Summer Fruit: The Loquat of Love

June 28, 2015

Summer Fruit: The Loquat of Love

1Corinthians 13                                     Notes Not Edited (I played with my grandson instead)

SIS—Love is the very essence of Christianity defined by the very character of God and demonstrated by the actions of His Son.

I am sure you have heard the phrase, “elephant in the room.”  This refers to an issue so big it cannot be avoided in a conversation.  As we have a conversation this morning, “there’s an elephant in the room.”  That elephant is the SCOTUS—Supreme Court of the United States.  Particularly, this elephant refers to two landmark decisions this week.  The first dealt with a part of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that states people can receive subsidies from the Federal Exchange if they register through exchanges set up by the states.  Thirty-seven states or so did not set up exchanges and people applied for healthcare subsidies through the Federal Exchange—anywhere from 6 to 10 million people depending on what you read.  In a nutshell the SCOTUS majority argued, and I paraphrase, “Well, the law was not written properly so we are going to fix it.”  Sounds innocent enough.  However, the SCOTUS doesn’t have constitutional power to make or fix laws.  That’s what “kings and potentates” do.  We live in a Republic.  The second decision is even more monumental.  The SCOTUS dug deep into the Constitution (Article 14) and found a “natural” right for homosexuals to marry.  That’s now the law of the land in all fifty states.  Basically—and again I paraphrase—the majority on the Court argued that people have a right to marry whomever they love.  As much as my philosophical mind would love to tackle these two wayward ex cathedra announcements from the high and not so mighty court, I want to talk about one word that has surfaced hundreds of times on blogs and other media.  That word is “love.”

The court mentioned in their majority decision the natural right to “marry whomever you love.”  Setting aside the obvious irony of associating “natural” with the practice of homosexual behavior consider the controverted application of the word, “love.”  Even if the justices were right—and they are not—what does “love” mean anyway.

Here’s another use of the word love I’ve seen many Christians use in the context of this decision by the Court.  “We must hate the sin but love the sinner.”  That’s a cliché that floats around Christian discussions fairly regularly.  It’s a good cliché, but it is bad theology.  Nothing like this phrase ever appears anywhere in the Bible.  In fact, many verses say just the opposite.  Listen to the words of the Psalmist as just one example (Ps. 5:5):

The boastful cannot stand in Your presence;

You hate all evildoers.

Notice it doesn’t say:  “You hate the evil men do.”  It doesn’t say, “You hate the evil, but love the doer.”  We might hope that it had said that.  We might find some “loophole of love” if it did say that—but it clearly does not say, “God hates the sin but love the sinner.”  If you are an unrepentant, rebellious person who persists in practicing whatever behavior you feel like practicing, without any consideration of God’s law—much less any remorse for your behavior—the Bible clearly says, “God hates you.”

That’s shocking because we think of love and hate as two opposite virtues.  In regard to man, this is true.  In regard to God, this is false.  Saying, “God hates sinners” or saying “God loves sinners” are two ways of saying the same thing.  God is indivisible.  God’s virtues are inseparable.  What seems like a contradiction to man is simply the paradox of God’s nature.  We cannot resolve this paradox.  We must accept it.

The crux of the problem with applying God’s love to unrepentant sinners stems from misunderstanding the meaning of love.  When we want to get the definition of a word we look in a dictionary.  When we need to understand the meaning of a word, like love, we must look in the Bible.  So, let’s look at the Word of God and see what God says about the meaning (and operation) of “true love,” or real love.

READ 1CORINTHIANS 13.  True love has three primary aspects.

