Giving back to God what we do not own
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Giving Back to God what we do not own
Giving Back to God what we do not own
Introduction:
“Pay it forward” is a wonderful way of encouraging others. Why is it not more common?
What’s in your hand? Who gave it to you? How tightly do you hold it?
How you answer those 3 questions will for the most part indicate how you see life, things and those around you.
Why do some of us hold on to what we cannot keep to gain what we will inevitably lose?
“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” (Jim Elliot)
What do we hold on the most or the tightest? People or things? Why?
What we choose to hold on to, is usually an indication of what is dearest to us and what we see as irreplaceable. For some people, those are things or people or something else that is “special”. Whatever or whoever that might be, unless we are willing to let go when asked, we will, for the foreseeable future ever see beyond what we hold so dear.
What God commanded Abraham to do and Abraham’s faith response encourages us to give back to Him what we hold dear and can never own.
God’s command - offer your son as a burnt offering - Gen 22:1-2
After these things:
Gen 21 - Birth and circumcision of Isaac - 21:1-7 - weaning of Isaac and separation from Hagar and Ishmael - 21:8-21 - events of everyday life including treaty with Abimelech and many days in the the land of the Philistines - 21:22-34
After - some time had passed - Isaac referred to as - the boy, lad - KJV - 22:5, 12 - but that same word is also translated as “young men” - 22:3, 5
Most commentators agree that because the Hebrew word can mean anything from a baby - Ex 2:6 to a young man, the context suggests a young adult
Tested - not a temptation - to test Abraham’s heart and faith trust level. God tested Abraham not because He expected him to fail but expected Abraham to by faith obey rather than sidestep God’s very clear, very heart wrenching demand.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Abraham, here I am - probably a dream vision - cc 21:12 - re Ishmael and Hagar - cc God’s calling Samuel
Your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love - each of these phrases underscored that God was well aware of what He was asking and how this would pull at Abraham’s heart. Each phrase would have opened a flood gate of memories and emotions.
From God’s perspective, Isaac was Abraham’s only son with regard to the promises that He has made to Abraham. By way of gently reminding Abraham that He understood with regard to asking that he offer his son as a burnt offering, only is repeated in vs 12 & 16.
From a human perspective, offering Isaac as burnt off would seem to eliminate the potential of the Abrahamic Covenant - Gen 15
While many of us see human sacrifice with horror and rightfully so, it was quite common in that day. By asking to Abraham, God was not asking him of any more than any sacrificed to their pagan gods.
THERE IS ALSO ANOTHER UNDERLYING DEEPER FAITH SPIRITUAL REASON WHY GOD MIGHT HAVE ASKED ABRAHAM AND FOR THAT MATTER ISAAC TO DO THIS. WE WILL DEAL WITH THAT LATER.
Go to the land of Moriah, offer him for a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.
Associated with Jerusalem - Solomon’s temple assumed to be on that site or close to it. More than one hill around Jerusalem.
Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
2. Abraham’s faith responses - 22:3-10
Abraham’s personal faith responses are listed in these verses. These are faith responses that Abraham took himself.
Preparation and 3 day journey - Beersheba to Jerusalem - about 100 km - 20.5 hours walking
Wood, his donkey - probably for wood and provisions, 2 young men Isaac, food assumed
3 day saw the place in the distance
Commands, questions and convictions - 22:5-8
2 men - stay with the donkey
The boy and I will go over there and worship and come again
Took wood of the burnt offering & laid it on Isaac,his son
Took the fire and the knife
Question - Isaac, we have the fire (probably embers from last campfire) and the wood - where is the lamb?
Implies worship and an offering involved an expected sacrifice. Isaac would have been taught that and therefore asked the obvious question.
Answer - Abraham - God will provide for himself - not us - a lamb for a burnt offering - dead and consumed by fire. This was not only answer, it was now a conviction. God will provide for Himself and in that for us.
Combined obedience and trust - Trust in the Lord and each other
Altar & offering:
Abraham built the altar. Abraham laid the wood on the altar. Abraham bound his son Isaac. Abraham laid Isaac on the altar, all of this without any noted pause in the progression.
