Plenty of Room
Genesis 26
Rev. Chuck Henderson
- I am finding that for most of us, life is pretty ordinary
- We sleep, get up and do life, eat some food along the way, enjoy some of God’s creation, and then go back to sleep again, only to rise and do it again the next day
- We do friendships and family life with all its ups and downs, its joys and its heartbreaks
- We work and seek to be productive, and experience some success as well as failures
- For the vast majority, we are not called to some exceptional accomplishment; we don’t spear head some major political or religious movement; in spite of every graduation speech you may have heard, we don’t truly “change the world”
- Perhaps that’s why I like Isaac as much as I do. Abraham gets 12 chapters in Genesis; Jacob gets 12, and even Joseph gets about 12; but Isaac? He gets basically 1; one chapter that captures his very ordinary life, and it’s the chapter in front of us — ch. 26
- But as I have read and re-read this chapter in anticipation of our message today, I am truly struck by the application to not only our lives individually, but I pray, for our church as a whole as well
- Let’s therefore walk through this “ordinary” man of God’s chapter, and perhaps we will see something that is actually quite “extraordinary” – read v. 1
- In the dailyness of life, we need to be reminded of our calling and promise… and obey! (26:1-6)
- The lack of rain is a very real threat to any civilization, but especially so to ones who primarily farm and raise animals; in this reality of a famine, Isaac prepares to migrate to Egypt where there is the steady flow of the Nileriver for his flocks
- But along the way, God shows up, read vv. 2-5
- Using much of the same language that God had given to his father, Abraham, Isaac is commanded to not resort to Egypt, but to trust the Lord for His provision. Note: God doesn’t pour out rain and end the famine; He calls Isaac to trust Yahweh in the midst of the famine.
- And what this simple man does is described very simply — (v. 6)
- What a beautiful testimony! So he stayed there! Isaac heard God speak, didn’t argue or debate; he just obeyed!
- When we are faced with the various famines of life, we are called to remember God’s precious promises:
1 Cor. 10:13, …God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Rom. 8:37, …in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us
- We are called to obey in spite of the famines of life, to walk in the promises we have been given as sons and daughters of God
- And the reality is…
- In the dailyness of life, we won’t get everything right. (26:7-11)
- The fear of what others may do to us sometimes causes us to resort to old habits or things we learned from mom and dad… read v. 7
- Sound familiar? Yep- like father, like son; in his fear of what the men may do to him in order to get to his wife, Isaac does the same thing his father Abraham did and claims Rebekah is his sister.
- But the problem is, the ruse can’t be sustained and Isaac gets found out… read v. 8. This use of the word “laughing” is obviously a play on Isaac’s name and refers to the fact that they were fooling around, and it wasn’t forced; they were having husband and wife time, and enjoying it! They had been to the Grace Marriageweekend, and seeking to practice it!
Well, Abimilech sees what’s going on… read vv. 9-11
- This reminds us that we’re not always going to get things right! We are far from perfect! But God’s grace is evident not only in our election to be His children, but in His grace to keep us and guard us for Himself.
Phil. 1:6, For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will complete it.
Rom. 8:1, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
- In our dailyness of life, we are called to persevere in obedience, all the while knowing that it is our Father who watches over our eternal security
And we need to know this to the core of our being, because…. read vv. 12-16
- In the dailyness of life, we must persevere in peace against the prevailing culture. (26:12-16)
- As we experience God’s blessings — both materially and spiritually — we will encounter opposition from those around us; it’s just inevitable that Satan will seek to intimidate us to fear and compromise; they will seek to stop up our wells of joy, and chase away our comforts in His peace
- This is one of the many things I appreciate about our Pastor Sam – he is consistently warning us about the various cultural compromises and calling us to holiness; and if we have any other mindset of being spared such challenges, we are not hearing Jesus when He promises: In this world you will have trouble…
- But again, it’s this daily challenge of life and culture that makes the Christian life, in many ways, simple, for… read vv. 17-21
- In the dailyness of life, we are called to trust and obey that God will make a way. (26:17-25)
- Strife, contention, moving, seeking peace but finding it hard to gain, enjoying success but then having to move on; finally gaining something, only to lose it; does this read as familiar to you as it does to me? This is real life
- But note: we don’t see bitterness and reprisal in this man; he enjoys God’s blessings, but he holds them loosely; he seems to be able to encounter the unjust and even great loss, but just put his head down and continue to trustthe Lord to supply; and as Isaac simply trusts and obeys, God wondrously supplies! And please remember, all this is happening in the midst of the famine — Then we come to v. 22… read
- Rehoboth! “Plenty of Room!” God has finally granted space from his oppressors and provided both water and land for his family and flocks.
- Then Isaac lifts his eyes and realizes just how close he is to one of his father Abraham’s old places of shelter — read vv. 23-25.
- Isaac’s obedience in spite of all the daily struggles and cultural headwinds brings God’s reassurance once again: Fear not, for I am with you…
And here’s the beauty of Isaac’s daily obedience in the ordinary… read vv. 26-33
- In the dailyness of life, God will make a way; when He does, we grow in worship. (26:26-33)
- One final victory recorded, one more well dug, and the record of a simple life of obedience is concluded. Isaac is far from perfect, but then again, so are we.
