To Gain We Must Lose
Text: Genesis 12:1-9
Title: To Gain We Must Lose
Thesis: In God’s kingdom, to gain we must lose, meaning we must live by faith.
Time: Pent, 2 Sun, A
I watched an NBC news special last week that ended up being about forty minutes long. There were many things going on in the world today that NBC could devote a forty-minute news special to, but interestingly, this forty-minute special was about something that happened over two thousand years ago. This event is still having worldwide repercussions. The news report was about the life of Jesus. The news reporter traveled to Jerusalem and several other cities around the world to interview famous Bible scholars. And what evolved in the interviewing was this question, “Why did people continue being devoted followers of Jesus, even after he died on the cross?” After all, there were many messiah-type figures living in the Roman world at the time of Jesus. They, too, were bent on making the world a better place, but when they died so did their movements. Their followers disbanded and they were forever forgotten from the pages of history. But not so with Jesus; his followers became even more devoted, spreading the news about Jesus and his resurrection. The Jesus movement even continues today.
We are sitting here today as a part of the Jesus movement. How would you answer that NBC new reporter if he asked you, “Why are you a devoted follower of a messiah who died over some two thousand years ago?” We are each qualified to answer that question, and though our answers may vary somewhat, I imagine that each of us would talk some about our faith in Jesus.
Without faith in Jesus, we would not be here toady. Without faith in Jesus’ resurrection, without the belief that Jesus continues to intercede on our behalf, and without a faith that lends itself to an actual experience of God’s presence, the Jesus movement would die out. And so important, utterly critical, for the Jesus movement to continue, we must live by faith as Jesus’ followers.
In Genesis 12:1-9 we have a prime example of someone who lived by faith. Had NBC been around some four thousand years ago and interviewed this man named Abram they would have some puzzling questions to ask him. “Abram, why did you leave the safety and love of your family to go and wander in the unsafe region of Canaan?” “Abram, why did you give up al l your wealth and guaranteed successful future to pursue some vague promise that God would someday bless you in a land that he doesn’t even give you the name of?” And what would be Abram’s answer? All it need be is one word, “faith.”
We will later know Abram as Abraham, but at this point in his relationship with God, he is still known as Abram. His faith is still developing, he will later be given an added blessing by God to be known as the father of many nations. Let’s see what lessons Abram learn about faith that will lead him to innumerable blessings that await him as he learns to live by faith, learning to trust in God.
First, to live by faith is to begin with this motto, “To gain, I must lose.” I saw a bumper sticker the other day that read, “I started off with nothing and I still have most of it left.” As Abram learns to live by faith, he must start with nothing of his own. It is true for all of us, all of our money, all of our security, all of our trust in other people, all of our self-envisioned plans, all of our goals –all of these are secondary, because our full allegiance it to be given to God. Above all else, we must have faith in God. Listen to what God tells Abram in Genesis 12:1, “Abram, I want you to leave your people [that is your nation, your culture, your religion, your safety] and your father’s house [that is your connections, your support base, your IRA], and I want you to go to a land that I will show you [quite vague as mapsco directions, wouldn’t you say? No highlighted route which way to go, or even when he will get there].” Abram is told to start off on this faith journey with nothing, other than his faith in God.
Now what we also find in the Bible, also true of Abram’s story, is that when God calls us into faith, God also promises to bless and reward our faith. For Abram, God promises the land he will show him is a promised land, the land will be filled with Abram’s descendents that will be as innumerable as the stars or the grains of the sand. If he is to start off with nothing, living by faith means that Abram will gain everything.
And so Abram starts off, living by the motto, “To gain, I must lose.” What we also find in the bok of Genesis is that Abram keeps coming to forks in the road. Times will confusing, should he turn to the right or to the left. Time will get hard, should he just give it all up and return home, to the safety and security of his friends and family? He has several relationship problems along with way, with Lost, with his oldest son Ishamel, with his wife Sarah, with his son Isaac. Some of the problems Abram encounters on his journey of faith aren’t even bad problems, sometimes the fork would lead to good blessings whatever the choice. But sometimes, what seems a right thing, so strong and sure can turn out to be the wrong things if God is not behind it.
There’s a story that is reported to be true. But if it is untrue, it is a good story nevertheless. It goes like this, “This is a transcript of a radio conversation of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees South to avoid a collision. Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees North to avoid a collision. Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision. Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert your course. Canadians: No, I say again, you divert your course. Americans: This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the United States’ Atlantic Fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees North, I say again, that’s one five degrees North, or counter-measures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship. Canadians: This is a lighthouse, your call.” Sometimes, what is so strong and what seems so right can end up being the wrong decision.
If one motto to live by is, “To gain, I must lose,” another would be this: “Listen to God first.” As we live by faith, we believe that ultimate power rests with God. In faith, we believe that God will lead us into future blessings and will bless us along the way. God has a purpose for our lives, even though there are many days when we wonder, even as did Abram, that the promise seems so vague and distant, “go to a land that I will show you.”
As we read Genesis, where does Abram go in faith? He goes to places like Shechem in the North, the Oak of Meoreh in the far South, Bethel in the South and Ai on the East. It does seem like Abram is wondering aimlessly at times. Is there any purpose at all to Abram’s life? Will he ever get to the destination that God has in store for him? One way to look at Abram’s life is that he is an aimless wanderer. But another way is to see that all of these cities and places as far apart and random as they are will be places that later are included in the land of promise, that his descendents will inherit.
They can say this, “Years ago, our father Abram was here.” And for Abram, each of these places along his journey of faith, he learned something more about God and himself and what it means to listen to God and to live by faith. And for us, as we live by faith, our lives have purpose. Though at times, the way may seem unclear and the promise distant, God is still leading us. Even when it seems the easiest solution would be to turn around and try something we know has worked in the past, or when the way is confusing because of forks in the road demanding a decision has to be made, listen to God, continue living as devoted followers of Christ who will show us the way.