September 7, 2003

This Fall I will be sharing a series of messages about growing spiritually and we will be talking about spiritual disciplines, especially beginning next week. You know that we are getting serious about our Christianity at First Church when we start talking about fasting and tithing and service, and we also will talk about prayer and worship.

These are means. A spiritual discipline is not an end in itself, especially, for example, like prayer. It is a means to a deeper relationship with God, and as we practice them it is very similar to an athlete who is training for an event. They practice; they train, particularly disciplines that help them to perform.

A great need today is for Christians to truly have a desire to grow spiritually, to indeed be the salt of the Earth and the light of the world, to influence the world around us with the love and power of Jesus Christ. I want to talk about (though it is introductory) the spiritual journey and use the example of Abram or, as his name changed at age ninety-nine, Abraham. Abram’s spiritual journey was one of great faith. That is his reputation. He is one who had a great and deep faith in God. It didn’t just happen. There is a reason for it. I want to look at his spiritual journey today and learn some of his lessons of how we too can have a growing and deep faith. In Genesis, chapter 12, it talks about the call of Abram:

In John Ortberg’s great book, The Life You've Always Wanted, which is especially about spiritual disciplines for ordinary people, he talks about Ralph, or he gives him the name Ralph. He was a member of his church years ago. Ralph was a negative man. His native tongue was Complaint. He could always find, even in a sea of happiness, that silver lining of unpleasantness. He just had that gift, like he felt called to do it, as well. He could see the bad side of anything.

He never smiled much, in fact, one of the deacons of that church said, “Ralph, are you happy?” He said, “Well yeah, I guess so.”

“Well, why don’t you tell your face, Ralph?” And as far as they know, his face never did get the message.

For awhile Ralph’s most common complaint was that the music was too loud, and he would tell everybody that. In fact, he would ask the visitors when they came in, “Don’t you think the music is too loud?”

And they finally took him aside and said, “Ralph you can complain in your circle of friends, but don’t go complaining about the music to people who come to church for the first time.”

And they thought that was settled, but then Pastor John Ortberg got a call one day that someone from OSHA was there. OSHA? And then he wondered who on the staff was complaining, and—it wasn’t someone from the staff—but if someone calls we have to investigate it, and they started talking about sound decibels at airports and music concerts and it finally dawned: It must be Ralph.

And when the OSHA man was in there with all of his staff, John said, “Nothing like this has ever happened.”

The OSHA man said, “Well, you know, you can imagine the ribbing I’m getting, that I am coming to the church to bust them for the music being too loud.”

But the sad thing about Ralph was: he never changed. He really didn’t have a happy home life. His son had a real funny story about how he met his wife at a dance, but he wouldn’t tell his dad because his dad didn’t approve of dancing. There is just a whole lot of stuff that Ralph didn’t approve of. But the real sad part that Ortberg points out is that no one at the church really ever expected Ralph to change. He attended church regularly, paid a pledge, did a lot of the things that you would expect Christians to do, except his life wasn’t changed. He wasn’t being changed to the image of Christ. He wasn’t being spiritually transformed. You couldn’t tell any progress whatsoever and people just expected that is the way it should be.

But that is not the way it should be. When we grow spiritually, we do grow more and more into the image of Christ. We reflect His behavior, His values, His characteristics. It may be slow growth, but it is sure and certain growth, when we are committed to growing spiritually and our faith is growing, and we truly put into practice the great commandant to love God and to love neighbor.

Abram is a great example to inspire us and instruct us in spiritual growth and I wanted to share that with you today. How did Abrams spiritual journey enable his to have such a strong faith?

Three reasons. First of all, we find that Abram obeyed God’s primary call upon his life? What is the primary call that God has for your life right now? What is the most important task that God has given you to do? What has he gifted you to do? What are the opportunities for service he has blessed you with? That is your primary means of spiritual growth right now. For Abram, it involved two things. First of all, he was going to be a nomad. He was going to be moving. The Lord said to Abram:

I’m sure Sarai would have loved to settle down, have a brick house one of these days, but that never happened. They just moved, and moved, and moved. There is something to be said for getting to stay put. I didn’t move at all, growing up, and so I still think of Charlotte as a second home, as well as Lenoir, of course. For the first twenty-two years I knew what it was to stay put, and there sure are some nice things about that, having a place you call home, but I think I counted up — in the past twenty-six years I have moved eight times. And if you have moved you know that there are some things about it that can help you to grow spiritually. That is that, first of all, you know there are new experiences, new places, but it does get kind of old. I remember my first visit to the post office here. Well, I had gotten so I was just tired of asking people where things were. I was tired of it, so I go down to what I thought was the post office and found out it was law offices. I felt silly about that. But that happens, that kind of thing. But when you move, one, you depend more on your family, but you depend on God.

In fact, I guarantee the greatest boost to spiritual growth I had was when I took a sales job in Wilmington. I moved out of a fraternity house with friends, support, Bible study, really too much, as far as the people around you. But it was such a contrast to be a salesman on the road, not really having many friends at all for the four months—very lonely. I mean it was the loneliest time in my life, really. I could come home and talk to the walls and I understand what that is like. It didn’t last for a long time, but my prayer life really grew, because I got to know the Lord in that time. Abram understood that from moving around. But then, also, he was obedient to that. And then, also, there was a promise that he would be the father of a great nation. That is a pretty bold promise for a seventy-five year old man and his sixty-five year old wife—that he is going to be the father of a great nation.

