Into The Unknown

INTO THE UNKNOWN (Genesis 12:1-4) (July 5, 2020) Hawkwood Baptist Church INTRODUCTION SO * Do you like to travel? PERHAPS * You are one of those who longs... * For voyages...to the final frontiers... * To explore strange new worlds... * To seek out new life and new civilizations... * To...boldly go where no man has gone before... OR PERHAPS * You are like me...one of those very restless...Canadians/Albertans... * Who like to travel to some of the more exotic places in our land... * TO...Trochu...OR... * TO...Beiseker...OR... * TO...Faust...OR... * TO...Torrington...OR... * TO...Bassano...OR... * TO...Carbon... * There can be NO DOUBT... THAT * Some journeys are more exciting than others... AND THAT * Some journeys can be described as nothing short of miraculous... BUT REALLY * When we think about it... * All of life is a journey...for each and every one of us... AND * For all of us...this journey of our lives is characterized by variable degrees... * OF...uncertainty... * OF...surprise... * OF...the unexpected... WHICH * Can be...at once... * BOTH...adventuresome & dangerous... * BOTH...exciting & terrifying... IN FACT * It may sound dramatic... BUT * It would be very accurate to say... THAT * For each one of us... * 'Life' is ALWAYS...a 'journey'...into the unknown... * Regularly taking us to a real...but...unclear destinations... * Routinely providing us with JUST enough 'information' for today... * To get us to the next milestone... * To the next 'breathing' space... AND * This...journey of life... * This...journey...into the unknown... * Is illustrated...to a greater or lesser degree...throughout the Scriptures... BUT * This...journey...into the unknown... * Seems to come into clearest focus...in the person of Abraham...OR...Abram... WHO * Is invited...by God...to embark...on...an incredible journey...into the unknown * With...minimal information... BUT * With...maximum expectation... * In Genesis 12:1...we read... THAT 1 The Lord said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. (Genesis 12:1) (NIV) NOW * In the global community of our day... o Where travel is a way of life... o Where 'leaving' country & culture & family...becomes increasingly normative... * We can easily miss the FULL IMPACT of what God is asking of Abram... WHICH * It is nothing short of life-changing... BECAUSE * As one Biblical theologian explains... The three things God called Abram to forsake were natural sources of security for any ancient Near Eastern citizen. As God lists the three in rapid succession...each succeeding item narrows the base of personal support and security... FIRST...God said leave your country...your nationality... which would have been Abram's primary source of stability. SECOND...God said leave your people...your clan...your culture... which would have defined Abram's chief avenue of identity. AND THIRD...God said leave your father's household... which would have been a veiled reference to Abram's right of inheritance in the family. To have abandoned his father's house most certainly would have meant giving up his economic security...putting his future in jeopardy...&...threatening his sense of purpose or significance. (Arnold, Bill T.1998. Encountering the Book of Genesis. Grand Rapids: Baker Books. Pages 72-73) SO * For Abram to have even CONSIDERED... o Walking away from...the land & clan & plan...for his life... o 'Letting go'...of...stability & identity & purpose... SO AS o To pursue...that which was un-named...un-clear...un-connected... o To... Go to the land I will show you (Genesis 12:1) * Would have seemed nothing short of 'un-stable'... o Had it not been for God's promise... * Of something MORE... * Of something BETTER... WHICH * Is 'unpacked' for us... o As we return to Genesis 12:1-3... o Where we hear God... * Speaking to Abram... * 'Rounding out' His invitation...into the unknown... SAYING "1 Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. AND 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." (Genesis 12:1-3) (NIV) * NOTICE...in this... THAT * WHAT God asks... EVEN * WHAT God commands...Abram... o To release... o To 'give up'... o To sacrifice... * Is precisely what God promises... o To return...in abundance... o To recompense...to over-flowing... * Watch the pattern...AS...God declares...to Abram... Leave your nation (Gen.12:1)...the basis of your stability... AND I will make you a GREAT nation (Gen. 12:2)...with incredible stability... Leave your people (Gen.12:1)...the basis of your identity... AND I will make your name GREAT (Gen. 12:2)...with a renown identity... Leave your home (Gen.12:1)...the source of your future...the basis of your purpose... AND You will become such a GREAT blessing (Gen. 12:2)...with a purpose that lasts forever.. IN FACT All peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Genesis 12:2-3) IN SO MANY WORDS * God was saying...to Abram... Leave! Step away from what NOW defines you! AND Step with Me...into the unknown! Things WILL change! Days will be challenging! Circumstances will carry risks! Life will be DIFFERENT! BUT Life will be GREAT! AND * What the Lord said to