A
Leap of Faith
Gen. 12: 1-5
What is the
scariest thing you ever did? Public
speaking – death is second.
Circle de
Soleil that’s French for a
bunch of people jumping around doing acrobatic things.
Video of
trapeze artist
To be
successful, there are three moves that need to be made:
person holding the trapeze bar needs to let go; then they have to wait;
finally someone has to catch them. Those
same three stages many times express our relationship with God.
Genesis
12: 1-5
1 The
LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your
father’s household to the land I will show you.
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.”
4 So
Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was
seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
5 He
took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated
and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of
Canaan, and they arrived there.
I.
The leap of faith requires us to let go
Abram had a
comfortable life in the land of Ur of Chaldeens – a civilization long gone. God
spoke to him and said: Abraham
– want you to leave your country – your people –culture - father’s
household and go.
God wanted to
do some great things through Abraham – make him into a great nation –
bless him – make his name great – be a vehicle through which all the world
would be blessed – but before he could do that:
Abraham had to let go of his
security of all of those things to seek God.
Here we see
the heart of God - God has not changed. He still wants to bless you today. But
trusting God means you have to trust him more than you do other things. At one
point in the gospels, he even says: you
can’t have two masters. – that has to be something you ultimately trust
that trumps everything else. you have to let go of some things.
In the
scriptures, we find multiple stories of individuals who came to Jesus wanting
what he had – he said yes I will help you – but you have to let go.
Woman caught in adultery – let go of sexual misconduct
Paul’s story is told in Acts – God says: I want you to be my
ambassador – let go of your hatred for my people
Peter – want you to be my witness – have to let go of your
prejudice of gentiles
Nicodemus – want you in the family – let go of your traditions and
be born again
Rich young ruler came to him – want to follow you – ok
let go of your money NO can’t do it.
The word trapeze
is the little bar that they hang on to. It
is a Greek word which means “table” it
is used in scripture doing the last supper – Matt. 26:20 when Jesus gathers
his disciples around a table and says: I
have to let go of my life for you to really live.
He has to get up from the table, ascend a cross and let go of his life.
What do you
need to let go of?
Addiction
anger/hatred
Sexual misconduct
power
Possessions
grudge
unforgiveness
Pride
Jesus is
saying to you much as he said to Abraham: I have great things for you –
first let go.
II.
the leap of faith requires us to wait
The video
shows the trapeze artist flying through the air – arms extended waiting to
be caught – now if he starts to flail or grab or twist or move suddenly
–he may not be caught – has to wait – midair – trusting that he will
be caught
God says:
Abraham you will be the father of a great nation. It doesn’t happen
overnight. Vs. 4 says Abram was 75 years when he left home. He is promised a
descendant – a son – but he and his wife Sarah have no children – they
are getting along in years. He
waits. Nothing happens.
We read about his story from Gen chapter 12-21 - a journey of 25 years
Then it happens. Gen 21:5 says
Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born.
What
do you do while you wait?
Worry
fret forget
get angry go back to
an old lifestyle
blame God for the delay take
up an addiction instead of a direction
Yeah actually
that is what I do sometimes and you do to.
This is never
going to happen – I give up – God never does give up. He just says wait?
Sometimes
rather than wait, we make bad choices; marry the wrong person; take the wrong
job; do something slightly shady to get ahead; mumble and grumble
It’s hard to wait isn’t it?
What did
Abraham do while he waited? Along the way he made some mistakes trying to help
God fulfill this promise. •
Gen.12:10 – there was a famine in the land and he went down to Egypt. He
lied to Pharoah about Sarai, afraid that they would kill him and take her
away. Said she was his sister.
Sometimes,
it’s hard to believe that God is blessing you when you’ve to go through so
much. Have you ever felt like God
forgot about you – it just isn’t happening?
• In those
days, if a man was childless, there were laws that enabled them to “adopt”
one of their servants as son (to make sure the estate did not fall into
somebody else’s hands).
• It then declared that if the master should have a son of his own, the son
would take a double share of the inheritance; the servant would be next in
order of inheritance to take his proper share.
• But if the master died childless, the servant became his sole heir.
Abraham believes he needs that kind of a plan… a plan “B” in his life.
• Plan “A” (God’s promise) doesn’t seem to be coming along soon.
So, he makes plan to have his trusted servant Hagar to bear his heir
Ishmael.
