Get Up and Go!

This sermon uses the scriptures Psalm 121, Romans 4:1-5, 13-17, and Genesis 12:1-4a.  It was preached on March 12th at Village Presbyterian in Richmond, VA.

Get up and Go!

Go!  That is what God told Abram.  Go!

Have you ever had that said to you? 
          Go!             Do!             Get moving!
I know I have heard that said to me more than once and usually with a sense of underlying urgency.
          “Let’s go or we are going to be late.”
          “Do this now because it is due by the end of the day.”
          “Get moving, something is about to begin.”
          Go!

But when God spoke to Abram, there was a deeper meaning than just a straight forward command saying Go!

In the Hebrew it has the meaning ‘get up and go’;
So, that still sounds like an imperative, an order,
          and it is,
          yet there is more…
The command ‘go!’ is followed by promises from God.
Promises God wants to give
      and all that is required of Abram is to get up and go.
There are blessings in Abram’s future; freely given blessings.
God is reaching out to him and offering him a future;
          This is call and response:
And Abram must respond to God’s call!
How does Abram respond to God’s command to go?
He responds with obedience and faith; this is the beginning of a journey.
This is not an easy call to responds to:
     he is told to leave his country
     and his kindred
     and his father’s house.
Imagine if someone said that to you.  Could you go?
What if it was God saying Go?

In Abram’s world there is uncertainty.

There is risk.
What dangers may Abram and Sara meet on the road?
How long will the journey take?
What comes next?
There is no map, no GPS, no time table -only faith.

Theologian Walter Brueggemann says:

          “to stay in safety is to remain barren, to leave in risk is to have hope”

This journey is about faith and hope; about a life of faith.

On this journey, Abram is taking a risk of faith as he is commanded to ‘get up and go’.
This is the beginning of the journey of who Abram will become –Abraham, the patriarch of a nation, God’s chosen people.
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.

The promises God makes to Abraham are not only for him, but for his descendants as well.

The promises made by God include descendants, land, and divine blessing. 
Divine blessing!
Abram begins the journey that will continue into future generations.
Even if the promises are not fulfilled in a present generation, the promises continue into the next.
There is always a continuation of the hope.

This new beginning is the start of the story of God’s covenant relationship with the nation of Israel.

Themes of promises, covenants, and blessings come before and after the call of Abram. 
God had hopes for Adam and Eve in the garden. 
God makes a covenant with Noah after the flood, never again to flood the world. 
Adam and Eve are creation, Noah is re-creation,
     and Abraham
          can also be seen as a beginning of something new; God’s hope for humankind.

All of humankind:

God’s blessings are not just for Abraham and his descendants, God blessings are for all.
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.”

The promises are inclusive.

And God’s promises continue into the New Testament,
     God’s new covenant with humanity;
     God’s gift of Christ Jesus.
God’s blessing is for all, not for only those who follow ‘the law’ (the Jews) but for all the nations of the earth (the Gentiles). 
According to Paul, Abraham is righteous by faith and God’s covenant is inclusive. 
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

Paul understands Abraham’s connection to God and to all the families of the earth:     the inclusive promise.

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)

Through Abraham, all nations are blessed. 

God does the blessing to all;
     the families of the earth cannot bless themselves.
Through Christ, there is new life for all;
          you and I cannot bless ourselves, save ourselves.
God reaches out to us,
          with love, and blessings, and mercy, and grace.
There is a purpose in our journeys,
     led by God’s guiding hand.

The Heidelberg Catechism asks the question:

          What do you understand by the providence of God?
 The answer:
The almighty and ever present power of God
by which God upholds,
as with his hand,
heaven and earth and all creatures,
and so rules them that leaf and blade,
rain and drought, fruitful and lean years,
food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—
all things,
in fact, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.

 God is active in life in the world.

God calls to us.
          How will you and I respond?
                   As individuals?   
                   As a community?          
                    As the church?
How has God provided blessings to you and to me in the past?
          Blessings of family, friendships, fellowship.
          Blessings or work, purpose, discipleship.
          Uncountable blessings in everyday life.
Do you see blessings in your life today?
          The trust of God’s ongoing providence in your life;
                   For today and tomorrow.
What hope do you and I have of blessings that are yet to come?
          It is not about what we want
                 but what God is calling us to do.
Abraham’s call story is a narrative of hope;
Whatever is to come next is guided by God’s promises. 
The ‘I will’ statements of God to Abraham give hope of what the future will be.
God’s call to you and to me may not be an easy journey.
There could be danger, risk, and uncertainty.

Looking at the Psalm from the call to worship this morning;

    it is a psalm about a journey.
Like so many psalms it recalls and gives thanks for help in the past;
     and prays and trusts for help in the present and future.
There is trust and courage present in the journey.
Psalm 121 is part of three songs of pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
          Psalm 120 speaks of longing for Jerusalem’s peace;
          Psalm 121 is an approach song; and
          Psalm 122 a song of arrival.
As the pilgrims approach Jerusalem:
           I lift up my eyes to the hills.
God’s protection has brought them within sight of the hills of Jerusalem.
     from where will my help come?
     My help comes from the Lord,
     who made heaven and earth.

In his commentary on the Psalms, James Mays says Psalm 121

     “speaks of a trust that can sustain the journey of life and the journey that life is.”

 Hope.          Faith.

You and I are called to journey, to ‘get up and go’.
That is life.
A life ever changing,
      a life where there is risk,
     a life full of faith and hope.
A life of promises and blessings given by God.
The promise God gave was not to Abram alone,
    but to his descendants;
          an inclusive covenant that is a blessing
          to all the families of the earth.
Paul reminds us God’s promise is realized through faith;
God’s promise for Jews and Gentiles,
     all nations.
You and I are all brothers and sisters in Christ.
We can respond to God’s call in our lives.
What is God’s call to you and to me?
          To reach out to other whether they are friends, neighbors, or strangers…
          To teach and spread God’s message of love and grace and proclaim Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior…
          To learn…
          To be in community and fellowship…
          To care for someone in need…
          To love life, embrace creation, and live in hope.

So ‘get up and go’!

     Go because God is guiding you.
     Do because you are a disciple of Christ.
     Get moving because the Holy Spirit is at work within you.
Go!