Abram...millennia ago...is precisely what He was saying... o To some fishermen along the shores of Galilee... Leave the stability & the identity & the significance of your fishing business AND I will give you a fishing business with stability & identity & significance... like you've never known... like you could only dream of... I will make you fishers of men & women (Matthew 4:19) AND * What the Lord said to Abram...millennia ago...is precisely what He was saying... o To a disreputable...thirsting...woman drawing water from a well... I know the life you are living... I know the identity which you have come to accept... Leave that behind! Leave the water you have drawn! AND I will give you from a well of eternal...living water...so that you will never thirst again (John 4:14) AND * What the Lord said to Abram...millennia ago...is precisely what He was saying... o To His post-resurrection followers... * When He commissioned ALL of us... TO Go & make disciples! Go...&...as you are going...make disciples TO Move from where you are... To a NEW place... To a place where life will be changed and changing...for you... To a place where you will be a blessing...to people everywhere... to ALL of the nations. IN FACT * One Biblical theologian (Bob Sjogren) suggests... THAT * What the Lord said to Abram...millennia ago... o Was...the ORIGINAL Great Commission... WHICH o Was...reiterated...over & over again...throughout Biblical history... UNTIL o It came into fullness of understanding...from the lips of Jesus... SO * What the Lord said to Abram...millennia ago...is REALLY what He is saying... o To you & to me...today... Leave the kind of stability & identity & purpose...to which you have become accustom! Leave the limitations of what YOU can accomplish in & of yourself! Let Me show you the 'place' I want you to 'go' in your life! IN THIS * The Lord invites ALL of us...into the unknown... o To be...people on the move... o To be...growing...maturing...changing...people... o To be...people who will in a different place tomorrow...than...we are today. Be ready to move! Be ready to step with Me...into the unknown! AND I will change you! AND You will be blessed! BUT IN THIS * We need to reckon with the truth... THAT * An invitation into the unknown is an invitation to change. APPLICATION SO * Are you ready to move? * Are you ready to change? ILLUSTRATION * It's interesting... THAT * Like Abraham...Jonah was asked to leave... o TO...move from that which was familiar & secure & relatively godly... o TO...go to a strange & detested & ungodly pagan land... AND THEN * Jonah essentially argues with the Lord... o Explaining WHY he did NOT want to go... o Saying of the people of Ninevah... THAT Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. (Jonah 2:8) (NIV) NOW OF COURSE * An idol is NOT necessarily an object of worship carved out of wood or stone. RATHER * An idol is...MORE TYPICALLY...something which we create... o BY ourselves...&... o FOR ourselves... WHICH o Epitomizes our humanistic propensity... * Towards...self-sufficiency... * To 'go it alone'...in this life... SO REALLY o An idol amounts to whatever we do... * Which 'locks us' into the limitations of our own capacities... * Which installs 'self-imposed' parameters in our lives... * Which 'gets in the way' of moving...where our Lord is leading in our lives... IN THIS o An idol CAN be... * A career 'plan' which drives us... * A 'relationship' which consumes us... * A 'behavior' to which we are addicted... * A 'self-image' which we are trying to protect... SO * It begins to make sense... THAT Those who cling to worthless idols DO forfeit the grace that could be theirs. (Jonah 2:8) (NIV) BECAUSE * They limit their lives...to the constraints... o Of...what is normal...to them... o Of...what they have come to expect... o Of...what they have grown comfortable with... BUT OF COURSE * What is STUNNING to realize in the Jonah account...IS... THAT * The VERY complaint which Jonah levies against the pagans of Ninevah... THAT Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. (Jonah 2:8) (NIV) * AMOUNTS... TO * The VERY SAME ISSUE...with which Jonah himself struggles... AS * He resists the Lord's call to move... clinging to that which is...comparatively worthless AND forfeiting the grace that could be his. (Jonah 2:8) AND SO * It is... o WHENEVER...we resist our Lord's 'calling'... o WHENEVER...God Himself...comes near... SAYING Leave your country, your people and your father's household Leave the stability & the identity & the purpose... which you have crafted for yourself & which is subject to your own limitations AND Come with Me to a place I will show you. Step with Me...into the unknown! AND o We RESIST... * WHENEVER...God Himself...comes near... AND We cling to the familiar...self-designed...ways of doing things... We cling to worthless idols AND Grace slips past us...undetected... * I pray...that's NOT referring to you! * I pray...that's NOT referring to me! SADLY ENOUGH * That WAS descriptive...of Abram's father...Terah... o Who was...