Making Things Right

Well, guys, I promise we are really close to wrapping up a series that we started in January on the life of Abraham.

I don't know if when I told you we were going to go through the life of Abraham, you knew that we were going to be doing that for pretty much the entire year or half the year, but here we are.

It is almost July, and we are still going through the life of Abraham.

Madison teases me at how slowly I like to go through scripture whenever we're going through a book of the Bible.

We did spend two years, one time in the book of Romans.

My bad.

We took little breaks.

We take little breaks.

But we love, if you're new to his hands, we love just to open up God's Word, read it, and really ask a basic question.

God, what are you teaching us?

I don't think there's anything in God's Word that is wasted.

I don't think there's a single line that's a throwaway line.

Now, some of those lines have a different purpose.

Sometimes it was recording history.

Sometimes it was there in order to just help us have a record of what happened so that we could actually know that this is something that is historical, that can be checked historically with archaeology.

Sometimes it's like that.

So if you're ever reading the Bible and it's just lists of names, you're like, why is this in here?

Well, so that we can actually check it with history and it stands up, it holds up.

But most of Scripture is useful.

In fact, the Bible itself says that all of God's word is useful.

It is effective for teaching us, for helping us see life in a different way, for revealing what's inside of us, what needs to change in our lives.

So we don't open up God's word, we are opening up God's truth, and we just say, Lord, what does this have to teach me?

Um it's amazing that no matter where what story we're in, it's something, and oftentimes something more than you might think.

In fact, the story we're gonna read today, I'm gonna tell you this.

When I first read it, I was like, we should probably skip that one.

Um, not because it's hard, not because it's, you know, particularly controversial in any way or anything like that.

I mean, we spent four weeks going through the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

This is not that.

Just because it feels sort of random and almost like a throwaway, why is this even in the Bible story?

Why did this make it into the story?

I mean, paper was pretty scarce back then, and yet somehow they devoted lines to this.

How did that happen?

And so I spent the week going, okay, Lord, what is this really about?

What does this have to teach us?

And what I found was that it's unbelievably, unbelievably practical.

And so I was not expecting this story to affect me the way that it did, and I'll share it with you in a minute.

But let me just kind of set it up with this.

Today's story, today's scripture really helps us understand how we have what we do when we are given by God an opportunity to make a previous wrong right.

That may have been phrased strangely.

Um, what do we do in life when maybe we've wronged someone or there's been conflict with someone?

Maybe they wronged us, maybe there was a lot of mutual wronging being done, and life presents us with an opportunity to see that person, to engage with that person, maybe reconcile with that person, but it's not someone that, like, left to ourselves, we would want to see.

That happens all the time.

You know, it's like, I'm sure many of us have been in a situation like this, maybe not exactly like this, but let's say, for example, you're at Kroger and you're getting groceries, and you walk down the aisle, and there is someone in that aisle that you do not want to see and you do not want to talk to.

It is someone that, you know, maybe from your past, maybe there was conflict, who knows, and it's awkward.

And what do you what do you do when you're in the aisle with that person at Kroger?

You go to publics, right?

Like that's you burn your Kroger Plus card on your way out, and you you switch grocery stores, you might move neighborhoods.

You know, some of us are wired like that.

It might be a joke, but some of you, there are people from your past, there are people you've had issues with that if you were walking in your neighborhood and you saw them moving in, you would go home and be like, let's put our house up for sale.

Because that's how life works.

I mean, no matter how hard we try, no matter if it was our fault, someone else's fault, it's mutual, whatever it is, in life we have we just have moments where us and somebody else, maybe it's even someone we're close to, maybe it's a relative, where there's a major fracture in relationship and it's it's bad and it might be ugly.

And the easiest thing to do is just pretend like that person doesn't exist.

But life has a way, and I might say it better, God has a way of loving us so much that he gives us opportunities to deal with that and make it right.

And I don't know if you go back to the silly example, if you saw that person in the same aisle as you at the grocery store, I don't know if you'd be like, Thank you, God, for this opportunity for me to make a wrong in my past right.

Thank you, Lord, thank you for this.

Or you're like, God, what are you doing to me?

Leave, escape.

Maybe you think it's the devil.

I don't know, maybe it is, but I believe fully that God loves us so much, He loves us all so much that He will give us opportunities to deal with our past, maybe even our past mistakes.

So with that said, we're gonna open up and read a pretty innocuous line, but there's a lot more to it.

Genesis chapter 21.

Genesis 21 · chapter mention

It says, about this time, and let's talk about the time.

This is right after, uh shortly after in the story, Isaac has been born.

Uh so Abraham and uh Sarah, his wife, they have a child, Isaac, after many, many years.

Abraham was very old.

He was 100 years old when Isaac was born, and Isaac's starting to grow up now, and their family is starting to grow.

And so news is spread across the whole land.

Abraham was a very important person, he's a very wealthy person, influential person, and he's really old, and so people are starting to spread the story.

Did you hear Abraham and Sarah had a kid?

Like what Abraham and Sarah?

They're really old, right?

Yeah, super old.

And they had a kid, and everyone's hearing about it.

It says, About this time, Abimelech came with Pikol, his army commander, to visit Abraham.

Now, this seems like just whatever.

Some dude named Abimelech shows up to meet with Abraham.

But I can promise you, Abimelech is a person that Abraham never wanted to see again in his life.

Let's go back a little bit.

Madison actually talked about this a few weeks back, and if you were here for that, he did a great job.

Uh, Genesis chapter 20.

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

I'm gonna read the entirety of it because it's pretty short, it's pretty short.

So this is years before this.

It says, Abraham moved south to the Negev and lived for a while between Kadesh and Shur, and then he moved on to Gerar.

While living there as a foreigner, Abraham introduced his wife Sarah by saying, She is my sister.

Now, we've already talked about this.

If you've been here this year, Abraham had this paranoia that people would be so attracted to his wife Sarah that they would kill him and they would take her for themselves.

And so he instructed her that every time we go into a place where we're foreigners, we're not known, tell people that you're my sister.

So if they like you, they'll they'll take you and spare me.

You know.

I would just love to know what a marriage counselor would do in that scenario.

Like any of you have ever done marriage counseling, I have many different times, like, you know, explaining that situation.

You know, some sometimes I tell her to say she's my sister.

You know, because that just I don't even want to know what that would be like.

Um now, also, let's just be honest, I think this is important.

Uh, she was also his sister, but half-sister.

And it wasn't a total lie.

And if you're like gross, it was a really long time ago, and they did stuff different.

So there you go.

So he could say, well, she is my sister, but it's yeah.

A half-lie is still, wait, was that right?

A half-lie is still a whole whatever.

I was gonna say a comment.

Let's move on.

Uh so King Abimelech of Gerar sent for Sarah and had her brought to his palace.

So that's his sister, and he's like, sweet, she's available, and so I guess she was really pretty, and the kings liked her, because this happened another time in Egypt.

This is crazy.

But Abimelech is the ruler of this area, and he sees Sarah and he's like, Oh, awesome, that's your sister.

I'm gonna make her my wife.

But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, You are a dead man.

For that woman you've taken is already married.

But Abimelech had not yet slept with her, so he said, Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?

Didn't Abraham tell me she's my sister?

And she herself said, Yes, he's my brother.

I acted in complete innocence.

My hands are clean.

And so this all goes on, we could read the whole thing, but basically, uh God says, Yeah, you gotta get rid of her and get rid of Abraham because I'm mad at you because you've married.

And the reason why is that God had promised Abraham that he would bless him, and anyone who was against Abraham, he'd be against.

And Abimelech sort of accidentally ends up on the wrong side of Abraham because he accidentally marries Abraham's wife.

It's just your average, normal, weird, mix-up situation, right?

And so Abimelech sends Abraham packing and he sends him with wealth, like with silver and with livestock.

He's like, just leave, get out of here, uh, take a bunch of stuff, let God know that I'm I'm sorry, and let's move on.

So I can promise you, I can promise you that the last person after all that went down that Abraham ever wants to see again is Abimelech.

And yet here comes Abimelech.

He's heard the news that God has given Sarah a son, and he's in town and he wants to visit Abraham, and I don't know, we don't know from the story if Sarah was there.

I hope not, because that would be even more awkward if it's like, hey, honey, you remember, you remember Abimelech, right?

You know, and it's a weird situation.

But here we are in Genesis 21, and Abraham is face to face with someone he never wanted to see again.

You can be sure of that.

So let's go back.

About this time Abimelech came with Pequol, his army commander to visit Abraham.

God is obviously with you, helping you in everything you do.

When people heard that God had given a child to Abraham and Sarah, they knew that this is not normal, this is not natural.

God is doing this, God is clearly with Abraham.

People understood that.

Swear to me in God's name that you'll never deceive me.

Maybe he said again, My children or any of my descendants, I've been loyal to you, so now swear to me that you will be loyal to me and to this country where you are living as a foreigner.

Abraham replied, Yes, I swear to it.

And then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech's servants had taken by force from Abraham's servants.

This is the first I've heard of it, Abimelech answered.

I have no idea who's responsible.

You've never complained about this before.

Abraham then gave some of his sheep, goats, and cattle to Abimelech, and they made a treaty.

