Sermon Brief
Date Written: February 26, 2010
Date Preached: February 28, 2010
Where Preached: Oak Park (AM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: The Great Adventure – Rediscovering the Adventure
Sermon Title: Do Your Assumptions Limit Your Service? Part 4 of 6
Sermon Text: Gen 15:5; John 14:12
Introduction:
How many people here today have jumped to conclusions in their life? Have you ever faced a situation, looked at the circumstances and summed it all up and came to a conclusion that it MUST be this or it HAS TO BE that… I am sure that I am the ONLY person here that has EVER done that!
Let me give you a recent example of ‘jumping to conclusions’ that we all can relate to… Do you remember this past football season?
The first 14 weeks of this past NFL season our beloved New Orleans Saints were top dogs, after 14 weeks our team was 13-0 and there was NO stopping us! I mean we were talking about Super Bowl… and an undefeated season! Many people jumped to the conclusion that this team could NOT be defeated!
However, in the last 3 weeks of the season our team hit a skid. On a Saturday night in front of a national TV audience we witness our Saints get man-handled by the hated Dallas Cowboys. All of a sudden there was a chink in the armor and we were vulnerable.
We followed that game with a game against the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that had only won 1 game all year. We jumped out to a 14 pt lead only to see our team play terrible the rest of the game and see our chance of winning fade when our kicker missed a game winning FG in the last seconds. In OT the Bucs drove down the field and won the game on a FG.
At this point there were MANY in our city who began to have flashbacks of the early 1980’s and the Aints… some even broke out their bags! How could our team fall SO FAR… SO FAST! Many people came out and said that the Saints were through for the year! This was not just the fans here, but the national media was questioning whether or not the Saints train had derailed.
The next week the coach decided not to play many of his starters and we lost again, for the 3rd week in a row, finishing the season 13-3. Now that is the best record New Orleans has EVER had… we had clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs and there were still those who were jumping to the conclusion that our team was finished… 3 losses in a row and now we have to take off a week… we are going to get killed in the playoffs!
However, when the players and coaches were interviewed in during this time, you could tell there was NO panic in their voice and on many occasions they stated that there was a plan and they were going to be fine! But so many people jumped to the conclusion that the Saints were finished…after all NO team in the HISTORY of the NFL had ever lost its last 3 games and gone on to win the Super Bowl!
Many people looked at the situation, they surveyed the circumstances and jumped to the conclusion that this year would end like every other Saints year… with disappointment and a ton of ‘what if’ questions for the fans!
But what happened? I tell you what happened, the plan kicked into gear and the players responded and the team worked together and now for the 1st time in the history of our beloved Saints… we have a Super Bowl championship to celebrate and brag about!
But how many people jumped to the conclusion that the same ole thing was going to happen? I am sure thousands of fans suffered through that feeling! I want you to know that is a difficult feeling to avoid!
The feeling of ‘here we go again’! It is very difficult for us to NOT jump to conclusions, it is in our nature to try to see things through to the end… it is very difficult for us to have faith and trust in things we cannot see!
Now when we look at our lives in Christ and the question I ask in the title of my sermon, “Do your assumptions limit your service to God?” I want to ask you today… have you ever jumped to conclusions with God and the direction He is taking you?
When we look at our verse for this morning we find Abraham in the same situation that many of us are in today. Abraham has been called by God, and God has issued a promise to him, but Abraham is viewing the situation and the circumstances and was jumping to his own conclusions…
Let me give you a little background for our passage this morning…
Now in chapter 13 Abram and Lot had separated their flocks and they had gone their separate ways. Lot choosing the lush lands of the Jordan Valley and Abraham taking the other direction and settled in Canaan.
After this God comes to Abram and promises him the land as far as he can see and walk AND that his heirs will know NO boundaries. Look at 13:15-16 [ESV]
“…for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted…”
In Chapter 14 there was an emergency where Abram had to rescue Lot and his family and livestock from raiding parties and rogue kings, and Abram comes to a point in his life where he thinks he KNOWS what is going on…
That brings us to our verse this morning… here in v. 3-4 Abram has come to the conclusion that God promise of an heir did not mean a physical son, but a son from close relatives around him… Abram has MADE the assumption that God’s promise of an heir meant that Lot would be the heir to his family name.
3 And Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." 4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir."
But we find that in v.4 God quickly straightens Abram out and He tells Abram in no uncertain terms… LOT is NOT going to be his heir, God has plans for Abram and it does not include Lot as Abram’s heir! This does not mean that God did not love Lot; it was just that God’s plan did not include Lot as the heir of Abram.
