'How to Handle Life's Transitions'



“When God Calls, How Do You Answer?”(Genesis 11.27- 12:9)A sermon preached by Pastor Kevin Livingston at Clairlea Park Presbyterian ChurchSeptember 15, 201927?Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.?28?Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.?29?Abram and Nahor took wives; 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 Milcah and Iscah.?30?Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.31?Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there.?32?The days of Terah were two hundred five years; and Terah died in Haran.12?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.?2?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.?3?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.” 4?So Abram went, as the?Lord?had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.?5?Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,?6?Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.?7?Then the?Lord?appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring[c]I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the?Lord, who had appeared to him.?8?From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the?Lord?and invoked the name of the?Lord.?9?And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.How many of you here today are still living in the house in which you were born? … So that means that rest of us have moved, at least once. Whether you’ve moved to new place just a few blocks from your old home, or moved from another city or province, or event taken up residence in a whole new country - who of us hasn’t felt a bit like Abraham must have felt, on his long journey from Ur to Canaan? I’m not like Abraham in a lot of ways, but what I do have in common with him is changing my address. I’ve moved around a lot in my time. I spent my growing up years in Seattle, but then went off to college, living in residence, and spent two summers working out of state. And then it was off to Mexico and Honduras for fifteen months serving with the Latin America Mission where I met my dear bride Irene. And then it was off to seminary in southern Calfornia and then to bonnie Scotland for doctoral studies, and then to Vancouver, B.C. for my first congregation… and on and on… and now here we are at Clairlea Park Church. That’s the wandering life of a pastor… at least this pastor. As best I can recall, I’ve lived in eleven different cities in my adult life. And even though that may sound like a lot, one recent study I read states that the average North American now moves 11.4 times in his or her lifetime, so I guess I’m here for good! We truly are a mobile society.Our Scripture reading today is God’s call to Abram (and for convenience I’ll refer to him by his later name, Abraham), a man who heard God calling him to a new place, and to a new adventure of faith. The story of Abraham and his wife Sarah marks a major transition in the story of the Bible. Here in Genesis 12, we move from a general, universal history of the world to the more particular history of God's Chosen People, beginning with promise God makes to Abraham right here in our chapter.But let me back up and remind us how we got here… It all began with a beautiful creation, and with human beings made in God’s image, made to reflect God’s goodness, wisdom and love. In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lived in harmony with God, with each other, with the creation around them, and with themselves. But then our first parents fell into sin. They closed their hearts to God and disobeyed his law, which resulted in a breakdown in their relationship with their Creator and with each other. And nothing’s been the same since.But God didn’t give up on humanity. Even after Adam and Eve sinned, God still allowed them to live and he clothed them to cover their shame. And this pattern is repeated throughout the early chapters of Genesis. After Adam and Eve’s son Cain's sinned by murdering his brother Abel, God put a sign upon Cain to protect him from reprisal. After the great flood, God promised Noah that he’d never destroy humankind again by such a great catastrophe, and he gave a rainbow in the clouds as a sign of his covenant. And after people built the tower of Babel to make a name for themselves and show their proud independence from God by building their own stairway to heaven, “the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth” (Gen. 11.9).But God hadn’t given up on humanity. God hates our sin but never stops loving us. God's mercy always triumphs over judgment (James 2:13). And so we see in chapter 12 a new beginning between God and his creation. God called one man to follow him and to be the channel of God’s saving grace to the whole world. Abraham was a man of faith and upright in character. Not perfect by a long shot, as we’ll see in the coming weeks, but he was faithful and obedient. God's saving purpose for the world was now focused on a specific person. God would now speak to one man. Listen again to the words the?Lord?said to Abraham: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.?2?