Then Abraham also took seven additional female lambs and set them off by themselves.

Abimelech asked, Why have you set these seven apart from the others?

And Abraham replied, Please accept these seven lambs to show your agreement that I dug this well.

And then he named the place Beersheba, which means well of the oath, because that was where they had sworn the oath.

And after making their covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech left with Peekle, the commander of his army, and they returned home to the land of the Philistines.

Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he worshipped the Lord, the eternal God.

And Abraham lived as a foreigner in Philistine country for a very long time.

Alright.

So Abraham's just living life.

He's got a child now, and who shows up?

Someone that he had really wronged, someone that he had at the very least been involved in what could honestly be described like the worst, most awkward situation you could possibly find yourself in.

Someone that he never wanted to see again.

And it's not like he's at the grocery store, it's not like he's in the neighborhood.

I mean, they're living in the absolute wilderness, there's lots of open land.

The chances that he would ever have to see Abimelech again are very, very small, and yet there that guy is.

What do you do?

And we're gonna find through this a couple things.

Number one, our whole goal with this series that we've been in is to learn about God because Abraham becomes intimate with God.

We want to learn about God, his character, his nature, and we learn from this story is that God doesn't always let you escape your past.

And it'd be awesome if he did, maybe.

That's how we we naturally think, man, God, it'd be great if I could just say, yep, made mistakes, moving on, never gonna go back there again.

But God loves us so much.

I said this earlier, I mean it.

God loves us so much, I believe this.

That he will not simply allow you to escape your past, he will help you deal with your past, he will help you make your past wrongs right, he will help you make peace where there is where there is not peace.

And so Abraham is face to face with Abimelech, and we learn some things from this story, I think, that actually serve as a blueprint for us, like a true blueprint for how we engage in these types of situations.

Like, have you guys ever had a situation well, of course I was gonna say have you ever had a situation like this?

Of course not.

Um maybe someone's like, I've had an exact situation, and that'd be very strange.

I want to talk to you afterwards.

But uh, but like if you ever had a situation you found yourself in, and it's like not this person, this is the most awkward thing I can imagine, what do I do?

Like, I've had so many of those in my life.

And and like I'll give you an example.

2007.

Uh I just started working here at his hands.

I was the youth pastor, and and I go to meet with one of my youth volunteers, and we're gonna have lunch together, and we went to Chili's on Town Lake Parkway, and I used to work at Chili's, not that Chili's, but you know, Chili's is Chili's.

And so I worked at Chili's all throughout college, and I know the way it works at Chili's, I know the drill.

I was a waiter.

So like people sit down, you hand them the menu, you come up a few minutes later, you say hi, my name is so-and-so.

I'll be your server today.

Welcome to Chili's.

Can I get you started with a whatever?

Well, we're sitting down, we're looking at the menu, and I do not hear the server say hi, welcome to Chili's.

My name is so-and-so.

What I hear instead is my full name.

And it's a girl, and she goes, Justin McTear.

And I look down, and there's this girl.

And I knew exactly who she was.

Let me set the stage.

High school.

Okay.

Junior year, youth camp.

She was in my youth group, and we were flirting, and we were doing that thing that high schoolers do, which is like, do they like each other?

I think they like each other.

They might like each other, and I did like her, kind of.

And but you know, it may have seemed like I liked her more.

And I was kind of a, I was a, I'm gonna say this, I was a teenager, I was a stupid teenage boy.

And so what happened was this.

I was flirting with her, she was flirting with me, it was innocent, um, but it definitely seemed like we were gonna become, you know, boyfriend, girlfriend, official, dating, whatever words are used today, I don't know.

But then there was this other girl that I liked more.

And I found out that this girl maybe also liked me.

And when you're a teenage boy and you are you learn there is a 0% chance of rejection, that girl immediately becomes more attractive anyway, because that's just how teenage boys are.

So I'm like, that girl, like I like, so what do I do?

What do I do?

Because I've been I've been flirting with this girl at youth camp.

Guys, this was bad.

Um nothing bad happened.

I just my my focus was not on the Lord, and next week we're gonna get a cool recap of Youth Camp from our youth pastor, and I guarantee you it was way better than this youth camp.

So, what do you what do you do?

You're at youth camp, you've been flirting with this girl, but there's this other girl, and she likes you, and you like her more than this girl.

What do you do?

Here's what you do: you tell this this girl that you think God just wants you to be single for a while.

Because you're at youth camp.

And at youth camp, no one can argue with the God argument.

You just you can't.

And I go, hey, I think you're great.

I think God just really wants me to not be in a relationship right now.

And she's like, I understand.

And then maybe a week later, I'm dating this other girl.

