LIVING BY PROMISE 

"'Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.' And (Abraham) believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness." (Genesis 15:6-7) 

What is the greatest leap a person can ever take?  What is the greatest leap you have ever taken?

I believe the greatest leap anyone can every take is a leap of faith in trusting a promise. 

 There is nothing you can do that brings more fulfillment or brings more pain than in all of what's involved in making and keeping promises. When you make a promise you put yourself on the line. If you fulfill the promise there comes great satisfaction and edification. Keeping a promise says much about the quality of your character. If you fail to keep the promise, chances are somebody will be hurt, your reputation will be tarnished and the quality of your character will be called into question.

Sacred promises not kept can cause deep hurt and intense pain. Conversely, promises made, fostered and fulfilled can bring deep joy and intense fulfillment. 

A couple of things about sacred promises:

First, making a promise is to take a great risk!  Almost 35 years ago Marcia and I made sacred life-long promises to one another. It was a great risk!  We thought we knew each other, but looking back we now realize we knew practically nothing about each other. We thought we were mature and wise, but in looking back we now see we were young and naïve. Living by a promise means taking a risk, an awesome risk! 

Second, making good on a promise is to experience life at a deeper level!   There have been things that have gone wrong because that's the way life is. It's an understatement to say that our sacred promises have been royally tested!   It's taken hard work, long-suffering love, forgiveness, understanding, patience and much more.  More than anything it's taken a grace and power from beyond ourselves--from God!  For sure, making good on a sacred promise is to experience life at a deeper level!

 Today's Old Testament story about Abraham and Sarah is about living life based on a sacred promise. In Genesis 12 we read that God visited Abraham and Sarah and made a sacred promise to them. God's promise had three parts:

One, that they would become a great nation;

Two, they would have a land to live in;

Three, they would be a blessing to the earth.

Abraham and Sarah believed God's promise to be true even though there was no evidence to suggest it was true. They trusted God's promise and began moving their lives in the direction of that promise. They packed up the U-Haul, pulled up stakes and headed for the unknown land of Canaan.

 But like with any promise it was risky. Who was this God anyway? What unknowns lay ahead for them?   They encountered famine and fled to Egypt. In Egypt things got complicated. Pharaoh lusted after Sarah and Abraham was caught in a lie that almost cost him his wife and his life. When that was finally resolved Abraham got in a dispute over land with his nephew Lot, and they ended up going their separate ways with Lot seemingly getting the better part of the land-deal. But the biggest unpredictable was that Sarah had not had any children. "What about your promise Lord, Some great nation we have here!" Abraham must have thought to himself. "What happened to the promise?"

 Today we hear Abraham venting his feelings in God's face. Perhaps with a little cynicism and salted with doubt Abraham says, "You have given me no offspring! What about your promise?"

 It was at that point that God renewed His promise to them. Whenever a sacred covenant was made in those days, it was the practice of the two parties involved to cut an animal(s) in two, spread the two halves on the ground and walk between the halves. It sounds gruesome to us, but in effect when the parties walked between the halves they were saying "If I do not keep the promises of this agreement, may it happen to me as it happened to these animals." That ritual revealed the sanctity of promises made in a covenant, and it sealed those promises.

 But notice who it was that walked between the halves - not Abraham?  He only brought the animals as God commanded. It was God, symbolized by the "smoking fire pot" and the "flaming torch," who walked between them! This was a unilateral promise! This was God declaring that His promise could be trusted even in the face of evidence, circumstances and variables to the contrary. This was God asking again for Abraham and Sarah to place their complete trust in Him and in His promise. It was amazing, for there was so much evidence that pointed to the contrary.

 Common sense told Abraham and Sarah that they were not going to have any children, Sarah was too old!    God's promise said something else

 Common sense told Abraham that he was a desert herdsman, not the father of a great nation. God's promise suggested something else.

 Common sense told Abraham he should save his valuable livestock for hard times, not be butchering them for some bizarre ceremony where he'd probably end up looking like a fool. God's promise said something else. 

Common sense told Abraham that there was no such thing as a "free-lunch" that there must be a hidden agenda in here someplace. God's promise said something else.

 There was so much that suggested that to believe in this cock-a-mamey promise was ludicrous, and that Abraham and Sarah were making complete fools of themselves.

 Nevertheless, they did believe; they did trust; they held on to God's promise--and like before they continued to live their lives based on that promise; shaping their lives around that promise; moving in the direction of that promise.

 We know how it eventually turned out. God did make good on the promise. Isaac was born and the promise was passed onto him; and Isaac and Rebekah's son Jacob received the promise and he passed the promise on to his twelve sons and their families, and they finally became the great nation that God promised. And at times, when they were following God's will, they even were a blessing. By hanging onto God's promise they had an identity... they had a purpose... they experienced life at a much deeper level.

 You and I who call ourselves Christians are a lot like Abraham and Sarah, that's why we remember to keep telling this story. We are called to shape our lives around a sacred promise of God.

 The promise that God gives is that in the person of Jesus Christ and His love is life and salvation.  However, we live in a world that for the most part doesn't believe it.

 We live in a doubting world full of pragmatic agnostics that say if you can't see God, hear God, touch God, smell God, feel God -- then there is no God. 

We live in a broken world where there is a lot hard data that calls into question the goodness of God, even the existence of God. 

We live in a cynical world that says there's no such thing as unconditional love, that everybody has an ulterior motive.

 We live in a self-absorbed world that says take care of your-self first. It's foolish to do otherwise.

 We live in a greedy world where the paramount value seems to be grab as much as you can for yourself with little regard for others, morality or implication.

 We live in a fearful world of locked doors, where we suspect everybody and trust nobody. It's dangerous to do otherwise.

 We live in a disillusioned world that says to risk for someone else, to maybe even suffer for someone else, is the height of insanity.

 It's in this kind of world that God calls on us to trust his promise; live by His promise; shape our lives around His promise that in Jesus Christ and His love we experience true life and salvation. But how do we know?  How can we trust that promise to be true? How do we know following Christ isn't anything more than a bad joke?

 Remember the bit in the Abraham story about the cutting of the animals in half and walking between the halves as a sign of commitment to promises made?  Remember it was the presence of God that passed between the halves signifying God's commitment?

 Well, this time the one that dies is not an animal for sacrifice, but God's very own son. This time the blood shed is not rams or goats, but the blood of God's son Jesus. This time nothing is cut in half, rather God's very own son is flogged within an inch of his life and then spiked to a cross.

 When it's all said and done, and the cynical, doubting, broken, self-absorbed, greedy, fearful, disillusioned world thinks its beat him down once and for all, but on his last breath he has the audacity to call on God his Father to forgive them.   Then, three days later, he's turns up back among them, still preaching the same message of love; still calling for them, and us, to trust him; that in following him and trusting his promises we experience life and purpose at its deepest level.

 We are called to live in leaps and bounds – leaps and bounds of faith in the promises of God in Jesus Christ: 

-         that in his cross and resurrection is found life and salvation;

-         that in following him we discover purpose like none other;

-         that in trusting him with our lives we receive a life back like none other.

Take the leap.  Live by the promise!