Several years ago a friend e-mailed me a humorous and poignant reminder about the aging process and what aging entails. It is entitled, ‘What I Want in A Man’ (Slide 1)
What I Want In A Man, (at age 24)
1. Handsome
2. Charming
3. Financially Successful
4. A Caring Listener
5. Witty
6. In Good Shape
7. Dresses with Style
8. Appreciates the Finer Things
9. Full of Thoughtful Surprises
10. An Imaginative, Romantic Lover
What I Want In A Man (at age 32) (Slide 2)
1. Nice Looking -- preferably with hair on his head
2. Opens car doors, holds chairs
3. Has enough money for a nice dinner at restaurant
4. Listens more than he talks
5. Laughs at my jokes at appropriate times
6. Can carry in all the groceries with ease
7. Owns at least one tie
8. Appreciates a good home cooked meal
9. Remembers Birthdays and Anniversaries
10. Seeks romance at least once a week
What I Want In A Man, (at age 42) (Slide 3)
1. Not too ugly -- bald head OK
2. Doesn’t drive off until I m in the car
3. Works steady -- splurges on dinner at McDonalds on occasion
4. Nods head at appropriate times when I’m talking
5. Usually remembers the punch-lines of jokes
6. Is in good enough shape to rearrange the furniture
7. Usually wears shirt that covers stomach
8. Knows not to buy champagne with screw-top lids
9. Remembers to put the toilet seat lid down
10. Shaves on most weekends (Slide 4)
What I Want In A Man, (at age 52) (Slide 5)
1. Keeps hair in nose and ears trimmed to appropriate length
2. Doesn’t belch or scratch in public
3. Doesn’t borrow money too often
4. Doesn’t nod off to sleep while I’m emoting
5. Doesn’t re-tell same joke too many times
6. Is in good enough shape to get off couch on weekends
7. Usually wears matching socks and fresh underwear
8. Appreciates a good TV Dinner
9. Remembers your name on occasion
10. Shaves on some weekends
What I Want In A Man, (at age 62) (Slide 6)
1. Can see to drive after dark
2. Remembers where bathroom is
3. Doesn’t require much money for upkeep
4. Only snores lightly when awake (LOUDLY when asleep)
5. Forgets why he’s laughing
6. Is in good enough shape to stand up by himself
7. Usually wears some clothes
8. Likes soft foods
9. Remembers where he left his teeth
10. Remembers when...
What I Want In A Man, (at age 72) (Slide 7)
1. Breathing
I want to ask this morning, a variation of this phrase, (Slide 8) ‘What do you want in God at your current age?’
Over the next three weeks we will conclude our brief look at some phrases that I introduced you to in June from the ’51 Word Bible.’ (Slide 9) We are going to be examining the three phrases highlighted in red, ‘Abraham’s Faith, Joseph’s Dreams, and Joshua’s Conquests’ under the thematic heading of ‘Do You Believe?’
(Slide 10) When I was 18, I traveled a stretch of I-70 to the college I attended, 6 hours, 300 or so miles, and 2 states away 31 year ago this month. I was 18 and ready to take on the world.
In the years since I left home at 18, I have often reflected on the journey that my life has taken since then to places and through certain experiences. Places that I did not expect to go and experiences I did not expect to have.
In our main text for this morning we read, ‘It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance… (Slide 11) He went without knowing where he was going.’
Four things strike me about Abraham’s journey to where God was leading him (Slide 11a) 1. He knew there was a destination. 2. He took a known route. 3. He knew the goal. 4. But, he did not know the impact that it would have on him.
(Slide 12) The ultimate destination was here… what is today known as Israel. But Abraham had never been there and he knew nothing about the land. And until God told him, as we read in Genesis 12:7, where this land was, Abraham had to keep walking by faith until he arrived.
The route was most likely the well traveled route marked in red that would allow the numerous caravans of human beings and animals to be sustained along what is called ‘The Fertile Crescent.’ But as we read in Genesis 11:23, Abraham had traveled on a portion of it with his father to the place called Haran. There was still more to the journey.
The goal we read in Genesis 12:1, ‘Then the Lord told Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. (Slide 12a) I will cause you to become the father of a great nation.’ Given what has been learned over the years about the cultures of that time Abraham probably fully comprehend what this promise meant because becoming a father was an important family and social role.
But what I believe Abraham did not know was what this journey and this process would do to him. It would test him, it would try him, it would cause him to fear, it would empower him to plead before God for the lives of others, and it would almost lead him to do what we think is an unthinkable act of human sacrifice. This journey would change him forever! He had no idea where he was going all that he knew was that God called him to go to a particular place at a particular time for a particular reason… at age 75!
Now you would think that once Abraham arrived where God wanted him to be that life would be good and all would ‘live happily ever after.’ But a couple of immediate circumstances brought trouble to Abraham. One was a famine that would force him and his household to seek food in Egypt. It would also cause problems for him because he feared losing his attractive wife and his life.
The other was that he had no children to create the great nation that God said he would father! His wife could not conceive. (That presents a bit of a problem.) This also would cause him problems because a shortcut solution would be used to rectify the problem, namely his wife’s servant, Hagar. Now by this point, 10 years had passed (refer to Genesis 16:3) and Abram was now in his 80’s. Was God playing games with Abraham? Did He not tell Abraham that He would be the father of a great nation? What was taking so long?
Eventually, Abraham and Sarah would have a son, God would test Abraham’s commitment in a dramatic way and eventually Abraham’s family would grow and start the establishment of a great nation. His faith would be made strong through his circumstances and it would earn him high marks as a role model of faith.
