20250504 Gen 11:27-13:11 The Patterns of the Christian Life
The following is true for all Christians. Ever since the first sin, we were born in the context of sin, as sinners who sin. If we are Christians, it means that in our hopeless state we heard good news. We heard words of blessing that sounded like they were out of this world. In our state of despair at our sins we heard of a solution. God paid our debt of sin by sending His Son Jesus to die the death our sins deserve. Then God gave us His Spirit to transform our minds and hearts to live for Him. Following these words of blessing and hearing of God's love, we quickly learn that sin is still at work in us. We still contribute to sin and suffering in this world.
Our text describes the four movements of chaos,
blessing, sin, and its consequences. These are the movements of Gen 1-6, then in
Gen 8-9, and now Gen 11:27-13:11. They will appear again in Gen 15-16. This
repetition shows us they are the pattern for us as well.
This is a tip for reading the OT. When we read OT
narratives, at our worst we read them like a history book that has no impact on
us. A step up is when we learn about God and draw applications. What we want to
aim for is Rom 15:4. Paul wrote, about the OT that it “was written for our
instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the
Scriptures we might have hope.” He is talking about a deeper transformative
kind of reading. A proper reading of the OT feeds our souls and forms us into a
mature people in Christ. It cultivates hope in us. I want to study Gen
11:27-13:11 as a text written for our instruction. The patterns and repetitions
show us Abraham is not just a case study. This text is more than history. It is
scripture for us and in some way, it is about us. I want it to be an
encouragement. I want it to form hope in us.
We will look at the four movements of the Christian
life. They are the lifeless chaos in Gen 11:27-12:1, the blessing (Gen 12:2-9),
sin (Gen 12:10-20), and its consequences (Gen 13:1-11).
The
first phase is lifeless chaos in Gen 11:27-12:1.
Text:
Gen 1:1-2/Gen 11:27
In Genesis 1:2, before God speaks, there is lifeless
chaos. It was dark, formless, and empty. Now, in Gen 11:26, Terah had three
sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran. In Gen 11:28, Haran dies. According to Gen 11:29
Abram’s wife cannot have children. In Gen 11:32, Terah dies. The theme of these
verses is non-life with death and barrenness.
Text
Gen 1:3//Gen 12:1
The lifeless chaos of Gen 1:2 is solved in Gen 1:3
when God says, "Let there be light.” The same happens as a response to the
lifeless chaos of the end of Gen 11. The chaos ends in Gen 12:1 with the words,
"And the Lord said."
Application
For us, lifeless chaos is phase one. Before modern
medicine it was way more common for women to die in childbirth. This meant that
a birth could also mark a death. Even when no one dies, all our families have
some level of dysfunction. There is no way of living in this world and escaping
deep levels of brokenness that are the consequences of sin. Sin alienates us to
feel shame internally and divide us from others. We live in a world of war,
scams, fraud, greed, and deceit. I think apart from God, people can have meaningful
lives. But, when someone becomes a Christian they always regard their former
life in contrast as spiritual lifeless chaos. Ephesians 2:1-5 describes life
before God causing us to be born again as death in our sins. Even if we came to
faith at a young age, before God intervened, we were dead when God saved us. Some
take aways of this first point are: Be aware of our former hopeless state. Be
grateful for God’s saving work. Be compassionate to those who are still in the
state of death.
The
second phase is Blessing. God speaks a word of blessing into the chaos in Gen
12:2-9.
Gen
12:2-9
The same way God spoke light into the darkness in Gen
1:3, God pronounces a blessing to Abram. In Gen 12:1-3, God promises the reversal
of Genesis 3 in Abram with the promises of land, offspring, and blessing.
Gen 12:6-9 portrays the promised land like a New Eden.
Abram goes from the North of the Promised land in Shechem to the South in Negeb.
He sets up his tent on hill tops, surrounded by trees, to call on the name of
the Lord. This is a picture of Eden. We have Abram which means exalted Father
and Sarai which means Princess. They are in an Edenic land calling on the name
of the Lord (Gen 12:8). They are like our new Adam and Eve figures. We also
read that Canaanites are in the land (Gen 12:6). They probably represent the
snake. We can expect sin to be just around the corner.
