Psalm 25:1-10 (NIV)

1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; 2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. 3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse. 4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD. 8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.

INTRODUCTION

Before my holidays I began a series entitled “When the Heroes of Faith Speak”. This series, based on chapter 11 of Hebrews is a look into the lives of people listed in God?s hall of faith and the biblical answers tot he question, “What words of wisdom/advice would these individuals speak to us today if the veil of heaven were parted?”

So far we?ve looked at the lives of Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham. This morning, for just a few minutes, we?re going to look at Abraham?s son Isaac, and see what hard won spiritual advice Isaac would give us if he stood in this pulpit today.

If there was ever a child who had a life of hard knocks, it was Isaac!

Isaac was a poster child for dysfunctional families.

His parents were over 100 when he was born?talk about a generation gap!

As a teenager, his father tried to kill him?and said that God told him to do it!

His half brother Ishmael hated him from the moment he was born.

His father picked his wife, and he was bound to marry her without even seeing her.

He was almost killed by King Abimelech when he repeated a stunt his Dad had formerly pulled and pass his wife off as his sister.

His son Esau married 2 Hittite women?some of the most hated people of his day.

His other son Jacob lied and tricked his own father in order to steal his brother?s birthright!

Isaac?s life was shall we say interesting?

Yet, in spite of all these things, there are some very poignant lessons we can learn from the man called Isaac.

There are dozens of important lessons that we could learn from the life of Isaac, but if he stood before us today, I believe that he?d feel it important to share these 3 truths with us.

1. Trust God with Your Life.

Genesis 22 tells us the horrible story of a man asked to sacrifice his own son to God.

We are told in verse 2 that God called out to Abraham and said,

Genesis 22:2 (NIV)

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

ASIDE ? Notice that the mountain God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son on was Mount Moriah?The significance of this is that it is on this mountain that the sight of the future temple would be found?

Abraham arose the next morning, saddled his donkey, took Isaac and 2 other men with him, and headed toward Mt. Moriah.

After traveling for 3 days, Abraham told the other 2 men to stay behind, and went on up the Mountain with Isaac.

Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain.

Up to this point, he had no clue that he was to be the offering.

Genesis 22:7 (NIV)

7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham?s reply to Isaac was that God would provide the sacrifice.

Now, here?s the amazing part?

Look with me at Verse 9

Genesis 22:9 (NIV)

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

Now, for the first time, Isaac knows the he is to be the offering.

I believe it is important that you understand something here?

Issac probably wasn?t a toddler, or a grade school child.

In Verse 12, the angel refers to Isaac as a “Lad”(KJV) which comes from the Hebrew word na?ar (nah?-ar ) This word can mean any age from infancy to adolescence, but most often is used to refer to an older child, maybe even a teenager.

“?Generally na’ar denotes a “young man” who is of marriageable age but is still a bachelor? ” (Vines)

Isaac was more than likely an older child because of the way he questioned his father about the sacrifice in verse 7.

Here?s my point?.It took just as much trust in God for Isaac to allow himself to be tied and placed upon an altar as it took for Abraham to lay him there.

All of his life, I?m sure that Isaac had been told that he was the fulfillment of God?s promise.

Since he was a toddler, Isaac had been told that a great nation would spring forth through him.

He knew that God had promised to do great things through him.

He knew that God had promised to use him to make a great nation.

Yet he quietly allowed his father to bind him and lay him upon a sacrificial altar.

Friends, the ultimate proof of our faith in God comes when we allow Him to take control of our future.

The ultimate test of how much we believe in God comes when we trust Him to bind us and lay us upon His altar, trusting in Him to use us however He sees fit.

I believe that Isaac would challenge you?plead with you, to trust God with your life.

Every breath you draw comes from God?s grace.

Every heartbeat pulses because God has allowed it.

If you belong to Jesus, God owns you lock, stock and barrel.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)

19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

We need to come to a place where we can trust God with our lives.

I don?t know what diseases may rack my body?but God does, and He?s in control.

I don?t know what emotional heartache may come my way?but God does, and He?s in control.

I don?t know what trials/difficulties I?ll face?but God does, and He?s in control.