We see that God had a different plan and v.5-6 God gets Abram’s attention and we can see that it finally sets in for Abram, and he finally buys into God’s plan and has faith that God will provide!
What I want you to picture this morning is Abram sitting inside his small nomadic tent in the middle of the plains of Canaan. The 4 walls and ceiling of his canvas home did not provide him with much scenery and it was very difficult for him to have the right perspective sitting in his own environment… So look what God did!
5 And He [GOD] brought him [ABRAM] outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then He [GOD] said to him [ABRAM], "So shall your offspring be." 6 And he [ABRAM] believed the LORD, and He [God] counted it to him [ABRAM] as righteousness.
God changes Abram’s perspective from the limited view and small confines of his own world, to the vast and limitless space of ALL the heavens that God had created! What a difference it makes! Abram was blown away…
Abram was convinced, not because he fully understood it, but because God had changed his vision… God had changed how he saw the world… God had changed how Abram viewed God’s promise!
As believers, I believe that far too often we sell Scripture and the promises of God short! We allow the world to interject their interpretation and explanation on the things that are supernatural… and this skews our perspective and service to God.
When Moses crossed the Red Sea with the nation of Israel; Scripture tells us that the sea dried up and that the nation walked across on DRY ground. Scientists attempt to refute that account and tell us that it is impossible for this to just ‘happen’ that there has to be some natural action of our planet that caused them to be able to cross the Red Sea.
I have heard many theories, most of which are simply absurd, but the one theory that many historians and archeologists seem to stick with is either an earthquake happened and swallowed the water, leaving an empty sea bed to cross OR some sort of lunar pull that caused a tidal phenomenon that gave them room to walk across the sea in calf deep water.
But the crux of the matter is that when there is something that we don’t understand, we attempt to explain it away by reason of something in nature, something we can understand, something we can explain! However, there are so many things in this world that scientist simply cannot explain…
Scientists know what happens at conception, but they cannot ‘explain’ HOW conception happens, they cannot explain the miracle of a life being started from a series of proteins and DNA molecules… But the fact remains, life is started every day in this world, whether Doctors or experts can explain it or not… just because we cannot fully explain it, does not mean it is not real or does not happen!
So often in our walk with Christ we find ourselves not understanding something and then we attempt to persuade ourselves what it means… It seems as if when we cannot explain something that we simply don’t have the faith to believe it, so we try to explain it away by some natural means. God calls us and shows us what He wants and we don’t have the faith to believe that God is leading us in a particular direction… or we don’t believe it can be happening to us!
When that happens we make the ASSUMPTION of what God desires and usually that ASSUMPTION falls into our own comfort zone and desires, and usually that ASSUMPTION is WAAAY off of what God really wants and desires of our life!
Now when we take what God wants and put into our own perspective and desires, what we are actually doing is what is called “spiritual inversion” where we take the God of the universe and creator of all things and we make him OUR size and a god of our own abilities…and most of our spiritual mistakes happen when we begin to think about God in human terms!
The problem with that is that we BELIEVING in accordance with our own cerebral cortex… and there is NO faith! We begin to make assumptions based on our own brain power, our own experience, our own desires… and those assumptions sell God terrible short! JUST like the routine and RUT I spoke about last week… these assumptions lead to us NOT doing what God has called us to do!
Assumptions by believers… for thousands of years the church preached that world is flat…and the earth was at the center of the universe! Now the church had drawn this conclusion by the creation account from Scripture when it seemed that the earth was the central focus to creation… and that all else of creation was put into place around it!
However, after it was proven not to be flat… did not prove believers wrong, but just that believers had a wrong assumption of what God had created…This morning I want to share with you 3 measurements you can use to determine if you are serving God on HIS terms or if you are serving God on YOUR terms! And here’s the catch… you have to do ALL three, 2 out of 3 don’t cut it!
The first measurement I can see here that we must make in our spiritual walk is the measurement of FOLLOWING GOD:
We must be willing to take that 1st step and begin to walk with God in the direction that He is choosing!
Look at v.5 one more time with me as we find God taking the initiative here and leading Abram…
5 And he [GOD] brought him [Abram] outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
Here Abram had to make a choice. He had come to the conclusion that God’s promise was one thing, but God had told him it was NOT what he thought. Then God takes Abram for a walk.
