OPEN: Three military recruiters were on hand to address a gathering of high school seniors. The recruiters represented different branches of the military: Army, Navy, and Marines and each of was given fifteen minutes to speak.
The Army and Navy recruiters got a little carried away with their presentations, so when it came time for the Marine to speak, he had just two minutes.
He walked up and stood utterly silent for a full sixty seconds, half of his time, staring out at the students. Then he said this:
"I doubt whether there are two or three of you in this room who could even cut it in the Marine Corps. But I want to see those two or three immediately in the dining hall when we are dismissed."
He turned smartly around and sat down.
When the students were dismissed, they literally mobbed the Marine requesting applications.
APPLY: The recruiting motto of the US Marine Corp’s is: “We’re looking for a few good men”
And the Bible tells us that God is looking for a few good men… and a few good women.
2 Chronicles 16:9 says "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him..." (NKJV)
God is looking for a few good people.
He’s looking for people he can depend upon.
(pause…)
By the days of Abraham the Bible tells us there were only a few individuals that had impressed God. There may have been more, but only two stand out.
One was Enoch, who the Bible says “walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” (Genesis 5:24). Enoch walked with God. This wasn’t just a casual walk in the park, but rather an intimate continual relationship with God that ultimately led to his being one of only two people mentioned in Scripture who never died (Elijah was the other one), but instead went immediately into God’s presence.
And of course there was Noah. The Bible tells us Noah “found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:8). Noah lived in a wicked time and because of that wickedness God eventually sent a flood to destroy all mankind… all except Noah and his family because Noah was a righteous man – and he impressed God.
So, there were the few good men the Bible tells us preceded Abraham who impressed God.
But now, along comes Abraham… and Abraham stands out almost head and shoulders above everyone else in the Old Testament who lived before or after him. Aside from Jesus and Moses, Abraham is perhaps the most important man in all of Scripture.
He was so significant, that in Genesis 12:2-3 we find that God sought Abraham out and gave him some very impressive promises. God said to Abraham:
"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
God promised he was going to make Abraham the father of a great nation and make his name would become great. Abraham would receive a special protection of God and not only was he to be blessed by God, but everybody on earth who would ever be blessed by God, was to blessed because of Abraham.
How did Abraham rate such an honor?
Because the eyes of the Lord had run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those who were loyal to Him.
God set Abraham up to be one of the major heroes in Scripture. And God made him a hero because God saw in him a special trait – Faith.
Romans 4:9 tells us that “… Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.”
So much so that Romans 4:12 tells us “he is the father of (those) who walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.”
Faith is a highly valued commodity to God.
Heb 11:6 “…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently seek him.”
And Hebrews 10:38 says “… my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”
God calls His people to LIVE by faith. That implies that not just any old faith is going to do. God wants a faith that changes how we live.
ILLUS: But that doesn’t always happen. According to a poll taken by George Barna back in 2002:
44% of adults make their moral choices based on "the desire to do whatever will bring them the most pleasing or satisfying results."
But only 24% made their choices based upon "religious teaching or Bible content."
God calls His people to live by faith. He’s looking for a faith that influences the choices we make.
But just because we SAY we have faith… doesn’t make it so.
ILLUS: Ken Davis, in his book “How To Speak To Youth”, told of the time he was in speech class. He wrote:
We were to be graded on our creativity and ability to drive home a point in a memorable way. The title of my talk was, "The Law of the Pendulum."
I spent 20 minutes carefully teaching the physical principle that governs a swinging pendulum.
The law of the pendulum is: A pendulum can never return to a point higher than the point from which it was released. Because of friction and gravity, when the pendulum returns, it will fall short of its original release point. Each time it swings it makes less and less of an arc, until finally it is at rest. This point of rest is called the state of equilibrium, where all forces acting on the pendulum are equal.
I attached a 3-ft string to a child’s toy top and secured it to top of the blackboard w/ a thumbtack. I pulled the top to one side and made a mark on the blackboard where I let it go. Each time it swung back I made a new mark. It took less than a minute for the top to complete its swinging and come to rest. When I finished the demonstration, the markings on the blackboard proved my thesis.
