Title: How to live an exceptional life
Text: Gen 22:1-18
Introduction: You may have heard of the passing of Guy Lafleur (April 2022) ... an ordinary person in every way – with one exception...He was an exceptional hockey player...
5 Stanley cups
3 Art Ross trophy’s (scoring title)
2 Hart trophy’s (MVP)
6 years of 50 plus goals!
He Retired for 3 years – then returned for 3 more.
*** I have a signed jersey***
What if Guy Lafleur never played hockey?
His life would have been mostly ordinary - without fanfare or acclaim... like most of us mortals... an unknown face in the crowd.
Guy LaFleur had challenges... a son who was in some trouble with the law... Guy was charged/convicted with obstructing justice... appealed.
Smoker – likely the source of his lung cancer...
Did some business deals... had a restaurant...
But an ordinary life I’d say... but he had one exceptional quality – hockey.
...Wouldn’t we all like to have an exceptional life?
Is it possible?
I say, yes... we can all live lives of exceptional faith (!)
...exceptional trust and exceptional obedience to God.
Now that would be an exceptional life... a life most people bypass.
....Here today we have a baby...the future awaits... what will she become? ...the future awaits
The same can be said of you too... do you want your life to be exceptional?
How?
What if I don’t have exceptional ability to play the piano... paint... write music... or perform surgery...or discover new technology?
What if you do? ... will that make my life exceptional???
As parents, don’t we dream about raising a genius... a prodigy... a generational talent?
Here's the thing... you can’t choose to be an exceptional athlete or musician – it requires rare ability, aptitude, talent.
But you can choose to have exceptional faith...extraordinary faith in God.
Genesis 12 - Abraham’s Family History...starts in genesis 12
o At 75, God calls Abraham... God makes a promise/covenant (12)
o But Sarah was “barren” ...
o That’s a problem...
o In order for the promise to be realized A. needed an offspring.
Ch 15:3 – “you have given me no children...” (~~10 years have passed)
Abraham is waiting and waiting – and getting older and older.
• “the word of the Lord came to him...” 15:4
• “A son will be your heir”
o He took him outside to look at the stars.
o Try counting the stars, Abraham... so shall your offspring be.” (15:5)
**Verse 6: Abraham believed the Lord and he was credited to him as righteousness!
Exceptional faith!
10 years pass... Abraham was now 85.
...Still no children... was not this a test???
Sarai says, sleep with Hagar...(16:2)
“perhaps I can have children through her.”
At 86 (ch 16), Ishmael is born - What is this ??
Please note, Exceptional faith isn’t flawless faith
Age 99 ( ch 17), God reaffirms the covenant: 17:3-8
** now, a second opportunity...
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty[a]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
Genesis 17:17 17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”
Ch 18: Sarah overhears the conversation with the 3 visitors...
• She laughs to herself...(18:12)
Yhwh: Why did Sarah laugh? ... “is anything too hard for the Lord?”
Isaac is born to Sarah!
o They name him “laughter” (21:5-6)
o He waited 25 years for Isaac – A is now 100.
o Your only son
Now we come to Genesis 22...
***(Some time later ... (years) (Isaac is now a boy---God tested Abraham...)
We know a test is coming - A. doesn’t!
How do you feel about exams? ...Tests...academics!
Genesis 22:1 ff. ...Abraham, sacrifice your son, your only son... whom you love!
If any Dad loved his son... Abraham was no. 1
Imagine Fathers’ day at the Abraham household!
Finally... I’m a dad! (I’ve waited 100 years for this day)
So, this is what it feels like!!!
...Notice that the narrator tells the reader that a test is coming – A. doesn’t have this inside information.
• “Abraham” (says God...)
• “Here I am” says A.
**Now, notice this dialogue... ** Abraham isn’t startled by God calling to him.*
They seem to be talking like friends! (James 2:23 – says this very thing!)
“Take your son... your only son...whom you love...Isaac- sacrifice them as a burnt offering... on a mountain I will show you.”
There is absolutely no indication of disobedience, protest or wrestling with God.
Q. Has God ever asked you to surrender to him what is most dear to you??
**Of course he has – he will subject you to this same test!
*** is not this what a baby dedication means?
Parents bring their baby – God’s gift -- and they give the baby back to God – for God’s purposes and for his glory.
