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날짜: 2018년 11월 25일
제목: 신앙의 교차로에서...
올리브연합감리교회 김배선 목사
20181125 Sunday Worship Sermon
“At the Crossroad of Faith…” (Genesis 11:27-32)
I remember an old Korean pop song, titled “Life is an incompletion.”
I think the song-writer wanted to communicate through his song that life is like a long journey left to be completed.
It is true. No one’s life is complete from the beginning.
We are progressing toward completion a little, by a little, every day in this life’s journey.
Our faith is the same.
It is a progress toward a completion.
No one can demonstrate perfect behaviors as a believer from the beginning.
We may be imperfect as a beginner but as we continue in the journey, God will help us to go through and progress toward a completion.
In today’s text, there was a man who has lived an unfinished life of faith.
His name is Terah.
Many among us may be unfamiliar with Terah.
Terah was Abraham’s father.
What we just read in today’s text is a genealogy of Terah’s family.
According to the scripture, we know that Terah was the head of the family.
He was also the head of his tribe.
During that time in the Bible, the Hebrew culture was family oriented and tribe oriented.
Therefore, Terah must have been an important person during that time.
When we read the previous chapter, Genesis chapter 10, we can find out that there is a genealogy of Noah.
It talks about Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth and it talks about each son’s family tree.
Also, we can find out exactly where Terah stood according to the family trees of Noah’s three sons.
Yes, as a descendent of Noah, Terah was a head of a family and a tribe of Shem.
Many of us will find reading a genealogy tiring and boring.
However, genealogies in the scripture are not just a list of names and who gave birth to whom.
The genealogies in the scripture are used as a tool to show us how and where the work of God was.
The genealogies in Genesis 10-11 show how God sustained and worked through Noah and his family who survived the great flood.
And we need to focus on the fact that Terah is a descendent of Noah and his son Shem.
Genesis chapter 10 starts with Noah but at the end of chapter 11, the focus is changed to Terah.
And in today’s text, it shows us how Terah was related to Noah.
Noah was a one of kind.
He was faithful to God and God showed him a great mercy and grace.
Knowing that Terah was a descendent of Noah, we would easily expect him to have a great faith.
However, when we look at Terah’s life, besides the fact that he was a descendent of the great Noah, his life was not that significant.
Today, I would like to share a few important teachings of faith through the story of Terah’s family.
Terah lived in 2000 BC, but the story of his life and his family is very similar to us.
His story portrays us and our family well.
We are believers like Terah.
So, I hope we learn and listen to what God is trying to teach us through Terah and his family.
Let’s first look at what happened in the family of Terah.
In verse 27, it says that “Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.”
Terah had three sons, Abram, Nahor and Haran.
Abram’s name will be changed to Abraham later.
It was not a big family but I assume that Terah could have been satisfied with three obeying sons and happy with his family.
However, let’s look at what happened next.
The later part of the verse 27 says that Haran was the father of Lot.
Haran was Terah’s youngest son, and he gave birth to a son.
Terah now became a grand-father.
Lot is well known as Abraham’s nephew.
It is interesting to know that the name Lot has a meaning of “hidden”.
Since we know that naming is very important in Hebrew culture, Lot might have been a son who needed to be hidden.
There is no indication as who Lot’s mother was.
Therefore, according to the Hebrew custom, it is unlikely that the youngest son gets married before his older brothers.
Perhaps, Haran, the youngest son, becoming a father was not something the family wanted to be proud of.
Perhaps, that was the reason why Terah named the baby Lot, “hidden”.
There must have been a problem in the Terah’s family.
Terah’s family was shaken.
Terah’s journey of life had gotten harder.
However, the problem with Haran did not end there.
Look at verse 28, “Haran died before his father Terah…”
Things went from bad to worse.
The problematic son, Haran, died before his father, Terah.
Literally, it could be meant “in front of his father or while his father was watching”.
We do not know how he died or why he died.
However, the scripture says that Haran died before his father.
Imagine how much grief Terah was experiencing after witnessing the passing of his grown son.
How sad was his heart?
Ur of Chaldeans is a land of rich soil.
In this rich land, where everything was abundant, Terah was deeply suffering from losing his son.
Brothers and sisters, have you ever experienced a difficulty that is so hurtful?
In this life we experience unexpected things.
We might have a problem with our precious children who have been always good.
Successful businesses might go through financial crisis.
Those are something that we would never want to experience.
And when something like this happens, it really hurts us and makes us fall into a deep despair and sorrow.
I believe we all have one or two things that are so hurtful to remember, so we want to hide.
Yes, we all have some of those.
Things we do not want to show.
Things we only want to hide and forget.
Things we do not want anyone else to know.
Terah in Genesis chapter 11, was a believer who had a sorrow.
The second problem occurred when Terah tried to marry off his other sons.
After the youngest son, Heran died, Terah rushed to marry off his other two sons.
The scripture says in verse 29, “Abram and Nahor took wives…”
It says that they both married.
