"BUILDING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD"

Genesis 15:1-16; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-12

I want to start off this morning

by asking you a rather loaded question:

Where are you in your relationship with God?

What kind of relationship do you have?

How are things between the two of you?

Think about your answer

in terms of some of the other relationships in your life:

that you know and enjoy --

or maybe in terms of some of the relationships

that you know and don't enjoy!

Perhaps God seems like

some kind of distant relative to you  --

maybe a certain aunt or uncle

with whom you have a stand-offish relationship,

even though you respect them.

You keep in touch with them,

but you do so more out of a sense of duty.

And when you do finally get in touch,

it's only on a periodic basis

when your sense of guilt starts to kick in!

Is that how your relationship with God is?

Or do you relate to God

more like you do to a parent that you love,

but you just can't get along with?

Is God someone

whose approval means so much to you,

but somehow the two of you

just can't ever seem to get on the same wavelength?

Maybe God for you

is someone that you can never quite seem to please,

as long as you insist on

keeping house the way you do,

or wearing what you wear,

or hanging out with the friends you hang out with.

Maybe instead you relate to God

as you would to a mean boss,

like a tough, thoughtless person

who doesn't give a flip about your personal life

as long as deadlines are met

and the bottom line is good.

If that's the case,

you might think of God

as someone who requires sacrifice of you,

but who doesn't have the time for compassion.

Or, possibly, do you relate to God

as you would to a teacher or a role model you respect?

Is God someone you've always admired from a distance,

someone who's taught you a lot,

but whom you've never thanked in so many words?

Maybe if this is the case,

God for you is someone whom you respect,

but whom you could never relate to on a one-to-one basis.

What would need to change,

in your mind and in your life,

for you to start being able to relate to God in a different way,

for you to begin to see God

as someone whom you can laugh with

and challenge,   and cry on

and know that they will still be there for you

because they have your best interests at heart?

Because this is who God really is!

The images that you and I may have of God

are limited by the fact that we are human,

and fallible, and finite.

But God who is infinite //

goes far beyond the horizons

of anything you and I are able to imagine.

The whole of scripture,

from Genesis through Revelation,

tells us time and time again

of a God who created us,

who loves us,

and who calls us to be as fully human

as the very son he sent for us and for our salvation.

Throughout the Old Testament,

God gives us promises like a rainbow,

a remnant, and a king.

And in the New Testament,

the story of that king,

we are faced with judgment

and called to repentance.

But instead of a harsh penalty,

we are promised "a new heaven and a new earth."

The New Testament is honest enough

to remind us that we are slaves to sin.

But instead of keeping us captive,

God makes us heirs:

Heirs with Christ of an everlasting kingdom!

Now does that sound to you

like a distant relative

or a disapproving authority figure?

Not!

But we'll never know for sure

until we start working at our relationship with God,

just like we would work at a relationship

with our spouse,

or our significant other,

or our children, or our parents,

or our closest friends.

So how do we start to work on a relationship with God?

We start doing so

in the same way that we would start working on any other relationship:

by talking, //

and by listening.

By doing the very same kinds of things

that Abram did thousands of years ago.

Let's talk for a minute

about the model that Abram gives us

in today's story from Genesis.

The first thing that Abram teaches us in this story

is that,

in order to have a good, healthy relationship with God,

you have to be able to ask questions.

Now, to question what's going on in a relationship

is not nearly the same thing

as doubting that relationship.

When we feel comfortable enough to ask questions,

we know a couple of things:

we know that the person we're talking to

probably has an answer that we want to hear.

If we didn't want to hear their answer,

we wouldn't ask 'em!

And we also know

that the relationship is safe enough

for us to be asking questions at all.

You've been in those kinds of situations

where you know that to ask a question

would seem like a personal affront.

Just the mere ability to question //

shows that there is a certain level of trust in a relationship:

enough trust

so that both the asker and the askee

know that they value themselves,

and each other,

and the relationship.

This is wonderful news

for those of us

who want to strengthen our relationship with God.

It is totally okay to question God!