1.  True Love is PREEMINENT (1-3)

Now, that’s a very important word.  Well, love is a very important virtue.  Love is a big virtue that cannot be described in a small word.  It requires a big word like, “preeminent.”  Preeminent means, “surpassing all others.”  Love surpasses all other virtues.  We read:

 ¹If I speak human or angelic languages but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

It is important to note here that Greek had five primary words corresponding to our word, love.  The three most common are eros, phileo, and agape (and there various forms).  Eros was a favorite of classical Greek poets and writers.  It describes sensual, sexual, or romantic love.  Popular among the Greeks, it does not appear in the N.T.  Phileo roughly conforms to our idea of brotherly love or deep friendship.  It is used in the N.T. on several occasions.  Agape was not favored among the Greeks.  It was viewed as a cold, emotional commitment to the welfare of another—not high on the classical ladder of virtue.  Yet, it became the word of choice to describe the true form of love that derives from the character of God.  If I had to describe agape in a few words I would say it is “sacrificial love.”  Love that gives expecting nothing in return. 

It is that kind of love that has a place of preeminence in the economy of God.  Agape love is more than a simple virtue.  It represents the very character of God Himself.  The Bible says succinctly, “God is love (agape)” (1Jn. 4:8).  Biblical love, true love, is more than what God does. It is His very nature. 

Love is the very foundation of the gospel of salvation. It is the very foundation of all creation. God created the world (and all that’s in it) out of a desire to “love it” (Ps. 145:9). He reclaimed the fallen world (and everything in it) driven by His love (Jn. 3:16). Love is the very summation of the entire Law of God (Mat. 22:38-39). Love isn’t something God does. It isn’t how He acts. Love is the very nature of God, Himself (1Jn. 4:8). The Bible is not understandable unless every verse is read and interpreted wearing the lenses of love. Even justice and wrath cannot be understood without understanding love. Love is to life what water is to a fish. A fish is in water and water flows through the fish. The fish cannot be separated from the water any more than God (and man) can be understood apart from love. Since love is eternal, even when one gains the fullest measure of understanding of it, his ignorance of it will be infinite. Love is listed first in the fruits of the Spirit because of its preeminence over all other virtues.  Nothing is more important or more powerful than true love.

2.  True love is PRACTICAL (4-7)

True love is not an idea.  It is an action.  For love to be love it must be applied.  One must “do” something in order to demonstrate biblical love.  The only kind of love the Bible knows as real love is “love in action.”  Love begins with the character of God and ends in the actions of His people.  Real love, “is love in action.”  Look at Jn. 3:16

“For God loved  the world in this way: 
He gave His One and Only  Son.

God loved and He gave. True love is love in action.  We express our love to God in large part by expressing God’s love to our neighbors.  Look how Jesus connects these two aspects:

^{Mat. 22     37} He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  ^{t 38} This is the greatest and most important  command. ³⁹ The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Love is “practical,” not philosophical.  I think far too many Christians miss the mark of the Great Commandment by a mile because their love is not much more than an idea.  Paul in this great passage gives us a “checklist” of sorts by which we can evaluate our “love level.”  Let’s check our “love levels” as we scan verses 3-7.

^4a Love is patient.  Am I patient?  This aspect of love is not as easy as some might think.  Literally you could expand this word to mean, “Love remains steady when someone pushes you to the boiling point.” The word translated, patient (HCSB), is actually coined from two words and literally means “great explosion” or could mean “great suffering,” which is why the KJV translates this phrase, “Love suffereth long.”  The word here can refer to any kind of violent movement like a tornado or a volcano.  Has someone ever irritated you so much that you were ready to “spew wrath upon them like a volcano?”  If you don’t, then you are patient.

^4bLove is kind.  Am I kind to others?  Someone helped us evaluate this aspect of love by submitting the following proposal:  "If someone were to pay us ten cents for every kind word we’ve ever spoken about people, and then take back five cents for every unkind word we’ve ever spoken about people, would we be poor or rich?”  I’m afraid that many would find themselves in the poorhouse of kindness.  We can so easily recognize when others are unkind to us, but often we blind, deaf, and mute when it comes to be kind to others.

^4cLove does not envy.  Jealousy will eat away at love like an acid.  We cannot love others if we resent who they are or what they might have.  Jealousy or envy is love turned wrong-side-out.  There is nothing at all wrong with admiring somebody that has had some great fortune befall them or if the possess some great skill.  Admiration is not envy.  There are many people who have skills that I don’t possess and I admire them greatly.

