Faith

Genesis 12:1-4

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”^[

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Abraham is the father of us all (Romans 4:16), the model for all who will live by faith (Galatians 3:7). But what does it mean to live by faith?  Sometimes faith seems so vague and ethereal, but the life and actions of Abraham give us some clarity and definition.  The first of those faith-defining actions is our very first encounter with Abraham, when God called him to leave Ur and his father’s house in order to follow God and to inherit the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant.  We hear God beginning the conversation in Genesis 12:1.

“Go from…”

God’s call to Abram was a call to depart, to leave behind.  What did God call Abram to abandon?

• Your country. Your native soil, people who speak your native tongue, and all the familiar people and places you have grown up with and ever known. People choose to die to defend their homes and their homelands.  But God calls Abram to leave behind his country.
• Your kindred. Extended family.  The traditions and rhythms that give you a settled sense of identity and familiarity. God calls Abram to leave them all behind.
• Your father’s house. What is so dear to people as home?  How many movies, songs and sentimental stories have been written about going home?  Going home for Christmas.  Going home after traveling abroad.  Going home after serving in the armed forces.  And God calls Abram to leave his father’s house behind him.

“Go to…”

God’s call to Abram was a call to go to a land that God would show him.  In other words, Abram is called to leave all that is fondly familiar to go to an unnamed and unknown destination.  God says He is not even going to reveal to Abram where he is headed before he must leave everything behind. This is truly a leap into the unknown, a step of faith.

Why go? Not because Abram can do a rational, cost-benefit analysis on the outcome of the choice.  He knows what it will cost him, but he doesn’t know what the potential reward is; he simply doesn’t know where he is being asked to go. Why go?  Just because it is God who is calling him.

“And I will bless you…”

Four times God says He will bless Abram.  God promises to make his posterity develop into an entire nation.  God promises to bless Abram personally and to give him a lasting reputation.  God promises that His blessing on Abram will not only have personal, local and national implications, but it will be global in its reach.  Blessings indeed!

God calls Abram to obey Him.

What is God calling Abram to do, as He calls him to go from and to go to?  God calls Abram to obey him.  The call is clear and specific.  There is nothing indistinct or fuzzy in God’s word.  Abram faces a simple choice of whether to obey God or to disobey.  Will he go or will he stay?  Will he go and obey?

God calls Abram to trust Him.

God’s call to Abram is not only a call to obedience, but it is also a call to faith.  Abram, you can’t see your destination; you can’t see where you are going.  In fact, Abram, you can’t even know your destination.  God isn’t going to tell you where you’re headed. You must go in faith, trusting God when you cannot see your way.  This won’t be easy, either the leaving or the going.

Now, Abram what will you do?

“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him…”

And the rest is history.  Millennia later, we find that God’s promises to Abraham are all true.  Abram is the father of several nations that still exist and prosper today. His name is claimed and revered, even to this present day. His spiritual legacy is honored by millions.  And through him and his posterity came a Savior who would rescue humanity and reconcile men and women to God.

God is still calling today, calling you and I to faith in Him.  What is He calling you to leave behind?  Where is He calling you to go?  How is He calling you to obey Him?  Where is He calling you to trust Him, going where you cannot see?  And how is He promising to bless you, if you will just trust and obey Him?

Mark 6:1-6

Jesus begins his ministry.  He teaches, like no one has ever taught before (Mk. 1:22). He heals and casts out demons and performs unprecedented mighty works (Mk. 1:27).

The public response is overwhelming.  People come from everywhere, and they come in great numbers to hear him and to see his works for themselves.

• 1:28 – “his fame spread everywhere”
• 1:32 – “the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons.”
• 1:48 – “Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.”
• 2:12 – “they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’”
• 3:20 – “Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat.”
• 5:20 – “everyone marveled”
• 5:24 – “And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.”

And then Jesus comes home, back to Nazareth.  What a happy occasion! The hometown hero returns! Now his neighbors and friends can congratulate him personally and hear his remarkable teaching for themselves.  Now they too can witness the miracles done by the hand of Jesus.

So Jesus starts teaching (Mk. 6:2), and the result is sheer astonishment on the part of the hearers.  But the flavor of the astonishment is bitter, and it is played in a minor key.  It is a cold, questioning (note the 5 questions in v. 2-3), defensive response to Jesus.  Listen to them, “Where? What? How?” It is as if they were asking, “ Who does Jesus think he is?  Where did all his specialness come from? He can’t pull this over on us; we know him better than anyone.  Ultimately, he is just a carpenter.  There is nothing extraordinary about him.”

Yet his wisdom is unmistakable (“What is the wisdom given to Him?”).  His works are undeniable (“How are such mighty works done by his hands?”). This could only come from God. These are the obvious conclusions from what everyone can hear and see.

But the hometown folks do not accept His divine authority, let alone His divine origin, because they will not believe.  And the Healer will not heal people who question His identity, authority and person. Jesus is stopped cold; “he could do no mighty work there.” The sick could have been healed, but they remain sick. The lame could have walked home, but they hobble away. Sins could have been forgiven, but the burden and the guilt remains.

And what could we see Jesus do, if we would just take Him at his word? What would Jesus do in our lives, if we would just think about what He has said and what He has done and reason from the evidence of His divinity, power and faithfulness to the obvious conclusions of who He really is? What might Jesus do in your life, in your family, in your church, in your neighborhood if you will just believe in Jesus, the Son of God?

Are you praying for and waiting for Jesus to act, when in reality He is just waiting for you to believe Him? Don’t stop Jesus cold;  He is ready to perform His mighty works in you and for you. He is eagerly looking for your faith (“when Jesus saw their faith, he said…” Mk. 2:5) so that He can proceed to work His mighty works.

Let it be done for you as you have believed.   (Mt. 8:13)

Acts 1:7

We have many, many questions. And there are not enough answers. We live with unknowns and uncertainty.

Will I marry? Whom? What is ultimately meaningful? What should my career be? Should we have children? Will I get cancer? Are we headed for political or economic doom?

The disciples of Jesus had pressing and urgent questions for Jesus in the few moments remaining before he left them for good. Is it now? Is now the time that the long-anticipated kingdom will be restored to the nation of Israel? Isn’t this why you, the Messiah, came? Haven’t you come to restore justice and to relieve the nation of Israel from Roman oppression?

But Jesus did not give a clear answer to their burning questions. “It is not for you to know.”

Jesus says we are not to know when He will return, what time and date the Father has selected for this glad event. It would not be good for us to know. We might be tempted to abuse the grace of God and delay repentance until just before He comes back. Jesus wants us to live watching, trusting, praying, seeking Him until He returns for His own.

And more broadly, we want to know things and times and explanations that God does not intend for us to know. But we want to know, for knowing gives us the illusion of control. Nothing new here. In the garden, the serpent tempted Eve by saying “…you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” To know is to be like God, to rival God Himself. God is the one who knows all and all things. And God is the one who controls all and all things. For God there are no unanswered questions, no mysteries, no paradoxes and no ambiguities.

But Jesus says, “It is not for you to know.” Or as Moses once said, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God.” Some of our questions must remain unanswered. Let God be God. Learn to be human, and trust God in your finiteness and limitations and knowledge with boundaries. God made you for this. He wants you to trust Him where you do not and cannot know (Proverbs 3:5). Trust Him where you cannot see. Trust God in the dark (Psalm 139:12).

Faith in God will take you where your limited knowledge cannot. It is not for you to know.