Application
Following the lifeless chaos of Gen 11, God speaks a
blessing to Abram. Still today, God has good news for the hopeless. We live in
a world marked by sin, suffering, disease, war, shame, and enmity, and death. God
gives us good news. Christ is the truest human who rules the world reflecting
God’s attributes perfectly.
The gospel is that Christ’s reign is total. There are
no domains he does not rule over. He rules over the spiritual, over our lives,
and the natural world. In his ministry Jesus healed diseases, he calmed a
storm, and he cast out demons. His reign is such that he even conquered death,
so that not even sin and death have the final word. He conquered death, the
consequence of sin, and so he can offer the forgiveness of sins. By the Spirit
working in us, Jesus renews our vocation to serve God and live meaningful lives
for him. This is the good news Christians heard and believed that has changed
our lives.
The
third pattern of the Christian life is that even after receiving God’s
blessing, we still sin. We see this in the life of Abram in Gen 12:10-20.
Gen
12:10-20
In
Gen 12:10-20, Abram sins. In Gen 12:1-3, God promised Land, Offspring and
Blessing to Abram.
In the texts that follow the promises will often be in
jeopardy. God sends Abram to the promised land, but he leaves the land.
God promises Abram offspring, but he gives his wife
away and has a child with another woman.
Abram was to be a blessing to all people and nations,
but he deceives and brings plagues to the nation of Egypt.
The big lesson is that despite Abram’s failure, God
keeps his promises.
If
the blessings of Gen 12:2-9 remind us of Eden, Gen 12:10-20 is a return to
Genesis 3.
In Gen 3 there was a food problem with a forbidden
fruit that became the object of desire. In Gen 12:10-20, there is a food
problem with a famine. Abram and Sarai go to Egypt to escape the famine. In
this scenario, Sarai is the forbidden object of desire.
In Gen 3, the snake was the deceiver. In Gen 12, Abram
is the snake-like deceiver. He deceives Egypt with his wife, the forbidden
fruit. Instead of blessing the nations, he sacrifices Sarai that his life would
be spared (Gen 12:13).
There are more connections to Genesis 3. The Egyptians
see and take Sarai (Gen 12:14). This parallels the woman who sees and takes the
fruit in Gen 3:6. According to Gen 12:17, because Pharaoh took Abram's wife,
“The Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues.” In Gen 12:18,
Pharaoh says, “What is this you have done?” These are the same words God speaks
to Eve in Gen 3:13. Pharaoh seems to take God's role in this episode. He uses God's
line and then sends Abram out of his land, like God sent Adam out of the Garden.
These verses are a retelling of Genesis 3. God blesses
a couple and then things go horribly wrong. God's agents of blessing bring
curse to the world around them rather than a blessing. Pharaoh sends Abram out
with many possessions.[1]
Application
This text offers us such a picture of the Christian
life. We are blessed beyond measure in Christ. We are told our sins are
completely forgiven. We are hidden in Christ’s righteousness. God gives us his Spirit
to empower us to be his agents of blessing, and yet we sin and we can sin badly!
Abraham is known for his great faith. In the chapters
that follow, he will grow in his trust. And, he will also continue to lack
faith as well. The point is that Christians sin and we keep sinning. We may
feel discouraged by this.
A first application is that we must remember that the
Christian life is not that you become so righteous that you no longer need God.
Growing in Christ is being more reliant on God and quicker to run to him when
we sin.
A second application is, let us not be shocked when a
brother or sister sins. Let us be quick to remind them of the gospel. We will
all sin and take matters in our own hand to benefit ourselves. Christian
leaders who have given their whole lives to “serving the Lord” fall to every
single sin we can imagine. It can be alcoholism, prostitution, money
embezzlement, or narcissistic controlling behavior. Power, sex, and money are objects
of desire that never fully go away. God offers Eden but we pursue our own
version in our own way.
The
fourth phase is the consequences of sin in Gen 13:1-11. This is equivalent to
Genesis 4. Abraham and his brother’s son separate.
