Mindset: Abraham - The Father of our Faith

Good morning family. How are you? Thank you for joining us in person or online. Um, we are excited about week two of our mindset series. And, I dunno if you noticed that there's this great big thing behind me, let me tell you a little bit about that. Our video equipment that we have been using is 15 years old. What that means is it's lasted as 15 years. Like that's really, really great. That's really awesome. But it also means is it's broken just because electronics were out in space. And so we've been in the process of working through, what does it look like for us to move or replace some of these pieces? When everything was said and done, it became real apparent that, cost effective wise, this was the best move. And, what that does for us is not only allow us to have something back here that actually works. Someday, if you don't believe me that things were broken, Jake Titera, one of our production guys did a recording of the video projectors that were running the screens and the sound of the fan. It was like they had to come in at 6:00 AM just to turn them on so that it wouldn't be so loud that you couldn't pay attention. They were just tired and stuff, you know, electronics wear out. And so we have to, we have to work on that stuff. But what this will allow us to do is for the future, number one, it gives us a way more immersive online experience, which we really care about. And especially right now, in the world that we're in, our online experience is really important. When this is all hooked up, we're going to be able to do, and it's not fully wired yet, but when we are -- when we're done, I may shed a tear as, as we use this, for what we can use it for. I just, I'm so excited for the teaching capacity that it will give us, ways that we can use it to communicate a message. But beyond that, we won't ever in the foreseeable future, we will not have to replace -- it's upgradable, as it sits. So, as technology advances, we'll be able to upgrade a few of the brain pieces rather than having to switch out the whole system and bring in a new system. And we made this move with that in mind. So that over the long haul, this is going to be way more cost effective than anything else that we could do. Because we want to have a really quality experience. And Sunday morning, we also want to be conscious of how we're stewarding God's dollars and so that's the tension that we live in with stuff like this. But I just want you to know that we are taking this very, very seriously and it's going to be really great, but it's also going to be  really useful for lots and lots and lots of years to come. 

So that's cool. Also I want to say this our life groups launch. I'm so excited about it, life group ministry, and where it's going and the stories that are coming out of that and, and how group leaders are battling for relationships. Relationship, it's hard, it's risky business, it's vulnerable. That's one of those things that sometimes it feels like it would just be easier to not do that. But the truth is, we have a church that's pretty large and I really value that the people who call Southeast home can be pastored. I want you to be pastored, but the bottom line is I can't do that for everybody. Russ is an incredible pastor, but he can't do it for everybody. What our life groups do, at one level, is allow us to have pastoring for anybody in our church. If you, if you want to be pastored in our church, call the church office, we will do the best we can. We will try to be there at the hospital. We will try to be there with your family and those crisis moments -- we will try. But if you want to really be pastored, life groups is a space for that to happen. So we want to just celebrate our leaders who are stretching their own faith as they're stepping into ministry. Sometimes some of them for the first time. Cool.

