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Sunday, December 13, 2009
Genesis 22:1-18
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Subject: Provision
Theme: God’s Provision
Proposition: God will provide all we need to worship Him.
T.S. ???.
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INTRO: You’ll understand when you are older.
I hated that phrase.
But it is true with so many things.
· School – can’t wait to get a job (more time; no homework)
· Single – married.
· Married w~/o kids – married w~/kids.
Our life is about to change again.
In a few months we are expecting baby #3.
We are going from being evenly matched to being outnumbered!
(TRANS) Some things you just don’t understand until your life situation catches up.
(TRANS) This morning we are going to be in Genesis 22.
The meaning of this passage was the same before I became a dad, but I understand it so much better now that I have children.
This is one of the most emotional scenes in the life of Abraham.
To set the stage, let me give you a brief look at his life until now.
* *
ABRAHAM’S BIOGRAPHY
* He was born with the name Abram and grew up in a pagan family that worshiped many gods.
* After his father died, God appeared to him, giving him both a command and a promise:
* Command: leave your homeland and your father’s family and move to “the land I will show you.”
* Promise: I will bless you, make you great, and make your descendents into a great nation.
\\ KEEP THIS PROMISE IN MIND.
* Difficulty was that he was 75, his wife (Sarai) was 65, and they didn’t have any children.
* When they got to the land of Canaan, God appeared to Abram and promised to give that whole region to his descendents.
This was a strange promise since he still didn’t have any children.
* He eventually says to God, “what can you give me since I don’t have any children?
One of my servants will get everything after I die.”
* God promises that the heir will actually be one of his biological children.
Though he was pretty old, he believed God and His promise.
* Eventually, Sarai gives one of her servants to Abram as sort of a wife to be a surrogate parent and bear a child for Abram and Sarah.
* The plan worked, sort of.
When Abram is 86yrs old this servant, Hagar, does become pregnant.
But this only stirs jealousy between her and Sarai.
* The baby boy was named Ishmael, and Abram loved him.
* When Abram was 99 God appeared to him, said he would be the father of many nations, and changed his name to Abraham.
He also changed his wife’s name to Sarah.
(TRANS) Now this is where the really important stuff starts to happen to help us understand today’s lesson.
* God promised that Sarah who was now 89 yrs old, would have a son.
* When Abraham heard this he laughed.
Not a laugh of disbelief, but one of joy and amazement.
God commanded Abraham to name this boy Isaac, which means laughter.
* God also explained that though he would bless Ishmael, his covenant promise to build a nation and bless the world was to be fulfilled thru Isaac, not Ishmael.
* God kept his promise, and the following year Sarah gave birth to a little boy, and they named him Isaac.
* A couple years later, when the boy was weaned, Abraham threw a great party.
Ishmael, then a teenager, mocked.
Sarah got so fed up that she told Abraham to send the Ishmael and Hagar away.
* Abraham was grieved, but God told him to listen to his wife.
And He confirmed that it was thru Isaac that his descendents would be reckoned.
So he sent them away.
* So Abraham, now over 100 yrs old, has only one son left.
He waited 25 yrs for him.
The boy’s name is Laughter, and he no doubt brought great joy to his parents.
(TRANS) That’s where we pick up the narrative for this morning.
Are you in Gen 22? Throughout Abraham’s life God has appeared to him multiple times.
Each time he gives Abraham a promise or some encouragement.
Now God appears to him again, but this time there is no promise and no encouragement, only a command.
*GOD’S COMMAND (v.1-2)*
*Genesis 22:1-2*
1 Some time later God tested Abraham.
He said to him, "Abraham!""Here
I am," he replied.
2 Then 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."
Can you imagine the pain in Abraham’s heart?
He’d already lost one son by sending him away.
Now God is demanding him to give up another one by killing him with his own hand!
How cruel!
Some of you who are familiar with the OT might be wondering “Doesn’t the OT outlaw human sacrifice?”
Yes, but that command had not yet been given.
And human sacrifice was not unheard of in the religions of Canaan at this time.
So, to Abraham, though surely painful, it was a legitimate demand.
(TRANS) Though we know that God would not demand any of us to offer our children as a burnt offering, there is a principle here that is true throughout scripture:
*Worship is Costly*.
Something has to die – blood must be shed – for sinful people to worship a holy God.
In the OT they worshiped by sacrificing animals.
B~/c Jesus offered the once-for-all sacrifice, we don’t have to do this anymore.
But *worship is something that is still costly*.
WORSHIP DEFINED: You see, worship is not just singing songs.
It is giving all that I am to all I know of God.
It is life-consuming.
The way we work, the way we spend our money, the way we give our time, the way we sing, the way we speak – all of it is worship.
To willingly submit all of those areas to God, that is worship.
TABLE ACTIVITY (3-4min): Build an altar.
While building, think back thru your week and talk about how you have worshiped God.
(TRANS) As we continue reading, look for how Abraham responded to God’s demand for costly worship.
*ABRAHAM’S RESPONSE (v.3-10)*
*Genesis 22:3-10*
3 Early 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.
4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5 He 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."
6 Abraham 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,
7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?""Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
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