It’s spring – the time to plant. The time to see our first tulips begin to peek out of the ground and in a few weeks start to bloom. I can’t wait! I’m so anxious for the grass to turn green and to smell the flowers. It’s a wonderful time.
It’s also a time to remember that we as Christ’s followers are to be growing up. What does that mean? That every day, you walk closer to God. Every day you learn more about your Savior. Day after day you are walking closer to his will for your life. Week after week you are living more for HIS glory. Not that you are becoming a more perfect person – you already have the full righteousness of Jesus Christ over you. You have been bought and made holy by Jesus blood. But growing means that we are living that out in our daily life. We are actually walking more like Christ.
And so the Scripture reminds us in Ephesians 4:15-16 “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” And it also says in 2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
There are only two kinds of Christians in this world – those who are growing and those who are shrinking. There is no maintaining! There is not a Christian who has arrived and keeping the status quo.
Last week we saw how Abraham started down that road of faith and growth by breaking from his fears. This will always be the way of growth – we cannot grow without facing fears time after time. He had a great struggle trusting God when confronted with certain problems. But finally, he broke his fear and returned back to God.
Today we see how Abraham continues to grow immensely in his faith just like the spring flowers. What happened? How did it happen? What are some of the ways to grow in faith that we can learn from Abraham?
Release what is weighing you down
The first way of growing in faith is ridding yourself of that which is weighing you down. And by that I don’t mean your wife and children. They are our primary responsibility before God and not to be considered that which keeps us from growing in God.
Notice Abraham’s situation as he settles for awhile in the promised land (vs. 5-8).
Lot becomes one of Abraham’s biggest obstacles to growth. Certainly Abraham loved Lot – he was probably like a step-father to him since Lot’s father Haran had died back in Ur. But when God called Abraham, what did he say? “Go from your country and your relatives…” Yes, he left his country, but did he leave his relatives? He took his relative, his nephew, with him. And the result?? these problems of rivalry and strife with their livestock.
When Jesus called his disciples, they had to leave their boats, their nets, their businesses and simply follow His calling. They couldn’t be running back and forth between the two – it would have been totally detrimental to the training and mission of the Lord.
What is holding you back from fully obeying the Lord? What does the Lord want you to release? What kinds of sins, habits, possessions, or relationships are dragging you down?
Notice the strife between the herdsmen of Lot and the herdsmen of Abraham. This is exactly what happens in each one of us when we start to follow Christ – inner strife! There is a heated battle for the control of your life. The enemy (sin, flesh and the devil) wants you to do his will and the Lord wants you to follow Him.
Gal. 5:17 “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”
So what do you do? Cut off the flesh! Take a stand and confess it! What is it in YOUR life that you know is against the will of God? Renounce it! Remove it! Confess it! If you’re going to grow – you better get rid of that extra baggage – or you never will grow up. You will never see the fruit that God wants to produce in you.
Let go into God’s hands
How else do you grow? Let God be in charge. This is something that Abraham had to do over and over again. Last week we saw how he failed as he didn’t trust God to provide for him in the land and he ran to Egypt. Now he’s learning – he settles the strife with Lot by taking his nephew to a location where they can see the whole land of promise. And what does he say? (verse 9) Abraham is the elder and Lot is younger and yet Abraham allows Lot to choose whatever he wants for his land.
This seems very foolish. Is Abraham foolish? He has a golden opportunity to receive the best part of the land of promise but he gives it up. It’s like getting to the estate sale on the last day. Or waiting for the last hour of the garage sale for whatever is left. Arriving late for a potluck when the best dishes have already disappeared.
But this is the beautiful thing with God. We don’t have to control things. We don’t have to cling and hang on to our plans, and all that we have. God is in control. It’s not foolish – it’s a decision based completely on faith. God owns ALL the land. He has your life in his hands.
“This is what faith ever does: it allows God to fix its inheritance, as it also allows him to make it good. It is always satisfied with the portions which God gives. It can say, ‘the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I have a godly heritage.’ It matters not where the lines fall; for, in the judgment of faith, they always ‘fall in pleasant places,’ just because God casts them there.” (Mackintosh, Genesis, p. 147)
Remember that commercial depicting the reading of a will after the death of this multi-millionaire. He wills his private jet, private island and the family business not to his wife but to his mistress. And to his son, he wills his direct tv with over 6,000 shows and movies. Not only is the wife totally out of the will, but the son ends up receiving the cable bill as an inheritance!
