Pastor
Steve Geiger Second
Sunday after Christmas
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Genesis
17:1-7
1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am
God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. 2 I will confirm my covenant
between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3
Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant
with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be
called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many
nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings
will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant
between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
1.
He’s the God of power
2.
He’s the God of dependability
Twenty-two
more hours.
A
wonderful vacation, but time is running out.
Our Great Plains Lutheran High School students are hitting the road this
very afternoon to begin classes tomorrow.
Little kindergartners will be hopping on the bus or getting rides from
their moms to begin classes this next day.
Did
you get everything done you wanted to get done? Rest? Vacations? Fun with friends? If you had a few days off of work, were there projects long in
waiting that finally were completed?
Or
has this day snuck up on you? Are you
suddenly panicked? Do you realize that
you have only twenty-two hours of vacation left, and this is not nearly enough
time to do what needs to get done?
Time. Time is running out. Time limits us. For us there is always an end.
An end to vacation. An end to
the day. An end to our lives.
An
end for our chance to have children.
For
Abram and Sarai, the sand had slipped through the hourglass, and now it was too
late. Never would they have kids. So they thought.
The
limits of time.
This
we understand. Today let us marvel that
the limits of time do not limit God, because God is the God of power.
That’s
what was needed given the situation.
Abram was 99. His wife was
89. It seems that at least 13 years had
passed since God had spoken to Abram last.
On that occasion God showed Abram stars and told him that he would have
that many descendants.
Unfortunately,
it’s very hard to trust God. Humans are
so accustomed to judging situations based on what their eyes can see and on
what their feelings can feel. So
sometime after that star revelation from God, when Abram was 85, Sarai looked
at the situation and said, “This isn’t working. God isn’t doing what he said.”
Sarai said to Abram, “Sleep with my servant. Have a child through her.”
Abram did, and Ishmael was born.
That
wasn’t God’s plan. 13 more years
passed. Surely Abram and Sarai must
have been completely beyond hope of ever having their own child. The clock had stopped ticking.
Do
you ever feel that way? Has God given
you a promise, to work things for your eternal best, but it feels to you that
time is running out on God?
Martin
Luther once wrote, “It’s God’s way to empty a man first before filling him with
his blessing.” Abram was empty. Abram was 99. Abram was not going to have a child, by every human
standard.
Then
God appears. God says, “I am the God of
power.” God says, “Walk before me and
be complete.” Live your life close to
me and have everything that you need.
Don’t live your life in a way that is walking away from me, because you
think I’ve failed you. Decide what to
do from morning until night based on my will, and you will have enough. Because I’m the God of power.
Do
we forget that? When we face
difficulties, heartaches, disappointments or dreams unfulfilled, don’t we
immediately so often conclude, “Walking before God—living as he wants—obviously
is not enough?” We go out on our own,
to try to make happen what we want to happen by our own power. We walk away from God, in some way
sinning. We know we’re doing it, but we
think we have the right.
For
Abram, he slept with a woman who wasn’t his wife. For us . . . well, what problems do we face? Financial stress? God, we’re going to have to give you a little less to make sure
we can still do all the stuff we want to do.
Too many responsibilities and too little time? Our solution is to skip church.
Our plan for life not turning out exactly as we’ve planned? Our solution is to get angry, frustrated,
worried.
Strangely,
at those moments when the need for God’s power is more clear than ever . . . at
those moments we turn away from the God whose power alone can help us in our
challenges. We don’t walk before him in
obedience. We walk away from him in
disobedience. We don’t find
completeness in him. We confess with
our lives that he isn’t all we need to be complete.
Sometimes
God humbles us. When we try a solution
that is not “walking before the Lord,” can he allow things to become even
worse? Can he allow a situation to get
so hopeless to help us understand that our sinful solutions were no solution at
all?
God
had promised Abram a son at the age of 75.
Abram tried his own solution around age 86. God permitted 13 more years to pass.
Can
God allow a situation in our lives to get so hopeless to help us understand
that our sinful solutions were no solution at all?
13
years. That’s a long time. But it’s not forever.
To
a husband who had sinned against the Lord . . . at the age of 99, he was
visited by the Lord with a promise. God
speaks. “Let me make an agreement
between me and you, and I will cause you to become many in a very, very
impressive way.”
Abram
fell on his face.
Can
you imagine how ashamed he was? How
perhaps at certain moments in the past he had begun to wonder whether God was
real. So that he went his own way. Can you imagine how much in humble awe he
now was? That God was coming to him and
sharing a stunning promise? That the
God of power had not squished him but chose still to use him. To do exactly what he had promised to the
75-year-old man. Now 99. A child.
The impossible.
What
a powerful, gracious God Abram had.
