The LORD's Day, March 7, 2010

Finishing Well

Genesis 11.27-32

We have spoken about this before. Life is a journey. From birth to death we are moving along a path. Paul, the apostle, describes it as a race. He wrote to the Corinthian Church: "Run in such a way as to get the prize." (I Corinthians 9.24)

I received an invitation to run in an "Alumni Half Mile" this month in Valley Stream. The invitation went "If you dare..." Into my mind immediately came the Old Timers Games of baseball. I remember my dad laughing at these once great players and how much weight they had gained, etc.

I decided my competition days were long gone. I love to run today and it is good for me but I am running for fun and to keep in some shape.

Running in a race has always been serious business (for me).

There is a race we are all in and that is the one Paul was referring to- the race of life, the journey to heaven. We can learn from this early part of Abraham's life. There are things which will help us here in our journey to heaven. Abraham was headed in the same direction we are this morning.

1. A Long Distance Race's Outcome is not Determined Solely by how We Start. v.31a

In a sprint, a dash, a short distance it is extremely important how one starts. Those races are not won at the finish line only but many times coming out of the starting blocks.

In my High School days, while the distance runner of whom I was a part would be running grueling intervals around the quarter mile track, the hurdlers and the sprinters would be on the starting line with blocks and they would be practicing getting out of them- time after time. For a long distance race we would start standing up. Even the commands were different in start of a sprint.

With a long distance race it is the whole race that matters from start to finish. Life is a long distance race- a marathon - a journey. The start is not unimportant. You must begin by being born again, but then comes the journey.

Ur of the Chaldees was a prosperous city, a trading center and it was rich in gold. Even today in Iraq (where Ur was located) there is potential for great wealth for all its inhabitants. Ur also had a structure very similar to the one described in the beginning of this chapter, the Tower of Babel. It was called a ziggurat. It was sort of a temple tower where the stars and the planets were worshipped- like in modern day astrology (which has no place in the true believers life!)

God was calling Abraham or Abram as he was called then away from all of this. For Abraham the start of the race or journey to heaven was leaving all of this and going to a place God would show him- it was a place flowing with milk and honey.

There is a cost in following Jesus. There are things we must leave behind. It is noteworthy that all these things He calls us from are things which could eventually harm us and weigh us down in our journey. I remember the day the coach told us to avoid coffee, french fries and potato chips... and at that time my dad worked for Wise Potato Chips! (my employer over the summers!)

2. A Crucial Period in a Long Distance Race is the Middle Point, the Halfway Mark. v.31b

Terah, Abraham's father's name means "delay"

Haran means parched or barren. They settled there. This was not God's plan. This was theirs.

When we delay in following the LORD ad His Word, we experience barrenness and dryness in our souls.

It appears Terah, by virtue of his name, was the reason for the delay.

Family can be a problem in following the LORD.

Matthew 12.46-50, 10.37-39 He wants us, like Abraham, to find our identity in Him... not in our family or place of birth but in Him.

By the next chapter (12.5) they are back on track they set out for the land of Canaan.

The middle of the journey is crucial. The middle of gardening, of climbing a mountain.

In the races I ran at Sunken Meadow, as a teenager, most of the time I passed other runners in the middle of the race. This was after we passed what we called Cardiac Hill- the most difficult part behind us because of the training our coach put us through we were running strong while other teams were dropping back.

If you are in the place of delay or barrenness or thirst spiritually today it is time to move on and get the journey going again.

3. In a Great Sense, there can be No Settling Here. v.32

Peter writes I Peter 1.17 ...live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

Don't settle down like you are going to be here forever (because you are not!)

Like Abraham Hebrews 11.8-10 looking forward to the city with foundations, Whose Architect and Builder is God.

God called Abraham to a place here on earth- Israel- but the ultimate call (and Abraham felt this in his heart) was to heaven.

We are people of destiny- not destinations.

Run the race with perseverance marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

When we arrived at Van Cortland Park in the Bronx before the race we walked the course so we would know what was coming up. We can't do that in life. The people of Ur and Babel tried with their towers, people today try with the horoscope, even world leaders have use it. It doesn't work. It is not God's way. We don't have the luxury of walking the course before we run it but we have something far Greater!!! We have the LORD! Let's all finish well!