Enoch

Once upon a time, as the high-school prom was approaching, one young man asked his father if he could borrow his dad’s 1963 Corvette—for him and his date. His dad said, “I’ll tell you what, if you can improve one letter grade in each of your classes and if you’ll get your hair cut, I’ll let you take the car.” Well, a few weeks went by and the boy managed to pull up all of his grades. He went back to his father and showed him his progress, then asked if he could have the keys. The dad said, “I’m sorry son, but you didn’t get your hair cut.” Indignant, the boy grumbled, “Come on Dad, even Jesus had long hair!” The father smiled as he said, “Yep, and Jesus walked everywhere he went too.”

Today we will be talking about Enoch and how he lived a life with a faith that is pleasing to God. We will continue ti follow the pattern we established last week, there will be two aspects of Enoch’s faith and two aspects we need to pay attention too in our lives.

But first lets look at Enoch’s lineage. Those of you that has been in my wife’s Wednesday night bible study know that she has been really diving into lineage and genealogy of people in the Bible. I know most of us by pass the genealogies in the Bible, but they have great meaning and are important to learn.

In the early chapters of Genesis, especially chapter five, the Holy Spirit chronicles a record of genealogies—a family tree from Adam down to Noah. For many of these people, all we know of them is that they lived, had children, and died.

Men like Kenan, Methuselah, and Lamech may not seem important in the unfolding drama of human history, but these people are actually living links in the long lineage that reaches from the creation of Adam all the way to the birth of Jesus Christ. God’s promise to send the Savoir depended upon the faith of many ordinary people who—to us—are just unfamiliar, often unpronounceable, names in a withered old family tree.

One of those unfamiliar names that we come across is that of a man called Enoch. He is mentioned less than a handful of times throughout the entire Bible, and yet he was blessed with one of the most incredible distinctions ever given to man—he never died.

Hebrews 11:5 CSB

By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God.

Enoch was “pleasing to God;” so pleasing that God actually spared him the experience of death and carried him into heaven personally. How amazing is that!? We’re also told that it was because of his faith that God took him into heaven prematurely. So, let’s go back to Genesis and try to put the brief mention of his life in context.

Genesis 5:18–24 CSB

Jared was 162 years old when he fathered Enoch. Jared lived 800 years after he fathered Enoch, and he fathered other sons and daughters. So Jared’s life lasted 962 years; then he died. Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah. And after he fathered Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters. So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.

Although we know very little about him, Enoch’s faith is revealed to us in a variety of ways in this brief account of his life. First, Enoch’s faith is demonstrated through his...

Attitude

Did you notice how the simple phrase, “Enoch walked with God,” is repeated twice in Genesis?

Although, Enoch lived in a day and age long before automobiles and airplanes—even before chariots or the horse and buggy—that isn’t the kind of walking the Holy Spirit had in mind here. The term walk, as it’s used in the Bible, is synonymous with a person’s way of life. How you walk, in other words, is how you live your life. Enoch lived his life in a way that was pleasing to God.

It’s interesting that the phrasing of this verse could imply that it wasn’t until the birth of Enoch’s son Methuselah that he began walking with God. Having a baby changes things doesn’t it? Remember life before children? You could do whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, wherever you wanted. You could focus on your career or your education. Something about having children, though, teaches us to look outside ourselves. Suddenly, it’s not all about me anymore! We begin to live our lives for other people—especially our children. That’s what Enoch did. He began to live his life in a way that made God smile. So, what did he do? How did he walk that made him so special?

Ephesians 4:1–3 CSB

Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Paul is saying to walk worthy…to live your life worthy of your calling as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Humility is an attitude of the heart that recognizes our own faults and failing. It’s realizing that I’m not perfect and I don’t have all the answers. It’s acknowledging that other people are just as important as I am and have equally valid thoughts and feelings. Gentleness is the action associated with that kind of attitude. When we have a humble heart we won’t be verbally or physically abusive, rather we’ll treat people with gentleness, kindness and respect. patience is an attitude which we demonstrate as we “bear with one another in love.” Sometimes it’s easy to be irritated or frustrated with other people—especially the people we care about the most, it seems—but God has called us to forgive one another and to accept each other just as God has accepted us.

