March 16, 2003
A sermon by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma
75 years old! That's how old Abraham is when his story begins. We know little about him at the time God calls him. I don't know what goes through a person's mind at seventy-five years of age. Though there are exceptions to the rule, I would guess that most people feel like they have sung their song and that their best days are behind them. It's time to slow down, kick back and rest on your laurels.
And that may have been Abraham's plan, but it isn't God's plan. As far as God is concerned Abraham's life is just beginning. Of course that's hard for us to imagine in our age-biased society when people declare that our useful life is over at fifty. But God's take on life is a lot different than ours. From God's perspective, the most important things we do may well occur later in life rather than earlier. In any case, that is absolutely true for Abraham. At age seventy-five Abraham is called out on a mission. God says, "Go from your country and your kindred to a land which I will show you." And God adds a promise, "I will make you a great nation. Through you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." And Abraham trusts God's promise and ventures out. So, the whole story of Abraham is a story of faith: God makes a promise and Abraham trusts in it and all the people of the earth are blessed.
And we see his faith expressed in this strange process of Abraham building altars from one end of the land of Israel to the other. When Abraham arrives at Shechem, about a third of the way through the country that would become Israel, God declares that this is the land that God will give him. It must have been a real stretch to believe that, because the land was occupied by another race of people. The numbers in Abraham's family were nothing compared to the population of the Canaanites. But Abraham believes what God says rather than what his eyes see. It didn't make any difference how things appeared. He trusted that what God said would prevail. And at Shechem he constructs an altar as a witness to his faith in God's promise.
Next, Abraham journeys another twenty miles south to a town named Bethel and builds another altar as a symbol of his faith that God would give him the gift of this land. Genesis 12:8 says that "he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord."
Finally, many years later even further south Abraham builds an altar that is his greatest testimony to his trust that God would make of him a great nation. On Mt. Moriah in the area of Jerusalem he builds an altar on which to sacrifice his only son Isaac. It makes no sense. How can he possibly become a great nation if he has no heir? But God has asked it, and he is willing to do whatever God asks. Once again, the altar is a witness to his faith that God can do what God says even if we don't see how it is possible.
No doubt about it, Abraham was a man of tremendous faith. He deserves the title of the "father of all the faithful." The altars he built and his faithful actions stand as monuments to his faith that God will always do as God promises. But that faith did not spring up over night. It developed as it was tested by the difficulties of life. As with us, there were moments in which he falters. There are moments when his faith wavers.
1. Not long after God reveals to Abraham the land that he has promised, a famine occurs in the land. Rather than endure in God's promise that this is his land and that God will provide, Abraham flees south to Egypt where there is the promise of an abundance of food. His decision, of course, proves to be a disaster as is usually the case when we trust in ourselves rather than in God.
2. And this isn't the end of Abraham's faltering. When Abraham returns to the promised land, God reaffirms his promise. And how does Abraham respond? He voices his doubt. On a human level who can blame him? It has been several years since this seventy-five-year-old man has received the promise of a son. Abraham didn't need a fertility expert to tell him that his time was running out. So, Abraham says, "How am I going to be a father of many nations when you still haven't blessed me with even one son?" Abraham takes things into his own hands and sets out on the foolish course of trying to produce an heir through one of his concubines. Once again, straying from God's promise proves to be a disaster.
3. Finally, God appears to Abraham again to reaffirm his promise. Who knows how old Abraham is by this time? But now the promise is more specific. God says that in the spring a son will be born to him. This time his wife Sarah is the faithless one, but she certainly expresses what Abraham is also feeling. She laughs at God and says, "Shall I bear a child now that I am old?" Abraham and Sarah's faith wavers, but God is always faithful. A son is born. And the child is appropriately named. He is called laughter. God has the last laugh.
It seems to me that the lives of the faithful are much like the Father of the Faithful. There are moments in which we build altars that are monuments to our steadfast trust in God, and there are moments in which we falter. But even when we falter, we learn that God is always faithful.
Two Sundays ago was the celebration of the anniversary of my ordination. It was one of those moments in which I was able to reflect on the moments of faithfulness and wavering in my own twenty-five years of ministry. When one of my sons asked how I felt about it, I responded that the celebration was a monument to endurance. Really, it was. Twenty-five years is a long time. There have been moments when the path has been pretty stony. And I'm not just talking about bruising yourself on the stones. Sometimes there are people who are quite willing to pick up the stones and throw them at you--fortunately these have been few.
But I'm not still here because of my own faithfulness, I'm still in ministry because of God's faithfulness. Quite honestly my first few years in the ministry were absolutely brutal. I was called to serve a congregation that was severely divided. As a new pastor, I didn't have the skills to perceive that. I also didn't have the skills to deal with wholesale conflict. I only developed them along the way. By the time I left that congregation was healed. I walked away with some wounds, but the congregation was healed. Those years are an altar or monument to faithfulness -- my own and more importantly God's. Many pastors leave the ministry after such experiences. Because of the grace of God, I didn't. And the things I learned there have served me well.
I could share many more things about faithfulness and faltering. I just want to share what for me has been one of my chief lessons in ministry. I think it has application not just for pastors but for everyone. Jane Jenkins who is the director of contextual education at Trinity Seminary calls it the "Three Day Rule." The three days represent the days between Jesus crucifixion and resurrection. In those three days God showed his power to overcome sin and bring healing. In ministry we face many crises and challenges and sometimes people get in your face. Often it is hard to see a solution in the heat of the moment. The tendency is to resort to instinctual behavior which means we run away or we strike out at the other person.
When we experience a crucifixion or Good Friday moment we need to stay calm and wait on God's direction. The second day is the day on which you process the emotions that the crisis or challenge has created. The third day is the day on which the fog begins to clear. You begin to think clearly and your mind can develop a perspective and a response shaped by faith. Following the three day rule is the way we create altars to faithfulness.
I'm truly grateful that I've made it this far. I'm grateful to you. My years here have been the best years of my ministry. Most of all I'm grateful to God. Even though at times we falter, God is always faithful.
copyright 2001 by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma