11th Sunday after Pentecost, 2010
Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier
Genesis 15:1-6
In the name of Jesus. Amen
When I was a child I thought like a child. My heroes were the super heroes from the comic books. I can remember playing super heroes on the playground and pretending to fight evil. Spider-man could crawl on walls and shoot webs. Batman had a utility belt with more gadgets than a Swiss Army knife. Superman could fly and bend a steel beam with his bare hands. Captain America had a shield. Now a shield didn’t seem like a lot compared to the gifts that all the others had. Yet, Captain America boldly ran around with a patriotic shield.
A shield is a relic of the past. There aren’t many people walking around with a shield in our day. Unless you happen to walk by a Medieval reenactment festival, you probably won’t see one being used. Historically, it protected you from the onslaught of arrows. It blocked the smashing blow of a sword. The shield takes the damage that was intended for the person using it. Shields save lives. Now in order for the shield to work properly, the soldier must grab a hold of it tightly and not let go.
Today’s Old Testament text opens with these words," After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” (Genesis 15:1, ESV) With these simple yet powerful words of promise, the LORD declares to be Abram’s shield. Abram has no need to fear with the LORD as his shield. The LORD promises to protect him from his enemies who bring the onslaught of arrows and the smashing blows of swords. The LORD will take the damage intended for Abraham. He will save his life. Abraham is invited to cling to the LORD and hold on tight to His word while the battle proceeds on this earth.
Now this is not the first time that Abraham heard the promises from God. He was already given the promise back in chapter twelve. In chapter twelve, Moses tells us that God initially gave Abraham the word of promise when He called him out of the land of Ur. The LORD said, "And 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. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”" (Genesis 12:2-3, ESV) In addition, the LORD promised Abraham,“To your offspring I will give this land.” (Genesis 12:7, ESV) Some time had passed between chapters twelve and fifteen.
Apparently Abraham was wondering about the validity of the promise that God had gave to him. Verses two and three of today’s text state, But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” (Genesis 15:2-3, ESV) In our own lives we may have periods of doubt or bewilderment. We ask where is God? Why are these things happening to me? As God continued to come to Abraham with His word, He continues to come to us with His promises.
For this reason, the Holy Spirit gives to us the gift of the book of Psalms in which we are taught to meditate upon the promises of God. For example, Psalm eighteen teaches us, "This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him." (Psalm 18:30, ESV) Psalm 119 declares, "You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word." (Psalm 119:114, ESV) Today we spoke the words of Psalm thirty-three which states, "Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield."(Psalm 33:20, ESV) Just as the LORD assured Abraham with His word, the LORD assures us not to fear for He is our shield. If an ancient soldier was confident while holding on to a wooden or metal shield, how much more should we be bold to stand firm under the attacks of the devil with God as our shield? We are weak, but God is strong. No matter what the circumstance maybe, the LORD is our shield.
The LORD likes to repeat His promises to us. We learn in today’s text that the LORD comes to dwell with us in our weakness here on this earth as He did with Abraham with His word. Verse four states, “And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” (Genesis 15:4, ESV) We learn how God wants to dwell with us in our condition assuring us not to doubt. Ultimately, such passages point to the Holy Incarnation in which God takes upon our own flesh and blood to dwell in our midst speaking His word to us. Every promise of God is connected to Christ.
We have life, because Christ is our life. We receive our daily bread from the hand of God, because Christ’s hands were pierced for us. We have a place in the Kingdom, because Christ is our King. We are declared righteous in God’s sight, because Christ is our righteousness. We have been born by water and the Spirit, because Christ is eternally begotten from the Father. He takes us into the His family.
Yet, in this life, we are weak and not super human. Sin, like kryptonite, overpowers us. We can’t help but dwell upon the feelings of day to day occurrences. One day we feel close to God and the next day we cry out wondering where God is. For this reason, God comes to us with His word to assure us that because of Christ, we have fellowship with the Father. The more sin clings to us, the more we shall cling to the LORD as our shield.
In verse five the LORD reassures Abraham that he will have many sons, “And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (Genesis 15:5, ESV) As the LORD attached His word of promise to the rainbow for Noah, He attaches His word of promise to the stars for Abraham. The LORD loves His creation. For this reason, He has gone to great extents to restore this creation. We look toward a new heaven and a new earth.
But until that day, we look at created things around us and meditate upon God’s promises. Look at the rainbow and know that the Creator of the rainbow will never destroy the earth with the flood waters again. Look at the water of the baptismal font and know that the LORD has washed away your sins and called you His own child. Look at the stars in the heaven and know that the LORD made a promise to Abraham that he would be a blessing to the nations and that those who would come to believe in the Messiah would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens.
But the stars don’t stop here in this gathering. We continue to locate stars in the heaven as we continue to make disciples on earth by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and by teaching them the words of Jesus. In this way, many more will hear the promise of the LORD, believe and be counted righteous for the sake of Jesus.
Verse six states, “And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6, ESV) In this wonderful Old Testament text, we learn that the emphasis is placed upon God. The emphasis is not placed upon Abraham. The LORD our God gave to Abraham the word of promise and Abraham believed. Abraham grabbed a hold of this word from God. The LORD did not declare Abraham righteous based upon his achieved merit or super human strength. Abraham brought nothing to the table except his own questions infected with sin. “For without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6, ESV) Everything is based upon the promise of God. As Abraham clings to the promise, the LORD regards Abraham as righteous. He attaches himself to His shield.
In Santa Fe, there are billboards with an image of a mother and child wrapped in a blue blanket. It is an advertisement for Blue Cross Blue Shield. You see, they are covered as far as health insurance is concerned. In our baptism, we have been covered with Christ. He gives to us the gift of eternal life insurance. There are no payments. He has paid it in full. Better than a blue cross is the cross of Christ. Better than a blue shield is Christ our shield. We take our refuge in Him.
True heroes take up God as their shield. In this way, we recognize who the true heroes are in this life. This is no playground. This is the real thing. These ones are not comic book heroes who have special powers that make them super human. Rather, the true heroes consist of flesh and blood people like you and me who have faith in Christ. By faith, Abel, Noah, Abraham, and Moses lived on this earth. Their shield and our shield is the LORD. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment