12.30.2012 More than Resolutions for 2013

SermonAudio

Let’s pray…
This will be kind of a New Year’s message. We studied some stories from the life of Moses before Christmas – and now we are going to look at a few stories in the life of Abraham. Then we’ll probably find another Old Testament character before we get to our Easter series. We could probably spend months on Abraham, but we’ll look at a few key stories over the next few weeks.
Abraham’s life is a journey – that is what he does! He never ends up where he is supposed to end up – but this is a symbolic picture of his faith journey – as he physically travels around – we get a picture of how his life grows. This is a symbol to us of what it is like to walk with God. We’ll apply these principles to our faith journey so that our relationship with God can grow.
As we begin a new year – I’d like for us to see 2013 – to take this faith journey together – to make a commitment to grow in your faith journey. Think of a couple of things this year – questions to consider.
His name is originally Abram before God changes it – forgive me if I read it or say it wrong, I typically just say Abraham.
Genesis 11: 26 And Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. 27 Now these are [the records of] the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot. 28 And Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 And Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there. 32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran
Here is what is going on – you have Ur of the Chaldeans – In Genesis – symbolically, whenever anyone goes East, they are moving away from the Lord – And at this point – he is going west.
Genesis 4: 16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
And later on – they made novels and movies about East of Eden… but the point is this – going East – people are moving away from God – another example – Tower of Babel:
Genesis 11:1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 2 And it came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
We have a tendency to want to do things on our own. Most of the culture was heading east – the world is always moving east – but Abraham was heading west. That is the story of his life.
It started with Abraham’s father – they went to Haran and stopped there. Our journey of faith can stall. They had settled in this one city – and it is a symbol of us settling in the world – we get moving this journey of faith – we come to Christ, we want to grow –but then the daily stresses of the world – things happen – and as things happen, we stop – our tendency is to stop the journey – to not move forward – to not keep up with all that God has called us to.
We want to discover how we can move forward.
Gen. 12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
God says – It is time to move. Go from your country. Abraham has settled in the world – and it is time to leave that – time to leave what everyone else is doing – time to stop conforming to the culture – God calls us to be different. We are unique people We are called to be pleasing to Him. And the entire world is continually moving away from God.
Go from your country/relatives/father’s house – it is a growing commitment.
God is not calling Abraham into isolation – but he is calling him to be different – calling him into separation.
Our tendency is to conform.
This separation comes with a promise – I will make you a great nation – I will bless you!
Here is what I want to do to make this practical – here is Abraham – God wants him to make some serious commitments – we tend to think of commitments as things like losing weight – watching less TV, exercising more – I don’t want to guilt you – this is guilt free – but I want to challenge you by way of questions – Abraham is asked to make greater commitments.
How have you moved east? How have you, over the years, found yourself conforming? Come up with one way. Just one. Is there one way I have conformed to the way the dominant culture in this world is that doesn’t line up with my faith journey.
Here is how I would like you to do that – Allow God to reveal it to you. If you want to take this challenge – get alone with God this week – and don’t just go to the surface things – let God reveal to you how you are allowing yourself to conform. Give him the opportunity where you will listen.
Now, expect the unexpected. Yes, it can go like this – yes, I watch too much TV and waste time. But don’t stop there – let God speak to the deeper need. And you can expect him to point out some things you don’t expect. Then get specific – let God get real specific with you. Real resolutions that work are ones that are very specific. We have all gone on diets and ended them. It takes consistency and perseverance.
The reason I want to challenge you with this – we don’t know how much of our thinking comes directly from our culture – and how much it influences us.
John Dickson – Australian pastor – speaks at Alistair Begg’s conference:
We have this ailment of cultural citizenation. Let me explain –
“ailment of cultural "citizenization." Let me explain.

To a great extent we are all citizens of our time and place. I don't mean citizens in a national or ethnic sense---though this plays a part. I mean that the way we look at the world is shaped decisively by the key social influences in our lives, our family, education, income level, the friends we mix with, the suburb live in, the media we absorb, the Christian tribe we align with, and so on.

The process of "citizenization" is so subtle, yet so complete, that is difficult, if not impossible, for any of us to think objectively about our way of seeing reality---to discern which parts of our culture are true and good and which parts are accepted simply because we are accustomed to them.

One of the slightly disturbing things about being a student of history is coming across aspects of previous cultures that are shocking and horrible (by my standards) but which went virtually unnoticed at the time. In the first-century Roman world, we could think of slavery, infanticide, pederasty, and torture. I'm not primarily disturbed that first-century Romans failed to see this evil as evil; I'm concerned that my culture perhaps does equally horrible things that, because of my "citizenization," I cannot view clearly as sin.

If I were born in 19th-century Australia, would I really have thought twice about the fact that women and Aborigines were denied the vote? I like to think so, but I doubt it. Or if were brought up in 18th-century Britain, would I have seen anything wrong with the economically crucial trade in human lives? I fear not.
If we ponder this problem long enough, we are left with one of two conclusions about our contemporary culture. Either we have evolved to a point of cultural purity, where we have removed all blemishes of human society, or there are disturbing elements in our society that, because of our cultural position, we cannot see---elements that future generations will look back on the way I look back on 19th-century Australia, 18th-century, Britain or 1st-century Rome.”
There are blind spots – things that we practice that we don’t recognize are not good for us. I challenge you to get some time with God and allow Him to reveal one thing. Don’t make it a big guilt thing – it could become that.
Second – Abraham’s journey stalled in Haran.
The second – what do you need to start doing again? A positive – one thing that you need to start doing again to progress in your faith journey. Having a devotional time? Praying daily? Joining a small group? Journaling? Attending church faithfully?
Abraham was probably pretty wealthy – having flocks and servants – probably lived comfortably – and God says, Leave all of it. Leave and follow – like the call Jesus places on us – follow Me! And they left their fishing/business to follow Him. God is continually calling us to follow Him – it hasn’t stopped - it was a great step of faith
Heb. 11: 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Not knowing where he was going! He just left.
First – Again – one thing you’ve become like in the culture
Second – One thing you can start doing again that helps you grow
Third – one step of faith – maybe it is a step to get a relationship right that has been wrong for a long time. Maybe it is a step in gospel ministry – maybe reaching someone you have been working with for years that you’d like to influence for Christ. Allow God to direct you.
Now, Abraham’s story goes on:
Gen. 12: ; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
God is asking for a commitment. It is a big commitment – but those things are connected to blessings that God wants to give us. The blessings come when the commitment comes. God wants 2013 to be a year of blessing – God wants to bless us. You will become a great nation (Big) – and name great (small) – and all families on the earth will be blessed – and the journey requires leaving – a step of faith – starting activities over again.
You don’t advance in your career if you don’t take significant steps. Your marriage doesn’t grow without the commitment to making it grow. That is why we need to make the choices and decisions – so that we can experience the blessings God wishes to give us.
SO you can be a blessing to others.
God blesses us so we can bless others – God blessed Abraham for the purpose of blessing the world.
For Abraham – the blessing was very physical – it was land – but that is not for us. This blessing is not about a comfortable lifestyle – The disciples said – we have left everything! It is not about this world.
Final point – 2013 is the year where God truly wants to bless us and work on your behalf in your life – Abraham had to believe that in order to step out and leave everything – and you will not make steps forward in your faith journey if you don’t believe that. That is foundational. What we will see with Abraham – because of his faith, God wanted to reward and bless Him.


7 And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. 8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.