“Risky Proposition”
Genesis
12:1-9
Ephesians
3:7-21
There are those things in life
that we keep around us or see from time to time or hear every once in while
which remind us of what is important.
Pictures, paintings, expressions, mottos, sayings – all of them in their
own way speak some truth to us. These
things, for whatever reason, touch us in some way that they do not touch
someone else. Sometimes they spur the
imagination, and our hope is renewed.
Sometimes they engage the mind, and we think of new possibilities. Sometimes they simply warm the heart, and we
are spiritually refreshed and restored.
Scripture is also
one of these things that remind us of what is important, especially when it
comes to our faith and life. We each
have our own favorite scripture verse or passage that in some way speaks to us
as none other does. They, like pictures,
paintings, expressions, mottos, and sayings, also tell us the truth about what
is important.
Over the years, I have accumulated
my own set of favorite scripture passages.
Some days, one is more important to me than the other. Sometimes one or two will become the mantra
through which I live out my life of faith.
They become the basis through which I approach ministry. They become the theological lens through
which I see everything, sometimes even becoming the credo of my beliefs and
convictions about my purpose in life.
This text from Genesis is one of those passages which have become for me
one of the most important for how I understand what it means to be faithful to
God.
This scripture reading about
Abraham’s call is one that I have read to you before, and one that I will read
to you again and again. Abraham is for
me, one of the great models of what it means to be a servant of the Lord, a
faithful, obedient witness to the God who calls us into a relationship, who
calls us on a journey that is spiritually fulfilling, purpose driven, and
life-changing, and I am convinced that this passage is so important for our
faith that to neglect it is to neglect a critical component of what it means to
be God’s people.
From the very beginning God has
called people into a covenantal relationship, a relationship founded upon the
integrity and faithfulness of God’s very being.
From the beginning God has called people to the journey of faith and
people have answered, sometimes questioning, sometimes reluctantly, and
sometimes unwillingly, but they have answered nonetheless. God calls, people answer. This is how faith is born. This is how faith is enacted. This is how faith becomes the faith that
saves.
There is no shortcut to salvation
that bypasses the response of faith and the answering of God’s call. Simply believing is not enough. Belief must be accompanied by response, faith
must become action, otherwise belief becomes only a doctrine of religion that
has no grounding, rather than an spiritual conviction
that changes the heart and embodies the truth of the gospel. This is why this text is so important to hear
over and over again, because it points us to the great truth about what it
means to be God’s people – that God’s people must respond to God’s call, that
God’s people must be a people on the go.
God called
Abraham to go from his country and his family, to go from his father’s house away
from all that was known and comfortable and secure, and venture out on a
journey to a new land with only a promise to hang on to. One can only wonder what Abraham must have
thought about when he was called to go.
To answer God’s call set Abraham on a journey that was no longer to be
in and with, but away and from. One can
only imagine what Abraham must have wondered as he was packing his things
preparing to leave all that he had known.
What God had called him to do was nothing short of leaving all that had
been friendly and familiar and go out to the unwelcome and unknown.
Being God’s people and answering
God’s call is a risky proposition. It
requires change. It requires us to move
out of our comfortable surroundings, away from that which is recognizable and
secure, and embark on a journey that is not always so clear, sometimes rough,
and sometimes difficult, but a journey that is the only way to the Promised
Land.
Yet, it is precisely this change
that causes too many people to refuse to answer. We like the way things are, the comfortable
surroundings in which we live, the security of not having to respond. We think of all the reasons not to answer,
not to go, not to put ourselves on the line for the
sake of the promise, for the sake of the gospel. We don’t want to take the risk, so we stay
where we are, unmoved, unchanged, uninspired.
But Abraham went, as the Lord had
told him. Abraham’s faith trusted in the
one who had called him. Abraham’s faith
was willing to take the risk, ready to dare and trust in the vision that was
not yet realized, in a hope that had not yet been fulfilled, in a promise yet
to be kept, in a word yet to be enacted.