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.?3?I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and [through] you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”Here in these words, Abraham is faced with a gift and a task. God will bless Abraham by making his name great, and by giving him a family and a land to call their own. This family God is promising to bless Abraham with would later be called the people of Israel. God was making a new beginning to help the human race, through Abraham and his descendants the people of Israel, preparing the way for Jesus to come as our Saviour. In a word, Abraham has been blessed in order to be a blessing to the whole world.That was the Gift – the Promise – God was making. But there was also a Task, a demand. God's call required a response from Abraham. It wasn’t going to be easy to follow this God. Abraham was asked to leave the security of his country and his family and go "to the land that I will show you" (12:1). Abraham would have to rely entirely upon God. If Abraham obeyed, God would bless him. In fact, the word "bless" is such a key word that it’s used five times in verses 2 & 3 of our passage.And how did Abraham respond? His answer is described in one Hebrew word at the beginning of verse 4, which is translated "so Abram went." We don't know the anxiety and fears he must have felt. We don’t know the careful deliberation or the weighing of options that must have raced through Abraham’s mind as he thought about whether to respond to this radical call to pack his bags and journey into the unknown. All of those emotions are summed up in the one Hebrew word - "so Abram went." It was an act of radical faith and trust and obedience that changed the course of history. As Abraham moved from place to place, as we’ll see in the coming weeks, two things mark his wanderings - the tent and the altar. In fact, the tent and the altar may be symbols of Abraham's life. The tent, representing his earthly pilgrimage journeying from place to place, living on the go, through changing circumstances and challenges; and the altar, representing his utter reliance on God, his resolute trust in the God who’d called him.Perhaps we can learn from Abraham how moving can be a blessing and not a trauma. But we don't actually have to be moving house for this lesson to apply to our lives. We’re really talking about how to handle the transitions in our lives.?Every one of us is faced with moving, even if it is moving from one stage in life to another. Think for a moment about the transitions taking place in your life. As I look over this congregation, I see people who are facing all kinds of life transitions. Some people are like our daughter and her husband in Boston who have a new baby and they’re still adjusting to getting up in the middle of the night. Some of us are getting new names like grandma and grandpa. Some of us are adjusting to the empty nest for the first time; your kids have recently moved out leaving you alone in that big old house, which now feels empty. Some of us are living with our teenagers, our parents, our in-laws, and at times it can feel claustrophobic and exhausting and filled with conflict. Some of us have had deaths in our family recently and we’re being forced to move to a place in our lives without that dear loved one. Some of us are working our way through high school or college or our first real job, and we’re about to make a transition to another stage in life. Some of us are facing new jobs or new responsibilities in our jobs. Or we’re facing retirement. Or health issues.These are just some of the many ways we can identify with the changes old Abraham faced.?Abraham can help us learn how to handle life's transitions in ways that are creative and redemptive. So what can we learn from Abraham’s response to God that can help us handle the transitions of life?I want you to notice that the first thing Abraham did was to listen. In the midst of life's transitions, we’re often surrounded by the noise of confusion and that dreaded word - "change." Everybody has a certain fear of change, but we all have to face change in this life. One of Abraham’s great traits was that he listened to God’s voice. He didn’t just ignore God, trying to avoid the responsibility. No, our text says Abraham heard the voice of God saying to him, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to a land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). Now I must confess to you that I’ve never heard God speak to me in an audible voice. I’ve known some people who have, and that’s wonderful. But for me, it’s usually been a still, small voice speaking as I’m reading the Bible or praying; or in the middle of a conversation with a friend; or when I’m walking or watching people or sitting in a quiet place or suddenly being overwhelmed by a beautiful sight--- and sometimes even in church while I’m worshipping with other people. I sense God’s presence, God’s beauty, God’s comfort, God’s gentle rebuke, God’s direction for me. Sometimes spontaneous thoughts come to me about a person to pray for, or a situation in my life that calls for my response, to do something or say something.In a few weeks, we’ll hear the story of how Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. And on this occasion, God came to Abraham almost in disguise, as one of three men. If Abraham hadn’t been alert, he might have missed God altogether. Dear people, we need to be alert to all the possible ways in which the Lord might appear to us. It’s easy to grow spiritually blind or deaf – to read our Bibles as though it was “just a book,” to listen to a sermon and dismiss the speaker as “just another preacher,” to talk to another Christian and think “That’s just Frank, or Susan,” or read a Christian book as though it were “just another story.” But if we’re alert, looking and listening for the Lord, we will hear his voice through that Bible passage or sermon or fellow-Christian or book or in a hundred other ways. As we read or talk or look or listen, there’ll be an inner voice saying, “That’s my message for you!”Sometimes we come to a situation or person in a sleepy or critical mood, with no sense of expectancy, and so we hear and see nothing from the Lord, but I’m sure that if we come alert and expecting God to speak to us, he will do just that. He can even speak to us, as he’s