I am excited to jump into this sermon and we got a lot, we've got a long way to ride before the sunset. So you guys ready to go to work? So we're going to talk about, I love warming up. I'm like, okay, let's go. We were talking about Abraham today. And if you're going to understand the mindset of the people who wrote the Bible, you're going to have to understand Abraham. Because Abraham is the father of their faith, right? Even in some of the conversations that Jesus has with the Jewish people, they're like, but we're sons of Abraham. Abraham, Abraham has a covenant with God that is -- all the world will be blessed through his lineage. And is that at one level? Is that Jesus also all of them. And so, we want to talk about Abraham and I want to wrestle with this question in the back of our mind, why is Abraham the kind of guy that God would use? And if I want to be the kind of guy that God would use, what do I need to learn from Abraham that I can take from this? If you, if you know the story of Abraham, he doesn't start out as Abraham. He starts out as Abram. And so we're going to read some passages where before and after his name changed. So if you see Abram or Abraham, the same guy before or after the name change. Okay. So we're introduced to Abram in Genesis chapter 11, and it's in the middle of one of those really riveting genealogies, right? We talked about this last week. But it seems like all great stories in the Bible begin with a genealogy, and that's just something to pay attention to. And so, we want to read a little bit of the, I won't, I won't make you read all of it, but we'll look at a piece of it. And I want to point out some things about Abram that we learned right off the bat. No they're in, what's called a patriarchal world. The word patriarchy has become kind of a bad word in our culture today. And I would suggest that there's some good reasons for that. The way that patriarchy has been stewarded in our culture is really, really poor. Men have stepped in as the patriarchs and they've kind of tried to over assert their authority on their wives or other women. And I don't know if you are surprised by this, but handle that very well. They shouldn't have to handle that very well. It's not biblical leadership. It's not biblical leadership. In the patriarchal world, the patriarch has, what's called a bet’av. And we'll talk about this actually in a few weeks. And in that bet’av, he has people that are part of his family -- his wives, sons, and daughters. And then he has other people that are part of his family. Some are servants, some are just people who were out wandering by themselves and needed a place to stay. And so the patriarch's job is to steward the resources of the household in order to be able to properly take care of people that are in the bet’av --  the father's house is what that means  -- in their kind of communal dwelling. When the patriarch dies, 100% of the inheritance goes to the oldest son who was called the be’hor --the first born. 100% of the patriarchs in here are there at the time of Abraham. Now this slowly changes as the Jewish people move from being completely nomadic into being more kind of planted. Then what happens is they, they start to divide one third, two thirds and all of that. But at the time of Abram, 100% of the inheritance goes to the be’hor --try that at Christmas and see how your kids feel about that -- gets all of it. But the rest of the family, rather than being mad celebrate, because now the first born has the wherewithal to be able to care for the family, the way that the patriarch did. So the role of the be’hor isn't just to steward the inheritance, it's to carry out the legacy of the patriarch. They don't just steward the resources. They're required to steward the resources the way that their father did. And if they don’t, then it's tremendous shame on the whole family. And this is an Eastern culture. So it's an honor shame culture, so it’s a tremendous shame and your family is everything. It's everything into that world.