But there is a question that I think has been asked by some over the years that needs to be asked this morning, ‘Why would Abram, later Abraham, go on this journey in the first place?’ What did He stand to gain by leaving his family and striking out on his own?
(Slide 13) I believe that, for the most part, the places that I have lived in and traveled to have been the places that God has wanted me to go to as part of His plans and purposes. What about you? Do you believe that the places that you have gone to have been God’s places for you?
I find that life has moved for me from ‘Where do I go now?’ to ‘How many moves do I have left in me before retirement?’ At one point I answered with confidence, ‘two.’ I made one in coming here and perhaps there is only one move left for me. That is for God to determine.
How do you know that a place that you are thinking of going to is God’s place for you? Have you closed off the possibility of further moves? Do you believe that you are to stay put where you are? Or, are you anxious to move and ready to strike out on your own? If so, are you inviting God into your decision shaping and making process? Do you believe that God will help you go where He wants you to go? Do you have the faith to believe that He will provide for your journey?
(Slide 13a) In Hebrews 11 we read, ‘What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.’
But what is our faith in? If we are honest I think that we need to say that our faith is basically in ourselves. One of our area college students, Joel Liechty, recently wrote in his blog this very insightful comment (a blog is an Internet based journal that others can read), ‘I have often wondered how much I determine who I believe God is. By this I mean, how much do I make God what he is?
We were created in the image of God. We reflect who he is. However, we are fallen and corrupted. And even if we were still perfect, we aren’t exactly like God. We are simply and image of him, there are some things in us that are a reflection of who he is. Who he is in part determines who I am.
However, I think instead of determining who God is and from that finding parallels in how he made me - something that I could do to praise him for making me so majestically - instead, I simply make God in my own image. I switch the process around. I determine who God is based on what I think I am.’
What was Abraham’s view of God? What did he believe about God?
(Slide 14) Do you believe? Do you believe in a God, a Higher Power, a Supreme Being that loves you and can make a significant difference in your life?
Hebrews 11:8-12 says this, ‘It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in a tent. And so did Isaac and Jacob, to whom God gave the same promise. Abraham did this because he was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
It was by faith that Sarah together with Abraham was able to have a child, even though they were too old and Sarah was barren. Abraham believed that God would keep his promise. And so a whole nation came from this one man, Abraham, who was too old to have any children—a nation with so many people that, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.’
Do you believe in the God that revealed Himself to Abraham and that came in the person of Jesus Christ? I do and I as I prepared this sermon, I realized that my faith and belief in this God has changed me more than I have realized and taken me where sometimes I did not want to go.
(Slide 15) As we move toward our conclusion this morning here is the main point that I want to make: 7a. God knows the way and the purpose of our lives even when we don’t. We must trust Him and let go of our agenda and embrace His. We must believe in Him despite the circumstances that surround us.
A man named Raymond Saba arrived in this county in 1971 at age 18, with no money, no family name, and no knowledge of English. Saba grew up in Lebanon, the son of ‘Christian’ Army Officer later murdered by political opponents, then stripped by his father’s family of the family name.
When a friend told Raymond that he believed in Jesus, Raymond mocked him and Jesus over and over again. Eventually the friend stopped talking to him about Jesus and recited Matthew 10:14, ‘If they do not receive your testimony, shake the dust off your feet and walk away,’ and concluded, ‘We will not discuss this again.’
He felt a door closing on him but later picked up Charles Colson’s book of his conversion after his Watergate sentencing and imprisonment. Finding no political agenda in it, Saba concluded, ‘By the time I finished the book, I was convinced Colson knew God on a first-name basis. I was jealous.
I said, "God, if you really exist like this book says you do, I want to know you." Suddenly, I found myself on the floor, my face in the carpet, crying my heart out, feeling so sinful and desperate, knowing I needed this God in my life.’
Being a businessman however, Saba thought that he made a deal with God that had three conditions, ‘no Jews, no Jesus and no returning to the Middle East.’ You see, Raymond had lived as a Muslim in the Christian neighborhoods of Beirut and his father was married when his mother (a Syrian servant girl) had become pregnant by Saba’s father. His family was subject to physical and mental abuse by other groups.
Eventually God began working in his heart to the place that his hatred of the Jews and Arabs was dealt with and taken away. He also accepted who Jesus was and fully committed himself to Him and later returned to the Middle East to share Christ with them.
Can you identify with Saba? I can! We come to God and try to make deals, but eventually if we are going to truly believe that God is who He says He is then we must let go of what we think God is supposed to do and walk by faith!
Saba concluded his story as follows, ‘My wife used to say I would never get where I was going because "you’re running away from your past.’
‘But I’m not running anymore, and the hatred is gone.’
What do you expect of God at this point in your life?
I don’t know what age 58 or even age 50 holds for me. But what I do know is that God loves me, and you, and that His purposes for us are the right ones, which require us to have faith in the very character and nature of God as Abraham did. Do you believe? Do you believe that God’s good purposes will work themselves out in your life no matter what the situation looks like right now? Are you willing, are we willing as a congregation, to answer God’s call to ‘get up and go’ to wherever He leads us?
Let us let go of our agendas and embrace God’s agenda so that as we journey through life we will have the ability to live as God would have us live and fulfill His plans and purposes for His glory and honor. Amen.
Sources: Joel Liechty blog, ‘Thoughts of A Wandering Mind,’ ‘God is Mostly Me,’ the May 20, 2007 entry. http://joelliechty.blogspot.com/
Sabo story is found at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/faithstories/healing1128.htm
Power Points for this sermon are available by e-mailing me at pastorjim46755@yahoo.com and asking for ‘081207slides’ Please note that all slides for a particular presentation may not be available.