I think of a great juggler I read about this week.  He had finished an early show in one city and had a later show in a nearby city.  The schedule was tight so he was driving a little too fast on the highway.  Sure enough, a Highway Patrolman pulled him over. When the Deputy asked the driver why he was speeding, the driver answered that he was a magician and a juggler and he was on his way to Branson to do a show that night and didn't want to be late.

The deputy told the driver he was fascinated by juggling, and if the driver would do a little juggling for him that he wouldn't give him a ticket. The juggler told the deputy that he had sent all of his equipment on ahead and didn't have anything to juggle. The deputy told him that he had some flares in the trunk of his squad car and asked if he could juggle them.  The juggler stated that he could, so the deputy got three flares, lit them and handed them to the juggler.

While the man was doing his juggling act, a car pulled in behind the squad car, a drunk got out and watched the performance briefly.  He had been pulled over for drunk driving many times and failed many field sobriety tests.  Oddly, he then went over to the squad car, opened the rear door and got in.  The deputy observed this puzzling behavior.  The patrolman went over to his squad car, opened the door and asked the drunk but polite man what he was doing. The obviously drunk driver replied politely, "Might as well haul me off to jail, there’s no way on earth I’m going to pass that sobriety test."

Love does not envy others, but admires the skills others might have and appreciates the good fortune that comes to others.  Do you love enough not to envy others?

^4d[Love] is not boastful.  Do you measure people by your standards?  Of course, many people do just that but they fool themselves into thinking they are really just applying God’s standards to others.  Think about those that struggle with the sin of homosexuality.  As someone that does not face this temptation, it would be easy for me to say like the religious Pharisee, “Thank you Lord that I am not like that horrible homosexual”.  The problem with that is, according to Luke 18, you are not only as bad as that homosexual but your sin is compounded by your pride.  Love does not grade other people who miss God’s standard. Love “speaks the truth” with humility in hopes of lifting others to the standards God has set—not some prideful standard we have set ourselves.

 ^4e [Love] is not conceited.  The great Roman orator, Cicero, once gave a grand speech in Pompey.  After he stepped down from the speaker’s platform, he said to a contemporary named Atticus, “Good heavens how I showed myself off” (Pulpit Comm).  Love isn’t a show off.  Love doesn’t toot its own horn.  Conceit focuses love inward and nothing is left for anybody else.  It’s not about me—it’s about others.

^5a [Love] does not act improperly.  What could be a more practical way to demonstrate your love than to “show good manners.”  Love is not vulgar or off-color.  Literally, to act improperly means to act “without shape.”  It refers to no standard of decency.  Do I always act with a well-mannered, G-rated attitude toward others.

^5b [Love] is not selfish.  1Cor. 10:24 reminds us,  No one should seek his own good, but the good of the other person.  Once again this reminds us that true love always sends blessing outward to others.

^5c[Love] is not provoked.  This closely aligns with the aspect of patience.  Love rises above the natural tendency to lash out at others even if we feel justified in doing so.  It uses different language from paitience to once again remind us that our obligation to love can be sorely tested by difficult people.

^5d[Love] does not keep a record of wrongs. The ESV reads, “is not resentful.”  You have heard that the Lord calls upon us to “forgive and forget.”  This is the “forget” part.  You will never truly love someone else if you keep a logbook of their failures.  You will become “resentful” that leads to bitterness.  Bitterness is to love like spraying Round-Up on weeds.  The love will wither and die.

^6a Love finds no joy in unrighteousness.  Have you been driving on the freeway and someone zooms past you twenty mph over the speed limit.  As he blasts by you do you secretly hope to see him pulled over to the side of the road with a police car parked behind him?  That’s “finding joy in someone else’s sin.”  Sure, he deserved it.  He’s the one who sinned.  No. Seeing others—even our enemies—suffering because of the consequences of sin should break our hears.

