Enoch
(Genesis 5:21-24)
1. If you are a sports fan you are aware of
some of the iconic moments in the history of sports…
·
Lou Gehrig’s
famous farewell address at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939….
·
Bobby
Thompson’s “shot heard around the world” hit on October 3, 1951 to give the NY
Giants a pennant winning game over their arch rival, the Brooklyn Dodgers…
·
Joe Namath
leading the NY Jets to an unlikely victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super
Bowl III on January 16, 1969…
And on any such list of iconic moments in
sports history should be something that happened in in the 1992 Olympic Games
in Barcelona, Spain...it was the semi-finals of the 400 meter race and Derek
Redmond from England was considered a strong contender for a medal...the
starter fired the gun and the race started...for first 140 meters of the race
Derek Redmond was in strong position...but then his hamstring gave way and he
collapsed to the ground in a ball of pain and tears...medical personal
immediately ran to assist them but he waved them away...even if he could not
win the race, he was determined to finish...so he crawled back into his lane
and began to hobble his way along the track...at that point Derek’s father, Jim
Redmond burst out of the stands...he pushed past security guards and ran to his
son...in one of the enduring images from the world of sports, he placed his arm
around Derek and supported him has he hobbled the rest of the way...
2.
And that scene from the world of sports is a graphic
reminder of how our Heavenly Father relates to us...we are in a race...it is a
long, and sometimes difficult race...things happen along the way which can
knock us off our feet and get us off track...but we have a Father who is ever
ready to stand beside us, support us, and take us all the way to the finish line...
3.
As we continue looking at some the great characters in the
Bible, we are going to look at a person who stayed with it all the way to the
end...it is amazing how much the Bible has to say about the importance of
perseverance, staying with it, continuing in the faith...the clear teaching of
Scripture is that the mark of a true believer is perseverance...those who stay
with it are real Christians, those who drop by the wayside are not...that’s what
John said in I John 2:19...said that those who quit, drop out before crossing
the finish line, do so because “...they were not really of us; for if they
had been of us, they would have remained with us...” ...in other words,
those who quit the faith give indication that their faith was not genuine in
the first place...As the old country preacher put it, “If your faith fizzles at the
finish it was faulty at the first.”
4.
Want to direct your to a rather obscure person in the
Bible...his name is mentioned only a few times...virtually all that we know
about him is found in four verses in Genesis 5...his name was Enoch...look at
Genesis 5:21-24...(text)
T.S.
- Enoch belonged to the seventh generation after Adam...many legends have
arisen about him...for example it's been said of Enoch that he was the first
tailor, the first cobbler, and the first to put pen and paper together to
create books...all that is mere speculation...but there is one thing we know
about Enoch for sure...he was a man of faith who walked with God all the way to
the finish line...
Genesis
5 is basically a genealogy of the generations from Adam to Noah...nine people
are mentioned by name in this genealogy...and of eight of them it is simply “...he became the father of...lived a
certain number of years, “...and he died...”...eight times in
this chapter you will find that formula...but the life and death of Enoch is
reported in a completely different way...we are told Enoch was the father of
Methuselah and we are told how many years he lived, but we’re also told
something else very significant about him...v.24 tells us that “...Enoch
walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”...
In
other words, he remained faithful all the way to the end...and from Enoch’s
example I want to share with you some characteristics of faith that continues,
perseveres to the end...
I. Faith that continues does
not get overly entangled with the world
1. Enoch
was born into a very immoral world...his great grandson was Noah...by the time
of Noah the moral climate to the world is described with this statement in
Genesis 6:5 - "...the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and
... every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."...no
doubt that slide to moral perversion had begun long before even the generation
of Enoch...
2. But it
is clear as you read about Enoch within the context of this chapter, there was
something different about him...of all the people listed here, he is the only
one who is said to have “walked with God”...and not once,
but twice, we are told that about him...as opposed to walking with the world,
as did those who came before and after him, Enoch chose a different kind of
life...he chose to walk with God...
- In his farewell address to the young nation,
George Washington, our first President, warned of the danger of becoming
entangled in foreign alliances...and
the Scripture warns God’s people over and over of the danger of becoming
too entangled in a world order which has always been hostile toward God
and His ways...
- As believers we
walk a fine line of being “in”
the world but not “of” the world
as Jesus so eloquently put it in John 17...but the difficulty comes in
trying to sort out what it means to be in the world but not becoming too
entangled with the world...and there are two extremes we must avoid as we
struggle with how to relate to the world around us...
