Abraham is known as the father of our faith, because of his faith.

• So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised – Romans 4:11

• …the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God – Romans 4:16

• Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. – Galatians 3:7

You can read his full story in Genesis 12-24, but let’s just explore a few of his awkward moments here.

1. He got rich pimping out his wife.

• Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. – Genesis 12:10-16

2. He slept with his slave girl.

• Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. – Genesis 16:1-4

3 He got richer pimping out his wife a second time.

• And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?” Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’ Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. – Genesis 20:10-14

Who of us would write those things? Imagine your church website listing your senior pastor’s acts of faith and also stories of the horrible things they’ve done.

What was the author of Genesis thinking? No one needed to know. Did he write this so we would learn from Abraham’s mistakes?

But I got to thinking, what if this isn’t Abraham’s story? What if this is God’s story, written on a canvas called Abraham?

Then including the bad parts makes sense, because it’s the story of how wonderful God is: choosing, promising, forgiving, loving, blessing,…. And Abraham’s part was just to believe in God. To have faith.

Faith! Abraham got credit not for his behavior, but for believing in God.

What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. – Romans 4:3-5

Paul is saying that Abraham wasn’t great, but he’s the father of faith because he believed in God.

The heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11 are heroes not because of their righteousness, but because they put their trust in God.

The Bible is God’s story of his faithfulness, not a collection of stories about great people. The ones who understand that are the children of Abraham.