Tangible verses Intangible.
Abraham set free to be blessed and a blessing! Genesis 17:1-10 and 17:15-22.
We carry on today with number two sermon of this four-part sermon series “Steadfast.” The verse that sort of ties the series together is Psalm 16:8 “I have set the LORD always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Last week we looked at covenant and contract. We are looking today at Tangible verses Intangible. Intangible meaning, unable to be touched; not having physical presence.
If we look at the lives of many Biblical persons, we see lives that are not what we would call, particularly normal, in places where God has them for a period, sometimes before he moves them to something unknown or into something that appears to be intangible but based on His, that is God’s promise. In the case of a young couple, who lived between 1960 and 1785 BC. This couple started out in a place called Ur which was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located in what is now modern Iraq. This couple started life with the names Abram and Sarai.
A few things about this couple:
• Terah, Abrams father had originally left Ur and settled in Haran (MAP)
• Abram was called by God to leave Haran and to travel to the land that he, God would give him
• Abram (meaning exalted) had his name changed by God to Abraham (meaning ‘father of many’), we will find out more about this soon
• Abraham’s ancestors were worshippers of other God’s prior to this, “Joshua said to the people, “this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says; ‘Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods.” (Joshua 24:2) They were idol worshippers.
• Abraham lied to preserve his life. I say this to prove the man had faults, he was not perfect.
• God made a covenant with Abraham that would lead to the birth of the nation of Israel. Interestingly all that he would possess of that nation was a field and a burial cave. He was, however, promised land, descendants and blessings. The same covenant is part of the reason that we are all here today worshipping God.
This is Abram's call from God.
“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.[a]
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you. Abram was 75 years old when he was called. If you are around that age, hold onto that point.
• He had a son called Ishmael with his wife’s maidservant Hagar (we could spend days debating the morals of this but remember, different times, different way of living, laws etc)
• He then had a son Isaac with his first wife Sarai who was afterwards known as Sarah (meaning princess)
• Sarai gave permission for Ishmaels conception
• Sarai treated Hagar badly after Ishmael was born
I’m keen to look at a small part of this couple's journey. For while Abraham and Sarah were a couple with a fair number of faults, it was their response to God, that changed their lives and from that place, changed the earths future and hundreds millions of lives forever to the glory of God. Their reality was to follow God into a future that was completely unknown, intangible, what many of us would consider a possible work of fiction if it was presented to us in their places. We are all here today because of their response.
When we take a look at Abraham’s family we see that most of the Arab people, and the Jewish people, today are his descendants, in the main Ishmaels family are the Arab people, though not all and Isaacs’s family are Jews and there are some who are Palestinian Arabs. The current war in Israel and Gaza is in part being fought on both sides by direct descendants of Abraham and Sarah. Please don’t get stuck on the point, let's move on.
However, God has blessed both family lines of Abraham’s descendants. Abraham married again after the death of Sarah, to a lady called Keturah, their descendants have pretty much combined with the descendants of Ishmael.
So, we see this direction that God took Abraham and Sarah, the patriarch and matriarch of most of the Hebrew people and Abraham and Hagar the patriarch and matriarch of most of the Arab people. They left Haran on a promise that was in part fulfilled in their lifetimes. But it was not, as is foretold by God in Genesis fifteen, until 400 years later that the Hebrew people enter the promised land. These were people of a promise, something that seemed intangible but...the reality is?
So we have a situation here that would to many seem to be a fairly futile sort of adventure that Abram and Sarai set out on. These were people with property and staff. If you look at read Genesis 14, you see that Abram as he was then rescued his nephew Lot with 318 men from his household. Abram and Sarai were people of substantial means. Fairly well off and you can just imagine the conversation downtown in Cannan at the local Cafe as they packed up to leave.
Character one; “Well I see Abram is selling off quite a bit of property and buying all the camels he can get his hands on at the market.”
Character two; “Oh yes dear, I was talking with Sarai at the knitting group and, the poor thing is to be dragged off on some adventure because ‘God’ has ‘promised’ Abram land, descendants and blessing.
Character one: That Abram, a little touched if you ask me, he’s never had it so good, a bit like his old Dad if you ask me, he was a Terah.
Well, we know they left, they went and the rest, as they say, is history. Abraham had a very good relationship with God. The outcome of which has resulted in people and blessings for all of humanity, as we know and worship God, particularly gaining the blessing of worshipping God as gentiles though Jesus' lineage back to Abraham.
