Istanbul, formerly the historic Constantinople, was an early centre of Christianity. One of the tourist attractions is the huge building called the Aghia Sophia. The guide summarised its history as a church, then a mosque and now a tourist attraction, like this: 800 years dedicated to Christ; 500 years to Allah and 80 years to the god of tourism! I thought this was rather a parable of the spiritual journey of our own lives.
I had been reading the life and journeying of Abraham and how it applied to my own ’Pilgrim’s Progress’. It made me wonder if I was changeable like the Aghia Sophia – a ‘pilgrim’ or merely a ‘tourist’. The writer of the Hebrews draws out lessons for our spiritual instruction in the account of Abraham’s journey of faith (11:8-16). He tells us that Abraham: “… was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Abraham’s life can be summarised in one word – he was a ‘pilgrim’.
The dictionary definition of a pilgrim is “a person regarded as journeying to a future life.” It’s a journey undertaken with an end view, a purpose, as contrasted with the journeying of a tourist. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being a tourist; it can enrich our knowledge and perspective of life, but essentially it’s a matter of “Been there, done that, got the tee shirt!”
Our life on Earth can helpfully be seen as a journey but the question is: Are we making it as a “pilgrim” or a “tourist”? The mindset of these categories in a spiritual context is quite different. Being a “pilgrim”: it’s what we become; what we strive to be all the time, not just for a few precious weeks of holiday each year. The “tourist” lives life fairly casually, responding to whims and changing directions.
As tourists we don’t want to be trapped in a place, relationships or situations from which we can’t escape or find uncomfortable. It’s all about our being in control, being in charge and getting our choice. We’ll look at the contrast between the biblical “pilgrim” and “tourist” and see how different they are in the story of Abraham. God calls us to be “pilgrims” under His rules, rather than mere “tourists” doing “our own thing”, in the journey of life.
Abraham’s journeying was at a different level. His was a pilgrimage from the city of mankind to the city of God. We don’t know exactly when or how Abraham came to know God. It’s likely that he heard about Him through stories passed down by word of mouth from his ancestors, aided by seeing the Almighty’s creation and through the stirring of his conscience. But primarily, it was through a personal encounter with the living God. And that’s how anyone becomes a Christian – we hear God’s call.
We’re told by the first martyr, Stephen, “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia” (Acts 7:2), that’s ancient Babylon, now Iraq and Iran. Abraham’s contemporaries had a religious culture of worshipping the moon and kneeling before idols, but following this encounter with the one and only true God he was told to distance himself from this city of human arrogance and wickedness. As the story unfolds we see Abraham’s:
CALL TO A NEW LIFE
The Bible’s account makes the point that it wasn’t Abraham who found God; it was God who found Abraham. He received a call to which he had to respond, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you” (Gen 12:1). Abraham isn’t called simply to adopt a new set of ideas but which would leave his outward life untouched. It was something far more radical; it was to be a crossroad in his life. It was a call to a decisive turning away from the past, a public rejection of his ancestors’ pagan religion.
God is a jealous God who will not allow His followers to have a mixture of old and new gods. Other religions may have high ideals but can’t hope to offer redemption of mankind where “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). It’s only in the atonement of Jesus on the Cross that we have the gift of forgiveness of sins and the life eternal. The call of God to Abraham to a new life was followed by his:
RESPONSE BY FAITH
The commentary in Hebrews tells us that “By faith Abraham obeyed.” He put the past behind him. His response is an example for all of us. But it was no easy matter. The sacrifice must have been enormous. It wasn’t that he was a man without responsibilities. He had an elderly father, his wife and other family members to consider. He left a life of comfort and luxury for one where there were no financial certainties. He left the security of the town where he was a citizen for an unknown destination, for the life of a nomad. He put his entire future into God’s hands without any guarantees.
There comes times in our lives when we have to make a break and move on. This will mean different things for each of us. But God challenges all who wish to follow Him about priorities. He calls us to examine whether He’s more important than our families, friends, jobs, ambitions and possessions. It’s a decision we have to make in our Christian pilgrimage.
