Lessons from the life of Abraham
Faith and Obedience: The Call of Abram
Welcome to this series of messages on the life of Abraham – or Abram as we know him up to Genesis 17. By studying the life of this man of faith we can learn so much that is relevant to us. In the story of his life we gain fresh perspectives on our Christian experiences! We come to appreciate just why this wonderful patriarch of old is described to us as our father in the faith and we – his children, according to Galatians 3:7.
We first come across Abram in Genesis chapter 11 which sets out the line of descent after the flood, from Shem through to Terah and his sons: Abram, Nahor and Haran. The family lived in the city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia. Ur, known as Ur of the Chaldeans, was an important cultural centre and its ruins are situated in modern-day Iraq. We know that Abram’s family to the children of Israel: were idol-worshippers. In Joshua 24:2,
God says
Long ago your forefathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the river and worshipped other Gods.
But Genesis 11:31-32 tell us that the family packed up and migrated:
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. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
What had caused them to move? Why did they suddenly set out for the unknown land of Canaan – only, of course, to settle down in the city of Haran in North western Mesopotamia? The answer is given to us in the beginning of Genesis 12. Abram had left his homeland as a direct result of God’s specific calling in his life
Gen. 12:1 says this:
The Lord had said to Abram “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
Shortly before he was stoned to death for his faith, Stephen said the following to the Jews:
‘The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. “Leave your country and your people.” God said, “and go to the land I will show you”. So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living’ (Acts 7:2-4)
Through Joshua, in Joshua 24:3, God described the overall journey and its results:
‘But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the river and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants.’
So Abram was called by God! While living in the land of death, a land of idolatry, he heard the word of God and responded.
In the same way, each of us has heard the voice of God and lived.
In John 5:25 Jesus said:
‘I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.’
Paul, in Romans 8:29, puts it this way; ..and those he predestined, he also called; those he called he also justified.
But Abram wasn’t just called to leave his native city, Ur of the Chaldeans. He was called to travel to the land of Canaan – the land that God would show him. And you and I weren’t saved just to escape this world of death and judgment. We’ve been delivered from this present evil world for a purpose – in our case, to inhabit a spiritual land.
Our Canaan is described in the book of Ephesians as ‘The heavenly places’ and it’s a place of fellowship and communion with God in our lives.
Yet it’s all too possible for us to be saved, to be called from our Ur of the Chaldeans - the place of idol worship - yet never enjoy the blessing of true fellowship with God in our lives!
Going back to our story, it’s obvious that Abram couldn’t fellowship with God in Ur of the Chaldeans. He had to leave his home and family and step out in faith. And neither can we have fellowship with God if we remain attached to this world. So when we’re called by God, the first thing he asks us to do, is to leave our country, our people and our father’s household. In other words, he requires us to turn away from our old way of life! All those worldly activities: those relationships with this world - with the people of this world - that would hinder us entering into full fellowship and communion with Him.
There is a spiritual land – a Canaan that awaits you. It’s a place of blessing, a place of service, a place of full fellowship with God!
But read again what happened to Abram in Genesis 11:41: 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.
This verse makes it quite clear that natural ties prevented Abram from fully responding to God’s call. God had said to him: “Leave your country, and your people and your father’s household” – and what does Abram do? He takes them all with him: his father, his brother Nahor and wife Milcah, and his nephew Lot!
Abram hadn’t let go of all those things that belonged to his old life and what happened?
Genesis 11:42: But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
Abram stopped short of the land! He was called to Canaan but he finished up living in Haran, in north-western Mesopotamia – and he was stuck there until his father died!
Perhaps his father, Terah, liked it in Haran. Perhaps Terah was just tired of travelling. Perhaps he was afraid to venture into the unknown. All we know is that Abram couldn’t move on until Terah had passed away.
How many of us have been called by God to fully fellowship with Him, to enjoy an intimate walk of love and fruitful service in our lives – and we’ve been held up in Haran? We’ve stopped short of the land of promise! We’re missing out on the spiritual blessings in heavenly places promised in His Word. All because we’ve only partially obeyed. We haven’t made a clean break with the world!
Abram stayed in Haran until his father died – until the ties of nature were broken by death. Only then was he able, unimpeded, to go on the place to where the ‘God of glory’ had called him.
We need to realise that human ties, and worldly influences, are all hostile to the realisation of God’s call in our lives. We’re so prone to take the lower ground. Time and time again we settle for less than what God calls us to. We stop short of Canaan!
Let’s not trivialise the call of God in our lives. It takes a great deal of faith to enable us to rise to the level of God’s thoughts and plans for us.
Paul realized this. He says to the saints at Ephesus:
‘I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints….” (Eph 1:17-19)
He goes on to say ‘I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.’ (Eph.4:1)
But we need to understand what God has called us to! We need to glimpse the love, joy, blessing, peace and victory he has in store for the obedient soul. You see, if we don’t understand the calling, we can’t walk worthy of it!
