Bible Study for Texas lesson for Dec. 2
Blessings should be 'flow-through' propositions
__Genesis 11:27-12:9
___11:27 This is the account of Terah.
___Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. 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 both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
___31 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.
___32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
___12:1 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.
___2 "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. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
___4 So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
___6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
___8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
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____By Amelia Bishop
___"Think about it," my friend said. "So many things in life are a matter of 'flow in and flow out.' If either end gets stopped up, there's a mess in the middle. And remember--the person involved is the middle!"
___Simple words, simply put ... as truth often is.
___In other words, my friend was saying, it is a flow-through proposition.
___A few years ago, I heard a parallel word-picture: "The gospel comes through us on its way to someone else."
___That's one of the best definitions of blessing I've heard. When we share what comes to us, we validate the process.
___This week we begin a unit of study which is decidedly applicable to life and living, whether we think in terms of our todays or our tomorrows. It was true in the past also, as we shall see in the life of Abraham, the man to whom God said, "And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:3).
___That is indeed quite a promise.
___It's also quite a responsibility.
___The two go together.
___Abraham the man. Where did he come from? What was his family like?
What about God's call and his response? What happened then? And what does this story say to all of us today?
___Abraham's background
___In Genesis 11:27-29, we find a number of names: Terah, Abram, Nabor, Haran, Lot, Sarai, Milcah. A short list by biblical standards. However, what we have here is a series with no one name any more important than the rest. But from this list one name sifts to the top, a person destined to be great.
___It was Abraham, one of the monumental figures in religious history. (Yes, in the beginning, he was called Abram. God did not change his name nor that of his wife, Sarah, until a little later in the story, Genesis 17. But we think of them as "Abraham" and "Sarah" throughout.) One measure of Abraham's greatness is that he is claimed by three world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
___In the story of Abraham, God started a new chapter. Rather than simply dwelling on the over-arching saga of the Israelites, God began to focus on the leaders of the era, usually called "the patriarchs." Abraham was the first. Seemingly, today there is no common agreement as to the dating of this point in history; still both the names and the description of the times would point to the first half of the second millennium B.C.
___The traditional picture of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob reflects a nomadic lifestyle which is certainly borne out in Scripture. However, it wasn't a matter of "drifting along," but rather they followed a type of yearly cycle based on availability of pasture lands for their flocks.
___To add to the background picture, Abraham in his younger years was exposed to one of the large and bustling cities of his time. It was Ur, often called "Ur of the Chaldees." Far from being a "dusty little village," Ur was one of the important cities of the ancient world and was located on the banks of the Euphrates River. Haran, where Abraham later went, also was a city of importance.
___The family Abraham came from
___Abraham's father, Terah, has been thought to be of the merchant middle-class. Some evidence points to the fact that he worshipped many "gods." One of these was the moon-god, quite popular in the area. This does not mean Terah had no acquaintance with the true God. In Genesis 31:53, Laban, Jacob's father-in-law, mentions the God of Abraham, Nabor and "their father" (Terah) as being the same God. Hence, subsequently, it was not necessary for Abraham to desert the God of his fathers, but to rather to purify his worship of him.
___At any rate, theirs was a patriarchal family, consisting of the patriarch, his wives and children, other relatives and his servants, some of whom were probably slaves. The patriarch was the decision maker. At a point in time, Terah and his clan--which still included Abraham--moved toward Canaan but settled for a time in Haran, apparently where Terah had lived in earlier times. It was in Haran that Terah died, and Abraham became the patriarch of the clan.
___Why did the family leave Ur? Did Abraham hear his call in Ur or in Haran, or in both? It may have been that Abraham influenced his father's decision to leave Ur; that they were headed toward Canaan would seem to indicate this. However, where Abraham heard the call pales alongside the fact that he was close enough to God to hear it, and that he responded.
___To consider Abraham's background after some four millennia have passed does present a challenge. After all, as one authority has pointed out, "No one has left us a plaque saying 'Abraham Slept Here.'"
___The call and the response
___In the beginning of Chapter 12, we find the call of Abraham. "Leave your country, your people, and your father's household and go to the land I will show you" it began.