If you?re here this morning, and you think that “God is your co-pilot”, you need to trust God with your life and make Him the pilot!

I?m not the pilot of my life?.I?m not even the copilot!

I?m sitting back in coach and God?s flying the plane!

If I try to fight him for control of the steering wheel, I?ll just crash the plane.

If Isaac were here this morning, I believe that he?d tell you to trust your future, your finances, your health, your happiness and your holiness to God?.

He knows what He?s doing

2nd, I believe that Isaac would beg you to:

2. Give Your blessings to Your children

Some of us are very familiar with the story in Genesis 27 telling about Isaac?s son Jacob stealing Esau?s blessing.

Isaac was old, and his senses were pretty far gone!

I bet Isaac was at the point where when he reached down to tie his shoes, he tried to think of what others things he could go ahead and take care of while he was down there!

Jacob slipped into his room, pretended to be Esau, made Isaac some soup, and stole the blessing that was to be given to his eldest son, Esau.

The blessing was a big thing in Isaac?s time.

The blessing was a will, a wish, and a prayer for God?s best all rolled into one. The blessing usually went to the eldest of the family.

Later, when Esau found out what had happened, he cried, “Bless me?me also, O my father!”

and “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me?me also, O my father!”

The custom of the time forbade Isaac from changing the “inheritance/will” portion of his blessing.

Once that was done, it could not be altered.

But in Genesis 27:39-40, Isaac prays a prayer of blessing upon his oldest son Esau.

If Isaac were here today, he?d beg you to give your blessings to your children.

Parents, you wanted your parent?s blessing upon your life.

Some of you worked yourself to death trying to gain your mother or father?s approval.

You spent long hours doing everything from practicing the piano to playing sports in order to hear words of blessing from you mom or dad.

Some of your parent?s went to their graves without ever saying those words you so desperately needed to hear.

Some of you hurt deep inside, even now, and you remember the missing blessing from those you sought to please.

Some of you can relate with Esau as he cried “”Bless me?me also, O my father!” and “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me?me also, O my father!”

Parents/grandparents?you can?t change that now.

You can?t bring back your mother/father and make them give you the words of blessing you long to hear.

But you can make sure another generation doesn?t miss the words of blessing we all so desperately need to hear.

Parents/grandparents?give words of blessing to your children.

Say these words to them:

I love you.

I?m proud of you.

I like the person you?ve become.

I?m proud to be your dad. I?m proud to be your mom. I?m glad you are my child?

Isaac would beg you to bless you children.

OK, If Isaac were here, I believe that he?d challenge us to Trust God with our lives.

I believe that he?d beg us to Give Our Blessings to our children.

And lastly?Isaac would warn us. He?d say?

3. Don?t Repeat the Sins of the Past

Why is it that we find ourselves too often repeating our parent?s stupidity?

In Genesis 26, we find Isaac making the same mistake that his father Abraham had made.

Isaac took Rebekah, a beautiful woman, to Gerar, a Philistine city.

He was afraid that King Abimelech would kill him and take his wife.

So, he did exactly what his father did with Sarah two other times as recorded in the Bible.

He convinced her to pretend that she was his sister.

He had repeated the sins of his father.

Dr. Kenneth Ridings tells about how his wife used to cook a ham.

For years, she?d cut 2 inches off the ham on either end before putting it in the roasting pan.

When he asked her about it, she just told him that that?s how her mother always did it.

20 years later, over Christmas dinner, Kenneth asked his mother in law about the strange custom of cutting 2 inches off either side of the ham.

“Oh, she replied, “I always did that because my roasting pan was too small to fit a whole ham in it.”

Parents, we need to remember that our children are watching every move we make.

If we want honest children, we need to be honest parents.

If we want children with good morals, we need to be moral parents.

If we want Godly children, we need to be Godly parents.

I?m reminded of the anti drug commercial I saw several years ago.

A father finds a box of marijuana in his son?s room.

Standing over the boy, the father screams, “Who taught you to do this?who?”

“You”, the boy screams back, “I learned it from watching you!”

Isaac would warn us to not repeat the sins of the past.

We need to also make sure that our children don?t repeat our sins.

If you don?t want drug addicts for children, don? use drugs.

