Genesis #20: The Promise - Victorious Faith

It’s good to be back with y’all. It was good to spend last weekend with my daughter. We had an AIRBNB and we just sat around playing cards all weekend. Now, remember, I don’t like playing cards, but my daughter does. She probably doesn’t like sitting around the house much either, but she did it to spend time with us.... and I’m glad she did. I’ve shared with yall before that there was a time when she didn’t want much to do with us… well me. That girl rolled her eyes at me so much I thought they might come unscrewed and fall out.

It’s true, one day she was about 12 I guess and she went to bed… and aliens took her away and replaced her with a cyborg that looked like my daughter, but was not my daughter.

I was confused what happened… I kept asking her what’s wrong and she would just huff and walk away. I tell you I was confused. It went on for years. I tell you there were months i think when she never came out of her room.. I thought maybe the mother ship had come back to take her back to her planet to be recharged or have a new processor installed.

Those were hard years to be a parent. Anyone who is going through that, my prayers are with you… that was a difficult season. I’ll be honest, many days my patience was tested, my confidence as a father was tested.

But somewhere along he way, we figured out that we just needed to love her in spite of how she acted, understanding that we were all confused about what was happening. But regardless of how difficult it was, no matter how confusing the days were, no matter how often she was only able to pronounce the word nothing… or grunt. WE knew we loved her and we were commited to helping her grown up, trusting that God has a plan for her life.

That’s what makes weekends like I had last week so great.

But I haven’t forgotten how difficult things were.

Much like these last several months. They have been hard. We’ve been tested individually, we’ve been tested at work, our church, our businesses, our communities, our state, our nation, our world… we have been tested by the trial of COVID-19… a

How great it would be to make sense of it all.

Have you ever asked yourself… i’m sure you have… why is all this happening? Is it some sort of judgement from God or what?

Well, I can’t tell you that. But what I can tell you is that it has been a difficult season for all of us and I think if we try to look at it through the prism of faith, we can make a little sense out of it.

Today’s text will help us. IF you brought your bible today, please join me in Genesis chapter 22. Genesis is the first book in the Bible, so it’s pretty easy to find there.

While you are getting to it, let me say, it’s a pretty familiar story… at least for folks familiar with the Bible. For those of you who aren’t so familiar, let m set it up a bit.

We have been in a story of a man named Abraham. His name used to be Abram, but God changed it. Anyway, Abraham was called by God to leave his family and go to a land that God would give him and his ancestors. That was remarkable because at 70 years old, he didn’t have any kids… but he went anyway.

He went and along the way he took matters into his own hands from time to time, but he always came back to God’s call on his life.

The NT remembers Abraham as a righteous man… because he believed God. When God said, he would bless him with a child even though he was way too old to have kids, he believed what God promised him.

But then after 25 years.... it happened. His wife, unable to have children all her life is miraculously pregnant.

The promise is alive… he names him Isaac. Can you imagine the love he has for this child he had waited his whole life for?

Well that’s where we are in the story.

I invite you to join me in Genesis 22. I want to read the whole passage and then I want to take a minute and draw out some things that I think will help us

Genesis 22

That’s an amazing story… one that I can’t really imagine being a part of frankly…

The first sentence of Verse 1 gives us all sorts of questions

Genesis 22:1 NIV

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

God tested Abraham.

Have you ever thought about the fact that much of the difficulty we go through in life is a test of our faith?

God allows faith to be tested

Testing develops Christian character

James 1:2–3 The Message

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.

Testing purifies God’s people

Isaiah 48:10 NIV

See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

Testing proves the genuineness of faith

1 Peter 1:6–7 NIV

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Tested not so God knows how we will respond, but so we can see how we respond.

Our faith is not really tested until God asks us to bear what seems unbearable, do what seems unreasonable, and expect what seems impossible.

God’s testing of faith

Abraham is told to sacrifice Isaac:

Genesis 22:1–2 NIV

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

Abraham lived in a world where child sacrifice was normal.

Children sacrificed and buried under the walls of important buildings… under the floors where important people lived

Heb 11:17–19

God allows Satan to test faith

Job 2:7 NIV

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

Difficult circumstances test faith

Persecution tests faith

Hebrews 11:35–38 NIV

Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

Discouraging people test faith

Mark 5:35–36 NIV

While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

God’s promise of help during testing

Isaiah 43:2 NIV

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

That’s what happened for Abraham, God showed up miraculously. But I don’t want t make you think that the only way God works is in miracles. Some times it’s the miracles of the every day where we find encouragement to live faithfully in the midst of troubles.

A card or a letter at just the right time.... a phone call form a loved one.

Someone noticing that you are just in the room.

1 Thessalonians 3:2–3 NIV

We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them.

We are never closer to God than when we are in the midst of trials… in my weakness he is strong

Responding to Trials

We respond to trials in many different ways...

The faithful response to trials is to first and always…

First, Pray for God’s help

Hebrews 4:14–16 NLT

So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

1 Peter 4:19 NIV

So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Then, Persevere

James 1:12 NIV

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Holding on to what we believe… what we have been promised.

Rejoice at sharing in the suffering of Christ

1 Peter 4:12–13 NIV

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

That encourages me to rejoice in the midst of hard times.

Have you ever been going through a tough time and out of desperation began to pray and worship God.

I’ll tell you, one time I found myself there.

WE:

That’s why this is such an important lesson.

A Victorious Faith Comes Through Testing

We want the sort of faith that overcomes…

Ge 22:9–12 Abraham;

Job 1:22 Job;

Da 3:16–27 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego;

Ac 5:27–29 the apostles before Sanhedrin;

Ac 7:59–60 Stephen to be stoned

2 Co 4:7–9 Paul hard pressed, but not crushed

That’s the sort of faith that God gives us.... God doesn’t give a weak, futile faith, he gives a faith that perseveres, that overcomes, that’s the faith that God gives us… faith that passes the test… no matter the test.

I know we sometimes don’t feel like that’s what we have… but that IS the faith we have.

YOU:

How is your faith being tested right now?

What would it look like for you to persevere?

What would it look like for you to take a step in confident faith toward victory?

What would it look like for us as a church to respond to the test of COVID19 in our community?