" Abraham: Called For Service"

Sermon by Pastor David Layman

June 10, 2007

Genesis 12:1-4

Galatians 3:6-9

Peter Moore taught at a prestigious New England boarding school which had graduated such students as John Kennedy and Adlai Stevenson. A young man strode into his office one day and asked "What do you say to someone who cannot believe (in God)?" When Moore asked what the young man did believe in, he quickly responded "I believe in the infinite perfectibility of human nature." (Peter Moore, Disarming the Secular Gods, Intervarsity Press, Downer's Grove, Illinois, 1989, p. 64)

The opening chapters of Genesis begin on a far different note! Instead of talking about the "infinite perfectability of human nature", Genesis tells of Adam and Eve disregarding God's instruction and partaking of the one forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. Then they have children, and son Cain murders his brother Abel. Then humankind becomes so sinful, a terrible flood is sent in judgment. Following this, human arrogance at Babel leads to a fractured and divided humankind. The world's a mess, according to the author of Genesis. God mixes compassion with judgment, as he sews garments together for Adam and Eve, and places a mark on Cain to preserve him. God sends a rainbow and promises to never again destroy all the earth with a flood. But God does more than this. God comes upon a plan to redeem a sinful and fractured humankind. While the young preppie told Peter Moore he believed in "the infinite perfectibility of human nature", and didn't believe in God, the Bible presents us with the opposite message: Humankind will mess up again and again. Yet God is in charge of rescue missions, and begins his effort by creating a vehicle for salvation through Abraham and the nation he will call into being.

God calls Abraham to leave his home in Mesopotamia, modern day Iraq, and begin a pilgrimage by following him. It took considerable faith, not in himself, but in God, for Abraham to begin and pursue this venture. God promises to make Abraham a blessing to all peoples on earth. Our world is used to people leaving rural areas and small towns for the big city. Yet Abraham's move was in the opposite direction! Abraham left a part of the world where there were highly developed civilizations, with written records, irrigation systems, art and literature. Furthermore, Abraham and Sarah were up in years, and childless. It took amazing faith for Abraham and Sarah to leave a comfortable livelihood to venture to unknown parts, and think that a God no one but him seemed to know of, would use him as part of his salvation plan for the world! What could have prompted Abraham to leave a cosmopolitan, progressive, sophisticated civilization? We note from Genesis 14 that Abraham was far from impoverished. When his nephew Lot was captured, Abraham called upon 318 men under his rule to get Lot back. Abraham wasn't impoverished, leaving prosperous Mesopotamia in search of mere survival. According to Genesis, Abraham left his home because God, one God, not the many who competed for human allegiance in Mesopotamia, called him away. God called Abraham not merely to make of Abraham a great nation, but to work through Abraham so that "all the families of the earth" would be blessed!

In the Bible, God's call or "election" is primarily for service. It is not as an excuse for self-centered pride. God's call of Abraham preceded a time of testing. Abraham was told he would become the father of a great nation. Yet Abraham and Sarah remained childless for many years after God's promise. This was a test! Abraham failed the test by fathering a child, Ishmael, thru Sarah's servant, Hagar. God wanted Abraham to learn to trust in him, and not become prideful in himself. That's a hard lesson for humankind to learn!

God's call of a particular people beginning with Abraham began a relationship with the children of Israel which the Old Testament describes for approximately 2,000 years. Problematically, those God called weren't always real focussed on serving the God who called them. Again and again, the children of Israel strayed from God's purposes for them. Ultimately, while one people, the children of Israel, failed to fulfill God's call, one man, Jesus the Christ, did fulfill God's call for a faithful servant. Jesus came into our world when the children of Abraham had withdrawn within themselves, despising not only Romans but Samaritans and everyone who wasn't a Jew. But Jesus sent his followers out into the world to bless the same folks Abraham had been called upon to ultimately bless: all the children of the world!

Paul wrote to the Galatians: "Just as Abraham 'believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,' so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.'"

