The seminary organized a trip for thirty seminary students, most of whom were older folks like me. Some were married couples, but I had to go alone because of the cost. I left behind my wife and family.
So in January of 2013, I found myself walking alone in the rain on the streets of ancient Pompeii on the slopes of Mt Vesuvius. Those cobblestone streets can be slick – the ruts are still there from the donkey carts of the ancient Romans who were killed when the volcano poured hot ash over the city in 79 A.D. just 9 years after the destruction of Jerusalem by those same Romans, those Romans who burned Jerusalem and tore down the great Temple in 70 A.D. The volcano's ash killed people in place, and the archaeologists who excavated the site poured plaster of Paris into the voids left after the bodies decayed, which allowed us to see these "statues" of these Romans, frozen in their last moments as the hot gases and ash caught up with them.
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:23-31; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38
In January, the weather in southern Italy is rainy, with temperatures in the mid-50’s. That day I walked alone most of the day, looking at homes with beautiful mosaic portraits on their floors, with fountains in their living rooms, with baked clay pipes in their walls to lead the rain into cisterns and those fountains because in the summer, when the crowds come, the city is hot and dry. But that day, I was thousands of miles from home and I walked alone with a few stray dogs, occasionally running into a handful of Chinese tourists, and the Roman dead.
The homes were yellow and pink, with a bit of blue. Several corners in the city have counters with holes in their tops, just right for sitting ceramic soup pots on top of fire, the ancient version of a fast food restaurant – "which soup would you like today, friend?" But no one was there to make or serve the soup, - those counters had been closed for almost 2000 years. So I looked for a few minutes and walked through the drizzle to the ancient amphitheater, and then walked through the 10,000 seat stadium and out the exit past a group of ancient tombs, leaving Pompeii to the stray dogs and the Roman ghosts.
A few days later I spent an afternoon walking around Rome. The rain had stopped. There were far more people, people from all over the world walking past me. I started at the Coliseum, walked past various fountains, crossed the Tiber River, eventually found myself at the Vatican, and then ate supper in a Burger King. In one afternoon I had traveled from the time of Christ to the time of the Reformation up to today. And the buildings and homes were yellow and pink, with a bit of blue. I’m not really sure what has changed in Italy over the centuries – there are just more people around today.
When I stopped for lunch that day, I found that I was about fifty yards behind two female pastors from California that were with our group. They went to a lunch wagon where two men from Bangladesh were selling panini sandwiches. The Bengali men greeted them in English. When I walked up, they greeted me in Italian and held the entire conversation with me in Italian. I guess I had figured out how to blend in. The sandwich was terrible, bland, with no salt. I walked on.
I eventually caught the subway back to the hotel to find out that the main group had a run in with pick-pockets. No one bothered me, even though I was alone, far from home, wandering in a strange town by myself. It reminded me of a story from the Bible, a story about another man who wandered far from home.
The central part of the Book of Genesis focuses upon a man named Abram – his name means “exalted father”, and his half-sister, who is his wife – Sarai – which means “My Princess”.
Abram is born in what today is southern Iraq. He travels up the Euphrates River to southern Turkey, and then leaves his family, taking only his wife, his nephew Lot, and some servants and livestock. At age 75, he leaves because God tells him to move to the area of modern day Israel. So they walk.
There, Abram has a host of encounters with the people of the land as he wanders around ancient Israel, and he grows old – almost a hundred years old. Sarai, of course, also grows old with him. Abram gains wealth, mainly in the form of livestock and servants, but there is one thing missing in his life. Abram does not have a child. He has no son to pass on his wealth and his name to. He feels alone.
Now those of us that have read the Book of Genesis realize that in the early part of the book, there are many people who live much longer lives – 800, 900 years – than people live today. But Abram wasn’t looking at that. Although he lived much longer than people do today – he died at age 175 and Sarai died at 127 years of age – by the time he was in his nineties, he had pretty much given up hope of having a son. Even his name Abram – Exalted father – had become an ironic reminded of his infertility, his loneliness.
And then, as recorded in Genesis 15, God spoke to Abram one night. God promises to make Abram into a great nation, with descendants that number more than the stars he can count. And Abram believes God. And the Bible records that God credited his belief to Abram as righteousness.
God comes back to Abram when Abram is 99 years old, and changes his name to “Father of Many” – Abraham. He changes the name of Sarai – My Princess – to “Sarah”, which simply means “Princess”, but has the feel of a noblewoman who is almost a queen. And a year later, Abraham and Sarah have a son – Isaac. Now Abraham is happy – he has a son and an heir.
