Leaving for More

Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm one of the pastors here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church, and it's my joy to bring God's word to you today.

A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us. We're glad that you're here, and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats, but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced that there's no one so good they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it.

Which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in his word.

This week, we are beginning a series in the story of Abraham, which we find in Genesis chapters 11 through 25.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

Genesis, the entire book, is the origin story of God's people, his people Israel, beginning with Abraham.

And you'll notice we're not going to do the entire book. We're just doing chapters 11 through 25.

And the reason for that is we're actually, big picture, preparing to go back into the book of Romans, the letter of Romans.

So you'll remember last year we did Romans chapters 1 through 3, and we took a break.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Guess what Romans chapter 4 is about?

Romans 4 · chapter mention

Abraham.

Okay, so we're going to continue the pattern of our church, which is to alternate between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

And now this is a rich and layered story, even this specific passage that's in front of us.

And so I just want to disappoint you right at the beginning and tell you that we're not going to talk about everything in Genesis chapter 11 and 12 today.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

Okay, so our focus this morning is on the call to Abraham to go.

What we will not spend a lot of time talking about is the word that's repeated throughout this passage, which is bless and blessing.

We're going to come back. We're going to hone in on that next week.

And so we're going to just have a clear focus this week, a clear focus next week.

If you think, hey, we missed some things, yes, we're coming back.

With that, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 11, starting in verse 27.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

You can turn in your worship guide.

You can turn on your phone.

You can turn in your Bible.

No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's word.

Proverbs chapter 30, verse 5 tells us,

Proverbs 30:5

And so that's why we're going to read now Genesis chapter 11, starting at verse 27.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

Now these are the generations of Terah.

Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

And Haran fathered Lot.

Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred in Ur of the Chaldeans.

And Abram and Nahor took wives.

The name of Abram's wife was Sarai and the name of Nahor's wife Milcah,

the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.

Now Sarai was barren.

She had no child.

Terah took Abram his son and Lot, the son of Haran, his granddaughter,

and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife.

And they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan.

But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

Chapter 12.

Now the Lord said to Abram,

Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great,

so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Verse 4.

So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him.

Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.

And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son,

and all their possessions that they had gathered,

and the people they had acquired in Haran,

and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.

When they came to the land of Canaan,

Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Morah.

At that time, the Canaanites were in the land.

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said,

To your offspring I will give this land.

So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel,

and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.

And there he built an altar to the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.

And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negev.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven, we do praise you,

and thank you this morning that you have spoken to us through your word.

And we ask that you would do it again this morning.

That you would open our eyes, that you'd unstop our ears,

that you would clear our minds, you'd soften our hearts.

That we would be able to see, and hear, and believe, and understand

everything that's written about you in your word.

Most of all, we ask that you would help us to see Jesus.

We'd see him in his glory, and power, and majesty, and holiness, and authority,

and his mercy, and his grace, and his love.

That you would grow our love and our affection for him,

our reverence and our awe for him.

You'd grow our obedience to him.

We come grateful that we don't have to worry this morning

about whether we've earned these things or deserve them.

We know that we don't, and so we simply ask for them

in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Believe it or not, in a galaxy far, far away,

I once was a college student.

And when I was a college student,

I was involved in what's called Reformed University Fellowship,

which is the college ministry of our denomination that we support.

And while I was away, you heard from Jonathan Clark and Wes Cowton,

who are both ministers, campus ministers, with that college ministry.

Actually, fun fact, Wes Cowton and I were in the same RUF together

in North Carolina as students back in the day.

And so as being part of involved in this,

I was part of what was called the servant team,

which was the leadership team for this ministry of students.

And one of the things that we would do is every Sunday night,

we would go over to our college pastor's house,

and he would do a little teaching.

And he would try to do some teaching about,

hey, what does it look like to do ministry here on this college?

If you're like me,

there are plenty of sermons and talks and teachings

that you have completely forgotten.

And there are moments that stand out in your mind

that you will never forget.

Where a pastor or a teacher said something

and it just stuck with you forever.

And I remember one night,

our campus pastor was going through Genesis chapter 12,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

what we just looked at together,

and he looked us all dead in the eyes and said this,

following God's call always involves loss.

Following God's call always involves loss.

And then what he went on to say,

and I think this actually might be why I remember this,

is he said, you know, on Sunday afternoons,

when I think about us meeting on Sunday night,

sometimes I think about how nice it would just be

to be all by myself and to not do this.

Which seemed a little awkward then, it still does now.

And of course, his college students were like,

wait, what?

This 35-year-old doesn't want to hang out with us all the time?

But he said, no, but I get together with you all

on Sunday evenings, even as it's a loss to me

and what I might want to do with my rest and relaxation

because God and his kingdom are worth it.