^6bBut [Love] rejoices in the truth.  We should never rejoice over the plight of a sinner, but we should acknowledge the power of truth and rejoice that ultimately God’s Truth, God’s Law, God’s purpose will prevail. We should long to see more and more people “embracing the truth of God’s Word.”  True love must rest solidly on a foundation of God’s Truth.  Anything less than that standard in a relationship is not love, but mere sentimentality.  It has no eternal value.

Verse 7 really serves as a poetic summation of the practicality of Godly love:  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.   True love is powerful, principled, and positive.  Powerful in what it can bear.  Principled in what it believes; and positive with the hope that the last chapter of God’s Book declares His people the winners!

Now verses 4 through 7 can help you when you wonder:  “are my actions loving?”  Am I patient, kind, humble and the rest?  Then, you are fulfilling the Great Commandment to “love your neighbor.”

Even the famous and profitable, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Company, proves that true love means, “love in action.”  The liberal leaning leaders founders of the mega-business have always loved the homosexual agenda.  There love isn’t mere sentimentality, or a lofty philosophy.  They show it by their actions.  When the Supreme Court declared homosexual marriage legal in all states, Ben and Jerry’s renamed and repackaged their chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Here’s the “scope” from an article on MSN.com: The company renamed it, "I dough, I dough," on Friday to celebrate the Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage. A bevy of other companies -- like Southwest Airlines and Target -- tweeted their celebrations as well.

True love is preeminent.  True love is practical.

3.  True love is PERMANENT (8-13)

⁸“Love never ends.”. . .

¹³Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is love.

Let me give you a cliché to apply to this present situation created by the SCOTUS:  “The real Supreme Court of the Universe is not in Washington!”  All the hoopla and celebration of those praising the SCOTUS decision legalizing homosexual marriage will be short-lived.  Ben and Jerry’s new ice cream praising homosexual marriage will melt quickly in the fire of God’s judgment.

Even the president bedecked the White House in the Rainbow Colors associated with the homosexual movement.  There were parties and celebrations in the streets.  Homosexual love has finally gained equal footing in our nation—at least in a legal sense.  Many found a reason for rejoicing.  But, the celebration won’t last.

Homosexual love will not last.  One year from now.  Ten years from now, 100 years from now, or however long Yahweh delays His coming, but sometime for sure, God will sit as the Chief Justice of the Eternal Supreme Court and as a majority of One declare:  “Homosexual marriage is a violation of my eternal law and I sentence you to eternal punishment in hell forever.” 

Does that sound harsh?  Does that sound UN-loving?  I suppose if one does not understand what true love is, that does sound harsh and unloving.  But, that is the truth.  Which is more loving—to know this truth and not warn others to flee while there is still time, or to share this truth from a heart that truly loves the souls of men and women so they can receive God’s love and avoid God’s wrath?  If one is truly honest, one must agree that the only “loving” act would be to warn others and plead with them to repent of sin—any sin, every sin, sinfulness—and fall into the arms of a God Who truly loves them. 

Yahweh, the very ground of Being and One who defines what love really is, has declared His own angst over the fate of those that reject His love.  Yahweh, declares (2Pet 3:9): 

⁹ The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

God does love homosexuals in the same way that He loves all sinners.  he died so homosexuals could be free from their sin, free from His coming wrath, and free to fall into His loving embrace.  God proves His love by His actions, as Paul records:

^{Rom 5:8} But God proves  His own love for us  in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!

As we think of the Fruit of the Spirit, we see that love is number one.  It is preeminent.  All other fruit in this basket of the Spirit flow out of the Loquat of Love.  I had not anticipated, nor could I have anticipated, that as I began this series with the Fruit of Love, the Supreme Court would legitimize homosexual love with a decision from their bench.  I am sad because this was the death blow to our nation.  We have lost more in this one decision than we can imagine.  We have dipped the beautiful flower of the virtue of love into the excrement of human erudition.  Love, from a worldly perspective, no longer means much—if it ever did.

