Charles Schultz, in a peanuts comic strip showed a conversation between Lucy and Charlie Brown. Lucy said that life is like a deck chair. Some place it so they can see where they are going; some place it so they can see where they have been; and some place it so they can see where they are at present. Charlie Brown’s reply: “I can’t even get mine unfolded.”
One man put it this way:
"My great-grandfather rode a horse, but was afraid of the train.
My grandfather rode on a train, but was afraid of a car.
My father rode in a car, but was afraid of an airplane.
I ride in an airplane, but I’m afraid of a horse."
Key verse:
Hebrews 11:10, “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
What are you looking forward to? Abraham had wandered into a place not really knowing what to look for!
God desires to bless His children. Scripture gives us numerous examples of God granting blessing to those who longed for it.
• God heard the prayer of Jabez.
• Jacob wouldn’t let go of the man from God until he blessed him.
• The Psalmists record God’s desire to bless nearly 50 times.
• Jesus told of the persistent widow
• The thief on the cross received the blessing of Jesus
I want God to bless me! But I don’t always recognize God’s blessing. I know God is not trying to confuse me. I know it is not some kind of sadistic trick to hold things out from me. If I want to know God’s blessing, I have to understand His will. And the only way I can understand God’s will is through change!
RO 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
These verses tell us plainly the principles which allowed Abraham to receive God’s blessing:
Abraham offered himself as a clean man. (holy and pure)
Abraham was a counter-culture man. (do not be conformed)
Abraham was a changed man. (be transformed)
o A legend from India tells about a mouse that was terrified of cats until a magician agreed to transform him into a cat. That resolved his fear…until he met a dog, so the magician changed him into a dog. The mouse-turned-cat-turned-dog was content until he met a tiger-so, once again; the magician changed him into what he feared. But when the tiger came complaining that he had met a hunter, the magician refused to help. “I will make you into a mouse again, for though you have the body of a tiger, you still have the heart of a mouse.”
o There is a man I know that just recently gave his heart to the Lord. This man was transformed. He had been coming to church, participating in services, fellowships and even some ministry. But his heart was not fully surrendered. You ought to see this man now.
Abraham was a certain man. (able to test and approve)
Three lessons from Abraham’s journey from Ur to Canaan:
1. There is no blessing without letting go!
• “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” –Hebrews 11:8
• Letting go is surrender. Abraham surrendered his comfort, his plans, and his traditions.
• The essence of a fully surrendered life is trust. --Rick Warren "The Purpose Driven Life"
o Abraham followed God’s leading without knowing where it would take him.
o Hannah waited for God’s perfect timing without knowing when.
o Mary expected a miracle without knowing how.
o Joseph trusted God’s purpose without knowing why circumstances happened the way they did.
• E. Stanley Jones said, “If you don’t surrender to Christ, you’ll surrender to chaos.”
• How has this church been blessed? When has God’s blessing come without surrender?
• Homecoming is a good time to recall what wonderful things God has accomplished in a local congregation but we shouldn’t stop with looking into the past. We must look to the God formed future.
• Church life spans are typically 70 to 100 years. The death is usually slow and painful for those who remain and have loved the church. But life can come if we are willing to surrender to God’s perfect plan.
• Churches get off their number one priority and begin to decline.
• Traditions and forms become more important than the lost people around us.
• Thank God that God’s unchanging message is relevant in rapidly changing times. And that message can be and must be delivered in a way that the hearers understand.
• There is a commercial out now promoting a stock brokerage. In one particular ad a man is describing his innermost secrets and disturbing dreams to an attentive psychologist. After the patient describes his dreams, the doctor begins speaking in Russian. The ad concludes with the idea that if it is ridiculous to use a doctor who doesn’t speak your language then shouldn’t you avoid stock brokers who don’t speak your language.
• The world needs people who speak their language.
• God’s church needs to surrender their plans for His purposes.
2. Blessing comes with a price.
• “By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.” –Hebrews 11:9
• Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson are camping. After enjoying a day of relaxation, they pitch their tent under the stars and go to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night, Holmes wakes Watson. "Watson, look up at the stars and tell me what you deduce."
Hoping to please his boss with his own brilliant reflections, Watson says, "I see millions of stars, and if even a few of those stars have planets, it is quite likely there are some planets like Earth, and if there are planets like Earth out there, it is reasonable to assume that there might be life on other planets." Holmes stares hard at Watson for a minute, then says, "Watson, you idiot, somebody stole our tent!"
