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JESUS SAID, FOLLOW ME: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
By Henry Jaegers
Leaving the City
And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. (Acts 7:2-4)
When God first called Abraham to follow him, he was living in Mesopotamia in the city called Ur of the Chaldees. Although living in the city has its dangers and difficulties, there are certain advantages that you do not find elsewhere. Abraham was called to leave that land to go to a better place. Now the verse before us is the only one that gives us any detail about this particular call. I do not believe God gave Abraham two calls but I think it was one call in two phases. In other words, one was the actual call and the second one was more of a reminder of the promise he formerly gave to Abraham while he was living in a different area. Abraham had already left the city and dwelt with his existing family in the land of Haran. He stayed there until both his father and his brother died. Now it was time for Abraham to leave and take that first step of faith. That is a summary of where we are going.
But think about the problem of leaving the city. We do not find this out until we get to Joshua chapter 24:2 and find out that his father was already getting steeped into the idolatry of that land. He was well established and leaving the city was no easy task. It represented leaving the slavery which held him and it also represented more opportunities for individual success and prosperity, and to leave the city was no easy matter. Abraham received the call from God but it was not easy to just pick up and leave his family. To him, that would not have been the honorable thing to do. So, he had to wait, and we don't know how long, but eventually, the day came when they left the city for new horizons.
They finally came to and dwelt in a place called “Haran” where Abraham received the second phase of his call. But they did make progress. Whatever hardships they faced, they left the city, which would have been more difficult if they remained.
At this point, I would like to share a brief experience with you that I had when I was 12 years old. I grew up in the city of Yonkers, New York, and lived there, went to school there, started to be engrossed in all the things that living in that city represented. It never occurred to me at that time that there was something better. It was never even a thought. But one day my father took us to visit his uncle Charles who lived on a beautiful farm. I have never experienced such a thing before. The closest thing to a farm to me was going to the Bronx zoo with my mom every so often. But as I visited this farm, I got a vision of a life beyond the city. Imagine a young boy seeing tractors, cows, horses, pigs, chickens, and all these good things that came with living on the farm. There was no more danger from what was happening in the city. It looked like a whole new wonderful life. But that was just a simple experience, but it gave me hope that something better was possible than living in the city.
One day my father decided he would make the sacrifice and purchased a small farm in upstate New York. Despite all the hardships involved, we were excited to start this new life. Our farm was nothing like uncle Charles's farm. The buildings were falling, the bathroom facilities were non-existent, and the drainage system was something that ran from the kitchen out to a swampy area. But it still was better than the city.
But one day I had to leave the farm for a different life where I had to survive on my own.
Now, I suppose that is somewhat like what Abraham may have experienced. But the point I want to make is that before anything significant could happen, Abraham had to leave the city. Is there some spiritual truth here? Suppose he didn't leave? Well, we could imagine, but we do not have to, because he left.
Perhaps we might say, that the city that we leave is that place that seems to offer us the best opportunity for personal achievement and success like Mesopotamia offered to Abraham and his family. To experience God’s greater plan, he had to leave the city.
I think of another person who had to leave the city. It was Abraham's nephew Lot. While he was in that city, he became somewhat like one of the local politicians and God had to take him out by hand from there before the judgment was to come. He did not want to leave. The story here is not about Lot, but about Lot’s wife. God was taking them out of the city and although they were leaving the city, Lot’s wife looked back because she left her heart there. and we know the sad story of that. She remained a permanent fixture and a reminder of the danger of not leaving the city.
Thus, I ask you, when you responded to the call to follow Jesus, did you leave the city or are all those worldly pleasures that the city offers you still in your heart. It is very important that before God can use us, we must be determined to leave the city. While addressing the three would-be followers, Jesus said to the last one, who requested permission to return before-hand to say good-bye to his friends. . Jesus' words to him were, “no man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven”. There must be a forward look and as it is with plowing a field in those days, it required determination and perfect concentration. The distractions must not hinder them from plowing a field.
In closing, I am sharing with you a story about Elisha the one who followed Elijah. At first, it seemed like he was like one of these would-be followers. He requested permission from Elijah to return and kiss his father goodbye. But that is not all that he did. We are told that he burned his farm equipment and offered the cattle as a sacrifice to God, and left all and followed Elijah. He made no provision to return to that old life. Maybe that's what it means to “leave the city”.
And my closing challenge is: Have you left the city? Are you so insulated to its allurements that it seems impossible to leave? We must be like Elisha and determine to follow Jesus and like him, burn all the bridges and leave no opportunity to turn back to that old life. Leaving the city may be the first thing that we have to do before we can see God doing anything significant in our life. Now that's something to think about!
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