LENT
2
March
15-17, 2015
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Genesis 12:1-8
OUR GOD OF GRACE…
1.
Calls
the unworthy.
2.
Equips
them to act in faith.
3.
Is
publicly worshipped.
Genesis 12:1-8 (NIV
1984) “The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your
country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show
you. 2"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. 3I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." 4So Abram left, as the LORD had told him;
and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from
Haran. 5He took his
wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the
people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and
they arrived there. 6Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of
Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7The LORD appeared to Abram and said,
"To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there
to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched
his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar
to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.”
It’s the age old question. Usually
asked when you have to face something difficult or hard. “Why me?” Why do I
have to do this? I wonder if Abraham asked himself that question when he went
to talk to his wife Sarai. Why me? Can you imagine the conversation? “Hi,
honey, I’m home.” “Yes, dear.” The LORD spoke to me!” How wonderful! What did
He say?” “Uh, we’re moving.” “Really? Where to?” “Uh, I don’t know. He’ll show
us when we get there.” Why me? Instead of asking that question for the
difficult task of telling his wife they were moving to an unknown location,
perhaps Abram asked that when the LORD chose to speak with him in the first
place. Why me? Why is God choosing me? Grace is the answer. God is a God of
grace. He loves those who don’t deserve it. And it’s good for us to see how He
acts in the life of Abraham because it shows us how God continues to deal with
His people. Let’s see what we can learn about this God of grace.
First we see
that He calls the undeserving. “The LORD had said to Abram,
"Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the
land I will show you.” If you have your Bible open you notice that God’s
call to Abram happens very abruptly. Chapter 11 of Genesis records the tower of
Babel incident and a genealogical listing. Then this. The Lord’s call to Abram
to move. Why Abram? He’s just a guy like any other guy. In fact as you follow
his history in Genesis you find that he sleeps with one of his servants, he shows
lack of trust in God’s promises and he deceives the Egyptian Pharaoh. Why does he
deserve to be called by God? He doesn’t. That’s just the point. God does not
work that way. He calls the unworthy.
How thankful
we can be for that. “Why me?” is a question each one of us should ask, not with
a whining or complaining spirit but with awe and wonderment. Why has God chosen
us to know Him and believe in Him? Why do we get to believe in Jesus so that
heaven is our home when so many in the world do not? Are we better, smarter,
wiser? No. In fact just like Abram, we have more knowledge of God’s holy will
than others and we still defy God, do our own thing. We more than others should
know not to take sin lightly yet we do with our own pet sins of drunkenness,
lying, manipulating. But we have a God of grace. He calls the unworthy.
He equips
them to act in faith. What God called Abram to do was not an easy task. Pack up
and move to an unknown destination. Leave your comfort zone, what you know,
your country, people, relatives. How would he find the strength to do that? God
gave Him what he needed. “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. 3I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." 4So Abram left, as the LORD had told him;
and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from
Haran. 5He took his
wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the
people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and
they arrived there.” Faith in God does not rest on thin air. There is
substance to hold on to. The Lord’s command to Abram is actually not so much a
command as a promise. “I will make you a great nation, I will bless you, I will
make your name great, I’ll make people want to help you and not hurt you, all
people will be blessed by the Savior that will be your descendant.” Who wouldn’t
want that? Yes, what the Lord asked Abram to do was tough. What God promised enabled
him to do it.
The same is
true for you and me. Whatever God asks you to do He will give you what you need
to do it. That’s worth repeating. Whatever God asks you to do, to go through,
He will give you what you need to do it. The life of believer is not easy nor
should we expect it to be. Throughout life the Lord calls us to act in faith
and to journey to our own unknowns. Live the rest of
your life without your spouse who I’ve now taken to heaven. How will
that work? Find another job as I take this one from you. What now? The
diagnosis is cancer. Now what? Big picture. Future. Christians in America who want to stay
faithful to all the teachings of Jesus which means calling sin sin. Any use of
sexuality outside of marriage, heterosexual or homosexual is wrong, a sin. You
see how things are going in our country. Those who practice those sins are
applauded. Those who speak against are labeled racist. What does this mean? “Be
faithful even to the point of death,” says Jesus. This could be hard. Whatever
God asks you to do He will give you what you need to do it. And our acting in
faith does not rest on thin air either. I will give you the crown of life. I will never leave you nor forsake you.
I will uphold you with my righteous right arm. I will work all things for the
good. I will supply your needs. Out of grace, in His undeserved love God equips
us to act in faith.
That’s why
He is publicly worshiped. It’s always been that way that those who recognize
God’s grace worship Him. Look at Abram. “Abram
traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at
Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7The LORD appeared to Abram and said,
"To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there
to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched
his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar
to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.” Both times it happened.
First when Abram was at Shechem he built an altar to the Lord. That’s the
equivalent today of putting up a church. Even though the Canaanites were there.
It was marking the turf for the LORD. Then near Bethel where he pitched his
tents. Same thing. An altar is built. A “church” put up. Abram calls on the
name of the LORD. “Hey people, I don’t know what you worship or if you do but
make no mistake I worship the LORD, The Savior God.” Now you don’t need a
church building to do that. But as you follow the history of God’s people, from
Adam until today, from altars to the Tabernacle, to the Temple and synagogues
to cathedrals and church buildings today, people who recognize the grace of God
publicly worship Him.
That’s why
our weekly public worship of God is so important. It marks us as those who
believe in the only God, the God of grace. We are blessed to have a church
building. It is our gathering place to worship God. A full parking lot says
something. So does an empty one. While folks might not equate it on Saturday or
Monday there is an assumption on where you are going when you pull out of the
driveway on Sunday morning. Every decline to an event that would prevent us
from worshipping says something. Our God of grace is that important. Come and
hear what He does. Praise Him for the way He deals with us.
It’s all by
grace. The life of Abraham shows us that. The rest of the pages of Scripture do
the same. He calls the unworthy. Lent is a great time for that spiritual gut
check. A time to remove any calluses on our consciences so that we call sin
what it is and own up to how far we fall short of the glory of God. But then to
realize that it is to God’s glory to treat us with grace. Undeserved love moved
God to punish Jesus instead of us. Undeserved love held Jesus to the cross.
Undeserved love called us and equips us. The God of grace gets our praise. Why
me? Amen.
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