Um, and then I go to Chili's five years later, and apparently she's not over it.

Um we had to sit there and eat and have her bring refills and wonder what was in the food that I was eating.

That was that was my experience.

And like I was totally in the wrong, absolutely immature, stupid, uh deceptive, just out of awkwardness of not knowing how to tell this girl I like another girl slightly more than you.

Um I'm also a 17-year-old idiot.

Like, I didn't know how to have that conversation when I was a 17-year-old idiot.

And so instead, I just I just I just lied to her and I use God.

Like I use God.

It was awful.

And she remembered it very, very clearly.

And so it was just like, how do I escape the situation?

We find ourselves sometimes in life, we come face to face with stupid decisions in our past, with people that we've hurt, with people that we've wronged, and you never know where it's gonna happen.

You might be on your way to lunch today, and you have no idea.

Some of you are like, we're not going out to eat today, we're going straight home.

You just you never know.

Abraham was not prepared to see Abimelech that day, I can promise you, but yet we see in this a blueprint for how to handle these situations, and I actually think this is super practical and helpful.

This is not a throwaway story.

This is a story that gives us a blueprint for how to handle the moments in life where we come face to face with our past and our mistakes.

One thing I want to say real quick on the front end, uh, well, it's not the front end, we're halfway through, I promise.

Don't worry.

But one thing I want to say, some of you are like, wow, it's Father's Day, you're gonna be here a while, okay?

Um, like the first of the points is I'm I'm super impressed with Abimelech in this story.

And it's interesting because in the whole story, if you go back and read Genesis 19, the whole Abimelech marrying Sarah thing, Abimelech comes out as a pretty good guy in that story.

And in this story, it's the same, but I know that he's a Philistine king, and I'm sure he worshipped false gods, and I'm sure there were lots of terrible things.

But in these stories, Abimelech actually comes out as a pretty wise and interesting person.

And he actually recognizes who God is, and so maybe Abimelech was a follower of God.

We don't know.

We don't know much about him, but but he actually gives us some interesting windows into what good leadership looks like.

And one of the things that Abimelech has clearly done is he's made sure not to burn a bridge with Abraham.

I mean, he could have sent Abraham packing with all the livestock and the money that he sent and be like, if I ever see you again, like make sure you never come back here again.

Do not settle into my land, do not step foot in my land, get as far away from here as possible because of what you've done to me, but he doesn't do that.

He doesn't burn a bridge.

However, he left things with Abraham, it allowed space for a conversation later.

And I think that that's something really, really important for all of us to think through in life.

Like it's easy to burn bridges, and if you're not familiar with that phrase, I only say that because I have a teenage son and I say lots of phrases, and he goes, I've never heard that before, and I'm like, You've never heard that before.

If you're younger, maybe you've never heard that.

Burning a bridge just means you do something that makes it impossible for you and that person to have relationship in the future.

There are moments in life where you might need to burn a bridge.

Like there are.

We actually have stories in the Bible.

Uh, 1 Kings chapter 19 is an interesting one.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

Um, Elijah is a prophet.

It says that in verse 19, he went out and found Elisha, the son of Shaphet, plowing a field.

And there were 12 teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team.

Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and walked away.

This is a sign that Elisha is being called to be a prophet with Elijah.

So Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, First let me go kiss my father and my mother goodbye, and then I'll go with you.

And Elijah replied, Go on back, but think about what I've done to you.

Like consider the calling that's on your life.

And so Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them.

He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh.

He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate.

And then he went with Elijah as his assistant.

So basically, Elisha in this story is like, I'm gonna go with Elijah, and I'm just gonna go ahead and have my entire herd slaughtered just so there's nothing for me to come back to.

He made sure that he did not leave a bridge to go back to his previous life.

There were times that Jesus burned bridges, when Jesus walked into the temple and he tossed the tables over.

He knew when he was doing that that any chance of he and the Pharisees working things out was over.

There are times in life where you might need to burn a bridge.

You might need to do something so drastic that there's no chance this is ever gonna ever gonna come back.

But they should be very few and far between.

Like it should be a God thing.

Caveat.

Um, if you if you break up with someone that you're in a romantic relationship with and then you get married, go ahead and burn those bridges.

Like burn them all.

Burn them all away.

Like, don't be Facebook friends with that person.

Just don't.

I was talking to a young guy a few years ago.

He was in college and he had this relationship and it was really toxic and they broke up.

He's like, but I want to stay friends with her.

And I was like, why?

And he was like, well, you know, just cuz.

I'm like, no, no, no, no, no.

Like, are you gonna marry her?

He's like, no, are you gonna marry someone else?

He's like, yeah, like that lady will never be okay with you being friends with her.

So just burn those bridges.