If you don?t want alcoholics for children, don?t drink alcohol.

If you don?t want abusive children, don?t be an abusive parent.

We mimic what we saw in our parents?

They mimic what they see in us.

The Bible tells us that “The sins of the fathers are visited to the children unto the fourth generation.”

It?s time we broke the chain!

Isaac would warn us?He?d say Don?t repeat the sins of the past.

If Isaac were here, he?d give us at least 3 good pieces of advice:

He?d challenge us to Trust God with our lives.

He?d beg us to Give Our Blessings to our children.

He?d say?Don?t Repeat the Sins of the Past

John 5:19-30 (NIV)

19 Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. 24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out–those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

INTRODUCTION

Recap last message: “We are continuing today with the series that I began last week on “When the Heroes of Faith speak?” Last week we heard about our first hero “Abel”.

This morning we?re going to look at the 2^nd person mentioned in God?s Hall of Faith. His name is Enoch and he is mentioned in Hebrews 11:5

READ HEBREWS 11:5-6

PRAY

Not much is written about Enoch.

He?s only mentioned in 12 verses/5 books of the whole Bible.

2 of those books I Chronicles/Luke, mention him only in genealogies.

That leaves only 3 books/10 verses that mention anything about Enoch.

How can you make it into God?s Hall of Heroes on only 10 verses?

His life may only be written out in 10 small verses, but they?re 10 very powerful verses that tell us a lot about the man known in God?s Word as Enoch.

We?re going to look at some of those verses this morning, and we?re going to discover what words of wisdom Enoch would share with us if he were here this morning.

1. The Christian Walk is a Marathon, Not a Hundred Yard Dash.

Hebrews 11:5b tells us that Enoch

Hebrews 11:5b (NIV)

5? he was commended as one who pleased God.

“had this testimony, that he pleased God.”(KJV)

That?s pretty impressive, isn?t it?

Wouldn?t you like it if saying that your testimony was that you pleased God summed up your life?

Paul writes that Enoch “Pleased” God.

The Greek word used here for “Pleased” is “euaresteo?” (yoo-ar-es-teh?-o).

It means to “gratify entirely:”

Enoch not only pleased God, but he pleased God entirely/completely/fully.

But we really grasp the full meaning of this statement unless we look at Genesis 5:21-24.

These verses tell the story of the man called Enoch.

Genesis 5:21-24 (NIV)

21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Notice the sequence of events here.

Verse 21 tells us that Enoch was 65 when he had Methuselah. (Talk about aging and the effects of aging perhaps?)

I believe that the Bible is to be taken quite literally when it says that Enoch lived 365 years.

Enoch was 65 when he had Methuselah.

But that?s not the impressive part!

Genesis 5:22 (NIV)

22 And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

Enoch found God after the birth of his son, Methuselah.

Scripture says that he walked with God for the next 300 years, the rest of his life.

Since Hebrews 11:5 tells us that before Enoch was taken away he was commended as someone who pleased God it appears that he completely/fully pleased God for 300 years!! What an incredible testimony!!

But the question I have when looking at Enoch is, “What is it about his life that pleased God?”

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. Then the writer goes on to explain that the crucial test of faith is believing that God exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. So if Enoch fully pleased God then He must have been a man of faith who believed that God existed and earnestly sought Him.

When we read about Enoch in Genesis five there is little given about His life except that he was a father, and that he lived 365 years. However there is a phrase mentioned twice that gives us insight into the special life Enoch led. The phrase is “walked with God”. In fact it was based on this that verse 24 tells us that Enoch didn?t die physically but was simply “taken away” by God.

Enoch was a man who walked with God. What the life of Enoch teaches us, then, is that faith in God is expressed in your walk with Him.

I believe Enoch would say that your faith journey should be a marathon not a 100-yard dash because he was a man who walked with God for 300 years of his life on earth and continues that walk into all eternity. The nature of a marathon is that it is a distance thing, it goes on, it requires commitment, it requires determination, it requires faith?

I want to take a few moments to talk a bit about the marathon people ? those who like Enoch can be described as someone who “walks with God”. You see, “walking with God” is not merely the description of some sort of divine stroll with the Almighty but is rather

i. A description of the godly character of the individual.

