“26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
27 This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
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Scholars disagree about how many people were alive at the time of Abraham, but it is certain that many of those who were alive then were fascinating individuals. There must have been adventurers, artists, rogues, and leaders of men. There must have been love affairs, family quarrels, and downright spooky incidents then just as there are today, and yet we only study the life of one man from that time. We pretty much ignore everyone else who was alive then and repeat the same stories about Abraham. Why?
Now if you are thinking, ‘well, it’s because we have so much more information about Abraham,’ then ask yourself, ‘why do we have so much more information about Abraham?’ What was so fascinating about this man that people chose to record his life story and have chosen to give it so much attention for thousands of years?
The reason is not found in Abraham himself. He was the son of a wealthy man and he was wealthy himself, but there were many wealthy people back then just like today. Abraham did move from one place to another and he did live a rather eccentric life, but none of that accounts for the fact that people and whole cultures have been paying attention to this man for thousands of years. Why is there still so much focus on this man?
People take an interest in Abraham because God took an interest in Abraham. God’s intervention in Abraham’s life is what has captured the attention of generations. I dare say there has never been a week in which this man’s name was not mentioned in every state in this country. People take an interest in Abraham because God took an interest in Abraham. God said, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Now, you are one these people on the earth of whom God spoke, and I’m assuming that you would rather be blessed than cursed, so according to God, you should take a real interest in Abraham. You should pay attention to him because the God who chose Abraham by grace is still choosing people by grace today. Abraham is the father of the graced.
God chose Abraham by grace. He still chooses by grace. I hope you know that grace. That is the claim of this sermon: God chose Abraham by grace. He still chooses by grace.
We will study this in three points. First: Abram’s ancestry. Second: leaving home. Third: leaving your gods. We will be drawing from verses 26-32 throughout the sermon for our three points: Abram’s ancestry, Abram leaves his home, and Abram leaves his gods.
First: Abram’s ancestry. I’ll be doing my best to call this man Abram where appropriate until God renames him Abraham. I think it adds to our understanding of the changes he underwent, and it reminds us that we too undergo changes as a result of grace
We first meet Abram in the midst of a genealogy. Genealogies are among the more difficult parts of Scripture to appreciate. If you are reading through the New Testament in a year with us, you recently came to Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. I doubt that you highlighted many of those verses as particularly meaningful to you just as I doubt that you prefer the genealogies 1 Chronicles 8 to the promises of Romans 8. I prefer Romans 8. Genealogies are difficult to appreciate.
Genealogies seem unimportant because their purposes and methods are so unfamiliar to us, but that does not make them irrelevant. A few months ago, people thought that the purity codes of Leviticus were irrelevant. Read through their treatment of transmittable diseases today, however, and they seem just like the purity codes of the CDC. Sometimes we don’t have the experience or sensitivity necessary to see how Scripture is relevant to life.
Genealogies are relevant. They trace history in broad strokes to show that God keeps His promises over generations. They show the importance that God places on His covenant promises to families. They also remind you that life has always been messy. Every time Scripture zooms in on any name in a genealogy, you see that those people’s lives were as messy as ours. Scripture is, after all, about God’s dealing with people and genealogies are filled with people. This should be of interest to us because we are people.
The specifics of this genealogy of Abram show that his life was as textured as yours. He had a brother named Haran who passed away. He and his father Terah later moved to a place called Haran, or perhaps they simply called it Haran after their loved one. We have an example of that here in Inwood. I live on Douglas Drive. Douglas Drive intersects with Douglas Avenue. From what I understand, both roads are named after a Douglas who died in war. His parents wanted to remember him. Perhaps Terah wanted to remember his son Haran and so named that city after his boy.
The specifics of this genealogy tell you that Abram’s wife Sarai couldn’t have any children. Some of us know that pain. When you talk to a couple and they tell you that they couldn’t have children, that isn’t a throwaway sentence. That tells you there are any number of currents under the surface of their lives and it tells you the same about Abram and Sarai.
These people were not just names. None of the people in this genealogy were simply names just as our church directory is not simply names. Scripture is about people and the God who, for reasons of His own understanding, takes an interest in people.
