Sermon prepared by Gregory S. Kaurin, pastor
for Messiah Lutheran Church, Auburn WA, 8/8/10
Texts: Genesis 15:1-6, Luke 12:32-40
Let Go, Let God, Pt. 2 – Letting God
In our Old Testament lesson, this was years after Abram was first told he’d have land and become the father of many nations. Now he was even older. If he was in a rut before, it should’ve been deeper. If he had doubts, they should’ve grown higher by now. Could he really trust this voice? This promise? This God? Once again God was dragging this old man Abram out and had him look at the stars, “Count them if you can; so shall your descendants be.”
And then the vision was over. He was still just old Abram married to old Sarai. No children dropped out of the sky that night. Everything was the same as the night before… except this, Genesis 15:6, “And [Abram] believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” I always thought “reckon” was a cowboy word, so it’s kind of funny reading it in the Bible. Reckon means calculate or figure, or—if you go back to the 1400’s—it meant to narrate. God looked at Abram, and saw that contrary to any evidence and contrary to the facts, he trusted God—that it would work out fine. He trusted God, and in God’s mathematics, his faith, his simple trust equaled righteousness, being right with God, a level relationship, a new story, a new path, a new kind of life.
That’s what changed. Abram let go, and he let God. He trusted God to do his work. It wasn’t that Abram laid back and did nothing from that day onward—far from it—but it was with a new attitude of trust, hope, and expectation. He still made mistakes, big ones. He still had scary, frustrating and challenging times ahead of him. But Abraham was going to face them head on, with a positive attitude, knowing that with God all things are possible.
That’s how to clear hurdles. And if by chance we take a tumble, that’s how to stand back up. We trust God, but not just some beliefs we have about him, not just some theology, but his love for us. So long as he trusted God, that God would remain faithful to his promises, Abraham knew that he was on a right path with God, no matter how crooked it got.
We are those descendants, those stars that Abraham couldn’t count. We are royal heirs of his kingdom. No matter how dented, tarnished, polished or straight, that crown is on your head. I don’t care how high or low, weak or strong, lost or found you are this morning; you belong, you belong to God. Believe his promises, that he has a destiny for you, and that he sees in you and in each of us a way to reach the world with his love and passion. You can stand back up… not by your own power, but by the strength of the Spirit. Faith heals, if not always the body, then at least the soul and the journey.
Hebrews, chapter 11 preaches about this faith of Abraham. I read a commentary on that chapter that said faith is grounded in a vision of God that is worthy of praise, a vision that is discerned by spiritual people and great minds, is authenticated, or given evidence, by signs, miracles, and the experiences of people right up to our time, a vision that is confirmed by millions of believers over thousands of years, and a vision of God that is nourished and sustained, here in a community of worship and praise. [*See end for the exact wording.] I like all those verbs: we have experienced and we preach a vision of God that is worthy, discerned, authenticated, confirmed, nourished and sustained. You can stand on that. You can make it through. We can stand. We can jump through hurdles, or knock them down.
One of our members went through a bitter divorce years ago. A little over a couple decades went by, and one of their kids was getting married. He knew he’d have to face his ex-wife, and even after all that time, he admitted still being deeply hurt and angry. How would he face her, deal with her, say anything to her. The whole trip he could imagine lashing out, or wishing he could get her to apologize or admit. But they arrived, and there she was, and instead he said a strength and power and peace came over him, gave him the strength to open his arms and give her a hug, a hug she somehow accepted. It isn’t that reality changed, it’s not that the hurts went away… but that faith can heal our relationship with God, and change the way we walk on this world, or into situations. Because of the faith given to him by God and nourished and sustained in his church, he found a different, more forgiving and healthy path. God brought a little life into a desolate desert.
That’s what I mean when I say that letting go and letting God isn’t about giving up, or floating through life. It is a lifelong prayer to face life with a more positive knowledge that we will make it through. This moment, no matter how good or bad is not the end of the matter. The end of the matter, even the end of the world or universe, is in the hand of a creative, loving and able God. We can stand, we can make it through, we can clear hurdles…only because we trust God to see us through them. By grace we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. By the Spirit working through our faith in that gospel promise, we will find and create paths to reach others with the love of Christ.
This past Friday evening, I was watching a cartoon special with my wife and son. In the cartoon, Phineas and Ferb are a couple of young school boys who build amazing and impossible contraptions that provide all kinds of adventures and fun for themselves and the entire Danville community. They often end with some kind of musical montage, and it’s the lyrics that I really enjoyed in this last one:
Tell me what you want to do today
All we need is a place to start
If we have heart, we'll make it
'Cause we're not messing around.
Yes we can dream it, do it, build it, make it.
I know we can really take it to the limit
before the sun goes down
…At first it seemed implausible, but we did the impossible.
Time is what you make of it, so take a chance
Life is full of music, so you oughta’ dance.
Okay, parts of it seem corny, like childish idealism. But if so, then let’s enter this kingdom that Jesus talks about as children, trusting our God… not that I or we can do anything, but that with God, by the strength of his Spirit, and with the greater goals of reaching people, hungry people, or the next generation with positive, accepting, and forgiving love from our God. We need to trust this vision of God, so that we can pass it on.
Jesus started his parable of the Master’s return in the gospel lesson not with fear, but with the same words that God used with Abram in the first lesson, “Don’t be afraid.” “Don’t be afraid, little flock. For it’s your Father’s desire, his good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” We stay prepared for the coming of the master, if you caught it, by our faith in him, and by reflecting his generosity and his desire to give his kingdom away to others, by letting go of our stuff, using all of it for the sake of others, through almsgiving, generosity, acceptance, and positive actions in the world.
This is what I believe; it’s what keeps me going as a pastor, it’s what helps me find joy as a husband and father. I know we can do amazing things, and that God does and will do amazing things through us. Our faith is what gives us strength, inspires, binds and uses our gifts, and God reckons it to us as righteousness.
Tell me what you want to do today;
This is a place to start.
God gives us the heart, and we'll make it.
We can dream it, do it, build it, make it.
By his strength we can take it to new limits
before the sun finally goes down.
…At first it can seem implausible, but God did the impossible.
So this time is what you make of it, take a chance.
Life is full of music; join the dance.
[* Here’s the quote: “Faith is grounded in a divine revelation that is worthy of assent, that is discerned by spiritually sensitive faculties, that is authenticated by signs, wonders, miracles and the work of the Spirit, that is confirmed by cross-generational testimony, and by deliverance from sin, and that is nourished and sustained in a community of worship and praise. Such faith rightly provides…full assurance and lasting conviction. Faith is indeed ‘the assurance for things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.’” – William J. Abraham, “Faith, Assurance, and Conviction” in Ex Auditu, 2003.]
