Genesis 12:1-4  

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. Text: Genesis 12:1-4a

Theme: Blessed to be a blessing

Date: February 17, 2008

Assembly: Zion Lutheran Church

Faulty Calculations

He lived to be 175 and by that time he could look back at his life 

and see what an incredible journey life had been

—and he could also see some faulty calculations that he had made

He’d assumed some things that never came to pass

Like when he was young, 

he’d figured marry Sarai (Sair ‘I) and they’d have lots of kids

But then they ended up with infertility issues 

so lots of kids were not on the horizon

And he’d also imagined that he and his brothers, 

Nahor (Nay ‘hor) and Haran (Hair ‘uhn), 

would run their dad’s livestock business 

but then Haran died even before their parents 

and Abram moved on

These were some of the things he’d calculated that never turned out his way…

He’d also experienced some things that he never would’ve planned

His family decided to move ½ way across the known world

He and Sarai went with them

But then his father died 

And he was compelled to move another great distance

He was compelled by God to move

--more specifically—by God’s promised blessing

(which also didn’t pan out as he’d planned)

God asked him to go from his Counry  

And his Kindred  

And his Father 

He moved from Mesopotamia to Palestine 

--settling between the cities of Ai and Bethel

And then again—as journey becoming a theme of his life,

The famine caused Abram to move his family and livestock 

--another great trek, this time to Egypt

Then back again

All things he’d never planned on

And, if that wasn’t already enough deviation from his plans 

there were these other bumps along the way too:

•  rescuing Lot (ch 14)

•  birth of Ishmael(17:27); (if you think having kids disrupted your family life…)

•  Gerar(20:1ff)); she is my sister

•  birth of Isaac(21:1ff); Hagar and Ishmael sent on their way

•  sacrifice of Isaac(22) 

…not things on which he’d calculated…

There is a theme about Abraham’s journey not being according to calculations

He thought God had promised to bless him

God had said, “I will make of you a great nation” 

and Abraham had planned on that meaning he’d have lots of kids

—some kids at least

And yet through all of his journeys—in disregard for his plans

He had not yet had any children

This blessing had not come to him

He thought God promised to bless him

He learned that God doesn’t bless us for ourselves, but for the sake of others

God, as it turned out, intended to bless the whole world through Abram

This is what God had said:

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.  

And then God states the purpose again:

“in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Abram’s blessing was never meant for him alone

It was that he was the particularity through which the universal received blessing…

God began with an exclusive move to come to the most inclusive end 

(so that all may be blessed)

We make faulty plans when we set our sights on ourselves 

And dream dreams about what I will be

God’s plans about Abraham

Were not for Abraham

As it turns out, they were for everyone else

When God makes plans for us—they are about the we not about the I 

So, it seems that either we get to embrace the freedom of not calculating our lives too closely

Or, if you want to make calculations anyway—about the way your life might turn out

You start with knowing that you also have been blessed by God

Then know from the witness of Abraham

That your calculations are bound to be more accurate

If your sights are not set on yourself

But on those around you

That is: the needy around you/ as well as those you love.

So, with your eyes set toward how your blessings impact others, 

I’d like you to take a look throughout the week at the calculations 

you’ve made about how your life may turn out

You can do that integration during the week

Because  now we are going to focus on us, corporate—the people of Zion…

What is before us is really a method—to practice into

-of how we perceive our blessings

And how we plan toward the future

So, let’s practice together:

 If Zion were to think of our blessings with our Neighbor-In-Need in the midpoint of our gaze,

How might that give us focus?

First, we have to think about how we acknowledge ourselves as blessed

--there are so many ways Zion as a community is particularly blessed

—I’m only going to approach three…(I invite you to think of more)

Of church communities, the people of Zion are exceptionally blessed

-musically

-intellectually

-monetarily

Then, we turn our focus outward:

Who are some of the others whom we see are in need and/or whom we love?

(again there are so many and I will only here name three) 

…(I invite you to think of more)

-our partners in Lambo, Tanzania

-the natural environment

-the surrounding community

And now we practice, knowing that any blessing could be matched with any outward focus.

So, good people, you are blessed musically.  

If your musical ability is a blessing from God, then it is a blessing not for yourself but for others.

How might your musical blessings be used 

on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Lambo, Tanzania?

People of Zion, you are noticeably blessed as intellectually stimulated ones.

If your intellect is a blessing from God, then it is a blessing not for yourself but for others.

How might your intellect be used as a blessing for the environment?

Good people of Zion, we as a whole are blessed as affluent ones.

If your affluence is a blessing from God, then it is a blessing not for yourself but for others.

How might your affluence 

be a blessing to the surrounding community?

So, in order to best calculate the unpredictable

We follow Abraham’s legacy that God has blessed us 

for the purpose of getting those blessings beyond us

then knowing that any blessing could be matched with any outward focus

we step into the future realizing that, 

“We search for what we already have

—the presence of God and the cry of the needy.”