THE STORY Week 5 - giving of the 10 blessings

Sermon week 5

God guides our living.

10/27/13

(Slide #1)

Finally, after 420 years in Egypt they were free. Three months after the Passover and after crossing the red sea, Moses and the crew come near Mount Sinai.

(Slide #2) Looking at our map, (Slide #3) we started this journey in Eden in the East. They made a trek up to Haran, and down to Shechem.  Joseph made the journey to Egypt as a slave, and his father Israel and brothers followed. After they escaped slavery and pharaoh’s army (Slide #4) they took kind of circuitous route, but 90 days later ended up 400-600 miles from Goshen at foot of Mount Sinai. (I can’t be more specific than that because there are at least three possible sites for the mountain. See the question marks? No one knows for sure, which one is correct.) The danger behind them, they settled in to life in the desert and actually camped in this location for a year.

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(Slide 5) But perhaps more important than a geographical journey, is the upper story journey. From the beginning with Adam to starting over with Cain, to starting over with Noah, to starting over with Abraham, to starting over with Joseph, it has been a long journey already. It has been a journey filled with twists and turns, but here at Sinai both the people and God settle in to discover what life would be like after slavery. From both an upper story and lower story perspective this is yet another chance to start over again. What would this new relationship look like? How would God relate to his people? And frankly, how many ways can the people find to disappoint God?

In the upper story, up to this point, God has tried walking with Adam and Eve, destroying everyone but Noah, making a nation out Abraham, and saving that nation through Joseph. That hasn’t really worked. Over and over people rejected, refused, and rebelled against God. Now, God would try a different approach. I might describe it as a more parental approach.  Rather than a partner, a king, or a rescuer, God takes the lead more like a parent, and makes a set of rules we call the Decalogue.(slide 6)

In starting over again, God decides there are a couple of things the people need to understand.  First, God wanted them to understand what it means to live with him as their God. Second, God wanted them to understand what it meant to live in community with each other. In God’s eyes, both are critical.(slide 7) I JOHN 4:20 says it “if you can’t love your brother whom you can see, how can you love a God whom you cannot see?” Both the horizontal brother to brother to sister relationships, and the vertical child to God relationship must be healthily intact in order for God’s upper story vision to be fulfilled.

That is the goal. The question for today is, how to accomplish that.  Given God’s vision, and the people’s rebellion, what would you put on the tablets.  Would you have used the 10 suggestions. Would they be the 10 threats.  I might use the 10 ultimatums. You know “no idols, or else!” “No lying, or else!” That is from a lower story perspective.

Today, however, I want to look through an upper story lens.  I want to look at the Decalogue from God’s perspective.  God could have used suggestions, or threats or even ultimatums, but I don’t think that is what God had in mind.  Today I want to look at the Decalogue through the lens of blessing so please turn to page 61 of THE STORY or chaper 20 of Exodus and follow along.

(slide 8)

The first 4 items have to do with that vertical relationship. Our relationship with God.

·        I am the lord thy God,

·        make no idols,

·        don’t disrespect my name,

·        and give me one day out of 7.

How can these “don’ts” be blessings you ask?

1.     Let’s start with number one. “I am the lord you God.” Not some foreign God, not some abstract power I am YOUR God. I am the lord who has claimed you and saved you. I am your God who loves you and gives you a love claim on me.

The blessing is that God himself promises to be our God and our God alone. You shall have no other God’s before me. You shall have no other God and I will have no other people.

2.     Number two, “make no graven images.” In other words, make no idols. This makes sense because God is beyond anything we can imagine or create. There is no animal, or plant, or person who comes close to God; so it would be an insult to limit God in that way. The Blessing is that we are in relationship to the incomparable God who is more than anything we can imagine or fashion with our hands.

3.     Number three- You shall not misuse God’s name. The very fact that we have been given God’s name is a blessing. It Means that we serve a personal God. We could be serving a God who is so distant and so foreign to us that we don’t even know his name. But we do have an intimate first name relationship with God.

 There is also an explanation with this commandment. “The Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” Notice that this is not a threat. A threat would have said something like “God will destroy anyone who does this.” But no, it has this explanation of why we don’t misuse God’s name, “because God will not hold you guiltless.”

 It is the difference between saying “don’t play in the street because I said so,” or “don’t play in the street because I love you and don’t want you to be hit by a car.” Do you see the difference?

4.     Number four is Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. If you had spent your life as a slave in Egypt, working under harsh taskmasters 7 days a week, 365 days a year, what would the command to take a day off mean to you? It would be music to your ears, wouldn’t it? You would be relieved, dancing a jig, wouldn’t you? We think of the Sabbath as being some onerous burden imposed on the people, but that was after the human interpretation of the Sabbath distorted it to beyond recognition. Remember Jesus saying, “Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man?” It was not intended to be a trap for us, a cage into which we had to climb one day out of each week. The Sabbath was intended to be a freedom making command. It was intended to be a blessing.

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In our lower story we might see these 4 commandments as arbitrary rules, but I think in the upper story they are really a blessing and a beautiful act of love. It is the difference between the image of God as a cosmic policeman with a quota of sinners to condemn and God as the loving parent who really and truly does want more than anything to love and be loved by his people.

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(slide 9)The last 6 commandments are no less a blessing. They paint the picture of the upper story way God wants us to relate to one another, we get an image of a paradise where everyone is honored, respected, and loved don’t we?

5.     Beginning with our parents. (On page 62) Honor your father and mother so that you may live long in the land. That one comes with its own blessing. I don’t need to add anything to the blessing of family.

6-9. Numbers 6-9, no murder, no adultery, no stealing and no lying continue that blessed picture. I can hardly imagine, this side of paradise, a world in which all of these commandments are followed. Can you? Nevertheless, what a blessed picture it paints. It would be a world

·        in which the blessing of life is affirmed rather than death,

·        Love and relationships are put first rathe then thrown away like so much garbage. 

·        It would be a world where everyone trusts God’s bounty to provide enough so there is no need to steal It would be

·        a world  in which truth, integrity and Justice are honored rather than mocked. What a wonderful world that would be.

10.  Number 10 is do not covet. Can you even imagine a world in which there is enough contentment that no one had to worry about another person trying to get what they have, whether it is a spouse, a car, or a job? It would be a world in which there is enough satisfaction with what God has given us that no one would ever want or need more than God’s continued blessing. A world in which we could trust God for enough of whatever we need.

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What a wonderful world we would live in if everyone kept the 10 blessings. We don’t live in that world… or do we? In as much as we are in this world, but not of it. In as much as the church is intended to be a glimpse of the kingdom of God, in as much as we already have the first fruits of the new creation we already live in that world. Not this world here and now. But that world that exists in the heart of God, and in our hearts when we are in God’s spirit and in God’s will.

There is an Alabama Judge who at one time was hauling around a two and a half ton 10 commandments monument with him to his public appearances. If you aren’t so fast with math that 500 pounds per commandment. Even the 5 ton crane that lifts it off the flatbed when he gets home, visibly sags under the weight of this stone.

Most people cannot name all ten, but they are persuaded that at the the 10 commandments are a huge 2 and a half ton stone tied around their neck.  It is a two and a half ton club with which they can beat anyone who disagrees with them.  For them a two-and-a-half-ton rock sitting on the bed of a truck is a perfect symbol. 

They are half right. That is what is has become for too many of us. "Here are ten rules. Obey them!"

Rightly understood, however, they are a breathtaking announcement of freedom. We will probably always refer to the decalogue as the "Ten Commandments," That is the lower story understanding, Let us, however think differently.  Let we who are blessed by the glory of God’s presence in our lives not carry the burden of the commandments, but dance the joy of the Decalogue. Let us think of them as the ten blessings. Descriptions of the life that prevails in the zone of God’s liberation. "Because the Lord is your God," the Decalogue affirms, "(slide 10)

·        you are free not to need any other gods.

·        free from the tyranny of lifeless idols;

·        You are free to rest on the seventh day;

·        free from murder, betrayal, stealing, lying  and covetousness as a way of life.”

GO- and be not commanded , but go and be blessed 10 times over by God’s work in your life.

