May 18, 2003
Morning Service
Text: Genesis 11:31; 12:1-3; Hebrews 5: 12-14
Subject: Part 1 in a Series on Spiritual Growth
Title: Stuck in Haran / Moving Forward with God
Do any of you remember any of the silly things you did as a young person? Mistakes are a part of life but I’m talking about something that was just really stupid. So stupid that when you look back at it you can’t believe you did it. I think we have all done something like that in our lives, some of us more than others. And some of us are still doing those things.
A man went into the gas station to pay for his gas. As he was signing the credit card receipt the clerk noticed that he had never signed the back of his credit card and without the signature she couldn’t complete the transaction. So the man signed it. The clerk then took the card and compared the signature with the signature on the receipt that he had just signed. As luck would have it, they matched.
When you were a new Christian did you ever do anything stupid? God gives us grace to move forward in our faith, so we don’t have to stop and check the signature to see if it was really God who is speaking to us.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:11, When I was a child, I spoke as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. God expects us to mature in our Christian walk and to continually move forward. It is the process we know as sanctification. The problem is that some folks are just satisfied to have their foot inside the door to heaven so they can just get in.
Our passage today deals with a man that God called out to show him a better place. Abram and his family were called out of Ur to get away form idolatry. God wanted to show them a better place. They went by way of Haran and instead of moving on to the good place that God had prepared for them, they stayed there.
What is the proper Christian response to God’s expectations for your life? Today we will see that
God is calling you to a better place.
God doesn’t want you to be happy with "good enough".
God gives us the ability to achieve spiritual maturity.
"And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there."
I. God called His people out of Ur. Ur - Known as Ur of the Chaldeans. Identified by archaeologists as Tell el - Muqayyar located nine miles west of the present Nasiriyeh in southern Iraq. The city existed from about 4000 BC to 300 BC. The capital city of the third dynasty of Ur. If it was such a great city why did God call this family to leave? Wouldn’t it have made more sense for them to stay where they could proclaim God’s goodness? There was a conflict. The moon-God Nannar was worshiped in Ur. God wants to be pre - eminent in the lives of people everywhere.
Galatians 1:6, "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you ?" 2 Corinthians 6:17-18, "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
Abram and his family left Ur so what’s the problem?
First of all, God wanted to take them to the land that He would show them. (Genesis 12:1) The call was made to Abram. He let his father lead him instead of God.
They went to Haran. They got out of their comfort zone for a while but then as soon as they got to Haran they found something familiar that made it seem like a good place to stay. Who do you think was waiting for them when they got to Haran? Nannar the moon - God. Yep, they worshipped him in Haran too. God wasn’t asking them to move for the sake of moving. He wasn’t concerned with a change of location. He wanted a change of heart. When you are put right back with the same old crowd you are asking for trouble. 1 Peter 4:3-4, " For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles - when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you." Those you left behind when you were called into God’s kingdom want you to come back and party. And they will put as much pressure on you as they can.
What’s the answer? Get away from them. Look at Genesis 12:1-3, "Get out of your country." The idolatry you grew up with is wrong. Get away from your family. Don’t let your family traditions or religious background keep you from a relationship with the living God. Depart from your father’s house.
You can’t get to heaven on your father’s coat tails.
You have to experience the risen Christ for yourself. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Go to a land I will show you. Not your way or your father’s way but God’s way. Let God show you the way He wants you to go and the things He wants you to do.
When God calls you out He will show you where you need to go. Then look at the promises of blessing He gave to Abraham.
1. I will make you a great nation.
2. I will bless you.
3. I will make your name great.
4. In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Now turn to Hebrews 5:12-14.
II. God does not want us to be content with "good enough". Abraham stopped in Haran but to receive God’s blessings he had to move on. Verse 12 "For by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food." It’s so easy to get saved by grace and then sit in that rocking chair and wait for heaven.
"Why preacher, we come to church every Sunday."
"We give our tithes."
"I even told somebody I was a Christian once."
"That’s kind of like witnessing isn’t it?"
"What do you want from us?"
It’s not what I want. It’s what God expects of you.
The word translated "teacher" also means instructor or master. The writer of Hebrews is saying by now you should be a master of the word of God. You know what? If you were just saved last week or last month or even last year, maybe you are excused. But for those who have known the Lord for a prolonged length of time should be able to be teachers. Not only being a teacher by position, but living it as well. Nicodemus was a teacher of the Jews but Jesus challenged him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?" Does that mean you have to study and memorize and dig and understand the word of God????????? 1 Timothy 6:20, "Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge". As it was with Abraham, your environment can stunt your growth. One of the most popular fish that is put in an aquarium is a shark. If you can catch a shark when it is small and place it in and aquarium, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium. A shark can be six inches long and be fully grown. But if you turn them loose in the ocean they grow to their normal length of eight feet. Some Christians are like that. There are cute little six inch Christians swimming in a little pool and just satisfied being there. But it is only when they are placed in their natural habitat - in all creation - that they can grow to become great Christians.
There are two ways to hinder your growth as a Christian. Be a minimal Christian and stay in the world and accomplishes nothing. Be a saint who is in the word but stays hidden behind church doors and accomplishes nothing.
Those who experience healthy growth are hearers of the word as well as doers of the word. Desire is the key to spiritual growth. Luke 24:32, after the risen Lord had walked and talked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the scriptures to us?" It is only with desire that we can grow. Where does that desire come from? The Holy Spirit is here to guide you and teach you and move you and to glorify Christ, but He can’t make you have desire. Desire comes from within. It comes from understanding who you were before Christ and who you are in Christ. Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Verse 13, "For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe." Maybe you have been a Christian for a long time. Have you grown up? This is not a word of condemnation but a word of warning. Regardless of how long you have been a Christian, if you don’t know the scriptures you are subject to being swayed by false doctrine. Your lack of knowledge about the scriptures doesn’t affect you alone, but all those who come after you. "But he who received seed on good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty."
III. If God wants you to mature,then He must provide a way for you to do it. Verse 14 "But solid food belongs to those who are of full age (mature) that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." How do you build up the muscles of your body? Exercise! If you are lifting weights, more repetitions at a lighter weight will do more to build muscle than fewer reps at a higher weight. How do you exercise your senses? Verse 14 plainly tells us. By use! What is the purpose?
To be able to discern good and evil. Mature Christians are known by their ability to discern and their unshakeable commitment to the Lord. Just like physical babies, spiritual babies will pick up anything and try to eat it. They don’t know if it is good or evil.
Discernment involves exercising your spiritual senses.
There is no need developing your spiritual sense if you don’t plan to use them. Some time ago a body builder was on the old Merv Griffin show. One of the first questions Merv asked him was, "Why do you develop those certain muscles?" The body builder stepped forward and began to flex his well-defined muscles. The audience applauded. "But what do you use those muscles for?" Again he stepped forward and flexed some incredible biceps and triceps. "But what do you USE them for?" The body builder was clueless. He could not give an explanation as to why he had developed those muscles, other than they looked good.
God doesn’t want us to stay in the same place in our Christian walk. If He wants us to be saved and that’s good enough, there was no need to send the Holy Spirit.
It is the baptism in the Holy Spirit that moves us forward. Luke 4:1, "Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness." Luke 4:14, "Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues." "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." What does the baptism in the Holy Spirit do for us?
Gives us power to witness.
Gives us a hunger for the word of God.
Glorifies Christ.
Gives us an increased awe / fear of God.
Helps us to see God’s will for our lives.
Why don’t more people actively seek the baptism and refilling of the Holy Spirit? It is much easier to be stuck in Haran than to go to the place where God wants you to go.
Conclusion.
Like the body builder on the Merv Griffin show, many Christians take the time to build the spiritual muscles. Bible study, prayer, reading Christian books, listening to Christian radio, are all exercises that are intended to build you up for a purpose. That purpose is that you can move forward in the Spirit and be effective and not just flex your spiritual muscles just to the delight of others. The purpose is to build the kingdom. If you are a bible scholar so that people say, "boy they really know their bible" and don’t use that bible knowledge to build the kingdom, your spiritual muscle is useless. Even though it appears that you have great maturity and don’t use it, you are still a baby. But good news folks. You are never too old to grow up.
Seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Study your bible. Pray. Grow in the Lord.
Flex your spiritual muscle.
Exercise discernment.
God has called you out of Ur - out of your old life. Get out and move on. Don’t get stuck in Haran but go on to the land of promise.