We begin to be introduced to a guy by the name of Abram in this patriarchal world. The most important thing that you can do is have children, specifically male children, so that you have someone to give your inheritance to. It's into that world that I want to begin: Genesis 11:27. Here's what it says: Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran – now, who's the oldest? Abram he's listed first. And that matters. Abram is the oldest, which makes Abram the be’hor – the first born. And that's important for us to recognize. And Haran fathered Lot. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. And Abram and Nahor took wives. Haran has Terah and then he dies. So Terah is still alive. He's the patriarch whose responsibility is it to care for Lot? It’s Terah’s responsibility, so keep that in mind. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now, why do I need to know that? Most scholars believe that Sarai and Iscah are the same person. It's two names for the same person. It's very likely – well, that’s a sermon for another day. But Abraham takes his wife, Sarai.  Nahor takes his wife Milcah. And they are the daughters of Haran which makes them their nieces. Not as weird as we might think of it today, in that world. Here's what's interesting. Now Sarai was barren and she had no child. Now remember, Terah, the patriarch who's the be’hor?  Abram. What's Abram's most fundamental task? To have children. And he takes a wife whom he knows is barren. What's going on with that guy? I would just suggest that when we start to wrestle with why does God use Abraham --  from the very first story that we see in him, we start to see why. Because Abraham is always a guy who finds the people that no one else can love. And he loves them with his whole heart. Here's a quote from a book called From Her cradle to Her Grave. Here's what it says: “Barrenness was considered a judgment from God in the ancient world. Ancient peoples did not yet understand the physiology associated with fertilization. They viewed the woman as the receptacle for male seed. Rather than supplying an egg to be fertilized, the woman was seen simply as an incubator for the child. Therefore, if a man provided the seed at the proper time (they understood that timing and release was in relation to menstruation) and nothing came of it, the woman was seen to be a faulty incubator. But this defect would not be seen as simply a physical problem, since no illness, symptom or condition was simply physical. Deity was responsible for creation in the womb, and deity was the one who opened the womb.” So, for a woman to be barren meant the gods didn't like her. For whatever reason, the gods didn't like her. And Abram takes her. He chooses her –Now, think about this…as the patriarchal system who gets first choice? The be’hor does. He gets the first choice. Who does he choose? The one that he knows nobody else will pick. It's pretty cool. Now we're starting to open up the mindset of a guy that God would use. Now, continuing the story in Genesis 12. Here's what it says. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land I will show you. Now, on the surface, that sounds like, oh my goodness, what a man of faith. Look at him and his great faith. He didn't even know where he was going. And he just trusted the Lord. I wish I could trust the Lord like that. Look at the next promise that God makes him -- and I'll make you a great nation. That's like, start a job, I know you don't really know how to do the job, but if you start it, I'm going to make you rich. Okay? Let's figure it out. I'll make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great. Now, we love to stop the story right there, but that's not where God stops his sentence. He says, I'll bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. What was God's reason for making Abram's name great? I would suggest this -- in the kingdom of God, when God prospers one of his followers, it is not so that they can be prosperous. He prospers us so that we can be a blessing. And that's so important for us to recognize, because we often think that we're amassing a hill of possessions for our own self, our own security to kind of emotionally bubble wrap our lives so that we can be safe and we can provide a certain kind of lifestyle and on and on and on it goes. Listen, God never promises to bless us so that we can have things. He blesses us, from the beginning, so that we can be a blessing. Abraham is the father of our faith. I have to be honest with you. I was stunned. When the worship team didn't sing ‘father Abraham, right arm, father Abraham.’ If Abraham is the father of our faith, which he is, this is why we have to hear his story. We have to hear his story because how God uses him and why God chooses him is heavily influencing how we should live our lives. So, I’ll bless you make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So Abraham is like, okay, that sounds like a good deal. So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Okay, now, wait a minute. Whose responsibility was it to take care of Lot, Terah? Why does he go with Abraham? Here's what we see again, Abraham steps in and goes, I know it's your responsibility to care for him, but I'll take care of him. Right off the bat, the first two stories that we see about him doing something --he picks the wife that no one else will choose, first and he takes a nephew, who is not his responsibility, and takes him into his own family. Why would God use a guy like that? Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. You go, man, he's getting a late start. He's going to live another hundred years. So he's not even half of his life over yet. He's just getting warmed up. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.

In Canaan, there’s this crazy story that happens. And we made a brief mention of it a few weeks ago, but I want to pick it up and unpack it a little further. Genesis 18. And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre. By the way, oaks is a generous statement. The trees there, they are an oak tree in their genus and species, but, if you look at them, they look like alder brush. If you know what alder brush is, they're not very impressive. We think about big trunk oak trees -- Nope. Not them. As he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day, which raises the question. Why is he sitting in his tent in the middle of the day? Lazy so and so…doesn't sound like him. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth… by the way, we said this already, but I want to review – old men do not run, not in this culture. It's humiliating for them to expose their knees. Old men, in this culture, do not expose their knees for any reason. Now, at this point in the story, does Abraham know who they are? The answer is no, it's just three men. Now, we're going to find out that this is God and a couple of angels. And now that's an interesting thing. And he just casually has a conversation with them. But at this point, they are three strangers to him. Abraham gets up and runs to them and bows down. He humiliates himself and then humbles himself before three people that he does not know. Oh, and by the way, why is he sitting in his tent in the heat of the day? Because the story right before this is that he was just circumcised. So he can barely walk. And he gets up and runs to meet three people that he does not know. And he bows down before them. Why would God use a guy like that? Ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, Oh Lord, if I've found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Now the word Lord there isn't God. The word Lord there is like, it's the general term for anybody that you would put over you in authority. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after you may pass on -- since you have come to your servant. So they said, do as you have said.