Micah 6:8 CSB

Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.

nd that’s just what Enoch did. He walked in humility, in gentleness, in love and mercy. And he walked with God. Furthermore, in addition to his attitude, Enoch’s faith is also revealed through his...

Association

The second half of that simple little sentence should be emphasized: “Enoch walked with God.” To define it further for us to understand is he communed with God, He fellow-shipped with God, He was in constant contact with God. The focus of Enoch’s faith was his deep and abiding relationship with God. And that it was to a point that he pleased God. It’s always been amazing to me that God could have chosen to define his relationship with us in any terms he determined, yet he chose to describe himself, first and foremost, as our Father.

That’s the kind of relationship that God wants with you and me. Max Lucado, “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, he’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart

Let’s bring this around. We see that Enoch had a correct attitude and was in constant association with God. So how do apply this pleasing faith in our lives.

Most of you do not know this, but me, Dani and Kaelyn really enjoy taking walks. Not all three of us together, but either me and Dani or me and Kaelyn. And walking with them is two different experiences. With Dani, it is being available to talk about anything and everything. We talk about dreams and discouragements. Decisions that need to be made and disappointments we have felt. It is really an intimate time together. With Kaelyn, it isn’t so much being available, it is being accessible. When we walk together, we put on our headphones and we walk. We don’t talk, but we can point out things around us by just nodding our head or just by our actions. And there is a closeness that is indescribable.

I was thinking about this and what it means, pleasing faith to God. Pleasing faith means we are available and accessible to God. God is always available and accessible, but do we make ourselves that way to Him. Enoch did. And we can too.

Available

Can you imagine how difficult it must have been to walk with God during those years prior to the Flood, when gross immorality and godlessness were ubiquitous and only a small remnant of people were faithful to God? And Enoch was living in the shadow of God’s judgment. Did he know of the impending flood? Absolutely. In fact, the Bible says that Enoch tried to warn his generation

Jude 14–15 CSB

It was about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly concerning all the ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things ungodly sinners have said against him.”

Enoch made himself available to God. To listen to Him and to speak on behalf of Him. Does that mean that God took Enoch into heaven in order to spare him from the judgment to come? Well, that’s definitely possible. Either way, one thing the Bible makes abundantly clear is that “It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying”

God wants you to be available to Him today, in faith. In a pleasing faith. That faith must be placed squarely on the shoulders of His Son, Jesus Christ. You must have faith in His death and resurrection.

Hebrews 11:6 CSB

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

That word believe is very important.

Mark 9:23 CSB

Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”

Enoch made himself available to God to be used by God and is now a foreshadowing of two things. He is an example of the coming rapture of the church.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–18 CSB

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

His second example is being saved from eternal death and damnation.

John 5:28–29 CSB

Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.

God is available to you through His Son, are you available to Him?

Accessible

What is the difference from being available and being accessible?

Availability is about time, while accessibility is about presence and focus.

In all honesty, availability is useless without accessibility. Without having the presence and the focus on the one you are walking with, your availability is not there.

If you really look at this in reverse, without being accessible to the Lord, you can not be available to be used, you will not ascend to a more mature pleasing faith, and your attitude will suffer. Your faith will go from If God is for me who can be against me, to I am defeated. Isaiah is a great example of being accessible.

Isaiah 6:8 CSB

Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

How do you become accessible? By knowing who Your Lord is through worship, prayer and bible study. It is being present and focusing strictly on Him.

Psalm 119:11 CSB

I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.

Psalm 119:105 CSB

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.

And I will end with this, one day the Lord will come again and flood the earth, not with water but with fire. We have discussed this when we went through Revelation. But let’s hold on to the truth that was spoken the the Israelites

Deuteronomy 11:18–23 CSB

“Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates, so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors. For if you carefully observe every one of these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, and remain faithful to him—the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will drive out nations greater and stronger than you are.

In the meantime, we can all find an example to follow in Enoch. He had faith in God, walked with God, and was taken to be with God. Enoch’s life and faith demonstrate that it is possible to be faithful to God, even in the midst of a godless, good-for-nothing society.

“No matter how dark the day or how bad the news, we have the promise of our Lord’s return to encourage us and motivate us to be godly. One day sin will be judged and God’s people will be rewarded for their faithfulness, so we have every reason to be encouraged as we walk with God.”

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