It makes us imagine Terah rushing to re
20181125 Sunday Worship Sermon
“At the Crossroad of Faith…” (Genesis 11:27-32)
I remember an old Korean pop song, titled “Life is an incompletion.”
I think the song-writer wanted to communicate through his song that life is like a long journey left to be completed.
It is true. No one’s life is complete from the beginning.
We are progressing toward completion a little, by a little, every day in this life’s journey.
Our faith is the same.
It is a progress toward a completion.
No one can demonstrate perfect behaviors as a believer from the beginning.
We may be imperfect as a beginner but as we continue in the journey, God will help us to go through and progress toward a completion.
In today’s text, there was a man who has lived an unfinished life of faith.
His name is Terah.
Many among us may be unfamiliar with Terah.
Terah was Abraham’s father.
What we just read in today’s text is a genealogy of Terah’s family.
According to the scripture, we know that Terah was the head of the family.
He was also the head of his tribe.
During that time in the Bible, the Hebrew culture was family oriented and tribe oriented.
Therefore, Terah must have been an important person during that time.
When we read the previous chapter, Genesis chapter 10, we can find out that there is a genealogy of Noah.
It talks about Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth and it talks about each son’s family tree.
Also, we can find out exactly where Terah stood according to the family trees of Noah’s three sons.
Yes, as a descendent of Noah, Terah was a head of a family and a tribe of Shem.
Many of us will find reading a genealogy tiring and boring.
However, genealogies in the scripture are not just a list of names and who gave birth to whom.
The genealogies in the scripture are used as a tool to show us how and where the work of God was.
The genealogies in Genesis 10-11 show how God sustained and worked through Noah and his family who survived the great flood.
And we need to focus on the fact that Terah is a descendent of Noah and his son Shem.
Genesis chapter 10 starts with Noah but at the end of chapter 11, the focus is changed to Terah.
And in today’s text, it shows us how Terah was related to Noah.
Noah was a one of kind.
He was faithful to God and God showed him a great mercy and grace.
Knowing that Terah was a descendent of Noah, we would easily expect him to have a great faith.
However, when we look at Terah’s life, besides the fact that he was a descendent of the great Noah, his life was not that significant.
Today, I would like to share a few important teachings of faith through the story of Terah’s family.
Terah lived in 2000 BC, but the story of his life and his family is very similar to us.
His story portrays us and our family well.
We are believers like Terah.
So, I hope we learn and listen to what God is trying to teach us through Terah and his family.
Let’s first look at what happened in the family of Terah.
In verse 27, it says that “Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.”
Terah had three sons, Abram, Nahor and Haran.
Abram’s name will be changed to Abraham later.
It was not a big family but I assume that Terah could have been satisfied with three obeying sons and happy with his family.
However, let’s look at what happened next.
The later part of the verse 27 says that Haran was the father of Lot.
Haran was Terah’s youngest son, and he gave birth to a son.
Terah now became a grand-father.
Lot is well known as Abraham’s nephew.
It is interesting to know that the name Lot has a meaning of “hidden”.
Since we know that naming is very important in Hebrew culture, Lot might have been a son who needed to be hidden.
There is no indication as who Lot’s mother was.
Therefore, according to the Hebrew custom, it is unlikely that the youngest son gets married before his older brothers.
Perhaps, Haran, the youngest son, becoming a father was not something the family wanted to be proud of.
Perhaps, that was the reason why Terah named the baby Lot, “hidden”.
There must have been a problem in the Terah’s family.
Terah’s family was shaken.
Terah’s journey of life had gotten harder.
However, the problem with Haran did not end there.
Look at verse 28, “Haran died before his father Terah…”
Things went from bad to worse.
The problematic son, Haran, died before his father, Terah.
Literally, it could be meant “in front of his father or while his father was watching”.
We do not know how he died or why he died.
However, the scripture says that Haran died before his father.
Imagine how much grief Terah was experiencing after witnessing the passing of his grown son.
How sad was his heart?
Ur of Chaldeans is a land of rich soil.
In this rich land, where everything was abundant, Terah was deeply suffering from losing his son.
Brothers and sisters, have you ever experienced a difficulty that is so hurtful?
In this life we experience unexpected things.
We might have a problem with our precious children who have been always good.
Successful businesses might go through financial crisis.
Those are something that we would never want to experience.
And when something like this happens, it really hurts us and makes us fall into a deep despair and sorrow.
I believe we all have one or two things that are so hurtful to remember, so we want to hide.
Yes, we all have some of those.
Things we do not want to show.
Things we only want to hide and forget.
Things we do not want anyone else to know.
Terah in Genesis chapter 11, was a believer who had a sorrow.
The second problem occurred when Terah tried to marry off his other sons.
After the youngest son, Heran died, Terah rushed to marry off his other two sons.
The scripture says in verse 29, “Abram and Nahor took wives…”
It says that they both married.
It makes us imagine Terah rushing to re