The question for God’s people is this:  what do we do?  The answer requires only one word, “love.”  We continue to love the lost world, not with the shallow sentimentality or twisted notions of love that the world has, but with a love that showers forth from God, Himself, the Source and definition of love.

As I contemplate my remaining ministry in the context of a quickly decaying country, a country that now fully embraces what God calls an “abomination,” these words from a great preacher guide me:

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”—Charles Haddon Spurgeon

There is nothing more powerful than love.  Let’s make sure that the “Loquat of Love” is one of the spiritual fruits in our basket.

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Journey Off the Map!

June 21, 2015

Journey Off the Map                 FOR GRAMMAR POLICE:  NOTES NOT EDITED :)

Hebrews 11:8-10

SIS—Life is a great adventure that will take you to great places but requires great faith.

When we get out of our comfort zones and out on the road, there is no telling what adventures we might have--like the guy driving down the highway to spend a few days relaxing at the lake.  He had been driving for about an hour when he say a guy on the side of the road dressed from head to toe in a red outfit.  The man in red was gesturing for the man to stop his car.  The driver was a bit reluctant but it looked like the man in red needed help so the man stopped his car.  The guy rolled down his window and said, “Can I help you?”  The man in a gruff voice yelled back, “I’m the red jerk of the highway. You got anything to eat?”  Well the driver had packed a lunch and reached into his bag to get a sandwich.  He handed the man in red a sandwich and drove on.  Not five minutes later, the driver saw another man on the side of the road gesturing for him to stop.  This man was dressed from head to toe in green.  A bit irrated this time, the driver pulled over, rolled his window down, and said, “Sir, what can I do for you?”  The man in green said, “I’m the green jerk of the highway.  You got something to drink?”  The driver, hardly managing a smile, reached into his cooler.  He got a Coke and handed to the guy in green.  He drives off.  It is getting a bit late now and the guy wanted to reach the lake before dark so he pushed on the gas to go faster and decided not to stop no matter what.  It wasn’t but a few miles when the driver sees a man dressed all in blue standing by the side of the road waving for the driver to pull over. The driver was really irritated but pulled over anyway.  He rolled down the window and shouted to the man dressed in blue, “I guess you are the blue jerk of the highway.  What in the world do you want?”  The man in blue replied politely, “Driver’s license and registration, please.”

Well, that just goes to show you that you never know what you might find around the next bend in this adventure we call life.  Life is a great adventure that will take you to great places but requires great faith.  Let’s read about a man called, Abraham, who took a “Journey Off the Map.” 

Hebrews 11:8-10.  This journey requires faith that has three aspects.

1.  Faith Involves Risk (v8)

One phrase is particularly striking to me in verse 8:  “obeyed and went out.”  There is such economy and precision in these words with regard to faith.  First and foremost, faith requires action.  When God called Abraham, Abraham did not respond by thinking a big thought, or having a deep experience—Abraham responded to the call of God with action.

In English, faith is a noun.  A noun describes a person, place, or thing.  Nouns are static.  Grammatically they just sit there like syntactical robots waiting for further programming.  In Greek, “faith,” has both noun forms and verb forms.  Faith is not only something one possesses, such as “have faith,” but something someone does.  The word translated “faith” is also translated “believe.”  In English, believing is something associated with an “idea,” not an “action.”  Faith or belief in the Bible is something more.  Bible faith involves “action,” not just “thinking.” 

Throughout this passage we see the phrase, “by faith.”  Each time throughout this passage faith is linked to some kind of action.  With Abel faith is demonstrated by his sacrifice. Enoch demonstrated his faith by taking walks with God.  Noah showed his faith by building a boat.  Sarah, Abrahams wife, displayed the greatest act of faith among them all:  “by faith Sarah had a baby!” (v.11). 

The chapter goes on to describe the actions of many others always connecting their actions with their faith.  Faith without obedience is not faith, it’s just an idea.

In verse 8 we see that Abraham, “by faith obeyed and went out.”  Let’s look for a moment at the words “went out.” 