Rev. 3:4 ? Jesus in describing the church of Sardis/because of their righteous conduct they will walk with Him.

Revelation 3:4 (NIV)

4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.

Genesis 6:9 ? Noah is described as a righteous and blameless man in the same breath as the description of him “walking with God”

Genesis 6:9 (NIV)

9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

Genesis 17:1 ? God appears to Abram and tells him to “walk before me and be blameless”

Genesis 17:1 (NIV)1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.

1 John 1:6-7

1 John 1:6-7 (NIV)

6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Walking in God (in the light) results in a Godly character. John is indicating here that your claim to fellowship with God (or walking with God) is substantiated by the character in your life (walking in darkness or light). When you walk in the light as He is in the light ? ie. Your character is like that of Christ ? then you have fellowship with Him and you are purified from all sin. Not only do you identify with Christ in word but also in practice. The “practice” of walking in the light makes you more like the light!! John is mainly talking about the character of love in this book. Reading further John writes in verse 6, “Whoever claims to be in him [God] must walk as Jesus did”. This begs the question, what is the “way” Jesus walked? Jesus walked in the “way” of His father ? He walked with His father, His father walked in Him and through Him!

John 4:34 (NIV)

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

John 5:19 (NIV)

19 Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

John 5:30 (NIV)

30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

This leads us to the next understanding about the phrase “walking with God”?

ii. A description of a persons? way of life.

Genesis 5:22,24 ? Enoch “walked with God” for 300 years. For Enoch “walking with God” was simply a way of life!

Genesis 5:22-24 (NIV)22 And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Genesis 24:40 ? Moses says to his servant, “?The Lord, before whom I have walked?”

Frequently the phrase, “walk in his ways” [ways of the Lord] crops up in the Bible referencing that they were to embrace God?s way for their way of life. An example is in Joshua 22:5; Judges 2:17.

Joshua 22:5 (NIV)5 But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul.”

Judges 2:17 (NIV)

17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands.

The scriptures indicate there are two clear paths of walking ? in the way of the Lord or in the way of the world (flesh, sin, satan). Walking with God is a way of life ? it is when your faith in Christ affects every area of your life ? though and actions.
Leaving our understanding of walking with God here however will leave us with an impossible task. For it is impossible for us to have a godly character on our own ? to embrace godly living as a way of life on our own. It is impossible to please God with what we do or think. Observed in this light walking with God is a nice goal but impossible reality. BUT there is a third understanding of “Walking with God” that must not be forgotten and it hinges on the word with!! It has to do with faith you see “Walking with God” is also?

iii. A description of an individual?s personal relationship with God.

Leveticus 26:11-12 ? When the law is given to the Israelites God lists what He will do in response to their obedience. Within this list is God?s promise to, “?walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people?” This would be the greatest reward the Israelites could hope for in obeying God and following His decrees!

Psalm 89:15, “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.”

Micah 6:8

Micah 6:8 (NIV)

8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

The requirement (only!) of the Lord is to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly WITH God!

Jesus says in John 6:29

John 6:29 (NIV)29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

CONCLUSION

If you are a marathon Christian you are someone who “walks with God” and ?

recognizes that the godly character in you is shaped and created by the work of Christ in you

embraces the life of Christ as your life and “walking with God” is a way of life for you..

pleases God because of your faith in Christ and your personal relationship with Him.

Jesus talks about the 100 yard-dash people in Mark 4 ? these are people who never know what it is to walk with God?

Mark 4:3-6 (NIV)

3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

Later, in Mark 4:16-17, Jesus explained this parable for His disciples.

Mark 4:16-17 (NIV)

16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

If you?re here and trying to live the Christian life like a 100 yard dash, you need to give up this morning and just give yourself fully and completely to Jesus.

The only way you?ll ever find happiness in the Christian life is to give yourself fully to Jesus, plant yourself deeply in His Word, and drink yourself full of the Living Water of Christ.

There are a lot of 100 yard- dash people in this world?

?People who let the trials/difficulties of life distract them from a life with Jesus.

?People who let the blessings of life lead their attention from the one who gives the blessings.

?People who will run with Jesus a short time, then fall to the wayside.

