When I taught the Disciple I Bible study, it was a startling discover for me to learn how
much the participants in that course disliked the Hebrew Scriptures. When they thought of
the “Old Testament” they thought of violence and war and all kinds of unpleasantness.
That’s unfortunate. Because without the Hebrew Scriptures, there would be no New
Covenant in Jesus Christ. But even more important, I think, we would have no major faith
stories. Sure, we would have the stories of Jesus’ life and teachings, but we would not have
the faith stories of an entire culture, the children of Israel. This morning I preached on the
opening to Genesis 12, the call of Abram. And without that little chunk of scripture, we
woldn’t have most of the Hebrew Scriptures, because that is where it all began, with a
promise God made to Abram. The tricky part of the promise, though, was that it required a
lot of Abram. It required faith. “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s
house to the land that I will show you.” When God promises us much, God requires much
from us. Or so it seems. Leave your home. Leave your family. Leave your country. God
was asking Abram to give up much of what was his identity. Could WE give up much of
what is OUR identity? And where was Abram expected to go? “...to the land that I will
show you.” That sounds like, “you’ll know it when you get there.” Is this blind faith or
what? Well, God was promising Abram this: “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.” Don’t we wish we
could get inside Abram’s head? Don’t we wish we knew how he was thinking, what
motivated him? Because Abram is putting all his eggs in one basket. Abram is believing,
absolutely, that this promise is worth giving up all that he will need to give up. However, I
think that there are many examples of other people who do this. They discover a goal they
wish to achieve, they believe that it can be achieved, and they are prepared to give up
whatever is necessary to achieve it. Indeed, we might even say that they become obsessed
with their goal. We DO know that they are absolutely, resolutely, committed to achieving
their goal. I think that this is true with people in business, with athletes, with musicians,
with artists. They all perceive a goal, a promise. They know that it’s not a freebie, but they
believe it’s worth the price they will have to pay; it’s worth giving up that which they will
sacrifice. The eleventh chapter of the letter to the Hebrews says it so well: “By faith
Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an
inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.” Now, I don’t think that faith
always requires us to “not know where we are going,” but we often may be unsure of what
the journey will entail.