Gen
13:1-11
In Gen 13, Abram and Lot his nephew (Gen 11:27) were
becoming successful and growing. We could read this as God is blessing them. But
Abram’s wealth is the direct result of his lies in Egypt. In this text, it
leads to the division of his family. Gen 13:6 tells us the “land could not
support both of them dwelling together, for their possessions were so great
that they could not dwell together 7 and there was strife between the herdsmen
of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock.”
Abram offers Lot the choice of land. Abram jeopardized
the promise of offspring by giving his wife away, and blessing to the nations
in Egypt by bringing plagues. Now, he jeopardizes the land promise by offering
it away.
The author’s choice of words for Lot also cast him as
a sinner. According to Gen 13:10-11, Lot saw that the Jordan Valley was well
watered like the garden of the LORD. He has found himself a false-Eden. In Gen
13:11 he “chose for himself” is like the angels choosing for themselves
daughters of man in Gen 6:2. Then Lot journeyed east. East is where Cain went
to build a city (Gen 4:16). East is also where humanity went to build the tower
of Babel (Gen 11:2). He goes to Sodom (Gen 13:12). We see that sin has its
consequences.
Abram accrued wealth through deceit. Abram’s problems
will be connected to the possessions he received.
His wealth will lead to problems with Lot in Gen 13,
14, 18, and 19.
In Egypt, following his deceit Abram received Hagar
who will be the source of his problems in Gen 16 and 21. We have 6 chapters
worth of problems connected with the wealth he acquired through deceit in
Genesis 12.
Application
In the Christian life, we live with the consequences
of our actions. We know amazing forgiveness in Christ but the consequences of
our sins persist. Sex in the wrong circumstances, the pursuit of money and
power have consequences. We all have to live with the consequences of our sins
and unfortunately the sins of others.
I knew a couple that met, they quickly got pregnant. One
wanted an abortion, the other didn’t. They got married. Had more kids. They had
no foundations to be a healthy couple that provides a healthy nurture for their
children. After 20 years of an unhappy marriage they divorced. Their children
have all struggled with social and relational, psychological issues, that they
may or may not pass down to the next generation. This pattern is too common. God
can absolutely bring healing. God can redeem the children of a broken marriage
and through his work through his Word, Church, and sanctifying power heal them
to have healthy relationships. And our sins have real consequences that can
affect generations to come.
I spent a brief period of my life interested in
Academia. I observed that the pursuit of gaining recognition in a field comes
at a cost. In the Christian Academic world there is a lot of toxicity. Getting
published and writing books can come at the cost of caring for our family. I
remember hearing of a famous OT professor who regretted not being more present
at home. One of his adult children was a homeless drug addict in Los Angeles. Our
actions have consequences. There is not always a direct link between actions
and consequences. However, 18 years of being an absent father due to the
demands of scholarship can have unintended consequences.
If we are not careful, we are drawn away from the
people who matter the most to us. People will live on forever but money,
earthly status, and stuff does not. The more we pursue status, money, or
success, the more we increase our stress. More stress means we are less present
with our loved ones, even when we are physically present. God gives us all the
simple things we need to be happy - nature, family, friends, our church. When
we seek our own Eden there can be negative consequences that affects what
matters the most.
Conclusion
We’ve looked at the pattern of the Christian life:
life begins in chaos, God saves us and blesses us, we still sin and live with
the consequences of sin.
This is where we find ourselves. We have ended on a
bit of a low note but it is a real note. There is a lesson of hope from this
text. None of us has what it takes, so our hope cannot be in ourselves. God is
our hope. We know that God kept his promises to Abraham despite Abraham. We can
look back on the accomplished work of Christ. It is accomplished, it is done.
God has already fulfilled his promises to us and it is done in the past never
to be reversed.
We are sinners and we will sin, but God is our hope.
Now, God is sovereign so he even uses our failure to
spread his fame and glory. In response to our failure, we turn back to God and
trust in him. We acknowledge our finiteness and give God all the glory.
We praise him in Christian community for his
faithfulness and commitment to fulfilling his promises. We also encourage each
other with these truths.
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