Issue 3: Building a Foundation

We continue our study series Walking with Heroes of Faith by taking a look at Isaac: Builder of a

Foundation. When we last heard of Isaac was in Genesis 22: 1-19, when the Lord called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and then spared the boy, rewarding Abraham for his faith. Isaac’s story picks up again chapter 24 when it is time for him to take a wife. Abraham has sent his trusted servant Eliezer to Haran to find a suitable wife for Isaac. Abraham’s primary concern at this point is the rampant idolatry of the people living around his family and wants to keep that kind of element out of his household. Eliezer eventually comes upon Rebekah, who is the absolute perfect candidate and takes her back to Abraham’s home.

When we reach chapter 25, Abraham has passed on and Isaac is now in charge of the people, and thus inherits God’s promise of the forth coming mighty nation. But the nation in question isn’t one that Isaac will live to see. Isaac’s task is to hold the fledgling nation together. Just like his father before him, Isaac won’t live to see the mighty nation that will come from his efforts, but Isaac isn’t frustrated by this. In fact Isaac spends his time building a foundation for the future nation. In Genesis 26 Isaac follows Abraham’s pattern and moves the family out of the Promised Land when famine hits. But rather than heading to Egypt, he moves the family towards the coastal land of the Philistines. God appears to Isaac and affirms the promise that he will continue to bless Isaac even in the land of the Philistines.

“Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.” (Genesis 26: 2-5)

God’s blessings to Isaac’s family are so abundant that the local king actually asks Isaac to leave because of his prosperity. However before Isaac departs, the king asks that a peace treaty be made between Isaac and himself. Chapter 26 details these accounts, but in short, Abimelech, the king of the Philistines in Gerar, became worried that Isaac and his blessed family would come to quickly rival his kingdom. This is somewhat reminiscent of Lot and Abraham; when both of their flocks had become so prosperous that the herders began to conflict with each other, it was decided that the two should separate. Two mighty powers cannot coexist for long without conflict and Abimelech understood this. He had already wanted to keep Isaac safe from harm, and it came to the point where the best way to do that was to send him and his family away. Isaac even calls Abimelech’s messengers out on this when they come to him later seeking a peach treaty “Why have you come to me since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”(Genesis 26: 27). When they explained the situation, Isaac accepted their peace treaty and made a feast for them, because nothing says “lets be friends” like a gigantic meal.

But, going back, there was a second purpose for their being sent away from Abimelech’s land. If we go back to verse 17-25, we come to understand that Isaac’s prosperity was getting stifled in their previous land, they needed room to grow. Of course it was only after they were sent away that Isaac made this connection, stating in verse 22 “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”

Isaac is further blessed with twin sons, Esau and Jacob. We’ll get more into the boys next week, because that is really a story in of itself.

Isaac serves as a fantastic example of patience, even in times of hardship. When famine had hit, they were moved to the land of the Philistines, away from the Promised Land. This had to hit Isaac as a step back, but he persevered and the Lord blessed him. When they were sent away from their new home, again this had to feel like a set back. They were prospering, and suddenly had to pack up and move, but the end result was so much greater than the prosperity they were experiencing.

Often we find ourselves besieged by set backs. We may find ourselves in an unfavorable job, unable to find a better one. Sometimes we find ourselves moving from a larger home into something smaller, more meager, and we find ourselves asking God “Why? Why have you taken this thing from me?” Sometimes we find ourselves in relationships that we think we are happy in, and wonder why it all fell apart.

What we learn from walking with Isaac is that often we find ourselves with set backs because something better is coming down the road. The relationship may have fallen apart because it was ultimately a destructive one. We may have to move our families from larger homes into smaller ones to reconnect with our loved ones, to appreciate what it means to be a family. We may not be getting the better jobs we keep applying for because God needs us right where we are. Isaac’s example is one of laying things in God’s hands, of patiently waiting for God to work in our lives, and in the mean time being appreciative of what we have. What we learn is to not dwell on what you used to have or what you could have, but rather what the Lord has given you here and now and give thanks.