The book of Genesis is full of genealogies. Eleven of its fifty chapters contain some sort of genealogy. Now these genealogies are different and have different purposes. Some are short. Others are long. Some follow the line of promise that led to Jesus. Others follow deviations from that line. Some seem to be complete lists. Others are more interested in artistry. The numbers seven and ten factor heavily into some of these genealogies in order to stress particular individuals like Enoch or Noah.
This particular genealogy was included because it was the line of promise that led to blessings for the whole world. It led to Jesus. As Genesis scholar Gordon Wenham put it, “Though we may find names like Serug or Reu quite irrelevant, this genealogy states that they were most significant, for they were forefathers of the one who was to bring salvation to Israel and ultimately blessing to all mankind, a point Luke makes later by including these men in the genealogy of our Lord.” Genealogies show that God takes an interest in humanity and this interest is seen most clearly in His joining this family so we could join His.
Now the people of this genealogy were relatively common. Sumerian genealogies from about this same time trace the line of kings, but “Genesis deals with commoners not kings,” as scholar Gordon Wenham put it.
It is rather fascinating that Scripture focuses on common people. God didn’t choose Abram because Abram was somebody. God chose Abram because God chose Abram. That’s the doctrine of election. It is the grace of God. We are common people and the only thing that makes us special is that we have received grace. God chose Abram so that Abram could never get over being chosen by God. If you are chosen by God, that should be true of you too.
God’s choice of Abram is the major feature of this story. Scripture doesn’t show God comparing Abram’s worthiness with that of his brother Nahor. Scripture shows God choosing Abram because He chose Abram. That’s grace.
When the Lord appeared to Abram He said, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” It doesn’t take a grammarian to point out that the pronoun that matters in those sentences is “I.” “I will make you, I will bless you, I, I, I.” This is about God and it is only about Abraham because God chose Abraham.
And yet this is also about Abraham because God chose Abraham. He chose a flesh and blood man by grace to enjoy grace, which raises the question about you because you are a flesh and blood person; has God chosen you? You might be thinking, ‘well, I can see how Abram knew that he was chosen. God appeared to him. How can I know?’
You can know that you have been chosen by whether or not you have come to Jesus. M’Cheyne was right, “No one ever came to Christ because they knew themselves to be of the elect. It is quite true that God has of his mere good pleasure elected some to everlasting life, but they never knew it until they came to Christ. Christ nowhere invites the elect to come to Him. [He invites sinners] The question for you is not, am I one of the elect? But, [am I a sinner?]”
If you are waiting for God to appear to you as He appeared to Abram, recognize that He has. He took on flesh. He invites you to come.
God didn’t wait for Abram to call upon Him first. God appeared to Abram. God didn’t wait for you to ask for Jesus before sending him. He sent His Son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life. God always makes the first move, but He calls for a response. Abram responded. Have you?
We see what this response looked like in the life of Abram in our second point: leaving home. As we’ve seen the story of Abram is of interest because of God. Now God called Abram to leave home. ‘The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”’
That’s chapter 12 verse 1 and it appears that this interaction happened before chapter 11 verse 31, “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan.” The NIV’s translation of 12:1 is an attempt to make this clear; “The Lord had said to Abram.”
This order of events is confirmed by Stephen who, shortly before his death, told the spiritually blind Jews, ‘The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. “Leave your country and your people,” God said, “and go to the land I will show you.”’
God called Abram to leave home. Now sons didn’t simply strike out on his own in that culture. Fathers and sons, or sons-in-law, were knit together not only by blood but also by money. They operated the farm and ranch together and it seems that Terah had quite an operation. Some of you know the delicacies of this situation better than most. You are bound together by land. You are bound together by investments. This was such a heavy expectation that when Jacob wanted to leave his father-in-law’s farm, he ran away at night because he didn’t think his father-in-law wouldn’t allow it.
God told Abram to leave home. Scripture doesn’t record the conversations that happened between Terah and Abram after that vision. They would be fascinating to read. Scripture doesn’t record the conversations that led to Nahor staying while Abram and Terah left. It simply tells us that, “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.”
There is no word as to why they settled in Haran. There is no word as to why they stayed there until Terah died. Scripture doesn’t include the details of how this family handled God stepping into their story. It only included what is necessary to draw the reader to God.
