创世记12:1-9

恩惠、平安和安慰从父神和救主耶稣基督归于你们信靠主应许、紧紧跟随主呼召的人。阿们。

在今天的旧约经文中，亚伯兰（亚伯拉罕）领受了神的应许和指示，一家人开始迁徙。但是这并非亚伯兰第一次领受耶和华上帝的呼召，也并非他第一次搬迁。创世记中没有记载，但是新约到了使徒行传中告诉我们了。司提反布道的时候，对犹太人说，“诸位父兄请听！当日我们的祖宗亚伯拉罕在美索不达米亚还未住哈兰的时候，荣耀的神向他显现。对他说，  ‘你要离开本地和亲族，往我所要指示你的地方去。’”（使徒行传7:2）而且创世记在11章告诉我们，亚伯兰的父亲他拉带着他们所有人出吾珥，定居在了哈兰这个地方。

我们需要知道两个细节：1. 亚伯拉罕领受这个呼召，并不知道要去哪，因为神说，你要“离开”，然后去“我所指示你的地方”；2. 他们的本地、本族都是拜偶像假神的，因为约书亚记24章说，“现在你们要敬畏耶和华，诚心实意地事奉他，将你们列祖在大河那边和在埃及所事奉的神除掉，去事奉耶和华。”（约书亚记24:3）

我们看下这个迁徙的地图，能够帮助我们更加明白当时发生了什么。也就是说，亚伯拉罕的父亲和他自己一家在老家吾珥本来都是拜假神的——当时的迦勒底人的神是“月亮神”，结果他们领受呼召，就开始离弃偶像，走出原来的生活圈子和习惯，去哪不知道，但开始跟随真神的呼召。他们走啊走，朝着迦南地走，沿着大河（幼发拉底河）向北，这样可以绕过沙漠地带，到了哈兰这个地方。他们停了下来，而且仍然是在大河那边，还没有过河。而且在这里定居下来不走了，大概过了几十年，直到他拉死去。

弟兄姐妹们，我们的信仰旅程可能也是这样。主耶稣刚开始藉着身边的基督徒呼召我们跟随他的时候，我们可能也会挪移一下帐棚，但只是走一般的路程，而且是三心二意。一边是暂时的、世俗的欲望和牵绊，另一边是主应许的属灵国度和永恒的祝福。我们想要两手抓，不愿意全然交托，不愿意完全信靠神。毕竟，信仰能给我们带来什么呢？就好像亚伯拉罕信神的应许，但他得了什么呢？神第二次呼召亚伯拉罕的时候，说，“你要离开……往我所要指示你的地方。我必叫你成为大国。我必赐福给你，叫你的名为大。”（创世记12:1-2）结果怎样呢？好些人都不喜欢搬家，我想在座的没有一个人会说，就喜欢搬家的。首先，亚伯拉罕的产业要搬迁不容易啊，不像今天，大多数资财都是虚拟的数字，房子卖了把钱放进银行，开车就走了，顶多搬一些家具和生活用品。但那个时候搬家可不一样，那是所有产业啊，都是东西，什么公羊、绵羊、刚出生的羊羔、半路上出生的羊羔等等，帐棚，锅碗瓢盆，刚刚揉好还没有发起来的面团。我们可以想象一下这个场景。说不定搬一次家，要损伤好几只羊羔呢，更何况一走在搬迁的路上。

但亚伯拉罕信神的应许，虽然他父亲要他们停在了哈兰这个地方，但神第二次呼召他的时候，他就顺从，继续信靠神，跟随神的呼召，继续搬。这一次他们过了大河，远离了家乡，再也不用看街坊邻居的脸色，一心仰望主的应许。这有时候就跟我们来美国的华人一样，说实在的，我们在这里信主是有优势的啊，大环境的压力少了，并不是完全没有，比如无神论的思想，亲戚朋友都是围着钞票转，聚会处处被查被抓等等。

虽然环境好了一些，但我们的信仰不是看环境，而是单单仰望主的话语和应许。亚伯拉罕跟随主的呼召，有没有在地上得到主所应许的呢？没有，完全没有。希伯来书作者论到亚伯拉罕和其他的信徒的时候说，“这些人都是存着信心死的，并没有得着所应许的。”（希伯来书11:13）弟兄姐妹们，信仰、信仰，就是信靠、仰望。信靠主的话语和应许，仰望将来的、属灵的、天上的祝福。亚伯拉罕如果待在老家，那可能肉体的日子会舒服很多。可能就不会在产业壮大起来之后跟侄子罗得有纷争，可能就不会因着自己妻子太漂亮而在埃及地受试探，可能就不用在异国他乡花钱去给妻子买墓地，可能就不用为了保护产业去打仗争战，可能就不会有使女夏甲与发妻撒拉的争宠，以及后面的分家等等。