Let us close in prayer;

Father in heaven, you have blessed us in ways we can’t begin to understand. Guide our hearts not to be envious of what others have, guide our minds to not dwell on what has been or what might be, and help us to realize the blessings we have in the hear and now. Help us to turn those blessings into actions that give the glory to you. We thank you Lord, not for giving us what we want, but for providing for us what we need. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

I want to thank everyone for joining us again this week. I know this week’s lesson feels somewhat short, but that’s one of the benefits of Isaac, he gets right to the heart of the matter. Next week we’ll be looking at his son’s Esau and Jacob.

 

Have a blessed week and walk with light,

Michael Bauch

Issue 2: Secret Origins of Faith

We continue our “Walking With Heroes of Faith” series by looking at the patriarch of the Hebrews. So go ahead and break out your Bibles, or at least click on this link here - http://www.biblegateway.com/, and lets take a look at Abraham: Secret Origins of Faith.

We often hear a very popular phrase in the biblical texts “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…” when referring to God himself. But who is Abraham? Abraham started his life by the name of Abram, tenth generation or so from Noah, living in what is estimated to be about 2100 BC. We can actually pick up on Abram’s story in Genesis 11:26-32, which talks about Abram, his father Terah, his wife Sarai, and his brothers Nahor and Haran. We establish very early that Sarai is barren, totally unable to have children. We are also introduced to Haran’s son Lot. Important to note, before anything else really gets going, Terah and Haran died. Its in chapter 12 where things start picking up for Abram when the Lord comes to him and says “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go 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.” (Genesis 12: 1-3)

They find themselves in a land called Canaan, inhabited appropriately by a people called the Canaanites. Here the Lord talks to Abram again, saying “To your offspring, I will give this land.” Abram built an altar to the Lord on the spot. This gets to be kind of Abram’s signature move, as he is known throughout his story building altars to the Lord everywhere.

Now to say that Abram has a long and healthy life is to put it mildly. His story is loaded with travel, danger, mistakes, and momentous occasions. I greatly encourage you to read up on his life on your own because we simply do not have the time in this Bible study to cover all of his major events. That said, there are some key points that you should know about Abram. To start off, there is the covenant God makes with Abram. God does not enter into covenants lightly, and he always delivers on his end. What seems to confuse Abram, and most of us when we are talking to God, is that things will happen when God says everything is in place for them, not when we think they should happen. God has promised that Abram’s descendants will be like the stars in the sky, like sand on the beach, just too many to accurately count. The problem Abram has with this promise is that his wife, Sarai, is barren. We established that very early on. So Sarai and Abram concoct a plan to make God’s promise happen in their time.

Sarai had an Egyptian maid servant named Hagar, and they decide that if Sarai can’t bear children, Hagar can serve as her surrogate. Hagar and Abram conceive a child together, but soon enough Sarai gets jealous of this situation and begins to mistreat and despise Hagar. Hagar, understandably, takes to the hills. Here, the angel of the Lord finds her and discusses the matter with her. The angel tells Hagar to go back not to worry about it, that she will have a son, and will call him Ishmael (remember this name).

When Abram hit ninety nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, again reaffirming the promise. He renames Abram into Abraham, and renames Sarai into Sarah. Despite Abraham’s disbelief God promises him that even in their advanced age, Sarah being ninety at this point, they will have a son and he will be named Isaac.

Among the many interesting points of this story, told in it’s fullness in Genesis 17, is the renaming of Sarai and Abram. We see this happen from time to time, in the biblical texts, with specific points of Simon into Peter and Saul into Paul in the New Testament. What this signifies is that the men these people used to be are gone, not dead, but gone, completely wiped from existence. They received their new names from God himself, in the later cases from God the Son, Jesus Christ. This denotes these men and women have a very specific assignment, that who they were in the world of men is over and that from here on out they are serving under God’s direct command. They aren’t just getting a new moniker, but rather their new name is etched on their soul by God himself.