THE STORY- deliverance by Rev. Robyn Plocher

The Story Sermon - Week #4 : Deliverance by Rev. Robyn Plocher 

Theme from UnderDog cartoon: 
when criminals in this world appear 
and break the laws that they should fear 
and frighten all who see or hear 
the cry goes up both far and near 
for Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! 
speed of lightning, roar of thunder 
fighting all who rob or plunder 
Underdog. Underdog! 
when in this world the headlines read 
of those whose hearts are filled with greed 
who rob and steal from those who need 
to right this wrong with blinding speed 
goes Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! 
speed of lightning, roar of thunder 
fighting all who rob or plunder 
Underdog. Underdog! 
There's no need to fear! Underdog is here! 

If ever there was a real-life Underdog- Moses was that man. In fact, we will see that God consistently chooses the unlikeliest people to play leading roles in his story, just as we saw in the story of Joseph. But Moses, Moses was an unlikely a leader as one ever did see. 

After Joseph died things gradually got worse and worse for his descendants, the Israelites, the people God was using to build his nation. Under Joseph’s leadership the settled back in Egypt and began to grow in numbers. But after Joseph died a new Pharaoh came to power. With no one to mediate between the Israelites and the Egyptians the new Pharaoh began to fear their large numbers. He feared they might take over the land. To protect his own power and that of his people, Pharaoh enslaved the Hebrews, putting cruel slave masters over them who forced them to work from sunup til sundown, building massive structures like the now famous pyramids. 

What in the world had happened to God’s great upper story plan for a new nation? From a lower story perspective it seems that Pharaoh controlled the world of the Israelites. Rest assured, God was not taken by surprise by this development. In fact, God told Abraham 500 years earlier that this would happen: “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.” (Genesis 15:13) 

Let’s be clear that just because God knew his people would be mistreated and enslaved doesn’t me that God caused their slavery. The bondage of the Israelites resulted from the fear and the sin of the Egyptian Pharaoh and the Egyptian people. Things got so bad for them that Pharaoh ordered the execution of all the first – born sons of the Israelites. And this is where Moses’ story begins. 

You know about his birth, how his mother hid him in a basket on the Nile river. He was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in Pharoah’s palace as a royal prince. But when Moses reached adulthood his privileged treatment ends. One day he saw an Egyptian soldier abusing a Hebrew slave. Fueled by outrage, Moses kills the Egyptian, then flees to the countryside for his life. He knows if he steps foot back in the royal city he will likely be arrested and killed. 

…and this is just about the time where the Upper Story and the Lower Story collide. 400 long years Israel has been enslaved. Yet to our infinite, timeless Creator perhaps it has been mere moments. It is time again for God to reveal his name, his power and his plan. Time for God to deliver Isreal and restore his people to the path that leads to the fulfillment of God’s promise. He just needs the right point man. 

And there’s Moses out there , living in Midian, married to the daughter of a Midian pagan priest, watching over his father-in-laws flocks of sheep, minding his own business- living a good lower story life. And God comes to Moses in the form of a bush that is burning but not consumed by the fire. God wants Moses to return to the city, stand in front of mighty Pharoah and give a speech demanding that Pharaoh let the Hebrew people go. 

Moses, the underdog, feels overwhelmed and under-qualified by what the Lord is asking. He musters up the courage to respectfully decline: “Pardon your servant, Lord, but I have never been an eloquent speaker. Pardon your servant Lord, but you really need to send someone else.” 
Lest we be too hard on Moses, lets consider a few things.

First, people fear public speaking more than death. Most people are terrified by the idea of standing up in front of a group of people to speak, let alone to address the Pharaoh of Egypt, who thinks he is a god and doesn’t particularly like you. 

Second, As far as I know, Toastmasters doesn’t have a chapter in the middle of the Median desert. Sheep are not the most responsive audience for someone trying to hone their verbal skills. 

Third, Moses had some Hebrew skeletons in his Egyptian closet that he knew would not help his cause with Pharaoh. He had definitely burned some bridges behind him. In Moses’ eyes he clearly was not the best candidate to deliver this hard message to Pharaoh. Randy Frazee says that God asking Moses to do this is like the President of the U.S. choosing a migrant worker who picks berries in California for a living to lead a special delegation charged with securing a peaceful release for millions of Americans held hostage by a foreign dictator. Not. Very. likely. 

From the lower story perspective Moses is the least likely candidate for the job. More than an underdog. 

But we learn from the upper story that God loves using the underdog to accomplish his plans. God sees Moses’ weakness as providing the best possible conduit for God’s strength. There is no way for Moses to take any of the credit or for those around him to think his dynamic personality and speaking skills could get the job done. The only possible way is through God’s divine power and miraculous provision. 

The last time you applied for a job you were probably assessed on the bases of your work experience, your education, your communication skills and your demeanor in the interview process. The only qualification God looks for in order to accomplish great things through his people is a willing and obedient heart. Despite his attempt to respectfully decline, Moses had such a heart. So he “took his wife and sons, put them on donkey and started back to Egypt.” Back to the land where there was a bounty on his head. Back to the land where his people toiled as slaves for Pharaoh. Not on a chariot accompanied by an army, but on a donkey accompanied by his wife and children. Not as a skilled orator or successful general in battle or experienced teacher, but as a humble husband and father and lowly shepherd. 

Back in Egypt it takes some more time for God’s plan to unfold. God himself hardens Pharaoh’s heart against Moses, because God wants to display his power in overwhelming and undeniable ways. There are no atheists in ancient Egypt. But there are many so called gods, all their followers vying for bragging rights that their god is the most powerful. God wants to leave no doubts as to the fact that Yahweh is the one true God and mighty in power. To this end, he will choose even a man like Pharaoh who does not follow him, harden his heart, send plague after plague to accomplish his Upper Story plan. Ironically, the edict that Pharaoh unleashed on the Hebrew first-born sons at the beginning of the story is reversed and unleashed on the Egyptians at the end of the story. The 10th plague is both devastating and revealing. God tells Moses that at midnight his angel will sweep through the entire land of Egypt and take the life of every firstborn male. But, the Hebrews will be protected from this angel of death, the angel will Passover their homes, if they will sacrifice an unblemished lamb and brush the blood of the lamb around the door frame of their homes. 

This is the Passover that Jews today still celebrate. In this upper story plan of God’s we are also given a foreshadowing of God’s ultimate plan to restore what sin has destroyed, to restore the fellowship God seeks to know with his children. Much later God will fulfill the need for a perfect, unblemished lamb in order to provide the blood of salvation over the doorposts of our souls….but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. 

At this, Pharaoh could take no more and said, “Go! Get out!” God allowed his heart to soften just long enough for the Isrealites to begin their journey toward the Red Sea. It is estimated that 1-3 million Hebrew people marched victoriously out of Egypt that day! What a sight that would have been! Can we even imagine their joy at being free? Their gratitude to God? 

There may be a Pharaoh in your life right now. It may be a person, a circumstance or a situation you are dealing with. It may feel like you are being completely controlled by this pharaoh- like this situation has enslaved you. Like everything you do is a reaction to this person or this circumstance. 

The message of today’s story is don’t lose heart. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t give up, no matter how the odds seem to be stacked against you. No matter how much you feel like an underdog in the face of overwhelming circumstances. You don’t feel like a Superhero. You may feel unequipped, unprepared, unqualified to deal with this situation in your life. You may be able to see only the lower story of your existence right now – remember the Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years - But God knew what would happen to them 500 years earlier! Whatever you are going through today, it is not a surprise to God. God is revealing and enacting his upper story in your life. If you love God and align your life to his upper story plan, God promises everything will work out for the good. One way or the other, you will be delivered. You will leave your Pharaoh and your Egypt behind. You will pass through your Red Seas unharmed and more confident of God’s power and compassion. God always provides a way through the obstacles that seem insurmountable to us. 

On June 4, 2000 gospel singers Phil and Pam Morgan were on their way to perform in concert when their van crashed. Pam was thrown from the vehicle and nearly killed. She suffered disfiguring and pain injuries and a broken neck that left her paralyzed from the chest down. A mother of 2, ages five years and 20 months, she herself could do less than an infant. She could not roll over or sit up by herself. Pam had a “complete” spinal cord injury – a dx that leaves no hope for recovery. Paralysis was her Pharaoh. Complete dependency was her Pharoah. Disfigurement that required many painful surgeries was her Pharaoh. But 15 months later Pam 
Pam walked on stage and sang this song of deliverance:

I know what it’s like to cry out in fear
“O Lord, why this, why me?”
I know what it’s like when all I can hear 
Is the silence of my misery. 
And I know what it’s like when that whisper breaks through
And he says, “Child, I’ve been there all along.”
I know now you’re weak, but come, lean on me, 
With my strength I’ll make you strong.

I stand by the strength of Jesus
I walk just holding His Hand,
With Him by my side every need is supplied
By the power of God I stand.

Slide “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” John 1:29

Week 3 THE STORY: JOSEPH

<<<slide>>> What a great story. I have heard and read the story of Joseph many times, but never quite like this. The hard part of this story is that it really is not one story. It is a bunch of little stories all bundled together. One of the things THE STORY does is to help us hone in on one story: the story of Joseph.

<<<Slide>>>Just like the last 2 weeks this is the story of a journey. Here is the map we looked at last week. The tree is for the Garden of Eden, the star for Abraham’s home in Shechem. <<<slide>>> We have to zoom in a little. See Shechem still there under the star. Joseph’s Journey <<<slide>>> took him north to Dothan, where he was sold into slavery and then south to Goshen Egypt, represented by the pyramid. You can draw a little pyramid or triangle there at the left edge of your map if you like. That is Joseph’s journey.

Before we get to Joseph’s story, however, let me tell you two other stories.

<<<slide>>> There was a certain pastor, who really was a very good pastor. People liked his preaching, the appreciated his pastoral care, the church ran pretty smoothly most of the time. One might say he was favored.

One day one of his churches had a fire. A short time later, a flood came and threatened the other church. He felt like he had been thrown into a deep, dark hole. Things went from bad to worse and he was treated badly. He was harassed, threatened and his family was threatened. Finally, he sold out and left the church completely, never intending to return.

Feeling abandoned, betrayed and afraid; He went to work to support his family. He started as an Electrolux salesman, and that didn’t work. Then he worked as a temp worker, going from job to job. Finally, he went to work as a construction worker. Even though he didn’t realize it, God was with him in all of this.

In fact not only was God with him, but God was working in his life through people he met, jobs he had, the church to which he took his kids, and his family.

Eventually he became, depressed, unemployed, and hit rock bottom.

Story number 2:

There was a girl named Jennifer. She was a bright, pretty girl, but she came from a family that didn’t have much money. Her parents were divorced, her brother was a drug addict, and she lived in a pretty rough neighborhood. The schools would have called her “at risk.”

Jennifer, however, had a dream. She wanted to become a nurse, so she worked hard, studied hard, and got good grades. She got good enough grades that she was admitted to nursing school, but neither she nor her family had the money to pay her tuition. Being determined to see her dream fulfilled, Jennifer went to work as hard as she could to save money for her tuition. Every time she got a paycheck, she put as much as she could into a box in her bedroom. That was her savings account. She was doing pretty well, getting close to being able to start school, when she went in to her room one day and discovered the box almost empty. She knew immediately that her addict brother had taken her money to buy drugs, and she was right. All that was left was a $20 bill. Jennifer was crushed. Crushed, but God was still with her. God was already working in the hearts of some other people she didn’t even know.

We’re just going to hold on to those two stories right there, and move to Joseph.

In the lower story in this week’s reading from THE STORY, Joseph was the 11^th of the 12 sons of Jacob. Neither the oldest, nor the youngest, yet it was no secret that Joseph was dad’s favorite. Jacob even gave Joseph a special colorful coat. None of the other boys had ever seen such a thing, and they certainly did not get one from their dad. Jealousy reared its ugly head.

Here is family tip #1. Don’t do that. Whether your kids are 2, or 12, or 20, even if they say they don’t keep track. You do too. You notice if you are not treated equally by someone. Joseph’s brothers were no exception. Believe me, they noticed.

To top it off Joseph had a dream in which God came to him to say, “someday all your brothers are going to bow down to you.”

Here is family tip #2. If you have d dream like that. Don’t tell your siblings. Just don’t tell them. Joseph broke the rule and guess what happens. Yah, they started looking for an opportunity to rid themselves of that little brat.

When Joseph was 17 years old his brothers looked up and saw little Joey in the distance, you can hear the conversation.

“Look whose coming.”

“And look what he’s wearing. That stupid coat.”

“Oh yah, he’s always wearing that coat.”

 “I think he sleeps in it.”

“Do you know what he needs? He needs to be taught a lesson.” So, they decided to throw him into a nearby cistern. A hole for keeping water, but there was no water in it.

