Series: The Journey
Message: Faith and Pilgrimage or Faith and the Journey
Text: Genesis 12:1-9; Romans 4:17; Hebrews 11:8-10
Date: September 25, 2011
Pastor: David McBeath
INTRODUCE OFFERING AND VIDEO
It is because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross that we can have the gift of life! In John 10:10 Jesus said that he come to earth that we might have abundant life! ….
PRAYER—use offering for vision, pray for team, children’s church, Jam, make JC know
INTRODUCE VIDEO
As the ushers are providing you and opportunity to worship God with your tithes and offerings, I want you to watch the following video about the Journey and Adventure of Faith. Take a look and especially take note of the statements on each slide.
INTRODUCTION
When I put my boys down for bed at night, they love for their daddy to tell them a story. Do you know what kind of story they like? They like it when I tell them a story where they go on a journey, where they go on a great adventure and they love it when that adventure is hard and scary!
My stories almost always start the same way: Once upon a time there were three boys or three young men name Ian, Gavin, and Keegan. My stories always talk about bad guys, or monsters, or dragons who are keeping my boys, their friends, and their neighbors from being able to live good and normal lives.
Of course my boys are always the heroes of these stories. They overcome their fears and set out on enormous journey’s and adventures that take them thru Dark forests, horrible castles…to do battle with these the evil forces, horrible monsters, vicious dragons and bad guys.
Guess who wins in each story? My boys do! Or course!! …Well, not all the time. Sometimes I kill them off in the story—but their life of faith gives the townspeople the guts to stand against the evil (whatever) and win.
My boys love these stories! They eat them up!!! Why? They don’t want to live an average life! They want to live a life of Great Adventure! That’s also why so many of us are drawn to stories like the “Chronicles of Narnia” or “The Lord of the Rings” or even “Harry Potter.”
Aren’t these stories similar to what happened to Abram? God saved him and called him on a scary but amazing adventure, a journey of Faith that will end up saving a nation, and eventually the world. And Like Abram, God Calls Us to Follow our Leader, JESUS, on GREAT ADVENTURE into GOD’S AMAZING GRACE to save and restore our communities, our cities, our nation and our world with the Good News of Jesus!!!
The song we just listened to by Steven Curtis Chapman may be old. It may be a little cheesy. But don’t we still resonate with it because we want this Great Adventure of faith to be true of our life?
If this is the case, why do many of us look like this guy and have this question: “Is this all there is to the Christian life?” Anybody ever feel this way? Or maybe you resonate with these lyrics from Switchfoot’s song “Meant to Live?”
Fumbling his confidence
And wond’ring why the world has passed him by
Hoping that he’s meant for more than arguments
And failed attempts to fly, fly…..
…..We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves…
…We want more than this world’s got to offer
We want more than the wars of our fathers
And everything inside screams for second life!
Why do we feel this way as Christians? What can we do about it? How can we give hope to a world that feels this way?
We are going to answer these questions by looking at Genesis 12:1-4. It is here where our forefather, the patriarch of our faith, Abraham, began his Great Adventure, his journey of Faith. [READ?]
THE JOURNEY OF FAITH IS A GREAT ADVENTURE
Like Abram it is evident that our Journey of Faith is a Great Adventure. When I accepted Christ at the age of 6—I had no idea following Jesus would take me from going to college to be a Meteorologist, to Seminary, to being a Youth Pastor, to being a Senior Pastor. I had no idea following Jesus would take my from Bloomington, Indiana to Grand Rapids, Michigan to Rome, Georgia to St. Louis, back to Indiana and then to New York. It’s been quite a journey!
My journey of Faith has been hard, also. Sometimes, it’s hard to do what is right and follow God’s voice. Here’s an example from my life: While I was in between ministry positions I had to get at a janitorial firm. That wasn’t really the hard part though. The hard part was getting fired from. Yes, I got fired and it was my faith that caused me to get fired!
You see, I had learned that the Janitorial company I was working for ..was making many of their poorer, non-educated employees work 60-80 hours a week and not paying them any overtime.