I then asked how many people in the room BELIEVED the law of the pendulum was true. All of my classmates raised their hands, so did the teacher. He started to walk to the front of the room thinking the class was over. In reality it had just begun.
Hanging from the steel ceiling beams in the middle of the room was a large, crude but functional pendulum (250 pounds of metal weights tied to four strands of 500-pound test parachute cord.).
I invited the instructor to climb up on a table and sit in a chair with the back of his head against a cement wall. Then I brought the 250 pounds of metal up to his nose. Holding the huge pendulum just a fraction of an inch from his face, I once again explained the law of the pendulum he had applauded only moments before, "If the law of the pendulum is true, then
when I release this mass of metal, it will swing across the room and return short of the release point. Your nose will be in no danger."
After that final restatement of this law, I looked him in the eye and asked, "Sir, do you believe this law is true?"
There was a long pause. Huge beads of sweat formed on his upper lip and then weakly he nodded and whispered, "Yes." I released the pendulum. It made a swishing sound as it arced across the room. At the far end of its swing, it paused momentarily and started back. I never saw a man move so fast in my life. He literally dived from the table. Deftly stepping around the still-swinging pendulum, I asked the class, "Does he believe in the law of the pendulum?"
DID HE? (no)
One man once observed:
It’s easy to SAY you believe in something… but it’s a much different thing to actually prove it.
That’s what Genesis 22 is all about.
Notice what it says in the first verse: “Some time later God TESTED Abraham…” Genesis 22:1
Why test him?
Because it’s easy to SAY believe in something… it’s a much different thing to actually prove it
Like anything of any value... true faith will always be tested
ILLUS: One man once wrote: All sorts of things are tested to prove that they are genuine.
When you go to a bank and give a $20 bill to the cashier, she runs a special pen over a bill or hold it to a special light. Why would she do that? Because she is testing it to make sure it is genuine. You are glad she does because you don’t want a forged $20 given to you in change.
When you go the pharmacy, and purchase prescription drugs you do so believing that drug has been tested. You trust that the manufacturer has done clinical trials and has proven it is safe.
When you buy a car, you believe it’s safe because car companies are required to test them.
An army going through basic training is not ready for battle. It’s not until soldiers have faced the enemy fire that they consider themselves proven, hardened, worthy.
A ship can’t prove that it’s well built as long as it stays in dry dock. Its hull has to get wet; it must face the waves and storms of the sea to prove it’s genuinely seaworthy.
We expect EVERYTHING that has value to be tested. And the MORE important something is -- the more we rely upon its being safe/valuable - the more rigorous that test is going to be.
And so, here we have Abraham – a man chosen by God.and given very special promises by God.
And Abraham was chosen to receive these honors because God wanted Abraham to serve a very critical role in our salvation.
Abraham was not just chosen to become the foundation of a great nation - he’s being selected to be an example for God’s people... a role model of what faith is supposed to look like.
This was the most crucial assignment any man could ever have received from God, and because of that Abraham’s faith was put to the most rigorous testing God could arrange.
What kind of test was it?
It was the type of test where Abraham had to make a choice.
ILLUS: Back when I was in school, I quickly learned the importance of studying for tests.
Some teachers preferred multiple choice types of questions, others liked true and false tests, while others liked essay style answers. But no matter what form the test may have taken, I always knew that I would be required to make choice.
And there are right choices... and there were wrong ones.
But I had to make a choice. I had to make a decision.
Because, if I left a question blank, that was the same as giving a wrong answer.
Now, Abraham is being put to the test.
He’s being placed in the position of making a choice.
And this was the choice: Which did he love more...
Did he love his son more than God...
Or did he love God more than his son.
Jesus told His followers that sooner or later – all of us will have to answer that kind of test question. Jesus said:
"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Mt 10:37-39
Sooner or later, you and I will have to make a choice of what you love more.
Do we love God... OR
Do we love our families more
Do we love God... OR
Do we love our jobs more
Do we love God... OR
Do we love our possessions more
At some point in our lives we will be faced with the decision of what’s more important to us. And we’ll be tempted to compromise our relationship with God in order to try and keep them both. We’ll try to bend and twist our faith so that we can “save” something else that we hold precious and valuable.