Well, if you remember, we talked about it a couple weeks ago. He says it, morsel of bread. What he's going to do is set them up for a month – I’m just going to bring you a little bit of bread. And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, quick three seahs of fine flour, right? Oh no, not three. Somewhere between 55 and 70 pounds, scholars speculate, of their finest flour. This isn't a morsel. That's a whole lot of bread. Knead it and make cakes. How long does it take to make bread with that much flour? She doesn't have a bread machine. Remember bread machines? I think that was the impetus for Atkins to do his thing -- the bread machine. And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. How long does it take to prepare? Like you don't just whip that up in a few minutes. How many of you have ever butchered a beef? It takes a while. It takes a while. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. He didn't eat himself. He stood and let them eat. He let them sit in the shade. He stood next to them while they ate. And he just watched. Like, this guy he's weird about really trying to make people feel important. They said to him, where is Sarah, your wife? And he said, she's in the tent. The Lord said, I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife will have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah -- the way of women ceased to be with Sarah. Here's what that means. She wasn't supposed to be able to have kids anymore. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, after I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure? The Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say, shall I indeed bear a child, now that I'm old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid. He said, no, but you did laugh. By the way, they named Isaac, which means laughter. The men set out from there, and they took that look downward towards Sodom. And Abraham went with them and set them on their way. The Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. Then the Lord said, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know. So the men turn from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.

Now, here's what I want you to think about. When we look at the wretchedness of the world around us, what is our posture about it? How do we think? I think for many of us, we would love for people that are doing wrong to get their, comeuppance -- we want you to pay for what you did wrong, we love a good vindication story. Let’s keep reading. Then Abraham drew near and said, will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it  for the 50 righteous who are in it? Abraham's chutzpah to go to the Lord and go, I know, I know what your plan is to destroy the city. But what if there were 50 righteous people in it? Would you spare the whole city? Like he's not saying spare the righteous and make the unrighteous pay -- God for 50 righteous, would you spare the city? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just? And the Lord said, if I find at Sodom 50 righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake. 

I love Abraham's desire to see people live into the good that they're made for -- like 50 righteous, spare the wicked because there's potential. There's potential there. Abraham answered and said, Behold, I've undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Supposed five of the 50 righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it if I find 45 there. Again, he spoke to him and said, suppose forty are found there. You see what he answered -- for the sake of 40, I will not do it. Then he said, oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there. He answered, I will not do it if I find 30 there. He said, behold, I've undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose 20 are found there. I'm sure God's like, do we need, like, I already know where this is going. He answered, for the sake of 20, I will not destroy it. Then he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose 10 are found there. He answered for the sake of 10 I will not destroy it. And the Lord went on his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. I love Abraham’s heart. Abraham’s heart, from  the beginning, is to pull out the good in people that nobody else will believe in. Nobody else would give these people a shot. Abraham goes, that's just the kind of person I want to pour my life into. Again and again. Why would God choose that guy as the founder of our faith? The father, the foundation upon which everything that we're supposed to be as built? Why that guy? Here's why --  Because Abraham's heart is exactly like God's heart. The desire to take people who have nothing to offer, Oh, by the way, that's you and me -- nothing to offer God that he should ask anything of us and go, that's exactly the kind of person that I want to love and to use. And if that's the heart of our God, then so it must be our heart. 

One more passage to read. Do you remember Abraham picks the wife, first, that no one else would pick? Like, in that culture, the gods are angry at her. He can't, like, there can't be a worst scenario for her. The chips are stacked against her in every way. Abraham chooses her as a wife. Here's, what's interesting. He loves her and her alone until the day she dies, in a culture where it was very normal for men to have multiple wives. It was very normal for men to have multiple wives because having offspring was so important. It would be one thing if he married Sarah and then chose another wife and had children with her and he loved Sarah because he loved her, but she never had any kids, but he had kids with this other, but he doesn't do that. He holds to her in love until the day she dies. Oh men, that we would love our wives that way.

Genesis 25. I want to read this -- Sarah dies and Abraham buries her. And then it says, after that's over, Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Joskshan fathered Sheba and Dedan.  The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.  
I wonder if their parents ever got them confused. Like my kid's names are really different and I still have to – Ephah, Epher, Hanock, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. Abraham gave all he had to Isaac, but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts. And while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, to the east country. These are the days of the years of Abram's life, 175 years. Lord Jesus, I do not want to live that long. Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. 