The first disciples of Jesus – Peter, Andrew, James and John – were fishermen, but when the call of Jesus came we’re told “at once they left their nets and followed him” (Matt 4: 20). I don’t suppose they found it any easier than Abraham did. But they went anyway. It was all or nothing, and it still is. It can be hard, but God understands this. That’s why Jesus reminded Peter when he felt a bit discouraged, “No-one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life” (Luke 18:19).
Travelling across the Babylonian desert was a gruelling experience, with intense heat by day and bitter cold by night. The travellers became weary and it was especially hard for Abraham’s father, Terah. When they arrived at Haran, the halfway point between Ur and Canaan, their real destination, Abraham decided to call a halt, perhaps for the benefit of his father. But what was his father doing in the party? Hadn’t God told Abraham, “Leave … your father’s household”?
Haran had close links with Ur, both commercially and in religion, and the family had distant relations living there. It was a tempting diversion in Abraham’s pilgrimage. All we know is that they stopped there, perhaps for his father’s welfare and certainly God didn’t hold it against Abraham. God is patient and will often give a faltering pilgrim another opportunity, a second chance.
Terah didn’t make it to Canaan. He was more of a “tourist” than a “pilgrim”. Perhaps it was family ties or his love of false gods. Whatever the reason, he’s a lesson to all who are on a pilgrimage, of allowing something to hinder us from reaching the goal that God has for us. Compromise is a deadly distraction. Terah didn’t go back to Ur but he didn’t get to Canaan. If that happens to us the result will be that we fail to enter into the full riches of God. Eventually Abraham realised he hadn’t fully obeyed God’s instruction. The time came for Abraham to move on into entirely unknown territory. It was a:
COURAGEOUS COMMITMENT
The writer of Hebrews emphasises that “He (Abraham) obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” He’d been told to travel light, leaving behind his country, people and household. This is quite unlike most tourists who fill their suitcases with “everything but the kitchen sink!” The baggage that God had in mind was anything that could hold him back from developing a quality relationship with Him.
There are many things that hold us back on our spiritual pilgrimage. God wants His people to free themselves from the culture of this world and to be committed to the values of His kingdom. This means rejecting the world’s priorities of ambition and the worship of money, fame and power. When we become Christians, God presents us through the Scriptures with His agenda. It’s a new set of values and new patterns of behaviour.
Jesus must be our model. He broke the man-made cultural rules of His day because they were alien to the revealed will of His Father. It aroused the bitter opposition of the religious authorities and if we follow His example we shouldn’t be surprised if we’re thought odd because we refuse to go along with the stream of those who aren’t believers. The apostle Paul warned his converts at Corinth that “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Cor 15:13). Of course, we can’t isolate ourselves from the world because we’re in it, but that’s quite different from being “of the world.”
I read the autobiography of George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. Soon after he became a Christian he was called up to do his National Service in the Royal Air Force. He writes that the first test of his Christian discipleship was to follow the advice of his vicar which he found quite daunting: “George,” he said, “you must disclose that you are a Christian right from the start. Don’t be ashamed of your faith. When the lights go out, kneel by your bed and say your prayers.” He goes on to write that: “This seemed easy enough to agree to when in church, but I confess that as I surveyed the crowded billet on my first evening, with the good-natured banter of high-spirited young men all around me, my resolved wavered. Nevertheless, taking a deep breath, I knelt and spent several minutes in prayer.”
This unspoken testimony, certainly not lacking in courage, was noticed by his fellow recruits, and was helpful to several other of the young men who next day also declared themselves to be practicing Christians. Jesus told His disciples, ”Whoever acknowledges me before men; I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven” (Matt 10:32,33). Solemn words indeed! This must be a real incentive to nail our colours to the mast, not for the sake of being different, but to be true to our commitment to Jesus. It may result in being made fun of or, like happened to George Carey; he had a boot tossed at him while in prayer! Abraham was of a similar character as we think of his:
PERSISTENCE IN DIFFICULTY
Abraham had to maintain his faith in God’s promises in difficult circumstances when the future was far from clear. God told him to leave Ur and gave him very clear promises for the future: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you.” He was told “to go to the land I will show you.” God often reveals things to us on a “need to know basis.” He tells us some things, but never everything. Abraham received God’s promises in instalments. That’s where faith comes in. If all the details of our future pilgrimage were known to us, faith would be redundant, but it doesn’t work like that. God does this so that He can develop ongoing faith and friendship with us.