So often that’s how we view our inheritance from God. Other people are blessed with this and that, but somehow I got left off the list or even worse, have to work my way up. But that’s never the way God works – he ALWAYS has a godly heritage – inheritance for his children. We just compare with others, we expect something different. God WILL bless you in the circumstance you are in now.
Is your job and workplace a godly heritage? What about your house? Is your town? God has a great plan!
Walk by the eyes of God’s Spirit
You will also grow if you walk by the eyes of God’s Spirit rather than what you physically see.
Lot is given what seems like a golden opportunity. He gets the best land! Wow! Who wouldn’t want that opportunity? And so we read: (vs. 10-13)
Lot of course chooses the most fertile, green, abundant land. It is described this way: “like the Garden of the Lord” – in other words – “the Garden of Eden.” Picture the ideal spot for a farm? It would have the richest, darkest soil, a perfect growing season, just enough moisture supply, and the land is perfectly laid out to avoid erosion and flooding. That’s what Lot had. And yet, what were the towns in that region? Sodom – Gomorrah! And the text even fills us in: “The men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.” And that’s where Lot and his family settles.
What is the lesson learned here? Don’t believe you eyes! Walk by faith, not by sight! Without the leading of the Lord, we walk right into a trap. What looked like the Garden of Eden was spiritually Hell on earth – Sodom.
Oh, there are places like this all over the world. I remember visiting Amsterdam a number of years ago. It’s such a beautiful city with those Dutch houses, windmills, and canals. Houseboats everywhere on these canals and they are very, very popular. But this very beautiful and sparkling city is the home open prostitution, besides the amount of drugs going around the city.
As the old saying goes “not all that glitters is gold.” It can be an empty tomb of death to your soul. Do not be fooled by appearances friends! Jesus himself accused the religious leaders of his time of being white-washed tombs. Tombs of Jesus’ time were cut out of the limestone and looked like mansions with pillars, flowers, and a massive gate. They were beautiful. But what was inside? Death. Follow the leading of God’s Spirit, follow his Word. Not your eyes.
Had Lot only allowed God to choose for him, he certainly would not have chosen a spot that God was about to destroy. He would not have lived in Sodom. And he will guard your ways as well, if you submit to his leading.
On the other hand, a destitute cell or mud house can potentially be a spiritual Garden of Eden. It’s not the riches, not the wealth, not the money but the Spirit of the Lord that we follow. If you want to grow, you too need to “walk by the spirit and not by the flesh.”
Charles Colson told part of his testimony after his conversion in this way: “I can honestly say that the worst day of the last 35 years has been better than the best days of the 41 years that preceded it. That’s a pretty bold statement, given my time in prison, three major surgeries, and two kids with cancer at the same time, but it is absolutely true. That’s because, for the last 35 years – whether in pain, suffering, joy, or jubilation, it makes no difference – I have known there was a purpose. I have known that I belong to Christ and that I am here on earth to advance His Kingdom.”
Take a look! at God’s provision! (receive the promises)
One of the most important ways of growing is simply taking a look around! (vs. 14-17) The Lord wanted so much to build up Abraham’s faith so he simply told him to look not only at the wilderness land that he was left with – the leftovers. But he told him to look in EVERY direction. It’s all going to be his. He wants him to picture his offspring filling that land like the dust on the ground. So many that he can’t count. Walk through it and be amazed!
We each need to lift up our eyes and take a look around at who God is and what he has done and what he promises to do. Get our eyes off the ground and lift them up. I remember going on a hike in our mountains in Ustron one Saturday with Peter and a friend and it was a gloomy depressing day, dripping. We had little hope of having much fun but kept our eyes on the trail. Step by step we kept going up the damp trail. And as we went it got lighter and lighter. Finally when we arrived at the top lookout, we were in the full sunlight and looked down in the valley below. There we could see the fog just sitting there where the town was covering it. But we were in the nice warm sun. It was beautiful. Oh, how things look differently from above.
But also in your own life – God says to you – I have great plans for you from the north, south, east and west! I have every part of your life covered and planned. I want to bless you and use you for a blessing. Get your eyes on the Lord and his perspective.
What is the lay of the land for you today? Ephesians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” What is your potential for growth? Infinite! It is only limited to the power of God. We have EVERY spiritual blessing!
Release what’s weighing you down
Let go into God’s hands
Follow the lead of the Spirit (not the eyes)
Take a look around at God’s accomplishments and promises!
You too will grow in leaps and bounds as you do so!