- The extreme
of withdrawal from the world – In Christian history there have been
those who have attempted to separate themselves totally from the world in
which they live...[Near Meteora,
Greece are some impressive monasteries which were built for the express
purpose of separating Christians from the world...during the monastic
movement early in Christian history it was believed the more removed from
the world one was the more spiritual that person must be...but that kind
of thinking runs contrary to the clear biblical teaching that Christians
are to be salt and light to the world and that we are to take the good
news of Jesus to the ends of the earth...]...must avoid the extreme
of radical withdrawal from the world...we will not impact the world
living in safe enclaves behind literal or figurative walls...and we’ll
not impact the world if our only expression of our Christian faith takes
place within the walls of a church building or the safety of a Christian
fellowship...but as we struggle with how to relate to our world there is
the opposite extreme which we must also avoid...that is...
- The extreme
of being assimilated by the world – It seems to me the greater danger
facing God’s people in the world today is becoming so much like the world
that we have nothing of value or substance to offer the world...if our
lives—our values, our priorities, our loves—are no different from those
of those who are not believers, why should they want what we have?...if
the rate of broken homes and alcohol abuse and sexual promiscuity and
other social ills is no different among believers than the population as
a whole, how can we expect to have any significant impact on our
culture...the Bible is clear about this...Romans 12:2 says it well: “...do not be conformed to
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may
prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and
perfect.”
3. And one thing we can learn from Enoch is that
faith that makes it all the way to the finish line does not become overly
entangled with the world...
II. Faith that continues keeps
its focus on what is really important
1. Genesis 5
divides Enoch's life into two segments...the first segment is described in v.21
which says, "And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father
of Methuselah."...notice there is no mention of Enoch's
relationship with God during that part of his life...the second segment is
described in v.22 which says, "Then Enoch walked with God three
hundred years after he became father of Methuselah..."...apparently
the birth of his first child brought a spiritual awakening to Enoch's life...at
the birth of Methuselah he began to and continued to focus on the really
important things of life...
- There's an entire
sermon just in that thought...we spend so much of our time and energy and
resources grappling with things and worrying about things which don’t
amount to a hill of beans in the long view of life...and reason we do that
is because we’re not very good at distinguishing between what is really
important and what is at best secondary...tragically, many a relationship
has been ruined over some insignificant dispute and many a church has been
destroyed over some petty difference of opinion...
- One of the keys to
continuing in the faith is keeping things simple by focusing on those
things which really matter...
- I remember reading an interesting story about Dave
Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s fast food chain...may not know that Dave
Thomas was also instrumental in the success of another major fast food
chain...was at a fund-raising banquet...person at table was complaining
about how busy he was...”I really
shouldn’t be here tonight,” he moaned...then asked, “Why is life so cluttered?”...Dave
Thomas replied, “Maybe it’s because
we allow it to be.”...then he told about his first major assignment in
the restaurant business...when 29 years old with 4 children was sent to
Columbus, Ohio to manage a chain of 4 restaurants which were in deep
trouble...one of the products sold in the restaurants was fried chicken
with a unique recipe created by a colorful character from Kentucky...the
restaurants which were about to go under had a very large menu and stocked
many different food items...Thomas decided to simplify things...he sold
the excess inventory and limited the menu to a few basic items—chicken,
salad, dessert, and beverages...business picked up and the name of the
restaurants was changed to Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried chicken...and
the rest, as they say, is history...[Higher Than the Top, pp.83-87]
- When Jesus first
sent out the 12 disciples He told them, “Focus on that which is really important. Proclaim the
- That’s not bad
advice for us today...we are so prone to clutter our lives with
unnecessary things...it’s little wonder some Christians don’t make it to the finish line of faith...they are carrying so much
baggage and so many concerns, they invariably break down under the load...
Conclusion
1. There’s a wonderful little story which I sometimes
tell at the funeral service of a longtime Christian...it’s about young girl in
Sunday School who was asked to tell the
story of Enoch...here’s how she told it...”Enoch
walked with God. He walked and he walked
and he walked and he kept on walking.
One day God said to Enoch.
‘Enoch, we’ve come so far together, why don’t you just come in and live
with me?’”
2. And if you want to walk with God all the way until
God calls you to live with Him do what
Enoch did...don’t get overly entangled in the world and keep your focus on that
which is really important...
