What Do You Do?

What Do You Do?

Genesis 22:1-14

    At what point does God asking for too much?

Sometimes other people amaze us.  They will ask us to do something, which we feel either obligated to do, or to have to come up with some excuse not to do as we tell ourselves, “They ask too much!”  What we really mean is that the person has asked us to go beyond the level of sacrifice with which we are comfortable. Will you help me move again?  We think, “That’s three times too many, buddy?”  And then we politely explain that we will be out of town as we think to ourselves, “Where am I going to go?”  But we all know that, in the end, if it's something we really don’t want to do, we can get out of it.

On the other hand, how about when God asks us to do something?  He may not send you an e-mail or call you on the phone, but aren't there times when you know that God was prompting you in your heart to do something?  Usually the way we get out of that is simply to ignore him.  There was a time in my life when I knew that God had made it abundantly clear that I was no longer to continue as a manufacturing supervisor.  I knew he wanted me to move to Virginia and study to be a Pastor, and I wasn't totally sure that I wanted to!  In that particular case, I obeyed God’s will not knowing exactly how it was all going to work out.  I am sure that -over the years- there are many times that I missed the voice of God or ignored him.

However, what if God asked for something that you could not give up?  What if it came down to choosing to obey him as God, or your own will?  What happens when your will and God’s will comes into such conflict that there is no way that the outcome can be a win/win situation?  Would you follow God because he is God, or would you declare him unreasonable and go your own way?  One time God commanded a prophet to marry a prostitute that would one day desert him.  Could you do it?  He did!  Jesus once asked a man to sell all that he had, give to the poor and follow him.  Could you do that?  He didn’t!  But today, we will see a story where our gut instinct tells us that God has gone too far.  God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son - the son of promise - on an altar to God.  How could God ask that, especially when Abraham had waited until he was 100 years old before receiving the child or promise that would bless all nations?  It seems as if God asked Abraham to do more than he had ever asked anyone else.  What is it that we are to learn about God - and us -  from this story?  Today, from Genesis 22:1-14, we shall see what to do ...

... When God Doesn't Make Sense?  (vv. 1-5) 

... When You Don't Understand His Leading?  (vv. 6-8) , and

... When God Requires Everything   (vv. 9-14)

