Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning again.

Everyone, we are, I'm excited to be starting our new sermon series with you today.

We have dedicated this year to focusing on loving our neighbors.

And we spent the last 3 weeks, looking at the command that Jesus gave us in the passage where Jesus most digs into that.

And today we are jumping all the way back into Genesis.

Now, Genesis may not seem like the most obvious place to go to talk about loving our neighbors.

I'm hoping to change your mind about that today because today we are going to be introducing the series.

And looking at why we're going to be going through the second main section of Genesis from 12 to the end up because really Abraham I'm going to argue was the first person called by God to love his neighbors and as the first person to do something, he made all the most obvious mistakes which makes him a great person.

He and his family to learn from and it hopefully this will give you a gift.

Way to Regenesis.

Because if you're like me and it's not always, it was, no, it has always been obvious why the stories about Abraham matter because you kind of got the sense will God promised.

He's going to do something later and Abraham just has to wait around for it to happen after he dies when he's not really doing anything.

But actually Abraham was a very important Mission.

We're going to talk about that today.

So we're going to spend basically up until Easter going through these stories.

And it all starts in Genesis, chapter 12, when God calls Abraham to begin this special mission, So here's the passage that we're going to be in today.

The Lord said to Abram go from your country, your people and your father's house 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 the earth will be blessed through you.

This is a call that God gives to Abraham and as well at this point is known as Abram but for Simplicity, understand, call me Abraham.

This is a call that God puts on his life and it is the call that he puts on God's people and it is the call that we share in today.

And again, if you're like me, most of the time I would have said well as to talk about Jesus and then just move on.

But actually, as we unpack, this calling, this calling is for Abraham and for every generation of God's people up to Jesus, and then leaving on after Jesus.

And so, we're going to unpack this passage to understand what exactly it is.

That God is calling Abraham to do and to participate in.

Because it sets off the all these Adventures happening, in Canaan, literally adventures in trying to figure out how to love your neighbor.

Let me convince you that this these instructions are about loving your neighbor.

Let's look at how it begins.

God said, go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land, I will show you now.

Remembered first thing I read Bible was written in English, and so there are nuances, right?

I am surprising.

And there are nuances that don't always come across any more.

So, here's the first nuanced.

I want to understand there are variety of ways to tell a person or ask a person to go somewhere and he, and there's a raise just like an English.

There are really polite light suggestion, ways of asking someone to do something and they were very Stern.

Uncompromising ways a commanding someone to do something, right?

We have a variety of ways.

You can ask anybody ever asks that use the wrong way to ask somebody in the wrong circumstance, right?

I have used a stronger.

I have told my wife to do something.

I should have asked you to do something.

I have also asked my son to do something when I should have told him to do something right.

Often happens that I'll have to.

Hey, everybody ready for morning prayers.

Let me rephrase that everybody, it's time for morning prayers.

In this case, when God tells Abraham to go, he tells Abraham to go.

He doesn't suggest, he doesn't invite, He commands.

One of the scholars that I looked at shows the translated this way.

Get yourself from your country, your people and your father's household to the land.

I will show you God is assuming a position of authority over Abraham and telling him.

This is where you must go.

Is another Nuance to the way that this Clause connects to the next one.

In the words that are used, there is a connection between the instruction that God gives the command that God gives Abraham to go and everything that comes after.

So another Acura more accurate way to translate, this might be get yourself from your people.

From your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you so that I may make you into a great nation for the purposes of me making you into a great nation.

Now that's in part because what I was telling us is that what God is going to do through, Abraham needs to happen in a particular place.

God is sending in there and say go there, so that I can bless you because my blessing involves you being there.

My intention is to bless you in that place.

Now really tells us why God picks one patch of dirt over another, why he picked Kaden, instead of Mesopotamia, but he did pick cane and he said, go over there because my plan involves you being in that place and blessing you in that place, meaning that if Abraham and stayed in Mesopotamia, all this other stuff wouldn't of happened.

Cartman saying, hey, I kind of rather bless you in Canaan so but you know, wherever you stay is fine, although bless you.

No, go over there because I want to do something with you in that place.

The first thing we see is it, God commanded Abraham to go on a mission.

This wasn't an invitation.

This wasn't saying hey Abraham, you won the lottery.

You get God's blessings and a new car and an all-expense-paid trip to Canaan is one of the reward.

It wasn't the Price Is Right.

This was a command and a mission and everything that comes out of it is part of that mission.

What is the mission where he says, I will make you a great nation and I will bless you.

Now, the word bless is not as big of a deal for us as it was in the time in which this was written because in a world of competing.

The whole point of religion in this, in this particular time was to get the blessing of the Gods, the gods, the world was just a hierarchy of people that you control and people that control you and people that can benefit you and that that structure just went up into the heavens.

So that there were Gods, who could help you, who could bless, you could be on your side, if you were loyal to them.

And the whole point of religion was to get the blessing of your God.

The blessing of your God.

Now when we talk about blessings off and we're thinking of health and wealth stuff cuz that's how the words have been co-opted to me, know God's going to bless you with.

Well he's going to bless you with possession and he's going to bless you with things and there's some material.

Prosperity was certainly part of that.

Health was part of the blessing of having children.

Lots of children was part of the blessing, but in general, I meant a lot more than that.

In general.

I meant the god, the God was with, you was active in your life was participating in what you were doing, because it was very possible and their mindset for the gods to forget.

You were there guards didn't care about most poor people, any realize they were there right in their mindset.

So for God to bless you say, hey, I noticed you, I see you.

I'm with you and I'm acting in your life.

So what God is saying here is go to that place, I am going to be present and active in your life.

Doesn't mean I'm going to get what he everything you want in fact, the major plot point is the fact that for 25 years all over and wants a son and he doesn't get one and it feels like time is running out but it does mean that everything that's happening and Abraham's wife, God is participating in God is active in and there's a purpose for all of it.

Class action park.

God's day, be present and active in Abraham's life.

The next part of this poem.

This instruction says I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.

This is a very important place.

You will be a blessing.

What that means is that ended when you understand that, the blessing is guy being active in your life and especially if you understand the mindset of this time where God had different localities and God may be a god, may be present or may not be present, or maybe pay attention or may not be paying attention to say.

You will be a blessing means that he will be a means of God being active around him because of God's.

God got a laser focus on Abraham right now.

I can you watch Lord of the Rings in the eye of Sauron, would look at something to be focused on a whole area and see or like God is following Abraham around until with God, is watching Abraham in Abraham goes into this town, God's watching this town, If you've ever been part of a small town of his own economy, you know, how a person who has a prosperous business, can be a major blessing to an economy to a town, right?

To one, material way that Abraham is blessing.

These, these communities is that God is blessing him to be a wealthy person and when he comes into a town, everybody's got work right?