Sermon Tone Analysis

INtro

Good morning.

If you don’t know me, which I think by now most of y’all do, my name’s ’m the youth pastor here at Saint John’s.

Fun fact about me, I grew up in central Florida in between (literally) an orange grove and a cow pasture.

It may not look like it now, but I grew up country.

Like back woods, small town in the south country.

This morning I’m wearing a pair of Nike Cortez’s and a shirt from Urban Outfitters, but 15 years ago, I was wearing wrangler jeans and cowboy boots, and for fun, my friends and I would go into the orange grove behind my house, we’d pick oranges off of the trees and we’d throw them at each other.

Kind of like a snowball fight, but with citrus fruit.

So, that’s a little bit about me.

At heart, I’m still this little kid from Florida.

Now, one of the things that I miss most about Florida, is the mountains.

Now, I know what you’re thinking - “Florida doesn’t have mountains.”

Well, I did a little bit of research, and at one point, the US Board on Geographic Names had a certain criteria of what could be considered a mountain, but in the 1970’s they abandoned it.

Presently, there is no universally accepted definition of the term mountain, and the term “mountain” changes depending on local usage.

All that to say, Florida does have a mountain, and it measures in at 345 feet above sea level.

Now, I’ve never actually seen this “mountain,” and when I think of Florida, I don’t think of mountains.

But, I have seen real mountains.

I’ve driven over them, I’ve backpacked through them, and I’ve even climbed on top of some.

And in these circumstances, where I’ve been climbing or backpacking through a mountain, I’m always reminded of my relationship with the Lord.

I’m reminded of my faith journey, I’m reminded of the struggles and difficulties that I’ve faced while trying to follow the Lord.

I’m reminded of sacrifice, of love, of all kinds of things.

And I don’t think this is a coincidence.

Mountains are mentioned 500 times in scripture.

And some of the most significant events in biblical history took place on a mountain.

So, this morning, we’ll look together at two Mountains, and we’ll see that our greatest treasure is God himself.

So, if you have your bibles, open up to Genesis Chapter 22, starting in verse 1, and we’ll go all the way down to verse 19.

This is the word of the Lord

Pray

Background

Our text this morning opens up with the three words “After these things.”

I remember learning elementary school to never use the word “things.”

I was taught to always be more descriptive.

Well, here, Moses, who many believe wrote the book of Genesis, writes “After these things.”

So, what are the things Moses is referring to?

A lot has happened in the life of Abraham up to this point.

And, the journey of Abraham is one of my favorite story arcs in all of scripture.

You have this random guy, who at an earlier point in the book of Genesis was simply called Abram, who was born in the land of Ur, and was living in the land of Haran, and was someone who not because of anything good he did, not because of any merit he had, not because of anything he could provide, was called by God to go.

He was called by God to leave behind everything he knew and journey to a land that God would “show him.”

So immediately, Abram leaves the land of Haran, where he had just buried his father, and he sets out on a journey with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and everything they own and were able to pack up, and they go towards the land of Canaan.

Abram, Sarai, Lot, and all of those who were with them, make it to the Land of Canaan, and God says to Abram, “To your offspring, I will give this land.”

Now, at this point, Abraham is around 75 years old.

Sarai is probably 65, and they have no children.

They’re wandering through a land that isn’t there’s, but this land has been promised to their offspring, to their children.

So, they’re traveling through the land, and they set up camp in a few different places, and at some point we’re told “Now there was a famine in the land.

So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there.”

So, we have Abram, who was called by God to go, and so he goes, and he gets to the land of Canaan, and God tells him “this is the land.”

And so he’s there for a little bit, and then comes a famine.

If I’m Abram, I’m thinking, “okay, God.

You’ve brought me here, you’ve asked me to leave my home, which no body does, and you’ve sent me to a land, and now there’s a famine.”

So, Abram travels down to Egypt, and this is where his first “test” occurs.

Now remember, he’s just been promised that his offspring will be given land.

But, when he gets to Egypt he convinces Sarai, his wife, to pretend to be his sister, because he’s worried that once they see Sarai, they’ll kill him because of her beauty.

Up to this point, Abram has trusted God without question.

But here, after having heard the promise, his faith wavers, and he takes matters into his own hands.

Out of fear, Abram quits trusting the LORD.

He loses faith for a moment.

But, God remains faithful to Abram.

Not only does God remain faithful, but he adds to the promise.

In it says

Not only will his descendants take possession of the Land, but they’ll be numerous too.

But, time goes by, and Abram still hasn’t had a child.

And the LORD comes to Abram again one day and says “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your reward shall be very great.”

And at this point, Abram’ says “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

And the Lord responds and tell him, No this man will not be your heir.

Your very own son will be your heir.

And scripture says that Abram believed him and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Ten years goes by, and Abram and Sarai get a little impatient.

Again, they’ve heard the promise, but they havent seen it yet, so again, they take matters into their own hands.

So, Abram takes a second wife, Hagar, she gets pregnant, things get complicated, Sarai gets jealous of Hagar, and then at 86 years old, Ishmael is born.

And then, when he’s 99 years old, God comes to Abram again, he reitorates his promise, and he changes Abram’s name to Abraham, and he changes Sarai’s name to Sarah.

And he makes it clear, Ishmael is not the heir.

You will have a son with Sarah and that son will be the son of promise.

That son will be your heir.

The son you have with Sarah will be the son from whom a great nation will come.

And then a year later, Abraham is 100 and Sarah is 90, Sarah gives birth to Isaac.

The child who has been promised to Abraham for 25 years.

Exposition

And so, when Moses wrote “After these things …” This is what he was talking about.

After all of this.

After Abraham’s doubt, after his wandering, after his faithlessness, after walking with God and struggling with faith for 25 years, and after finally receiving the promised heir.

After all of this, it says, God tested Abraham.

God calls out “Abraham!” “Here I am,” Abraham says.

“Take your son, your only son Isaac,” God is being very specific here.

He’s not talking about Ishmael.

God says “Take your only son Isaac, whom you love,” God knows how much Abraham loves Isaac.

“Take your only son, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burn offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

Now, it’s 2019, we’re modern people, and so we read this, at least I do, and we think “How could a loving God do this?”

How barbaric.

How could Abraham actually listen to this God?? But, in the ancient near-east where this story takes place, this wasn’t out of the question.

And God isn’t asking Abraham to simply kill Isaac.

He’s asking him to offer him up.

Ancient people knew back then that sacrifice was part of what the gods required.

And the ancient Hebrews knew that their God was just and that all people, every family owed God a debt for their sins.

And this is why the concept of the first born is so important in scripture.

In a patriarchal society, everything was given to the first born when the patriarch died.

And the first born was then responsible for taking care of the rest of the family and ensuring that the family stayed in tact.

And so God, knowing this, knew that the first born could, and often did, become an idol.

And all throughout scripture God is upending and undermining the concept of the first born.

We see it with Cain and Able.

Cain was the oldest, but Able was favored.