C’mon. Fess up! Have you ever had expectations about God and been disappointed over His perceived failure? My hand is up! Regrettably, for some, these experiences have been just too great a hill to climb – so they just dumped Him ... His Son Jesus Christ ... along with Faith and Christianity to boot! The traits are common enough to trace: intellectual doubt, then moral criticism leading to emotional suffering and most generally community disaffiliation.
Here is where I find the life of Abram (aka Abraham) speaks to me – pushing us to get past our ‘fixed’ ideas about God, adjust and grow a wiser and stronger faith in Him. Let me explain!
Up until Genesis 15, Abram’s faith has been pretty general in nature and I think God’s words in Genesis 12:1-3 reflect this.
“Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
But let’s face it, general faith doesn’t remain ‘general’ for very long. In time our faith will be tested – and that is when we move from theory to practice … from abstract to concrete ... from general to specific! And that is what we have here in Genesis 15. Without a doubt verse 6 is by far the most significant verse in this passage – and deserving of separate attention, but not today.
As our story opens, something is obviously wrong. Frankly, whether Abram was lying in his tent dreaming . . . or sitting in Starbucks in that little corner by the window he likes so much, mindlessly stirring his Horchata-inspired macchiato made with its bold Espresso Roast, creamy almond milk and watching the cinnamon sink deeper and deeper into the foam, hardly matters. What does matter is that in Chapter 14 he had fought the War of Nine Kings boldly and conquered gloriously . . . but now in Chapter 15, mystifyingly, fear has replaced confidence.
Earlier (Genesis 14) when Abram defeated the kings from the East, it was as bold and as daring as the killing of Osama bin Laden by Navy Seal Team 6. But perhaps now Abram was thinking that the kings were not the type to take their loss sitting down. Or, more likely, he had Genesis 12 in mind . . . that part about leaving everything and striking out for a place he knew nothing about ─ and is now second-guessing himself. Whatever it was that prompted the circumstances, we should not dismiss his very real concerns.
“God, you told me that you would make me into a great nation (Gen. 12:2) ─ but I’ll be lucky to have one kid . . . never mind 14 grandchildren.” Abram’s concern is surely of interest to all of us – isn’t it?
If God’s promises to us fail, then how can we know that
His promises to us in Romans 8 will not fail as well?
In Romans 8 Paul has said: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (v. 1). Can we be sure? “All things work together for the good of those who love him.” (v. 28) Really?
“Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.” (vv. 35-39) Does that include trouble, hardship, persecution, famine – or even a sword? I mean, that’s a mighty tall order, isn’t it?
Those who de-convert from Christianity to nothing, overwhelming give two reasons for dumping God: Either (1) they had intellectual and theological concerns about the Christian faith that were never satisfied . . . or (2) they believed that in some way God had failed them by not doing what they thought He should.
Assuming that a person’s theological / intellectual doubts are genuine, I see several answers to the first reason for de-converting from Christianity.
Take personal responsibility for the questions you have about your faith. Some have been told that it is sinful to have self-doubts: Silly! Others have suggested that asking tough questions of your faith is too intellectual – just believe; Sillier! Still others are just plain lazy when it comes investigating their faith. They live with their half-baked questions and answers and nagging doubts until one day they explode like over-ripe cherry tomatoes. If you are somewhere between belief and dis-belief, then begin the hard work of searching truth out.
Listen to Jesus’ words in John 7:17 … “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” Are you ‘finding out’? We should take Jesus up on the challenge. We should embrace faith, but that does not mean we should dumb-down faith! Frankly, some are too lazy to find out.
Love God with all your heart and strength – and all of your intellect. I’ve said it before - Sending out youth to College / University armed with rubber swords and plastic armour doesn’t cut it. There needs to be intentional conversations in the church / home about God, faith, science, the Bible, and culture ─ and youth/young adult ministries and the supper table are good starting points.
Christians are under-prepared when they are not given sufficient help to navigate life that is predominantly secular. So make sure discussions on issues like Gender Fluidity, God and Science, God and Suffering, the Church and Sexual/Spiritual Abuse, and Crisis of Faith are on the menu – not just pizza!
The answer to the second reason for people de-converting is located in a proper understanding of God and our relationship to Him. You’ve heard the ‘excuses’ for dumping God, just as I have:
'God allowed my parents to divorce.’
‘God did not stop that person from molesting me.’