And in Genesis Chapter 15, it says:

That is that, just his belief helped bring it to pass. He didn’t realize it at the time that it’s going to be another twenty-five years. The Lord doesn’t operate that way. He will give you a promise. He doesn’t tell you exactly the time table. Why? So we will trust Him. So we will learn to really believe and stand on that promise.

The tragedy of so many people is that they let things get in the way of their primary call in life. I think of the rich young ruler that Jesus called, and he said, “What is missing in my life?” And Jesus knew what was missing in his life. I mean, he was just in the snare of materialism and he didn’t just own his stuff; his stuff owned him. He said, you need to do something radical. You need to sell all you have. Give to the poor and then come follow me. You’ll really be free. Well, he didn’t want to be free like that. And he went away, sad.

Or I think of someone like Jonah who just really didn’t want to be a missionary to the Mennonites. Why? He didn’t like Mennonites. He’s OK with loving God and loving other people, but not the Mennonites. So, he goes in the opposite direction. He finally repents; he reluctantly goes; God uses him. But we do that, oftentimes, because we hold out on God’s primary call on our life. What is His primary call for your life?

And then, secondly, Abram grew spiritually because he cared for his family. Don’t think in terms of, “Well, I have my spiritual life and my family life.” You want those to overlap a lot. A lot. His life with his family had everything to do with his spirituality.

You find it in three ways: First of all, in Chapter 13 when he separates from Lot, and Abram and Lot are both becoming very well to do—great flocks—and their herdsmen are starting to fight, and what Abram does. He doesn’t say, “Well, I am the oldest. You are my nephew. This is the way it is going to be.” He told Lot, “All right. Here’s all this land. Take the one that you want and I will take the other.” He had this generous, giving spirit.

Think in your own family how this generous, giving spirit would make such a difference. Especially over possessions. How many families have fought over wills and fought over finances? Abram sets the example here. He is giving. He is gracious to his family.

And then, also, he demonstrated great courage. There was a tribal war. You see it in Genesis, Chapter 14. Isn’t it amazing some of the courageous things you will do on behalf of your family, things you would never have dreamed possible? Abram goes and gets three hundred and eighteen men and goes into battle, rescues Lot and his family, and the King of Salem is just thrilled with him, but he did it because he loved Lot and loved his family.

In what ways does your family need your courage at this time?

And then also, he grew spiritually through intercessory prayer. It is very evident, and years have gone by, but in Genesis, Chapter 18, God lets Abram—Abraham by this time—know of just what he is planning to do, that is, that He is getting ready to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, basically because they have just become such a wicked people. Well, it makes a difference to Abraham, because Lot and his family are there, so he prays. And when someone is praying: “Lord, if there are fifty righteous people will you destroy the city?”

“No, I won’t, for fifty righteous people.”

“How about forty-five? How about forty? How about thirty-five?”

I mean, he is on this kind of basis with the Lord and he says, “Please, don’t get angry with me, but if there are ten….?” Because he knows what it is like. He knows Lot is not really a spiritual giant. He knows that Lot has not been influencing the community; the community has been influencing him. But, it was his prayer that saved Lot and his family, at least the ones who were willing to take directions.

How does your family need intercessory prayer right now? I think oftentimes grandparents are called to intercessory prayer. It is not only for their children but their grandchildren. They have lived long enough; they have a strong enough faith; they know it really makes a significant difference. Or in the Book of James, it says,

How many people are in heaven today because their grandparents were praying for them?

Abraham cared for his family. Billy and Doris Davis are dearest retired missionaries who were in Africa. They were in my congregation for awhile. Funny, I had to admit to being kind of in awe. Goodness, they made the trek to Africa, missionaries, shared the gospel. They said that for their family night meals, hippo was a great delicacy. I never had hippo, but they assured me it was. They were two hundred miles from the nearest paved road, but that’s where they felt God had called them, and now they were retired in the mountains. Billy would come to all my son’s basketball games. He loved sports, but I think he did it, too, because he felt a kinship; kind of adopted us as a family. I noticed that Billy, when he would help me with Communion—which I was always honored to have retired ministers help me—really got nervous about just the simplest of things and we could tell that that was the beginning of Alzheimer's. And now Doris and Billy went back to Alabama to be near their daughter. It is different role for Doris now, and that happens with a caregiver. But it is part of our growing spiritually. Think for a few moments: How does your family need you to care for them at this time? What could you best do to help them to know that Christ is real and loves them?