但因着信，亚伯拉罕知道，这些颠沛流离的日子都算不了什么，因为主的吩咐大过肉体所遭受的苦难。而且亚伯拉罕在神第二次呼召他的时候，应该很清楚了，这个呼召不只是给他个人的祝福。神说：“你也要叫别人得福。为你祝福的，我必赐福与他；那咒诅你的，我必咒诅他。地上的万族都要因你得福。”（创世记12:2-3）弟兄姐妹们，这是一个远远超过个人荣誉和利益的使命和祝福啊。我们蒙了神的拣选和呼召，不也是因着信领受了同样的使命吗？我们不也是带着福音的使命去到人群当中吗？

彼得前书2:9“惟有你们是被拣选的族类，是有君尊的祭司，是圣洁的国度，是属神的子民，要叫你们宣扬那召你们出黑暗入奇妙光明者的美德。”主耶稣在路加福音10:16指着这个使命说：“听从你们的就是听从我；弃绝你们的就是弃绝我。”万民怎么因亚伯拉罕得福呢？就是因为亚伯拉罕、还有今天的我们承载着主的话语和应许，我们承载着主基督的名，我们见证主的救恩。如果人也信从了主基督，他们就必得了这福，如果人不信，就是弃绝了这福分了。并不是亚伯拉罕或者我们自己有什么能够祝福别人的东西。我们只是神所使用的器皿，去宣扬神的应许和祝福给人。

感谢上帝，亚伯拉罕凭信心跟随主的呼召，继续迁移，到了迦南地示剑这个地方，耶和华上帝向他显现说，就这里了。终于可以安歇了。“亚伯兰就在那里为向他显现的耶和华筑了一座坛。”但我们看到后面的故事发展，亚伯拉罕需要一直搬迁，因为吃喝的需要。但是，他的心安定下来了，为耶和华建造祭坛。你看，无论亚伯拉罕走到哪里，他都有在那里建坛，过信心祷告和献祭的生活。弟兄姐妹们，我们也是一样。我们作基督徒，在地上也会因着吃喝的需要，更换工作等等搬来搬去，但不变的是神的祭坛，是神的家，是基督的教会。无论我们走到哪里，只要有基督徒聚集的地方，有敬拜神的地方，那里就是我们的安息之所。

无论外面的世界再怎么动荡不安，无论试探引诱、魔鬼的伎俩再怎么猖狂，我们可以安稳在主的殿中，不断地聆听主的话语——他的律法呼召我们悔改，他的福音和应许呼召我们信靠。当我们这样做的时候，坚持信仰不与世界同流去拜偶像假神的时候，我们也成了别人得祝福的器皿，宣扬主的名和救恩。我们的名是大的，就像神应许亚伯拉罕的那样，因为我们在洗礼中承受了圣父、圣子、圣灵的名，而这基督徒的身份是尊贵的、无价的。基督已经为了我们赎罪，流血舍命，为我们换来这至尊至荣的名。在教会的圣坛上，我们领受呼召亲近神，领受耶稣基督的身体和血，为叫我们罪得赦免。这都不是我们配得的，而是神的恩典礼物。奉耶稣基督的名。阿们。

Genesis 12:1–9

Grace, peace, and comfort from God our Father and our Savior Jesus Christ be to you who trust in the Lord’s promises and follow closely the Lord’s calling. Amen.

In today’s Old Testament reading, Abram (Abraham) receives God’s promise and instruction, and the family begins their migration. However, this was not the first time Abram received a call from the LORD God, nor was it his first move. Genesis does not record the earlier details, but the New Testament tells us in the Book of Acts. When Stephen was preaching to the Jews, he said, “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you’” (Acts 7:2–3). Furthermore, Genesis 11 tells us that Abram’s father, Terah, took them all out of Ur and settled in a place called Haran.

We need to note two details:

1. When Abraham received this call, he did not know where he was going, for God said, “Go out,” and then go to “the land that I will show you.”

2. Their native land and kindred were idolaters of false gods. Joshua 24 says, “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:14).

Looking at a map of this migration helps us understand what happened. Abraham’s father and his own household originally worshiped false gods in their home of Ur—the god of the Chaldeans at that time was the "Moon god." Yet, upon receiving the call, they began to abandon their idols, left their original social circles and habits, and though they did not know the destination, they began to follow the call of the true God. They journeyed toward the land of Canaan, heading north along the "Great River" (the Euphrates) to bypass the desert regions, until they reached Haran. There they stopped. They were still "beyond the River," having not yet crossed over. They settled there and remained for perhaps several decades, until Terah died.