Does that make sense?

Protect your future?

I'm I'm half joking, but half not.

But except in very rare situations in life, do whatever you can to not burn a bridge.

Even when you're angry, even when you're frustrated.

Like Abimelech could have left that.

What Abraham did to him by deceiving him and him marrying Sarah and all that went with that, and then he had to pay all this money, and he was God was angry with him.

I mean, Abimelech could have let Abraham know, very justifiably so, that I better never see you again.

But but Abimelech practiced restraint.

And that allowed for a future in which he and Abraham could have a conversation.

In life, when you have been wronged, you might need to make a decision, you might need to separate yourself from someone, from an organization, whatever it might be, but you've got to do it in a way where you do not burn every bridge, you leave room for a future in that relationship.

Because you know you don't know, you might need that person one day, you might need that reference, you might need that relationship, you might be in a situation in life where you're with that person you never thought you would be, you work with them, your kids are friends, who knows?

It's vital in life to preserve the ability for future relationship and peace.

And it's tough because burning bridges is fun.

Usually burning bridges means you get to speak your mind, you get to let that person know how you really feel.

And I'm really good at doing that in my car when the person is not around.

I don't know if I'm the only one who's done that before where like I'm mad at someone and I'm like just I'm I am out loud, like letting them have it.

It's better than doing it to their face.

When Abraham Lincoln uh was assassinated, they opened up his desk and they found all these letters, like angry letters that he had written, just like laying into people who had wronged him, and he never sent them.

It was really wise.

Like, because he he needed to get it out, but he wasn't gonna burn that bridge.

In life, when you feel tempted to just make sure that this person knows how you really feel, pray, practice restraint, leave room for the future.

Okay, that's a short one.

The big one that I I want to focus on, and this is what I I um I love about this story, is it's a reminder that if we're gonna be people that live at peace, if we're be people that have healthy relationships, we have to be able to embrace awkward conversations.

How many of you enjoy awkward conversations?

Anybody?

A few of you probably do.

You run an organization or something, I'm sure.

Yeah, like awkward conversations are what most of us run from.

Like we would rather do anything than have an awkward conversation.

But I will tell you this, if if you want to if you want to live at peace with people, if you want to have healthy relationships, if you want to be someone who, especially if you want to make previous wrongs right, you have to be willing as a person to have an awkward conversation.

Like think about it this way, what if you're one awkward conversation away from a solution to the biggest problem you have in life?

Whatever relationship is the most strained in your life, what if what if you're just one awkward conversation away from peace?

What if you're one awkward conversation away from resolution from reconciliation?

I I have to have awkward conversations pretty often.

It's part of my role here.

But there have been moments in life where where I could have escaped and I had to choose not to.

I'll tell you one um this is similar to the the the girl uh from Chili's but not as bad.

There used to be a Sprint store right across the street and then Sprint was purchased by T-Mobile this is how corporations work and now it's not there anymore but I used to be a Sprint customer now I'm T Mobile.

Well this one day this is gosh 15 years ago I had I was having a horrible day and my phone wasn't working.

I'd bought it I'd recently bought a new phone at Sprint and it was it was it was not functioning properly and so I went to the Sprint store.

You ever have one of those days where you're already stressed and then something that's supposed to work perfectly doesn't and it's like of all days that's the day that was that day for me.

So I went to the Sprint store and I went and talked to a guy I'm like hey I just got this phone it's not working he goes let me get my manager and he got his manager and his manager was not helpful at all.

Like it was one of those situations where the guy just from my perspective I'll put it this way he did not make me feel very important as a customer.

And I'm an American and we are taught from a young age that as if you're a customer you are always right and you're the most important thing in the world.

And I did not feel treated like I was the most important person in the world.

So I was stressed I he he did not give me the answer that I wanted and so I responded firmly and I was like I mean it was it was actually one of it was not a good moment for me.

Like I was like that's unacceptable sir.

I would like to talk to your manager and he's like well my manager's not here and I was like I bet he has a phone because you're sprint and so you know I literally said that to him just like that.

I was like well I bet he's got a phone and so he's like well dude I say well no I want to talk to you I want to talk to your manager since you've told me that you can't help me and this is what's going on I would like to talk to someone who can help me.

That's the whole way I went about it.

Five years later I'm here at church it's a Sunday and this person goes hey Justin come here I want you to meet somebody and I walk up and I remembered him exactly like in that moment.

They're like this is Justin he's our pastor he's great and he looked at me and he's like I feel like I know you and I'm sitting there I was in the lobby it was in the lobby right over there and I'm like okay this is gonna go one of two ways really one of three.

