From Insulation to Intimacy
Genesis 12: 1-9
David Needham in his book, “Close to His” tells the story of a missionary in China who found it necessary to be gone from his family for an extended period of time. Aware that his leaving would not be understood by his youngest daughter, he placed in his coat pocket a rare treat in that part of China, a bright red apple, to give her as he boarded the train. Finally the moment came. He embraced his wife and each of the older children. And then picked up his little girls in his arms, and pressed the apple into her little hand, hoping this special gift would soften the impact of his leaving. But instead, as he looked back from the slowly departing train, he saw the apple slip from her hand and roll across the platform. Tears streaming down her face, she ran along the train sobbing yelling out: “Daddy, I don’t want what you give- I want you!” That is exactly what God proclaimed in the gift of his Son Jesus Christ. God doesn’t want what you have to give, he wants you. He wants nothing more than an intimate relationship with you, to be your bff, your confidant, your guide and your Savior.
Today we’re going to talk about the call of God in your life to an intimate relationship with Him. The fact is that most Christians never get to that point in their relationships, let alone with God. We insulate ourselves, fearful of becoming too vulnerable and as a result, we settle for a superficial relationship with God. We worship God on Sunday mornings but do not worship God with our life. We may know the laws of God but we never really seek to know God’s will for our life. We may give to God but never sacrifice for God. And all the while, God is calling us to move closer and deeper to him in our faith journey. It’s God’s desire to be close to you, to be intimate with you and for you to make the choice to have God at the center of your life, not just a part of your life. And God wants that to be your heart’s desire too so that you can cry out like the Psalmist, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” 139:23-24
God longs for a relationship with us, no matter how rebellious we are or how far we might run from Him. Our Scripture today of God’s call of Abram to a life of faith follows the story of the tower of Babel. Rather than accept a relationship with God, the people of Babel wanted to become equal to God. In response, God punishes them by confusing their language and scattering the people of Babel across the earth. And yet God does not abandon them. By placing the call of Abram immediately after the judgment of Babel, we see God’s grace and salvation even in the midst of judgment and that God still longs for relationship with us.
Now Sarai and Abram had been unable to have children because Sarai was barren. In Abram’s day, barrenness was seen as a sign of God’s judgment. But for Abram and Sarai, it meant even more. Because of their barrenness, their family line would die out. Furthermore, it left no one to care for them in their old age, which was God’s retirement and care plan for the elderly. So not only is this a very painful reality in their marriage but it had some serious implications for their future. The third thing we learn is that they were probably pagan worshippers. The city of Ur and Haran were known for their pagan worship and the chief god of both cities was the moon god Sin. The women of the family were named after members of the moon god’s family. Because of where they lived and the names they gave their family members, Abraham’s parents and family probably worshipped the pagan moon god.
So it is in the midst Babel’s rebellion, the crushing reality of Sarai’s barrenness and Abram’s family’s pagan worship and lifestyle, that God calls. But this isn’t the first time God has called. God has called before. Prior to this, the Lord called Terah, Abram’s father, to leave Ur and go to Canaan.” But instead, he settled for what life had to offer in Haran. The story of Terah is the story of many people’s spiritual journey. God woos and nurtures and gently calls you into relationship with him but somewhere down the road you have settled for what the world offers and thus failed to enjoy the blessings of God that come upon a life of faith and relationship to Him. And yet, despite all of this, this does not prevent God’s yearning or desire to be in relationship with us and his continued call upon on our lives. He still calls.
And God is calling you, not just to a relationship but to move from an insulated life, where you have kept others, even God, at a distance, to an intimate relationship with Him who made you and saved you. We find there are three promises God makes. First is healing and blessings. “The Lord had said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. (Here is God’s purpose and promise.) I will make you into a great nation.'” Now the greatest disappointment and pain in Abram’s and Sarai’s life is not being able to have children. And yet, God says, “I will make you into a great nation.” In other words, “Abraham, I am going to make from you a great family, many generations.” It’s in that moment that Abraham and Sarai move from woundedness to healing, from fear for their future to one filled with hope, and from disappointment to expectation. So God promised Abraham that what will come through Abraham is a great family.
Secondly, you become somebody. God says, “I will make your name great, Abraham.” You remember 1981 when the Saints lost 14 games in a row and went 1-15. From that time on they became known as the Aints. During that season it became commonplace to see people with paper bags over their heads, pretending it would be humiliating to be spotted watching such a terrible football team. You want to know how bad it was to be a New Orleans Saints. Derland Moore, the Saints nose tackle from 1973 to 1985, once was asked what it was like to be a Saint, and said: ''We were the league's doormats. When I went out and people would ask me if I played for the Saints, I would say no.'' And now? You can’t go anywhere and not see Saints jerseys, t-shirts or hats being worn throughout the city. We have become the new America’s team. In fact, Saints paraphernalia is the most popular item sold for the NFL in the last year. Why? Because everybody wants to be a winner and if you’re not a winner, you want to be associated with a winner. So when God comes to Abram and says, “I will make your name great, Abraham,” he saying, “Stick with me kid, we’ll go places together. In other words, we’ll do great things together and it will forever change who you are.
