God Had Much To Teach Abraham About Worship
Scripture: Genesis 22:1-19, Matthew 22:32
Central idea: God started where Abraham was and took him to where God wanted Abraham to be. He does that with people of faith.
When we attend church, do we always worship God? We sing songs and listen to sermons; these things are elements of worship, but these actions are not worship in and of themselves. Worshiping God is not about you having a fun time or even about having a good experience; it is not about you at all. It is all about God. He gave you life, a family, a home, and plenty to eat. Worshiping God is you thanking Him and showing Him reverence and adoration. It is putting God first in your life. It is showing God Almighty that you love Him; it is showing God that you honor and praise Him.
Life has lessons to teach us. A man's son sixth birthday was approaching. The boy had mentioned he would like a birthday party. His dad asked what he wanted for his birthday. The man expected a reply such as, “I’d like a baseball glove; you can find it at Wal-Mart, aisle 6, below the batting helmets.” However, his son’s request was a bit different. He said, “Dad, I’d like to play ball with you for my birthday.” His father said, “Great, what kind of ball?” “Oh, I don’t know, baseball or football or soccer, any of those will be fine.” “Well, which would you want more?” His son said, “Whichever one you like to play with me.” The dad thought about this and said, “Let me surprise you. How does that sound?” The little boy smiled and said, “Oh that would be great Dad. I love you.” The son was not so much interested in the gift. He was interested in the giver.
True worship is not interested in the created but in the Creator. The wrong question to ask about a Sunday service is did I like the pastor/sermon/service/music? The right question is does God bless our worship?
When we come to Sunday service, many people come to be entertained; people want you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the program. If the people feel entertained, they say they had a good worship service. We have gotten the whole concept of worship backward. In true worship, we are the performers, the pastors and worship leaders are the directors, but God is the audience. If we are going to worship, we must realize that worship is not for us, but for God.
We will look into this episode in the life of Abraham to see what that can teach us about the true worship of God. Remember, God is a God of revelation: He reveals Himself over time. When Abraham came along, God had not yet revealed His law through Moses; there had been no prophets, no John the Baptist baptizing, and no Jesus teaching. God had revealed Himself to Abraham only giving him one instruction: go to a place “I will God show you.” Abraham trusted God but Abraham wanted to worship God. However, having grown up with pagan parents in a pagan country, Abraham only knew pagan ways. God had much to teach Abraham so where did God start? He began where Abraham was.
Genesis 22:1-19, 1 After these things God tested Abraham. He 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 Mor-i-ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. 9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy 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.” 13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” 15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the LORD: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18 and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham lived at Beersheba.
Verses 1-2, “1After these things God tested Abraham. He 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 that I shall show you.’” God is about to begin revealing Himself. God Almighty had to teach Abraham that He is nothing like pagan gods, gods of wood, ivory, silver, or gold. Pagan gods required the sacrifice of those things most dear.
Pagans believed that if you worshipped their gods in the proper and prescribed way it would earn their good favor. They would help you get what you wanted. The more you wanted, the harder you had to try to win their favor. In our scripture, God gave Abraham another revelation, a worship not based on Abraham’s likes or dislikes. God almighty is about knowing and practicing truth.
Why is it so vitally important? Because the kind of God you worship is the kind of person you will become. Therefore, you must be sure that the God you worship is the God of the Bible and not a god of your own making. To break pagan ideas, it would take a powerful painful lesson to change Abraham. Life is like that. If we have bad habits that we want to change, we must be prepared to face pain.
Verse 3, “3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him.” The revelation that Abraham received from God must have been hard to bear but Abraham prepared to obey immediately. He got his servants together, cut the wood for the burnt offering, saddled his donkey, took his son, and set out. Just like Abraham, we need to prepare to worship God. If we have not prepared our hearts to worship God, we will not be able to worship even if the worship service is biblical.