Here's why I read that passage. Because I want you to see, at any point, Abraham could have taken another wife and he did not. Go all the way back to the beginning of his story. We see him choose the one that nobody else would choose and hold to her for the rest of her life. I love that about Abraham. Why is that a guy that God would use? Because again and again, and again, Abraham shows himself as a man who will put others first, not just in lip service, but with every fiber of his being. And that is a lesson that we could learn. Like when Jesus shows up, that's his message, right? Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Paul says it this way, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he emptied himself and made himself nothing taking on the very form of a servant so that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Abraham is our living example. I'm telling you it is a pride check. Oh my word, this is a pride check. Abraham is our living example of what it means to truly be invested, to be the kind of person that God would bless and make their name great so that you could be a blessing to all people.

So I have all kinds of implications here. I want to focus on four. Number one, because Abraham prioritized taking care of those who couldn't take care of themselves, God didn't have to wait to make him into something. Because Abraham was already that guy. And I know that for a lot of us, we're like, Oh Lord, you have to change my heart. No, I need to change my heart. I don't need to wait for God to lightening bolt zap me from the sky so that I can be something different. I actually need to work at it. And if God never uses me the way that he used Abraham, I still have a mandate to become that kind of person.

Number two: Goes doesn’t bless us so that we can have a big pile of material things. God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others. We're called to be a blessing. We are a blessing conduit. We’re the pass through for God's blessings into the world? God doesn't bless me for me. God blesses me so that the people around me can be blessed. And the question that I have for us is, are we even looking? Hebrews says, consider how we can spur one another on towards love and good deeds. How can we actually spend time thinking about energy, given towards being a blessing to other people?

Number three, we should aspire to model Abraha’s faithfulness to Sarah. Listen. He married her in that culture, knowing that she would never be enough. Wonder what their conversations were like. How many times does Abraham have to say to her, Sarah you're enough. You're enough for me. I love you as you are. I don’t esent you for what you can't bring. I love you for what you are. And ladies, I would just say this your worth waiting for a guy like that, your worth waiting for a guy like that. And husbands, we should aspire to be a guy like that.

Number four: Abraham desired to help everyone become their best. Not just his family. He desired to help everyone become their best. That’s the heart of God. That we wouldn't be so fixated on taking care of me and mine first is that we lose sight of the needs that are going on around us all the time. That we would care enough about his name and who he is and how he wants us to function in the world that the thing that would drive us isn't our retirement or our bank account. And I'm not saying that those things don't matter. What I'm saying is God's reputation in the world matters more. Will we be the kind of person that God can use? Here's where it begins. It begins with us laying our lives down, begins with us being willing to say this isn't about my agenda and what I want. It begins with us saying, God, take me to a land I don't know. Take me to a land I don't know. David and his prayers to God. He says, Lord, lead me to the desert. See if there's any wicked way in me and drive it from me. These are mature prayers. It’s mature of us to lay our life down, because when we do, we look like Jesus.

And that's what communion is a reminder of for us. We have these amazing opportunities to reflect on what does it mean to look like Jesus. And it always comes back and it’s why we take communion every week as a family, it always comes back to this foundation that looking like Jesus begins with laying our life down. How can we take on the character of Abraham more in our lives today? Let's take a minute and think about that as we move forward.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it. And he said, this is my body, which is given for you. So whenever you eat this bread, do it in remembrance of me. In the same way, after the dinner, he took a cup and he said, this cup is the blood of the covenant which is shed for you. So whenever you drink this cup, do it in remembrance of me.

Let’s pray. God, thank you for like Abraham, nothing special about him that would set him apart from us, other than the fact that he just refused to let people feel like they weren't worth something. Lord, help us to be those kinds people. Help us to model our lives after men and women like Abraham. God, thank you  for how you love us. Amen.

Just to remind you about Life Groups. Just sign up at the tables on the way out today. You can get signed up there and get connected into a life group. If you're interested in leading one of those, we'll take care of training you and do all that stuff for you. We're serious about getting into relationships so that we can begin to walk out what it means to be like our father Abraham, because he had many sons, many sons had father Abraham, Abraham, because Abraham displayed the heart of God again and again and again. God's heart for the world on display. Well, thanks for coming. Have a great week.