A WALK TO REMEMBER

Genesis 5:21-24

What does your life look like

when you walk with God?

A sermon preached by

Dr. William O. (Bud) Reeves

First United MethodistChurch

Hot Springs, Arkansas

July 25, 2010

John Ortberg, a pastor in California, tells a story about walking down a sidewalkwith another church staff member and an elder in his church. As they passed a bar, a fight that had been going on inside spilled out onto the street, just like in an old western. One guy was getting beat up pretty bad, so the trio of Christians went over to break up the fight. Not that they knew how to do that: “Hey, you guys stop that!” Not very intimidating.

But all of a sudden the fighters looked at Ortberg and his friends in fear, stopped fighting, and dispersed. Surprised, Ortberg turned around to see a guy come out of the bar who was about six and a half feet tall and weighed about 300 pounds, all muscle. They didn’t know his name, but later on they called him Bubba. Bubba didn’t say a word; he just stood there and flexed, and you could tell he was just hoping the fighters would have a go at him.

Ortberg looked at Bubba and at the fighters slinking away and shouted after them, “And don’t let us catch you coming around here again!” With Bubba behind him, John had confidence and courage and boldness that he had never had before.

The moral of that story is simple: when you confront the problems of life, it’s better to have the big guy behind you. It’s better to walk with Bubba.[1]

We can’t always guarantee that Bubba will be around. But we can guarantee that we have a mighty big God, and we can walk with him every day of our lives.

Enoch walked with God. This strange little paragraph sticks out of a whole chapter of genealogical records in the book of Genesis. All the other descendants of Adam simply lived, had children, and died. But the writer makes a point of saying that Enoch didn’t just live; he “walked with God.” And when he was done walking with God, “then he was no more, because God took him.”[2]

Today I want to talk about living your life walking with God. What does your life look like when you walk with God?

First of all, a walk with God is a journey. It’s not an event; it’s a process. Your walk with God is a life-long pilgrimage.

One of the things we like to do when we do a beach vacation is to take long walks along the sand. This particular vacation, we stayed on the very end of our favorite island, and I think the interaction of the waters from the ocean on one side and the sound on the other made the beach more alive. Every day it looked different. There were radical differences between low tide and high tide. It was a constantly changing landscape.

It’s like the landscape of our journey through life. Nothing stays the same for long, does it? There are mountain peaks and deep, dark valleys. There are times of joy and times of despair. Sometimes you feel like jumping up and down and cheering; sometimes you want to put your face in the carpet and cry out in agony. It’s all part of the journey.

That’s why Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “We walk by faith, not by sight.”[3] We can’t always see what’s ahead; it’s probably better that we can’t. But we know if we walk by faith—if we walk with God—we are at least on the right journey.

Secondly, a walk with God has steps. The old proverb says, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” God doesn’t leave us without guidance on the journey. There are steps to take that will help us along the way. We will make progress. We will stay on track, if we follow the steps.

Heidi Neumark was a bright young college student who took off a year from BrownUniversity to work with a group called Rural Mission. They sent her to JohnsIsland off the coast of South Carolina, where she learned a great deal from listening to the stories of thedescendants of former plantation slaves.

One of her favorite people was an elderly woman named Miss Ellie, who supplied Heidi with sweet tea and biscuits and lots of stories. Miss Ellie’s best friend was Netta, who lived not too far away as the crow flew, but because of the creeks in the marsh, Miss Ellie had to walk a long way through the snake-infested marsh grass to get to her house.

So Heidi the college student decided she would help Miss Ellie out. She got some lumber and a couple of volunteer carpenters, and they built a plank bridge over the creek so Miss Ellie could cross over directly to Netta’s house.

When Heidi dragged Miss Ellie off her front porch to see her project, she was disappointed that the old woman was not more excited or even appreciative. She just sort of shook her head in pity. Then she said, “Child, I don’t need no shortcut.” She began to tell about all the friends she would visit and check in on as she made the long walk around to Netta’s house. She said again, “Child, you can’t take shortcuts if you want friends in this world. Shortcuts don’t mix with love.”[4]

Shortcuts don’t mix with discipleship, either. There aren’t any shortcuts on the walk with God. You have to take the steps necessary to stay on the right track with your journey.

Around here we talk a lot about the United Methodist Way. The Way is based on three rules that John Wesley gave the early Methodists to guide their walk with God. Do you remember them? Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God. Stay away from the bad stuff. Spend your time and energy on the good stuff. And practice the disciplines that will keep you in love with God: reading and studying the Scripture, daily time in prayer, worship with the people of God, taking the Lord’s Supper regularly, doing acts of service and compassion for people, talking about the things of faith with other Christians. These are the steps that keep you walking with God and making progress on the journey.

The third thing to understand about your walk with God is that you’ll never walk alone. This is no solitary, lonely, isolated quest you’re on. You have company.

You walk with God in the midst of the community of faith. There are people here who love you, who support you, who are here to help you when you’re down. We’re all on the journey together, and we need each other to keep moving forward until we all achieve the victory.

Max Lucado tells a story about a Young Life camp out in Colorado where there is a fourteen-thousand foot peak called MountChrysolitethat the campers climb once a week. On one hike, about a third of the way up, a camper named Matthew gave out. No amount of encouragement, cajoling, or begging from Max could get the boy moving. Finally they negotiated a plan of alternating walking and resting that got Matthew within a thousand feet of the summit. The last piece of the journey was straight up. So two other campers each got under Matthew’s arms, and Max pushed from the rear, and they finally all but dragged Matthew to the summit and the awesome view.