Little Joey was screaming up at them. “Come on guys, this isn’t funny. Let me out of here. You just wait … (oh man, he’s not going to say it is he? Yep!) You just wait until we get home and I tell daddy.”

 Oooo that was the wrong thing to say. It so happens that a bunch of gypsies were coming by and, you guessed it, they sold Joseph to the gypsies and told their father he was killed by a wild animal.

The Gypsies sold him to a man in Egypt named Potifer. Potifer was like the head of the secret service for the Pharaoh. From then on God blessed everything Joseph did in Potifer’s house. He weeded the garden and the produce looked great. He washed the chariot and the rusty spots disappeared. He bought the groceries and they tasted better than ever. Things were going really well for Joseph and Potifer.

There was only one problem; Joseph wasn’t a bad looking guy. He was kind of buff and athletic. Well, that’s not really the problem. The problem was Mrs. Potifer. She looked at him and said, “hmmMMmm.” She tried to get him to sleep with her but he said, “No that wouldn’t be right for my master or my God.”

Mrs. Potifer was, apparently, not used to being declined. Therefore, she cooked up a scheme to accuse him of rape and have Joseph thrown in Jail. You have to understand that jail in Egypt was not like our jails today. One was lucky to survive even a short time in an Egyptian jail.

So here was Joseph. He went from “Look at me and my special coat. And don’t be surprised when you bow down to me.” To “come on guys let me out,” and being sold in slavery. He went from the head of Potifer’s house to a common criminal in the matter of a few hours. He lands in the worst jail you could possibly imagine.

Again, the Bible says, God was with him. In spite of everything that happened to him: the teasing, the attack, being sold into slavery, trumped up rape charges, and now rotting in Jail He KNEW that God was working. And he was. God was working mightily in Joseph’s life. Joseph could see that. He had almost an upper story view of his life saying to his brothers, “What you intended for bad, God intended for good.”

He was right. No matter what happened to Joseph God’s upper story vision could not be thwarted. Remember the vision? The vision was that this nation he was raising would be a people who would walk with him. That almost came to an end when a great famine came across the land. There was no rain and no food for anyone. That could have very easily been the end of these 12 brothers who were the whole the nation of Israel.

Except. Except for the fact that God was working for good. Now I don’t believe God made Jacob stupid so that he would give Joseph the coat, so that his brothers would get jealous over his dreams, so that they would throw him in the cistern, so that they could sell Joseph to the Midianite traders, so that Joseph would end up on Egypt. I don’t think God made Potifer’s wife lust over him and trap him into a false rape conviction and land him in jail. That is not what I am saying. What I am saying, is that in those bad things and in the good things that happened, God was always with Joseph looking for an opportunity to save his nation. Just like God did not cause the fire and flood for that pastor. God did not cause Jenifer’s brother to steal her tuition money. God did not cause Joseph’s troubles. But God was not too proud to use Joseph’s troubles to suit his purposes when the opportunity presented itself.

The opportunity came when Joseph interpreted a dream for Pharaoh and got on his good side. He was named second in command in all of Egypt, which opened the door for God to save his nation. Joseph saved back wheat for 7 years so that when his brothers heard there was wheat in Egypt they came down and tried to buy some. That did two things. It gave Joseph the chance to jerk them around a little, like sending them back home to get their little brother. And it gave God the opportunity to save his people.

What Joseph’s brothers intended for bad, God intended for good.

Do you see what I am saying? I am saying that in all of this good and bad Joseph was moving toward God’s ultimate good purpose. God has a purpose and whether our lives have more good or more bad at any given moment, we are always, slowly, sometimes hesitantly, but steadily moving toward God’s ultimate good purpose.

Let me say that again. God does not send evil or bad experiences to test us, to punish us, or for his amusement. That is not the way God works. But God does have a purpose. And no matter what… In those bad experiences… just as much as in the good, we are slowly and almost irresistibly being drawn into that purpose. Call it "God’s purpose," call it, "God’s will," call it, "the kingdom of heaven." It is real and we are being shaped and drawn toward it every day. That’s what we mean when we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

What about the pastor? After hitting rock bottom, God nudged him to apply for a youth pastor’s job, then to try the local church again. Because God has a purpose for ME… because God never abandoned ME and continued to work in MY life … I stand before you today. What some people intended for bad, God used for good.