Either I just go huh I don't know you know I got one of those faces I could say that and lie I could just embrace the awkward and be like I know exactly where you remember me from you used to be the manager at Sprint.

Well one day you know or I could just not say anything and I felt pretty confident that halfway through the message it would hit him.

You know what I mean?

Like it'd just be he'd be sitting there and be like ah that's where I know I'm from what do I do?

It was really I felt really awkward.

And so I just decided in that moment I'm out there and I go okay I was like yep I know who you are and I told him and I and I had to look at him and I go hey I was uh I was really rude to you that day and I'm very sorry and he said thank you for saying that and he never came back to our church but but in that moment I had a choice I had a choice and I and again life has a way God has a way of of bringing those people back into your life you know those grocery store moments can happen anywhere and I had a choice in that moment like what do I do and and I I just decided I'm gonna embrace the awkward I will tell you um learning to embrace awkward conversations it is literally a difference maker in life if you aspire to leadership if you're if you're someone who wants to have influence in life at some point or greater influence than you have man be be someone who runs you should be like a firefighter running into fires run into awkward conversations because sometimes you're one awkward conversation away from everything changing look at the Bible look at stories like like the story of Bartamaeus okay in Mark chapter 10 there's this incredible story it says that they reached Jericho and as Jesus and his disciples left town a large crowd followed him a blind beggar named Bartamaeus the son of Timaeus was sitting beside the road and when Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby he began to shout Jesus son of David have mercy on me.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

Be quiet many of the people yelled at him he only shouted louder son of David have mercy on me and when Jesus heard him he stopped and said Tell him to come here So the people called the blind man cheer up they said come on he's calling you Bartimaeus threw aside his coat jumped up he came to Jesus What do you want me to do for you Jesus asked my rabbi the blind man said I want to see and Jesus said to him go for your faith has healed you and instantly the man could see and he followed Jesus down the road you know Bartimaeus embraced an awkward moment.

I mean here's Jesus and he's just this blind person and he's the lowest of the low and he yells Jesus' name and everyone around him all the social pressure was shh stop talking.

Like you're making a fool of yourself and and the average person would have stopped at that moment like yeah because we if anything we we hate the idea of of feeling called out by other people of feeling that's awkward.

And we're trained to avoid awkwardness.

But Bartimaeus refuses and he just throws all that to the side and he keeps shouting and if he had not he would not have been healed like there are so many people in the Bible who ended up having God bless them tremendously simply because simply because they were willing to risk an awkward difficult conversation they were willing to risk being laughed at by other people I mean look at the woman who was healed of the bleeding issue if you know that story in the Bible I mean she was willing to risk some things being willing to risk some social uh mockery a really awkward situation she was willing to risk that to have an encounter with Jesus and I'm telling you that in life you are often one awkward conversation away from a resolution.

Now that doesn't mean if you go home today and have an awkward conversation and it goes badly then it's my fault.

But look in life very few things get better on their own and if you have if you have issues in your past if you have guilt that you carry for things that you've done if you have broken relationships strained relationships maybe even estranged relationships I'm telling you embrace the awkward have the conversation and trust God with that worst case scenario it stays broken.

But it's already broken what if you're just one awkward conversation away from resolution you know in this story Abraham is is willing to risk an awkward conversation with Abimelech I mean Abimelech comes and he says hey congratulations on your blessings let's let's make sure we're good with each other and the last time they were together Abraham really wronged Abimelech but now there's this issue that Abraham has with a well and you have to understand that in in that day and age wells well really in that part of the world wells were really important like you needed water and they there weren't everywhere.

In fact there's a story in John chapter 4 of Jesus meeting with the woman at the well and in that story she shares with Jesus well this is the well that Jacob our ancestor dug and that was 2,000 years before Jesus the people had been using that same well for 2,000 years.

John 4 · chapter mention

So if you had a well in this part of the world at this time this was your life source and Abimelech has servants that have seized a well that Abraham dug.

Now that's a big deal and in this moment here's Abimelech he's just come and he's making peace and you wronged him the last time it would have been very safe for Abraham to just be like we're good and Abimelech be like anything I can do for you?

Nah but Abraham risks an awkward conversation in that moment for change.

And he says hey actually Abimelech there's this thing and you know we don't have all the words he used or maybe we do maybe it was that short of a conversation but maybe he could have said hey look I know that the last time we were together there the whole mix-up thing happened with my wife and everything and I'm sorry but we don't have that but Abraham at the very least would have felt that he absolutely would have felt that should I shouldn't I I mean if I bring this up I mean after everything that happened last time what's but he does he risks the awkward conversation in order to bring resolution to a major problem in his life and it works out for him.

