The Father Has Left You an Inheritance | Ninth Sunday after Pentecost | Genesis 15:1–6
August 7, 2022 | 10:45 a.m.
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
READINGS
Genesis 15:1–6
Psalm 33:12–22
Hebrews 11:1–16
Luke 12:22–34
message presented by Rev. Frank C. Ruffatto
+Points to ponder
- What do you make of the idea that you have an inheritance from Abraham?
- What is the inheritance that has been given to you in your Baptism?
- Knowing you have such an inheritance, does this affect the way you live?
+Sermon Transcript
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto each of you from God our Father and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Lord God, Your Son left the riches of heaven and became poor for our sake: when we prosper save us from pride, when we are needy save us from despair, that we may trust in You alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen.
Notice: Abraham has left you an inheritance. But just what is that inheritance?
Have you ever received a notice that you may have unclaimed money? Sometimes you are directed to certain state websites connected to governmental refunds for being overcharged on some type of tax or for some other strange circumstance. While I have not personally received one, there’s a pastor that discovered he had a whopping $38.27 waiting for him to claim and he needed to act right away! But usually, and especially in a recessionary economy, the promises are dead ends and disappointing. Sorry but the Super-Duper Powerball ticket thing has been sold to someone in another state. So, don’t get your hopes up! Hard work, prayer, and the blessing of a gracious heavenly Father beat the power ball.
In Genesis we see that Abram’s hopes were in a bad way. His future appeared gloomy. The Father in heaven had him wandering about, promising him he would be a great nation, and yet he and his wife had no children; a servant in his house was listed as his heir.
I imagine Abram heard about it from Sarai. You can probably hear it too. “We’re too old for this stuff.” “Didn’t we have it better before?” “Should we really believe these great promises? They seem too good to be true.” In fact, Sarai is so frustrated by their lack of a future that she eventually gives Abram her maid to try and get the ‘power’ ball rolling. Though Abram and Sarai had the clear word of the Father in heaven that good things were ahead of them – their very own son, descendants as the stars of the heavens, even the Messiah from their family – they were worried and uncertain.
Sound familiar? An uncertain future? Suffering ever come your way for making rash and strange decisions – even if they seemed reasonable at the time? for deviating from God’s clear plan and future?
It is a struggle to reconcile the happenings of our day and what is our future according to the promises of God’s Word. We can relate to Abram’s uncertain and yet sure position. Nevertheless, through the Holy Spirit, he believes, and it is credited to him as God’s righteousness.
Abram and Sarai didn’t do it all right. They didn’t have it all figured out. Yet God loved them still, richly blessed them, and gave them a far more beautiful future and hope than they could ever expect. They are examples to us. In fact, we are numbered by faith with Abram and Sarai as God’s sons and daughters.
THE FATHER HAS PROMISED YOU A RICH INHERITANCE, A BRIGHT AND ENDURING FUTURE TOO, A PLACE WITHIN THE FATHER’S HOUSE.
Abram’s hope seemed impossible (seventy-five years old at the first promise, Sarai way past childbearing, a wait that would total twenty-five years.) And so, Abram complains: “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
But this despair of childlessness and a lack of a proper heir is contradicted by the Word of God: “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… This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” Abram and Sarai’s impossibility, made possible by God, points beyond their Isaac to a greater Son yet. God’s Son, Christ Jesus, makes you an heir in the Father’s house just as he is. And so, Beloved, you have a certain and bright future placed in a heavenly family.
Abram had complained out of the loneliness that seemed to envelope them. What good was their family name when it seemed it was cut off the family tree with no branches spared. He had caviled to the Lord, complaining: “Behold, You have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
For many Christians this can cut close to the heart. Especially when the vagaries of life seem to overtake whatever God may have promised. Life itself is filled with uncertainty. Human relationships often do disappoint us. And tragedy can destroy in a moment all the material securities of life. Children growing up and away from Christ’s body, a marriage off course and headed for rocky shoals, an illness that you just can’t quite shake. We know the world is headed in the wrong direction, and we wonder, has the Lord forgotten His promises? But Jesus reminds us: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Jesus is encouraging us to desire above all to live under the rule of the one true God and under His righteousness.
And so, for Abram, a heavenly object lesson is given. The Lord encourages him (and us!) to look outside of ourselves to look toward heaven. So, the Lord takes him outside and says: “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Here the Lord is saying that the One who made the stars loves you and the promise is more than you can even take in with your eyes.
As Abram gazes heavenward, the Lord said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” So shall your family be, as the stars in the heavens, if you can even count them! Abram is hoping in one and is given billions. Jesus is the bright morning star; and we, His Church, reflect His glory.
Beloved, as you look heavenward also look around you this morning. This is your Christian family. With these, you will stand in glory. With these patriarchs, kings, queens, and beautiful Christians, you have a fellowship forever. With these, now you pray for Christ’s return. These are the answer to the loneliness that the world offers.
Beloved, yours is an enduring, eternal heritage. “Admiral Nelson of the British navy is said to have been a wizard of naval tactics, one from whom students of seamanship were able to learn much. Sir Robert Stopford was once sailing with Nelson in the West Indies and wrote to a loved one, ‘We are half starved and otherwise inconvenienced by so long out of port, but our reward is that we are with Nelson.’ We, too, may be half starved or otherwise inconvenienced, but our reward is God’s promise that we are ever with Jesus.”
It is said that at life’s end, old men reflect on what they will leave. As we hear in Proverbs thirteen: “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children …” In other words, they take great joy in and leave a legacy for their grandchildren. And here, Abram was looking forward as the Father showed him his heritage.
This is all from Abram’s own body and the inheritance Abram has to give is folded in with Christ’s inheritance to give.
Abram leaves his life’s treasures to Isaac and all of his family that follows. Our reading in Genesis describes the wealth, the treasure that Abram shares with us – Faith in God and His promises – “And [Abram] believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness.”
The Father in heaven gives Abram his own Son, one greater than Isaac, as Abram’s heir. Isaac is from Abram’s own body. Jesus is from Abram’s own body. We, the Church, is from Abram’s own body. It is a great and mighty – a fantastic family!
The inheritance the Father gives us in his Son endures in the Lord’s Supper, the New Testament which is sealed in Jesus’ blood. It continues to bestow everything the Father has to give His Church. It is received by faith, promising beautiful things today and a bright future to come.
We know that we are not the first to have worries, struggles, loneliness, problems. The Father in heaven loves the fathers, gifts the greater Son, the greater family, provides a future and a hope. It was in the beginning, it is now, and it ever shall be. “[Abram] believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” Yours is a rich inheritance from Abraham, from your Father in heaven who loves you. So may you also take heart and believe. Amen.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”