done to me, through a non-Christian. So be prepared.It's difficult to know God's will in advance. But Abraham would teach us to stop and listen to that still small voice. God is speaking to us all the time. The question is, are we expecting to hear from God?And this leads me to the second thing we can learn from Abraham when it comes to facing the transitions of life – Abraham put his absolute faith and trust in God, even in the face of the unknown. Many years later, in his letter to the Roman Christians, the apostle Paul explained Abraham’s faith like this:Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.?He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. (Romans 4:20-21, NLT).Faith means taking God’s word to be personally true in my life. How do we become Christians? By claiming the promise Jesus makes that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. How are we filled with the Holy Spirit? By claiming Jesus’s promise that God would give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. How do we find victory over sin and temptation? By believing in the promise of God. In other words, faith is trusting in the faithfulness of God. Faith is also a living thing, like a muscle, which God wants to strengthen and therefore God tests. Richard Wurmbrand, whose faith was tested for 14 years in a communist prison, said that faith could be expressed in two words: though and yet. Job in the midst of his sufferings was able to say: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job. 13:15). Can you say that about your life and your relationship with God: Though this may happen, yet I will trust him, though my prayers seem unanswered, yet I will trust him; though I may face huge disappointments, yet I will trust him?As we’ll see in a few weeks, Abraham and Sarah’s though and yet kind of faith was quite staggering when you remember that God promised them a son when they were both advanced in age, and they had to wait twenty-four years for God’s promise to come true!Let me ask you a personal question to ponder: is there a situation in your life right now for which you could claim a promise of God? There’s one final lesson we can learn from this story. When Abraham heard God’s call, he packed his tent and moved out. He changed his address, but he never lost a sense of God’s presence in his life. What was the first thing he did when he arrived in a place? He built an altar to God. Our text says he did it twice, at Shechem and again near Bethel. And the implication is that every time he pitched his tent, he built another altar to the Lord. And that’s the third lesson we can learn from Abraham - build an altar no matter where you are. In the Old Testament, an altar was a place of sacrifice, a place where an offering of animals could be made, to show one’s sorrow for sin and as a way of communing with God. Altars were holy places, set-apart places, where God chose to meet with his people and bring them his blessings. In the Bible, we read again and again how Noah and Abraham and many others built altars as place-markers to commemorate and remember their encounters with God. And even after they fell into disuse with sacrifices being made in the Temple in Jerusalem, these altars dotting the landscape across the land of Israel remained as visible, tangible reminders to future generations of the fact that had God met his people again and again.Altars were the tangible symbol of times and places where God has been present with his people. In his commentary on this passage, Derek Kidner makes the following observation: “The only structures [Abraham] left behind him were altars [for God]; no relics of his own wealth.” [Derek Kidner, TOTC, 115].When our children and friends and loved ones look back on our lives, what will they see? Will they see monuments to our own achievements, our wealth, our accomplishments? Or will they see altars of our relationship with God, the ongoing impact of the lives we lived and the prayers we prayed and the people we loved in Jesus’ name? I wonder what our loved ones will see? ConclusionDear friends, the Lord is very present with us during times of change and crisis and transition. Just remember to be like Abraham, attentive and listening to God’s voice; obediently trusting what God says, and living our lives in ways that show the presence of God to those around us.Beginning here in Genesis 12. God begins to form a community for himself, a people to call his own. And God asks for just one response: Trust Me. Walter Brueggemann says that in the Bible, trust, to respond in faith is to “embrace the future so passionately, the present can be relinquished for the sake of the future.” Abraham’s story reminds us that we’re called into the unknown…called out onto this long bridge where we can’t see exactly what the other end looks like, but the bridgekeeper says “walk out anyway…it’s okay.” We’re called to trust our plans, our children and grandchildren, our futures, our very lives to God… and see what happens. Just like Abraham, we have no idea what might happen. We know there will be some joy and triumph, some pain and loss, along the way. But God wants us to take the risk of faith. Trust Me.Where is God calling you to trust him this week? Where is God calling us as a congregation to trust him? Like Abraham, we stand on the brink of the unknown. And then we hear that word that comes from God: “Go from your comfortable country that you know…and I will bless you and make you a blessing to others. But I want you to trust me.” God called and Abraham went. In our lives as followers of Jesus, in our life together as a church family here at Clairlea Park, may we do no less! ................
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