- But isn’t it wonderful to trust in a perfect God?! One who has promised us: Do not be afraid, for I am with you, even to the ends of the earth.
As we have pondered this chapter, I hope by now you recognize the Scripture as the one that stands on our progress board for the future property — “Rehoboth — plenty of room.” It’s been a joy for me to read Isaac’s one chapter and seek to gain the perspective for us as individual believers as we seek to persevere in the dailyness of life. But in God’s grace, I’ve also been able to stand back and look at our church:
- We live in Gerar, amidst a famine of God’s great movement; our culture is awash in sin and rebellion and the vast majority of our churches are either compromising on God’s Word or simply… well… dead; as such:
- We are tempted to forget God’s promises to feed and water our church, and we begin to look for help in “Egypt:”
- Depend on programming — our children’s ministry or some effort we did in the past or some sort of program that seems to work in another church
- Depend on politics – hoping some leader will get elected and change the country in our favor
- Depend on a personality — if we just get the right staff or worship leader, man we could really be a great church…
- And when we look elsewhere, when we give in to our fears, it is inevitable that we will experience contentions, fights, both with the culture around us and — worse still — fights within our church; it happens all the time
- We are tempted to forget God’s promises to feed and water our church, and we begin to look for help in “Egypt:”
- But the Lord has blessed our church! In His great mercy:
- He has brought us pastors, deacons and teachers who love God’s Word, teach God’s Word and seek to faithfully live it out. Perfect? Goodness NO! We’ve got a bunch of Isaac in every one of us. But are we earnestly trying? Absolutely!
- God has also caused us to enjoy a growing and strong discipleship ministry
- Our SS/small group ministry is using every room in our building and growing
- We now have 24 DGroups for a total of almost 100 people reading and reflecting on God’s Word on a daily basis
- We regularly have a full 1/3 of our church return on Wednesday nights to be trained in the Word
- God has also caused us to have one the best generational ministry you’ll find anywhere
- Miss Kelly and Ellie lead our preschool and children’s ministry to amazing levels of understanding God’s person and word, grounding them in the truths of the gospel
- Pastor Harrison faithfully leads his team to disciple our students in the Word, preparing them to graduate fully equipped to independently encounter the culture and remain faithful to the call; and it’s growing! We took more students to camp this year than we have in a long time
- And may I also encourage you with this about our educational initiative called ACE: we are adding 5th grade this year for a total of 55 students that represent 37 families; of those, 17 families are members of our church and 20 are from our community; that means that we are impacting not only our own church, but our community as well with the faithful teaching and discipling of children in God’s truth
- And overall, church, we are just growing!
- We are regularly baptizing, and have 4 more on the docket this month
- We are seeing more and more young families coming, growing in their call to be the primary disciplers of their children
- We have 42 couples in our Grace Marriage ministry, fulfilling God’s call to a faithful marriage that represents Christ to the world
- Our people are active in ministries around our community and impacting our Henderson community with salt and light
- And God has brought us an incredible man in Pastor Enrique who is faithfully leading our Hispanic ministry, experiencing growth like we haven’t seen in almost a decade
- We are experiencing God’s favor, church! It may not be “a hundredfold,” but it is steady, it is strong, and… it’s causing us pain
We need more room; we need a Rehoboth
- If I may use the analogy of a crane:
- This is a great crane and can do a lot of work
- But what will happen when it has to lift this load? It will topple!
- The answer? We build a bigger crane…
- The property we are buying will enable us to build the bigger crane — that’s why we have called this property acquisition, “Rehoboth;” by enlarging our church campus, we gain the opportunity to enlarge our capacity to reach and disciple more and more people
- Bringing this full circle to Isaac and Genesis 26, hear me when I say this, FBC, for I mean it in the most complementary way:
- I don’t see us as a church that merits “12 chapters of coverage;” in the grand scheme of things, we are no “Abraham or Jacob or Joseph;” we are not Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle or Adrian Rogers’ Bellevue Baptist
- We are the “Isaac” of the church world — one chapter in the midst of many
- But in all our imperfections and fears and the dailyness of life, we are seeking to obey God’s call to trust Him and dig the wells of salvation in the land of Gerar; we are seeking to cultivate His fields and reap His harvest; we are seeking peace and seeking to make peace
- And we are worshipping! Daily, weekly, we come, recognizing God’s gifts; we build an altar to His name
- And we are seeking to expand our base so we can reach more and more people for the glory of God
- I say: if God is graciously giving us one chapter in His book (and I remind you that He doesn’t even have to do that!), then let’s make it a glorious one!
- Let us live and love and walk by faith in such a way that we record a chapter that magnifies the incredible person and power of God, so much so that when future generations read it, they push back, and say –
“Wow! Now that was a work of God! I would have loved to live in that chapter of God’s great work on earth.”
Let us claim our Rehoboth, church, for God’s glorious kingdom and His great glory!
Resource Info