And that leads us to the next promise. Third, you will be a blessing. People are either a blessing or a curse. Some of you are married to one or the other, right? As a blessing, you are going to be a channel of God’s purpose and provision into the life of other people. It does not get any better than when God’s influence, God’s blessing, flows through you to others. So how do I move from insulation to an intimate relationship with God?
First, take responsibility for the relationship. You know God’s desires but you are the only one who is responsible for the closeness and intimacy you have with God. In fact, if you aren’t close to God and don’t have an intimate relationship with him, it’s because you haven’t invested the time and energy to develop that kind of relationship. Your relationship with God is like a marriage. It takes work. And you have to be willing to invest the time and energy and to build up enough trust to make yourself vulnerable and open to God’s will to develop that type of relationship. That means making God the first priority of your life. That’s why Abraham built an altar to the Lord, wherever he stopped so he could attend to that relationship first in his life.
Second, spend time with God. Now spending time together in any relationship does not naturally bring intimacy but it’s impossible to be intimate without spending time together. That means spending time with God has to be more than a Sunday morning experience. If this is the only time you read the Word of God, the only time you pray, the only time you sing God’s praises, then your relationship is not what it could be. The most important thing you can do is begin spending time with God on a regular basis and give Him your best time. For some of you, that’s late at night. For others of you, that’s early in the morning. If you really want to be close to God, you’ve got to spend quality time with Him on a consistent basis. In that time, there are three things you do: pray, read the word of God or sing some type of worship and praise. Whichever you prefer, do that first in your time with God. That can become the emotional hook that’ll bring you back on a regular basis. So start there and then move onto the other two.
Third, avoid things that dull your spiritual growth. Susannah Wesley wrote to her son John and said “anything that dulls your desire for God, that is sin.” Anything that takes the edge off you growing spiritually, that becomes sin to you. That’s going to be different things to different people. The moment you start to lose your desire to be with God, whatever it is that takes that away from you, that’s sin. Now John Wesley was known for having married late in life and realizing that having to be home every night after work was interfering with his ministry, he left her, never seeing her again. Let me be very clear: that’s not what I’m saying to you today.
Fourth, seek to please God. In other words, have an “other” mindset. Remember when you first dated your spouse and how you nurtured that romance. You thought about the person all the time, sent cards, gave flowers and generally put them ahead of yourself in life. Isn’t that true? You did this because you were trying to please him or her. You didn’t nurture that relationship because you were trying to please yourself. When romance goes out of a relationship or marriage, it usually because we start living for ourselves. And in our relationship with God, we are called to have an ‘other’ mindset. You begin to live your life to please God first, not yourself, not your spouse, not your boss but God.
Fifth, bring others on the journey of faith with you. “He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan…” This relationship with God will bless your life but ultimately, you are blessed to be a blessing to others. It’s about who you influence for Jesus Christ that really matters. That starts with your family. An active intimate faith relationship is the glue that holds families. From your family then it needs to move out to your friends, your neighbors, and your co-workers and your acquaintances.
Sixth, reflect what God is doing in your life. Too often, we are so hurried and rushed that we fail to see and recognize the blessings of God in our lives and how he is working. Alan was my prayer partner at a previous church and he tells the story of going white water rafting on a Christian retreat. He said he always got stuck being the captain of the boat and sure enough for the 4th year in a row, he was named captain. So his job was to direct the men in the boat to paddle away from the rocks which lay in their path. The problem was that he was so focused on the task, he never really got to enjoy the ride. This year, he had a huge man in the back of the boat who was 6’8” and 275 pounds. When he rowed, the boat really moved. But the problem was that instead of rowing, he kept looking up at the mountains and every 5 minutes or so would cry out: “O man, this view makes this trip worth it. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful!” So Alan would look up and see the most awesome view in the world, a scene he had not noticed, until this man changed his view. And then he said, “Isn’t that the way we often are in our lives? We get so caught up trying to avoid the rocks in the rapids that we fail to be sensitive to what God has done for us.” When you grow intimate with God, one of the things you do is trust him enough to take your eyes off the rocks in the rapids which allows you to see all the good things God is doing in your life and the world around you.
Seventh, always ask, “What would Jesus do?” It’s a simple question but it gives you moment to pause and consider looking at things from God’s perspective rather than our own.
Brother Andrew gained the nickname “God’s smuggler” because he smuggled millions of Bibles into closed countries throughout the world, often risking life imprisonment and even death. This all began when he sensed this was God’s will for his life. As he smuggled Bibles, he found that even when a door of entry to a closed country would seemingly shut, he would approach the border with his Bibles and God would always empower him to fulfill his mission. He writes, “The door may seem closed, bit it’s only closed the way a supermarket is closed. It stays shut when you remain at a distance but as you deliberately move toward it, a magic eye above sees you coming and the door opens.” God is waiting for us to walk forward (to Him) so he can open the door for an intimate relationship with Him. That’s why He created you, to be in an intimate relationship with him. All he asks is for you to take a step toward him and what you will find is that he’s been waiting all along to give you a relationship that you can only imagine.