Enoch would plead with you to be a marathon Christian.

He would plead with you to stand strong for Jesus no matter what comes in this world.

Let me ask you ? Are you a marathon Christian ? or a 100 hundred-yard dash Christian?

The Apostle Paul knew what it was like to run and marathon for Jesus.

I pray that at the end of my life and yours, we can echo the last written words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy.

At the end of his life, as he waited in Rome under house arrest for his execution for preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ, He wrote his 2nd recorded letter to Timothy.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 (NIV)

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

The reward for one who walks with God (the marathon runner) is “finishing the race”. Not only do I believe Enoch would say to us this morning that “The Christian walk is a marathon not a 100-yard dash” but I also believe that Enoch would look you in the eye this morning, and a great smile would break out over His whole face, and he?d remind you that:

God Always Rewards the Faithful!!

Enoch would be the first to tell you, “Don?t be afraid to walk closely with God, the rewards are out of this world!”?

Tonight I want to discuss another problem that interferes with our living together in community and, ultimately, in fulfilling our purpose to becoming better disciples and making more and better disciples. This problem is isolation. Isolationism is a direct result of individualism. Individualism sends us into life as our own masters, promising control yet leaving us wounded and alone. It is our nature, when wounded and alone, to isolate ourselves. By doing so, we think we regain control by blocking out all the other people and influences that tend to increase our pain or remind us just how alone we are.

Is this not what we do?

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)

24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

The 1st century writer of the letter to the Hebrew believers recognized that it became the habit of at least some, to quit meeting together. This natural tendency has been played out through history and continues to this day.

Ancient cities were marked by great walls of isolation. I picture in my mind medieval castles surrounded by moats. Alligators swimming around in the mote. Trolls under the bridge! Entire nations have built walls of isolation ? the Great Wall of China and The Berlin Wall. Fortunately, in Canada, we don?t have too much of that. We might gain some sense of it as we try to pass over from the Canada to the U.S. But, quite frankly, I don?t have any idea, for example, where Ontario ends and Manitoba begins or where Ontario ends and Quebec begins or where South-Western Ontario ends and South-Eastern Ontario begins. Is there a big wall there?

Yet there is a more subtle move toward isolation that exists in our culture. In the 1950?s we began to see the development of suburbs. The development of the automobile made it possible to commute to work while living in a more isolated world than the city. At first it was just the homes that went into the suburbs. Over time, suburbs such as Brampton have become pretty much self-contained, with entertainment, dining options, shopping, and even many of the jobs.

Over time, even the suburb has not provided enough isolation. Houses used to be built right up along the road with a nice big porch, so people walking by could visit with one another. In the 60?s and 70?s, the houses moved farther back off the road, the porches got smaller, and white picket fences were replaced with 6 foot high cedar. Along with urban growth came the dream to move even farther out, into the country, perhaps find some wooded acreage. How many of us haven?t wished, at one time or another, that we could live in the country? Nice big property. Peace and quiet. We envy them!

Please understand that there is nothing wrong with living in the country or having a little space. I say all of these things only to point out our tendency throughout history and even today to isolate ourselves, even if we no longer build moats around our castles! And out of that tendency, or pull, comes the “habit” of not meeting together.

The idea of not meeting together is often quite appealing. Our community is filled with people who are formerly churched?something was said, an impression was given, grace was denied?and they?ve just quit going to church! I?ve run in to so many people who have given up meeting with others as a matter of habit. Some of you have been that person who gave up on church. Some of you may be considering it now!

If that?s you, I want to encourage you to stay the course and keep coming. David went into isolation and his troubles only increased. As a fugitive, writing in a cave, he prayed,

Psalms 25:16-17 (NIV)16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. 17 The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish.

Loneliness and affliction go hand in hand, and in the space of isolation the troubles of your heart will only multiply.

We must agree that the “habit” of not meeting together is counter-productive to making disciples. That promised land is a wasteland. It is in the secrecy of isolation that pornography grows from a cheap thrill to a devastating addiction. It is in the secrecy of isolation that eating disorders become life-threatening. It is in the secrecy of isolation that unforgiveness becomes bitterness and then becomes hatred and turns into rage and violence. Jesus knew what he was saying when he said

John 3:19 (NIV)19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Sin craves isolation. And the devil prowls around waiting for someone to kill, steal, and destroy. Do you know where he hunts? In the shadows of the church.

