Iliff & Saltillo United Methodist
January 23, 2005
“The Risk of the Invitation”
Genesis 12:1-4
Romans 4:1-5; 13-17
INTRODUCTION: Throughout our lifetime we are offered invitations of one kind or another. When we were in elementary school it may have been to a birthday party, or in high school to the prom. We might have an invitation to go someplace, or an invitation to accept a job offer. Every time we are given an invitation there are risks that go along with it. Did you ever think of it that way before? I didn’t. Many times we refuse to accept the invitation because we are afraid we can’t handle the risks that go along with it. We won’t accept a new job because we are afraid we can’t do it, won’t go on a trip because we are afraid the weather will be bad, won’t go into a new group because we don’t know anyone or are afraid they won’t be friendly. Handling the risks of the invitation is often more unsettling than we realize. It raises our anxiety level. It causes us stress. How often do we miss out because we refuse to venture into the unknown. We also miss out on what God wants to make out of our lives because we won’t risk accepting an invitation where we don’t know the total plan before we begin. How many of you are like that?
In this new year perhaps God is calling you out of your secure comfort zone and familiar routine, offering you an invitation to greater service for him, but you hesitate, pull back, cling to what you can fully see. Maybe you have never become a Christian in the first place because you feel it is too risky. You might feel your life would have to change too much. Can we accept His invitations and handle the risks? Today’s scripture speaks about these concerns.
In Genesis 12 an account is given of a man who received an invitation from God. He was not a young man, but the invitation came to him after he was established in his life. He had a home in a place called Ur. Scripture speaks of his father, Terah, and brothers, Nahor and Haran. He had a nephew, Lot. His wife was Sarai. He had accumulated many cattle and belongings. When the invitation came to him from God, he was 75 years old.
Abram was not forced to accept God’s invitation. He could have said, “I really appreciate your offer; but I am settled here, and I believe I will decline. I’m already 75 years old and I think it is time that I slowed down a bit. My family all live here and I don’t want to leave them. Maybe I can’t get myself re-established somewhere else. I wouldn’t know anyone.” We don’t know what all was going on in Abram’s mind when the invitation came to him.
God simply spoke to him and said, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to a land that I will SHOW you.” Then he added some promises to that. In spite of the promises attached to the invitation, it may not have been an easy decision to do this. I believe we will also face invitations as God works in our lives that will not be easy to receive. Why?
1. Might have to give up the security you now have.
2. it might not work out--might not like it.
3. might result in stretching you beyond what you want to be stretched.
4. might have a lot of what ifs...
What if things don’t pan out like I thought?
What if I can’t make it financially?
What if I miss God?
What if I can’t pull it off?
Have you ever felt like this? Abraham may have looked at the invitation, the promises and the risks just like we do today and he had to make a decision--does he go or does he stay? What will it be?
STORY: A young man is an avid listener to the city’s police frequency, and he leaves the scanner on all the time.
One morning while making his bed, I heard the dispatcher say, "Car 34,
there is a five-foot boa constrictor in a front yard. The resident
wants a policeman to come and remove it."
There was a long pause, then some static.
Slowly, a voice said, "We can’t get the car started."
What did Abram do??? Scripture says, “He departed.”
1. Risk of the Invitation: God was clearly calling Abram out of his comfort zone. The risk was that of being changed and transplanted. He was being uprooted and forced to face a new set of problems in the journey. He faced separation from his family and left the source of protection he had been used to. The reason God called him out of that land was because that his country had become an idolatrous place and even his father’s household was a constant temptation to be swayed toward idolatry. Research says that even his father, Terah, served other gods (Joshua 24:2). Idolatry had such a foothold there that God was wanting to get him out of his current environment so he could do a new and different work in his life.
When Abram left, he didn’t have a Trip Tik to follow. He really didn’t know where he was headed. That took faith on his part. God needed to try his FAITH and OBEDIENCE at various stages along the way. What was this man going to do when it looked as if the promises were going to fall through. In nearly every episode it looked like the promise was placed in jeopardy and would fail. A famine occurred one time where Abram was directed into Egypt. Would God who brought him there be able to take care of him there?
