Sermons

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A Better Country
November 30, 2003
First Sunday of Advent Vespers Service
Pastor Dan Baumgartner
Hebrews 11:8-16

This evening, I want to read a couple of different pieces from the 11th chapter of Hebrews. In the midst of the litany of "heroes of the faith," the writer says this in 11:8-11:

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

and then in Hebrews 11:13-16…

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

An unknown destination. A better country. A better city. Always, this Old Testament patriarch Abraham and his people look ahead. Always ahead. Always down the road. They are pilgrims, sojourners, migrant nomads living out of a tent. They are strangers in lands that don't belong to them, labeled as foreigners. Did they have an intense desire for something else? Of course they did.

Have you ever moved? Though I never did as a child, I have three times in these last ten years. Moving is difficult. There's always a period of time when you know NOBODY. And then there's another period of time when you know some people…but it seems that they all know each other better than you know them. And then there's another period of time, after you've been there for awhile, when you know people…but there's something that just feels in your gut…like you'll never be quite "one of them." You're not homegrown, not a native. And there's a bit of restlessness that goes with that.

You're not quite where you belong.

It seems that Abraham and his people felt this. They had moved from their homeland because God had told them to move, and they weren't even sure where they were going. They lived in tents, ready to move as needed. But it didn't keep them from looking ahead. They looked forward to the future, when they wouldn't be tented nomads, but living in a city that has foundations, that has been planned and measured and built solidly and securely. AND whose builder is God. For Abraham and his people, they could not settle for something that was less. They couldn't settle for somewhere which may have looked better, but where God was not present. It was God's presence they were after. They had to look ahead.

They might also have looked to the past, back to where they had come from. No matter how bad things used to be, they often look better from down the road, especially if you are feeling unsettled where you are. Abraham and his people might have looked behind them. But God had called them from there. It was God's presence they were after. They had to look ahead.

I have a fairly remarkable mental picture in my head from my trip to Uganda at the end of September. We went out to a village one day to visit a woman raising many of her grandchildren because their parents had died from AIDS. They took us out and showed us the cemetery in their back yard, and at the rear of their land was their old house. It was a poor house, the one they had lived in for years before. It was made of a kind of clay and pieces of wood. There was no foundation, so it was all uneven around the bottom and the walls had cracked as the structure had moved over the years. None of the edges or corners were square, and it wouldn't last much longer. When we ducked our heads inside of it, it was dark and dirty. Black, greasy, poor ventilation. And there on a shelf were the old statues and idols of a native religion…something this family had once worshipped. But the place was in disrepair…it wasn't used anymore.

Right next to this structure was their new home, which World Vision had partnered with their village and family in building. It was small. But it had a foot high concrete foundation all the way around, and the bricks that made up the walls were anchored there. The roof was solid, the corners had been measured and were square, and it was tight and clean and neat and solid.

It was such a contrast…the old home, the old gods…and the new one. Such a visual reminder, I think, even for them it was quite a reminder…of what had been in the past, what could still be…but also that they were looking ahead.

Abraham and his people had to wait, and hope and long … and not settle for anything less than what God had for them. Not settle for the Caananite gods, not fix their hearts on something that was not the best, not allow themselves to be tricked into accepting anything less than the presence of their God. To do that…they had to look ahead, to the future and believe that the promises of God would come to pass.
The author of Hebrews assures us that the promises do happen.

"Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son."

In Jesus Christ, "the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being," the promises of God come true. On this first Sunday of the Advent season, we too look ahead. We look to celebrate the arrival of God on earth, 2000 years ago in this person Jesus, the "Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world." And we also look ahead for the day when he will come again for the final time.

While we wait, there will be constant temptations to settle for things that are less than promised, less than God would have for us…but we must wait: for the city that has foundations, for the better country…for the place where God is. We wait for Jesus.