That’s illegal! Here’s how the company got away with it. When any of these employees questioned this illegal practice, the company threatened to fire anyone that said something. You have to understand these people needed their job! They couldn’t get by without it! They couldn’t take that risk. So, they didn’t say anything. But I did and I got fired!! It’s hard to follow God. It’s been a crazy journey, a real adventure, just asks Paula!
The Journey Demands Obedience
Back to the slide I put up a while ago. Why do many of us feel like this guy and wonder if there is more to the Christian life than we are experiencing? One reason is this: The Journey or the Adventure of Faith requires Obedience to God. It requires obedience to God’s word. It requires us to hear God’s voice and obey! Look at Genesis chapter 12 verse 1 and verse 4. Here’s what they say:
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” … So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.
Abram began his journey of faith by hearing God’s voice and being obedient to it! …You will never experience all the Christian life has to offer if do not take the time to hear God’s voice or if you are not obedient to his voice!
Back to my janitorial position, I had read the prophets in the Old Testament. They were the voice of God to the people Israel. Over and over again these prophets talked about standing up for the poor and the oppressed. Over and over again they talked about standing against would be oppressors. It heard God’s voice. God told me I couldn’t just let this happen. I was obedient. It was hard. It was difficult for me to say somethings! Doing what God said made my life difficult—but it also made it a real adventure.
If you want more out your Christian life than you are experiencing—I challenge you to be in God’s word. Read it! Know it! Ask God what he wants you to do about what you are reading and learning! Then obey! It will be hard. It will be difficult. But in the words of Switchfoot—it will give you more than this world has to offer!
In your bulletin you will find personal reflection questions for today’s message and a reading assignment for next week. This would be a good place to start! Or pick up an “Our Daily Bread on Your Way Out.” …Or, just, start reading your Bible and ask God what he wants you to learn and do about what you just read!
The Journey Demands Faith
This brings me to the next point. Our journey, our adventure demands faith! Look at the last half of verse1 again. God tells Abram to go to a land I will show you. Abram sets out on faith. He doesn’t know where he is going! And he doesn’t know why he is going that way! …Can you imagine? God just reveals a little bit of his plan at a time.
It’s kind of like the following story: A Persian legend has it that a certain king needed a faithful servant, and two men were candidates for this office. He hired both at fixed wages, and his first order to them was to fill a basket with water from a neighboring well, saying that he would come back in the evening and see their work.
After putting in one or two bucketfuls of water into the basket, one man said, "What is the good of doing this useless work? As soon as we put the water in one side it runs out the other."
The other answered, "But we have our wages, don’t we? The use is the master's business, not ours."
"I am not going to do such fool's work," replied the other. Throwing down his bucket, he went away. The other man continued until he had exhausted the well; looking down into it he saw something shining—a diamond ring.
"Now I see the use of pouring water into a basket," he cried. "If the bucket had brought up the ring before the well was emptied, it would have been found in the basket. Our work was not useless."
Christians must believe that their divine Master knows what is best, and obey His commands and his word, and in due time they will know and understand why. We have to realize our journey requires Faith!
Like the master in this story, God revealed just a little bit of his plan to Abram at a time. Hebrews 11:8-10 says:
"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
In fact it isn’t ‘till we get to the New Testament that we understand God’s full plan for Abram, how God wanted to save Abram to Save the World thru Jesus Christ! Imagine if Abram hadn’t been obedient! Imagine if Abram refused to go—because he didn’t know where he was going or why he was going there! …Would Jesus have entered the world? …Yeah, I think God would have still accomplished his plan to save the world—but Abram and his family wouldn’t have been part of this great journey or this great Adventure! He wouldn’t have been part of God’s great plan!!
How many times does God lay something on our heart—like talk to someone about him, and we don’t do it. Or, we hear God tell us to give someone a word of encouragement, and we put it off and forget about it. Or God says give that homeless person $5, and we say no way because we think we know what that person will use it for. Maybe God says we should lead a small group, and we don’t do it. How many times has God impressed upon one of us to do something and we say, I am too old to do this…let someone younger step in. I’ve done my time. Or we say I’m too busy to do this, I’ve got a family and a job, and there is just not enough time! Or we say God I’m too young! I can’t!