• Camping out is messy business and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did it for years. I couldn’t do it.
• You know what strikes me most about this story of Abraham. It is not that he believed God would deliver on the promise. It’s not that he set out from Ur to go after the promise. No, what sets Abraham apart from others in my mind is that he didn’t quit when things were uncomfortable and inconvenient.
• A soaring buzzard gliding over Alabama collided with a turboprop Marine trainer. The collision, spreading feathers and broken glass through both of the trainer cockpits, knocked out the flight instructor and his student. The instructor, regaining consciousness thought the student was dead so he bailed out. The student, coming to, was quick to see that he and the dead buzzard were alone in the wild blue yonder. Although the student had never soloed before, he was able to bring the crippled aircraft to a perfect landing at the airport at Brewton, Alabama.
Authorities at the Pensacola Military Base where the buzzard-bumped flight originated had nothing but praise for the young student pilot who brought his unplanned solo flight to a successful completion. Although nothing was said in the news release of the instructor who had chosen to bail out, the absence of comment may say much of official displeasure with the instructor’s jumping ship before determining whether the aircraft could be saved.
When the church has difficulty, we often are ready to bail out like the instructor. Sometimes, though, the flight can be saved with someone remaining at the controls and guiding the flight to a successful completion.
• Too much comfort is dangerous. Literally. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley did an experiment sometime ago that involved introducing an amoeba into a perfectly stress-free environment. Ideal temperature, optimal concentration of moisture, constant food supply-the amoeba had an environment to which it had to make no adjustment whatsoever. So you would guess that that was me happy little amoeba. Whatever it is that gives amoebas ulcers and high blood pressure was gone. Yet, oddly enough, it died. Apparently there is something about all living creatures, even amoebas, that demands challenge. We require change, adaptation, and challenge the way we require food and air. Comfort alone will kill us. When teachers want students to grow, they don’t give them answers-they give them problems! ("If a train leaves Cleveland at 3:00 going 50 m.p.h....") It is only in the process of accepting and solving problems that our ability to think creatively is enhanced, our persistence is strengthened, and our self-confidence is deepened. If someone gives me the answers, I may get a good score on a test, but I will not have grown. Just as our bodies simply will not grow stronger without being challenged to the point of exertion, so it is with our mind and spirit. Comfort is not an adequate excuse for an unopened gift.
--Ortberg, John. If you Want to Walk on Water, you’ve got to Get Out of the Boat.. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 2001, p. 47.
• We may get to the place in our faith walk is costing us a bit more than we anticipated. Our natural tendency is to want to bail out. But if we stick around, we find that God will bring us through the difficulties to great blessing.
• DO IT ANYWAY
While we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
………Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
………Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
………Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
………Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
………Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds.
………Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
………Fight for the underdog anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
………Build anyway.
People really need help, but may attack you if you help them.
………Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you’ve got and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
………Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
3. Don’t let partial blessing keep you from the fullness of blessing!
• “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” —Hebrews 11:10
• Paul said, “I press on to take that for which Christ took hold of me.”
• Abraham left a good life to take hold of the more blessed life.
• It is easy to get hung up on a little blessing.
• Zig Ziglar tells the story of boy that went with his mother to the old general store. He liked to sneak away from his mother and when no one was looking he would dip his finger into the large barrel of molasses. The storekeeper caught him doing this and decided to teach the boy a lesson. He picked up the boy by his britches and was about to dunk him head first into the barrel of molasses. But instead of crying the boy was out there praying, “God, give me the tongue to equal this opportunity.”
• What if you settled for 95 percent of God’s perfect plan? What about 97 %? People figure they’re doing fine so long as they get somewhat near it. Perfection gets reduced to acceptable, and before long, acceptable doesn’t seem worth the sweat if you can get by with the adequate. After that mediocrity is just a breath away. Thanks to some fine research by Natalie Gabal, I woke to a whole new awareness of what would happen if 99.9 percent were considered good enough. If that were true, then this year alone…2,000,000 documents would be lost by the IRS; 12 babies would be given to the wrong parents each day; 291 operations would be performed incorrectly; 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions would be written; 114,500 mismatched shoes would be shipped.
• When it comes to God’s blessing, settling for anything less than the fullness is mind boggling! But we do it all the time.
• On this homecoming day, why not let God lead you all the way? Why not stick with the faith and your church when times of transition or difficulty come or when you don’t like everything that’s going on? Why not surrender totally so that God’s best plan will become reality in your life and the life of this congregation for the good of this community?
