Genesis 22:1-14

Worship is an interesting thing. We worship the LORD alone, yet there is an entire genre of music dedicated to selling it. We do it publicly and we do it privately. We worship through song, prayer, giving, service, and more. There is an older worship song that always meant alot to me. “The Heart of Worship” It talks about how worship is more than simply the melodies we sing. More than even the words. It is ultimately a heart felt attitude of adoration. Tonight we are going to look at a familiar story in Genesis and see what a heart full of worship looks like.

A Heart full of worship...

1. is Obedient (1-3)

Genesis 22:1–3 NKJV

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

God’s Command tested Abraham’s Heart

Faith is one of those things that is hard to quantify, because it is invisible. I can’t just ask how much you believe in something on a scale of one to ten, because often times humanities thoughts on belief and the reality of those beliefs don’t match up. Its the stereotypical liberal arts major at these colleges that hate on hunters because killing animals to eat meat is wrong so we should buy our meat from the store to save lives… a. Are you sure you are smart enough to be in college, and b. your beliefs don’t match your actions.

This command for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac was unique, never again will you hear God commanding us to sacrifice our children as an offering. This command was offered as a test of Abraham’s faith. Does God need to test our faith because he is ignorant? No, God knows our heart better than we do ourselves. The test was for Abraham, for him to really see how much he believes. So that Abraham can look back on his actions and prove what he believes.

Abraham did not delay in Obeying the command

Abraham as we all know obeyed the command of God. That’s not the interesting bit to me in verse 3. The interesting bit is that he rose early to obey.

Genesis 22:3 NKJV

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

He made obedience to God such a priority, that he “set his alarm” to get it done. There was no delay, there was no dawdle. He didn’t check his calendar, or wait for the weather. Interestingly enough he didn’t clear it with his wife, maybe he was afraid she might have had some objections.

He rose early and got about it. Set up the donkey, split the wood, got Isaac up and made this thing happen. Compare that to the Prophet Jonah.

Jonah did what God commanded… Eventually

Jonah did what God commanded… Grudgingly

I know for me, its easy to procrastinate. To say, “i’ll get to that later”. I mean I still have Christmas lights up. I’ve been meaning to clean out the junk from old VBS sets for like two years now. Procrastination is easy, but when something is important waiting can be detrimental. Imagine if you procrastinated on renewing your car tags, and let them lapse. It wouldn’t be long and mr GSP would let you know how much your procrastination is gonna cost ya.

But its amazing when its something that I want to do, It can be hard for me to wait. Honestly when I have an event here that I’m in charge of, I inevitably get caught in a vice. lets take fall festival for example, I’ll work hard throughout the week leading up to it, gathering all the game stuff, purchasing the food, sorting out the candy, marking spots for the caution tape and where the trunks will go. All of that so that come the day of the event there is less panicky things to take care of. Yet the day of the event, I know I don’t need to be here till a couple hours before, but im not resting at home because i feel like i need to be here.

2. Gives Everything (9-10)

Genesis 22:9–10 NKJV

Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

Nothing can be more important than God

Exodus 20:1–3 NKJV

And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me.

Abraham did not withhold his Son

Blank Check (Put your yes on the table)

Luke 14:25–27 NKJV

Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Our love for Jesus should be so great that to an outside observer, they might think we hate our families. I’ve never lived close to family. Growing up as a pastor’s kid the closest grandparent lived to us was 2-3 hours away. As a teen we lived a little closer to her only 1- 1.45 hours so we would see her on birthdays and holidays. My mother’s side of the family still lives near Tampa, so we normally only saw my cousin, aunt, and nana once every year and a half if that often. Before being called to ministry I was terrified of living away from my parents. But when God called, I understood that part of the cost would be that my kids would have the same type life I had. I wouldn’t do it for any old job, But for Jesus… My yes is always on the table.

Matthew 13:44 NKJV

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

The World thinks we are foolish. They can’t comprehend why we would attend church 2, 3 times a week, give 10% of your income, spend hours and hours reading the same book. They really think we are crazy. And that’s the point, we are crazy in love with the God who saved us, so we are willing to look foolish, because we have counted the cost. We know that What God offers is worth more than what we are giving away.

3. Trusts Completely (4-8)

Genesis 22:4–8 NKJV

Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

Abraham Believed God would provide somehow(8)

Abraham knew that Isaac was the son of promise, who was supposed to go on to become the great nation. He knew that God was powerful, and that God had brought him this far. So He believed God would take care of Isaac in the end. But Abraham did not know what God had planned. He didn’t know HOW but he believed that God would. In fact according to Hebrews 11.

Abraham believed in Resurrection (Hebrews 11:17-19)

Hebrews 11:17–19 NKJV

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, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

We have to trust when we don’t understand.

We have to Trust God when the road looks Uncertain

We have to trust God when others doubt

4. Is Accepted by God (11-14)

God saw Abraham’s heart

The test never required Isaac to die, the test was about Abraham’s heart. To find out who held that highest place in his heart. God or Isaac.

1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Matthew 5:27–28 NKJV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

God provided the sacrifice to spare Isaac

The Story of Abraham and Isaac is a type ( a picture) of Christ on the cross. Isaac was doomed to die, until the LORD provided a ram. We were doomed in our sins until God sent the Son to die as a lamb.

God credited Abraham’s faith as righteousness (Romans 4:1-4)

Romans 4:1–4 NKJV

What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

Application: When are hearts are full of worship, God accepts the sacrifice. Romans 12:1

Romans 12:1 NKJV

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Conclusion: Worship is not only the words we sing in church. Worship is the lives we live throughout the week. I saw an reel on social media this week that stuck with me of a pastor making this illustration. He said we often think of Christian ministry a what take place on the stage or platform. The worship music, the testimonies, the sermon from the pastor. We tend to see these people as the ministers to the minsterees, (people sitting in the rows.) Except Paul says in Ephesians 4:11–12 “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” That means the “ministry of the stage is only here to equip the saints to do the work of ministry. Bro. Tom, Tommy, and myself are here to help you do ministry out there. The illustration concluded like this, “We are not the star players in the game, rather we are the water-boys giving you what is needed, so you can play the game.”

I will mend it like this, What we do inside these walls is the pit stop, Worship is what you do out there on the track.