Sure enough, Sarah bears Isaac into the world. When Isaac gets to a certain age, early childhood from what we can establish in chapter 22 of Genesis, God commands Abraham to take Isaac up to a mountain and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Never were there more conflicted feelings. Here Abraham is with the son he was promised by God, and now told to sacrifice him. In the previous chapter, Abraham had to send Hagar and Ishmael away to keep peace in his home (see chapter 21: 8-20), and now he was about to loose his son by his wife. What this turns out to be is a true test of faith. As Abraham is about to slay the boy, the angel of the Lord appears again and calls him to stop. Relief washed through Abraham and the Lord provides a ram for the sacrifice.

Abraham leads his people across the land and they spread out, making war and peace with various nations and becoming a nation unto themselves. This is the birth and growth of the Hebrew nation. Now as you’ll recall, God spoke to Abraham about how his nation would be virtually uncountable. The Hebrew nation, or Judaism today, claims between 12 and 18 million members world wide, Christianity claims 2.14 billion world wide, and the nation of Islam holds an estimated membership of 1.57 billion people world wide. Now you may be wondering what the nation of Islam has to do with Abraham. Their belief is that their primary prophet, Mohammed, is a direct descendant of Ishmael, and thus Abraham himself. This gives Abraham’s descendants, both biologically and spiritually an estimated number of 3.728 billion. When you consider that conservative estimates on the population of the earth range somewhere near 6 billion, that’s not too shabby.

But that isn’t one of the most important things we learn from Abraham. Abraham shows us, once again, that God promises and provides, but we should be patient. Any time we try to force God’s hand leads us to trouble and more than that it places ourselves above God, and that is doomed to failure from the beginning. No, it is better to trust in God that in his time he will guide us down the paths he wants for us.

Let us close in prayer:

Father God, thank you for your infinite guidance in our lives. We ask that you provide us with wisdom to let you work your will, and the patience to let it happen in your time, not ours. Help us learn from the lesson of Abraham and Sarah, and help us to establish better relations with our own brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you, Lord, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Some quick announcements before I sign off here. October 31^st, 2010 at Fishers of Family Lutheran Church we will be having our second Mobile Ministry Sunday and we’d love everyone to come out and join us. More announcements and details will be made on our Facebook page. For all of Abraham’s story, check out Genesis 11:26-23:20.

Have a great week and walk with light,

Michael Bauch

Issue 1: The Runaway Prophet

Why do the Biblical accounts still hold up even in our modern times? The accounts written in the Old and New Testaments are not simply allegorical tales meant to entertain and teach; they are a historical account. But what sets these historical accounts apart from others is the frankness by which they address the subjects. When one looks at historical records, one often finds glorified accounts that tend to gloss over the uglier or less heroic parts. Take for instance the Boston Tea Party. Almost all generalized accounts speak of the heroic act of defiance in the face of the oppressive British made by the colonists. No one really wants to address that the colonists were committing tax evasion and high treason. And since the colonists ultimately won the conflict, it is convenient not to teach that little foot note to children. History is, after all, written by the victors and the victors want to look good for generations to come.

So how does the Bible differ? Take the Old Testament, the accepted ancient historical record of the Hebrews. These books speak of individual after individual that did great things on behalf of the Jewish people. Moses lead them out of slavery, David won battles and wrote beautiful songs of praise, Samson was a mighty and brave, and the list goes on. Brilliant, beautiful history is painted for the generations, but it has an ugly side that is readily evident. Moses fell into pride and was forbidden passage into the promise land. David sinned, using his royal authority to commit murder. Samson’s arrogance cost him dearly. Hero after historical hero is tarnished, shown to be all too human. They aren’t glorified. If they were, Moses would not only have led the Israelites into the Promised Land, he would have done so in less than forty years without any problems. Noah would have inspired the people of his time to repent and the flood never would have happened. And David would never have resulted to calculated homicide to win a prize.

