In Jesus Holy Name June 22, 2008
Series: O.T. Challenges Redeemer
Genesis 12:1-4& Joshua 24:2-4
“Why Does God Waste Time with Sinners”
Today we have returned to our series of messages: O.T. Challenges. In our text God is inviting Abram on a journey. It’s an invitation to travel with God. Abram, that was his name before God changed it to Abraham, but that’s later. I must admit that I have been intrigued by this invitation to Abram. He doesn’t’ know that once he begins this journey it will be a difficult an uncomfortable journey at times.
Abram has a wife, a nephew and all their servants who travel with him. He is 75 years old. He’s gone his entire life without children. He has enough servants that he can field an army of 300 men…plus their wives and children. He is responsible for hundreds of people, their clothing and food needs. This is no simple shepherd with a few head of sheep.
God promises that Abram will possess:
1) A land in a different place, God does not tell Abram the destination. It is unknown to Abram. (v1)
2) He will be blessed. That means he will experience God’s goodness.
3) His descendants will become a great nation. He will be famous.
4) Anybody Abram chooses to bless, they will be blessed by God.
5) All families on earth will be blessed.
God is going to transform Abram. If you have been in church a long time then you know the rest of the story. Through Abram God was creating a new people called Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, through whom a Savior for the world would be born to Mary and Joseph. This Savior was named Jesus. He never sinned.
He worked miracles in fulfillment of O.T. prophecies. Healed the blind, cured the lame, and restored the out cast to society and worship. He raised the dead. He was arrested by Jewish religious leaders who could not and would not believe that Jesus was the visible presence of the invisible God.
That’s the end of the story….today we must begin where God began with Abram. (read Joshua 24:2-4) Abram did not know the God of creation. So why would God waste time with a sinner like Abram who worshiped false gods? Why does God waste time with sinners, who do not know him today?
Look at the list. Abram, Jacob, a liar and cheat, Moses, David, Solomon, Samson, Matthew a tax collector, Paul who persecuted Christians and stood by watching the stoning of Stephen the first Christian martyr.
Why does God waste time with sinners? This may sound familiar. He loves you and me. He created each of us. We are the apple of his eye. He is fulfilling a promise he made a long time ago to two people who had to leave the Garden of Eden.
Since the fall of Adam and Eve, human beings are selfish by nature, they want their own way. Sinful behavior always separates and alienates us from one another and our Creator. When Jesus walked the paved Roman roads of Palestine his message was simple: “Repent, the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” God has arrived, in person. In Jesus God seeks to restore lost friendship, forgive evil behavior and restore harmony and peace.
God wants people who are spiritually lost to be found. He wants people to experience His love and be secure in their knowledge of his offer of eternal life beyond the life we know on this spinning blue marble, suspended in space.
God “wastes” his time and effort on sinners like Abram, because he had a plan to save you and me. His plan is to restore those who are spiritually lost and empty.
One of the human realities is that human beings are always tempted to believe that we can cure our own alienation from God by a little effort of our own. God “wastes” his time with sinners because he is “merciful” and we can not find him on our own!
Abram brought nothing to God. God chose Him. God was at work. Abram heard the voice of God and believed. He gathered up his family. They moved. I want to point out that he did not know the final destination.
This week two of our members answered God’s call. God invited them to travel to the Ukraine. They have never been there. They don’t know how God will use them. They walked onto an airplane and trusted that God would “bless people through their presence.”
Henry Blackaby in his book “Experiencing God” writes: “Find out where God is already working and join him. Answering the call to travel with God does not always mean launching some new ministry no one has done before. “Recognize what God is doing and then join him.”
Abram was part of God’s plan. He didn’t ask God for a detailed road map. God just said: “Leave your country, your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” He went.
Abram followed one day at a time. God’s desire was to have Abram experience His love. God’s desire was to bring Him out of the worship of a false theology that offered no secure hope. Most of the time we seek a more complete road map. “Lord if you could just tell me where I’m heading, then I will be able to set my course to go.” “Let me see just a little bit of the future. Then I will trust your guidance. God is trustworthy, you can trust his travel log.
God did not create the world and then leave it to function on its own. He has been actively involved through the lives of people in history. Abram is only one of countless billions. Human beings have a spiritual hole in their hearts, an emptiness that only God can fill. God is still working through ordinary people because he wants them to know and experience his love.
Let me tell you a story. We know that Janet and Donna are in the Ukraine at a camp sharing their lives with mothers and disabled children at a camp. They knew their destination. They had to trust God. They prepared for their journey. Well, a few weeks ago Janet was traveling by train from S.F. or Sac. She arrived at the Fresno train station, and Gordon her husband was late.
A young gal comes up to her and asks directions to a Youth Hostile. There are none in Fresno. The young gal tells Janet that she is here on a work visa but without a place to stay. Guess where she was from? The Ukraine! Why Janet? Kate, did not know that Janet has a history of volunteering at Fresno State in the International Student program. Kate did not know that Janet was preparing for a mission trip to the Ukraine. God did! It’s what we call a Divine appointment.
God knew where Janet was. God knew Kate and her need for housing. God knew that Gordon would be late. God knew that Janet was going to the Ukraine. God not only was sending two Christians to the Ukraine, he was placing Kate into the “Rusk” home where she can experience God’s love and acceptance.
You may have things in your past that still linger and limit your influence. These might include emotional handicaps, a troubled family background, failures, shame over some personal or family “secret”. You might even be burdened with fame or excessive wealth. You may believe that your future is bleak, shaped by your past. Excuse me!
Abram worshiped idols. He did not know the God of loved until God called him. God had a plan for Abram. Through his descendants a Savior would come. Look at verse 7. “The Lord appeared to Abram. God took the initiative to begin a journey with Abram. He waited to see if the travel invitation would be accepted. It was. God’s purpose was to create the children of Israel, through whom the Savior of the world would come.
Picture in your mind a tall ladder leaning against a wall. Now think of your life as a process of climbing that ladder. Wouldn’t it be a tragedy to get to the top of the ladder and find you placed it against the wrong wall. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, so that whosoever would believe in him might not perish but have ever lasting life.
The Bible tells us that God is a God of love. He always takes the initiative. As you remember, it was God who first came to the Garden of Eden, seeking Adam and Eve. It was God who warned Cain that sin was crouching at his door. It was God who warned Noah.
I John 15:16-19 Jesus said to his disciples. “You did not choose me, I chose you…. I chose you out of the world to follow me and bear fruit.” What did Abram do after he arrived in the land God had promised. He built an altar. He worshiped God.
Anthropologist have noted that worship is a universal urge, hard wired by God into every fabric of our being, an inbuilt need to connect to God. It reminds me of the words of the Apostle Paul in Athens. “I see you are a religious people. You have an altar to the “unknown God”… Let me tell you about him. He created the world. He came into the world. His name was Jesus. He died on the cross and God raised him from the dead. He offers eternal life to all.
