[Ge 12:1-3]
1. The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
2. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Who is Abraham? We call him the ancestor of faith. Our ancestor. Why do we have to study Abraham? We are walking the path of faith. Walking the path, we have to see ourselves as an ancestor. The first path that Abraham walked was leaving behind and going away.
[Ge 12:1] The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
He left and set off. What did he give up? What did he leave and set off from? Here, it says your country, people, and father’s household. What is the most important thing to you that can’t throw away? This is something very difficult for you to leave. You left something difficult to leave, then how can he be great. But he is great because he left something that is hard for us to leave.
Leaving your country is so hard. Leaving behind your parents is so hard. The land and family is the most important thing, right? God tells Abraham to leave these. Abraham’s dad was one who sold idols. God really hates those who obeys and worships idols. But Abraham’s dad actually sold them. He made other people worship them. That is why God is telling him to leave.
What we can see in this is that just because our parents are bad, it doesn’t mean we cannot become an ancestor of Abraham. Don’t ever be disappointed in thinking why do I have parents like this. Even if parents are bad, if we have faith, then God uses us. Never say, “Why am I born to these kinds of parents?”
Abraham was the one who won with faith. He overcame with faith. This is a paradox. The son of the worst dad became so great. It is opposite. It is very easy for a bad child from bad parents. It is easy for a good child to come from a family with a good dad. Generally, bad ones come from bad dad. But if a good man comes from a bad dad, then it is really absolutely great. He is saying, “I am not going to live like that.” Unlike their parents, they confirm they are not going to live that way. They know and they say, “oh if I live that way, then my children will suffer.” If a child comes out of this, they will be really great one.
For example, it is easy for a bad student to come out from a bad leader because they are similar. It is very easy for it to be like that. If a good person comes from a bad leader, then it is really great. They think, I won’t be like that leader or else others will suffer. They are really looking at own identity to be different.
How was Abraham? He did not lose his own identity in the house of father. My dad shouldn’t be like that. My household shouldn’t be like that. We should worship God, but he is selling idols. We really should not be like that. He didn’t become like that.
Starting from me, I will change the evil from me and I will become an ancestor of those who believes God. From me, just because your blood relation is bad, don’t be disappointed. We don’t have to complain. The important thing is that you can start. You can do well. We have to do well and God will call us. He will use us. With faith, he became an ancestor. Because he had faith, God called.
[Heb 11:8] By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
With faith, he obeyed and went. Because he went, he was called. Because he had faith, he became an ancestor. In that way, he obeyed when God called. It says here he did not know where he was going. But he went because God told him. This is faith. In the path of faith, we don’t know where we are going. Just believe and go. God will lead the path. Even though I do not know, God will always guide in the path. When we believe this, we can go.
[Ge 12:1] The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
It says to go to the land I will show him. It says He will show later, and not show right now. It is saying first just leave. Leaving is the first thing and then God will show. God does not show him then tell him to leave. This is very hard. It is only possible with faith. The path of faith is different than the world.
God does not schedule everything. God doesn’t schedule that if you work this amount, I give you this amount. But the world is like this. If you go to business, they say if you work this many years or hours, I give you this. This is not the path of faith. God just tells you to go. If you go, He will give according to your faith. If you walk in faith, He can all of a sudden put in high place. According to faith, He leads us.
What does He demand from an ancestor of faith? Faith. To us who are walking the path of faith, God demands faith. What God wants is faith.
As it says here, He first gives them a promise. It is a great promise. What did God give us? God gives us the promise. Look at the promise in the walk.
[Ge 12:2] I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
It says you will be the origin of blessings. The one who is faithful gives these kinds of blessing. It means the one who is blessed, gives these blessings. This is saying that God gave Abraham the blessings so that he could spread them. What kind of a great blessing is this? Who is the origin of blessings? It is God. It is supposed to be God and we are giving the blessing of God. But God told Abraham that He will give Abraham the blessings. Now you give the blessings. This is Abraham. God gave him a promise. A great promise, he held onto this and went.
Although you are alone now, through you, I will make a great nation. Although you are a mustard seed, just believe. I will make you into a great nation like stars and sea. You will form a great nation and be numerous. You will become an ancestor of that many nations.
Absolutely believe in this province so that you can walk the path of faith. It is always hard. You think it is only me. But God says through you I will make you into a great nation. You will be the origin of blessings. You have to look at the promise God gave us, and believe that absolutely and God will open all the paths for us. God says I will bless those that bless you, and curse those that curse you.