(incidentally...as the Scriptures reveal)...a worshiper of idols... BUT o Who...MUST have SOMEHOW heard God' invitation...into the unknown BECAUSE * We read...in Genesis 11:31... THAT 31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. (Genesis 11:31) (NIV) * Terah was 'on his way'... o To Canaan... o To the Promised Land... o To the land that God wanted to show him... YET * He never made it... BECAUSE * He got as far as Haran...and...he settled there... * He arrived at that place...which...in ANY language...is translated exactly the same... GOOD ENOUGH! * Terah got comfortable...and...never moved on...in his life... * He mishandled... o God' invitation...into the unknown... o God's offer...for newness & change... AND AS A RESULT * He missed out...on... o God's blessing... BUT * Things were different for Abram! SOMEHOW * Abram...was... * More receptive... * More open for something new...for whatever... * More ready for change... AND OF COURSE * The question is... WHY? WELL * We get a 'clue'...as we return to the end of Genesis 11... * Which points us directly to Abram's wife...Sarai * Genesis 11:30...tells us...very simply & very abruptly... THAT 30 Sarai was barren; she had no children. (Genesis 11:30) (NIV) * In a day when the meaning of one's name was of GREAT significance... * It MUST have been difficult...EVEN...embarrassing...for Abram... * Whose name meant...exalted father... * To NOT be a father... * To have had NO children... AND * It must have been JUST as difficult...for Sarai... * Whose name meant princess... * To have felt like...ANYTHING BUT...a princess... SO * It seems... THAT * Abram was listening... BECAUSE * He had REASON to listen... * He was looking for answers... * He was unsettled... ILLUSTRATION * Have you ever noticed... THAT * How you can hardly wait for supper...when you're REALLY hungry? * How you long for a visit of a phone call from a loved one...when you're REALLY lonely? * How you search for answers to the WHY questions of life...when you a struggling with apparent injustices? * There is an unusual kind of intensity to our receptivity... * When we live on the 'raw' side of the mountain? * When we live in the shadows of the hope & anticipation? AND * Jesus made it clear... THAT * Such high receptivity... * Such raw openness needs to be seen as a 'good thing'... * When He said... * In His Sermon On The Mount... * In the Magna Carta of the Kingdom of God... THAT 3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3-10) IN SO MANY WORDS Blessed are those... Who live with a 'sanctified' unsettledness... Who long for change...for newness... For they shall be ready... APPLICATION SO * Are you REALLY satisfied with where you are 'at'? OR * Is there something... * Which has 'unsettled' you? * Which you REALLY want to change in your life? * Which is 'begging' you to move? BECAUSE * There are MANY things which SHOULD lead us to be...unsettled... * Sin...in our world...in our lives... * Habits which imprison us... * Wounds which infect us... * Injustices which disturb us... * Needs...unmet needs...which alarm us... * The lost...the least...the lonely...the unloved...in this world... * REMAINING that way... NOW OF COURSE * 'Unsettled-ness' in itself...provides NO license for change... * Simply WANTING 'things' different in our lives... * Is hardly reason enough to automatically set the wheels of change...into motion... BUT * The truth is... THAT * Such 'unsettled-ness'... * Gets our 'antennae' up... * Leads us to be 'receptive'... * Inspires us to be 'ready'... JUST AS * It did for Abram... ILLUSTRATION * I don't know about you... BUT * More & more...in these days...the Lord is speaking strongly to me... PERHAPS * What He is saying to you... * TO...GET MOVING... o TO...be ready... o TO...keep my ears to the rail... o TO...keep my eyes on the times... o TO...keep my hands on the wheel... BECAUSE * The Master...is coming down the hall... AND * Change is immanent... * As Shakespeare put it... Readiness is all! * Abram was ready... * He was prepared for change... BECAUSE * He was attentive to the 'things' of God... * Abraham could effectively manage change in a world of uncertainty because... 1. HE LISTENED. AND * We KNOW that... BECAUSE * WHEN... The Lord said to Abram... Leave your country, your people, and your father's household And go to the land I will show you (Genesis 12:1) * The MOST amazing thing...IS... THAT * HE DID!! * We read in Genesis 12:4... THAT Abram left...as the Lord had told him... (Genesis 12:4) NOW * Exactly WHEN Abram left...after hearing from the Lord...is NOT clear... * At FIRST READING...it appears rather immediate... o In Genesis 12:1...God instructs Abram to...leave... o In Genesis 12:2-3...God explains...why... AND o In Genesis 12:4...Abram leaves... ALL IN ALL * It seems to take a total of...about 75 seconds... AND PERHAPS * It WAS a sudden epiphany... o As what happened to Saul of Tarsus...on the Road to Damascus... OR PERHAPS * After hearing from the Lord...to...head off to a place I will show you... o Abram & Sarai slipped off to a quiet little place in 'the hills of Haran'... * For a little R. & R... * To chat together...