What in the world does
the Bible have to do with us this morning? How can we possible get
anything out of the story of two very old people who are promised a birth
child and the granting by Jesus of miraculous powers to his 12 disciples
so long ago? How can these two impossible stories possibly have anything
at all to do with us today? Let me suggest to you this morning that it
has something to do with the promise of God.
God never forgets a
promise.
To God, a promise is sacred.
When God makes you a promise, there is nothing that will deny
it.
God never forgets a promise; never. There is nothing ever that can stop
God from keeping a promise. When God makes a promise you can count on
it.
Abraham and Sarah knew
about the promise of God and they counted on it. Long before, Abraham had
left his father’s tribe and struck out on his own across the wilderness
with his family. Why did he leave the security of his father’s larger
encampment and risk a journey where safety in numbers is always of vital
importance? Well, God made him a promise. God told him,
I will be your God, Abraham, and you be my people. I will
lead you to a land
flowing with milk and honey. Your descendants will number as the
sand beside the
sea shore. And through you all the nations of the world will be
blessed.
God made him a promise. So he went. He counted
on God who never forgets promises.
Now Abraham was 75 years old when
God called him to go. And we went. He went because he believed the
promise of God. He believed God would lead him to that land flowing with
milk and honey and he believed God was going to use him and his family to
bless the whole world.
But you never know how
God intends to use you in the fulfillment of the promise. One day God
visits their camp, coming as one of 3 strangers to whom Abraham grants
hospitality as was the custom in Bedouin culture. God asks Abraham,
Where is your wife, Sarah?
And he said, “There in the tent.” Then God says:
I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife is
going to have a baby.
Now Sarah was listening at the tent entrance
behind him. She heard this. What was her reaction? Sarah laughed. Now
she knew God intended to use her and her husband somehow in the
fulfillment of the promise, she knew they had a role to play in it, but
this is not exactly what she had in mind. This is impossible. So she
laughed.
Wouldn’t you, laugh? As a matter of
fact, if I told you this morning that the same authority Jesus gave his
disciples now belongs to you, wouldn’t you laugh? As the Gospel lesson
describes,
Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and
gave them authority over unclean spirits, to|
cast them out, and to cure very disease and every sickness.
If I told you you have that very same authority as disciples of Jesus
Christ today, wouldn’t you laugh? Well, that’s what I’m telling you.
That’s what the Gospel says today. Disciples of Jesus Christ are given
authority over spirits and disease and sickness by the power of his
resurrection. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh.
Abraham and Sarah, laughed. And so
you do. And so do I. But God made a promise. But God had promised that
their descendants would number as the sand beside the seashore. The
problem was Sarah was childless. But God, you see, never forgets a
promise. At the set time, in due season, Sarah gives birth to a son,
Isaac. And do you know what the name “Isaac” means? HE LAUGHS! God, you
see, has the last laugh because God never forgets a promise.
When God makes you a
promise do you believe it? When God shows you a vision of that promise
and how you are going to be involved in its fulfillment what is your
reaction? I often wonder if we laugh more than we trust…
What does the Scripture
say to you and to me today? Does this message to one called to leave his
kindred and travel to a strange and unknown place have anything to do with
us? Is this authority granted by our Lord only given to the original
twelve or is it the best hope of the world right now because God’s people
today carry that same authority boldly? Is there any sense in which God
is seeking to use us now in the fulfillment of the promise to restore
creation? I wonder. I wonder.
Kyle’s friend wondered. Listen to his personal story this morning, a
story I came across about this time of year not long ago:
One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my
class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he
was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, “Why would anyone
bring home all his books on a Friday? He must be a real nerd.”
I had quite a
weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow
afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.
As I was walking, I
saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocked all his
books out of his arms, and tripped him so he landed in the dirt. His
glasses went flying and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from
him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes.
My heart went out to
him. So I jogged over to him and as he crawled around looking for his
glasses, I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said,
“those guys are jerks. They really should get a life.” He looked at me
and said, “Hey, thanks.” There was a big smile on his face.
It was one of those
smiles that showed real gratitude.
I helped him pick up
his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near
me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone
to private school before now.
I would have never
hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home,
and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.
I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends. He
said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the
more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.
Monday morning came,
and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and
said, “Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile
of books everyday!” He just laughed and handed me half of the books.
Over the next four
years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, we began to
think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to
Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never
be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business
on a football scholarship.
Kyle was
valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech for graduation.
I was so glad it
wasn’t me having to get up there and speak. Graduation day, I saw Kyle.
He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself
during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.
He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes
I was jealous.
Today was one of
those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I
smacked him on the back and said, “Hey, big guy, you’ll be great!” He
looked at me with one of those smiles (the really grateful one) and
smiled. “Thanks,” he said.
As he started his
speech, he cleared his throat and began, “Graduation is a time to thank
those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents,
your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach…but mostly your friends. I am
here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift
you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.”
I just looked at my
friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He
had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had
cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn’t have to do it later and was
carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little
smile.
“Thankfully, I was
saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.”
I heard the gasp go
through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his
weakest moment. I saw his Mom and Dad looking at me and smiling that same
grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize it’s depth.
anonymous from the internet
Now God never told
Kyle’s friend one day, “In due time, in due season, you are going to save
someone’s life.” But if God did, you and I know how Kyle’s friend would
have reacted. He would have laughed. But God had the last laugh.
The question the Bible
asks you today is this: do you trust God? Do you? Does the promise of
God in your life secure in you a deep and abiding confidence? That’s what
the promise of God secures for you. Are you confident enough in the
promise of God in your life that you believe God can use even you in the
fulfillment of that promise, even as God used Abraham and Sarah? Do you
believe God can gift you with just the right blessing at just the right
time to make a difference?
As Christians we
believe we carry on the calling of Abraham, Sarah, and the people of God.
In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord we are sent into the world to make
disciples. We live our lives every day as those who believe in the
promise. We, no less than Abraham, Sarah, or the twelve apostles, are
entrusted with the promise and we are the ones upon whom God depends to
follow that promise all the way to its ultimate fulfillment. Now you
don’t trudge across deserts and wilderness on our way to an unknown
destination and you may not be gifted with the miraculous ability to
instantaneously heal persons of disease but you do live your life, share
with your friends, raise your children, and participate in communities as
people of God following our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ wherever he may
take us. That’s what this Scripture says to you today.
God gave you a promise. You can
count on it. God’s promise is not just for Abraham and Sarah. God’s
promise is not just for the first 12 disciples. The promise is for you.
God’s promise is for you and for me right now today.
When God tells you there is
something you can do to fulfill the promise, do whatever it is God asks of
you. When God promises you that you are uniquely gifted to bring just the
right blessing at just the right time to make a real difference, don’t
laugh. Take the promise of God seriously. Follow that promise. At the
set time, in due season, God will bring it to be, for God never forgets a
promise. Don’t laugh, because God always has the last laugh, the deepest
expression of sheer divine joy when God keeps a promise!
