Leaving the Land of the Familiar
Hebrews 11:8
8 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.
Genesis 12:1-7
1 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. 2 "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. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
4 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. 5 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, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him
I. Living in the land of the familiar
a. Abe had it made! Think about it
i. He was comfortable with his surroundings. He still lived in the same place, he grew up. He knew everything there was to know about the land. He knew every short cut. He played in this land as a child. He could tell you how to get where you wanted to go.
ii. He knew people everywhere he went. He was kind of like Brad Barnett. He had more connections than AT&T. He was still friends with the kids from his little league team. He knew who to hang out with when he wanted to relax and have fun, he knew who to talk to when he needed advice. Living where he lived I can guarantee you he would never get a speeding ticket.
iii. He was already established. He didn’t have to wonder where he was going to live, or what he was going to do. I’m sure he had a routine. Life was easy.
b. The good thing about living in the land of the familiar is that it is comfortable, predictable and easy going. The bad thing about living in the land of the familiar is that it is comfortable, predictable and easy going. This reminds me of a poem I read.
Opportunities Missed
There was a very cautious man
Who never laughed or played;
He never risked, he never tried,
He never sang or prayed.
And when he one day passed away
His insurance was denied;
For since he never really lived,
They claimed he never died!
c. Many of us have pitched of tents in the land of the familiar.
i. We eat the same meals, at the same places. Keep the same comfortable friends, without making new ones. Sit in the same chairs at church. Doing what we have always done and getting what we always got!
ii. Even more dangerous is when we are content to live in the land of the familiar spiritually.
iii. We become complacent.
Complacency is a blight that saps energy, dulls attitudes, and causes a drain on the brain. The first symptom is satisfaction with things as they are. The second is rejection of things as they might be. "Good enough" becomes today’s watchword and tomorrow’s standard. Complacency makes people fear the unknown, mistrust the untried, and abhor the new. Like water, complacent people follow the easiest course -- downhill. They draw false strength from looking back.
Bits & Pieces, November, 1989, p. 16.
1. First we are satisfied with the way things are.
a. This is how we have always done church!
b. I have done this ministry for 30 years
2. We reject things that might be.
a. There is more to God’s plan for your life than you can imagine.
b. Have you ever hesitated to try something new because of fear of how it will turn out and then when you finally get the nerve to do it you say, “Man I should have done that a long time ago!”
II. Why leave the Land of the Familiar?
a. Vs.1 Because God said to
i. God knows what is best for is, he see all and knows all. You can trust him!
1. Our plans may seem safer, and easier but his plans are the best. Someone once said, “If you want to see God laugh tell him your plans.”
2. Dr. B.J. Miller once said, "It is a great deal easier to do that which God gives us to do, no matter how hard it is, than to face the responsibilities of not doing it."
Today In The Word, November, 1989, p.11.
3. I believe that with God a risk is not a risk, without God a sure thing is not a sure thing.
ii. Now I have found that when God calls us out of the land of the familiar there will be plenty of people to talk you out of it.
1. The Bible doesn’t say anyone tried to talk him out of it. But I can just imagine.
a. Abe are you crazy? You got it made here. It’s Dangerous out there! Where are you going any way? What do you mean you don’t know? There is no way God told you to do that he wants you here with your family! You’re crazy Abe. You are 75 years old!
John Kenneth Galbraith, in his autobiography, A Life in Our Times, illustrates the devotion of Emily Gloria Wilson, his family’s housekeeper:
It had been a wearying day, and I asked Emily to hold all telephone calls while I had a nap. Shortly thereafter the phone rang. Lyndon Johnson was calling from the White House.
"Get me Ken Galbraith. This is Lyndon Johnson."
"He is sleeping, Mr. President. He said not to disturb him."
"Well, wake him up. I want to talk to him."
"No, Mr. President. I work for him, not you. When I called the President back, he could scarcely control his pleasure. "Tell that woman I want her here in the White House."
We are working for God not anyone else!
b. And if others don’t try to talk you out of it your own mind will. Let me tell you that there is no limit to the excuses to remain in the land of the familiar.
b. God let him know why he was leaving the land of the familiar Read vs.2-3
i. I will make you a great nation…
ii. I will bless you…
iii. I will make your name great…
iv. You will be a blessing… all the people of the world will be blessed through you…
v. I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.
c. Abe believed God… That’s called faith! Hudson Taylor, the great man of faith who founded the China Inland Mission, integrated faith and risk. He said, "Unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith."
This brings me to my final point.
III. When you leave the land of the Familiar you enter world of Faith. God said Go to the land I will show you,
In Hebrews it says, 8 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.
a. When you step into the world of faith you may not know what lies ahead. But you know who has sent you. It is a place God will show you
b. It will be exciting to see what God has in store for you when you leave the land of the Familiar.
c. However, be warned there will be struggles
i. The very next thing Abe had to deal with was a famine.
ii. Abe did not turn back he did not give up he kept going.
d. You will make mistakes. Sarah was a beautiful woman, and Abe thought that they would kill him to get his wife. Instead of trusting God, he made up a lie that Sarah was his sister. And Pharaoh actually took Sarai as his wife.
i. First of all Abe is you have the faith to leave everything you can have the faith to trust God for protection. God didn’t call him out of the land of the Familiar to kill him!
ii. This was a horrible mistake, a failure to trust God. Can you imagine knowing another man took your wife as his own?
iii. However we learn some important lessons from this.
1. One even the greatest men in the word of God have fallen.
2. Abe didn’t say well I blew it now; I’m going back to the land of the familiar.
3. The promise of God and the blessing of God still came to pass even though he failed.
e. Be determined you will not turn back
I like the determination of 14 year old Australian swimmer Shane Gould. When asked by a news reporter how she thought she would do in one of her early career swimming meets in the United States several years ago, 14-year-old Australian Shane Gould replied, "I have a feeling there will be a world record today." She went on to set two world records in the one-hundred- and two-hundred-meter freestyle events. When asked how she thought she would fare in the more testing, grueling, four-hundred-meter event, Shane replied with a smile, "I get stronger every race, and besides ... my parents said they’d take me to Disneyland if I win, and we’re leaving tomorrow!" She went to Disneyland with three world records. At 16 she held five world records and became one of the greatest swimmers of all time, winning three gold medals in the 1972 Olympics.
Our determination is not in our own abilities, but in what God can do! We should be even more confident that in the end we will see victory and the promises of God fulfilled.
Closing:
You can stay in the land of the familiar, but God is calling us to the world of faith. You can do what you have, always done and get what you have always got, or you can step out and continue to grow and experience new things that God has in store for you. Has God been calling you out of your comfort zone?