Who are we? This is a very precious place. There is something we should look at. Why did God make Abraham leave his nation? Why is God telling him to leave his family? There is a meaning. When we are walking the path of faith, we are not supposed to be enclosed within the physical, blood-related family. We have to go beyond this family. Heaven is the world that overcame. It is a world that is formed by overcoming blood-related family. It is the immense spiritual family.
If we think that only our blood-related family is important, we cannot form a spiritual family. We cannot make heaven if we place our family to a high place. We must go on, and form heaven when we love all people like our family. Therefore we must leave blood-related family. We can receive even more brothers and sisters. We can receive even more spiritual family. This was demanded to Jesus’ disciples as well. The ancestor of New Testament, the disciples of Jesus who were ancestors, walked like this.
[Mt 4:18-22]
18. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
19. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
20. At once they left their nets and followed him.
21. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them,
22. and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
This was the calling of the first four disciples. Peter and Andrew, what did they leave behind? They left behind their nets. They are fishermen. Life of fisherman is nets. They live and eat through this way. If not, then they will starve. Therefore, what is precious in their life? It was their net and they left it because they met Jesus.
For example, in today’s terms, it is like quitting your job. People say, are you going to starve yourself. This situation is like one where you say, “It’s not very important.”
What did James and John leave? They left their boat and father. This is also very important too. The life of a fisherman is their boat. They also left father. After leaving those behind, they followed Jesus. They did not follow their father but followed Jesus. If they had followed their father, they would still be fishermen. But they left all these and followed Jesus.
Why does God keep telling us to throw away? The reason is to give us something greater. What is greater? Just because you are holding on to something tiny, God can’t give something big, so He says leave it. I will give something greater, but then I hold it.
In Africa, this is how they catch monkeys. They put a banana in a bottle. The monkeys go for the banana. But the hole is only small enough to put a hand in. They grab it, and they don’t let go. Then the hunter comes, and they still don’t let go. If they left it behind, they could run. But they don’t let go and get captured. This is the image of us. If we just let it go, it will be OK, but we don’t let go. Doing that, we just lose what is greater. We lose the greater life.
To those whom God loves, God tells them to let things go. God is telling us to let those small things go because I want to give greater, so let them go. Have you ever heard of President Kennedy? When he was younger, he was very smart. He went to a market and a shop. The owner said oh you’re so cute, grab a handful of peanuts. But then the boy just smiled and looked at her. Then the owner grabbed a handful and gave it. After they came out, Kennedy was very happy. Then mom said, “If you’re going to eat it, why didn’t you grab it.” Then Kennedy said, “The owner’s hand is bigger than my hand.” The reason why God is telling us to let go of the small things is to give us greater. Of course, God’s hand is greater.
Peter and Andrew left the nets to catch fish with. God gave them a net that will catch people. James and John left their boat. God let them enter a boat of salvation, an ark of salvation. Although they left their blood-related father, they received a heavenly father. We must meet our father God and we must receive it first so we can save our blood-related.
When they left those things, how did they leave? They left at once, immediately it says in verse 22. This is why they are so great. They did not think about it. They received with faith. They did not analyze. They are not people of knowledge, but by nature they were absolute. They are so innocent. Because they were innocent, they were able to see God. It is when we are very innocent that we can meet Jesus.
Therefore when Jesus told them to leave the road, they left at once. This is how they were able to be first 4 disciples. They became disciples because there was this greatness. They were innocent. That’s what made them be immediate and great. We want to become ones like this. The faith is with this heart. This is precise. This is what is right. People who analyze with knowledge, they are not able to meet Jesus. They met Jesus with their hearts. Faith can only be done with the heart. Voice of our heart is right. We must obey that. That is why they left at once. They were the people of faith.
[Mt 5:37] Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Say yes when yes, and say no when no. These people were prudent to the voice from their heart. They were prudent and frank. We can meet Jesus with our hearts. If you are prudent, then our hearts are prudent and we can say yes. Jews said this to Jesus, you are not right. We listen to your word and it is right, but you are not right. Jesus said to say yes to yes and no to no.
[Mt 7:17] Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
Jesus’ word is right and Jesus right. Why is Jesus wrong? They said Jesus’ teaching right, but Jesus wrong. Say yes to yes and no to no. That is the evil in you. The disciples of Jesus said yes to yes. This is faith. Although to us, we cannot see anything in the future, can’t see anything right now, we are the ones who can say yes to yes and walk this path of faith.
The ancestor of faith did this. Then you become ones with innocent heart and walk the path of faith. Abraham won in this part. Jesus’ first 4 disciples won in the first path. This is the first part in the path of faith. This is leaving after being determined. It’s not just thinking. A person of faith has action, is putting things into action. I hope that you gain victory in this path of faith.