And then thirdly, for a growing faith that Abraham had: his faith was tested. Your faith will be tested. That is just all there is to it. And you will be glad to know that Abraham did not pass all of his tests. I was in college before I found out that you really could fail a test. I don’t know if I ever failed a test in high school, but boy, in college, you definitely could fail a test. I remember going to zoology. I was stupid enough to take that because I like animals. Well, that woman didn’t talk about animals, any, that semester. She talked about just real intricacies of ants in Australia, things like that, which at eight o’clock in the morning across campus, it just didn’t click with me. Well, when I finally went for help, she looked at me very sternly, and I said, “I don’t think I’m doing very well.” You’re not doing well at all, Mr. Fowler.” And basically, she told me, “You can show up for the final, but I dare say, I don’t hold out a whole lot of hope that you are going to pass this class.” So I didn’t, and I failed.

But Abraham did fail as well. The first time he floundered spiritually, there was a famine in the land, and he goes down to Egypt and he just has a hard time trusting God to help him in a crisis. He has a wife who is very beautiful, Sarai. And he knows what the Egyptians’ reputation is: get rid of the husband—another one for the harem. And sure enough, he goes down there and they notice Sarai. She’s getting on in years, but she’s very beautiful. And so, he lies. Now he thinks it’s a white lie.

He says, “Well, tell people I am your brother and you are my sister,” which was partly true. She is kind of a half-sister. But, the problem is, a plague came upon Pharaoh and his people, and when he finally found out it was like, “Well, why did you do this to me? Why didn’t you just say she was your wife?”

I am sure there were some words between Abraham and Sarai after that. “What did you put me in that harem for?” He failed that test.

Sometimes we fail tests and we are tempted to lie. God is testing our integrity. He is testing whether we really will trust Him when we get in a crunch. Another time they were tested: They had waited ten years for this promise for a child and Sarai was getting impatient and she did what everybody else did in that time, and said, “Well, take my maidservant.”

That’s what other people did when they couldn’t have a child, and so Abraham said, “Well, that’s fine,” and he just went along with her, and with Hagar, and they had a child, Ishmael, but as you can imagine, it caused a lot of problems, and finally once the child came, then Sarai wasn’t real happy with Hagar and sent her away.

They were tempted. The faith was: are you really going to believe this promise, or are you going to compromise? And they compromised. So he didn’t pass all his faith tests, and neither do you, and neither do I. The good news is that God forgives us. He helps us to learn from those failed tests, and he lets us keep trying. Get back up and try again.

The test that Abraham passed the best was when Isaac finally came. When the news came about Isaac being born, Sarai laughed in the tent, “I’m going to have a baby? I can’t believe it.”

Abraham laughed. But the child did come. Abraham is one hundred years old. She is ninety years old. It doesn’t matter. Isaac comes. His name means laughter.

But then, about ten or twelve years later, he is called (in Genesis chapter 22) to take the child and sacrifice him on the mountain. It is one of those tests which you have had, and I have had. God is calling you to do something you just don’t understand why.

“Well, you don’t need to understand why. I just want you to go ahead and do it. I want you to trust me.” In Hebrews it says he believed that God could raise him from the dead, but he was determined to not lie or compromise. He was going to do what God called him to do, and he went up there. He has the knife up; he is ready to sacrifice his son Isaac. And you know, this is an old, old man. You know Isaac could have gotten away from him, but he is obeying his father.

Then he hears, Abraham! Abraham! ….. He hears the voice. ... Don’t harm the boy…. Now I know that you fear God …….

He passed that test and passed it with flying colors. Why? Because his faith had been growing. He had been obeying his primary call upon his life; he had been putting his faith into practice in his family, and the test, yes, he was putting his faith into practice. God will test our faith when we are actually putting it into practice. Why? So it will grow and get stronger.

How is your faith being tested right now? (tape change).

That is important. Don’t despise the test. God is investing in you. He wants that faith to grow. Growing spiritually sometimes just doesn't happen as quickly as we would like. I know that from time to time I have a whole lot more hurry and busyness in my life. I feel like I am doing pretty well but I put a lot into my schedule, and when the schedule gets interrupted, I get upset. I was going down on 40, going toward Chapel Hill a couple of weeks ago, and got to Greensboro and traffic didn’t cooperate with me at all. It stopped. And for about an hour I went about two miles. I have lived in Atlanta; I have lived in Charlotte. And I have been through Greensboro, and it hadn’t happened in a long time, and I could tell, “Boy, I’m just not patient with this at all.” But, being a pastor at First Church, I knew it wasn’t good to get out of the car and yell and scream and cuss—all the kinds of things I was tempted to do— but I patiently endured it, and hung in there, and realized that, “Gosh, am I really hurrying that much?” But spiritual growth oftentimes does not come in a hurry. It won’t come with, “God, hurry up and teach me. I’ve got to get moving.” It is more gradual. But it is sure; it is certain, so that the faith will be strong, and the faith will grow, and the reflection of Christ will truly be evident in our lives.

Where are you on this spiritual journey? Would you let God make changes in your life if He would like to help you to grow? To help you truly to be salt of the Earth and to be the light of the world, to influence others around you with the love of Christ?

Let us pray.

Lord, we thank you for the example of Abraham. We thank you for his strong faith. Lord, we thank You that we can learn from those ways he failed tests. And Lord we do pray that You would help us stand strong in our faith, to trust in You, to seek Your will and know that without faith, it is impossible to please You. So Lord, we pray that You would help us to learn to put our faith into practice. For we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.