In Abraham’s remarkable response of faith, Abraham is transformed. He is given a new intent and purpose of
life. He becomes the model of the one
who is willing to risk not only is comfort and security, but most importantly
himself, for the one who calls him to follow.
So Abraham went. He goes without
hesitation. He does not bargain or
probe. He does not question. He seeks no consensus with others,
he does not need to rely on polling data, or whether or not it fits into his
own plans. He steps out on the journey
completely dependent upon God to lead him on the path of righteousness.
This is the journey
all the faithful are on. It is a journey
away and from the old securities, the old traditions, the old ways of being and
doing, to a new place and a new future with a renewed purpose and endless
possibilities. On this journey, the old
life is gone and new life is begun, and there is no turning back, there cannot
be any turning back. We are either on
this journey or we are not. We can
either be left behind and continue to live as if nothing is required of us, or
we can take that first step and step out into the journey that will lead to a
new life of fulfillment, wonder, relationship.
This choice is a risky
proposition, but faithfulness itself is a risky proposition. Are you willing to take that risk? Are you willing to forgo the status quo? Are you willing to let go of the past? Are you willing to relinquish control over
the prescribed ways of doing things, and venture out on a journey relying only
on the integrity and character and promises of God?
But let’s be
very clear. Not only is faith itself a
risky proposition, but so is the journey that we are on. The Promised Land that Abraham is promised
was a far way off, and the journey to it was a long
one. On the way, he was sure to face
dangers and frustrations and difficulties.
One can only imagine what Abraham, and especially Sarah, must have
thought about this journey. One can only
wonder if they had moments when they looked backed and longed to return to the
way it was before. It is much easier to
go back to the familiar than to take the next step into the unknown. Yet, Abraham presses on toward the end of the
journey, step by step, one step at a time.
This journey
of faith that we are on does not always bred quick results, and we do not have
to see the end from the beginning before we make a decision to go. The end is discovered along the way, we only
need to be satisfied that we are going in the right direction. We only need to be confident and assured that
the one who walks with us – sometimes before us, sometimes next to us, and
sometimes pushing us – is the one who sees what we cannot always see, is the
one who will not forsake us along the way, is the one who has our best
interests at heart, and loves us like no other.
Our only concern should be taking that next step, one step at a time,
moving in the direction God has laid out before us. Abraham journeyed in stages toward the
Promised Land. He passed through
Brothers and
sisters, we cannot go on this journey without continually acknowledging in our
acts of worship and devotion the powerful presence of God in our lives and our
readiness to trust in God’s promise. By
doing so, we make a dramatic and public declaration to all those around us
about the one who rules over all people, governments and systems and creation itself. This too is a risky proposition because it
clearly puts us at odds with the world in which we live, but there can be no
other way.
Either God means everything to us,
or God means nothing. There is to be no
middle ground. No fair weather faith. No part time worship and devotion. The Promised Land is occupied ground, and the
principalities and powers are firmly entrenched. The faith that answers God’s call and risks
all for righteousness sake is a faith that is willing to live out the promise precisely
where the promise is in question and at risk.
This is the journey we have been
called on. This is the journey we will
go on and we will not look back. We will
keep our eyes set securely on the divine promise, toward the future that is
divinely ordained, toward the new reality of a life that is purposeful,
meaningful, and fulfilling.
Only through the power of God will
we be able to make it and make it we shall, for the promise of the gospel is
that we have been strengthened from within by the power of God’s Spirit and
filled with all the fullness of God.
Only through God’s power will we
be able to accomplish far more than what we even believe is possible. Only through God’s power will we be able to
move this church in the direction of God’s vision and purpose for us.
Only through God’s power will we
be able to become the people that we are called to be, a people willing to
answer God’s risky proposition, a people ready to journey out in faithfulness,
a people on the go - God’s people destined for the Promised Land. Amen.