Now I want you to think about that statement there in v.5, and he brought him outside…
Now was God clothed in flesh here inside Abram’s tent, and then grabs Abrams hand and says, “Let’s take a walk?” or do you think it was like the movies… where God’s voice is speaking to Abram and instantly God transports Abram to the middle of the desert where he can see what God wants him to see?
Have you ever thought about how this happened? Well I believe it happened like this… God was more than likely not there physically but was speaking audibly to Abram, as He had done so many times before… and God give Abram a choice.
I can almost hear God saying to Abram, “What you think is NOT my plan for you, I have so much MORE planned for you, so much greater! It is FAR beyond what you could ever imagine… come outside and let me show you!”
Now it was at this time when Abram had to make a choice. So far he had followed God and had done what He had asked, but in his mind God was not delivering on His promise… why should he listen now?
I can almost hear Abram’s thoughts now, “God has come through on everything else. He has delivered on all His promises, but this one! Maybe I just don’t see what He means, maybe I don’t understand… maybe I should go outside and see what He is talking about! Abram gets up and goes outside his tent as God has asked him…
This is when the wheels were set in motion… this is when the ball started really rolling for Abram. You see this is when Abram finally ‘saw’ what God was doing and began to understand that even though he may not fully know what is going on… he was going to see what God had in store for him!
I can remember my ‘coming out of the tent’ moment with God! It was in an apartment in Sherman, TX in June of 1995. I had surrendered to Him, I was headed for Seminary, but in my heart I was afraid and did not want to ‘see’ all of what God had for me… I was still caged by my own assumptions!
I can remember going back thru my Experiencing God workbook on those lonely nights when it was just me and the 4 walls of my apartment. I was working for my bro-n-law selling roofs… and Michelle and the kids were in MS.
God spoke to my heart clearly and it was there when He took me by the hand and took me OUTSIDE of my assumptions and my conclusions and my fears… and showed me that what He had for me was FAR more wonderful than I could ever imagine!
So for the believer it comes down to this… If you know Christ as Savior, then you KNOW God is calling you to serve Him. You may not know all the details, you may not fully understand the direction… but you KNOW God is calling you to service!
But IF you don’t know these things, there is a REASON! That reason is that you are not willing to take the hand of God and follow Him outside your own confined space… outside of your own cage of assumptions, desires and conclusions!
For those of you here today who PROFESS Jesus as Savior! I challenge you this morning to take God’s hand and follow Him OUTSIDE! I challenge you to allow God to reveal to you the vast and glorious things He has in store for you!
You have to understand that God is not going to reveal ALL things to you, but only what He desires us to know. God is sovereign and He chooses to reveal to us what He chooses… we cannot change that. But here is where many believers go wrong… many believers think that serving God is like groping in the darkness and stumbling along.
I believe we serve a God of order and not of chaos…I am here to tell you that God DOES want to reveal His plan to you! God wants you to serve Him and wants you to SEE where you should be going! But the question is this… are you willing to follow him outside today?
Are you willing to go outside of your own assumptions and spiritual comfort zone to see just what it is that God has for you? I believe that we can all agree that taking God’s hand and allowing Him to lead us outside of our own tent… outside our own selfish desires and comfort zone… Walking with God is the 1st step but there are more, and
The 2nd measurement we can look at to see if we are living as God has called us to live is FOCUS ON GOD:
We must be willing to LOOK up, even when the events and circumstances of life dictate that we look AROUND us…God is in control.
As believers we find ourselves living our lives based on our assumptions and based on the conclusions that WE draw according to the circumstances around us… according to the situation that life has brought into our lives!
Many of us live with false assumptions in our lives. Now I understand that many of these assumptions do not originate within ourselves… but are passed along to us by our parents, our teachers, our culture, the media, all of these sources have direct input into our lives, and I can tell you that MUCH of the input we gather from the world around us is based on false assumptions.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. If you ask many young people about what makes a good marriage. Many young people have the false assumption that a good marriage is built on a diamond ring, warm gushy feelings and compatibility with someone you love.
But I can tell you that these assumptions about marriage fall FAR short of the truth. Yes, you need love and the other things are good things, but when we base our marriage on such false assumptions it leads to the wrong conclusion! And that is that there is nothing else is needed to build a good marriage. And the result leads to disappointment, disillusionment and even divorce and great pain and unhappiness.
On the other hand, those who are married and experience a rewarding marriage know what it takes for a good marriage to work. The first thing it takes for a good marriage is that we focus on God, and that God is the center of our union and the closer we get to God, the closer we get to our spouse.