The New Testament is much the same, with Jesus’ closest friends and followers being plagued by with doubts and flaws. Peter; proud and zealous, Thomas; doubtful, Judas; treacherous. The New Testament directly addresses sinful nature, and the failure it brings to bear, and the victory that comes with the glory of God through Christ.

No, our Biblical heroes are not glorified. Rather, they are tarnished and flawed. But still they stand for us. It is their humanity that makes them great, and that speaks to us today. At sometime in our lives, we’ve all felt the push of pride, arrogance, and lust, and at sometime in our lives we’ve fallen from grace.

It is with this basis, with this theme that we enter into our next Bible Study series; Walking with Heroes of Faith, because the heroes of faith don’t shine, but they stand firm and stand the test of time. We walk with them to get to know them, to hear their stories of human failure and holy victory, and maybe in getting to know them we get to know ourselves.

Since we have scripture readings, if you do not have a copy of the Holy Bible handy, you can read the scriptures via http://www.biblegateway.com/.

Our first hero of faith is probably the most unlikely candidate to be called “a hero”. If anything he comes across somewhere between hapless self server and unwilling participant. But maybe through his mistakes we can learn. Jonah stands out because he has an entire book devoted to his one, simple story, and more to the point this book is directly named after him. So the obvious place to start is by opening the book of Jonah. That said, let’s read from 2^ndKings.

No I’m not pulling a fast one you. You might have noticed that the title is“Case of the Runaway Prophet”. That’s because there is a mystery to Jonah’s story, and we are going to investigate it. You and I are going to take on the role of detectives and we’re going to get to the bottom of why Jonah is known as the Runaway Prophet. The first step in our investigation is to figure out when the incident took place. 2^nd Kings serves as our time stamp, it is as close to a date and time as we can get. Let’s cue up the reading and see what we’ve got…

2^nd Kings 14:23-25

Here we have our first mention of Jonah, and given what we’re seeing here is part of a historical record, and it places Jonah as an active prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II, which was around 793 to 753 BC, giving us a clear forty year window. We’re also given a local for Jonah, Gath Hepher. Let’s cue up the map. We can assume that after speaking to Jeroboam that Jonah either returned to Gath Hepher or he returned to that general area. It’s at this point that God comes back to Jonah and gives him a second assignment. “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” Rather than following the Lord’s command to go east, Jonah packs his bags and heads due south, to a place called Joppa. Let’s check out the map. Right, and then he hops a ship heading due west to a place called Tarshish. Either Jonah has no sense of direction, or he’s on the run. What’s more, Tarshish is, at this point, the edge of the known world. Rather than follow God’s command, Jonah wants to go the opposite direction and disappear.

Let’s pause for just a second; what are some theories as to why Jonah is doing this? Based on our current evidence, what do we think is going on with Jonah? If you’re working on this study in a group, I encourage you to take time to discuss your theories.

Alright, let’s continue our investigation.

So Jonah is on this boat heading west when the Lord sends a storm on it. This boat is getting tossed around like a bath toy in a hurricane, and for obvious reasons the sailors on board are concerned…to say the least. They begin praying to their individual gods. Nothing, apparently their god’s are screening their calls. Jonah, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be afraid. In fact, he goes below deck and goes to sleep. Quick show of hands, how many of us have tried to go to sleep during a violent storm? How about when that storm is rocking around the very thing you’re trying to sleep in?

The captain of this ship comes down to where Jonah is and insists Jonah calls upon his god. While this is happening the sailors cast lots, they use a kind of prophesying technique to figure out who’s responsible for this situation. The results come in loud and clear, it is Jonah. At this point they’re really eyeballing Jonah, wondering who his god is and why exactly is his god rocking the boat. Jonah had told the sailors when he got on board that he was on the run for something, and that he was a holy man. Now he tells them that his God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; that he is a Hebrew.

Do we have any new theories? Is Jonah on the run because he’s ashamed of his faith? Is he on the run because he doesn’t want to witness to other people?