He says hey Abimelech this is going on this well and Abimelech goes yeah I'll look into it I'll get it done and he does you might be one awkward conversation away one awkward conversation away from resolution so don't burn bridges embrace awkward conversations embrace them and then the other is is maybe be willing to make amends make amends let's go back to the story Abimelech says this is the first I've heard of it I've no idea who's responsible you've never complained about this before and then Abraham gave some of his sheep goats and cattle to Abimelech and they made a treaty now let's establish the fact that many of these sheep goats and cattle were either the sheep goats and cattle Abimelech gave to him or the offspring of those sheep goats and cattle.

So kind of it's just a little bit of a return in that way.

And then Abraham also took seven additional female lambs and set them off by themselves.

Abimelech asks why are you setting these seven apart from the others and Abraham replies accept these seven to show your agreement that I dug this well Abraham is is going above and beyond to make amends you know it's his well he has every right to it but rather than just say hey Abimelech make this right he goes first and he shows this amazing gesture of kindness and generosity to say look I want us to have peace I want this all to be okay here take this so really you should just bribe people that's the takeaway it really works.

People like stuff so just give them your stuff and everything's okay.

No.

No like culture has changed and in fact in that part of the world in that time that was very normal.

In fact you could actually read Proverbs in our our culture we're like what there are proverbs in the Bible about how you should always give a bribe because you know that will work out for you.

And you can actually today go to certain parts of the world some of you that are business people that travel internationally you know that this is true.

Like there are places in the world where like yeah you should take some extra money to kind of you know give to people and otherwise they're not going to let you do stuff.

This is the way the world works in other places it was like that in this world in this time.

But that's not how stuff works today.

Like if you show up to your you know estranged friend or relative's house with a bunch of sheep and goats and cattle it's probably not going to work out for you.

You know?

And you can't buy right relationship.

That's not what this is about.

But what it is is it's saying hey is there anything I can do is there anything I can do to show this person that I'm serious about having peace in this relationship?

Is there anything I can do to bring reconciliation here?

And what if that was our attitude you know if there's a person that we have a broken relationship with if we say hey I want this restored I want to have peace and I'm willing to to risk I'm willing to risk so much I mean even if we've even if we burn that bridge I'll build half of the bridge back myself in the Bible we're actually called 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 9 we're called a kingdom of priests and the word priest in in Latin means bridge builder like that's what a priest is and so even if you burned a bridge or you did your best to burn a bridge build half of it back embrace an awkward conversation but then go a step further say Lord is there anything I can do to show the person that I'm serious that I'm serious about reconciliation I'll share this with you in worship team you can come out we'll wrap up last year I had a really inconvenient message that I had to give I'm just telling you like being a pastor I'm not complaining about it.

2 Peter 2:9

I love it it's great but man some of the messages that I give are so inconvenient for me because I have a choice.

I can either give this message and be a huge hypocrite because I do not do this in my own life or I can do what I tell everyone else to do which is awful sometimes.

So I want you to know that I I feel the weight of this too.

I don't want to have awkward conversations.

But a year ago I was teaching and we were going through the book of Matthew and there's this this moment in Matthew where it talks about reconciliation.

This is something that we're supposed to value.

In fact in scripture we're told this Colossians chapter 3 verse 13 make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you remember the Lord forgave you so you must forgive others.

Colossians 3:13

Romans chapter 12 verse 18 says do all that you can to live in peace with everyone do all that you can like do all that you can and there was a person that I had had a really broken relationship with.

Romans 12:18

And we hadn't talked in like almost a decade like hadn't spoken.

And we'd bumped in we'd had a few grocery store moments and I did not say Lord thank you for this opportunity to embrace an awkward conversation and have peace I was like turn around it was like that it was just it was awkward it was hard.

But I'm teaching this message on reconciliation and how we should value it and as I'm teaching it on stage a year ago this person's in my mind and I was like no so I went home that day and I sent this person a text message and I said hey what's up remember me you know I was like I if you're ever interested in you know bearing the hatch I can't remember what I said but if you're ever if you're open to that willing to do that I would I would love the opportunity.

And what they responded back was not what I expected.

I mean part of me was hoping they'd be like no and then I could be like Lord I tried I did my part work on their heart Lord they're clearly not ready for peace you know that's what I think I probably wish would have happened.

But no they responded yes I am open to that but they said I really think it would be best if a third party was present and they're like there's this counselor that I know and I knew that I know this counselor too because we've worked together and he's a great counselor but he's like so I'd like to I'd like to to do that and I was like fine it's not what I wanted.

I wanted to have like let's have let's meet at Chick fil A let's knock this out in 30 minutes.

You know what I mean?

Let's eat some food let's get this done but he's like no let's sit down with the counselor present.

Okay.