What a powerful, gracious God we have.
He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve either. This very day, were he to be fair, he’d suck
from this building every ounce of air.
Judgment beginning. Yet we
breathe and he causes rain to fall. How
God loves, and so undeserved. Just like
his forgiveness. Abram’s sin he chose
to overlook. To forget. No doubt because of one of the stars that
Abram once saw, that descendant, the star of David, who showed God’s love in
purest form when on the cross he suffered thorns, crucifixion, hell, finished,
risen. Forgiven. Loved.
You. By Jesus, the distant child
of Abram.
Fall
on your face. When you come to worship,
come to fall on your face. Come not to
do your weekly duty. Come not to see or
be seen. Come not because you’ve come
for ages. Come not because you’ve been
gone for months. Come to worship to
fall in awe. So little we are. So big is God. So, so kindly he treats us.
When
the passage of time and continuing trouble tricks us into drifting and
doubting, the God of power chooses to love by keeping his promises, showing his
power even when we think it’s too late.
The
limits of time do not limit God!
He
is the God of power. He is also the God
of dependability. You can count on
him. No matter how much time passes.
So
much he wants you to trust him.
As
Abram lay in humble awe with face on the ground, God says, “Me. Look! Look at me.”
He
really loves you. He doesn’t forgive
you, and then you’re humbled and you admit that you deserve none of it, and
then he thinks about it a bit and says, “You know, you’re right. I really should treat you harshly.”
The
Lord loves you. If you fall to your
face in humble awe at the fact that God has forgiven you, he wishes not your
face to remain in the dust. “Me. Look!
My covenant with you, and you will be a father of a crowd of nations.”
He
wanted Abram to look at him. To see the
powerful God as his friend.
Lift
up your heads. Do not leave them in the
dirt. Look! The Lord has forgiven your wickedness and taken away your sin. Place your loving trust in him. Think now about his promises.
Promises
you can depend on.
When
God makes a promise, he keeps it.
Abram, the father of a crowd?
You bet. The Middle East is
filled with his children. Jews. Arabs.
Count them. Every one, a descendant
of Abram. And this building is filled
with his children. Romans 4:16: “all
Abraham’s offspring-- . . . those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.”
When
God makes a promise, he keeps it. Does
God promise you that you can seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and
all the other things you need will be added to you as well, but then not keep
it? It doesn’t matter how impossible it
may seem that obedience to that command will bring us everything we need. Impossible?
God is dependable.
When
God makes a promise, he keeps it. When
God makes a promise, he piles assurance on top of assurance. “I’m going to change your name, from
Abram—exalted father—to Abraham—father of many.” Oooh. That’s sticking
your neck out. If it didn’t happen, if
Abraham didn’t have a child, every day the lie of God would be on the lips of
everyone who met him. “Hey, father of
many. Father of many??? Who gave you that name?”
But
God wasn’t sticking his neck out only to have it chopped off, because God is
dependable. Abraham. Father of many. You are going to be the father of many. Let it be on the lips of all.
God
piles assurance upon assurance for us as well.
In a similar way. By changing
your name. To Steve
Geiger-FatherSonHoly Spirit. In baptism
God sticks his neck out. Sons of God by
faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you
who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. Sins washed away. The name of God, now yours.
Someone
may say to me, “Steve Geiger-FatherSonHolySpirit. You? A child of God? How is that possible?” I can answer, “I’m covered in the righteousness
of Jesus.” You can say the same. God’s name.
Made yours in baptism. Assurance
on top of assurance.
God’s
keeps his promises. God adds assurance
on top of assurance. Then God reveals
the highlights. “Kings will come from
you.” Abraham had no kids. Kings?
I’m going to have kings?
David. Solomon. Jesus.
Could there be any greater?
As
the Lord fills you with promises, he gives you some of the highlights. He doesn’t show you the entire new Disney
movie. He just shows you some of the
best parts. He doesn’t reveal to you
the entire collection of forgiveness blessings. He just shows you some of the best parts. In heaven no tears, perfect bodies, eternal
joy.
With
the added assurance that this promise won’t expire. This covenant with Abraham would be kept for generations. Still today, children are being born to him
as you and I were brought to faith.
God’s promise to you won’t expire.
Not even our death will do anything to frustrate God’s plans to keep his
promises to you.
Because
God is not limited by time. 99 years
don’t mean you can’t have a baby.
Thousands of years don’t mean you can’t still have grandchildren.
Because
God is the God of power. In your
troubles, walk before him, not away from him.
God is the God of dependability.
As you hear his promises, do not doubt him, but trust him.
It
may sometimes seem, in the difficulties of life, that time is running out on
God. Then remember that the limits of
time do not limit God.