A good marriage doesn’t just happen like in the fairy tales, it takes a lot hard work, forgiveness and self-sacrifice to make a good marriage, but most of all it takes a focus on God. When we have false assumptions lead to wrong conclusions, which lead to wrong actions on our part.
This is equally applicable to our spiritual life as well. When God is NOT the focus of our spiritual walk, it suffers, in fact it not only suffers but it completely withers. Preacher, how can you say that you have a spiritual walk and God NOT be the focus?
Well to answer that question, look at yourself, look at YOUR Christian walk, look at how you choose to live your life as a believer. Is your life focused around God and what He desires? Is your life centered on the direction God has for your life? Most of the time, we spend our lives doing what WE desire and begging God to bless OUR desires!
Look at these verses one more time with me…
3 And Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." 4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir." 5 And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
Abram was guilty here of what many of us are guilty of in our lives. Here Abram begins to impose what HE believes to be the right thing ONTO God instead of believing what God has already promised him.
God steps right in and corrects Abram and tells him that His plan is much grander! Then God takes Abram outside to reveal His plan… but here is the key to this particular measurement… God instructed Abram to LOOK… to focus on His plan… to focus on His direction for Abram’s life!
We find in v.6 that Abram did focus on what God had for him and then what Abram had fretted over for so many years, now became a blessing and something to hope in and look fwd to…
What about your life in Christ this morning? How has God spoke to your heart? Has He called you OUTSIDE to see what He has for your life? Are you ‘looking’ for and ‘focusing’ in on what God has for you? OR are you still looking at what YOU believe to be important?
For us to serve God as He has called us to serve, we have to be willing to first take that first step and follow Him, and when we do we have to then be looking and seeking to FOCUS on what His desire is for our lives… Abram stepped out of the tent and then Abram LOOKED up toward heaven to see God’s plan and promise for his life!
What about you? Are you ready to step out and look up today? Or are you still stuck in that tent of assumptions and conclusions that you have drawn for yourself? Follow God and Focus ON God are the 1st 2 measuring sticks we can use, however:
There is one final measurement that is a must for the believer if they desire to live as God desires…FAITH IN GOD:
We must be willing to believe that when God calls us to serve Him that He is going to provide the resources and the guidance to do what He desires!
Looking at our passage of Scripture for this week we can see that when God called Abram out of his tent and asked him to LOOK up, Abram did, and we find that Abram then believed that God was willing and able to keep His promise to Abram!
Look at v.6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Here we find the full and total surrender of Abram to God. Here we find Abram giving over himself to God fully and completely. Here we find Abram or who we know as Abraham, revealing his faith in God!
We know that this is a real and true encounter with God because the writer of Hebrews tells us in Heb 11:8-9[ESV]
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
We find that it was by FAITH that Abraham was able to take that step outside the tent, and it was by FAITH that Abraham was able to look at the stars and focus on God’s promise and believe! And it was completely by FAITH that Abraham surrendered his will to God!
So many times we go thru the motions of our walk with God… we may get up and go outside… we may go thru the motions of looking where God wants us to look, but the underlying foundation for us has to be our FAITH in God… DO WE BELIEVE?
Are you ready to believe God? Are you ready to make those steps outside of your comfort zone MORE than just going thru the motions? Are you ready for your seeking God’s plan and purpose to be MORE than just an exercise in futility?
If you are… then your FAITH in God has to be the same as that of Abraham! You have to believe that God is calling you outside… you have to believe that God is calling you to focus on His plan and purpose… and you have to have FAITH that God is going to provide for His promise and calling!
Where are you this morning? In his 2006 book Driven by Eternity author John Bevere said…
I am amazed at how many people I meet who base their lives on what’s not eternal. Some will tell me of God and their belief in His Son, but whom they declare just isn’t the One revealed in His Word. The deception runs deep. How can they believe what they have simply imagined within their own minds, shaped by a society that has already been declared contrary to God’s nature?
Are you willing to have the faith in God necessary for you to fully surrender your life to HIM? Are you willing to submit totally to His plan for your life today?
OR are you being deceived by this world and the assumptions it throws your way…
OR by the Enemy who twists the word of God and confuses the issue by leading you to jump to false conclusions based on circumstance and life situations…
OR even by your own false and misled assumptions of God?
Where are you today? Are you trapped in a cage of assumptions and conclusions that you have crafted? OR are you willing to step out of the cage on faith and focus on God and Follow Him with your ENTIRE being? I call on you to surrender to Him today!
Give invitation HERE…
