A Father’s Love
Genesis 22:1-14
1. Love
2. Worship
3. Sacrifice
4. Trust
Intro: Observations of a Father
• I am going to share with you all my wisdom of four years of parenting
• Okay let’s look at what the Bible says
• When I had my first child I lost half of my memory, when I had my second child I lost the other half, when I had my third I lost another half I didn’t know I had
• I am unashamed to go into public with dirty clothes because a parent with three under four has either snot, spit up, or crumbs on his clothes at all times
• I no longer hum songs that I enjoy. I hum children’s music
• If you see me driving down the road shaking my hands like this I am humming the Wiggles song
• Home décor has gone from sage, ivory, and burnt umber to red, yellow, blue, and pink
• Sleep is overrated
• It takes you longer to get where you are going than the time you actually spend there
• But honestly Parenting in the hardest thing I have ever done
• Don’t get me wrong it has given one of the greatest joys… but it is hard
• The reason being is that every morning at 6:30 AM it starts all over
• You never finish
• Before I had children it scared me to death to think of having any
• I knew my propensity for screwing things up and I didn’t want to be responsible for screwing up a child
• But on August 24th 2003 my life changed for the better
• I often say children turned my life right side up
• I love being a daddy to three children
• This morning I will share my heart about a Father’s Love
Read Genesis 22:1-14
Transition: Abraham’s Love
• The best place for us to go in scriptures for an example of a Father’s love is to Abraham
• God told him he would have as many children as the stars in the sky
• No greater thing is asked of a parent in the Bible than of Abraham
• God tested Abraham’s love
• Who was he going to love more God or his Son
1. Love vs. 2
a. Abraham’s Love
• Gen 22:2 Then He said, "Take now 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."
• This is the first place in the Bible the word Love appears
• It refers to the love between a father and a son
• There should be a special bond between a child and their father
• I am not talking about the touchy feely type
• Isaac saw faithfulness and commitment in his father
• He first saw his father’s love for God
• Then he saw his father’s love for him
b. How do we love
• Eph 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord
• I once heard a preacher say The way you spell love to your child is TIME
• Love isn’t a good intention
• Love is something that takes time and is built up over time
• Some years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger, noted doctor and psychologist, was seeking the cause of many of his patients’ ills. One day he called in his clinical staff and proceeded to unfold a plan for developing, in his clinic, an atmosphere of creative love. All patients were to be given large quantities of love; no unloving attitudes were to be displayed in the presence of the patients, and all nurses and doctors were to go about their work in and out of the various rooms with a loving attitude. At the end of six months, the time spent by patients in the institution was cut in half.
2. Worship vs. 5
a. Abraham’s Worship
• Gen 22:5 And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you."
• This is the second word that appears for the first time in the Bible here
• It would’ve been easy for Abraham to switch his worship from his God to his child
• Imagine waiting over 100 years for your only child
• Part of the test that God was putting Abraham through was to test his heart
• Worship starts in the heart
• I shared several weeks back about Abraham’s worship
• Wherever Abraham went he built an altar and worshipped the Lord
• When Isaac came along and saw His father’s prosperity he decided in his heart to maintain it so he built wells
• The point is that Abraham is known for his worship
• When God told him to go and sacrifice his son he didn’t hesitate
• All things in our life must pass through the fire to be purified so they don’t replace the altar of God
• Noble men were gathered together in London waiting for the King of Great Britain. They all knew him personally, yet they all honored him as their king. When he entered, they stood solemnly to their feet. "Take your seats, gentlemen," he said, "I count you as my personal friends." And then joking he added, "I am not the Lord, you know!" Immediately one of the noblemen, a Christian, said, "No, sir, if you were our Lord, we would not have stood to our feet; we would have fallen to our knees."
b. How do we worship?
• We have turned into a world were we worship our children
• It has had its impact on normal life
• One company executive complained that a 20 something’s parent called him when their child got a bad review at work
• This is not just an American thing
• The Chinese have a special name for those tots: xiao huangdi, or "little emperors." They are regularly deplored in the state-run press. China’s children are growing up "self-centered, narrow-minded, and incapable of accepting criticism,"
• Abraham could’ve easily worshipped Isaac
• 3Jn 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth
3. Sacrifice vs. 7-8
a. Abraham’s Sacrifice
• Gen 22:7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together.
• Done on Mount Moriah
• This is where Solomon built the Temple
• It is also where Calvary Stood
• God asked Abraham to sacrifice his most prized earthly possession
• At the last moment He spared Abraham the pain He didn’t spare for Himself
• Two things stick out that are Christ like
• Isaac was an only son just like Jesus
• The Ram was an innocent victim that died for the sins of another
• In Eph 5 when it talks about how a Husband should love his wife as Jesus did who laid down his life for it I think of this verse
b. What do we need to sacrifice?
• Dennis Rainey says that when you get married you lose half of your life and when you have children you lose the other half
• I am continually amazed at how adamant people are about keeping their lives despite the sacrifices needed to have a successful home
• Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service
• A Restful Game
A father had three very active boys.
One summer evening, he was playing cops and robbers in the back yard after dinner.
One of the boys "shot" his father and yelled, "Bang! You’re dead!" He slumped to the ground and when he didn’t get up right away, a neighbor ran over to see if he had been hurt in the fall.
When the neighbor bent over, the overworked father opened one eye and said, "Shhh. Don’t give me away. It’s the only chance I’ve had to rest all day."
4. Trust vs. 9-14
a. God will provide
• Gen 22:9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." 12 And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.
• Abraham knew that God would provide
• He went through the whole sacrifice trusting God would work it out
• Imagine being a father having to give up your only child
• Psa 5:11 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You.
• I don’t know if I could get past the part where I had to bind up my son
• Finally God stops him and replaces Isaac with a ram
• Abrahm calls the place Yaweh Yireh
• Or Jehovah Jireh = The Lord will provide
• This one of the seven compound names for God