I wonder if we are missing out on a great journey or great adventure when make excuses and do not have the faith to obey! What might God have done thru you if you had the faith to be obedient?
The Journey Demands Abandoning the Past
This brings me to the next point: The Journey demands that we abandon the past! Again look at the end of verse 1 and the beginning of verse 4:
“Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” … So Abram left.”
So Abram left! …Think about everything that Abram left behind! He left his family, his people and his country and its customs. God is making Abram abandon his past. Why does God make Abram do this? Let’s think about it for a moment.
Remember, there is evil Abram’s past. Abram lives during the time of Babel when the extent of sin and selfishness reach its apex in world history.
Abram has to leave this world behind—because it was messed up. It was bad! Violence, Sex, Prostitution, Murder, Child-Sacrifice all in the name of worshipping Sin the name of his country’s God, his family’s God!
Abram and his family were a part of this sinful world, which meant he had to leave his sin and selfishness behind to follow God’s voice. When we begin the Journey of faith we begin the journey of leaving behind our sin and selfishness that ruins the world. We have to abandon our past! We have to get as far away from it as possible. We have to leave that world with all of its bad influences. …This is important, because If we don’t, we will fall right back into our old way of life. We have to abandon that past.
What sinful influences do you need to leave? Is it using a computer with no media filter? Maybe you’re a single person, do you need to leave a relationship where there has been sexual sin? Is it a job where you are tempted to do ethically questionable things? Maybe it’s an apartment that is too close to the drug house you used to frequent. Could it be the friends that keep taking you back to the person you used to be before you met Jesus. You have to LEAVE YOUR PAST BEHIND, if you want to go very far on your Journey of Faith!!
There is another reason Abram has to abandon that world and leave the past behind. The reason is this: He has to realize his sins are in the past, if he is going to move forward in the future God has for him. Abram has to realize he has been saved from the evil, hurtful things he did while worshipping the Moon God Sin. God has graciously forgiven his selfishness and sin. God doesn’t hold these sins against him. Instead, God promises to give him kids and save the world thru him and his family. Abram has to realize his sins are gone. They are forgiven.
That’s why God has him leave. He is giving Abram a new start. Abram’s becoming a new creation—where the old is gone and the new has come. God is saying you are not the person you were back then. I don’t hold these things against you—so you shouldn’t hold these things against yourself. You see, if Abram can’t forgive himself for the things he has done—he will never move forward in God’s future for him!
Let me give you an example. About two months after I became your pastor, a gentleman came to my office for some counseling. He was a drug addict, but had been clean for a few months. Unfortunately, as I counseled him, it became evident to me that he would fall back into his addition because he could not forgive himself for the evil selfish things he had done to support his addiction in the past.
I tried to explain to him that if he had truly placed his faith In Jesus Christ, those sins were forgiven. They were wiped away. They were gone! They didn’t need to bother him anymore. He believed what I said up here—in his head; but, he couldn’t believe it down here—in his heart. The result—his sins tormented him. In his heart, he didn’t believe he was good enough for the future God wanted to give him, because he couldn’t believe he was forgiven He could not move forward to the future God promised him!
How about you? Are there sins that you can’t get past, that you can’t believe are forgiven? Are they keeping you from moving forward in your Journey of Faith? Are they keeping you from becoming the person God promises to make you? If there are, leave them in the past! They are forgiven and forgotten by God. You need to forget them too! You need to ruthlessly abandon your past to realize the glorious future God has for you!!
Let me say this too. Churches have to corporately let go of the hurt and pain of their corporate if they are going to move forward and become everything God wants them to be.
The Journey Demand Movement
This brings me to my next point. The Journey of Faith requires movement. We move from our past to the future God promises us, just as Abram moves from his sinful past n UR of the Chaldeans to the new land and the new life God promised him.
Notice Abram didn’t immediately get to the land God was showing him! Abram didn’t wake up all of a sudden and become the person God wanted him to be. It takes 12-13 chapters and 100 years of Abram’s life for this to happen.