Hebrews 10 says, instead: “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another?and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Jesus came and established the church to restore to us a place where we can be spurred on toward love and good deeds. Spurring one another on, loving, doing good deeds, and encouraging one another all require the presence of others. We need each other.

Basically, there are four types of people in this world:

There are those who are?

PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR

These are the people who are not in the habit of giving up meeting together. They show up for services and they?re connected with a group of others who encourage them to stay the course for that day when they will see Jesus face to face.

This is a healthy place to be. Those who are present and accounted for are spurred on to experience the abundant life Jesus came to give. They encounter God. They pursue God together and they see him in one another. It is said that much of our spiritual development occurs only through suffering. A small group community is not only a place for the suffering to find comfort, but for the comfort to find suffering. When we walk through these things together, we learn the compassion of Jesus.

PRESENT AND UNACCOUNTED FOR

Obviously, if you are here tonight, you are likely to be one of these or the other. The question isn?t whether you are present, but whether you are accounted for. The litmus test is not whether or not you are in a Koinonia Group, because it is quite possible to show up there too and still not be accounted for. We have a high value on our Koinonia Group communities because it is infinitely less likely that you will be present and unaccounted for in the small group context. The test of this is whether or not you are connecting with people relationally in the group. Are you letting them in? Are you spurring and being spurred toward love and good deeds? Are you entering into accountable relationships with others that keep you going until the day of his return?

Louis McBurney, in an article for Leadership Journal, said there are four reasons people reject accountability. 1) I fear rejection, 2) I feel embarrassed, 3) I resent control by hostile people, and 4) I don?t like facing my negative feelings. These fears and feelings are very real, and we must be very compassionate to the reality of them. But we must also help people realize that these emotions cannot intimidate us into isolation where we are completely vulnerable.

Eventually, all who are present and unaccounted for eventually become?

AWOL?ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE

These are the people who have given up meeting together, despite the clear instruction from Hebrews 10:24-25. Some of the AWOL have been hurt. Others like the darkness because their deeds are evil. Others simply grow complacent and apathetic and have a myriad of excuses to avoid community. Either way, we need to be a shelter from their storm and provide communities of grace and mercy where they can come be healed. The challenge for us is whether we are willing to develop an atmosphere of grace that leads them out of isolation into community that spurs one another on to love and good deeds and encourages one another.

Finally, there are those who are ?

MIA?MISSING IN ACTION

These are the spiritually lost?those who are trying to live out their lives but have no spiritual compass directing them Godward and no hope to look past the day for his return. For these, it is of utmost importance that we develop a church community that is compassionate. A community that is intentional about helping them find their way. As we said before, helping them enter the discipleship process by learning to trust in Jesus Christ for their forgiveness and eternal life. Then they can also be encouraged as we approach that Day of Jesus? return.

Greg Slayton is the CEO of ClickAction.com. He remembers when he came to the Silicon Valley, he sense how even Christian leaders were under it?s spell. People wouldn?t return his calls. Because his company wasn?t ready to become a publicly traded stock prospect, they treated him as though he had been infected with Anthrax. Now, in the busy dot com world in which he now succeeds, he is exhausted by the frantic pace. This is how he describes where it has left him in relationship with others: “The sense of isolation is a curse. It is the curse of 10,000 acquaintances. You find no one to talk to when things go really bad.”

Are you suffering the “curse of 10,000 acquaintances”?

Proverbs 13:20 (NIV)20 He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

The isolated have 10,000 acquaintances but are the companions of fools. Those who do not give up meeting together grow wise. They drink from the wellspring of God because they travel to the well in community with others. In whose company will you find yourself this week? Better yet, in whose company will you be a year from now?

The church, we discovered, exists to be a counter-culture to the “me” culture we have been awakened to. Now that people are feeling vulnerable, they are looking for something or someone greater than themselves for blessing. For hope. For serenity. For protection. The church has the answer, and his name is Jesus. We ought to be a refreshing stream to those feeling the heat of their mortality. And we ought to be a lighthouse for those who are adrift at sea, being tossed back and forth by the waves of self-sufficiency.