1. Body
1. ... When God Doesn't Make Sense?  (vv. 1-5) 
1. Can we ever understand God?  Do we obey without knowing "Why?"
1. Tested vs. Tempted?
1. Tested does not mean tempt. God tested his people often in Scripture. The Israelites were tested in the wilderness.  Job was tested to see whether or not he served God because he is God or because of God's blessings. 
2. God tests to prove faith
3. Satan tempts to provoke disobedience 
2. Kill Your Son?
1. Did He argue with God?
1. The Jews represent God and Abraham in a conversation together upon this: God said, take now thy son; says Abraham, I have two sons; take thine only son; says he, they are both only sons to their mothers; take him whom thou love; I love them both, replied he; then take Isaac; thus ended the debate:
2. Promises have been  made to Abraham
1. Gen. 12:1-3 -- "I will make you a great nation ...in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."
2. Gen 17:5-6 -- "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.  I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you."
3. What would it mean to kill his son?
1. by this order he was to cut the throat of his son, then to rip him up, and cut up his quarters, and then to lay every piece in order upon the wood, and then burn all to ashes; and this he was to do as a religious action, with deliberation, seriousness, and devotionHe Rose and Went
4. Someone once made a statement that has so much truth to it.  That person said, "True spirituality can often be measured by the length of response time of God’s people to God’s commands."  You see, Abraham had been learning of God for all his adult life.
5. He responds immediately. There’s something very significant that Abraham had learned.  Abraham learned to trust God’s purposes without knowing why. That’s why he could respond immediately. He had learned to trust God’s purposes without knowing why.
6. by taking wood and Isaac he demonstrates that his intentions are to obey
7. the three day journey would have given ample opportunity to reconsider
8. compare
1. Hosea 6:2 -- After two days He will revive us;
         On the third day He will raise us up,
         That we may live in His sight. 
2. Hebrews 11:17-19 -- "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead..."... When You Don't Understand His Leading?  (vv. 6-8)
9. God leads down dark path-ways.  Will we obey without knowing "How" it will end? 
3. Do you ever ask, "How?" in the midst of those tests of life? We all ask, "How?" don’t we? "Lord, how will I find another job? "Lord, how will I survive this financial crunch I’m under?" "Lord, how will I ever get through to this child?"  "Lord, how am I possibly going to save this marriage?"
4. Isaac Bore The Burden
1. in comparison with Jesus
1. John 19:17 -- And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha
2. 1 Peter 2:24 -- [He] Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree...
5. His Question
1. Father, Where's the sacrifice?
2. Answer:  Leave that to God.
6. The Two of them WENT
1. verse 8 ends with a repeat of verse 6.
2. Some see special significance in this.
3. These claim that both Father and Son were acting like-minded in this endeavor.  
4. The important mark of obedience is that THEY WENT... When God Requires Everything   (vv. 9-14)
5. How far are we willing to go with God?  Will you trust in God's timing without knowing "When?" 
7. In the Presbyterian Catechism, lesson #39 asks...
1. Q. What is the duty which God requires of man?
2. A. The duty which God requires of man, is obedience to his revealed will.
3. The fear of God and the keeping of his commandments is “The whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
8. Abraham Built an Altar
1. Jewish sources claim... "it is a tradition ... that this is the place where David and Solomon built an altar in the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite, and ... where Noah built one when he came out of the ark, and is the altar on which Cain and Abel offered; and where the first man, [Adam made his offerings.] "
9. He Bound His Son
1. comparisons with Jesus
1. Matthew 27:2 -- And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
2. John 18:12 -- Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him.
10. He Took The Knife to Slay
1. The steps of obedience are now complete.
2. compare with God's Son, Romans 8:32 -- He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all...
11. Deuteronomy 10:12 -- And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
12. Or... as Jesus put it... Luke 10:27 -- "So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.'"
13. James 1:25 -- But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

II. Conclusion 

1. Years ago, I read a story about Tim and Janice who were medical missionaries to Kenya. As they arrived on the mission field for the first time, they were excited about the opportunities that God had given them there. They were anticipating with great eagerness the ministry that God had blessed them with there in Kenya.
2. But very suddenly and unexpectedly, one thing after another began to go wrong.
3. Tim, the husband, came down with a sudden and unexplained fever. He almost died from that. Shortly after that, his wife Janice went into a severe depression. Not long after that, Tim having recovered from his fever, was out working on a tractor, and the tractor suddenly overturned on him.
4. Not long after that, one day, their son came crying out his room in their house, saying he had been bitten. They walked into his room to discover to their horror that there was a deadly viper, one of the most poisonous kind. For days, the little boy languished on the very edge of death itself.
5. Some time after all these events had taken place in their lives they were wondering why, how, and when. Tim was in the process of trying to transport some supplies from where they were to a more remote village. He came to an old rickety bridge that he had come to so many times before. Every time they came to this bridge, they had to unload all the supplies from the truck, then walk the supplies over to the other side, and then, very carefully and precariously drive that truck across that old rickety bridge. As he came to that bridge, at that point, he thought to himself, "You know, one of these days, I have got to strengthen this bridge."
6. He said, "Suddenly, God broke the silence." It was as though God hit him over the head with that proverbial spiritual two-by-four. He didn’t hear God audibly, but he heard God in his heart say, "Tim, that’s what’s been happening in your life. I’m not trying to weight you down. I’m trying to strengthen the bridge of your faith."
7. On the mount of God’s testing, He will provide. Learn to trust God’s leading even when He doesn't make sense.  Trust Him even when you don't know the "Why/"
8. Learn to follow Him even when you don't understand.  Obey even when you don't see "How."
9. Learn to follow even when God requires everything.  Trust His timing without knowing "When."
10. Learn, as did Abraham, that "On the mountain of God’s testing, He will provide."