Obeying God’s word isn’t always the easy option. It can lead to obstacles, hardships and problems, with the temptation to take the line of least resistance. Had Abraham wanted prosperity and comfort, he would have done better to stay in Ur, or even at the halfway stage at Haran. And maybe he wondered, as we do, if his problems were a sign that he had gone out of God’s will. Perhaps he was tempted at times to turn his camel round and go back home. But he kept his nerve, stayed the course and learned that even when you get to Canaan, the place of your inheritance, while still on Earth, you have to keep trusting in God to the very end of life.
There’s always an unexplained element to make sure we remain dependent on God. Abraham obeyed as best he could and left everything else to God. Hebrews tells us, “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” (11:8). That’s the broad picture but there were many difficulties on the way, some of his own making. The biblical record doesn’t gloss over the defects of the heroes of the faith. The basic instruction was to “leave your father’s household” but not only did he take him father along, he also took his nephew, Lot, as well.
Lot didn’t have the committed faith of his uncle. He was a “tourist” rather than a “pilgrim”. Genesis recounts the conflict between the herdsmen of uncle and nephew because there wasn’t sufficient pasture together for both their herds. Abraham, although the senior man, generously gave Lot the first choice, an offer he couldn’t refuse. The older man, the “pilgrim”, was following God’s values and ways of doing things, of putting others first and living in peace. The younger, the “tourist”, was self-seeking at the cost of the other, and took advantage of the fertile plain by the River Jordan although dangerously close to the wickedly pagan cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. It wasn’t long before he was entrapped by their culture, with terrible results for his family. We do well to remember the warning words of Jesus: “Remember Lot’s wife!” (Luke 17:32).
We’ve only touched upon the first section of Abraham’s pilgrimage but sufficient to demonstrate that God’s promises are reliable. That’s one side of the coin but the other is that, to see the promises fulfilled, we must do our part. That’s because many of God’s promises are conditional on our obedience. This doesn’t mean that God breaks His covenant of love with us because He’s unable to do that. Abraham was thus enabled to:
PRESS ON TOWARDS THE GOAL
We can see from Abraham’s experience that some promises didn’t come true in his lifetime: the land of Canaan was lived in but never really belonged to him; the nation he was promised was limited to two sons; the great name he was promised had to wait for centuries; and the blessing through him to all people on the Earth isn’t yet complete. It’s been said that many of God’s cheques are post-dated! But you may be sure that they are or will be honoured!
Abraham had to be patient and to expect their fulfilment through faith and we must learn to do the same. We need to remember that like Abraham, we are on a pilgrimage that that will never end until we get to heaven. He lived in a tent because his travels never ended, even though he had the money to buy or build a house and probably would have welcomed a more comfortable place to live in his old age.
You’ll have heard the story of two missionaries returning home at the end of their ministry. When they reached their home railway station there was a band playing and the city dignitaries waiting on the platform - but it wasn’t for them. For a moment they were downcast as there was no-one to welcome them but then they said to each other, “It doesn’t matter, we’re not ‘home’ yet!” Like Abraham they “looked forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God.”
Where and what is that “city”? The book of Revelation reveals that it is the Kingdom of God, His people, the Church of Christ, not a denomination, but all who have come to Christ for salvation by faith in Him (Rev 21:1-3). Jesus told His opponents, “Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). The apostle Paul writes to the Christians in Rome that “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (4:3). It wasn’t his faith, but God’s: His gift because of the future work of Christ making salvation available through His atoning death on the Cross. If we are believers, Abraham is our great ancestor. Let’s be sure to follow in his train in the greatest pilgrimage of all. And so I leave you with the thought – are you a “pilgrim” or a “tourist”?