What about Jennifer? She took that last $20 and put it in an envelope. She wrote her story on a piece of paper and included it in the envelope. She put it in the offering plate the next Sunday. The pastor read it, but couldn’t figure who wrote it.

The next Sunday he told of Jennifer’s story in the first service, just as a testimony to faithful generosity. After the service, two couples came up and wanted to know who Jennifer was so they could pay for her schooling. The pastor didn’t know, so in the second service he told the same story but added, if Jennifer is here today, please come see me after the service.

After the service, Jennifer came down front timidly and the pastor introduced her to her new benefactors. She couldn’t do anything but weep in joy.

Jennifer was the first person in her family to go to college and get a degree. Today Jennifer is married with 2 children. She is an oncology nurse in a major medical center and is known for her compassion and her faith.

What her brother intended for bad, God intended for good.

What about you? Look at the story of your life. Do you see God working? Even if you don’t he is there. No matter what has happened to you. No matter what trials you may face. No matter what blessings you may receive. No matter what difficulties you might encounter, or what good things might happen to you. God has a purpose for you. God has a vision for your life. God has a vision for this world.

It is our job to not just pray, but live, thy kingdom come thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.

AMEN

THE STORY Week 2 sermon

THE STORY

Week 2

Abraham: God will provide

 <<<Slide>>> Last week we talked about God’s vision for the world in which humanity would freely choose to live life walking in the cool of the day through the garden of perfection, which God had created. That sounds wonderful doesn’t it?

That isn’t the way it worked. Adam and Eve had different ideas. They thought it would be really cool to have the knowledge of something called “evil.” God was keeping a secret from them and they wanted to know what this “evil” was. Well they found out. They found themselves on the outs with God, left out of the Garden of Eden. Things would never be the same between Adam and Eve, between humans and creation, between humanity and God, or between us and God.

This week is take 2 or maybe take 3 if you count the flood. Now if I were God (and that’s always a dangerous thing to say), How about If I were God’s PR man I would have suggested a billboard as big as all the sky. God could re arrange the stars in the sky so they read, “I’M REAL AND I LOVE YOU.” Wouldn’t that have gotten humanity’s attention? Wouldn’t that have proven God’s point? Who could deny that?

God had a different plan, though. He always does. God had a different plan and that is where we pick up today.

In the upper story, God is still seeking any way he can to gain personal relationship with people. Remember freely chosen relationship is one of God’s primary values. God will do anything to love and be loved by his people.

Therefore, God tried a different way this time. In the garden, he had a rule and explained the consequences of breaking it. “Don’t eat. If you do you will die.” Adam and Eve couldn’t even handle that one rule!

 Instead of giving a bunch of rules, this time God tried promises. Perhaps God was following the, “you get more flies with honey” philosophy. Whatever the reasons God made some big promises. Notice on page 13 of the story, those promises are all laid out nice a neat for us.

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.”[1]

I break those into 4 promises

Those are some great promises, that really have to do with God’s provision.

 <<<Slide>>> I will provide you with a place.

 <<<Slide>>> I will provide you with people.

 <<<Slide>>> I will provide you with protection.

 <<<Slide>>> I will provide you with a purpose

How does that play out on the lower story? Not the way you would expect.

The first promise was “I will provide you with a place.” <<<Slide>>> Let’s take a look at the map then, so we know where we are. You’ll find it on the inside cover of your book if you are keeping track there. Abram was born in UR of the Chaldeans, down near where we said the Garden of Eden was. <<<Slide>>> For unknown reasons Abram’s father had wanted to move the family to Canaan, but only got as far as Haran, which is up by the turkey/Syria border. For perspective that is about a 600 mile trip.

When Abram was 75 years old, just in the prime of his life, God makes this series of promises that I mentioned.

The first promise was “I will provide you with a place.” Now the place was 400 miles away. Many of you know how much work it is to move. Just imagine packing all of your possessions up on camels and donkeys to move your whole family, and all your possessions, and your hired hands, and your animals 400 miles across the desert. Remember Abram was 75 years old when this happened, no spring chicken.