We spend time preparing for work, vacations, school, exams, for meals, and we even take time to prepare for bed. However, few of us take time to prepare ourselves for worship. We may prepare to go to church; however, that is not the same as preparing for adoration. We prepare for church by getting dressed in our Sunday best, fixing our hair and makeup, and grabbing our Bibles as we head out the door. Abraham prepared to worship God by being obedient to God’s instructions. Part of preparing to worship is to eliminate anything that distracts you.
Verses 4-5,”4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.’ Abraham left his servants behind.” It is possible that they would have interfered when they realized that he was going to sacrifice his son and Abraham was not about to allow anything to distract him from worshiping.
We need to separate ourselves from anything that might draw us away from God. I am not even talking about sinful things. I am talking about the natural and normal things of life. Things like work, family, and finances can all distract us from the worship of God. These are not things easily eliminated from our lives. The underlying spirit of the Sabbath is the radical notion that human beings have worth even when they are not working. Rich or poor, we are alike on the Sabbath. We forget that while the Sabbath is a day of rest, its ultimate goal is holiness and worship. The Sabbath is not an interlude; it is a climax. It is about time and not space. It is a sanctuary in time, a respite. The Sabbath is about connecting with God. We need to put all other thoughts out of our minds and trust God so that we can be free to focus on Him.
During the tenure of the great orator Henry Ward Beecher, a visiting minister had to substitute for Beecher. A large audience had already assembled this great orator, and when the substitute pastor stepped into the pulpit, several disappointed listeners began to move toward the exits. That is when the minister stood and said, “All who have come here today to worship Henry Ward Beecher may now withdraw from the church. All who have come to worship God keep your seats!” We need to start getting ready for Sunday morning worship on Saturday night. On Saturday evening, we should begin reading and meditating on God’s revelation. We should spend time praying and praising. In addition, we should get to bed early to be completely alert Sunday morning.
Verses 6-10, “6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, ‘Father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ He said, ‘The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ 8 Abraham said, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.’ So the two of them walked on together. 9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.” Abraham dedicated his son Isaac to God. God was about to teach Abraham a lesson in a manner that he would never forget – 4,000 years later and we are still talking about it.
Isaac was his only son. Isaac was the son God had promised to Abraham years earlier. Isaac was the son to carry on the family line and grow into a great nation. Abraham also dedicated himself completely to God. As Abraham stood holding the knife above his head ready to plunge it into his son, he was completely dead to himself. He had dedicated all he was and all he had to God. Going through the motions of singing songs and taking notes is cheap; dedication to true worship is costly. God expects us to give our all to Him. He wants us to be dedicated to Him.
Verses 11-14, “11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 12 He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy 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.’ 13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place ‘The LORD will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’” Abraham called that place, “The Lord himself will provide.” By doing so, he proclaimed the nature and work of God. He was declaring who God is and what God does. That is praise and worship.
Praise is proclaiming what God has done. Worship is proclaiming who God is. That is what we do when we tell others about God. That is why we all need to brag about God. We have looked at the various elements of true worship and so let us now examine the results or benefits of true worship.
God restored Isaac to his father. God also restored Abraham’s spirit. Abraham learned that God created all people in His image. God had revealed to Abraham that he was different from pagans; all people are sacred. We do not come to church to be entertained, we come to worship God Almighty. We can sing our favorite songs and have an emotional experience but if we have not truly worshiped this experience will quickly fade away when the music is over and that is the true test of true worship.
Verse 15-18, “15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, ‘By myself I have sworn, says the LORD: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18 and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.’” God confirmed his covenant with Abraham. God declared that He would bless Abraham because Abraham had worshiped him. Here the principle that worship results in the blessing of the worshiper. If God’s blessing seems absent from your life, perhaps it is due to an absence of true worship.
Verse 19 tells us that after Abraham had this beautiful worship experience on the mountaintop. He walked off the mountain and returned home to Beersheba. The true test of our worship comes from what takes place in this sanctuary on Sunday morning. The true test of our worship comes when we walk out those doors and return home. Do we feel we have worshipped God?