And Jesus said there’s a right answer... and a wrong answer for that question and if we find ourselves willing to compromise our faith to save our relationships, our jobs or our possessions, THAT’S THE WRONG ANSWER.
But Jesus promised that if we were willing to lose even our lives for Him… if we were willing to stand for God even though we risk losing something else of value in our lives… we’ll end up “finding” whatever it was we thought we were in danger of losing.
Paul said it this way: “... I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” 2Timothy 1:12
In other words Paul was saying: “I know God is trustworthy. And if I give the things I consider precious to God, He won’t drop them. He’ll take care of them.”
Oddly enough, that’s kind of the attitude Abraham had when he took Isaac to the mountain for sacrifice. I don’t know if you caught it, but we’re told:
He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then WE will come back to you." Ge 22:5
Did you catch that? WE will come back to you. But, if Abraham intended to sacrifice his son in obedience to God, how could he possibly have expected to have brought his boy back with him?
That doesn’t seem to make any sense?
But it does once you read Hebrews 11:19. There, we’re told that “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.”
Abraham reasoned that God had made a promise. The promise was that a great nation would be fathered through Isaac, the boy of promise. So Abraham reasoned: “God can’t lie. He’s made a promise. So even if I do sacrifice my son, God would bring Isaac back from the dead.”
That’s the repeated message of faith throughout Scripture:
Faith is acting on your belief in a God who you trust… even when trusting Him doesn’t seem to make sense.
ILLUS: Recently, our giving has fallen off. We’re presently $3000 in the red.
I’ve been praying about it quite a bit lately...and I have to admit that I’ve been troubled by this. I’ve become a little anxious. Every Monday or Tuesday, I’ve pulled out the treasurer’s book to see what the offering was for that Sunday, only to become more frustrated and concerned.
But, preparing for last Sunday’s sermon I ran across a scripture that said “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
And then in this sermon, I see Abraham being asked to surrender his son to God. And even though that must have made him anxious... Abraham chose to trust God.
So I’ve became convicted that I had to make a decision to make. A choice to make. And I had to make this decision publicly. I had to decide whether or not I trusted God. This is His church. If He wants us to have the money, He’ll make sure it is provided.
Now, I debated whether or not to use this illustration this morning, because I thought that I’d be misunderstood and that I would be using this to manipulate people. But that’s not what I’m doing here. I mean if you feel compelled to up your tithe to help offset our expenses, or if you’ve not tithed before and this leads you to start now, that would be great. But that’s not my motive.
I am making this decision publicly because I serve the God of Abraham, and I need to acknowledge that before you today. And I believe that God can and will deal with our financial situation in a very dramatic way.
ILLUS: The last church I served was a little congregation out in the middle of nowhere. It was one of those places you had to want to get to, to get there. It had been their dream to have a new sanctuary, but the cost was intimidating.
Then, one day, a relative of one of the members who lived out in California decided to sell a piece of their property there in California and donate the proceeds to this little church. The property sold for a million dollars! They built their sanctuary.
That’s the kind of God I serve. He doesn’t need me… and He doesn’t need you to accomplish His purposes. But He allows to participate so that we can share in His joy.
What I’m saying to you this morning is this: I believe in a God who can supply for our needs. I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which we commit to Him. I’m just making this statement publicly, so that when He does do that for us, I can say: I told you so.
CLOSE: The key to Abraham’s kind of faith is the willingness to take the test. A willingness to look at the question, and put God and His faithfulness down as my answer.
A man by the name of Steve Winger told of his last college exam. It was a final in a class in Logic. The professor was known for giving difficult exams. Steve noted that the professor did make one concession:
"To help us on our test, the professor told us we could bring as much information as we could fit on a piece of notebook paper.
Most students scrammed as many facts as possible on their 8 and 1/2 by 11" sheet of paper.
But one student walked into class, put a piece of paper on the floor, and had an advanced Logic student stand on the paper. The advanced Logic student told him everything he needed to know. And he was the only student to receive an "A"
