calling

Blessed to Be a
Blessing
God’s Strategy to
Transform the Nations

Session 5
 scripture study two: god calls ordinary people willing to
trust him
Study the following Scripture verses, reflect on the questions and be
prepared to share your answers with the entire group.

Read Genesis 12:1-4

• What happened to Abram? What happened in this story? What did

God say that God would do?
• Why did God call Abram? Was he anything special? What was Abram
doing when the Lord called him?
• What were the requirements that God gave Abram before he could be
called? Did God say: “Abram, I want you to stop being so angry,
carrying bitterness in you, being greedy, blaming others for how bad
you’re doing!? I want you to stop drinking, smoking, selling drugs,
sleeping around with lots of women! I want you studying your Bible
and praying every day, and going to church! I am going to go away for a
few months and come back. If I find that you have done all these
things, then be ready. I will call you!?
• How did Abram respond to God’s call? Did he trust God?

Reflection Questions

• If God would show up in your life like he did with Abram and tell you
that he wants to bless you to be a blessing to others, but that you would
need to be willing to leave behind the way of life you knew and take a
leap of faith into a new kind of life… what would you say? What would
your church say? Would you be willing to leave behind ways of doing
and being church that have left you stuck, and instead follow God’s lead
into new ways of doing and being church?
• Have you trusted God to lead you? Where/in what ways have you not
fully trusted God? Where/in what ways has your church not fully
trusted God?
• What do you think of the following definition of the word ‘calling’?
“Calling means God recruiting you to be part of this movement of
people who want to bring God’s blessing back to the world.”

god’s rescue continued: the calling of abraham and the

blessing of the nations
Based on these two scripture studies, how does God go about the task to
bring blessings to the nation and his creation? God singles out one man
and his family through whom to accomplish his vision for this earth – the

The Integral Mission of the Church 2 Living the Story Series

 family of Abram. is ordinary man, who like so many others was
suffering from the consequences of sin and death, was called by God to
change the course of history – to work alongside God to bring people and
nations back to what God had intended them to be. God promised to
bless Abram, giving him the following four specific promises: making him
into a great nation; making his name great; blessing and protecting him,
and blessing those who blessed him and cursing those who cursed him;
and even blessing all the families of the earth through him. is call of
Abram narrows the focus of the Biblical story to one family, but through
them all the families of the earth will be blessed. Indeed, the Hebrew
word used for blessing includes the notion of Shalom (see Genesis 28:21).
So to establish Shalom means to reverse the destructive course that sin
brought on humankind. It is about re-establishing healthy, life-giving
relationships. rough Abram and his descendants all nations on earth
would be able to experience Shalom! e salvation of the nations was
God’s ultimate motivation in making Abraham’s name great and in being
the God of Abraham’s innumerable progeny. is universal purpose
totally dominates the covenant God made with Abraham.

What were the results of Abram’s hearing and obeying God? How did
God begin to fulfill his promises? e following chapters in Genesis –
until the end of the book – tell of Abram’s and his son’s Isaac’s and his
grandson’s Jacob’s journeys; of dysfunctional family dynamics in all three
families; and finally of how Jacob’s sons sold one of their own brothers into
slavery to Egypt; of how this slave, Joseph, experienced much injustice
before growing to become the vice-regent in Egypt; of how he became a
wise governor who saved Egypt and many Middle-Eastern nations around
it from certain starvation through just administration, public management,
and governorship – thus fulfilling for the first time in a grand scale – that
Abram’s descendants would become a blessing to many nations – in this
case saving numerous nations throughout the Middle East from certain
starvation. e Hebrew word used to describe this event in the lives of
numerous nations is in fact “salvation”. It corresponds to the word used by
the NT to describe “being saved by Christ”. Salvation is holistic, since
Joseph’s public witness makes the most powerful man on earth recognizes
the true God, creator of heavens and the earth. e political and
economic systems are used to accomplish their God-intended purpose.