And he was right.

This passage presents us with the call to lose.

It's right here.

The very first interaction that God and Abraham have,

chapter 12, verse 1, is a command, go.

And it's not just go, it is go from.

And we see this increasing intensity.

First of all, you're going to go from your country.

Okay, that's bad.

Not as bad as what comes next, your kindred, your family.

And then at the end, it gets even worse,

your father's house, those who are closest to you.

Now, in 2025, it is fair to say that we value our families.

It is also fair to say we don't value them anywhere near

as much as they valued them in the ancient Near East

in the time of Abraham.

Okay, so to wrap our minds around this,

we have to think about what it would mean for God to come to us

and call us to leave behind all the identity

and the things that we cling to for security and meaning.

It would be like God coming to you and saying,

go, quit your job, abandon your career,

shut down all your social media accounts,

throw away your phone forever.

Move cities, move countries, start over.

That's how radical this command is to Abram, right?

If he's leaving his father's house,

he's not gonna be able to email them.

He's not gonna be able to put a stamp on his letter

to Tara's house and send it back, right?

He's not gonna be able to call them.

No, Abraham is being called to leave everything.

And as we read in Hebrews chapter 11 this morning,

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

God doesn't even tell him where he's going.

Just says go.

Brothers and sisters, the point is this.

If we obey God's call

to follow him in his mission,

we will give things up.

If we obey God's call to follow him in his mission,

we will give things up.

Now, in the context of this passage,

it is God's call specifically

that Abram and his family would be a blessing to the nations.

That's what we see in verse three.

In New Testament terms,

we would think of the great commission

which Jesus gives to his disciples in Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Go, make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

teaching them everything I've commanded.

This loss looks very practical.

While I was gone,

you all paid off our building debt.

What did we have to do to pay off that debt?

You had to lose money.

Right?

You gave money to our generosity initiative.

You could have done something else with that.

There are things you didn't do

because you gave to that, right?

There are experiences that you didn't have.

Maybe trips,

maybe the security of having more savings.

And you lost all that.

So that we as a church

could follow God and his call

for us to be a gospel hub here

in Southwest Colorado Springs.

That's just one example.

That's one example from us here

in this community in this period of time.

Following God and his call

to follow him and his mission

means we will lose.

Now I hope you see the flip side.

I hope you also see what we've gained.

I hope you see what God is doing

in this congregation

as we continue to follow him more and more.

I hope you see the way he's multiplying

the ministry of this church.

But what did we have to do?

We had to lose.

And it's not just about finances, of course.

There's a pastor here in town

who likes to say,

you know, people are scared of the church

because they think the church

is after their money.

And then he goes on to say,

you know what?

It's actually much worse than that.

We're not just after your money.

We're after everything.

We're after all of you, right?

Jesus calls our whole selves to follow him.

And so we can think of it

not just in sense of following God's call

specifically obeying him in his mission.

We can think of it as the call

that he's given us to holiness.

A number of years ago,

a friend of mine dated a young woman

who had been living in France.

She's a Christian.

She was living in France

with a man that she was engaged to,

not married to,

who was not a Christian.

And one day she woke up

and realized,

should not be living with someone

I'm not married to,

should not be engaged to someone

who's not a Christian,

who doesn't share my faith.

What did she do?

She broke up with him.

She moved out.

She left France

and she moved to the United States.

That, brothers and sisters,

is a loss.

Following God's call

always involves loss.

Could be big.

It could be small.

It could be giving up

your Sunday evening

to talk to college students

about God's word.

It could be leaving a relationship

and a country

because you're convicted

about what God's call

to obedience

means for you.

Question for us

is this.

Are you willing

to give up a lot

to follow God?

Are you willing

to lose

in order

to obey

God?

To answer that question,

we have to answer

another question first,

which is this.

Why?

Why?

Why is it worth

losing?

Why is it worth

giving

anything

up?

Is it actually

a smart

exchange?

And I'm going

to give you

two reasons

this morning

why it is worth

losing

to follow God.

Reason one,

giving it up

is the only way

you keep it.

Reason two,

giving it up

gets you

something better.

giving it up

is the only way

to keep it.

Giving it up

gives you

something better.

First of all,

giving it up

is the only way

that you keep it.

There is a core

foundational principle

to the way

that we think

in the world

as Christians

and you'll find it

on page seven

of your worship guide

in that sidebar

on the left.

In the created world,

you can only

truly enjoy

what you do

not worship.

In the created world,

you can only

truly enjoy

what you do

not worship.

Now,

if the language

of worship

feels abstract

to you,

then you can think

of it in these terms.

