We just live in this place, and it's good for us to be together as a church, because this is a community of courage, where courage is shared, faith is shared. This is a community that loves our neighbors, and when we struggle to do that, we encourage one another to love our neighbors, even those that are different than us. This is a gracious place for people who are not doing well, for people that disagree with us, even our enemies.
[00:01:33]
This is about how Abraham, a man of faith, had to continue to grow up over the course of his life. Rabbi Sack says this about Abraham. Abraham performed no miracles, commanded no armies, ruled no kingdoms, gathered no massive disciples, and made no spectacular prophecies. Yet there can be no serious doubt that he is the most influential person who has ever lived. Some of us might disagree and say Jesus has passed that, but certainly he is right up there as one or two. Eight million people today, or billion people today on earth, claim him as the father of their faith.
[00:05:02]
He was not a perfect man, far from it. He's a man with a lot of different character flaws, he struggled, he did stupid things in his life, he hurt his own family, yet he was a man of repentance and correction and continued to return to God, and that's the kind of life that God uses, which is good news, because those are the only kind of lives. We all struggle, we all fall, and hopefully we fall forward.
[00:05:56]
My definition of maturity is that it means to live well, to live wisely, to love well, and to trust deeply, no matter what the circumstances of life are taking place. Bill Johnson says that gifts are free, but maturity is expensive, which is certainly true. And Henry Nouwen, the great quote we've used many times, maturity is the ability and willingness to be led where you would rather not go.
[00:06:37]
We also talked about the importance of learning to hear from God and distinguishing his voice. That's why the class that you just heard about is so important. That is part of the journey. Talked about the different journeys that we go through in life, that there are external ones and there's journeys to purpose, but there's also this journey to become someone. And that's what God cares about, the shaping of who we're becoming.
[00:07:36]
We are meant to live our lives shaped by the promises of God. Promises that come through the scriptures. Promises that come through God's gentle whisper that speaks to us when we pray. God's truth. Promises that shape us, that he will always be with us and for us, and that he's leading us somewhere, and that someday every tear will be dried. Sorrow will end. Every longing will be met with fulfillment and joy. The heart will be full, not empty.
[00:11:13]
God is a God that makes promises, intentional promises. He commits to Abraham. He doesn't just ask him to go. He doesn't just invite him into a life of purpose or say, hey, your family's going to be important. He makes intentional and personal promises to him spiritually, physically, relationally, generationally. He makes a number of different promises to him.
[00:11:56]
The longer we journey with Jesus is our faith is strengthened because we've seen what God can do. We look back and say, look what he did. So even though I'm struggling with what's in front of me, look what he did.
[00:14:19]
It's important for us to remember because often we judge the questions that we have. We even judge our struggle. We judge our unbelief and we label it bad. Good luck finding anyone in the scriptures that journeyed with Jesus for any length of time that did not struggle with unbelief. Here's what's so special about it. God makes promises and he keeps them despite our unwavering faith. Despite our questions, despite our unbelief.
[00:16:37]
We are meant to find friendship and continuity and some togetherness with characters like Abraham because he's like us. We're not told that he's the archetype of faith just because of the way he trusted. He's the archetype of faith because of the way he doubted and struggled and failed like we do.
[00:19:49]
God has made promises to you. Now, the reason the promises are worth trusting in is because there's this other thing that we now call today, in just theological terms, the providence of God. Verse 20 and 21, yet he did not waver through unbelief. He strengthened his faith, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Belief that God has the power, the will, the character and the love to do what he has promised.
[00:20:57]
Providence is God's personal, present, and purposeful involvement in every detail of every life for every moment. Providence is the manifestation of the will of God, guided by the counsel of God. God lives in this community, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and what they will, they promise, and what they promise, they bring about. And providence is the trust that God can use all the things that are happening to bring about those promises.
[00:21:46]
It's not a denial of present circumstances. It's not a denial of evil and suffering and loss and struggle and vulnerability. But it's a recognition as you are being consumed by those things that there is someone who loves you, that is promised and is working, even when you don't see it.
[00:24:02]
God is always doing a thousand different things in your life, maybe 10,000 things, maybe 100,000 different things in your life. For whatever reason, we notice two or three of them. Maybe a little more, if you're really virtuous. Maybe you don't notice anything, and then time passes, and another important P word, perspective, allows you to see what he had been doing.
[00:29:31]
Your present circumstances will say something different, but you can trust in the promises of God, the purposes of God, and the providence of God.
[00:33:06]
When I say staying in our lane, I simply mean this, let God do what God has said he will do and do what God has asked you to do. Let God bring about the promises, all the things he said, I will, I will, I will. And so that we can stay faithful and focus on the things that he's given us.
[00:34:13]
Maturity depends upon accepting this truth rather than choosing anxiety. We can only do our best, whatever our place in life is, wherever we stand, whatever our limits are, whatever our shortcomings are, and trust that God will fill in the gaps and do enough.
[00:35:30]
Maturity means aligning your present life with the future that you're praying for. It means aligning your present life with the promises that God has made. It's not earning but it's living in continuity. This is what godliness is. It's not living passively. It's aligning your present with the future that you're praying for that God is leading to.
[00:38:08]
Sometimes it doesn't work out the way we want. Sometimes the promises of God and the purposes of God don't make their way into our life until the very end. Sometimes it works out and you get the gold medal and sometimes you're stuck in the prisoner of war camp and that's it. But he was a man who stayed in his lane. What was the lane? To trust and to stay faithful with what God had called him to do.
[00:43:59]
Abraham trusted in the promises of God with what had been revealed to him. We get to live the very same experience because Jesus has come and Jesus has made promises to each one of us and Jesus has made promises to every person that is alive today and they're incredible promises and they're similar promises to the promises that God made to Abraham but they're personal for you.
[00:45:53]
There's a promise that you will be protected, not in a sense that you'll be protected just from harm here, but you'll be protected in an ultimate way from death. That someday when you close your eyes for the last time that you will actually see him and he will carry you through that wilderness, he will carry you through that grave.
[00:47:16]
Even though we struggle and we stumble and we deal with unbelief and present circumstances say, I can no longer believe in the providence of God or the power of God or the promises of God, all of those things, there's something that happens and God gets us back on track and he gets our eyes lifted again and we can trust again and we begin the journey with him all over again. God is faithful to carry us all the way because he has made promises to us and his providence is pulling us and those things into the future.
[00:48:04]
You want evidence of the providence of God? Just look to Jesus who hung on our cross to take from us our very worst and then rose from the grave in return giving us his new life, resurrection life. God is able. God is able. He reigns. He is in control, no matter what's taking place in your life. And it's not just that, but he's personal, and he whispers the promises all the way and says, remember the cross, remember the grave. You can trust me.
[00:49:39]