I don’t know about you but that is encouraging for me, because I don’t get things right away. I don’t perfectly follow God by faith. I have ups and downs—just like Abram. But, God doesn’t care—he just wants me moving the right direction.
There will be times when we get tired and stop for a while. That’s OK—if we get up and start going again. There will be times when we deviate from the path. That’s OK! If we get back and continue heading for the future God has for us! There will be times we stumble and fall—but that is OK if we keep going! Isn’t that Good NEWS? I think so!!
Remember we need to always move toward God’s future! As we look at Abram’s example, God’s future takes him from the known to the unknown! God tells Abram go to a land I will show you! Now that is an Adventure. …So, why do I always want to go from the unknown to the known? That’s not much of an Adventure! Is it?
The Christian journey is from “safe” and “secure” world that we know to the strange and the unpredictable world God has for us. Read Genesis chapters 12-25 and see all the strange unpredictable things that happen to Abram! Abram’s journey is an Adventure worthy of a good movie like the Lord of the Rings!
Now, if what I said is true, why do I, …why do many Christians, …why do many churches want to go from this strange, unpredictable journey and adventure to a safe and the secure existence? Maybe insistence on safety and security is why there are so few men in the church. I don’t think men really want safe and secure! The Christian journey doesn’t go the safe and secure direction! Maybe if the more churches grasp this, more men would get involved.
Moms don’t think the church is here to keep your kids safe! I don’t see a lot of safety and security in Abram’s journey or in the Journeys of the first Christians in the book of Acts! You see the Christian journey is from the human, from the known …to the unknown, from the safe and secure… to the strange and unpredictable, from human “guarantees” to God’s promises!!
The Journey Reveals God’s Vision for Our Lives
Two more points, real quick! The Journey reveals God’s will or God’s vision for our lives. Look at God’s promises to Abram in verses 2 and 3:
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
I talked about this last week so I won’t belabor the point. God saves Abram to bless and save the world! That’s God’s will for our lives as well. God saves us from our sin and selfishness that ruins our world in order to turn us into people that follow him and his word. So, we can become people that bless and save the world! God turns selfish people into selfless people who find ways to bless others! And you know what, that is what makes our name great! Not our selfish acts!! God wants to use us to save our world! That is God’s vision and will for our lives!
(Our) Journey Reveals God’s Promise to the World
This flows into my last point. Our Journey reveals God’s promise to the world; just as Abram’s journey progressively revealed God’s promise to the world. God saves Abram and gives Abram a child, so Abram’s child will become a nation that God will save, so that nation will give birth to the ultimate savior the ultimate blessing Jesus Christ. Abram’s journey eventually reveals God’s ultimate promise to the world! Jesus is born thru Abram’s family!
Look at Romans 4:17 for just a second. This is the Apostle Paul writing about Abraham. This is what he says:
"As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were."
Notice the last half of this verse. It says that Abram believed or placed his faith in the God who gives life to the dead. Abram was living physically, but he was dead spiritually, when he lived in UR of the Chaldeans. His wife Sarai’s womb was dead, but God gave it life! God causes Abram and Sarai to come to life in order to reveal and give birth to God’s promise—Jesus Christ! Their death to life experience pictures or reveal the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The ultimate blessing God has in mind in Genesis 12: 2-3 is Jesus, …whose death on the cross paid the penalty that allows your sins to be forgiven and forgotten and whose resurrection from the dead gives you a new life, that enables you to begin a journey and live a life of Great Adventure that will reveal Jesus to the world. Our journey reveals Jesus to the world. We are to bless the world like Jesus blessed the world! Let me close with this clip I hope inspires your journey!
God has big dreams for you! He wants your life to reveal Jesus Christ. He saves you and blesses you so you can bless the world. So you can you put your past behind you, so you can obediently follow Jesus into the world. Follow your leader, Jesus, into the GREAT UNKNOWN. This is the new life he has for you! This is your future! This is Journey of Faith. Live the Adventure you were created for!
