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Life Happens

Genesis 22:1-18

In this stewardship series we have talked about two foundational truths regarding stewardship. We learned that God owns everything and we learned that because He desires to have a relationship with us and gave us the gift of salvation we should proactively seek to have a relationship with others and pass on the message and gift of salvation to them. There is something else that we have learned and that is that stewardship is much bigger than just dealing with money issues. It is about managing all that God has given us. Among these things are talents, treasures, time and touch. To be effective in our management of God’s resources there is on thing that is critical for us to embrace.

It is total reliance on God.

The title of today’s celebration service may have shocked you a bit. It may have conjured up memories of a bumper sticker or a phrase that is a part of our cultural wisdom. While not subscribing to the language I whole heartedly agree with the philosophy. Let me rephrase it for you and give you the biblical version. (KJV) Dung Happens! In other words, bad stuff happens to everybody at some point. It’s life! Welcome to the game of life.

The question is, how to people of faith handle these kinds of situations? What do we do that sets us apart from the world around us? How are our reactions different? It was a mild October afternoon in 1982 and Badger Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin was packed. Over 60,000 die-hard University of Wisconsin fans were watching their beloved football team take a beating by Michigan State. What seemed odd was that as the score became more and more lopsided bursts of cheers and applause kept being heard in the stands. It was only natural that some people began to wonder who these strange people were who were cheering while their team was being pummeled.

As it turns out seventy miles away from Badger stadium the Milwaukee Brewers were beating the St. Louis Cardinals in game three of the World Series. Many of the Badger fans in the stands were listening to portable radios and responding to something else besides what was happening right in front of their eyes. In many ways that is a fairly accurate description of what the Christian life is like. We might be in the midst of horrible circumstances in this world and yet we have something to cheer about. We are see by faith the victory that is ours in Christ....

The God and Abraham Story

We call Genesis 22, The Abraham and Isaac Story, but when we study it closely we learn that it should more accurately be called, The God and Abraham Story. Make no mistake about it; surely The God and Abraham Story had an effect on The Abraham and Isaac Story. Still, the two main characters in Genesis 22 have to be God and Abraham. We have in this passionate passage the strange command by God to Abraham, but we also have the even stranger response of Abraham to God. Doesn’t it seem odd that Abraham never questioned aloud God’s unusual command to sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering on a distant mountaintop? God’s request was mind-boggling, but Abraham’s response was even more so. In other words, Abraham passed God’s strange test of faith by living through the trial with a completely surrendered heart. Abraham went one step beyond the call of duty to the holy ground of devotion. So, as we look closer at this God and Abraham Story of yesterday, let us not forget the major teaching point for us today. If we are to be truly effective stewards of life, we must learn the truth from Genesis 22—Abraham’s total compliance to God proved his total reliance on God. To be good stewards we must possess extreme faith.

Now, let’s look closer at Genesis 22 and the extraordinary trial of Abraham’s faith. As we investigate this mysterious story, we find three facts about living with a surrendered heart:

1. A Surrendered Heart Is Always Ready to Sacrifice, Regardless of the Confusion

1Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

3Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. Gen.22:1-3

When God asked Abraham for a sacrifice, He didn’t ask for Abraham’s stuff. He asked for Abraham’s son, which was the same as asking for Abraham’s soul. Make no mistake about His intentions. At the conclusion of this peculiar command, we learn God’s request made perfect spiritual sense, because all along, He was not after Isaac’s death; God was after Abraham’s life! God knew He could not emerge from this faith trial with Abraham’s life unless He first asked Abraham to put to death what he loved most. Abraham was somewhat confused but totally surrendered.

The story of Abraham’s faith began many years before Genesis 22 when God called him to leave his home in order to prove He loved his heavenly Father more than his earthly father. It was a sacrifice Abraham was willing to make. Abraham had to choose between God—the Giver—and Isaac—the gift. Without hesitation, Abraham was ready to offer the gift of his son back to his giving God. You may wonder why God said He wanted Abraham’s only son, because they believe Isaac was not Abraham’s only son.

When we read Genesis 21, we learn Abraham had already surrendered Ishmael, his son by Hagar, by sending him and his mother away into the wilderness at God’s request. With Ishmael gone, Isaac was now the only son Abraham had left, so naturally he loved this son by Sarah more deeply than ever before. Yet, when God asked for his darling, Abraham was ready to sacrifice him regardless of the confusion, proving that while he deeply loved his only son, he loved his only God much more! Maybe that’s why Jesus said these words in the New Testament: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48). So, this then is a fact for determining your total reliance on God: “A surrendered heart is always ready to sacrifice for God, regardless of the confusion.”

2. A Surrendered Heart Is Always Willing to Worship, Regardless of the Cost

4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Gen. 22:4-10.

The walk to Mount Moriah took three days. Surely, God planned it this way so Abraham would make the choice to worship God on purpose. Surely, Abraham knew he loved the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength, but his mind may have been playing games on him. So God gave him time to think through this mind-boggling command completely. On the third day, Abraham arrived at his “Calvary.” Would he surrender or would he retreat? Would he trust God and go to the top of the mountain or would he turn around and return home? As in Gethsemane when Jesus left His three disciples and went further into the garden to surrender His all to the Father, so Abraham left his servants at the foot of the mountain and took his only son toward his place of surrender.

