“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And 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 him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So, Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him.”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

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Have you noticed that there are those teachings in the Bible which we know quite well, but we still manage to forget about them, we comfortably ignore them. Today’s meditation is about one such teaching.  

Genesis 12. The call of Abraham. Almost every Christian would have read or at least heard about what happened with Abraham. Still, we tend to forget about what our God teaches us through this event.

So, what happened to Abraham? God Yahweh intruded into his life and said: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Interesting development. Would you like to swap with Abraham?

To take his place? “Leave your country, your community, your relatives and go where I’ll tell you to go.” Isn’t this an exciting invitation? We live in our countries and that’s our environment, we know how to live there.

We live in our communities, and our communities provide for us, there is everything we need for our lives. We live in our families, and they are our closest support network, we know we can rely on them if anything happens.

Sure, we all have our problems, but living in your own country, your community and family we can manage quite well, we can feel that we are … in control, so to speak. We know where to look for help, how to solve our problems, etc.

But then: “Leave everything!” See how radical this request was. “Leave everything that you are used to, and now – trust that I will provide for you everything that you may need. Just follow me!”

Sounds bizarre. Who would agree to do something like that? That seems like madness. Why would Abraham do it? The answer is – for God’s blessing. “Abraham, do what I say and I will bless you and you will be a blessing for many.” This was the promise – “I’ll bless you and you will be a blessing for many.”

Fine, now it begins to make sense. Who doesn’t want God’s blessings! But how do we often understand God’s blessings? What are those blessings that we usually have in mind? Good, healthy, peaceful and prosperous life.

These all can be called God’s blessings, of course. But is that what God Yahweh had in mind when He called Abraham and promised to bless him. Just consider the life of Abraham! Sure, he had some good things going on as well.

But so often he was in danger, in far lands, among strangers, in war, in ongoing tensions with his wives, God testing him, and so on. What did God have in mind when He said “I will bless you”? Can you think of the answer?

He was talking about the greatest blessing that any human being can have, and it is – God’s own presence with us. “Abraham, leave everything, trust me, and you will experience my presence as never before, and you will learn that if I am with you, you don’t need anything else. And I will make you a blessing to others.”

How was Abraham a blessing for others? Did he make others prosperous and give them a peaceful life? Not exactly. But wherever he went, he worshiped the true God and he proclaimed this gracious and merciful Creator and Redeemer.

The blessing that Abraham brought to all people was infinitely greater than simply prosperous life. As he followed this God, and as God walked with him, Abraham brought to other God’s very presence, forgiveness and eternal life.

These are the greatest blessings that any human being can hope to receive – God’s presence, forgiveness and eternal life. And these are the greatest blessings that we could ever hope to give to others.

Now, let’s talk about us. Do you think that this event has any significance for us as Christians, or is it just something that happened? I already asked you earlier – would you like to be in Abraham’s place? Of course, we can’t do that.

However, when Jesus sent you the Holy Spirit, when He made you His disciple, He did command you, each one of you – follow me! On the one hand, Jesus doesn’t ask all of us to leave our countries, communities, families and to go who-knows-where.

But on the other hand, His call to you to follow Him is as real and as serious as His call to Abraham. What do you think, what exactly does it mean for us here in Adelaide in 2023? What does the Triune God expect from us?

We could say that, essentially, He expects from us the same that from Abraham. What is it? First, what it is not. Let me ask you, are you sure about your eternal fate? Do you know what Jesus Christ will say to you on the last day?

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Mt 25:34) This is what He will say to you. Can you be sure? Have you lived a perfect life? Of course, not!

But you can be sure, because you are baptized. Because in your baptism you were united with Jesus. He has taken upon Himself all your sins – past, present and future, and He has promised to have you with Him in the age to come. That is God’s promise to you. Unshakable. Unchanging. Hold to it, treasure it!

This tells us that what Jesus expects from us is not about our salvation. God’s forgiveness and eternal life are yours already, as they were Abraham’s already before he was called “follow me!” Then what is this call about?

