Just Like Father Abraham
As Romans 4:16-7 reminds us, we are all Abraham's offspring—purely by God's grace. Just Like Father Abraham was blessed by God's grace, so are we. February 17, 2008.
He has been called the father of a great nation. In his occupation as a farmer he owned a large estate. He became a respected statesman and commander of troops. His pious and principled behavior and decisions are respected to this day, which is why this very week we commemorate him and look to him as an inspiration and example. Do you know which two men fit this description? Since 1880 Presidents Day has been set aside as a federal holiday to honor George Washington as the father of our country. Since the first century A.D. Abraham (not Lincoln) has been honored by the church as the father of believers. The closest thing to a holiday that honors the Abraham of the Bible would be his prominent appearance in the Scripture lessons appointed to be read this day. The loss is ours if we let either of these two days pass by without considering the legacies left by these two great men.
In 1775, when he was 43 years old, George Washington was appointed Major General and chosen by Congress as the commander of the Continental Army to dispossess the British from American soil. For two years, Washington’s Continental Army suffered multiple defeats at the hands of the British, beginning immediately when they were sent scrambling out of New York. Many questioned the future of the army. In the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge 2,500 of Washington’s men died from disease or frost bite, depleting a fourth of his army and crippling the rest of the troops with hopeless despair. Following Washington’s firm resolve and bright hope for victory, the Continental Army regrouped, and four years later at the Battle of Yorktown they dealt the British the final defeat which led to their surrender.
When he was 75 years old, Abraham was called by God to travel to the land of Canaan and dispossess its people from the land God promised would belong to Abraham and his descendants. “Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you,” God commanded him (Genesis 12:1). Over the next 24 years Abraham and his household would encounter hostile enemies and family squabbling, they would go hungry from famines, more than once they would pull up stakes and move the entire homestead, they would be threatened and imprisoned by kings, and through it all Abraham’s hopelessness would find its most intense despair in one, constant source of pain: he and his wife, Sarah, could have no children. Abraham and Sarah were as good as dead, they figured, because their family line would soon disappear. Death and despair stared them in the face even as they were doing their best to follow God’s plan. In a desperate attempt to resolve hopelessness their own way, Abraham and Sarah concocted a plan that Abraham would have a child with Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar, and he did. Unfortunately, rather than fulfilling the empty pain in the lives of Abraham and Sarah, the child of Abraham and Hagar brought strife and even greater pain. What kind of desperate attempts have you made because you didn’t trust God to manage a time of hopelessness or despair? These sinful errors bring only greater pain – sometimes in the strife they create, always in the guilt that sold out on God.
Abraham would not be defeated, however. He came to realize that his hope was found not in himself but in God, “who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” Abraham came to trust, with firm resolve, that his own performance was only a dead end. Instead, new life would come through God’s miraculous promise, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you” (Genesis 12:2).
The Bible describes Abraham’s firm faith in this promise: “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed that he would become the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:18-21).
“Against all hope” and yet “fully persuaded.” That’s faith. “Faced the fact that his body was as good as dead” yet “believed he would become the father of many nations.” That’s faith. The key words here are still to come, however, because Abraham’s faith didn’t make his faith great. Abraham’s positive thinking or always looking on the bright side or spirit of optimism didn’t make his faith great. It was this: “just as it had been said to him,” – and this: “the promise of God” – and this: “God had power to do what he had promised.” Abraham, after all, really messed up when it came to following God’s plan. Abraham committed adultery with Sarah’s maidservant! Abraham lied to a foreign king and put Sarah’s life in jeopardy out of fear for his own well being! When Abraham looked at his own performance he would have to hang his head in shame, but we don’t see Abraham hanging his head in shame because he didn’t keep looking at his own performance. Abraham turned away from personal performance (which, at one point or another, will only lead to despair) and turned to the promise God had given him. Abraham believed God that he’d be the father of many nations. “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed.”
There are no guarantees in this life except for one: God’s grace. Abraham believed that. Abraham believed that God makes promises because God is good, not because people are good. That’s grace. Abraham believed that God keeps his promises because God always does what he says, not because people try to do what God says. That’s grace. After God had blessed Abraham and Sarah with a miracle son, God shockingly commanded Abraham to sacrifice that very son on an altar like an animal. Abraham believed that if he killed his one and only son, God would miraculously raise him back to life because God had promised Abraham grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren through this son. God had miraculously given this son to Abraham, and God could miraculously give him back again. Without Abraham’s help. That’s grace. After God has blessed Abraham with descendants as numerous as the stars, it was in the womb of those descendants where God fulfilled his greater promise to Abraham, “All people on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). Through Abraham’s line of Jewish descendants God blessed the world with a Savior. Jesus became the ultimate miracle son of Abraham, a son whom Abraham believed would some day save the world. That’s grace.
To commemorate his promise to Abraham that inspired such faith, God had changed Abraham’s name. Previously, he was named “Abram,” which means “exalted father.” God gave him a slightly different version of that name, “Abraham,” which means “father of many.” To commemorate the virtues and vision of George Washington we have created a special holiday. More than that, we use money with his picture on it, we have honored him with the only state in our country named after an American, and we have carved his image into a huge mountain in South Dakota. He is the father of our country and we are living his legacy. Commemorate the virtues and vision of Abraham, the father of believers, by living his legacy of faith. The Bible says, “He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed.” By God’s grace Abraham produced many physical descendants like Israelites, Edomites, and Arabs. By God’s grace Abraham “produced” many spiritual descendants who are heirs of all God’s promises and believers in Jesus Christ.
When Abraham’s God calls you to a new, unseen place in life, believe in God’s grace Just Like Father Abraham, and you’ll be blessed. When Abraham’s God promises you that he will produce something wonderful – yes, miraculous – out of your weary being and dead despair, believe in God’s grace Just Like Father Abraham, and you’ll be blessed. When Abraham’s God commands you to give up something you have grown to love, a treasured possession or relationship or position God has given you, believe in God’s grace Just Like Father Abraham, and you’ll be blessed. When Abraham’s God tells you that your performance, no matter how poor, will never cancel his promises to you, believe in God’s grace Just Like Father Abraham, and you’ll be blessed. When Abraham’s God sacrifices his one and only Son to remove your curse of sin forever, believe in God’s grace Just Like Father Abraham, and you’ll be blessed.
The government George Washington left behind belongs to you as an American citizen. The grace on which Abraham relied belongs to you as a believer in God. Remember your father this week. Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on February 17, 2008
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