'God never healed my brother from Leukemia. He was only 9 years old.’
‘I was faithful to God. I tithed, volunteered, was consistent in my church attendance – but I still went bankrupt. God never helped me.’
Hang with me on this. A number of years ago, in the process of getting a Graduate degree, I took a course in Sociology. In that class I learned (much to my regret) that there are a lot of theories about human relationship. One model is the ‘Social Exchange Theory’. In this theory the value of a relationship is judged in terms of rewards and cost benefits. The overall worth of a particular relationship is calculated by subtracting its costs from the rewards it provides. The formula is: Rewards (minus) Costs = Benefits and both parties in a social exchange take responsibility for one another and depend on each other. This is what drives relationship.
Now if you listened carefully to some of the reasons people give for de-converting from Christianity, you might have noticed that each of them seems to have adopted the ‘Social Exchange Theory’. “God, there is an inequity in this relationship. I prayed, I volunteered, I was innocent, I tried ─ but YOU didn’t come through.”
When the costs become greater than the rewards, some Christians have determined a relationship with God is not worth it – so they become ex-Pentecostals, ex- Evangelicals, ex-Christians and even ex-clergy!
Dumping Christianity is not always about the intellectual problems we have or God’s failure to come through for us. In other words, It's Not All in Your Head! Quite often objections are simply a smokescreen to cover up the real reason for their rejection of Christ ─ a below the surface moral or spiritual issue. Christian scholar and apologist Ravi Zacharias perceptively writes,
"A man rejects God neither because of intellectual demands nor because of the scarcity of evidence. A man rejects God because of a moral resistance that refuses to admit his need for God.” [Ravi Zacharias, quoted in Strobel, The Case for Faith, 343. See also John 3:19-21]
If you are tempted to wonder whether God knows your situation. I remind you that He not only knows the situation – he not only offers an answer (Protection and Reward) ... but He also knows your name (15:1; ‘Abram’) Notice that Abram replies (vv. 2, 8) — “O Sovereign Lord” (Adonai Yahweh) . . . using a phrase found only two other times in the Pentateuch. (Deuteronomy 3:24; 9:26; Exodus 23:17; 34:23)
We all know the facts: Abraham does not have a son. He is 85 years of age ... Viagra hasn’t yet been invented ... Sarah is 75 ... and it looks like his servant Eliezer will be taking over the estate. Nevertheless, God repeats once more (vv. 4-5) His original promise to Abram, a promise made back in 12:2 and 13:15-16.
When we hear God say, "I promise”, I think our tendency is to go looking for a little backup, just in case.
Most will know that Anglicans (Episcopal), Lutherans, Orthodox, and Reformed Christians have a strong commitment to creeds. Unfortunately, Pentecostals have never been creedal or confessional people by nature. It’s not our cup of tea because we disagree with the content of the creeds, but simply because we don’t find them in the Bible. We should remind ourselves that creeds help explain what we believe – and why it matters.
The two best known and most used creeds are the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds. The Apostles Creed – [1st or 2nd cent. AD] emphasized the true Humanity of Jesus, including his material body, because the heretics at the time (i.e. Gnostics, Marcionites, and later Manicheans) denied it. The Nicene Creed – (325 AD) emphasized the deity of Christ, and was directed against the Arians who denied that Christ was fully God.
Now the Apostles Creed is generally divided into 12 articles because there were 12 apostles. And a person who repeats these 12 articles of the Apostles Creed is making an act of faith by saying them. For example, Article 1 says ─ “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.” It is a simple enough statement of faith – but listen to the explanation given to the First Article.
"I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of
them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have.
He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true."
Wow!!!! When we recite the Apostles Creed and say, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth," . . . in essence we are saying we have faith in God because He is amazing! Abram however seems to be trusting in his backup, Eliezer of Damascus. ‘Back up’ comes naturally for us, doesn’t it? Anyone reading this . . .
Have... more clothes in your closet than you need? That’s backup!
Have... more food in your freezer than you can eat in a week? Backup!
Have... more vitamins in your medicine cabinet than you could ever use? More backup!
Have... more boyfriends / girlfriends than you need? Yup. Backup again!