We say thanks, yes!
We ask for blessing, yes!
But don’t lose sight of this – we dedicate our children to God and God’s purposes.
“This is exceptional faith”
Can God be trusted?
Can you place your faith in God -absolutely, unconditionally?
**Likewise, Jesus went to the cross for you – for which we are so thankful -- but, he also asks you & me to take up our cross and follow him.
If not, says Jesus – we are not worthy of being his disciples.
Paul wrote, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me...” (Gal 2:20)
Verse 3 - EARLY!!!
Early the next morning! Abraham got up... no hesitation...
He loaded his donkey...
2 servants...
cut wood...
Notice how the narrative describes each step, methodical and deliberate.
...and so they set out.
• ...3 day journey – why 3 days?
• 3 days to think... to pray... to feel the weight of this assignment.
• He saw the place in the distance...(v. 4)
“Stay here,” he tells the servants
In other words...This part is just for me and Isaac.
**Verse 5: ... we will worship – and come back to you.
Notice 2 things now...
(1) A. sees this as an act of worship.
** this of course in consistent with the NT – Romans 12: “in view of God’s mercy, present yourselves(!) as a (living) sacrifice... this is worship!
Put yourself on the altar! Surrender to him.
What God asks of A. – he asks of you!!!
Secondly, notice...(2) A. is confident of the 2 of them coming back.
This is exceptional faith!!!
Do you want to live a life of exceptional faith?
God, who made a covenant of blessing(!), now brings a severe test of obedience – he’s looking for exceptional faith.
• Abraham places the wood on his son, Isaac; v. 6 .. he carried the fire & the knife...
This would be the time to panic if you’re Isaac...
This is getting real... a 3 day walk... now Isaac is carrying the wood for the fire...dad has the knife and the fire is already started – there’s no hope that someone forgot the matches!
What was Isaac thinking?
... he’s thinking “we need a lamb”. 12:7
Which means, Abraham had not mentioned to Isaac what God had said to him... only Abraham knew.
Now that’s a burden to carry... or is it?
So Isaac asks his father... Where is the lamb for the offering?
***Abraham didn’t say... “O, didn’t I mention that detail... you’re the sacrifice!
v. 8 Abraham’s reply: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.
(and the two of them, went on together)
*** can you see this foreshadowing the cross??
God himself provided the sacrifice – his son – his only son – for your salvation!
Abraham’s faith is in God – God is the object of his faith.
o God has made a promise to A to give him children
o Isaac is the fulfillment of that promise
o 25 years of waiting to see it realized.
Abraham was a man of exceptional faith – Paul called him “the man of faith”
Hebrews 11 – the great faith chapter – spends time on Abraham-
Heb 11:17 17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
** We get in trouble when we make faith the object of our faith! (...faith in faith)
The object of our faith is God.
They finally reach the place God has chosen – it's on a mountain – 3 days of walking...sleeping under the stars.
Some quality time – father and son.?
• Abraham being a worshipper of God – builds an altar...: 12:7 and again 12:8 and 13:8
• Then he Arranges the firewood
• Then he binds Isaac
• And laid him on the wood... on the altar.
• Then he takes the knife – v. 10
The story is told methodically – no mention of a struggle... no mention of protest.
***Then - the last minute intervention***
God: Abraham! Abraham! (twice this time) compare v. 1
Abraham: exact same reply, “yes, here I am”
Exceptional faith!!!
*Notice the consistency of Abraham’s response to God.
Exceptional faith...
You can live an ordinary life – with exceptional faith – and your life will be extraordinary.
“Do not lay a hand on the boy; do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God.” (!)
So Dramatic...
So intense...
Abraham passed the test!
Was he willing to obey God? – was his faith in God – and God’s character?
So, why??? why did God test Abraham in this way??
**I think it's the wrong question... the question is when! – not why!
** God tests all of us! ( he wants to know if we really trust him)
**God wants to know if we love him more than anyone or anything
– if we obey him first and foremost.
• Love is more than words! ... it requires action.
• Obedience is more than words! ... it requires action
Verse 12 – 14
Resolution - God provides both problem (test) and solution
– a Substitute is provided...