A few years later, God speaks again to Abraham. And this time, it is a frightening order. Abraham is asked to take Isaac, his only legitimate son and heir, and sacrifice him on top of a particular mountain. And Abraham moves to do it. He takes Isaac, some wood, some rope, and a knife and goes to the top of the mountain. Isaac asks him, "Father, where is the lamb?" Abraham replies that God will provide the lamb, hoping it will be another lamb, not the son that God has given Abraham. The old man builds an altar from stones, he places the wood, then he takes Isaac, ties him up and places him on the wood, and then Abraham lifts the knife.
And God stops him. God orders Abraham to stop. God knows that Abraham would have done anything God asked. Abraham then sees a ram stuck in the bushes, so he sacrifices the ram instead of the boy. Once again Abraham has trusted God and God has seen this trust and rewarded Abraham.
All of the three great religions of the west trace their roots back to Abraham. The Jewish people consider Abraham to be their most important ancestor. Christians consider Abraham to be the founder of the people who would eventually leave Egypt led by Moses. And Moslems also consider Abraham to be the father of Ishmael, Isaac’s half-brother – who is said to be the founder of the Arab people.
And Abraham is the source of the why the Jews are considered God’s Chosen People, for God made the promise to Abram/Abraham that his descendants would be a great nation, and would have the land between the Nile River and the Euphrates River.
But what is the basis for this greatness, this high esteem in which Abraham is held?
The Apostle Paul tells us.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Abraham’s greatness comes from one simple thing. Abraham believed that God had the power to do what God promised – and that God had the integrity to do what God promised.
Abraham knew he alone didn’t have the power. He knew that Sarah was too old to have children. He knew he was too old to father a child. But he knew that God was capable and had the integrity to carry out any promise God made.
And so "God credited Abraham with righteousness. "
The word used, "credited" is an accounting term. You’ve run into it, perhaps with your bank or with a shopping account.
Abraham didn’t have any righteousness himself. But God gave a credit to Abraham’s righteousness account because Abraham believed God.
It was like Abraham had been $10,000 in debt, but because he believed God, God gave him a $20,000 credit, erasing the red ink and putting Abraham back in the black!
Did anyone force God to do this? No. God just decided to do this by God’s own free choice. It was a gift, it was completely God’s grace.
If there was anything that can be said about Abraham’s greatness, it was that Abraham believed in God and God’s promises – even when God’s orders were difficult, like the day he was asked to sacrifice his son.
Of course, the great thing about our God is that many years later, God went to that very same mountain, took God's Son, and sacrificed Him so that we could have a good relationship with God once more. Once again, God had provided the Lamb – this time, in the person of Jesus Christ.
And all we are asked to do to be credited with righteousness is to believe in the promises of God, to believe in the goodness of God, and to follow Jesus.
A few days ago, Billy Graham went to be with God. Those who are younger may not know much about Billy Graham, but Trinity Broadcasting often replays older televised sermons of that Graham spoke.
From 1949 to 2005, Billy Graham organized huge worship services around the world called “crusades”. A year before the event, the Graham organization would come to town and have meetings where they worked with any churches in the area that wanted to be involved – Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Catholics, Presbyterians. The churches would receive training, volunteers would be lined up, the event promoted, huge stadiums would be rented out, local television time would be purchased, and people would bring their friends, neighbors, and relatives to the stadium or turn on the television.
There would be music – a thousand-voice choir and solo singers. There would be hymn singing. There would be prayers. Holy Scripture would be read – and then Billy Graham himself would preach, with a message that all we had to do was to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved from the eternal fire. And thousands of people would come down to the altar on the field, where hundreds of volunteers would pray with them and connect them to a local church. Telephone hotlines took phone calls from the television watchers and radio listeners.
The events would go on for three or four weeks, afternoons and evenings. And over the years, millions of people came to Christ. Thousands of young people piled into spray-paint decorated minibuses and criss-crossed the country preaching to other young people. Hundreds of people went to Christian retreat centers and thousands went to seminaries. New churches were founded around the world. Older churches experienced revivals.
But there were limits to what the Graham organization could do. On average, only 3% of the people in the stadium came to Christ at any particular service. Of course, that might mean 3000 or more people a night. Many never showed up at any church afterwards, like Titanic survivors lifted out of the cold water by people rescuing them who slipped and fell back into the water, never to be seen again.
And there were long term consequences. A many Christians began to believe that being saved was a one-time event – make the decision and that was it – you’d automatically wake up in Heaven one day. And many Christians also took Billy’s shorthand – “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” – and shortened it still more to “Believe in God”.
And so many people got the idea that salvation comes when you believe in the existence of God.
But a more careful reading of the Old and New Testament shows us that there is more to it than a simple belief in the existence of God.
Abram believed in God's promises and took action because of that belief.