And then he sends me the schedule it's a two hour session I did not want to do that.

But I stepped in it I sent the text and I meant it.

And so I went two hours and it was honestly great.

I mean it also wasn't it was awkward but it was it was great and then at the end of that session the counselor said you know guys here's what I recommend I recommend we have a follow-up another two hour conversation I was like no I'm good but also it felt like okay that would be good and so four hours of guided conversations with this person that that you know from his perspective I had wronged him my perspective was not that but we just never agreed on that and there was all this and it was just it was messy it was messy and no matter what he's my brother in Christ like he loves the Lord no matter what and so I felt convicted I embraced an awkward conversation and my reward for that was four hours of awkward conversation but here's where it ended here's where it ended it ended um with with this we're not best friends we're not like we're not hanging out later today but we don't hate each other and if I see him in a grocery store I'm confident that I can keep walking in his direction is that it sounds like a small win but like I'm serious.

That's like a weight lifted off my my shoulders like if I see him I don't feel compelled to run or like duck behind the end cap display.

You know what I mean?

Sometimes you just have to embrace an awkward conversation value peace value reconciliation the way that God does be willing to risk feeling weird and awkward in order to have that peace run headlong into that awkward conversation trust God and be willing to do whatever is necessary for you to have peace and again I'll leave us with this what if you're one awkward conversation away from the solution to all your pain and your problems in some area of life embrace it have it that's how I felt going to that counseling session let's take Lord's supper together as we wrap up you know guys like I said this is a this is a scripture that like when you look at the life of Abraham this is not a classic this is not a story anyone remembers.

Like what's your favorite part of the story of Abraham if you grew up in church learning about Abraham oh I love that time where he and Abimelech make a treaty you know like that's not it's a throwaway story in a lot of ways.

In fact next week we're in one of the most classic stories of Abraham's life the story where he feels that God is calling him to sacrifice his son Isaac and if you've never heard that story um Isaac lives I want to tell you that I'm gonna go ahead and spoil that for you but you got to come next week because this is one of the biggest stories in Abraham's life.

It's a powerful story.

This is not one of those stories and yet here it is in God's word it's God is so good that he gives us stories like this just to remind us that even in something in life that seems mundane it's so important there's gonna be moments in life where we come face to face with the people that we've wronged or the people who have wronged us.

And there is the possibility of peace there is the possibility of resolution.

So don't burn bridges embrace awkward conversations do whatever is necessary for there to be peace.

Because after all like just I'll read it again Colossians 313 make allowance for each other's faults forgive anyone who offends you remember the Lord forgave you so you must forgive others.

Because it all comes down to this this meal if you're new to church we we have these cups when you walked in at the the in the lobby you can grab one now at the back four columns if you want to join us with this but we take this meal every week it's a piece of bread that represents Jesus's body that was nailed to the cross it's juice that represents his blood that was spilled for us it's the sacrifice that Jesus made to purchase our freedom from sin our freedom from death purchases eternal life relationship with God right relationship with God righteousness it's grace it's mercy it's all those things it's reconciliation and Jesus did this for us and it cost him cost him everything it cost him his life and so how could I take this how could I take this meal and say Lord thank you for what you did for me so that I could have right relationship with God thank you Lord you gave your life for me you died for me but God I am not going to have an awkward conversation with someone I don't want to talk to like how could I do that?

If he did this to forgive me I've got to be willing to send a text message make a phone call have an awkward conversation if this is what he was willing to do for us to have peace with God we have to be willing to do far less to have peace with one another all right so let's let's thank him with that in mind.

Lord we thank you for this sacrifice that you willingly gave this is your body you died on the cross to save us to rescue us from our sin and from our brokenness to restore us into a right relationship with you and we thank you for this so much Jesus.

And as we take this today Lord we take this not flippantly Lord we don't just take this as routine as ritual because we do it every week we take this today understanding the weight that comes with it you went to extreme lengths for us to be reconciled to you.

Help us be willing God to do something as minor as have a tough conversation put ourselves out there a little bit help us be willing to do that Lord to have peace with other people help us follow your example thank you for what you've done for us Lord let's take the bread and now the juice Lord we thank you for this juice for what it represents this is your blood this is your blood spilled on our behalf Lord sometimes when we make peace we end up wounded you did so Lord I recognize that as I'm I'm asking everyone to consider having an awkward conversation or making an attempt to have peace with someone that they don't have peace with I recognize Lord that in that in the pursuit of that if we all did that today some of us would get wounded some of us would get rejected we would get told no we would we would get attacked in some way we it might hurt but Jesus you were willing to risk being hurt you were willing to be wounded for the sake of peace help us be like that Lord help us be like you we love you let's drink the juice