God himself will provide the lamb
Gen 12: 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place (yhwh-jireh) The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
God provided for you on the cross – Jesus the lamb.
Romans 8: 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Will you put your faith in him?
Faith for salvation
And
Faith for obedience (this is discipleship)
Abraham passes the test! (by faith in action...)
**Exceptional faith!!!
Do you want to live a life of exceptional faith?
“because you have obeyed me...” v. 18
The first really vivid hint of the salvation Christ offers comes in this story of Abraham's almost sacrifice of Isaac.
Geography – Mt. Moriah is the site of the ancient temple.
The one other reference to Moriah is: 2 Chronicles 3:1: "Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David."
Gen 22:16-18 - Obedience brings blessing!
I Will Bless You And Make You A Blessing: 17-18
God is interested in blessing you – and – in you blessing others!
Exceptional faith means... obedience to God and blessing for others!
Abraham in the NT (76 times): “the man of faith”
• Galatians 3:9 “the man of faith”
• James 2:23 “God’s friend”
• Romans
• Hebrews
Jesus, is son of Abraham...! (Matthew)
God's great promise to Abraham concludes, as it did the first time he spoke it:
"And through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed" (Gen. 22:18).
Jesus was that offspring. Through him the gospel of salvation and peace with God is being preached throughout all the world, just as explained in Galatians 3:8: "Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: 'All nations will be blessed through you.'"
Application: We are children of Abraham (by faith in Jesus), says Paul.
Galatians 3:6,7 - So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.
**See that... we are to have this same kind of faith!
In 1999, the Christian band “Sixpence, None the Richer” appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman.
David Letterman invited the lead singer, Leigh Nash, to chat for a moment. He asked her about the band's name.
"It comes from a book by C. S. Lewis called Mere Christianity.
A little boy asks his father for a sixpence, which is a very small amount of English currency, to go and get a gift for his father.
The father gives his son the coin.
The son buys a gift for his Dad.
The father gladly accepts the gift, but he also knows he paid for his own gift."
The Dad was “none the richer” – so the band is called “6 pence, none the richer”
"He bought his own gift," Letterman commented.
C. S. Lewis was illustrating that God has given us the gifts that we possess, and to serve him & worship him - realizing how we got the gifts in the first place!
Take-away:
Exceptional life (faith) means exceptional obedience.
***Big idea: You can live a life of “exceptional faith” – and that will be an exceptional life!
Better than a star hockey player...
How?
Obedience...
Surrender everything to him
Once in a lifetime - And everyday thereafter.
Your family... your possessions... your future... your life.
That’s all God ever asks of you – absolutely everything!
Actor Finally Surrenders His Career to God
Jonathan Roumie is the actor who plays Jesus in the successful series The Chosen, which is based on the Gospels. Before landing the role of Jesus, Roumie had surrendered everything but his acting career to God. He had been living in Los Angeles for eight years, and he was nearly broke. Roumie said,
There was this one day during May of 2018. I woke up. It was a Saturday morning, and I was 100 dollars in overdraft. I had 20 dollars in my pocket. I had enough food to last a day. I had no checks in sight. I had no work in sight. I had maxed out my credit cards. I literally didn’t know how I was going to exist.
He kneeled and poured out his heart to God, asking him, “What happened?” He had been under the impression that God helps those who help themselves—he later realized that the Lord helps those who rely on him.
For years, my prayer was, “If there’s something else I should be doing, please show me what it is, because this is really hard,” I literally said the words “I surrender. I surrender.” I realized in that moment that in many other areas in my life, I had allowed God in. But when it came to my career, I thought, “I know better. I got this God, I’m the actor here. Don’t worry—it’s Hollywood; I know Hollywood, God.”
Roumie left his apartment and went for a walk to collect himself, buying a breakfast sandwich with the money he had left. Later that day, he found four checks in the mail. Three months later, Dallas Jenkins, the writer/director of The Chosen, called and offered him the role of Jesus.
You can live an exceptional life - a life of faith - exceptional faith in God.
Exceptional trust and exceptional obedience to God.
22:17- 18 “all the nations will be blessed – because you have obeyed me.”
Exceptional!!!