The scriptures are filled with historical depictions of people who had lives that were ventures into the intangible that had very real tangible outcomes for many, because of their relationship with God. They had lives driven by faith in the unseen on promises of outcomes, but because of their faith they had lives that changed history and life for many. People for instance like Noah who when warned, saved humanity and many animals by building an Arc. Moses an abandoned baby who would grow up to lead his nation out of slavery. David a shepherd boy who would become a King, many prophets who left all to do God’s will and often died in the process, Sarah who had a baby well past the age of physical possibility, Hebrews 11 is the place to get an idea of how many intangible things occurred by faith. The walls of Jerico fell, verse 33 tells us; that by faith kingdoms were conquered, justice was administered, and people gained what was promised; the mouths of lions were shut. Invisible, abstract, what some might describe as airy-fairy things became reality. The intangible became tangible. But if people had not ventured into the intangible they never would have occurred, why did they, because they knew God and knew his promise and knew that He keeps his promise. They knew God as steadfast and were steadfast in their relationship with him.
Awesome things are achieved when people venture into the intangible, when the inconceivable becomes reality, often with a twist that involves circumstances that are seemingly impossible. A while ago I discovered a law, seen time and time again in scripture and in the lives of the saints since Jesus.
It is: Hope + confident belief (faith) + action = Awesome achievement
Confident belief is Faith, or a confident belief in the intangible, in the direction of God’s leading. Like the people of old, the patriarchs and matriarchs, we are called to be steadfast in our response to God, to God’s leading and promises.
So, we have this understanding given to us in scripture of these awesome people who heard God and went off to pursue the intangible, knowing that God had promised it to them. Were there hard times, conflict, possibly death and destruction, of course there were. Take a look at how eleven out of twelve apostles died. Those things that they are holding are the weapons or devices that killed them. Killed because they were steadfast in their faith and knowledge that Jesus was crucified, died and on the third day rose from the dead. These gutsy men were sold out to Jesus, even unto death. They knew that they served and worshiped the Risen Saviour – they lived lives of faith. They knew that what to many seemed intangible would soon be a reality, ‘life everlasting.’
Today being a testimony, Sunday I would like to share a snippet of my journey with you. Now that I have been here ten months, I thought you might like to know a bit more about me. I was brought up with a Methodist background and at the age of fourteen became a Methodist confirming my faith in that Church. I publicly gave my life to Christ at a Y-One Youth for Christ rally at the age of sixteen and had an amazing encounter with The Holy Spirit.
Like many young men do I got a job, entering into the Electrical Trade, a trade I ending up doing well in, still engaged in Church life and I got married, built a house, had a couple of children, two boys with my first wife and moved from Wakefield in Nelson after living there eleven years to Oamaru where I first encountered The Salvation Army and about the same time my marriage unraveled. All the while I believed that I was following God’s will for my life. So here I was a single parent, of a seven and a nine-year-old. As far as going through a tough time I would probably rate it twelve out of ten, really hard. Somehow, however, I managed to keep working, I had my own home, a nice four-bedroom place on an acre and a quarter. Christian friends inside and outside The Salvation Army were there for me when they could be, and my relationship with God though many other things were falling apart around me was solid, as he kept directing my path.
The way we are to respond to God is to be steadfast in our faith in him. Times maybe or can get difficult, as Christians when we give our lives to Christ, we are no longer in a place of directing our own path. Jesus tells us to enter by the narrow gate, “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:14 The Christian faith is not really a box of fluffy ducks. However ,if we listen to God, respond to His leadership, He directs us for His purpose for we are created in His image to glorify Him. We come to understand his will for us as we journey into undetermined futures. His purpose in the long run is better for us. Will it be comfortable, will it be danger free, will it result in lots of goodies; most likely not, but will it be His purpose for us? The answer to that is, yes! We can hope God has us in hand, we can have faith that God has us in hand, however we achieve nothing without responding to him.
So, we enter and find something few find, In my case I responded to the call to Salvation Army soldiership around 19 years ago, as soon as I put on the uniform, I lost my fear of man. I tell you that, that was a burden that was lifted that I didn’t even know I needed lifting. What people thought of me no longer mattered, what people thought of Jesus seen in me was all that mattered. I sorted out my issue with coarse language. God then called me to officership, this worried me, would I be good enough? I challenged God to show me the call was real, sort of asking him if it was tangible, he continued to lead me into intangible things. I then knew his call was real. It is a long story, one that so far has not resulted in land, but has resulted in wonderful people, including Rochelle (my wife) and Janaki (my daughter) in my life and the blessing there is in having them in my life. Responding to the call to train in my mid-forties as a single Dad with two sons in tow has not only come with many difficulties but many blessings and a deeper understanding of walking in mysterious intangible ways, that are God’s will for my life.
So today, the week ahead, listen for God’s still small voice, something I know is that when you hear it you need to respond. Because whatever that awesome achievement is that he is calling you to; that currently intangible thing that combines your hope and faith will never occur without your response. You may be seventeen or seventy-five, the path to that narrow gate might seem to you like a rope bridge over a river of lava, but what is promised is on the other side. Go ahead, be steadfast, be faithful, then step into the unknown.