Even Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 states; “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
According to Peter, baptism is a key part of what we all need to do.
And Jesus seemed to speak often of a more strenuous path.
In our reading today, “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Today, when we stay in our homes, when we clearly hear God telling us to do something and we ignore God, when we put up the excuses that it is too soon for us, it is too late for us, it is too difficult for us, we have too many responsibilities, we’ve never had such responsibilities – we are not believing in the promises of God.
And so I ask you:
Find a group of people to bring the gospel to and develop a strategy which fits you – it can be door to door, backyard bible clubs this summer, lurking in McDonalds, coffee shared in your home, a ceramics class, something online, an exercise and worship group like REFIT, a model train club, a grandparents raising kids group, a gun club, a quilting club, a crafting club, a musical group – it all works if people are contacted, prayers are said, scripture is read, and God and Christ are raised up in glory.
Garrison Keillor, the longtime host of A Prairie Home Companion, told Sven and Ollie jokes. Sven and Ollie are two men who are always getting into trouble.
Even Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 states; “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
According to Peter, baptism is a key part of what we all need to do.
And Jesus seemed to speak often of a more strenuous path.
In our reading today, “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
- It is not enough to believe in the existence of a god.
- It is not enough to believe in the existence of the God of the Bible.
- It is not enough to believe that Jesus lived.
- It is not enough to believe in the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.
- It is not enough to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
- It is not enough to come to church, even every week.
- For Jesus asks us to deny ourselves.
- Jesus asks us to lose our lives for Jesus and the gospel.
- Jesus wants us to give up our lives – our regular, daily existence, our trinkets, our comforts, our money, our time – and follow him.
Today, when we stay in our homes, when we clearly hear God telling us to do something and we ignore God, when we put up the excuses that it is too soon for us, it is too late for us, it is too difficult for us, we have too many responsibilities, we’ve never had such responsibilities – we are not believing in the promises of God.
And so I ask you:
- Do you believe in the existence of God?
- Do you believe in the existence of the God of the Bible?
- Do you believe that Jesus live?
- Do you believe that God so loved us that He sent His Son to die for us and be Resurrected?
- Do you believe that Jesus promised that those who follow Him will be taken care of and receive eternal life?
- Do you believe Jesus said, ““Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me?”
Find a group of people to bring the gospel to and develop a strategy which fits you – it can be door to door, backyard bible clubs this summer, lurking in McDonalds, coffee shared in your home, a ceramics class, something online, an exercise and worship group like REFIT, a model train club, a grandparents raising kids group, a gun club, a quilting club, a crafting club, a musical group – it all works if people are contacted, prayers are said, scripture is read, and God and Christ are raised up in glory.
Garrison Keillor, the longtime host of A Prairie Home Companion, told Sven and Ollie jokes. Sven and Ollie are two men who are always getting into trouble.
One day, they are out walking above the fjord, a deep glacial valley, when Sven slips and falls over the edge. Ollie looks down and there’s Sven, hanging onto a tree branch overlooking a thousand foot fall into the sea. Sven is yelling “Get a rope!, Get a rope! Get a rope!”
Ollie yells down – “I’m a-gone ta get some help!” - and runs for help.
Sven hangs on for dear life. He can hear nothing except the breakers crashing far below and some seagulls chirping. The wind blows...
Suddenly, Sven hears something above. He hopes it's Ollie with a rope. Sven yells,”Is that you Ollie?“
A voice comes booming down. “Sven! This ist de LORD!”
Sven yells back. “Really Lord?”
The Lord says calmly, “Sven, let go of da branch. I will catch you and save you.”
Sven thinks a couple of minutes. He looks down….and then back up.
“Lord, isa dere anybody else up there?”
Ollie yells down – “I’m a-gone ta get some help!” - and runs for help.
Sven hangs on for dear life. He can hear nothing except the breakers crashing far below and some seagulls chirping. The wind blows...
Suddenly, Sven hears something above. He hopes it's Ollie with a rope. Sven yells,”Is that you Ollie?“
A voice comes booming down. “Sven! This ist de LORD!”
Sven yells back. “Really Lord?”
The Lord says calmly, “Sven, let go of da branch. I will catch you and save you.”
Sven thinks a couple of minutes. He looks down….and then back up.
“Lord, isa dere anybody else up there?”
We've all had times when we looked for another way rather than the path God was guiding us onto.
We have the Lord who has promised to be with us if we will follow God’s Son. Why do we need anything else? Why do we need the comforts of the world?
After all, as Jesus said: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
We have the Lord who has promised to be with us if we will follow God’s Son. Why do we need anything else? Why do we need the comforts of the world?
After all, as Jesus said: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
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