Sermon Tone Analysis

Series Review

This is a difficult passage.

It’s hard to read and make a direct application.

I like the way my Old Testament professor introduced his lecture when he talked about this.

He shared from his own parenting experiences.

One day he was walking around the house and he noticed a crumpled piece of paper on the floor (that’s not an uncommon thing to see.)

He flattened it out and noticed his 8 year old son’s handwriting.

He written some sort of essay that covered both sides of the paper, so he read it.

What he read left him deeply disturbed.

In the essay his son has written a narrative about so many things he hated: He hated the seminary where his father was teaching, he hated the president of the seminary.

He hated the house they had moved to.

He hated his room.

He hated the neighborhood where they lived.

So much hatred.

So much bitterness.

His dad was stunned.

His kid seems so happy.

This new job, this new situation was great for the family.

He showed the letter to his wife, they were both stunned.

Finally, he confronted his son.

His son takes the letter, reads it and says, “Oh yeah.

I wrote that for ‘Opposite Day’ at school.

Don’t you remember the day where I wore my shirt and hat backwards, but you made me where my pants the right way?

I had to write an essay describing the opposite of what I feel.”

It was a funny story, but for a while the father was stunned, he didn’t know how to respond, he was scared.

Nothing in the letter made sense, no matter how hard he tried.

That’s how I imagine Abraham.

This request comes out of nowhere.

It is bizarre.

Sickening, really.

Sermon Introduction

God’s command was not totally unheard of.

Abraham lived during a time where societies would use child sacrifice as a way of appeasing their gods, to ask for victory, to celebrate a fruitful harvest.

This would not be the first time Abraham had heard of a child sacrifice.

Just not from God.

And we learn throughout the scriptures that God destroyed entire nations because of this evil practice.

I like the way my Old Testament professor introduced his lecture when he talked about this.

He shared from his own parenting experiences.

One day he was walking around the house and he noticed a crumpled piece of paper on the floor (that’s not an uncommon thing to see.)

He flattened it out and noticed his 8 year old son’s handwriting.

He written some sort of essay that covered both sides of the paper, so he read it.

What he read left him deeply disturbed.

In the essay his son has written a narrative about so many things he hated: He hated the seminary where his father was teaching, he hated the president of the seminary.

He hated the house they had moved to.

He hated his room.

He hated the neighborhood where they lived.

So much hatred.

So much bitterness.

His dad was stunned.

His kid seems so happy.

This new job, this new situation was great for the family.

He showed the letter to his wife, they were both stunned.

Finally, he confronted his son.

His son takes the letter, reads it and says, “Oh yeah.

I wrote that for ‘Opposite Day’ at school.

Don’t you remember the day where I wore my shirt and hat backwards, but you made me where my pants the right way?

I had to write an essay describing the opposite of what I feel.”

It was a funny story, but for a while the father was stunned, he didn’t know how to respond, he was scared.

Nothing in the letter made sense, no matter how hard he tried.

That’s how I imagine Abraham.

This request comes out of nowhere.

It is bizarre.

Sickening, really.

God’s command was not totally unheard of.

Abraham lived during a time where societies would use child sacrifice as a way of appeasing their gods, to ask for victory, to celebrate a fruitful harvest.

This would not be the first time Abraham had heard of a child sacrifice.

Just not from God.

And we learn throughout the scriptures that God destroyed entire nations because of this evil practice.

But this was also a time where God seemed to be contradicting himself.

Remember, God was going to make Abraham a father of many nations.

Finally, at the age of 100 God gives him 1 son, and now God is commanding him to kill that one son?

This command doesn’t make sense on any level.

At least not to Abraham.

But the author of the story wants to make something clear to us: This was not a command that Abraham was intended to carry out: it was a test.

Testing is God’s way of helping us grow.

How do we know we are growing in knowledge in a certain subject area?

Tests and quizzes.

How do we know our bodies are becoming stronger?

test your strength (rehab)

How do we know we can trust someone?

Have you ever tested someone’s loyalty?

test is for our benefit, not just someone else’s

Testing is God’s way of helping us grow.

discipline - not negative, reactionary, but positive; relational; constantly present (compare with parenting) I can stare at a television and yell at the kids because they aren’t playing well together, or I can go play with them and show them / talk with them about relationships

discipline - not negative, reactionary, but positive; relational; constantly present (compare with parenting) I can stare at a television and yell at the kids because they aren’t playing well together, or I can go play with them and show them / talk with them about relationships

It helps us understand the story when we see this as a test - God never intended for Abraham to follow through.

It doesn’t resolve all of our discomfort when reading the story.

If you look at the artwork, they never try to water down the story - we see pictures of Abraham with a rather large knife ready to kill his son.

Ever meet an “only child?”

What kinds of things do we associate with an only child?

Spoiled.

Coddled?

Center of attention.

Maybe, but from my experience as a pastor this affects parental strategy.

When I was a youth pastor I talked with a youth who was really angry at their parents.

Mom and dad were so controlling; allowing no freedom.

Strict rules.

After talking with mom and dad I could see that, but I also learned that they had lost another son in a car accident, so understandably they felt very protective of their remaining child.

I wonder if Abraham was like that?

I imagine him that way - Isaac is not just an only child, but God’s only way of fulfilling his promise.