We discovered that the escape from the problem of individualism is through a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ where He alone is supreme Lord of our life and His example and leading govern our actions and attitudes. This relationship is fostered by the simple phrase, “Not I, but Christ”. Some of you expressed to me last week the desire to flee from self-serving and self-preserving and let Jesus alone be sufficient for your hope and joy.

The place to develop and nurture our escape from individualism is genuine Christian community. With a small group of people, such as our Koinonia Groups, we find the encouragement and the opportunities to serve others instead of ourselves. As we serve one another, we distance ourselves from our natural inclination to be self-motivated, self-seeking, and even self-absorbed. As we live together, we learn how to take ourselves off the throne and love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. That is triumphant living that doesn?t leave us staggering when tragedy strikes.

I want to further clarify the picture of living in community. With a sharper focus, we will be enticed into coming away from our self-absorbed world and into the fellowship of one another. If we are to come together in such a way, we must cast aside all our personal motives and live together with a common purpose. That purpose must be defined by God and not by ourselves. Often times people will get together in their small groups and ask “What do you think the point of this group should be?” The groups that do often end up with as many answers as there are people. Then what will you do? Vote on it? The person or people whose ideas were discarded will fall back into “me-ward” thinking as they fret over their rejection. The winning vote would most likely go to the idea that best supported the selfish desires of the majority of the group. We cannot look inside of ourselves for our common purpose. Instead, we must find the authority outside of ourselves, with whom all authority belongs.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The Father has given the Son all authority to determine our common purpose. By that authority, or as Jesus said, “Therefore,” he gave us this purpose that we refer to as the Great Commission: “Go and make disciples.” When we come together, what makes us “Christian” community is the shedding of our own agendas to become “Christ-ones,” taking up the agenda Jesus has left for us. That agenda, he said, was to go and make disciples.

The interaction of the people within our church community ought to always have as its base purpose to make disciples. He taught us there are two parts to making disciples, and both of those parts are based on trust in Jesus:

First, he said that making disciples means to baptize?

?which is bringing people to realize they need a Savior for forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Whenever we have a baptism service at HPC there are a couple of questions that need to be answered in the candidates life and they are ? “Do you realize you are a sinner in need of a Saviour? And “Have you put your trust completely in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and the promise of everlasting life?” An affirmative answer to those questions is the confession of a disciple. And bringing them to that confession is part of the process we call “discipleship.” It begins by bringing people to trust in Christ for their forgiveness and salvation.

Then, Jesus said, making disciples means teaching one another to obey everything He has commanded us?

Again, the issue is trust. Obeying Jesus requires trusting him for our quality of life. Making disciples, then, is helping people put their trust in Christ for hope, joy, love, and so on.

Let me give some examples of how teaching one another to obey requires teaching them to trust God:

The Bible says, “God hates divorce.” (Malachi 2:16) He doesn?t say this to set a precedence for who he will love and who he won?t. He says this because he loves everyone.

There was a man who was lamenting the difficulties that continued between him and his ex-wife?issues related to unresolved bitterness?and the children had become a pawn between them. Is God against divorce because he hates divorcees? Of course not! He hates divorce because he loves them. He doesn?t want to see this man and woman in the bondage of their bitterness. Nor does he want to see the children caught between them. In that case, there is no winners. That breaks God?s heart.

So he tells us to teach people to obey everything he has commanded. In making disciples, we teach married men and women to trust God by putting God?s will first. In making disciples, we teach people to trust God by submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. In making disciples, we teach men to love their wives the way Christ loves the church. In making disciples, we teach women to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. These are not teachings that appeal to our sense of individualism. They require commitment and sacrifice. But if we teach one another to obey these commands, our marriages succeed and we avoid the pain of divorce.

In making disciples, we teach one another to forgive as Christ forgave us, for there is nothing triumphant about harboring a grudge. In making disciples, we teach one another to meet together regularly to encourage one another, because there is nothing triumphant about living unsupported and unloved and without giving to others. In making disciples, we teach one another to meditate on God?s word, because as Joshua noted, then we will be prosperous and successful.