In the story, God tells Abram the promise again (v. 4) and confirms it with an illustration (v. 5). In the vision, God takes Abram outside and shows him the sky and says that is how vast the number of his descendants will be. And one of those descendants would be the Bright and Morning Star of Revelation 22:16 – a star that outshines all of the others ... a star that signals the coming of a new day! God says: "Everything you need—it's yours. I promise. Everything that's mine is yours. I promise. The sin that keeps you from being strong in your faith—it’s forgiven. I promise. And a son coming from your own body will be your heir” (v. 4) I promise.
But wait a moment! The last time God spoken to Abram about the birth of a son He had promised was in Genesis 13:16 “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.” However, the promise here in Genesis 15:5 is that they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Which is it? Is Abraham’s seed going to be like ‘dust’ or ‘stars’? Well, 1st let me state the obvious here –
During the day he can look at the innumerable grains of fine dust and recall God's promise: "I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth" (13:16).
During the nights he can look up at the innumerable stars and recall God's promise, "So shall your offspring be" (15:5).
But there is something else, even more fundamentally significant than that. God is saying Abram will have two (2) lines of descendants. The first line is an earthly seed (‘dust of the earth’). That earthly seed would be the nation of Israel, including the Ishmaelite (Arabian) nations. The second line is a heavenly seed (‘stars of the sky’) ─ and that ‘seed’, described in Galatians 3:16 is Christ.
Today, like the dust of the earth, the physical nation of Israel, the descendants of Abram are thriving in spite of BDS ... AND today, like the stars of heaven there is a great uncounted host of spiritual descendants of Abraham – like you and me. What a promise! What a God! What a fulfillment!
There is a difference between a doubt that denies God’s promise and a doubt which desires God’s promise.
Our daughter and her husband live in a small community in Eastern Ontario, with our 2 grandchildren. It’s been a while for sure – but when they were small and Autumn came and the leaves started turning their magnificent colours – it was Fall Country Fair time.
I’d get in line, buy a gazillion tickets for the grandchildren ... and my wife ... and away we went. Rocket ships – 4 tickets ... Helicopters – 3 tickets ... Merry-go-round – 4 tickets. At the Merry-go-round, I always found the horses looked bored. If it wasn’t for the poles holding them, they would probably have headed for the nearby corn field where the corn was standing like soldiers – tall and proud.
Along the way we indulged in finger-lickin’ fair food — corn dogs, elephant ears, cotton candy and heart-stopping French fries that look like they were struggling to keep their heads above the oceans of gravy and cheese curd they were sinking in. Sometimes we would sit in the stands and take in the tractor pull while satisfying our hunger for deep fried turkey legs ... pickles ... donuts ... snickers bars ... chocolate-covered bacon. ... deep fried anything!
Then off to the petting zoo to see the sheep and the goats and hug the fur off the rabbits ... and back to the rides, including the rides where red, green and purple chickens were wearing saddles. Chickens with saddles seemed strange to me – but not the grandchildren. Apparently, it’s normal! Later that evening we would go back to their house on Maple Street and settle into the couch with its deep, inviting cushions.
And that is when it would happen! It’s when the grandchildren – after a day of sensory overload -- came over, sat beside us and snuggled. Fully contented. And it’s when they would say things like “Thanks Nana ... Papa. It was really fun today -- even when I thought I was going to fly off the saddle-wearing chickens” Fully trusting.
Contented and trusting! Those are two great attributes for every follower of Jesus Christ — especially those in a Crisis of Faith. And Abram leads the way here for us. “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (v. 6)
We cannot Google all the answers to life’s questions.
And Amazon’s Alexa doesn’t know everything!
Yes, I know that since March of this year some folks have died without the dignity of a familiar face. Yes, I am aware that there is a growing shame-culture within the church, a moral system where you are bad or good depending on what the religious, self-righteous, cold-hearted cyber-community decides you are — and I’m not just talking about Evangelicals either! And Yes, I’ve noticed that ‘white privilege’ has become both a kind of battle cry and ‘another’ name-calling weapon to bludgeon common folks just trying to make a go of life, raise their kids and pay Caesar his taxes! So, Yes, 2020 is filled with new realities. I get it! However in the end we will all make of life and faith whatever we want.
Into this mix I remind us that God has a key for every problem door. God has a light for every lingering shadow. And if after all I have just said you find yourself still needing a better reference than me to encourage you to ‘work out your faith’ (Philippians 2:12), to avoid old channels of confusion, or to dissuade you from becoming a de-convert — then go talk to Abraham! Because if you read his life story, he can tell you much better than I can.
“Only Saying ...”
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