Live Like an Alien!

9th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/7/22 Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Live Like an Alien! For years, the influx of illegal aliens into the United States has been an issue for our government and its citizens. And I mention that fact for one reason and one reason only: it’s apparent to all of us that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, would risk their lives to live here in the United Sates. They would rather live here illegally than live in their home countries legally. Would you even think of doing such a thing? I know I wouldn’t. The anxiety would probably kill me. I’d be constantly looking over my shoulder to see if a government agent is about to arrest me and send me back to where I came from or even worse. Why would I even want to live in another country? I know how good I have it here. I’m enjoying my life’s vocation as a pastor. I live in a nice home with a lovely wife. The vehicles I drive aren’t new, but they’re pretty nice. I have good neighbors in a safe neighborhood. I lock my doors at night, but I probably wouldn’t need to. It’s warm and cheerful Centerville! And I’m guessing your life is fairly similar. O sure, it could be better, but it could also be a lot worse. And that’s where we tend to go. We focus on the bad instead of enjoying the good. Look at your news feeds. They don’t tell you how good you have it; they remind you incessantly that you/we have problems, huge problems. A few days ago, the people of our area paused to remember the victims of the Oregon District shooting three years ago. And the media will remind us daily that it hasn’t stopped. Sherriff’s Deputy Matthew Yates was killed in the line of duty two weeks ago today and was laid to rest last week. There’s another surge in COVID cases just in time for schools to open. We can’t seem to beat this bug! Mobs of people gather to cry for justice in the face of lingering injustice. Political warfare continues in our nation’s capital, even though we’re all praying for cooler heads to prevail. June’s inflation rate increases stunned most Americans. What will the report on July’s rate reveal? And then there’s the “R” word that no one wants to even think about, let alone speak out loud. “Recession.” Will it strike or not? And the international scene isn’t much better. What will China, Russia, North Korea, or Iran do next? We shudder to consider the possibilities. Bottom line: We agreed a minute ago that we wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the world and yet how do we spend far too much of our time living here? We worry. We fret. We get disgusted. We harbor fear in our hearts. We long for the good old days, which probably weren’t as good as we remember them. We try as hard as we can to make our lives here more enjoyable as if this life were the only one that matters. This morning, the writer to the Hebrews points our hearts and minds and eyes in a different direction—upward. He does so by taking our hands and leading us down the hallway of the heroes of faith hall of fame. In today’s text, he focuses our attention on Abraham and also makes a passing reference to Isaac and Jacob. But in between the two sections of our text, he mentions these other heroes of faith who preceded Abraham: Abel, Enoch, and Noah. And here’s what they all had in common: “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.” They were foreigners and strangers. Other translations of those final words use the word “aliens” instead of “foreigners,” and that’s the word I’ll use this morning. The writer’s unstated encouragement for us is to live like an alien. As easy as that sounds to our spiritual ears, minds, and hearts, it’s much more difficult for our physical ears, minds and hearts to consider, let alone put into practice. To help us do so, the writer holds before us the example of Abraham, the father of all Jews and the spiritual father of all who believe in Jesus as the Savior from sin. Abraham, without a doubt, lived like an alien. Listen to writer’s first exhibit in support of that truth. “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Perhaps you recall that Abraham was living north of the country we now call Israel—in present-day northern Syria—when the Lord appeared to him and told him to move, but he didn’t tell him where. He simply told him that it would be to a place he would show him. Would you do such a thing? If we didn’t refuse, we’d hesitate. But Abraham didn’t delay. He packed up his family and his belongings and moved. And when he arrived in Canaan, the Lord promised to give this land to his descendants. But Abraham didn’t build a house there. In fact, it’s not likely that he built anything permanent there. Instead, the writer reminds us, “By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.” Even though God promised to give them the land where they were living, they lived like nomads, wandering from place to place in search of pasture for their flocks and herds. Why? Why not settle there permanently on the basis of God’s direct promise that the land would belong to his descendants? Here’s why: “He was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Abraham simply trusted God’s promise that his descendants would inhabit the land and that was enough for him. He was fine with his life here on earth—as temporary as it seemed to be—because he had his spiritual sights set on heaven. That was his home. In fact, he trusted that his descendants would inhabit the land even though at this point he and Sarah were childless. God had promised him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, but he didn’t even have one descendant, and he and Sarah weren’t getting any younger. In fact, it was God’s plan to wait until it was humanly impossible for them to have a child, and then he gave them a literal miracle child—Isaac. The writer doesn’t mention it here in our text, but the Lord also made Abraham incredibly wealthy. We gather that from the fact that the Bible tells us that he had more than 300 adult male servants who were born in his house. That number doesn’t include any of the female servants, or the children of the servants, or the servants he purchased. He obviously needed all those servants to care for his tremendous flocks and herds. And yet, Abraham lived like an alien here. His focus was not on maintaining or even increasing his possessions. Instead, “He was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Last Wednesday about twenty members of our church had the joy and privilege of going through the Creation Museum. Perhaps some of you have been there. If not, right before you enter the halls of museum’s exhibits, there’s an opportunity to watch a video which highlights the purpose of the Creation Museum. The video begins with a view of earth from outer space as it slowly rises from the bottom of the screen to the top. At the top of the screen are the words, “This is our home.” And I’m sure others nodded their heads with me in agreement. “Yup. Good old planet earth. My home.” And because that’s what we consider it to be, we tend to get consumed by our concerns over it. For a moment, consider what we and others are concerned about. One, we have experienced devastating floods to the southeast of us and horrific droughts and wildfires to the west. Both extremes simultaneously! Two, we can’t seem to become healthy as a nation. For more than two years, we’ve been devasted by COVID and now, along with it, we hear daily reports of monkeypox. What’s next? Three, we were reminded last Tuesday that we have an election occurring in about ninety days. Will the November election results solve our current problems or create new ones? In the last few days, two people close to me passed away. Death keeps knocking on the door of my life. And it reminds me of what I’m facing. We worry and fret over all these things and more. “This is our home.” The writer of Hebrews says, “No, it’s not.” So, let’s relax. The Bible reminds us that the problems we’re facing in this world today have been occurring in every age of sinful history. And when we forget that this isn’t our home, Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel from Luke 12, “Do not worry. Do not be afraid.” Just trust Jesus. First trust him for forgiveness for your worries and fears. He’s the One who completely and always trusted his heavenly Father. He did that in our place. In fact, he went all the way to the cross to wash our sins away and take on himself the punishment they deserve. And now, trusting in him for his forgiveness, trust him also for his protection and blessing. That’s exactly what he gave to Abraham—protection from his enemies, and spiritual and earthly blessings beyond imagination. And all the while, Abraham kept his sights on the city whose architect and builder is God. Do the same each day of your life here, until Jesus brings about the greatest blessing he has planned for you—life in a better country, a country infinitely better than the one you’re living in now. He’ll give you life in a city he himself built where Abraham lives in glory now. To paraphrase the familiar hymn: “You’re but an alien here. Heaven is your home.” May the Lord help you live like an alien here and bless you as you do! Amen.