During the recent economic downturn, a lot of folks have been cutting back on things you know, eating out less, delaying the purchase of a car, may be even trying to downsize their home, if anyone will buy it. Some people are wisely cutting back on using credit cards and are vacationing at a local park rather than heading to an exotic destination. What Americans don't seem to be cutting back on, however, is the dream of striking it rich and doing it the easy way - easy, that is, if you're lucky. Amid hard times, people are no longer going to the bank for financial advice. Instead, they're heading to the corner store to grab a bunch of lottery tickets. Some go for a weekend trip to the Casinos. A 2009 report by USA Today indicated that more than half the states with lotteries saw an increase in sales during the peek of the recession. In 2010, the total revenue from state lotteries was up by $1 billion from the previous year. On the other hand critics worry about the adverse effects of Casinos and other gambling places. Sen. James Eldridge, who opposed the recent Casino Bill in MA “said casinos will negatively affect smaller communities with higher public safety costs, environmental problems and traffic congestion. He was also worried about "families that might otherwise go to a restaurant or a museum or a show (but) will spend their discretionary money at a casino."
It seems that in desperate times, more people are indeed relying on Lady Luck to be their financial adviser. "Someday somebody is going to win, and I hope it is me," said Albert Atwood of
Unfortunately, many these days are cashing in on the desperation of people to get rich. Indeed, some cottage industries have popped up around helping people increase their luck. Take for example, the luckology.com Web site defines the term as "the ability to successfully attract good luck and turn bad luck into good luck over and over again." In a pragmatic society I wonder how many people really believe in luck? Interestingly many believe in lucky charms like “Lucky Squirrel scratcher” or the Lucky coin and try their luck out. I pity these people.
Long ago there was a distinguished couple named Abraham and Sarah; they had acquired great wealth and prestige. Though they had great wealth and had succeeded in the eyes of their contemporaries. Yet they were a desperate couple, they were childless, they dreamed of holding a son in their arms. In their desperation did they turn to lady luck or hold on to God who promised them a son? In the 21st Century honestly, can you really depend on luck to bail you out? I would like to briefly talk about luck vs faith and look at Abraham who may have been considered lucky by himself and others but in the end we will find out what made Abraham truly wealthy. First let’s talk about luck.
II. LUCKY PHILOSOPHY HAS BEEN AROUND A LONG TIME:
Luckology is really just another retread of a philosophy that's been around nearly as long as humanity. Ancient peoples assumed the world was a rather random place and that forces beyond their control gave them good or bad luck in arbitrary ways. Pantheistic religions believed the gods used fortune and misfortune to manipulate human lives; thus, it was best to please the gods who might give you fortune and avoid ticking off the ones who could give you a run of bad luck. In the Roman Pantheon, for example, a cult formed around the goddess Fortuna. Paying attention to the gods of fortune or luck, whether their altars are in a casino or at the counter of a convenience store, is what Wayne Oates calls a "secular religion."
Oates defines, luck in his book, Luck: A Secular Religion, as "confidence - that is, faith - in fate, in chance, in cleverness, in figuring out probabilities. ... All are focused upon the immediate time situation, upon the here and now. All are distinctly dependent upon human existence apart from any fellowship with or interdependence on the supernatural or the everlasting realities of life." Two weeks ago we talked about man made idols; luck is, as the old saying goes, "the idol of the idle." How can Christians be different from those who worship the idol of luck in the secular world? How did Abraham maintain his faith in a highly pluralistic World? Was Abraham lucky or was he a man of faith?
III. WAS ABRAHAM LUCKY?
When we look at Abraham’s life one thing we can tell is that he was a very wealthy man. He was like the Bill Gates of his time. Abraham could have been one who certainly considered himself to be really lucky. He was called of God from a family who were making idols, given a unique blessing from God, that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.” Not only him but people around him also may have considered Abraham to be super lucky, so they said you are a “mighty prince” Or “prince of God” (Gen 23:6) Abraham’s Luckology would seem to have been working pretty well, especially given the fact that he was blessed with a child at age hundred, as Paul put it in Romans 4:19, he was “as good as dead” and his wife Sarah’s womb was dead too.” In spite of all that in the end this couple was blessed with a promised son.
Was he Lucky? We will see in the story God will teach Abraham, however that Luck had nothing to do with his prosperity or the birth of the promised son Isaac. What was behind all these blessings in Abraham’s life? We learn from the story that after some time God tested Abrham, he asked him to sacrifice his only promised son Isaac? How did that impact Abraham?
God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Here I am.” And he said, “Take now your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac and go to the
God’s unusual request could have shattered Abraham’s dream, but without any questions as we read in the text, “He rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and went to the place which God told him. The story of Abraham and Isaac will always be an important one. It is similar to the love that God has shows in sacrificing His only Son for us. What made Abraham to respond in this amazing way? This story brings out two main component one is obedience, the other is faith without which God would not have blessed Abraham. Let’s look at Abraham’s unwavering faith.
IV. ABRAHAM’S UNWAVERING FAITH
Down through the centuries when it comes to faith people always refer to Abraham not because his name has the first two English alphabets but because of his unwavering faith. How did that faith work out in his life? In Hebrew 11th chapter we read the names of several heroes, in “The hall of faith” and Abraham’s name shows up in the hall of faith. What do we know about Abraham’s unwavering faith? 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.”(Heb 11:8).
For the modern mind this doesn’t make any sense, on the contrary this sounds rather absurd! In the narrative, on two occasions Abraham exhibited unwavering faith in God’s promise and his provision. In vs 5, “He said to his servants ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there’. “We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Do you notice the word “we” twice in this verse? This tells me somehow Abraham was convinced that God would not take his only son away from him because if he did, then God would not be true to his promise. In vs 7-8, in reply to Isaac’s question, “where is the lamb?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering son.” By that declaration Abraham exhibited his unwavering faith in a sovereign God who is able to provide.
Not knowing where we are going; sounds scary and irresponsible in the beginning but that is why it is called a journey of faith. The scriptures are clear that “we do not walk by sight but by faith.” God often won’t give us the entire blue print of our journey if He did then instead of following him we would follow the blue print. So in his mercy he reveals his plan bit by bit as we trust and follow him step by step. As you go forward in faith things become clearer to you.
For Wilma and I our whole life in missions and leaving
Even today we don’t have all the answers but we have absolute confidence in God. We may not know what the future holds for us but we do know who holds our future and we trust Him. Abraham believed in the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. It was not luck that made him the father of nations but his unwavering faith in God.
When we give our lives to Christ by faith we too become the heirs of Abraham. What can we learn from this man of faith? We can actually trust in the promises of God even in the adverse situations. We need to put our faith in the providence of God, not in luck. Faith in luck is a lonely faith, a fatalistic submission to chance. Faith in God's providence, however, is faith in a relationship with One who promises to supply what we need, when we need it, "according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).
If luck is all about the individual pursuit of everything we think we want, then providence is about accepting the promise that God supplies everything we need - and not just for us, but for all God's people. While luck seeks to obtain, providence invites us to share. Luck buys lottery tickets. Faith is invested in a loving community. Abraham did not believe in luck, since we are the heirs of Abraham we must stop pursuing luck, instead pursue Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. Amen