That is important to recognize. Scripture doesn’t include everything you might want to know. It includes everything that is necessary to draw you to God. John ended his gospel making that point, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” He said, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
There are any number of events in the life of Jesus that you know nothing about because they weren’t recorded. Enough was recorded to show you that Jesus is the Christ and that by believing in him you might live. Not everything consequential or life-changing in Abram’s story was written down, but enough was written down for you to know that this God who called Abram still speaks and that you must respond to Him. Keep that framework in mind as you read God’s word. It won’t answer all your questions. It is, however, sufficient for you to hear the voice of God.
Abram left his home. He left his people. He left comfort and security. It’s hard to overstate the difficulty of that decision. When Ruth made the same decision, her mother-in-law Naomi praised her up and down. She praised her up and down because she was a true child of Abram. She gave up everything to follow God.
God still asks for that sort of faith. As Jesus said, “whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Abram was willing to lose his life to find it. I hope that you are too.
Abram responded to the word of God by obeying the word of God. He left Ur. When his father died, he left Haran. That is the sort of responsiveness that God has always looked for. That is what He is looking for today. He looks for people who respond to His word. “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.”
God might not tell you to leave home like Abram. You and Abram are, after all, very different people. God, will, however, tell you to make changes. He will tell you to leave a good deal behind. He will make you promises. He will, in short, treat you just like Abram.
If you respond like Abram, then the Bible says that you have faith like Abram. That is why the story of Abram is of interest to millions. It isn’t just a story about him. It is a story about everyone who has faith. That’s the song father Abraham. “Father Abraham had many sons and many sons had father Abraham. I am one of them and so are you. So let’s all praise the Lord.” If you have faith, this story is about you.
Abram left home. He also left his gods. That’s our final point: leaving your gods. Abram didn’t grow up worshipping the Lord. He grew up worshipping lies. As Joshua said, “Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.”
This family’s devotion to their gods is seen in their names. Terah’s name was derived from the name of a moon god just like my son Jonathan’s name is derived from the name of the Lord. Jonathan’s name means “gift of the Lord.” The name of the Lord is in his name. The name of Terah’s god was in his name. The same went for Laban and Sarai. Their names also included the names of moon gods. Ur and Haran, the two places where we know this family lived, have been confirmed as centers of moon worship. This was their way of life. They built their lives around moon worship the same way that we hope to build our lives around the Lord.
This means that Abram was not looking for the Lord. God didn’t look high and low to find a man who was looking for Him and then suddenly He found Abram. Abram was not looking for God. This is not a story about a man finding God. This is a story about God finding man. That, of course, is the story of the Bible and it reaches its climax in God becoming man to seek mankind.
God found Abram. He rescued Abram. He changed Abram’s life. Three years ago this month, I went back to Michigan for the funeral of my aunt Dawn Diane. She wasn’t my aunt by blood. She was sort of adopted by my grandparents. She was actually the daughter of a remarkably godless man and woman. The story of why and how my grandparents took her in is rather complicated. What isn’t complicated was the difference between Dawn Diane’s birth parents and my grandparents. That difference was obvious. That difference was Christ.
There is a marked difference people who drink themselves unconscious and people who read the Bible at every meal. There is a marked difference between people who swear as a dialect and people who pray. At the funeral it wasn’t hard to tell who was part of Dawn Diane’s birth family and who was part of her adopted family.
It wouldn’t be hard to tell the difference between the moon worshippers in Ur and the man of God Abram became. Grace changes a man. God chooses people to change people. Grace says, ‘come as you are,’ and you find yourself changed.
God knew what he was getting when he called Abram. He knew he was calling a moon worshipper. He knew he was calling a sinful man. He knew he was calling a man who, as we will see, would throw his wife under the bus to save his own skin.
God knew what he was getting when He called you. He wasn’t surprised by any skeleton’s in your closet. He knew about them. He hasn’t been surprised by any sin lingering within you. He knew that was part of the package when He chose you and of course He chose you to change you. That’s grace.
If God is calling you to grace today, He knows what’s He’s getting. It is, after all, His servant who said, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” You are not going to tell God anything about you that He doesn’t already know. None of it stopped Him from finding Abram. None of it stopped Him from sending His Son.
Abram responded to that grace. He left everything behind, and he did it happily because he knew he had found so much more. Jesus said that everyone who finds God feels the same. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” That’s Abram, but, of course, this isn’t just a story about Abram, it’s about us too. The question is put to you—is that you? Have you responded to grace? Amen.