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Back to Sermons Index Back to Home Page 8th July 2007 AMLET US LOOK FORWARD IN FAITH - Pastor Colin Meadows Hebrews 11:1-12, 39-40
Ø Let’s draw near to God! Last week we were reminded of the great challenge that lies ahead. We are about to begin the 40 Days of Community program, a time of stretching, change and growth. We are about to enter our new building, a place of great opportunity and full of potential. We are about to welcome Pastor Harrison Olan’g and his wife from Tanzania, an opportunity of reaching out in Christ’s name to others. Yes, these are days of great challenge and stretching. In order to be ready for these challenges, we were reminded last week of our great need to draw near to God. Hebrews 10:22 “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Yes, we must draw near to God, asking for His cleansing and His empowering. We will not be able to cope in our own strength. It is only as the Holy Spirit enables us. But as we draw near, we do so in faith. Ø Be faithful as you draw near to God! The Christians in the book of Hebrews were facing very challenging times. They were living in a very hostile environment. They had stepped out from their Jewish roots and embraced the promised Messiah. In so doing they were now seen as traitors to their Jewish heritage and no longer welcome there. But they were also ostracized from the pagan community by their refusal to worship the Roman and Greek gods of the day. They were thus caught in the middle, much as we are today. As Christians today who seek to walk with God we similarly face very difficult days. We have stepped out of mainstream religious streams due to our firm conviction that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, the only way back to the Father. We are not people who say that there are many ways to God, apart from Christianity, and that it doesn’t matter what spiritual road you take, just as long as you are sincere. Furthermore we refuse to worship the gods of our days, those of materialism, of personal wealth, of sport, celebrities and the like. Rather we walk the narrow path of discipleship, of following Christ no matter what. As we take that road, let us draw near to God in faith. Ø What does it mean to be faithful? I enjoy going to weddings and hearing the vows that are made. When a person says in their wedding vow that they will be faithful to their partner, they are acknowledging that they intend to live so that no one else will come between them in their relationship in the days that lie ahead. It goes far beyond the matter of sexual liaisons. The couple is saying that they will stay committed and true to their relationship, no matter what might happen, in sickness and in health, richer or poorer, through the good and the bad. To be faithful involves living purposefully in the present as we look in hope to the future, in the light of what God has revealed in the past. Faith thus has a past, present and future aspect. Faith is at the heart of our walk with God. Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” That is how the people of God have lived down through the ages, living in the present in the light of the future, in response to what God has done in the past. We are called in our relationship with God to be faithful to Him, for he has already committed himself to be faithful to us! Ø Be faithful because God is faithful! We are to stay true to God at all times because he is a faithful God. He will remain true to us. Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” God is committed to the relationship, through thick and thin. He will not walk away and desert us. This is a constant theme throughout the Bible. Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.” Because God is faithful, He calls us to be faithful, to keep true to our side of the relationship. A marriage where only one partner is faithful is a failed marriage. We are thus called to be faithful. Let us look now to the life of Abram as a great example of living by faith and seek to learn from his life as he stayed true to God. Abram was just like us, with his strengths and weaknesses but God worked in his life in amazing ways. Let’s examine his life now. Ø Be faithful, ready to move on at any time! The first thing we note is that God told him to go to an unknown destination…. and he went! Hebrews 11:8 “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.” God told Abram to saddle up his donkey and he obeyed. He didn’t question about the destination or how long the journey would take. He just went. Faith says ‘yes’ when God says ‘go’. As you listen to God’s voice today, are you willing to go anywhere he may be telling you to go? It may not be a physical change in direction for you – perhaps there is something deep within your heart that He wants you to move away from. You have been challenged many times to get moving on a journey of faith and you have resisted. You aren’t sure what is involved, the long term consequences, the financial implications, possible health risks…. the list may be long. It is time to stop coming up with the excuses and to get moving. When my wife and I first felt that God wanted us to be going to Africa back in 1981, we didn’t know what to say to friends and family. It was all so vague and uncertain. My parents were very confused and the more I tried to explain the coming journey the less I realized that I knew what lay ahead myself. What we needed to do was to get moving and allow God to fill in the blanks later. Perhaps you might say that you have reached a time in your life to settle down and put your feet up. You have done enough, gone far enough, and learnt enough. Consider Abram’s situation when he began this amazing journey: Genesis 12:4 “So Abram left, as the LORD had told him: and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.” You are never too old to get moving on your journey with God. While we were living in Botswana, a couple applied to come and join us at the Bible College. After a period of correspondence, Ross and June came to Africa to work with us for a year, the first time they had ever been out of the US, and did a wonderful job teaching and encouraging young Christians at the college. Such was their enthusiasm that after they returned to the US they asked if they could come back again to help! In all this what amazed me the most that Ross and June were in their 70’s. They were people of faith who heard God’s voice and stepped out. For Ross and June, they had no idea what lay ahead but they stepped out in faith. What about you? Be faithful, ready to move on at any time. Ø Be faithful, ready to tackle what seems impossible! Trust God, even when it seems an impossible situation. Take Abram as an example again. God told him that he would be the father of a nation. At that time, Abram was 85 years old and had no children, but God told him to look up and count the stars. Then he told him that his offspring would be numbered like the stars. Abram’s response was so amazing: Genesis 15:6 “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Perhaps for you right now you sense God has been nudging you to move out in faith, but it seems impossible. The time doesn’t seem right, you are struggling financially, you are not as spiritually mature as you had hoped by now, your health is a concern, and the list of objections is long! Be faithful, even when it seems impossible. God is the God of the impossible. At one time Jesus challenged a rich young man to go on the journey of faith. It seemed all too hard for this young man and he walked away. Jesus’ disciples were concerned about what Jesus had said and felt that the task of changing a person’s heart was impossible. Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” As someone has noted, ‘God can do all things… the impossible just takes a little longer’. Step out in faith, even when it seems to be an impossible situation, and allow God to work. One time in Botswana, the Bible College had run out of funds and we had no money to buy food for the students. We had explored all possibilities and asked everyone to be praying that God would provide. At that time a man who used to be with us at the college years earlier rang unexpectedly from England. He said that God was gently telling Him that he should contact us about a current need we had. What was the specific need! I explained what the situation was and he replied ‘I will be contacting the bank tomorrow.’ Be faithful, ready to tackle the impossible. Ø Be faithful, ready when you are tested! In the journey of life, sometimes things happen that we may find very difficult to handle. Abram was tested in a way that is hard for us to understand. God told him to offer up his only son. Hebrews 11:17 “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered up Isaac as a sacrifice.” What I find amazing is that Abram immediately moved out in obedience. He went right to the point of having the knife raised to kill his son when God stopped him. I struggle to understand this portion of Scripture but what we can understand is this – there will be times when we are strongly tested, when God permits things into our lives that we will struggle to comprehend. At such times, let us be people of faith, people who respond as Abram did. An essential ingredient of faith, someone noted, is sacrifice. Are we prepared to offer back to God that which means most to us? Are you being deeply tested at this time? Relationship breakdown, illness, financial stresses, unexplained life circumstances, or perhaps bereavement? Trust God, even when you don’t understand what is happening. As Abram trusted God in the situation with his son, Isaac, so he saw God’s provision. He thus called the place of testing ‘The LORD will provide.’ Seek to see the testings you are going through in that light, as places where God will provide. Let us be faithful, even when we are severely tested. Ø Be faithful to the end! Abram lived a life of faith, right up to his death at the age of 175. Unlike many of his relatives, he was faithful to the end. Genesis 25:8 “Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people.” Abraham had been on a journey with God for 100 years, moving about in a tent as a pilgrim on a pilgrimage of faith. He had his ups and downs, times of riding high with God but also some very dark times when his spiritual light was dim. Through it all however, he clung to God. Let us seek to do the same. I was reading the story of Robert and Mary Moffat, early missionaries amongst the Batswana people in Southern Africa. After ten years of difficult ministry there had not been one person come to faith in Christ. The directors of their mission board were considering recalling them. Several more years passed by. Then a friend in England wrote and said she wanted to mail them a gift. What they would like? Mary Moffat replied ‘Send us a communion set; I am sure it will soon be needed.’ God honoured their faith. The Holy Spirit moved in the village of Kurumane and six people came to faith in Christ and formed the first church in that area. The communion set from England was delayed in the mail, but arrived on the very day that the first communion service was held in the village. Be faithful to the end. What can we learn about living by faith? Draw near to God in faith. Be faithful, for God is faithful. Be faithful, ready to move on at any time. Be faithful, ready to tackle what seems impossible. Be faithful, ready when you are tested. Be faithful to the end. |