We could say, it is about leaving our comfort zones so that God can bless us and make us a blessing to others. What does this mean practically? First, about leaving our comfort zones. Not so long ago I had a conversation with a pastor who had lived in different continents and witnessed how the Church grew.

Reflecting on the LCA he said it often seems that we are still living in the past. That for many Lutherans their future hopes for their congregations are – to be again like they were 30 years ago.

That we are fixed on our glorious past, not on the future. As that pastor had observed, for too many the Church is mostly about… me, about what I like, what I prefer, what I am used to.

We laugh about these things, but many of you would know sad stories, where for some members their place in pews was more important than Jesus and the Gospel. For others, some elements of interior or a certain music may have been more important than forgiveness and eternal life.

Such an attitude could almost be summarized as: “I don’t care if others perish, as long as I don’t need to change or do anything.” This is how strongly attached we can become to our own comfort. It is especially sad because such Christians are, on the one hand, very close to Jesus, but, on the other hand, so far from Him.

When the Gospel really sinks in, to the heart of our hearts, and we finally understand – I am a selfish sinner, I deserve God’s anger and rejection, but Jesus Christ has taken my place. He received God’s anger and rejection that I deserve.

Now He graciously forgives me for all the suffering I have caused Him, and He gives me His place in the Father’s heart. He desires to have me, unworthy and ungrateful, with Him in eternity. When this sinks in, it transforms us.

After the Service we don’t want to talk about the weather, but about the Gospel we just heard. We want to talk about this God. We want to tell others about Jesus. The Holy Spirit takes us over and divine joy abounds…

I wish I could preach in a way that you all could experience this joy. Because when you do, nothing else matters. Jesus calls you: “Follow me!” and we jump to respond: “Here I am Lord!” I pray that our gracious Lord will bless us all with this joy.

Now, it is good to reflect, how many friends do we have who are not Christians? It is great to spend time in joyful Christian fellowship. We need more of that. But if that was all that we are to do, God Yahweh would have said to Abraham: “Just stick around your fellow believers and enjoy yourself.” He didn’t say that.

Jesus would have said to His disciples: “Guys, stay close and appreciate one another’s company.” Instead, He said: “Go and make disciples of all nations!” The same He commands to us as well.

But… we do often worry about how this may go. What if we get rejected? It does happen. What if I mess up, I don’t feel like I am equipped to do this? What if they say something and I don’t know how to respond? We worry.

The comforting news is that God’s favour doesn’t depend on how many times we have proclaimed Jesus or even how many people we have brought to this congregation. Our place in New Heavens and New Earth is secure because of what Jesus has done for us, for you. That won’t change.

But if we don’t respond, we may miss out on something special. God said: “I will bless you.” Remember? “I will bless you with my presence. You will experience me closer than ever. As you go where I send you, I myself will go with you.”

It simply means that we may miss out on one of the greatest joys. On the joy which we experience when we try to bring the Gospel to others. When we pray and consider how to tell them about what this God has done and prepared for them.

When we try to bring them into divine fellowship with the Father and the Son and all the saints. “Come and see and taste that this God is good, He wants to be your God, He is waiting for you to bless you, come, let me introduce Him to you!”

Many of you would have experienced this joy. When you pray for someone, when you study Scripture and consider how to tell them about Jesus, when you discuss with your brothers and sisters how to do it winsomely.

When you finally have an opportunity to speak to those you care for the words of eternal life… how would you describe your feelings? Joy, divine joy, the presence of the Holy Spirit… We can experience it already now. This is what it means – “I will bless you and you will be a blessing.”

One sermon probably won’t change much. But I invite you to prayerfully consider these matters. The future of the Church is glorious. For this is not ours, it is Christ’s Church. And there will be a lot of joy as many come to Jesus.

For us the question is, do we want to be blessed by God? Do we want to experience the joy of His presence? Do we want to be a blessing for others? For your Heavenly Father certainly wants to bless you. He most certainly does.

I pray that we all could respond as Abraham did: “Here I am, Lord! Show me, how do you want to bless me? Show me how you want to bless others through me! Here I am. Bless me and make me a blessing!”

Amen.