In summary, the Old Testament as we have it, hangs like an enormous

door on a small hinge, namely the call of Abraham in Genesis 12. e
theme that through Abraham’s seed the nations would be blessed would
remain prominent throughout the Old Testament but would be
remarkably transformed and universalized in the New Testament.
Interestingly, then, first with Noah and his descendants, and now with
Abraham, you see God looking for a people who will turn to him from the
heart, and be his intimate allies once more in putting the world to rights.

The Integral Mission of the Church 3 Living the Story Series

 responding to your people’s groans: identifying with the
pain of your people
“During this long period the king of Egypt died. e children of Israel,
groaning in their slavery, cried out for help and from the depths of their
slavery, their cry came to God. God heard their groaning and God called
to mind God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God looked
down upon the children of Israel, and God was concerned.”
- Exodus 2: 23-25

Please sit quietly after reading this scripture. en answer the following
questions. Reflect silently on the answers you have given to these
questions

What are the groans you hear from the people of your community, city
and church? What is the slavery under which you see yourself, your
family, your community and your nation suffer?

What does hearing such groans do to you?

As you examine your own heart, what are the groans which come forth
from you? What are the conditions or circumstances which break your
heart?

The Integral Mission of the Church 4 Living the Story Series

 Who did the Israelites groan to? Did they groan to God? Did they
pray?

What did God do? How did he react to their groans? Did he remain
silent? Did he become angry? Did he respond?

What do you think of the following quote? Do you agree? If yes, what
does this mean for your ministry? Would you need to change certain
things?

“If our speaking fails to address the precise point at which the world of our
time aches, we are not really preaching the Word.”
- Reformer Martin Luther

scripture study three: the purpose of israel

Study the following Scripture verses, reflect on the questions and be
prepared to share your answers with the entire group.

Read Exodus 19:4-6; Deuteronomy 4:5-8; Deuteronomy 7:7-8; Isaiah

42:6-8; Isaiah 49:6

The Integral Mission of the Church 5 Living the Story Series

 • Why did God rescue this oppressed people? What was his purpose for
this new nation? What did he have in store for them?
• What do these passages tell us about God? What does his choosing
Israel as an oppressed people, liberating them and calling them to
become a blessing to other nations, tell us about God? Did they do
anything special to merit God’s attention?
• How does God plan to save the nations according to these passages?
• Do you believe that God still works in this way in our world today?

By Genesis 11 humanity’s story had gone from bad to worse: from God’s
ultimate motivation in making Abraham’s name great and in being the
God of Abraham’s innumerable progeny. is universal purpose totally
dominates the covenant God made with Abraham.

What were the results of Abram’s hearing and obeying God? How did
God begin to fulfill his promises? e following chapters in Genesis –
until the end of the book – tell of Abram’s and his son’s Isaac’s and his
grandson’s Jacob’s journeys; of dysfunctional family dynamics in all three
families; and finally of how Jacob’s sons sold one of their own brothers into
slavery to Egypt; of how this slave, Joseph, experienced much injustice
before growing to become the vice-regent in Egypt; of how he became a
wise governor who saved Egypt and many Middle-Eastern nations around
it from certain starvation through just administration, public management,
and governorship – thus fulfilling for the first time in a grand scale – that
Abram’s descendants would become a blessing to many nations – in this
case saving numerous nations throughout the Middle East from certain
starvation. e Hebrew word used to describe this event in the lives of
numerous nations is in fact “salvation”. It corresponds to the word used by
the NT to describe “being saved by Christ”. Salvation is holistic, since
Joseph’s public witness makes the most powerful man on earth recognizes
the true God, creator of heavens and the earth. e political and
economic systems are used to accomplish their God-intended purpose.

In summary, the Old Testament as we have it, hangs like an enormous

door on a small hinge, namely the call of Abraham in Genesis 12. e
theme that through Abraham’s seed the nations would be blessed would
remain prominent throughout the Old Testament but would be
remarkably transformed and universalized in the New Testament.
Interestingly, then, first with Noah and his descendants, and now with
Abraham, you see God looking for a people who will turn to him from the
heart, and be his intimate allies once more in putting the world to rights.

The Integral Mission of the Church 6 Living the Story Series

 endnotes

The Integral Mission of the Church 7 Living the Story Series