Jonah next gives an instruction that strikes the sailors as nearly impossible. He tells them to throw him overboard. They refuse. They refuse because in that day and age, when the ancient Greeks had many gods, one thing you did not do under any circumstance, was kill a prophet of a god, whether you worshipped that god or not. They considered it the fast track to incurring the wrath of the gods, of which the sailors were pretty sure they were experiencing at this moment anyway. They instead try rowing back to shore, but fail in that. The reason for this is because they don’t want to anger the God of Jonah any more by flinging God’s representative into the drink, but after failed alternatives, they pray to God asking for forgiveness and the boop, toss Jonah overboard. Instantly the storm stops. The sailors convert to Judaism on the spot.

Meanwhile, Jonah is swallowed by a giant fish. I’d expound on this, but that’s really all there is to it. He’s in the water, and he gets swallowed by a giant fish. He’s got an air pocket in the fish to last him quite a while, and we’d dive into theories as to the origins of this giant fish, but that would just detract for the investigation.

So Jonah is in a tight spot now, middle of the ocean, middle of a fish. Here he begins to pray. Take a look at Jonah 2:1-10.

So how are our theories holding up? Can we think of any new theories given our current evidence?

Jonah finally gets himself into gear and heads off to Nineveh, which is now even further than it was before. But what is Nineveh? Well, at this point in history, Nineveh is the capital city of the Assyrian empire, and it’s a pretty hefty city, about sixty miles around. Being the capital city, what happens to Nineveh happens to all Assyria. It is here that Jonah gives the shortest sermon ever; “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” The city converts on the spot, all the way to the king of Nineveh. God keeps his word, as he always does. He said that if Nineveh repented it would be spared punishment.

Jonah on the other hand is very upset. Take a look at Jonah 4:1-9.

How are our theories holding up? Do we have any new theories?

Just like any good detective story, it’s always that one little piece of evidence that’s kept until the very end. Who was Assyria? It was the historical enemy of Israel, a country with whom Jonah’s nation had gone to war with. Jonah, being a patriot, didn’t want some foreign nation, much less Assyria, to get salvation. National pride and international hatred is something very common to human beings. Its England and Germany post World War II. Its England and America post 1776. It’s America and the Muslim nations post 9/11. Imagine asking a New Yorker, born and bred, full of national and city pride, to speak of salvation to a Mosque after 9/11. Imagine yourself, locked in a conflict with someone, and being asked to speak to THAT person about the salvation of Jesus Christ. That is what Jonah was asked to do, and that is what Jonah tried to avoid.

Christ message of unreserved love is evident throughout his ministry, and echoes out from the Old Testament, and into our days. God is not concerned about where you come from or what you’ve done in the past. His focus is on your future, and your willingness to come to him. Jonah risks missing the point by forgetting that the whole of everything is God’s creation, and as such earns his love and concern. Please read Matthew 5:43-48.

Jonah stands as our first hero of faith in our series because of what he represents to us. He is us when we hold to our old prejudices, our grudges, our preconceived notions. He shows us that God works through us, despite our attempts to avoid his instruction. Despite Jonah’s intent to avoid his responsibility, he witnesses for the Lord to all he comes in contact with. Does he make a “great” witness for the Lord? He’s not perfect by any means.

So let us close in prayer:

Dear Lord, we kneel before you, a lost people. We lost in our prejudices, our hatred, and our judgment of others. We are bound in the chains of arrogance. Open our hearts so that our shackles may be opened, and our burdens lifted, that we may lay our troubles at the foot of the cross as Jesus asks. Help us to learn the lesson of Jonah, that if we cling to the grudges of yesterday we will never truly understand your boundless love. Renew our hearts and minds through you Holy Spirit, and grant us peace.

Amen.

I want to thank you all for joining us this week and being patient with me as I am starting to get the Mobile Ministry back up and running after our hiatus. If you have any questions about the ministry or the lessons themselves feel free to e-mail me or message me via Facebook. As always have a blessed week and walk with light.

Michael Bauch