Discovering the Possibilities of Faith
Lesson: What Does God Want from Me?
Hebrews 11:17-19
Turn to Gen. 22. Today we are wrapping up our Discovering the Possibilities of Faith campaign – it has been quite a journey over the past three months, watching many of you wrestle with issues of faith and hearing about your victories and struggles. But rather than topping this off with a nice “wrap-up” kind of message, today’s message might be the most challenging and messy of them all, because today’s message hits at the core of our being. I want to invite you to think honestly and open up your heart, allowing God to penetrate and show you things you haven’t seen before. Let’s start out by reading together vs. 1-19.
This story of Abraham offering his son Isaac is one of the top five toughest stories for me personally to read in the bible because I consider myself primarily a husband and a father. Any story like this one that attacks my values and instincts as a husband or father is hard for me to deal with. Now turn to Hebrews 11, and let’s read an addendum in the great chapter on faith where we have been focused on for the past 5 or 6 weeks.
Let’s read Hebrews 11:17-19 together.
17 It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,
18 even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” 19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.
We’ve answered some great questions about faith the last two weeks – can I really have my inheritance, and how can I have my inheritance – we’ve focused on what God wants to give us. But today we wrap this discussion up by asking a question that involves some painful images – “what does God want from me?” And the story of Abraham will help guide us along, but it is the most uncomfortable of stories.
There are a few reasons why we don’t like this story:
1. We don’t like the idea of God testing our faith. We don’t like to think that God at times will stretch our limits and our faith in Him and cause us to be in the worst possible predicaments so as to see if we will trust Him like we claim to trust Him.
2. We don’t like the idea that God would ask us to sacrifice our most precious treasure. Our most treasured possessions are not our possessions, but rather our relationships. That God would dare reach into our personal world is frightening to us – “God, take my money, take my car, my house, my job, my church, my retirement – but don’t ask me to give You my most precious relationship that I have.”
3. We don’t like the idea that Abraham actually followed through with God’s request. After reading this story, we feel put on the spot – “How could Abraham have done what He did?!” The Bible makes it clear that unless God had stayed His hand, in Abraham’s heart, Isaac was dead.
In his book, Velvet Elvis, I love what Rob Bell writes about the stories in the Bible when he tells us that “It’s not so much that the stories happened, but that they happen.” The fact is that God doesn’t only make the request to Abraham to lay down his most precious possession – it’s that God is still doing this today.
Now let me be clear – God is not leading you to KILL anybody (as tempting as that might sound), please don’t misunderstand my words this morning. But there is a point, where as we surrender the very possessions and relationships that are most important to us, as we lay them down at the altar before God – that God replaces everything/everyone else as our most treasured Possession. At that point of surrender, of laying everything else down- my son or my daughter or my husband or wife or mom or dad- I am doing away with any other possession taking God’s place.
There is a great series of messages rolling around in my head that I will preach someday titled, “What God wants to know.” One of these messages might very well deal with Gen. 22:12 (on screen) where the Angel of the Lord stops Abraham from killing his son and says, “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
God wants to know what place He takes in our lives – and there are times according to the Bible where He might test us in this area. I ask God, “What do you want from me?” and the clear resounding answer is, “I want it all.”
Look at Matthew 16:24-26 (on screen/sheet):
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
These words of Jesus are almost menacing, threatening – almost as if He were saying, “Give it all up for me, or else!” And perhaps there is a twinge of that, but I invite you as you ask this question “What does God want from me?” – I ask you to these passages we’ve read from a different light.
Faith’s biggest question isn’t so much, “What does God want from me?” as compared to “Can God can be trusted with what I give Him?” And to view Abraham’s story from this angle of “Can God be trusted?” as compared to “How much does God want?” frees up this story and allows us to answer the right question – “When I give God what He wants from me, when I give up my life (as Jesus said in Matthew 16), can He be trusted to save my life, to operate in my best interests, to give me a life of fulfillment?”
The matter of faith is a matter of trust. What does God want from me? What did God want from Abraham? TRUST – complete, whole-hearted, unafraid, childlike TRUST. Do you REALLY trust God? I want to wrap up this message by giving you two practical steps from Hebrews 11 of how to build your TRUST in God from the life of Abraham – two steps that will turn you from a suspicious follower of God always looking for the bad news around the corner to the follower of God, like Abraham, who walks in freedom and confidence.