Faith requires obedience.  Obedience often involves risk.  Let’s go back to the place that Hebrews is referring to in the life of Abraham.  Genesis 12:1-6 describes the faithful obedience of Abraham:

The Lord said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. ⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.  ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people he had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem, at the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

First, we need to understand that this was no weekend jaunt to the beach.  This would be equivalent to one of us packing up everything we have and moving to a foreign country.  A geography teacher on the internet gave this calculation of Abraham’s travel’s from Haran:  The direct distance between the areas is about 550 miles (between modern day Baghdad, Iraq and Tel Aviv, Israel) however, the travel path followed the Euphrates River for quite a distance to the northwest prior to turning southwest so the real distance would be about 800-900 miles.  This was a long, dangerous trip and Abraham’s caravan was loaded heavily.  From verse 5 and other places speaking of Abraham, we know he was quite wealthy and had accumulated many possessions.  In a word Abraham’s life could be described as “comfortable.”  It could also be described as “predictable,” and “safe.”  Abraham’s faith required he leave his “comfortable, predictable, and safe” life.

Notice a second issue in verse 5 that the Bible tells us that Abraham would eventually wind up in the land of the “Canaanites.”  The Canaanites were a warring, pagan people who would be one of the arch-enemies that Israel would have to fight to possess the land.  They were a negative influence for Israel which was the cause for much of Israel’s troubles in the days after the Conquest of Canaan.

Before I get back to our text in Hebrews 11, there is a third issue I want to highlight in Abraham’s act of faith.  Notice in verse 4 that Abraham was 75 years old when God called Him to make this major move to a foreign country.  At a time we normally expect to relax and enjoy the fruit of our Social Security, Abraham was starting all over!

Let me recap what it cost Abraham to obey God.  He had to give up comfort and security.  He would have to face an enemy that was hostile and pagan.  And, he would have to do this all as an old man.

Keep that in mind and go back with me to Hebrews 11:8 that says,

Abraham “obeyed and went out.”

If we want to experience life as a “Journey Off the Map with Jesus” we have to “move out from our places of safety and security.”  We have to crawl out from under our cozy blanket of status quo and step out into the cold of Christian service.  A life of faith involves “risk.”  We cannot avoid risk when we set out on an adventure.  The very word, “adventure,” implies risk.  We cannot always know all the consequences of our obedience before we act.  Notice verse 8 says:  “He went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Anytime we venture “out” (mentioned twice in verse 8) we take a risk.  Just consider the risk you take every time you merge onto a California freeway.  You never know what you will face.  I remember reading this week about an elderly gentleman driving on a California freeway when he received a frantic call on his car phone.  It was his wife.  With a sense of urgency in her voice she said, “Herman, I just heard on the news that there is a car going the wrong way on the 101 Freeway.  Please be careful.”  Herman replied excitedly, “Margaret, it’s not just one car but there are hundreds of them!”

All living involves risk.  Living a life that is an adventure of faith will certainly require you to take risks.  God may ask you to do something without sharing all the details and outcomes with you before He asks you to do it. Obedience rests on faith, not knowledge.  Abraham didn’t act based upon “what” he knew, but based upon “Who” he knew.

A Journey of the Map with Jesus requires faith, and faith involves risk.

2.  Faith Also Involves Resources  Verse 9 is exciting.  It says,

9 By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise.

This verse mentions in two different ways that God will give us all the resources we need as we “Journey Off the Map with Jesus.”  First, God will give us all the “provisions” we need in life.  Notice that the place Abraham dwelled is called, “the land of promise.”  Don’t just skip over that word, “promise.”  Notice that God’s provisions were not only something Abraham hoped to gain in the future, but they were provisions he was experiencing every day of his life.  The Bible declares that Abraham, “stayed,” or “sojourned” (KJV) in a foreign land.  The word means to “take of residence.”  But, Abraham was not “living off the land,” as we like to say, but he was “living off the promise.”  Nothing is more satisfying than to know God has “promised” to meet our every need.  We normally think of a promise as something that hasn’t happened yet.  The Bible speaks of “promises” as a “present possession.”  The Bible says, (2Cor. 1:20):

For every one of God’s promises  is “Yes” in Him [ei. Christ].