___There.
___That was it.
___It was decidedly direct. No mistaking what Abraham was to do. He was to leave everything he had known thus far. He was to walk away from his homeland, the place of his birth, the place of his fathers before him. He was to leave his people, except for his immediate family and household. And go exactly where? "To the land I will show you."
___Tremendous. Breathtaking.
___These are strong demands made upon a person, even a person of faith.
___Suddenly, as we read again the story of the call, we realize anew that we are involved. The call is decidedly missionary in nature. "All peoples on earth" it reads. God was starting a new venture, and Abraham was called upon to set it in motion. God would not only work with individuals, he also would call upon a people.
___Abraham became the founder of the Israelite nation. Christians also claim him, as we have said earlier. His faith in God and God alone was the wellspring of his success. "Abraham believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:9, Hebrews 11:8).
___So Abraham heard, and Abraham obeyed. He left and traveled toward Canaan. Along the way, he stopped at Bethel, built an altar and "called on the name of the Lord" (Genesis 12:8).
___Then he continued his journey, reflecting, perhaps, on the promises God had made.
___Before we consider these promises, let's stop and see how pertinent this part of the story is for us today.
___Abraham took God at his word and moved forward.
___Are we doing that?
___We are blessed beyond measure. Are we passing it on to others?
___In Texas today, opportunities abound. What can your church do in your neighborhood, in your association? What can we do together on the state level as Texas Baptists? What beyond that? We have become both a mission base and a mission field, and so our call is to reach out to those around us and also to reach out to those far beyond the boundaries of our state.
___Abraham was just one person. It all starts with the individual.
___God's promises
___When God called upon Abraham to leave his country, his people and his father's household and go, he also gave him a foreshadowing of what would happen.
___He told Abraham he would become the father of a great nation. This was indeed a test of faith--Abraham was 75 years old and childless.
___God said he would bless Abraham in his lifetime. God would watch over him, guide him, bless him. And he did.
___Abraham's name would be great. This is probably something that never occurred to Abraham.
___He would be a blessing to others, a channel through which blessings would come to those who received him. People who did not would be a different story because they would be showing forth their insensitivity to God and his work.
___Ultimately, the blessing to come through Abraham would be universal. Some authorities point to this as "the first allusion to the concept of universalism inherent in Israel's faith."
___Abraham: The view from here
___By any standard, Abraham walked with giant steps across the pages of theological history. No, he was not a "plaster saint," as some have pointed out. Consider the incident in Egypt, which immediately follows today's lesson. (See Genesis 12:10-20.) However, then as now, God uses people who take a wrong turn, repent and seek God's forgiveness. Often they are strengthened when their weakness requires God's mercy.
___In essence, he was a man who lived close enough to God to hear the call, as mentioned earlier. And he responded, although the call was open-ended, and he didn't know where he was going, other than that it was "a land I will show you." He must have had many questions, many concerns, but his belief in God was stronger than them all.
___He must have been not only a man of vision, but also a pioneer, an adventurer.
___But most of all, he was a man who heard and obeyed when he heard God's call.
___He was God's man for the hour.
___Amelia Bishop is a member of First Baptist Church in Austin, a former president of Texas Woman's Missionary Union and a freelance writer.
Questions for thought and discussion
___ Blessings should be "flow-through" propositions. Is "passing it on" something we have to think about or does it come naturally? What are some areas in which you have been able to share?
___ People who are experienced in sharing their faith sometimes start with words like, "Let me tell you about something great in my life ..." and go from there. Often they conclude with, "Has anything like this ever happened to you?" This, of course, varies with the individual. What is the most comfortable way for you to share your faith?
___ Family ties were very important in the days of Abraham. To what extent is this true today? What are some of the elements that make for a supportive family? How has the family you were born into influenced your life?
___ God called Abraham. In your thinking, what constitutes a call? Is it to a specific work within the denominational framework or is it outside? Is it for a lifetime, a shorter period or perhaps even a project?
___ Can you think of a time you felt God was calling you to "step up to the plate"? What made it easy for you to respond, or what made it difficult?
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