When they got to the top, four hundred campers who had already arrived began to applaud and give Matthew a standing ovation. Suddenly Max Lucado was steamrolled with the message from God: There it is, Max, a perfect picture of my plan. Do all you can to push each other to the top.[5]

We are not alone on the journey as long as we are in community. Others will help push us toward the top. But when the human community fails—as it will—there is still another who will never fail. We walk with God. His Son takes each step with us.

How did the Psalmist put it? “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me.”[6] We are never alone because God will never forsake us. We are not in relationship with a principle or a philosophy or a proposition of truth, as important as those might be. We are in relationship with a Person—Jesus Christ.

Imagine that you are a Boy Scout or a Girl Scout about to set out for a hike into the wilderness. You have your Scout handbook, your canteen, and your flashlight. You are equipped for the journey. But the hike is a long one. The woods are full of wild animals. Eventually night will come, and darkness will cover everything. What one thing would make you confident about making that hike? What if the Scoutmaster came along? Wouldn’t that make you feel better?

The walk with God may bea long journey,and there are many steps to take. But the good news is, you never walk alone. You are surrounded by friends, and the Master himself walks beside you. Do not be afraid.

Finally, a walk with God has a destination. This is no meaningless journey; this is not some sort of existential merry-go-round through life that makes no difference. Our lives have meaning and purpose. How we walk makes a difference, because we are walking with a goal in mind. We have a destination. We have a date with the Kingdom. We have reservations in heaven.

Our text says that at the end of his life, “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.”[7] What does that mean? I don’t know exactly. In the Letter to the Hebrews, Enoch is picked out for mention in the catalog of the faithful who preceded Christ: “By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and ‘he was not found, because God had taken him.’ For it was attested before he was taken away that ‘he had pleased God.’ And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”[8] The Genesis account doesn’t exactly say all of that, but the point is, because of his walk with God, because of his relationship of faith, Enoch ended his walk with God in heaven.

We will probably not escape death like Enoch did. Neither did Jesus. He died on the cross, and he was raised again on the third day. Because we believe that, because we believe in him, then we know where our destination is. We have a heavenly home waiting, prepared for us by Jesus Christ, “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”[9]

Johnny Cash was an icon of American music and a son of the Arkansas delta. One of the most formative and emotionally scarring events of his childhood was the death of his brother Jack. Jack was the good son; Johnny was the rebel. Early in life, Jack felt he was called to be a preacher. But at the age of 14, he was nearly cut in half by a band saw in a woodworking shop. After seven days of agony, Jack died. Johnny tells the story in his autobiography:

"I remember standing in line to tell him goodbye. He was still unconscious. I bent over his bed and put my cheek against his and said, 'Goodbye, Jack.' That's all I could get out.
"My mother and daddy were on their knees. At 6:30 a.m. he woke up. He opened his eyes and looked around and said, 'Why is everybody crying over me? Mama, don't cry over me. Did you see the river?'

"And she said, 'No, I didn't, son.'

"'Well,' he said, 'I thought I was going toward the fire, but I'm headed in the other direction now, Mama. I was going down a river, and there was fire on one side and heaven on the other. I was crying, 'God, I'm supposed to go to heaven. Don't You remember? Don't take me to the fire.' All of a sudden I turned, and now, Mama, can you hear the angels singing?'

"She said, 'No, son, I can't hear it.'

"And he squeezed her hand and shook her arm, saying, 'But Mama, you've got to hear it.' Tears started rolling off his cheeks and he said, 'Mama, listen to the angels. I'm going there, Mama.'
"We listened with astonishment.

"'What a beautiful city,' he said. 'And the angels singing. Oh, Mama, I wish you could hear the angels singing.' Those were his last words. And he died."

Then Johnny added these words: "The memory of Jack's death, his vision of heaven, the effect his life had on the lives of others, and the image of Christ he projected have been more of an inspiration to me, I suppose, than anything else that has ever come to me through any man."[10]

What a glorious, inspiring destination awaits us at the end of our walk with God!

Let me close with this. Marti Ensign was a missionary to Africa whobrought some African pastors to the United States for a big meeting.

During their free time, the Africans wanted to go shopping. Even though they were in a fairly small city, Marti knew there was a chance someone might have difficulty or get lost. So she gave them her phone number for such an emergency. In less than an hour the phone rang and one of the pastors said, "I am lost."

Marti said, "Go to the street corner, find out the names of the two streets at the corner, tell me where you are, and I will come and get you."

In a few seconds the pastor reported, "I am at the corner of 'Walk' and 'Don't Walk.'"[11]

Isn’t that the corner where we find ourselves most of the time? We walk with God; we don’t walk. We walk; we don’t walk. If you find yourself on the “Don’t Walk” corner today, maybe this is a good chance to start, or to start over, on your walk with God. It’s a life-long journey, so it’s never too late. Just take one step at a time, and know that you are never alone. And one day, you will reach your destination, and you will hear the singing of the angels, and you will be home. Amen!

[1] John Ortberg, “Big God/Little God,” PreachingToday.com.

[2] Genesis 5:24.

[3]II Corinthians 5:7.

[4]Heidi Neumark, Breathing Space (Beacon Press, 2003), p. 16-17.

[5]Max Lucado, "Push Each Other to the Top," Men of Integrity, March/April 2010.

[6] Psalm 23:4.

[7] Genesis 5:24.

[8] Hebrews 11:5-6.

[9] II Corinthians 5:1.

[10] Johnny Cash, Man in Black, quoted in King Duncan, “Waiting for the Angels,” sermons.com.

[11] Philip Gunter, PreachingToday.com.