Brothers and sisters, our journey of faith can be like this. When the Lord Jesus first calls us to follow Him through the Christians around us, we might move our tents a little, but only for a standard distance, and often with a divided heart. On one side are temporary, worldly desires and entanglements; on the other are the promised spiritual kingdom and eternal blessings. We want to grasp both, unwilling to surrender entirely or trust God completely. After all, what can faith bring us? Consider Abraham: he believed God’s promise, but what did he gain? When God called Abraham a second time, He said, “Go from your country... to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great” (Genesis 12:1–2). What was the result? Many people dislike moving; I doubt anyone here would say they simply love the process of moving. First, Abraham’s estate was not easy to move. Unlike today, where most wealth consists of digital numbers—you sell the house, put the money in the bank, and drive away, moving, at most, some furniture—moving back then was different. It involved all one's possessions: rams, sheep, newborn lambs, lambs born along the way, tents, pots and pans, and dough that had just been kneaded but not yet leavened. We can imagine the scene. A single move might cost the lives of several lambs, especially while on the road.

Yet Abraham believed God’s promise. Although his father had made them stop in Haran, when God called him a second time, he obeyed. He continued to trust God, followed the call, and moved again. This time they crossed the Great River, far from home. They no longer had to worry about the opinions of neighbors; they looked solely to the Lord’s promise. Sometimes this is like us Chinese people coming to America. Truthfully, we have an advantage in believing in the Lord here; the pressures of the external environment are fewer. They are not entirely absent, but we face less of the atheistic ideologies, the relatives who only revolve around money, or the fear of gatherings being raided and people being arrested.

Although the environment may be better, our faith does not depend on our surroundings; it looks solely to the Lord’s Word and promise. Did Abraham receive what the Lord promised while on this earth? No, not at all. The author of Hebrews, speaking of Abraham and other believers, says, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised” (Hebrews 11:13). Brothers and sisters, "faith" is to trust and to look upward—trusting the Lord’s Word and looking toward future, spiritual, heavenly blessings. If Abraham had stayed in his hometown, his physical life might have been much more comfortable. He might not have had the dispute with his nephew Lot after his estate grew; he might not have been tested in Egypt because his wife was beautiful; he might not have had to pay for a burial plot for his wife in a foreign land; he might not have had to go to battle to protect his property and rescue Lot; and there might not have been the rivalry between Hagar and Sarah.

But by faith, Abraham knew that these days of wandering meant nothing, because the Lord’s command was greater than any physical suffering. Moreover, by the time of God’s second call, Abraham surely understood that this call was not just a blessing for him personally. God said: “...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). Brothers and sisters, this is a mission and a blessing that far exceeds personal honor or interest. Have we not also been chosen and called by God, receiving the same mission through faith? Do we not also go into the world carrying the mission of the Gospel?

First Peter 2:9 says: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” The Lord Jesus pointed to this mission in Luke 10:16: “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me.” How are all nations blessed through Abraham? It is because Abraham, and we today, carry the Lord’s Word and promise. We carry the name of Christ the Lord; we witness to the Lord’s salvation. If people believe and follow Christ, they receive this blessing; if they do not believe, they reject it. It is not that Abraham or we have anything ourselves to bless others with. We are merely vessels used by God to proclaim His promises and blessings to people.

Thanks be to God, Abraham followed the Lord’s call by faith and continued to migrate until he reached Shechem in the land of Canaan. There, the LORD appeared to him and said, "This is it." Finally, he could rest. “So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.” But as we see in the later story, Abraham had to keep moving because of the need for food and water. However, his heart was settled; he built altars to the LORD. You see, wherever Abraham went, he built an altar, living a life of faith, prayer, and sacrifice. Brothers and sisters, we are the same. As Christians, we may move around on this earth—changing jobs or locations because of physical needs—but what remains unchanged is the altar of God, the house of God, the Church of Christ. Wherever we go, as long as there is a gathering of Christians and a place to worship God, that is our place of rest.

No matter how turbulent the outside world becomes, no matter how rampant the temptations or the schemes of the devil, we can be secure in the Lord’s temple, continually listening to His Word—His Law calling us to repentance, and His Gospel and promises calling us to trust. When we do this, persisting in faith and refusing to follow the world in worshiping idols, we become vessels of blessing for others, proclaiming the Lord’s name and salvation. Our name is great, just as God promised Abraham, because in Baptism we have inherited the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This Christian identity is noble and priceless. Christ has already redeemed us, shedding His blood and giving His life to exchange for us this most honorable name. At the altar of the church, we receive the call to draw near to God, receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. We deserve none of this; it is the gift of God’s grace. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.