In our day and time, we like what we consider to be a "sure bet". The success of Saddleback Community Church in California is a heart warming story, of Rick Warren and his wife heading out to California and starting a church from scratch, which now has thousands of people attending. Rick Warren had made thorough demographic studies of areas bound to grow, and tailored a church geared to the preferences of those who did indeed move there. But God calls some to labor in settings not as primed for success. Sheldon Jackson was a child of the 19th century who went to Princeton Seminary. He heard God calling him to become a foreign missionary. The learned fathers of his presbytery, however, looked at Jackson's 5' 2" frame, considered his fragile condition, and refused to appoint him as a foreign missionary. So Sheldon Jackson decided to go out on the American frontier in the west and start churches. James Michener tells of how Jackson heard of a place called Deadhorse, Montana, being a town of 381. He figured that place would be a good setting for a Presbyterian church, and set out for Deadhorse in the dead of winter. Jackson was warned there was a blizzard coming, but set out anyway. Instead of a town of 381, Jackson found there were only 8 families in Deadhorse. Not only were there dead horses in Deadhorse; most of the people were gone, too! Two families were Roman Catholic, 2 were atheists, and only 3 of the remaining families had any interest in a Presbyterian Church. But Jackson began getting supplies, and started building a small church, with little encouragement from Deadhorse's residents. The three families there found in Jackson astonishing physical and moral energy. One of the families, the Trumbauers, saw in Sheldon Jackson a true man of God. It broke their hearts to break the news to Jackson, just before the church's dedication, that two of the three families were moving back to Iowa! But Sheldon Jackson didn't let that stop him. He was convinced God intended him to do a great work, and he kept at it. Sheldon Jackson wound up organizing 70 churches out west, including a number in Alaska. In Alaska, Jackson arranged the importation of Siberian reindeer to save starving Eskimos; God did a great work thru Jackson.

In our own day and time, God calls upon us, elects us, to service. Like God tested Abraham and Sheldon Jackson, he tests us with times of struggle and apparent failure. God's call is not just about us, it's about reaching a fallen and broken humankind. Mark Craddock, a Church of the Brethren pastor, has volunteered at a Mennonite run drug and alcohol rehab center. The director of this program asked if Mark's church would consider doing a foot washing service and allowing the residents to participate. Church members gladly agreed to share this experience with them. Mark read the scripture. The recovery center's director had shared that if anyone in recovery felt uncomfortable with the ceremony, he could slide his chair back to indicate he didn't want to participate. Every resident slid his chair back. The church members washed fellow church members' feet, and then asked if the men in the program would reconsider and also participate. But every one refused.

On the way home, Mark shared with his wife how disappointed he was that none of the men participated, feeling the evening was a waste of time. She noted that on the women's side, only a couple of the women in recovery had participated. Yet she shared optimistically "You never know what seeds were planted." (Dan Ulrich & Janice Fairchild, Caring Like Jesus, Brethren Press, Elgin, Illinois, 2002, p. 90). A couple of years later, the Craddocks attended an event at the Recovery Center where graduates from previous years came back. One young woman recounted her experience in the program, sharing how she had felt beaten down, and had no reason to live. She was ready to leave the program and return to the streets. But one night a group of Brethren came and shared a foot washing ceremony. She shared how strange it felt to sit next to "church people" who loved her unconditionally for whom she was, and to have her feet washed by them. She shared that was the most meaningful thing that ever happened to her. She knew then that God loved her, and would help her get through the program.

Not only does the Bible tell us that God has purposes for the world He created, and calls people to take part in helping fulfill these promises. We also learn through Abraham, and the pages of scripture, that to be called by God is not to follow the formula seen in popular movies again and again, where someone is called to coach a group of misfits, and within a two hour time frame, success is achieved! Even Jesus' ministry resulted in a net total of one believer at the time of his death, and that believer was a thief on the cross beside him! Yet the risen Christ calls us to serve God and be faithful, in season and out of season. Those called by God, like Abraham, Sheldon Jackson, and the Craddocks, find the results quite limited many a time. If it were easy to believe, we could rely on ourselves, and that would be enough. But faith by definition is never a sure bet. "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

Are you ready to leave Mesopotamia?

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