ABRAHAM REACHED OUT HIS HAND AND TOOK THE KNIFE TO SLAUGHTER HIS SON
“Abraham’s preparations to kill his only son could not have placed his trust in God in sharper focus.” (John MacArthur - MacArthur Study Bible)
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
Although it is impossible to get into each other’s heart and thoughts, in retrospect, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it would seem that from Abraham’s perspective, he did not expect God to stop him. What he did seem to expect and by faith believing that God would provide for himself the lamb would involve not stopping Abraham or a lamb in a thicket but in raising Isaac from the dead.
We cannot fault Abraham for not understanding everything, neither do we.
WHAT WE NEED TO UNDERSCORE IS THAT OBEYING BY FAITH DOES NOT NEED TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING AND MIGHT IN FACT MISUNDERSTAND THE ODD THING, AS LONG AS THERE IS AN UNWAVERING TO OFFER TO THE LORD WHAT HE IS COMMANDING.
3. God’s intervention and giving back - 22:11-19
The angel of the LORD called to him from heaven - Isaac bound the altar - Abraham with knife in hand
“Abraham, Abraham”
“Here I am.”
“Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him”
“Now I know that you fear God.”
“Seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.
Nothing could be more correct and expected than to love your child, your only child. But in loving those whom God has given to us, in loving what He has given, we must never hold dearer than Him.
With regard to fearing God, believers, those who profess to walk by faith, affirm that faith when we focus first on what He says not what we see around us. Previously, Abraham passed Sarah off as his sister when he wrongly assumed there was no fear of God in and around Abimelech - Gen 20:11
By what we give to Him and choose not to hold onto, how does God know that we fear Him?
Ram caught in a thicket
“The LORD will provide” - Jehovah Jireh
Idea of substitutionary offering atonement introduced for the first time.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time - Abrahamic Covenant
“By myself I have sworn.”
“Because you have not withheld your son, your only son”:
“I will surely bless you” - repeated again
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.”
“Surely multiply your offspring - stars of the heaven, sand of the seashore” - Gen 15:5; 13:16
As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.”
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
“And your offspring shall possess the gates of his enemies.”
Conquest of the land promised - 13:17; 15:7, 16; 17:18; 24:60
In you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, BECAUSE YOU HAVE OBEYED MY VOICE.”
You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’
Throughout our lives, many of us have people and things that we might be holding onto more than God or like they were God. That is as wrong for us as it was for Abraham.
Who or what that we love is God testing us by commanding us to give that person or thing back to Him?
God tests those whom He loves. He tests us because He loves us. He tests us so our faith will be confirmed and strengthened.
Later Moses reminded the Israelites that God would test them.
“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Although most of us would rather not face trials or testing, we do well to remember the Apostle James’ explanation of the connected spiritual benefits of testing. Understanding what God is doing when He tests us should help to face the trial with joy.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
2. What steps do I, do we need to take in obedience to God’s command?
As beginning to assess the step that we might to take, each of us needs to take as self inventory of what our Lord has entrusted to each of us.
Please be careful not to overlook even the seemingly smallest things. We do well to remember what God asked Moses when He called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”
Only when Moses gave that staff to the Lord did he see God’s power and what He could do.
The same is true of us. When we hold onto something too tightly we will often fail to see how God can use that person or thing.
That happens with people, things and ministries.
WHAT ARE YOU, WHAT ARE WE HOLDING ONTO TOO TIGHTLY?
3. What ministry, great commission promises are we praying for, longing for God to renew, reaffirm?
While for Abraham, this seemed to be personal decision, giving back to God what is His is also a group decision. When there is not a group consensus to give back and confirm that we have given back, trusting the Lord.
Children
Local church ministry is very a collective family faith adventure.
Collective - work well individually but also remembering and affirming other members of the team.
Faith in the Lord and trusting each other - all part of the body of Christ.
Adventure - although we come together on weekly basis in those location, we should expect that God would be so working in each of us individually and collectively that that who we are today is not who we were yesterday. We are further down the road. There has been another situation when God tested us and we have been found faithful, even as He shown that He has, can and will provide.