And when we do question God,

he will not send down a bolt of lightning,

he will not run away screaming,

or worst of all,

he will not desert us.

God values the relationship with us far more, I fear,

than we value our relationship with God.

And our God who is faithful

will answer our questions:

maybe not on our timetable,

and maybe not in the way we imagine,

but exactly in the way that we need -

even if we don't know exactly how to ask.

Look at the questions Abram asks!

God has just come to him in a vision and said

"Fear not . . .your reward shall be very great."

I tend to think that if that vision had come to me,

I'd just say, "Okay, thank you,"

and probably be too undone to respond.

Not Abram! 

He asked God right away,

"What will you give me?"

Isn't that audacious of Abram

to ask something like that

of the God who has just told him

he would have a great reward!

But rather than flare up in anger,

or shut the door and leave the relationship,

instead God elaborates on the reward he has in mind for him.

And what does Abram do then?

He questions again!

God promises him his own land.

And he promises this so-far childless man

as many heirs as it takes to fill the nighttime sky.

And even after a promise like that,

Abram has the audacity to question again!

"How will I know?"

How will I know?

Again, I would like to think

that if God spoke to me personally

and bothered to use the nighttime sky for an illustration,

that I would take God at his word the first time!

But it was much more than audacity at work.

Abram was continuing to take part

in a two-way relationship:

a relationship that was strong enough

both to welcome questions

and to endure them

for the sake of strengthening that bond.

The ability to question

is primary to any good relationship.

And if we are seeking to improve and strengthen

our relationship with God,

the ability for us to ask questions of God is more than just okay.

It's essential:

just as essential

as is the ability to listen.

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Talk to anyone who's done their homework in the area of evangelism,

and they'll tell you

that the ability to really listen to the other person

and to find out where they're coming from

is just as important as anything you yourself might have to say.

When we ask questions, //

and when we listen to the answers,

we are communicating to the other person

that we care about them and  what they have to say.

Listening to the other person

tells them that their story is important to us,

and that we need their perspective to help us understand.

God questions us from time to time

            in the form of our conscience.

God listens to us all the time

            in our silent prayers and in our spoken ones.

God is more than willing to strengthen our bond of relationship with him.

All we have to do is to ask,

and to listen as well.

Look again to how Abram handled this situation.

He had a good dialogue with God,

            he asked the questions that he needed to ask,

                        and then he listened.

He did what the situation required

which, in his case,

was to prepare a sacrifice.

Now, whether God asks us to make sacrifices or not,

the thing for us to remember

is to listen:

listen to what God has planned for us,

            to what God wants for us,

                        and to what God needs for us to do.

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And then, the final step in building a good relationship

is to trust the other party

and to follow through on what the two of you have agreed upon.

Two parties can ask questions and listen to each other

until the cows come home.

But if they leave that place

and do exactly the opposite

of what they have just discussed,

well, what does that tell you

about the real level of trust in that relationship?!

Look back again at the relationship of God and Abram.

You and I are lucky

because we know the end of the story.

God does indeed keep his promise to Abram.

We know that in part

because you and I are among that starry number of descendants

that God showed to Abram.

We know that Abram became Abraham,

and Sarai became Sarah,

and they both laughed over the birth of their son Isaac

who made up for lost time in the grandchildren department.

And - Abram did indeed keep his part of the bargain.

As Genesis tells us, "He believed the Lord,

and God reckoned it to him as righteousness."

Faith -

the assurance of things hoped for,

the conviction of things not seen -

faith is what gets us through the majority of our relationships:

our marriages,

            our friendships,

                        our relationships with each other here.

And if you and I are to build

on that relationship that we already have with God,

we will need to question.

We do need to trust.

But we also need to have faith that

"God who promises is faithful."

And we need to trust that

what we have asked

and what we have heard

is exactly how it's supposed to be -

for God, and for us.

Do you feel safe enough to ask questions?

Can you listen as well as you can talk?

Are you able to practice the fine art of trust?

Where are you in your relationship with God?

Amen.