I like how the New Living Translation brings out the meaning of that verse:  For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!”

The entire Old Testament is really a story of how God cares for His creatures and His creation by making available any and all “provisions” that are needed.  King David made this declaration in regard to the “provisions” God gives us as resources for our journey:

Ps. 37:25  I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging for bread.

Many years ago one of my professors, I believe it was Dr. Hyatt, one of my O.T. professors, said, “Students remember this—where God guides, He has promised to provide.”  I’ve never forgotten that word of encouragement and I’ve watched God do just that over my four decades of ministry.  That doesn’t mean God will give you all you “want,” but only that God will give you all you “need.”

There are more resources than just physical provisions.  Notice the second half of verse 9:  living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise.

Not only does God give us the “provisions” we need, but he gives us “partners” for the journey.  Christianity is a team sport.  God does not intend for us to be “Lone Rangers.”  The very nature of God, the Trinity, teaches us that “community” is a reflection of the very character of God.  No single person is called “the Body of Christ.”  When God chose a body for His Spirit on earth, He instituted the Church.  We are not only brothers and sister by the blood of Christ that flows in our lives, but we are “partners” in this “Journey Off the Map.”  We need each other.  A body part that gets disconnected quickly begins to die and decay—and, they also start to stink, but that’s another sermon.

The faith we need to “Journey Off the Map with Jesus” involves unavoidable risks and unfailing resources.  Faith also involves

3.  Great Rewards Verse 10 really hits my joy button.  It says,

For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations,
whose architect and builder is God.

Abraham didn’t know where he was headed, but he knew where he would end up.  We don’t always know what our next step will be, but we know what our last step will be—stepping across the threshold into Heaven!

What makes an adventure so, well “adventurous?”  What drives people to explore the unknown, whether it is six miles deep in the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean, or launching out into outer space?  Explorers or adventurers are driven by “expectation.”  Adventurers live to discover what is around the next bend in the road.

Risk-takers take risks in hope of some reward.

Abraham was no different.  He didn’t know all the risks his obedience would set before him.  Abraham didn’t have a complete and certain knowledge of all that would transpire as he packed up his family and his stuff and set off into the horizon.  He could not calculate every step of his journey—but he was absolutely sure of his destination!  Heaven—“the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God!”

As I write these words, tears blur my vision.  I have such a good life.  I cherish each and every moment—or, at least I try to.  Yet, there is something deep within every believer that constantly reminds us all that this world is not our home.  There’s an old foot-stompin’, hand-clappin’ gospel song we used to sing that speaks of the Christian’s longing for heaven:

This world is not my home // I'm just a-passing through

My treasures are laid up // Somewhere beyond the blue.

The angels beckon me // From heaven's open door

And I can't feel at home // In this world anymore.

Chorus:

Oh Lord, you know // I have no friend like you

If heaven's not my home // Then Lord what will I do.

The angels beckon me // From heaven's open door

And I can't feel at home // In this world anymore.

I have a loving mother // Just up in Gloryland

And I don't expect to stop // Until I shake her hand.

She's waiting now for me // In heaven's open door

And I can't feel at home // In this world anymore.

Friends, God has been honest with us.  Through the lives of Abraham and many others God has shown us that life can be a great adventure, but that adventure will not come without great risks.  God has demonstrated for generations since Adam that the great adventure of faith will have God’s guarantee of great resources.  Then, when our “Journey Off the Map” rounds the final bend we will see that faith also involves great rewards.

Let’s join God in a great journey of faith—“A Journey Off the Map.”  Let’s crawl out from under our security blankets and launch out to so something grand and glorious with Our Dear Lord.  If you are not experiencing life that is an adventure, then why not get started on a “Journey Off the Map” with Jesus, today.

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