Together, the father and son moved toward full devotion together. The son carried the wood, much like God’s Son would one day carry the cross. Abraham carried the fire and the knife signifying this thing would happen. It was his will to please his Holy God by sacrificing his beloved son as a burnt offering. Finally, all of the items for worship were present, except the sacrifice. The wood, the fire, and the knife were ready; now all that was left to complete the worship to God was to bind Abraham’s very heart upon the altar in the person of his only son. As Abraham surrendered to God out of love and devotion and offered his son, so Isaac submitted to his earthly father out of love and devotion by allowing his father to carry through with God’s strange command. Yes, Isaac submitted himself and allowed his elderly father to tie him onto their new altar. Can you imagine this? Abraham’s act of faith and Isaac’s willingness to comply are indescribable. Abraham’s son lies ready to bleed, die, and burn by his father’s own hand!

This act of Abraham offering up Isaac is a lively representation of the love of God for us. He gave us His one and only Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

Abraham was obliged both in duty and devotion, even with gratitude, to part with Isaac, because he was offering his beloved son to a trusted Friend: God himself. Yet, God was under no obligation to us, for we were still sinners and enemies of God when He gave His Son to us. In John 15, Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (v. 13). Certainly that’s a good scripture for Abraham and for us, but God went far beyond that when He gave His Son to us. Of God it can be said: “Greater love has no God than this, that He lay down His life for His enemies.” By faith, Abraham was called God’s friend—for in offering Isaac, he offered himself in abandoned worship to God. He worshipped instead of worrying. He kept his devotion to God in place.

So, now we have two facts that prove total reliance on God:

  • A surrendered heart is always ready to sacrifice, regardless of the confusion.
  • A surrendered heart is always willing to worship, regardless of the cost.

3. A Surrendered Heart Is Always Open to Obedience, Regardless of the Circumstances

11But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

14So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

15The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time

16and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” Gen. 22:11-18.

Abraham now goes one step beyond sacrifice and takes worship to a whole new level. Even though He was ready to sacrifice Isaac and willing to worship recklessly, when God spoke a new command, Abraham laid aside stubbornness and chose obedience. Can we even begin to imagine the depth of what God allowed Abraham to experience before He intervened with deliverance? Know this; the more eminent the danger is and the closer we come to being devastated, the more wonderful and welcome the deliverance of God is to us! Don’t try to convince me Abraham’s worship didn’t go to a new level when God called off the killing of Isaac. Abraham and his son traded in their undeniable devastation for indescribable celebration. Surely, Abraham and Isaac would testify: “To obey is better than to sacrifice! Take one step beyond duty and sacrifice, and enter the holy grounds of devotion and obedience!” As the ram God provided for the sacrifice was offered, Abraham named the mountain, “The Lord-Will-Provide Mountain!”

On the mountain of the Lord, God sees and provides for those who surrender all to Him, and on the mountain where God sees and provides for us, we should see and praise Him! As the flames consumed the ram on the altar, the voice of the Lord came again to Abraham and renewed yet again the promise of His provision, which would extend to Isaac, and to all future generations of people—including those of us who choose to place total reliance on God.

  • A surrendered heart is always ready to sacrifice, regardless of the confusion.
  • A surrendered heart is always willing to worship, regardless of the cost.
  • A surrendered heart is always open to obedience, regardless of the challenge.

Abraham was Ready to Sacrifice, Reckless in Worship, and Righteous in Obedience. It is time for our personal reflection question: “How am I doing?” You might say, “I think I can say I am partially obeying God.”

Partial obedience is perfect disobedience! If Abraham had partially obeyed God, Isaac would have been dead, and God would have been alive with righteous anger toward Abraham.

  • Abraham passed the test of readiness, willingness, and openness? How am I doing?
  • By his total reliance on God, Abraham proved his true faith in God. How am I doing?
  • When praise demanded a sacrifice, Abraham worshiped even then, surrendering the dearest thing in life. And though devotion could have cost him all, he proved himself faithful to the call, and God called to Abraham again to let his son live. Abraham proved to us that total reliance on God is total obedience to God. How am I doing?

The late preacher, Charles Strickland, told the story of a man named Jim returning from World War II at the train station in Kansas City. When his mom saw his coat sleeve neatly pinned to his side, she cried, “You lost an arm.” To which he replied, “No, mom. I didn’t lose an arm. I gave an arm!”

When we surrender our hearts and lives to God, it’s not about us losing something; it’s about giving God everything!

  1. He Received God's Provision - While Abraham and Isaac climbed one side of the mountain, a ram was coming up the other side of the mountain! God had already gone ahead and made a way!
  2. He Received God's Praise - Abraham got to hear the Lord say, "I am pleased with you!"
  3. He Received God's Promise - God renewed His covenant with Abraham. This is merely a reminder that the condition of their relationship was still intact. If you really want God's best, then put God first, Matt. 6:33)

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2006/01/22