A Father's Faith

Introduction

Today is Father’s Day. Father’s Day is that day when fathers are supposedly recognized for their contributions to the family. It is a day when father will receive a new tie or perhaps a pair of socks to commemorate his day contrasted to the designer purse or perhaps even the new car that mother got for Mother’s Day. It is also like Mother’s Day in that dad will probably be taken out to lunch by the whole family. Of course, dad will be the one footing the bill for the family.

A hundred years ago all a father had to do to be considered successful was to provide a roof to live under and provide meals for the family. Today to be successful a father has to provide his children with a cell phone, an iPad, an x-box and/or Play Station and eventually, a car.

As we look in scripture, we can find many examples of fathers. Some good, some not so good, and some that were good sometimes and not so good sometimes. Kind of like fathers we find today.

Today the example of a father we will be looking at will be Abraham from Genesis, Chapter 22.

We are going to make a comparison between how Abraham followed God’s instructions concerning his son Isaac and the way we should follow God’s instruction, when it comes to raising our own children.

The first thing we see in chapter 22 is that:

I. God Spoke

“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.”

God spoke to Abraham giving him instructions on actions to be taken regarding his son. God also speaks to fathers today, through scripture, to advise fathers on the raising of their children. For one thing, fathers are responsible for the care of his family to include the children.

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV

8 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

When scripture talks of providing it means more that just keeping them from starving to death. It means physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Ephesians 6:4 ESV

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

If you are a good father, there will be times when the discipline you enforce may very well anger your child. That is not what this is talking about. It is talking about you being the adult in the relationship and not being malicious in the way you speak or discipline your children.

Colossians 3:21 ESV

21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

One careless word can affect a child for the rest of their life. When I was a child, it was very common for children to wear short pants, just like it is today. I was never comfortable wearing short pants and seldom did. I wore jeans. It wasn’t until many years later, in a conversation with my mother, I learned the rest of the story.

She said when I was about six or seven years old, I happened to be wearing short pants when one of my uncles made the remark that I had “chicken legs.” I don’t really know what that means, but I guess I must have taken it as a negative comment. My mother said I never wore shorts again after that.

I have no recollection of that remark made by my uncle, but it apparently had a profound effect on me and my behavior for the rest of my life. That is how easily a careless word can change a child forever.

Since I heard this story from my mother, I have often wondered how many of my other quirks might be related to something someone said to me as a child.

I recently saw a post on Facebook that I could really relate to. It said “You think you can hurt my feelings? I used to hold a flashlight for my dad.”

The Bible doesn’t just tell fathers what not to do, it also gives positive advice on the raising of a child, the most famous of which is probably:

Proverbs 22:6 ESV

6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

God spoke to Abraham and Abraham immediately started making preparations for the task God has assigned him.

II. The Preparation (vs 3-6)

3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.

Can you imagine what Abraham must have been thinking as he made that three day journey. Abraham did not understand why his son was to be sacrificed. His son who he had to wait so long in order to have. But notice Abraham does not question the instructions God has given him.

Abraham did not make any excuses or try to put things off. He immediately made preparations for task ahead of him that God had given him.

Abraham did not understand why God has asked him to do this thing. But God asked, and Abraham in his faith carried out the preparations. We often do not understand why God asked us to do certain things, or causes us to go through certain things, but we have to accept it as God’s will whether we can understand it or not.

Verse 3 tells us that Abraham rose early to make preparations. Usually, one rises early because they are excited about doing something or starting some task.

I remember when I was in Michigan, I would get up at three o'clock in the morning to go duck hunting. I used to hunt on Harsen’s Island. You had to get to the boat dock and wait on the ferry to take you to the island. And you have to be there by 5 AM to draw for the section of wetland that you were allowed to hunt on.

I can’t recall ever getting up that early for anything else other than an emergency call to work.

I can’t image that Abraham is excited about the task before him, but he rose early to attended to it.

Abraham saddled his donkey, he cut the wood he would need. No doubt he had to sharpen his axe and also the knife to be used in the sacrifice.

Scripture tells us it was a three day journey to where they were going. You can imagine all the supplies they would have also had to load and carry to make this trip possible.

Then when he arrives, he asked the young men to stay behind with the animals. Abraham takes responsibility for what he has to do. He does not ask others to do his job, or take over any duties that are charged to him.

These days the temptation is to let someone else attend to what is really our duty as a father. Today we have a great many children that are being raised by their grandparents. We have a great many children who the parents expect the school system to raise. We have a great many children who are being raised by the television, the internet, and their peers of their own age.

Verse 6 tells us that Abraham put the wood on his son’s back to carry. This is an indication that Abraham has been teaching his child responsibility. How many of us can remember dreading the thought of asking our child to actually to anything productive. First you get the look, then the complaints, and then usually a half-hearted job.

III. Children ask Why? (vs 7-8)

7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

How many times have you seen the game of “How come” played out. Children love this game, and it can go on for hours. You finally reach the point where you say “because I said so.” Do you think that God ever is tempted to just say “because I said so.” Unfortunately, our mindset today is to pay little attention to it just because God said so.

IV. Point of trust(Vs 9-11)

9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

These few verses here are as clear a picture of faith in the Lord as any you can find in scripture. Abraham builds the alter, places the wood on it, then ties up his own son and lays him on the alter.

Abraham ties up Isaac because he knows that when Issac realizes what is about to happen, he probably will resist. Isaac is probably an older teenager at this point. Probably a pretty strong young man. He did bear the burden of the wood on his back for the tree day trip.

It occurs to me that if Abraham had been a man of lesser faith, he would not have bound Issac and then then when Isaac resisted the sacrifice Abraham would have had a good excuse to make to God as to why he couldn’t sacrifice his son.

How many times are we faced with the clear indication of what God’s will is for our lives, but we make some kind of excuse believing that we have fooled God into accepting the reason we could not do His will.

We can see that Abraham is completely committed to doing God’s will.

V. God Provided a way for the Father to give life to his son

12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; (Jehovahjirehas) is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Conclusion:

God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son in an act of worshipping God, but in the end God did not require that of Abraham. All of you here who are fathers have no doubt pondered if you were in Abraham’s position. Could you raise the knife on your own beloved son? Could you sacrifice him as a act of faith in God? It is an unimaginable scenario.

But you know what, that’s exactly what God did. He sacrificed his one beloved son so that the burden of sin would be removed from us.

About a thousand years after this account in Genesis, King David bought the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and built an altar to the Lord. (2 Samuel 24:18, 21). After David’s death, his son King Solomon built a glorious temple on the same site.

Solomon’s temple lasted for over four hundred years until it was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar’s armies in 587/586 B.C.

Seventy years later the temple was rebuilt on the same site by the Jews who returned to Jerusalem following their Babylon captivity. Around the first century, King Herod made a significant addition to this structure, which then became known as Herod’s Temple. It was this temple that Jesus cleansed (John 2:15).

And it is around this same location that Jesus was sacrificed on the cross. The account in Genesis occurred two thousand years before Jesus Christ came down to live among men, but the Old Testament if full of accounts like this one that point toward the coming Messiah, the Savior of us all. Mt Moriah, Jehovah jirehas, The temple mound.

Romans 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?