What is the object

of your hope?

What is it

that you hope

in?

The beautiful

things of this

world

cannot bear up

under the weight

of your hope.

If you place

your hope

in them,

you will crush

them

and they

will crush

you.

you can only

truly enjoy

what you do

not worship.

There are many

beautiful things

in this world

and they

only work

when they

are downstream

of our love

for and our

commitment

to God.

You can think

about this

in a variety

of areas.

If you're a parent,

your hope

cannot

be in your

kids.

Your kids

actually can't

bear up

under the

weight

of that.

What's going

to happen

if you do

that is

you're going

to be driven

by anxiety,

putting pressure

that they

can't handle

onto them

and you'll

see the

whole situation

become twisted

and marred.

You can't

actually enjoy

them and raise

them unless

your hope

is in something

more and

greater,

unless your

hope is in

God.

We can come

up with a

number of

other examples.

You'll find

this on the

back of

your worship

guide,

a quote

from David

Foster Wallace

who tells

us the

danger of

worshiping

all these

other things,

of putting

our hope

in things

that cannot

bear up

under hope's

weight.

If you

worship money

and things,

then you

will never

have enough.

Worship

your own

body and

beauty and

sexual allure

and you will

always feel

ugly.

and when

time and

age start

showing,

you will

die a

million deaths

before they

finally plant

you.

Worship

power.

You will

feel weak

and afraid

and you

will need

ever more

power over

others to

keep the

fear at

bay.

Worship

your intellect.

Being seen

as smart,

you will

end up

feeling stupid,

a fraud,

always on

the verge

of being

found out.

In the

created

world,

you can

only truly

enjoy

what you

do

not

worship.

Jesus

tells us

the same

thing,

Matthew

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

chapter

10.

Whoever

loves

father or

mother more

than me is

not worthy

of me,

and whoever

loves son or

daughter more

than me is

not worthy

of me,

and whoever

does not

take his

cross and

follow me is

not worthy

of me.

Whoever

finds his

life will

lose it,

and whoever

loses his

life for my

sake will

find it.

Whoever

finds his

life will

lose it,

and whoever

loses his

life for my

sake will

find it.

Giving it

up is the

only way

you will

keep it.

Second

reason I

told you is

giving it

up because

you will

get something

better.

And this

gets to

answers the

question,

why is it

that Abraham

is willing

to just

go?

Verse 4.

So Abraham

went.

Doesn't know

where he's

going.

Is told he's

supposed to

abandon

everything else.

So there's

this radical

act of

obedience,

which in

many ways

seems

unexplainable,

except the

author of the

book of

Hebrews explains

it for us.

Brit read

this for us

this morning.

You'll find

it on page

3 of your

worship guide.

Verse 10.

For he was

looking forward

to the city

that has

foundations,

whose designer

and builder

is God.

Abraham went

because he was

looking to

something

better.

And it

says it

again at

the end

of that

passage.

Verse 16.

But as it

is, they

desire a

better country

that is

a heavenly

one.

Therefore,

God is not

ashamed to

be called

their God,

for he has

prepared for

them a

city.

Abraham is

willing to

leave one

place,

because he

is looking

to a

better

place.

Brothers and

sisters, the

same is

true for

us.

We will

not be

willing to

lose

unless we

have a

vision of

something

better.

It's not a

coincidence

that right

after Brit

read that,

we sang the

song,

O Jerusalem.

that is a

song about

us as a

Christian

community

looking towards

and longing

for something

better and

more beautiful.

And what is

it?

We're looking

that they have

told us of a

city where

all tears are

wiped away.

Is that worth

losing for?

Yes.

And every

shadowed valley

is washed

in the

endless day.

Last verse.

They have

told us of

a city where

all death

will be

undone.

Is that

better than

the current

place we're

in right

now?

Yes.

Is it

worth losing

right now

for a city

where death

will be

undone?

Of course.

and all

our tearful

mourning

gives way

to healing

song.

I hope

when you

come and

as you

come to

our church

on Sunday

morning you

realize we

are not

here simply

to go

through the

motions and

do church

and be at

another

worship service.

We're not

singing random

songs that we

pulled together

because churches

are supposed

to sing.

No,

we are coming

here together

to be reminded

of what is

most true

and most

real.

And we're

here to stir

up our hearts

as we repeat

the truth to

ourselves and

one another

about what is

more true

than anything

else.

That God

has prepared

a city

and it is

better than

anything that

you would

give up

here and

now.

Jesus tells

us,

John chapter

John 14 · chapter mention

14,

in my

father's

house are

many

rooms.

If it

were not

so,

would I

have told

you that

I go to

prepare a

place for

you?