At this time
we could hardly nominate Abraham as father of the year – offers his wife
into the harem of a foreigner because he is scared– has sex with his servant
and produces a child– Jerry Springer type stuff – one thing you can say
about the Bible – it doesn’t hide peoples warts – lays it on the line.
Pick
up the story in Genesis 17: 15-19 read
By this time,
you can imagine how Abraham is a little skeptical.
That’s
hysterical Lord – I’m 100 and she’s 90 and we’re going to have a baby.
I wonder if Medicare can pay for the delivery.
I’ll be the only guy in the store buying pampers and depends on the
same visit. When Sarah hears the story she laughs also.
As we read
this story in the light of our own lives, we often ask the question?
Why do I have to wait for
God’s blessings – I’m ready right now – pile it on me Lord –
• As we
read the Scriptures, we discover many great men and women of God waited for
the Lord.
We see Moses – spent 40 years in the wilderness tending the flock before God
called him.
• We see David - Prophet Samuel went to his house, according to God’s
instruction, and anointed him to be the future King of Israel. It was 7 years
later that he became King.
Jesus waited 30 years before he began his ministry – then waited three days
in the grave before he competed it
• The
wait isn’t meant for God. It is meant for us.
• We need the WAIT –in order to know Him, to deepen our trust in Him, to
make us stronger in faith.
If we got
everything we wanted immediately we would be emotional and spiritual weaklings
never understanding that we need a relationship with Jesus rather than a set
of rules.
God is
looking for someone with which to have a relationship not just a rule
follower. Ben Patterson author
and missionary, tells of the common experience of westerners who travel
through the jungles of the Amazon. They will ask the natives – give me
directions to a location. The
villager will respond: I will take you – no that’s ok – I have a map.
No I will take you. Why?
Too many uncertainties in the Amazon to simply follow a map – too
many things that aren’t on a map. We
want three steps to happiness, health and riches but God says:
I’ll be your guide. Let
me take you there.
No wonder Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) says “…those who wait on the LORD shall
renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall
run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
’Waiting’
and being ’strengthen’ really doesn’t go together, but it does
spiritually. The one who waits is the one who put his trust in God, and places
his hope in God
What God
promises will surely come true, no matter what you tell yourself, no matter
what the circumstances tell you. In waiting we learn to take God at his Word.
Valuable lesson that can’t be learned any other way.
Abraham was a
man of great faith and yet even he had much to learn about faith . . . his
faith wasn’t complete - God continues to build him up over the next 25
years. He still grows in faith. Ultimately, he reached the extent of being
able to offer his son Isaac back to God, if He said so.
This story
tells us there’s room for improvement in our faith. God is working in our
lives. There may be lots of waiting time, persevering time, when we are
stretched to our limits. Because we need to grow in faith, like Abraham. God
will lead us step-by-step, to an ever-increasing faith in Him. Like muscle, we
grow strong when we are stretched.
III.
A leap of faith enables us to be caught
Lets finish
the story of Abraham and Sarah in Gen. 21: 1-3, 6
read
They laughed
when told she would be pregnant – they laughed for a different reason when
he was born: they named him Isaac which means “He laughs”
laughed not with derision but with joy.
God caught
them and fulfilled his promise. Isaac continues the seed of mankind that would
eventually lead to the birth of Jesus through whom the whole world can be
blessed.
Conclusion:
where are you in the process?
God has
promised to do great and mighty things within our lives, families, our church.
There is a prerequisite; God asks each of us to let go. Let go of our pride, sin, hatred, fear, selfishness,
darkness in your life. Let
it go. Scary to let go of the
known for the unknown – even when the known is bad – it’s a security
blanket – this is what I know – God says:
let it go.
In some sense
all of us are in the waiting stage. We
haven’t received all God has promised. I believe with all my heart that when
I die, I’ll go to heaven. Scriptures
are abundantly clear – but I haven’t seen it yet so I wait.
While I am waiting, I want to live my life in such a way that God is
pleased.
Many of our
friends have been caught in the arms of God.
Lisa Hassell, Don Sumpter, Dale Whiteherse, Aubrey Bates,
maybe your spouse, friend, your loved one.
Their smiling. They have been caught up in the arms of Jesus.
If they could talk they would say:
I told you – it’s a fulfilled promise.
It was worth the wait.