If Abraham had fully understood the truth that God had called him to Canaan – then he couldn’t have stayed in Haran!
Are you still in the Haran of your spiritual experience? Are you settling for second-best? If we really understand that we’re called with a heavenly calling – that our home, our hope and our inheritance are all above – in heaven where, according to Colossians 3: 1: Christ sits at God’s right hand, we would never be satisfied with seeking a reputation on this earth, being successful, making our mark- laying up our treasure in this world!
The two things are incompatible: we can’t serve two masters The heavenly calling isn’t a theory; it isn’t a philosophy. It’s either a Divine reality or it’s absolutely nothing! Abram hadn’t been called to Haran – he had been called to Canaan and God couldn’t be happy with him stopping short of that.
So where are you now? You’ve come to know the Lord as your Saviour and you’ve been called to walk with him in the light of His Word – but where are you now?
If we desire God’s approval, God’s presence in our lives; if we want joy, peace and love to be a daily reality – then we must be seeking by faith to act on His calling. We must seek to reach - in experience, in practice, in moral character - the point to which God has called us. It’s the point described by John when he says:
“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And that fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3)
Fellowship with the Father in his thoughts about his Beloved Son.
Fellowship with the Son in his absolute devotion and obedience to His father.
But such fellowship demands identification with Christ. And this fellowship, if it exists at all, must exist in two directions:
Fellowship with Him in his acceptance above.
Fellowship with Him in his rejection here below.
And how can this sort of fellowship become a reality in our lives? Well, In Abraham’s case – it was death that broke the link by which nature bound him to Haran. And in our case also, only death can break the link connecting us to this present world!
We must realise the truth that we have died in Christ, our Head and Representative.
Paul says in Romans 6:8: ‘Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.’
He says in Galatians 2:20: ‘I have been crucified with Christ…’
Our place in nature (as children of Adam) and our place in the world around us, are among the things that used to be – the past! They now belong to a previous life.
For what does Paul go on to say in Galatians 2:20?
‘and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me’
And that is exactly what Jesus meant when he said in Luke 9:23:
‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’.
We must realize the truth that we’ve been crucified with Christ and we must put the old life, the old ways, the old attachments where they belong – in the place of death!
This is because, as Paul tells us in Romans 6:4: having been crucified with Christ, ‘We were buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of God the Father, we too may live a new life.’
So we’re living a new life beyond the grave - forever separated, not only from the power and penalty of sin, but from this world.
The Cross of Christ is to us - like the Red Sea was to Israel. It separates us forever from the land of death and judgment. Only if we live as those who have been crucified with Christ, can we walk worthy of the Calling of God in Christ Jesus.
The same cross that connects me with God – is the cross that separates me from the world! In Galatians 6:14, Paul looked at the world as something which should be nailed to the cross. And He goes on to say that the world, in crucifying Christ, crucified all who belong to him. He says:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Acceptance with God - rejection by the world. The two things must go together! Acceptance with God makes us a worshipper and a citizen in heaven. Rejection by this world makes us a witness and a stranger on the earth. The cross has come between me and my sins – but it’s also come between me and the world. Because peace with God means hostility with the world. We can’t profess to enjoy the one and refuse to enter into the other!
We’re not told how long Abram stayed in Haran. We know that God graciously waited for him until he was free from nature’s hindrance and able to fully obey God’s call.
But notice one thing here – there was no fresh revelation to Abram’s soul during this time in Haran. God was silent! There was no communication!
We must act on the light that has been communicated – only then does God give us more. As we take one step, he then leads us on to the next.
‘Whoever has, will be given more’ (Luke 8:18); that’s always God’s principle. If we choose to stay in Haran, there will be no fresh communication – no wonderful glimpses of God’s beauty and sufficiency! And God will – reluctantly – leave us there! He’ll never force us to obey. He’ll never drag us along the path of true discipleship.
God always draws us along the path of true blessedness; joy; peace; and victory. But as we mentioned earlier, we must understand what he’s offered us in Christ Jesus.
If we don’t see a real advantage in breaking through all nature’s barriers to respond to God’s call, we lose out on the Divine blessings He has for us. We begin to calculate whether its worth all the bother; We weigh up sacrifices involved – hindrances; difficulties
We need to understand that there is true blessing in every act of obedience! Why? Because obedience is the fruit of faith and faith puts us in connection with the living God himself.
The writer to the Hebrews says this:
And without faith it is impossible to please God, for anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’ (Heb.11:6)
Without this faith, Abram would never have set out to a country he hadn’t seen. And without faith – without believing God, when He tells us of the glories, the blessings and the joy that are stored up for the obedient soul - we could never step out in faith, leaving the world and our old way of life behind us!
But true obedience isn’t legalism. It isn’t imposing harsh and strict rules. In fact, Colossians 2:20-23 says:
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!. These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body…
There’s an eternity of difference between true obedience and simply performing what we feel that God wants us to do!