&... * To pray together... SO AS TO * To sort through the implications of this word from the Lord... OR PERHAPS * It took...weeks...OR...months...OR EVEN...years... o For Abram to come to grips with & to come to peace over... * What God was saying... * It is even possible... THAT * The Lord spoke OFTEN & IN MANY WAYS...to Abram... o Regarding this incredible invitation...into the unknown... IN ANY CASE * We DO know... THAT * After listening to the Lord...Abram & company...DID leave... o That which was home... o That which was familiar... * To journey to Canaan...the place which the Lord would show him... BUT * We ALSO know... THAT * This...first step in...leaving... o Kick-started a life-style of leaving... WHICH o Produced a culture of leaving... WHICH o Would come to define the very essence of what it means to be a child of God THAT * God's people are... People on the move People on a journey AND * The profound revelation of that reality...unfolds... * In a most 'telling' description of Abram's life... * In a 'nick-name' which he seemed to have acquired...early on...in his own journey... * In Genesis 14:13...we discover this patriarch to be addressed in a 'matter of fact' fashion... AS Abram the Hebrew (Genesis 14:13) OR MOST LITERALLY Abram the Hapiru WHICH * Is BEST translated... AS * Abram... * The Wanderer... * The Nomad... * The Refugee... AS * A Hebrew... * A 'man on the move'... * Abraham best epitomizes... * A man willing...to...step... into the unknown... * A man willing ...to...embrace change... AND AS SUCH o A man of faith... BECAUSE * As the writer of Hebrews reminds us... 1Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not (yet) see. (Hebrews 11:1) (NIV) AND THAT IS WHY 8By faith Abraham... when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance... obeyed and went, even though he did not even know where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8) (NIV) * When we read through the Scriptural record of Abram's journeys ... o Into Canaan...&...then... o Out of Canaan...&...then... o Into Canaan...&...then... o All around Canaan... * It becomes increasingly apparent... THAT * Things did NOT always 'turn out'...as Abram may have expected... (AND REALLY...things seldom do) * In Genesis 12 &13...alone...we discover... THAT * Abram had to deal with... o Resistant Canaanites in the promised land (12:6) o A famine in the promised land (12:10) o A beautiful...though aged wife...in and out of the promised land...(12:11) (at least 65 years of age...must have been using the 'oil of delay') o The ups & downs of being successful...in the promises land (13:2) * Abram's journey...was an on-going endeavor...into the unknown... SO * Abram's exercise of faith...was an on-going endeavor...of managing change... OF o Being open to God...AND...being obedient to God... o Monitoring the heart of God...AND...moving with the hand of God o Listening...AND...leaving... * One Biblical theologian...comments on this 'two-step' dance in the journey of faith SAYING THAT In His marvelous conversation with Abram... God had really said all that there was to say. SO All Abram could do was to speak the 'Amen'...the 'so be it'... to what God had promised. AND The Bible calls this faith. Faith...is the hand which takes God's promises and makes them our own. To use Luther's earthy comparison... Abram's trust in God's promises didn't simply lie in His heart 'like foam on beer'... Abram's trust in what God had promised...moved him to respond to God's call. Abraham committed himself and his future completely into God's hands. AND That is why For Abraham...as...for all of us... There's a time to pray for God's guidance... AND There's also a time to...start moving! (Jeske, John C. 1992. Genesis: People's Commentary Bible. St. Louis: Concordia Pub. Pgs. 121-122) * There are those who listen...BUT...never leave... AND * There are those who leave...HAVING...never listened... BUT * Abraham could effectively manage change in a world of uncertainty because... 1. HE LISTENED. 2. HE LEFT. AND * A journey...into the unknown...always demands BOTH... CONCLUSION AND THAT IS WHY * Managing change in a world of uncertainty is all about faith. BUT * NOT...about faith...in OUR capacity to listen... * NOR...about faith...in OUR capacity to leave... RATHER * Managing change in a world of uncertainty...is all about... ABOUT * Our faith in God... ABOUT * Knowing God's promise... AND * Moving in God's power... BUT ULTIMATELY ABOUT * Trusting in HIM! REALLY ABOUT * Obeying HIM! APPLICATION * Are you satisfied with where you are 'at'? OR * Are you being 'drawn'...by God...into the unknown? * There are many voices...in our day...in our world...beckoning for your attention... * Listen to the One Who says... 1 Leave AND 2 I will make you to be a blessing. (Genesis 12:1-2) INTO THE UNKNOWN (Genesis 12:1-4) (July 5, 2020) Hawkwood Baptist Church INTRODUCTION * An invitation into the unknown is an invitation to __________________. * Abraham could effectively manage change in a world of uncertainty because... 1. HE ______________________. 2. HE ______________________. CONCLUSION * Managing change in a world of uncertainty is all about _____________________. 17