If we are to escape individualism, our communities must come together under a common purpose: to make disciples. To be disciples. That purpose did not come from any of us?it came from the authority of Jesus, our Messiah. The issue is trust in him. Do we trust him enough to be baptized? Do we believe that others need to trust him, too, for their own forgiveness and salvation? Do we trust him enough to obey everything he commanded? Do we believe that others need to trust in Christ through obedience to find a true quality of living?

Ultimately, a disciple is a person who demonstrates trust in Jesus by being baptized and by obeying everything he has commanded. Disciples in community, then, become the hands of God to support and encourage others to trust in him for their salvation and for their triumphant life.

In community, we find others who will tell us how to obey. In community, we find others who encourage us to obey. In community, we find others who have fallen in trust before us, and can relate God?s glorious and loving response. In community, we can also find others who refused to trust in similar circumstances who can tell us of the consequences of their lack of trust.

Our common purpose in community is to help people trust in Christ for their forgiveness and salvation and freedom for living abundantly. Of course that means that we must first trust Him in the same way. I want to invite you to respond to God?s Great Commission in one or both of two ways.

2. Put your trust in Christ for forgiveness of sin and salvation.

If you have never acknowledged to God that you are a sinner who needs a Savior and that you believe that Christ is the only way you could ever be forgiven and accepted into God?s family, tonight is your night to fall in his arms. The faith that saves us and allows us to receive his forgiveness is the faith that depends completely on the fact that Jesus died on the cross to be punished for our sins and rose again to show God accepted his sacrifice on our behalf. Put your trust in what he has already done, and you can be free from jumping off cliff after cliff hoping to pay enough penance to make God happy.

Dr. Suess has a story of a character named Zoad, who struggled to make a decision at a moment like this?

Did I ever tell you about the young Zoad, who came to a sign at the fork of the road

The Zoad had to make up his mind what to do.

Well, the Zoad scratched his head, and his chin, and his pants?and he said to himself “I?ll be taking a chance.”

If I go to place One, that place may be hot, so how will I know if I like it or not

If I go to Place Two and find it?s too cool, in that case I may catch a chill and turn blue

So Place One may be best and not Place Two. “Play safe!” cried the Zoad

“I?ll play safe, I?m no dunce. I?ll simply start off to both places at once.”

And that?s how the Zoad who would not take a chance went no place at all with a split in his pants.

Let me assure you that I?ve made the choice and that trusting in Jesus is not taking a chance. You cannot go both places at once. You will leave here today trusting Jesus as your Savior or not. Which will it be?

2. Put your trust in Christ for the triumphant life by becoming a real disciple.

We do this by declaring to God and to one another that we purpose to obey everything he has commanded us. Obedience requires trust. Do you trust him? Tell him so now and then join together with a group of people who have the same passion to demonstrate their trust as disciples. In that group, the most important way you can obey is to purpose together to make disciples, baptizing and teaching as Jesus commissioned us.

Of course, this response should go hand in hand with the first response. You would think that those who have put their eternity in God?s hands would put their today in his hands as well. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people roaming around these days who claim Jesus as their Savior but put little value on obedience. Many people have trusted in Christ for their soul, but cannot trust him with their wallet, or their time, or their relationships, or their sexual desires, or their purpose. Let me assure you, that if Jesus bought you with a price, the price of his own blood, he has a purpose for you that is centered on being his disciple and making more disciples.

William Barclay once wrote, “It?s possible to be a follower of Jesus without being a disciple; to be a camp-follower without being a soldier of the King; to be a hanger-on in some great work without pulling one?s weight. Once someone was talking to a great scholar about a younger man. He said, “So and so tells me that he was one of your students.” The teacher answered devastatingly, “He may have attended my lectures, but he was not one of my students.” There is a world of difference between attending lectures and being a student. It is one of the supreme handicaps of the church that in the church there are so many distant followers of Jesus and so few real disciples.”

How will you put your trust in Christ today? Let it be declared and demonstrated in the way we live in community, sharing a common purpose. The truest community is found in a gathering of people who are learning to become Jesus-trusting disciples and are committed to making Jesus-trusting disciples.