Christian,

Jesus is

preparing a

place for

you and it

is worth

giving up

everything

for.

How do I

know that's

true?

How do I

know that we

can trust

Jesus'

words?

We trust

Jesus'

words because

of his

death and

his

resurrection.

The

apostle Paul

calls Jesus'

death and

resurrection the

down payment

on the

future.

That Jesus

has put down

the earnest

money to

show that

he's

serious.

Right?

He has not

just given

us words,

he's given

us himself.

Are those

rooms your

line of

sight?

Is heaven

your horizon

line?

if you

are going

to live

the

Christian

life,

at some

point,

it must

be.

We come

together here

on Sunday

mornings,

week after

week,

to reset

and reorient

where our

eyes are

looking.

What is

the future

that we're

hoping for?

What is

the object

that can

bear up

under the

weight of

our hope?

It's that

vision,

that truth,

that reality

that helps

us understand

what is of

greater

importance

and what is

of lesser

importance.

In her

book,

Tunnel

29,

Helena

Merriman

tells the

story of

Joachim

Rudolph.

And Joachim

decided in

the summer

of 1962

that he

was going

to dig

a tunnel

from West

Berlin to

East Berlin.

This is during

the Cold

War.

He wants

to help

people escape

from being

under

communism.

And so,

of course,

during the

Cold War,

the Berlin

Wall is

keeping East

Berlin.

Where they

are,

they cannot

escape,

they can't

move to

where there's

freedom,

they can't

escape

communism.

And so,

he works

all summer

for this

tunnel,

and he

eventually

finishes it.

And as he

finishes it,

he encounters

one almost

insurmountable

problem.

There are

no telephone

lines between

West Berlin

and East

Berlin.

And without

any telephone

lines,

there is very

challenging for

him to actually

tell people

in East Berlin

where and when

they're going

to escape.

The only

way to do

it is to

send someone

across.

And this is

possible.

West Berliners

are allowed to

cross over

into East

Berlin.

It's just

East Berliners

can't go

into the

West.

But no

West Berliner

wants to

do it

because the

communists have

realized,

hey, we're

actually not

going to

punish the

East Berliners

trying to

escape that

harshly.

You know who

we're really

going to

punish?

We're going

to punish

the West

Berliners who

are organizing

the escapes.

We're not

going to go

after the

sheep.

We're going

to go

after the

shepherds.

And so it

gets to a

point where

it's almost

a death

sentence to

cross over

because what

happens if

you're caught?

If you are

caught, your

life is

essentially

over.

The communists

reserve their

cruelest punishments

for West

Berliners who

help East

Berliners escape.

And so they've

dug this

tunnel.

no one is

willing to

go over and

tell the

East Berliners

the details

except for

one person.

Just as they

are giving up

hope, they

find someone,

someone who

will do it

for the most

primal reason

of all.

they find a

man named

Wolf Dieter

Sternheimer.

What makes

Wolf Dieter

different than

every other

West Berliner?

Wolf Dieter's

girlfriend is

in East

Berlin.

And they go

to him and

they say,

look, we

have a tunnel

and you know

what?

We'll let your

girlfriend come

over to West

Berlin if you

go to East

Berlin and tell

everyone.

the book

says this,

Wolf Dieter

didn't need

long to

decide.

He knew

this was the

only way

to get

his girlfriend

out.

Brothers and

sisters,

plenty of

people in

West Berlin

had the

right world

view.

Plenty of

people in

West Berlin

understood

intellectually

the evils

of communism.

Right?

The understanding

wasn't enough.

They did

not have

a strong

enough vision

of the

future to

risk

everything.

Wolf Dieter

did.

Many people

were willing

to dig a

tunnel from

the West

where it

was safe.

Only one

man was able

to cross over

to the East

where it

was not

safe.

Why?

Because he

had a love

and a longing

and he

saw

something

better.

And he

was willing

to risk

everything.

By the

way,

he and

Renata

get married

and have

two kids.

Same is

true of

Abraham.

Same is

true of

us.

For he

was looking

forward to

the city

that has

foundations

whose

designer

and builder

is God.

Let's

pray.

Our

Father in

heaven,

we praise

you and

thank you

that you

have

prepared a

city where

all death

will be

undone.

We ask

that you

would remind

us of that

truth,

that it

would become

our horizon

line,

that we

would look

forward to

it and we

would be

willing to

do what

it takes

to be

there.

We thank

you that

Jesus has

given himself,

that he's

died for our

sins and

risen from

the dead,

that we

know that

we can

trust in

the future

you have

for us.

We ask

all of

these things

in the

mighty name

of Jesus

Christ.

Amen.

I invite

you to

stand for

our closing

hymn.