“On a Mission from God”

Genesis 12:1-4a

One of my all-time favorite movies is “The Blues Brothers.” Today’s sermon title is a direct quote from that movie. The Blues Brothers were, in their minds, on a mission from God; in their case to raise enough money to keep the orphanage where they were raised open. Although theirs was a sincere and well-intentioned effort things did not go smoothly. Along the way their actions were not always ethical.

In real life God often chooses the inept, the non-credentialed, and those without pedigree to do his work. That work – that mission – is to be a blessing to the nations: to live and teach his morals and ethics, to show others what a man or woman of God looks like, to share his grace, mercy, and love with all those we meet.

This mission began with Abram, who later became Abraham, became the mission of a chosen people as of their exodus from Egypt, and made official, so to speak, when God made his covenant with the children of Israel at the foot of Mt. Sinai. This mission was the over-arching reason for Israel’s existence. It was broadened to include the whole world in the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. After receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost this mission became the church’s mission: every Christian’s mission, the over-arching reason for the church’s existence.

The word we most usually use to describe our mission is evangelism: sharing the good news of God’s love revealed in Christ, inviting others to share in it, and making them disciples. As Christians we are each and every one of us, on a mission from God. Through the example of our lives and our efforts to be witnesses and evangelists we continue the mission of Abraham: each and every one of us being in our own imperfect way God’s special agent. We are on a mission from God.

Abraham was not perfect; he was chosen and called. He had no special credentials. We have no idea as to his pedigree. He was at times quite the rascal. Some of his escapades would make the Blues Brothers blush. But he and that motley crew that was his family were the people God used to bless the world.

Abraham received God’s call while in a place called Haran. The literal meaning of the word Haran is crossroads. It was at this geographical crossroads that Abraham was faced with an incredible and overwhelming spiritual and emotional crossroads. He could stay comfortably where he was or he could answer God’s call. And God did call. Said the Lord, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” In other words leave everything familiar to you - your home, your family, your support system – and set out for some unknown place, and do so, on the basis of God’s call and God’s promise.

A couple of quotes about this: First from Donald P. Olsen. “To leave the comfort of the known for the unknown realities of God is a form of birth.” Mr. Olsen was of course making reference to today’s Gospel lesson and Jesus’ words about needing to be born again: a different kind of crossroads.

And then from Carol A. Newsom, “In traditional societies the kin group is the source of identity, economic benefit, security, and protection. To leave such a fundamental social network is to put a great deal at risk. Thus the costliness of [God’s] command [to Abram] is stressed. In a similar fashion, the destination, described only as ‘the land that I will show you’.” Although in the larger [Old Testament] narrative context it is clear that the land is Canaan, the wording emphasizes that the destination will be known to Abram only when God discloses it.”

The basis of answering such a call is that thing we call faith, absolute trust in the Living God. Wrote the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’.” The righteousness of Abraham was based on his faith: not his works, not his credentials, not his pedigree, not his exceptionalism, not his perfection – his faith.

In the Epistle to the Hebrews faith is defined as, “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” And a few verses later it was written about Abraham that, “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.” On the basis of his trust in God’s promises he began a new life, the foundation of which was an assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Or as we find it in The Message: “… the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living… our handle on what we can’t see.”

To reiterate something said earlier, if you are a Christian, if you have decided to follow Jesus, then you are among that host of people God has called over the generations to be a blessing to the world. If you are a Christian, you are by definition an evangelist and witness – you are one of God’s agents in the world. And there are going to be crossroads in your life, times when you must choose between the comfort of the known and the unknown realities of God.

God’s call to us can take many forms. The primary and most necessary call is the call to trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Until we answer that one there can be no further calls. Some folks are called by God to serve as an elder, deacon, or pastor. Some are called to follow Abraham’s example and become missionaries in places far, far from home. Some are called to be prophets, speakers of God’s unvarnished and often unpopular truth. Every Christian is called to serve the Lord in various ways; some that are insignificant in the eyes of the world, none that are insignificant in the eyes of God.

Some of us are called to make radical adjustments in our lifestyles, our way of thinking, or our attitudes. Some of us are called to be a blessing to the world by way of forgiving someone who has hurt us badly. As I shared on Face Book with one of you this week, I know that I am called to forgive those who bullied me in high school. My response goes something like this, “How can Jesus expect me to love and forgive such people? More than that, how can Jesus love and forgive them?” This is my life’s most difficult call to answer, much more difficult than any other call I’ve ever received. But Jesus has always made this call very clear to every disciple, beginning with his answer to Peter’s question about forgiveness: “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”

Based on my own life I know that few of us answer God’s call with the immediacy and lack of doubt modeled by Abraham. Sometimes we’re slow to hear or see the reality of God’s call. Sometimes we hear and see it very clearly, and because of what we have heard and seen we run away from it. Sometimes we try to negotiate with God, as in, “I’ll do what you want Lord but only under the following conditions:“ Sometimes we’re stubborn. Sometimes we’re simply afraid. Sometimes family and friends hinder us, forcing us to choose between our loyalty to God and our loyalty to them. Sometimes we pull a Jonah, answering God in the words of Maddie, our youngest granddaughter, “I can but I no want to.”

I can but I no want to: the answer of a child, an answer that is at the same time childlike and childish. I can forgive those people, but I no want to. I can leave the comfort of rural life in West Virginia, but I no want to. I can make the changes necessary for a multicultural ministry, but I no want to. I can be an elder, deacon, choir member, or Sunday school teacher, but I no want to. Or in the words of an old Ray Stevens song, “I don’t like it and I won’t do it.”

Those are normal human responses to calls that, on our own we’re not gifted, pedigreed, or credentialed to answer. Those are normal human responses to calls that, on our own we find too uncomfortable, unknown, or maybe un-liked to answer. But we’re not on our own. By the power of the Holy Spirit God walks with us every inch of the way, just as he did with Abraham, Moses, Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Paul. Don’t we realize that every follower of God has had his or her “I-can-but-I-no-want-to” moments? But by faith and through the power of the Holy Spirit they all answered the call.

God didn’t have to call Abraham to be a blessing to the world. He had every right to curse the rebellious, ungrateful creation that is humanity. His call to Abraham was an act of grace, as was his patient, forgiving, merciful response to Abraham’s various bumbles, mumbles, and stumbles. His call to us is an act of grace, as is his patient, forgiving, merciful response to our various bumbles, mumbles, and stumbles. It is by his grace that we are blessed and thus sometimes can manage to be a blessing to others.

We are on a mission from God: to convey the gracious, saving love of Jesus to the whole world. God trusts us to carry out this mission in spite of our faults, frailties, doubts, and insecurities. By faith we “I-can-but-I-no-want-to” followers return his trust by doing what he wants us to do whether we want to or not. Amen.