest good. It is -- in the context of the greatest nation -- but when we absolutize diversity, we place walls which divide us from one another. We cannot hold on to our personal heritage as the absolute means of identifying ourselves and remain a great nation. We must subordinate all other things that make us distinctive for the sake of the greater unity -- our unity in the history of blessing and its purpose for existing. In a way, we must commit cultural suicide. Just as Abraham left all that identified him and just as Paul forgot what was behind and pressed on toward the goal, we, too, must abandon everything else in light of the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ, of being part of him -- of having a part in his history. When my company graduated from boot camp the men that made up that company were vastly different from the men whose names were on the roster at the beginning. We went in as a motley group of individuals -- each with different values and different agendas. When we came out, we came out as Company C039, spit and polished -- we all walked the same, dressed the same, were there for the same reason. We were proud to be Americans.

It didn't matter who we were before we came to boot camp. What mattered was who we were coming out. That's the point. We came out as a corporate personality.

Our lives had been woven together through a common

experience, our minds melded together by a common cause. What we brought to the table coming in was disregarded for the sake of the cause. In a way, we began a new history. Folks, God began a new history with the call of Abram. A new narrative to run parallel to that of the nations. The history of the nations is the history of the curse. Regardless of the good a man might do, it is always in the context of the history of the curse, unless.... unless he abandons the history of the curse and joins in the history of blessing. And what is the history of blessing? The history of redemption. The story that takes us from a promise being made to Abram in Ur of the Chaldeans to Jesus Christ being born of a virgin, suffering under Pontius Pilate, being killed on a cross and raising from the dead. The story that in Christ -- believing that his death satisfied the wrath of God over our sin -- we are forgiven and become new creatures with new histories. It is the history of God so loving the world, that he gave his only begotten Son so that whosoever should believe on him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. If you have trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, this is your history. This is who we are. A final word here. If this is your history, remember that the purpose of it is to be a blessing to the nations. We do that by telling people our history in Jesus Christ. If you're not sure this is your history or if your not sure how to tell someone about this history, come talk to me. I will help you seek out what it means to a part in the history of blessing.