In ‘Discipleship journal’, editor Susan Maycinik writes these words:
The line between obedience and performance can be a blurry one. Yet it is an important distinction to grasp, because obedience
leads to life and performance to death….
Obedience is seeking God with your whole heart. Performance is having a quiet time because you’ll feel guilty if you don’t.
Obedience is finding ways to let the word of God dwell in you richly.
Performance is quickly scanning a passage so you can check it off your Bible reading plan.
Obedience is inviting guests to your home for dinner.
Performance is feeling anxious about whether every detail of the meal will be perfect.
Obedience is following God’s prompting to start a small group. Performance is reluctance to let anyone else lead the group because they might not do it as well as you would.
Obedience is doing your best.
Performance is wanting to be the best.
Obedience is saying yes to whatever God asks of you.
Performance is saying yes to whatever people ask of you.
Obedience is following the promptings of God’s spirit.
Performance is following a list of man-made requirements.
Obedience springs from fear of God. Performance springs from fear of failure.
Jesus promised that His yoke is easy and his burden light.
You see, true obedience is the natural response of the new nature. Certainly, to this new nature, God gives precepts for its guidance. But there must also be suitable hopes and expectations for this new nature. If we’re to respond to God’s call, we must have an attractive object before us.
So God says to Abram:
‘the land that I will show you’ (Gen. 12:1)
This isn’t compulsion; this isn’t legalism - this is attraction!
God’s land, in the judgement of new nature – in the judgement of faith – is far better than Ur or Haran! Abram hadn’t seen the land, but it was God’s land, therefore faith considered that it was worth having!
Heb. 11:8: By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
Abram was walking by faith – not by sight. And that is how God calls us to walk. Abram hadn’t seen the land with his eyes – but he believed and that faith became the motivating principle in his life.
The African impala can jump to a height of over 3 metres and with this jump, can also cover a distance of greater than 9 metres. Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they can’t see where their feet will fall. Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see and with faith we are freed from the flimsy enclosures of life that only fear allows to entrap us.
But we have an advantage over the captive impala. We have the Word of God and although we may not see with our eyes, our faith rests on more solid ground than our senses. As God says in 1 Corinthians 2:9:
‘No eye has seen No ear has heard’
No mind has conceived
What God has prepared for those who love him’.
And though our senses can deceive us– God’s word never can! He has a promised land for us to enjoy right here on this earth: a Canaan to which he has called each one of us to inhabit.
But even when walking in Canaan, Abram could not have gone on unless God had revealed to him something infinitely more precious - infinitely more to be desired than anything that he could possibly hope for in his present existence in the land.
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In the words of Hebrews 11:9: By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Fellowship with God means separation from the world. Living here in Canaan means living as a stranger and pilgrim on this earth. And how can we do so unless we clearly see, as did Abram, that God has an eternal city awaiting us in heaven?
God promises us an eternal inheritance and what He’s done is given us a nature capable of enjoying that inheritance. God not only gives us a heaven to enjoy, He gives us a nature fitted to enjoy heaven – to long for Heaven. And this is necessary – for the natural man has no taste for heaven, its occupations or its occupants. In fact, if the unsaved were to get to heaven – they’d be miserable!
The natural man has no ability to surrender earth - and no desire to get to heaven. Certainly people have a natural desire to escape hell with its gloom and its misery. but the desire to escape hell and the desire to get heaven spring from two different sources; the former is in the old nature – the latter is only in the new!
So God doesn’t only forgive sin – he imparts a new nature which longs for heaven:
Phil 3:20-21 Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
God revealed to Abram a city which had foundations. And so God reveals to us - in the distance:
The Hope of glory.
A City which has foundations.
Many rooms in the Father’s Heavenly house. Golden harps / Green palms / white robes.
Everlasting association and fellowship with Him in regions of bliss and light where sorrow and darkness can ever enter.
The unspeakable privilege of being led, throughout the countless ages of eternity, beside the still waters and through the green pastures of redeeming love.
A nature which can enjoy heaven and a heaven for that nature to enjoy!!
God dealt with Abram that way; He revealed a better country!
God dealt with Saul of Tarsus that way. On the road to Damascus, He revealed to him a glory so bright that it closed
Paul’s eyes to the brightest glories this earth has to offer. He saw a heavenly Christ in glory and for the remainder of his life, that heavenly glory occupied his whole being!
He says in 2 Corinthians 4:17:
‘For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all’
When tempted to put our roots here below, when distracted by the empty pleasures of Haran, may we put aside the things that so easily beset us. May we reckon ourselves dead to sin and to the world, and set out with a confident step to live in the promised land, with Paul’s words in Phil. 3:8 ringing in our ears:
‘What is more, I consider everything a loss compared with the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ….’ (Phil. 3:8)
May God bless his precious Word to each one of us!
