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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