In the face of such uncertainties God remained faithful to His Word and safeguarded the promises. God can do this for us too. Not all things were commendable in Abram but he became known as the “friend of God.” What He did for Abraham (his new name in Genesis 17:5) He will also do for us if we are not afraid of the risk of the invitation.
Sometimes we just have to take the step of faith.
STORY: The prison warden told the condemned man to order whatever he wanted for his last meal and he offered some suggestions: “Lobster, Filet Mignon, Beef Wellington, Caviar or Shrimp?”
“No,” the prisoner said. “I’ll just take a bowl of mushrooms.”
“Why mushrooms?” the warden asked him.
The prisoner replied, “I’ve always been afraid to eat ‘em.”
So often we fear unnecessarily.
2. Promises Included: What promises did God include with the invitation to Abraham?
1. I will make of thee a great nation
2. I will bless thee.
3. I will make thy name great.
4. Thou shalt be a blessing.
5. I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee.
6. In thee all families of the earth will be blessed (points to the Messiah Jesus coming).
So here is the risks and the promises. He could have said, “I just don’t understand what You are going to do, God. I just don’t see how you can bring all of this to pass.
STORY: A very angry woman stormed up to the receptionist’s desk and shouted"Someone stole my wig while I was having eye surgery yesterday."
The doctor came out and tried to calm her down. "I assure you that no one on my staff would have done such a thing," he said. "Why do you think it was taken here?"
"After the operation, I noticed the wig I was wearing was cheap-looking and ugly."
"I think" explained the surgeon gently, "that means your cataract operation was a success."
God began to give Abraham insight in to his promises more fully as he followed Him. Scripture says that Abraham was not disobedient to the heavenly call. He departed--not knowing the full plan but he RELIED on the promises of God. Can we do that today? You will note that at first the promise said, “I will SHOW thee the land” (verse 1). In verse 7, he says something different about the land--Unto thy seed I will GIVE this land.” God revealed himself to Abraham by degrees. As Abraham took the first step by faith, then other information came to him.
This is true in our life. If we feel we have to know the entire plan for our lives first, we probably won’t even get started on the journey. We must take the first step when God speaks to us. He says,
“go visit this person in the hospital.” We say, “I don’t do hospital visits, Lord. Don’t know how and I don’t want to learn.”
Lord says, “Give this person $50.00. We say, “maybe they don’t really need it. What if they don’t deserve it.” So we are not the blessing to someone.
Lord says, “I want you to go and pray for this person and ask them to receive Christ.” We say, “Lord, I can’t do that. Don’t know what to say.”
Lord says, “I want you to work with teenagers.” We say, “Lord, I surely don’t want to do that. Who do you think I am?”
The Lord says, “Today I want you to receive Christ into your life and make Him number 1.” What do we say?
The Lord is giving us invitations every day, and we are saying, “Thank you, but no thank you.”
Abram was not like this in spite of silent periods from God when it looked as if God were not doing a thing. Can we rely on the promises if the answer doesn’t come immediately? Can we wait for His direction in spite of delays?
Psalm 57:2 says, “I will cry unto God most high unto God that performeth all things for me.”
II Timothy 1:12 says, “for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
3. The Results of the Invitation: Abram’s life was changed because he was able to handle the risks of the invitation and rely on the promises of God.Abram, later called Abraham “believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6). Romans 4:18 says he became the father of many nations as was spoken. He was not weak in faith (4:19). He staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief (vs. 20). Being “fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform” (vs. 21).
Hebrews 11 says “by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country. Verse 17 says, “by faith when he was tried, he offered up Isaac.”
These were the results of the invitation. Abraham’s story is told in various places throughout the New Testament. I don’t think that he came into it SUDDENLY all in one grand swoop. It was a GRADUAL unfolding of God’s plan in his life. Day after day, week after week, year after year--his life was changed as he attempted to do what God was telling him to do. It was a daily discipline. Someone asked, “How can I know the will of God for my life?” It is not that difficult, “Just do the NEXT thing God tells you to do--Abraham started out and kept doing the NEXT thing God told him to do.
CONCLUSION: Can you handle the risk of the invitation this week as God calls you into a closer relationship with Him? Can you rely on His promises in spite of delays? Will you allow Him the permission to change you into the person He wants you to be now???
SHALL WE PRAY:
