Who do you trust to catch you?
May have heard the joke about the man who fell off a cliff but managed to grab onto a root jutting out from the cliff face
• As he hung there reviewing his options, he started calling out, “Is anyone up there”
• He was surprised to hear a voice say to him, “Yes, this is God, I’m up here”
• The man was relieved, and quickly asked, “God, can you save me?’
• “Yes”, God said,
• “Great”, said the relieved man, “what should I do?”
• “Let go of the root” said God
• There was a long silence, broken when the man said, “Is there anyone else up there?”
Today we are going to talk about the subject of faith or trust
• When we were kids we used to play a mean trick on our friends – we used to move the chair away just as they were about to sit down
• That ever happened to anyone?
• Well, we’re going to play this same game this morning to see who we can trust
• I’m going to choose someone to come up here and then that person has to choose someone who isn’t going to pull the chair away when they sit down with their eyes closed and their hands over their eyes
• Have to be very careful who you choose
• Let’s try it with someone else. This time you’re going to fall backwards and that person you choose has to catch you
• That was a game of trust. You put your faith and trust in someone you knew wouldn’t let you fall – that was a good choice
• In the Bible there is the story of a man who trusted God so much, He was called the Father of the Faithful
• Faithful is just another word for trust
• Anyone know who this man was? Abraham
• But this story is much more than just Abraham’s faith, its also a story about a young teenager who also showed amazing trust
This is what happened
• This story is very much like the game we just played
• God wanted to see if Abraham would trust him to catch him when he fell backwards
• Would he trust God or would he look around and catch himself like some of you were tempted to do
• But this game was a lot more serious. God had asked Abraham to take his son and sacrifice him on a far off hill
• This was the same son Abraham had waited years and years to have
• And by sacrifice, God meant Abraham was to kill his son by cutting his throat – that’s a lot worst then letting someone fall on the floor
• You’ll find the story in Gen 22:
• It took three days to travel to the mountain and you can just imagine the turmoil Abraham would have been going through trying to decide what to do
• On the way, Isaac, Abraham’s son noticed Abraham had fire and wood to make a sacrifice but no animal
• Gen 22:7-8 "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?" Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So the two of them walked on together.
• Just as you chose someone you could trust to catch you, Abraham had decided to let God catch him
• When they got to the top of the mountain Abraham and Isaac built an alter out of stone and placed the wood on it
• Now we come to a very important part in the story, because Abraham had to tell Isaac that he was going to be the sacrifice
• What would you have done in those circumstances if you were Isaac?
• Any of you like to be sacrificed?
• Yet Isaac made a wise choice as well. He decided to choose his father as the one to catch him as he fell backwards
• So he obediently did what his father asked, he allowed himself to be tied up and laid on the alter to be sacrificed
• When he did that, It was as though Isaac allowed himself to fall backwards and let his father catch him
• Abraham got out his knife and was just about to slay his son when a voice from heaven called out to stop. It was God
• At that moment it was as though Abraham had allowed himself to fall backwards and God caught him
• I bet both Abraham and Isaac felt a huge sense of relief in the same way those of you who allowed yourself to fall were relieved that the person you picked caught you - right
• The story had a happy ending. God did provide an offering, a ram that was caught in the bush not far away, so they were able to make a sacrifice to God
• Also God was very happy that Abraham had chosen to trust him to catch him
As you go through your life you are going to find yourselves trusting other people
• As a kid, your parents may have thrown you up in the air and caught you
• You never ever thought your parents would drop you, did you – you trusted them
• Our kids used to do a diving flip on their beds – they trusted me to flip them and make sure they landed safely
• Who you place your trust in in life is very important
• As you get older, the people you put your trust in becomes more critical
• The choices and decision you make comes down a lot of the time to who you put your trust in
• You will have to decide if you trust the person who says to you, come on have a cigarette, or a puff on this joint, it won’t hurt you
• Would you trust this person to catch you?
• or do you trust your parents who have taught you it is bad for you to catch you
• You have to decide if you are going to trust the person who says to you, its okay to cheat on your homework, everybody does it
• Or are you going to trust your kids church teacher who has told you its wrong to cheat and steal
• Would you trust that person to catch you
• You have to decide if you are going to trust the person who says to you, you don’t really need a good education to get on in life
• Would you trust that person to catch you
• Or are you going to trust the teacher at school who has told you your education is one of the most important assets to have in life
• You will have to decide if you trust the person who says to you come on let’s fool around sexually, its fun
• Is this the type of person you would pick to catch you
• Or do you trust God who has instructed you to wait for marriage before becoming sexually involved
• If you pick the wrong person to catch you, and they let you fall, you’re going to get hurt
• I counseled a young guy once who had been caught by the police stealing a bike
• Guess what, there were three or four of them involved in the theft, but when the police came, the others took off
• I wouldn’t want those guys catching me in this game
• Abraham in this situation made the right choice in picking God to catch him, so did Isaac
• But Abraham didn’t always make the right choice and he suffered a couple of painful falls in his life
• But the thing about Abraham was he knew where to go when he did make a mistake, he went back to God
• And so can we. We may make mistakes but God is always there not only to catch us but to also pick up, apply a couple of bandages and set us back on our feet so we can try again
• So as you go through life there are some people who will catch you and some who won’t
• The ones who will catch you are God, your parents, your pastor, your teachers and other trusted church friends
