Bible Stories: Call (Genesis 11:1-10a, 27b-30, 12:1-4a, 6-8a)

Bible Stories: Call (Genesis 11:1-10a, 27b-30, 12:1-4a, 6-8a)

I’m celebrating my first anniversary at Roberts Park. Thank you all for welcoming me so warmly.  I don’t think I’ve ever shared my call story with you. Today is as good a day as any because we’re talking about the call of Abraham.

In 1994, I was working for International Multifoods when they sold our division. As a result of the sale, I was laid off.  It shook me enough to cause me to ask God for guidance. When others said they heard the Lord say this or that, I always thought they were kinda weird. I had never heard God speak. But now I was asking God to speak to me. “Lord, I hear that you have a plan for people’s lives. If that’s true, I’m listening. Let me know your plan for my life. I want to do Your will.”

I never actually heard God, but things started happening that looked like God was behind them. I went to an outplacement firm to start a job search. Part of the process was a strong preference survey, which matches work preferences to vocation. I had never heard the difference between an occupation and a vocation. In my mind, they both meant work. A vocation is a calling or passion. I was in an occupation, applying my skills to a job for which I had zero passion. In the survey results, ministry was the top match.  Engineering was hallway down the list. When I complained to my wife, Michele, she said, “I don’t know why you’re surprised. You’ve talked ministry before.”  It’s true! Since I was 11 or 12 years old, people in church would sometimes say, “Have you ever thought about being a minister?” I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather do less!

It’s just not cool!

Do you hear the call of the world in what I said? “It’s just not cool!” If I had any kind of vision for my life, it was to fit in. I wanted to be seen as likable and cool. But now God was calling me to a different path.

As I told my friends that I was considering the ministry, they all said these exact words, “That doesn’t surprise me, you’d make a good one.”

I heard that exact phrase so many times I began to wonder if God was speaking to me through them. I decided to check out my theory by testing it on a friend that I knew was anti-church.  I told him “You’re not going to believe this, but I’m actually thinking about going into the ministry,” fully expected him to laugh in my face.  He quietly took a sip of his beer, set it back down, and said, “That doesn’t surprise me, you’d make a good one!”  I couldn’t believe it!  God was speaking… and it scared me.  I felt like my life had turned upside-down. God had never dealt with me in this way, but that’s because I had never fully surrendered to God.

At that time, both of my pastors at First UMC in Noblesville were called to new appointments. I was asked to lead the congregation in the farewell liturgy. After the service, one person after another said, “You did such a nice job up there. Have you ever thought about being a minister?”  Each time I heard it, it was like a hammer hitting my chest. At the church picnic afterward, the question kept coming, “Have you ever thought about being a minister?” I didn’t tell them I was in the middle of a call experience. How could I? I was having trouble believing it myself.  Then an elderly lady, I didn’t even know, came up to me. She laid her shaking hand on my shoulder and said, “You did such a nice job, young man. Have you ever thought about being a minister?” I was so overwhelmed I sat down at a picnic table and began to cry. I told Michele, “Get me out of here! I can’t take any more of this!” That afternoon I surrendered. I told God, “OK! If that’s what you want, I’ll go.”

Today we’re wrapping up the preaching series Bibles Stores, in which I’ve hoped to help you experience the early chapters of Genesis in a different light. I told you the early chapters of Genesis are like an overture to a symphony. Stories like Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah’s Ark announce theological themes that will be come in fuller detail throughout the entirety of scripture.

We’ve explored themes like God as sovereign creator, humanity made in God’s image, Sabbath, holiness, chaos and the persistence of sin, blessing through obedience, salvation through covenant, and Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Now we reach the climax of these stories, the call of Abraham.

After the great flood, the descendants of Noah’s family plan a city with a tower that reaches the heavens. Genesis 11:1 describes the people as united in one language, having the same words, which seem redundant until you realize the Hebrew word translated as “words” can also be read as “business, affairs, or commandments.” The people were united not only by speaking the same language; they also had the same agenda.

“Let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves…” (Genesis 11:4)

The people of Babel wanted to make a name for themselves. In their desire to exalt themselves like the gods, I hear the echo of the serpent tempting with forbidden fruit. “Eat and you will be like God!”

God is alarmed by their lofty ambitions. There will be no end to what they may try in their lust for glory. So God confuses their speech, so that they cannot understand each other. The Hebrew word translated as “confused” means “to mix, dilute, or water it down.”

What’s implied is the doom of Israel. Because they failed to remain separate in holiness from other nations, but instead mixed with them, intermarried with them, and worshipped their gods, they lost everything and were scattered among the nations.  Israel’s guilt is prefigured in the Tower of Babel story. They were exiles in Babylon because they had mixed with foreign nations. They were unfaithful to the living God. Israel was scattered among the nations and Jerusalem lie in ruins.

Then God called Abraham. We learn that Abraham comes from the line of Shem, Noah’s son. Ironically Shem means “name, or fame, glory and renown.”  Look at how God addresses Abraham.

“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

(Genesis 12:1-3)

God said that He will make Abraham’s name great. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam recognize Abraham as the example of faith, to trustingly follow the call of God.

God told Abraham to “go” and Abraham “went”. The word “go” and “went” are the same Hebrew word, halak, which means “walk.” The Jews have a collection of religious law called Halakah. Their walk with God is to keep the covenant, and by doing so, be blessed by God to be a blessing to all.

Abraham arrives in Canaan and God promises the land to Abraham’s descendants after him. Abraham settled between  Bethel and Ai. Bethel means “House of God.” It’s the place where Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, will see a vision of a stairway to heaven.  Ai means “heap of ruin.” It’s also a place of importance in Israel’s future.

After the battle Jericho, when the walls of the city miraculously fell, the Israelites attacked Ai, but they lost. 36 Israelites died.  Joshua was heartbroken. Why hadn’t God given them victory?  It was because one Israelite had stolen from God. Everything from Jericho, including its treasure, was dedicated to the Lord. Everything was to be burned in a sort of first fruits offering.  But one man secretly kept silver for himself. All Israel suffered because of this selfish choice.

Set before us in the stories of the Tower of Babel and the Call of Abraham, are two approaches to life. One path is to go out there and get what’s yours, looking out for number one, and making a name for yourself.  The other is to humbly follow the call of God so that your life might be a blessing to others.  Instead of seeking glory for yourself, you seek God’s glory, which God gladly shares with those who love Him. Abraham’s settlement between Bethel, the house of God, and Ai, the heap of ruin, is a way of offering these two ways through life. Humans are always somewhere between the blessing of life with God, and ruin caused by our selfish ambitions.

We have a choice to make. God is calling “Go”, walk with me and I will bless you to be a blessing. Or you can follow the world’s calling, “Get you some!”  I leave you with Psalm 1, the two paths.

Happy are those

    who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or take the path that sinners tread,

    or sit in the seat of scoffers;

but their delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and on his law they meditate day and night.

They are like trees

    planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

    and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper.

The wicked are not so,

    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

    but the way of the wicked will perish.

Which path will you chose?