 Why then? Why did he move? Simple… because God said to. God said “Lech Lecha!” which means, “Go, Go out.” And he did. We call that faith. Let’s define faith as “believing in that, which cannot be humanly understood.” So there is no way to understand why Abram moved. He moved because he believed. God said, “I will provide a land” and he did.

The second promise was “I will provide you with a people.” They would be descendents. Now that is a problem. Remember I told you that Abram is 75 years old. His wife Sarai was 65 years old. Even if by some miracle, a 65-year-old woman could conceive, in those days she would have died in childbirth. But Sarrai couldn’t conceive. She was barren. She was infertile.

If we were going to start a new nation, we would look around for the best specimens of fertile manhood and womanhood we could find. God’s ways are not our ways. God chooses an old infertile couple to start the nation. And it works… sort of …25 years later, when Sarai is 90 years old she has her one and only child. Isaac. He was Abraham’s pride and joy. Abraham loved Isaac’s half brother Ishmael too, but not in the same way he loved Isaac. Looking down the road from Isaac would come Jacob and Esau. Then Jacob (who was renamed Israel) would have 12 sons who would become the 12 tribes of Israel. It was a great nation too. There were 600,000 descendents of Abraham who left Egypt at the Exodus, and 2,000,000 who crossed into the Promised Land. They did, indeed become a great nation.

God said “I will provide many descendents for you” and he did.

The third promise was “I WILL PROVIDE PROTECTION.” There is one story from today’s readings that stands out as a fulfillment of this promise.

The story is the one in which Isaac was offered to God. (You’ll find this story on the very bottom of page 19 of your STORY)

Some time later, the Bible tells us, God tested Abraham. He told Abraham to go sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. Being Abraham, when God said, “GO” Abraham went. As they drew near to the mount of sacrifice, Isaac asked, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place TheLord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

God said I will provide protection, and he did.

The final promise God made was “I will provide a purpose.” Genesis reads, “You will be a blessing to all the nations.” In other words, other nations will come to know me (God) through you. That is your purpose. God provides the purpose. The reason God provided a place, the reason God provided people , the reason God provided protection was so that this nation could fulfill its purpose: to be a blessing to all the world’s people.

Now looking back through our Christian lenses how different is that from “Go therefore into all the earth and preach the gospel?” It isn’t. This is a reminder that the God we are reading about in the Old Testament is the same God with the same purpose as the God we worship today. There is no “God of the Old Testament” and “God of the new testament. There is only a God of one purpose: to bring all creation back in perfect relationship with himself.

So what does it mean for us? We did the upper story and the lower story, what about our story? The big lesson is God provides. God provided for Abraham, for Isaac, for Jacob and all the nation of Israel. God will provide for us too.

But don’t get to comfortable. Lest you think that I am talking about God providing everything we want I need to correct that right now. God provides not what we want, but what we need in order to fulfill his purposes. God needed a whole bunch of people to live together faithfully in relationship with God so that the other nations would see that and turn to God. So God provided the place, the people, and protection in order to fulfill that purpose.

What about us? Some would have you believe that in this place we can’t compete against sports and all of the other activities and demands of modern life. Do you believe that? I hope not, because the truth is God has given us everything we need to share the gospel of Jesus with the people in the place God gave us. If you don’t believe me, ask the 80 people who come to LIGHT.

Some would have you believe that we don’t have enough people to do the work God wants us to do here in our church. Do you believe that? I hope not because the bottom line is God provides the people we need. Not one more, not one less; but exactly what we need. With that attitude, nominations has gone great this year.

Some would have you believe that we don’t have the prosperity to do God’s work. That we don’t have the money to do the things we need to do. Do you believe that? I hope not. There is plenty of prosperity in this church, as the old joke says; the problem is it is still in your pockets. We don’t have a problem of resources. We have a problem with faithful regular generosity.

Some would have you believe that we don’t have the energy to do what God has called us to do. You know what… even if you are 75 years old like Abraham, God is not asking you to pack up and hike across the desert. Maybe it is just a committee, maybe a class, maybe befriending a neighbor. There is no retirement age in the church. I believe that God has given us all the energy we need to be the people God wants us to be.

Do you believe that?

Do you believe what I am saying?
I can’t hear you…

I hope so.

AMEN

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[1] Genesis 12:2-3 New International Version (NIV)