Two simple statements in Hebrews 11 give us our two simple steps, starting in vs. 17 (on sheet – read vs. 17 with me) “It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac…”
“Abraham, who had received God’s promises” - say that with me. The key to our first step to building our trust in God –
1) I receive God’s promises.
As Abraham traveled the three day journey to sacrifice Isaac, there was no doubt in Abraham’s mind that Isaac was the fulfillment of God’s promise. I can only imagine the internal struggle as Abraham walked along that he had to keep reminding himself, “You are the son of promise. You are God’s promised one.” But Hebrews 11 tells us that Abraham, at some point prior to this test, HAD RECEIVED GOD’S PROMISES.
You and I need to receive God’s promises. There might be tough, trying times ahead, when God will allow our faith to be tested, when we will be shaken to the very core. (next sentence is NOT a question) What will get us through these hard times, what will increase our trust in God and allow us to surrender everything to Him are the promises from God that we receive.
How do you receive a promise? It’s really simple – when you read a promise that applies to you, say out loud “I receive that.” For example,
Romans 8:38 (screen)
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
Say “I receive that.”
Another one Philippians 4:19:
And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Say “I receive that.”
Abraham RECEIVED the promises of God, and because of that, after he endured the greatest testing he would ever go through, his faith was not SHAKEN but rather it was STRONGER than ever! He realized that if He had a promise from God that unless God decided to go back on His Word, NO CIRCUMSTANCE OR SITUATION OR TIGHT SPOT OR STRUGGLE OR SACRIFICE WAS GOING TO OVERCOME WHAT GOD HAD SAID! And when you and I find ourselves in a time of testing, if we will receive and rest in God’s promises, it does not matter how bleak or desperate a situation looks, we can rest confidently in the promise that says, “Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” (Romans 8:37 – on screen/sheet)
The other step in building our trust in God is found in Hebrews 11:19 – “Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again.” Say God is able – come on, say it again – and again. Do you know why I can trust God – why I can give Him every last part of my life, including those things that are nearest to me, that I don’t even like to mention because they are so dear to me? Do you know why I can give Him everything without holding back – it is because GOD IS ABLE. That’s the second part of building your trust -
2) I declare that God is able.
Let me clarify one thing, elaborate on another, and then we’ll be done. To clarify – GOD IS MORE ABLE THAN I AM (say that with me). You ask, “Pastor, what do you mean?” God is infinitely more able than I am to keep those things that I give to Him than I will ever be – my wife, my kids, my parents, my job, my money, my possessions – whatever I hold dear, when I realize that GOD IS ABLE (say that with me!) - WHEN I REALIZE HE IS ABLE, I REALIZE THAT EVERYTHING I HAVE IS IN MUCH BETTER HANDS THAN MY OWN! Like Paul said in 2 Tim. 1:12 (on screen), “For I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” (NASB) It’s not “Rob is able!” – it’s “GOD IS ABLE” (say that with me!) That’s a clarification.
But let me elaborate – what is God able to do according to the Bible? Are you ready to practice this right now? (Every time I say, “He is able or God is able” – you declare, “GOD IS ABLE!”)
Romans 16:25, “Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong”
2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you… (ESV)
Ephesians 3:20, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”
Hebrews 7:25, “Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him…”
Jude 24, “Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.”
GOD IS ABLE – that’s why I can give Him everything in faith – because He is able. And I receive His promises, which I know He always honors – so He is completely reliable and trustworthy. The hard question of faith, “Can God be trusted with what I give Him?” is answered with a loud YES – because I receive His promises and I declare that He is able!
Romans 4:20-21 wraps up the matter like this,
“Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.”
Will you give God today everything you have, knowing that His promises are for you and He is able?
STAND WITH ME
INVITATION
How’s your trust today? Are you holding back from God, thinking that you can take care of your kids or your finances or your relationships or your church better than He can?
Gen 22:14
Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the LORD will provide”).
When you decide to let God take over your life in full – every aspect, every part, every relationship – when you give Him top place in your life – you will be in a Jehovah-Jireh place, where He will provide based on His promises and on His power. Will you make this place, this altar the place where you meet Jehovah-Jireh today?
