Sermon from Sept. 15, 2024, by the Rev. Dr. Tara W. Bulger
In our sermon series that began last week, we talking about the stories of the Old Testament where we see over and over again God's faithfulness even in the face of humanity’s sin and rebellion. And that story continues in the 15th chapter of Genesis verses one through six.
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
We started the Genesis story last week by looking at the two creation stories that are found in the Bible. The first creation story is of the Almighty God, speaking the world into being God commanded. Let there be light and there was light. God made the whole of the world and he told man, in that story, to go forth and multiply.
In the second creation story, we found God in the garden working to build humanity out of the dirt of the earth. God seems like a gardener there, and he's so close to humanity that he breathes his breath upon the created beings and they become man and woman.
The promise in Genesis one and Genesis two is that God will bless humanity. And there are two blessings that are really told in the story of Genesis. The first blessing is that we as God's people will have a home.
We started with our home in the Garden of Eden, but because of our sin, we were cast out. But God still promises God's people, “you will have a home.” He will lead them eventually to the land of Canaan.
We're also told that God will bless humanity with succession, with more life being brought into the world—that humanity won't die out. God will keep humanity going, that there will be more humans. That is God's blessing to the world, that we would have a home and that there would be succession more life in the world.
But when we read more into the book of Genesis, we see God's blessing really being eroded by humanity's sin and unfaithfulness. It starts right after the Garden of Eden when Cain and Abel come into the world and one brother kills another out of jealousy. Murder is at the heart of that first story in Genesis. God's blessing is being eroded away because of our sins. From the story of Cain and Abel, we go to the story of Noah. Do you remember that story? God looks at all of his creation and he sees wickedness over and over again—the wickedness of humanity. God is grieved by the way humans are living. But God in his goodness finds Noah and his family and he preserves Noah throughout the flood so that life can begin again after humanity's wickedness.
And now we come to Abram, Abram who will eventually be called Abraham. In the story in Genesis, it begins with Abram being told by God to move to Haran. And Abram has no reason to do so, but he believes God and he picks up his family and he moves. Abram is trying to be faithful.
God then commands Abram to go down to Egypt for a time and Abram goes to Egypt, but he's so worried that God won't protect them. He comes up with this brilliant scheme. He'll pretend like his wife is his sister. He doesn't trust in God to protect him. This scheme that eventually doesn't work and it is God who brings them out of Egypt. And now just before this passage, Abram has been in a great battle with one of the kings of the land and Abram wins. The king that he defeats says to Abram, “let me give you all of these things as tribute since you're such a great warrior and you won.” Abram has this moment of faithfulness where he doesn't accept the gifts. He says, “the battle was God's to win and I worship God.” We have this picture of Abram believing God, but also doubting God, faithful to God, but also devising his own workarounds.
If I were to describe Abram, he's the king of the workaround. We see that in this passage here. God has previously told Abram, I will give you descendants. I will give you children. But Abram doesn't believe him. So again, God comes to Abram in this vision, and the first thing that God says is, “I am your shield.” Do you know what that means? It means that God has been protecting Abram and Abram hasn't even seen it. That there are times when God has protected him, been a shield for him, and Abram hasn't even noticed. It's as if God is saying, “I am almighty God, and I know how I am protecting you. You can trust in it.” But Abram, king of the workaround, says, “oh God, why do you say I am going to have descendants? I've already chosen Azar of Damascus to be my heir.”
Abram wants to believe in God, but he is sure God is wrong. And here's why. Because Abram didn't hear my sermon last week. If he had, he would've known that the story in Genesis is always about who God is and not how God is going to do things. The Genesis story is not really an account of how the world is created. It's the story of who created the world. It is an account of who blesses humanity. Abram is really stuck in how, “how's that gonna happen? You said it would happen days ago. Hasn't happened yet. I'm old and getting older as is my wife. How God, I'll just go ahead and let Eliezer be my heir. Because this obviously isn't happening no matter what you say.” And the Lord God in his his graciousness tells Abram, “Eliezer won't be your heir. You shall have your own child.”
God makes the promise Again. You shall have succession, you shall have a life that comes from your life. You don't know how, but you know who Abram, who I am, and I am the Lord God. And I promise it to you as a blessing. And we're told that Abram believed and God counted it as righteousness. Now that word righteousness, all it simply means is to be in right relationship with God. And when God comes in all of God's glory and makes this promise again to Abraham, he believes. And God says now, now we are in right relationship because you're not worried about how you are remembering who. How many of us have a problem or a worry in our lives and we have no idea how God's gonna see us through it? How many of us are thinking of workarounds? I really hope this will happen, but when it doesn't, I'll do X, Y, and Z. How many of us are relying on our own will or our own how? And forgetting to trust in the who, the Lord God who made the world and promises us home and life and blessing.
God finally drags Abram out into the night. I imagine Abram stands in the desert and God tells him to look up into the sky and there are stars upon stars. And God says, “that's how many descendants you will have.” I wonder if Abram remembered, “oh yes, the person who created the stars is making a promise to me. I can believe the God who created the world out of nothing is making a promise to us.”
And we can believe too. How many of you have in your lives have been in the natural world, out in nature, and something so beautiful and awe inspiring is before you that you can't help think about God. For me, it's my home in western North Carolina. There is something about the mountains of Western North Carolina that reminds me that God is real and God creates beauty and blessing. Where is that place for you? When you remember that place, remember that it is the Lord God who created it and that God is faithful to humanity. Even when we aren't, even when we are wicked, even when we think about killing our siblings, even then God is faithful still. God is our shield protecting us from things we don't even know about. And God is the author of our blessing.
This is an Old Testament story, an early Old Testament story, the beginning of the period of the patriarchs. What you and I know is that God will one day give Jesus Christ to the world, and Christ will become our home, and Christ will become our blessing. It is Christ who will give us life after this life. And we may not know how it happens, but we know who has promised it to us. And that person, the God of creation, the God of Jesus Christ, the author of the Holy Spirit is true. Let us believe and help our unbelief. Thanks be to God that God is faithful still. Amen.