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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
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
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.
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.
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.