Lent Midweek 2-- Shadows of the Cross: "Jesus Says Yes for You"

Genesis 22:1-2 “1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take 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.””

What is the most that God would ask of you?

You and I boldly insist that we could and would give up anything and everything for our faith. We began this season of Lent, singing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” and the familiar, stirring words: “But take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife, though these all be gone the vict’ry has been won. The Kingdom ours remaineth.” But, in reality, what is the most that God could ask of you? What are you willing to sacrifice? What are you willing to give up?

Tonight’s reading forces us to wrestle with that question. It also forces us to wrestle with the reality that what God asks for is far more than we appreciate. Many pastors have tried to soften the offense that this event from Abraham’s life provokes in people by insisting that God doesn’t place such expectations upon you and me today. But that’s a cop out. It’s certainly not based on the testimony of scripture.

It’s true that you are not— and will not be— asked to make this same sacrifice. (Abraham was living under a specific promise that God was testing here. God told Abraham that, through Isaac, he would have descendants more numerous than the stars in the sky. Abraham knew, based on that promise, that Isaac would live.) It’s true that you are not— and will not be— asked to make this same sacrifice. You aren’t living under that same promise. But, He most certainly tests you.

He asks you: What would you sacrifice for my sake and the sake of those around you? And isn’t He looking for just as much from you as He asked of Abraham? In Matthew 5, Jesus instructs you to sacrifice your hand if it would cause you to sin. He instructs you to sacrifice your eye if it causes you to sin. He instructs you that it’s better to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. It would seem that God does call you to sacrifices not unlike Abraham’s.

In many ways, He asks you to sacrifice for one another— to love one another— as He has loved you. And you and I do just fine when it’s a matter of tossing whatever cash you may have into the plate for a door offering, for example. You’re wonderful at giving from your bounty. But really sacrificing for one another? …joining in his struggles? ...joining in her suffering? That is something that you and I are not particularly good at. And yet, the apostle is very clear: How can you claim to love God, whom you have not seen, when you do not love the neighbor right in front of your eyes? Whoever says “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar (1 John 4:19). It would seem that God does, in fact, call you to sacrifices not unlike Abraham’s.

Day by day, you are assaulted with new gadgets, new toys, new services that you can’t do without. If you pay attention, you may notice God being slowly squeezed out of your life. As Pastor Garrison from Bach and Kilmanagh put it so beautifully, these good things quickly become ‘god’ things. They become your gods. They become the things that direct your priorities, your values, and your choices instead of God. That’s why the apostle also warns: Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15). It would seem that God does, in fact, call you to sacrifices not unlike Abraham’s.

Will you sacrifice the things of this world that claim the love that you rightly owe to God the Father? Will you sacrifice your comfort, your convenience, and the false security that wealth offers? Will you put your hand, your eye, your tongue, the sinful desires of your entire self on the altar to be sacrificed? Or will you hold on to them all the way to your destruction?

There’s one final step that we need to take tonight. Truly, if your understanding of what God expects you to sacrifice does not sound impossible, then I dare say that you do not yet grasp how much God asks of you. If sacrificing enough to truly love your neighbor; if sacrificing enough to put the love of this world behind you; if sacrificing the pet sins of your hands and your eyes and your tongue does not seem impossible to you, then I dare say that you do not yet grasp how far you are along the path to hell. What God asks you to sacrifice is not less than what He asked Abraham, it’s more. It is far beyond anything that you and I could do.

Do not look to Abraham as your example tonight. Look to Isaac. Look to Isaac because Isaac points you to Christ.

“Father, where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Isaac asked. And Abraham assured him, “The Lord will provide.” On that particular day on that particular hill, a ram was provided in Isaac’s place. But that ram was only a placeholder, if you will, for the Lamb that God would provide much later.

On another hill, not far from the one that Abraham and Isaac climbed, probably about 2,000 years later, on a Friday, that Lamb was finally provided for the sacrifice. God the Father led His beloved Son up that hill. And the Son went in perfect obedience to His Father’s will, even though— unlike Isaac— He knew precisely why He was going, that we was being led up that hill to be sacrificed.

At the top of that hill, He was laid on the wood to offer the final sacrifice for you, to bleed and die in your place for the sins of your hands, your eyes, your tongue, and every one of your members. His hands were pierced by the nails, His eyes looked upon His weeping mother and His mocking enemies, but His tongue, that had so faithfully spoken only what the Father had given Him to speak, still spoke only grace and forgiveness. He laid on that wood, the final, perfect sacrifice for your sin, until the full fury of the fires of Hell was spent.

Figuratively speaking, Abraham received Isaac back from the dead (Heb. 11:17-19). But there was nothing figurative about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Father raised Him on the third day, proving that His sacrifice on your behalf was pleasing to the Father. And, after making purification for your sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:3).

Because God the Father has not withheld His Son, His only son, your sinful flesh was drowned in the waters of baptism. The water may have only touched your forehead, but you were buried with Him— body and soul— and were raised, with Him, to new life (Romans 6).

Because God the Father has not withheld His Son, His only-begotten Son, you are joined to the body of Christ and are, individually, members of it (1 Corinthians 12:27).

Because God the Father has not withheld His Son, His Beloved Son, you are children of God and heirs according to His promise (Galatians 4).

In that grace of God, “1 ...present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:1-2 ).

“15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are [most certainly] pleasing to God” (Hebrews 13:15-16 ).

“1 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled.... 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” 7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:1-13).

What is the most that God would ask of you? More than He asked of Abraham, to be sure. But nothing close to what the Lord has provided you in Jesus Christ.