We will be talking primarily to do with the faith of Abraham as he believed God.
Genesis 12:1-5
1Now the LORD had said unto Abram, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
4So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
In Hebrews we are told of Abraham’s journey of faith
In 11:9-10 9By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
This can be summarized in one word – he was a ‘pilgrim’.
The dictionary definition of a pilgrim is:
“a person regarded as journeying to a future life.” In other words, it’s a journey undertaken with an end view, a purpose, all together different than the journeying of a tourist.
We’ve all seen these western movies and the like about the early pilgrims going west and the hard times they often saw and had.
And yet they were determined to reach their destination
Our life on Earth can helpfully be seen as a journey but the question is: Are we making it as a “pilgrim” or a “tourist”?
The mindset of these categories in a spiritual context is different. Being a “pilgrim”: it’s what we become; what we strive to be all the time, not just for a few weeks of holiday each year. The “tourist” lives life fairly casually, responding to whims and changing directions.
We don’t want to be trapped in a place, relationships or situations from which we can’t escape or find uncomfortable.
It’s all about being in control, being in charge and getting our choice.
· Let us look at the contrast between the biblical “pilgrim” and “tourist” and see how different they are in the story of Abraham. God calls us to be “pilgrims” under His rules, not just mere “tourists” doing “our own thing”, in the journey of life.
Abraham’s journeying was at a different level. His was a pilgrimage from the city of mankind to the city of God.
We don’t know exactly when or how Abraham came to know God. It’s likely that he heard about Him through-- ----stories passed down by word of mouth from his ancestors, and also by seeing Gods creation and through the stirring of his conscience. But primarily, it was through a personal encounter with the living God.
We’re told by the first martyr, Stephen (Acts 7:2The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, ), that’s ancient Babylon, now Iraq and Iran.
It was a religious culture of worshipping the moon and kneeling before idols, but following this encounter with the One and only True God he was told to distance himself from this city of human arrogance and wickedness. As the story unfolds we see Abraham’s:
· CALL TO A NEW LIFE
The Bible’s account makes the point that it wasn’t Abraham who found God; it was God who found Abraham.
He received a call to which he had to respond, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you” (Gen 12:1).
Abraham isn’t called simply to adopt a new set of ideas, which would leave his outward life untouched. It was something far more radical; it was to be a crossroad in his life. It was a call to a decisive turning away from the past, a public rejection of his ancestors’ pagan religion.
God is a jealous God who will not allow His followers to have a mixture of old and new gods.
Other religions may have high ideals but can’t hope to offer redemption of mankind where “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).
It’s only in the atonement of Jesus on the Cross that we have the gift of forgiveness of sins and life eternal.
· The call of God to Abraham to a new life was followed by his:
RESPONSE BY FAITH
The commentary in Hebrews tells us that “By faith Abraham obeyed.” He put the past behind him. His response is an example for all of us. But it was no easy matter.
It wasn’t that he was a man without responsibilities. He had an elderly father, his wife and other family members to consider. He left a life of comfort and luxury for one where there were no financial certainties. He left the security of the town where he was a citizen for an unknown destination, for the life of a nomad. He put his entire future into God’s hands without any guarantees.
There comes times in our lives when we have to turn lose and move on. This will mean different things for each of us. But God challenges all who wish to follow Him about priorities.
He calls us to examine whether He’s more important than our families, friends, jobs, ambitions and possessions. It’s a decision we have to make in our Christian pilgrimage.
The first disciples of Jesus – Peter, Andrew, James and John – were fishermen, but --when the call of Jesus came we’re told, in (Matt 4: 20 20And they straightway left their nets, and followed him ).
I don’t suppose they found it any easier than Abraham did. But they went anyway. It was all or nothing, and still is. It can be hard, but God understands this. That’s why Jesus reminded Peter when he felt discouraged, (Luke 18:29 29And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, 30Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. ).
Traveling across the Babylonian desert was a rough experience, with intense heat by day and bitter cold by night. The travelers became weary and it was especially hard for Abraham’s father, Terah.
When they arrived at Haran, the halfway point between Ur and Canaan, their real destination, Abraham decided to call a halt, perhaps for the benefit of his father. But what was his father doing in the party? Hadn’t God told Abraham, “Leave … your father’s household”?
Haran had close links with Ur, both commercially and in religion, and the family had distant relations living there. It was a tempting diversion in Abraham’s pilgrimage.
All we know is that they stopped there, maybe for Terah’s welfare and certainly God didn’t hold it against Abraham. God is patient and will often give a faltering pilgrim another opportunity, a second chance.
Terah didn’t make it to Canaan. He was more of a “tourist” than a “pilgrim”. Maybe it was family ties or his love of false gods. Whatever the reason, he is a lesson to all who are on a pilgrimage, of allowing something to hinder us from reaching the goal that God has for us.
Compromise is a deadly distraction. Terah didn’t go back to Ur but he didn’t get to Canaan.
If that happens to us the result will be that we fail to enter into the full riches of God. Eventually Abraham realized he hadn’t fully obeyed God’s instruction. The time came for Abraham to move on into an entirely unknown territory.
· It was a:
COURAGEOUS COMMITMENT
The writer of Hebrews emphasizes, “He (Abraham) obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” He’d been told to travel light, leaving behind his country, people and household.
This is quite unlike most tourists who fill their suitcases with “everything but the kitchen sink!” The baggage that God had in mind was anything that could hold him back from developing a quality relationship with Him.
There are many things that hold us back on our spiritual pilgrimage. God wants His people to free themselves from the culture of this world and to be committed to the values of His kingdom.
This means rejecting the world’s priorities of ambition and the worship of money, fame and power.
When we become Christians, God presents us with a new set of guide lines to go by. It’s a new set of values and new patterns of behavior.
· Jesus must be our model.
He broke the man-made cultural rules of His day because they were alien to the revealed will of His Father.
It aroused the bitter opposition of the religious authorities and if we follow His example we shouldn’t be surprised if we’re thought odd because we refuse to go along with the stream of those who aren’t believers.
The apostle Paul warned his converts at Corinth in (1 Cor 15:23 33Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. ).
Of course, we can’t isolate ourselves from the world because we’re in it, but that’s quite different from being “of the world.”
Jesus told His disciples in (Matt 10:32,33 32Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
33But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. ).
· PERSISTENCE IN DIFFICULTY
Abraham had to maintain his faith in God’s promises in difficult circumstances when the future was far from clear. God told him to leave Ur and gave him very clear promises for the future: “I will make a great nation of you, and I will bless you.” He was told “to go to the land I will show you.”
God often reveals things to us on a “need to know basis.” He tells us some things, but never everything.
Abraham received God’s promises in installments you might say,. That’s where faith comes in.
If we knew all the details of our future pilgrimage, we’d have little need for faith. , But it doesn’t work like that. God does this so that He can develop ongoing faith and friendship with us.
The apostle Paul writes to the Christians in Rome in Rom. (4:3 3For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. ).
It wasn’t his faith, but God’s: GODS gift because of the future work of Christ making salvation available through His atoning death on the Cross.
