Creekside Church, Sunday, April 3, 2022
The Re-Test
Locations & Times
Creekside Church
660 Conservation Dr, Waterloo, ON N2J 3Z4, Canada
Sunday 9:00 AM
Sunday 10:30 AM
Abraham's Story - Genesis 12-25
---
Genesis 16:1-4
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
---
While it isn't stated directly, Abraham's faith is tested many times throughout his story. Sometimes he passes, sometimes he fails. His life looks a lot like us.
Abraham's failures, and ours, expose our lack of faith, which is one of reasons God tests us. To reveal what is within us.
---
Genesis 22:1-18
1Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 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.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
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 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 The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
---
Notice in the passage there are 3 series of summons and response exchanges. But vs 8 stands out as not fitting the other patterns.
Summons by God – v1
Response from Abraham – v1
Command from God – v2
Summons by Isaac – vs 7
Response from Abraham – vs 7
Question from Isaac – vs 7
Statement by Abraham – vs 8
Summons by Angel – vs 11
Reponse from Abraham – vs 11
Statement by Angel – vs 12
Vs 8 is the key – God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.
---
“Abraham’s anguished acknowledgement that God is God…The God who delivers is the one who prohibits any alternative God, any alternative trust.”
- Walter Brueggemann
---
Genesis 22:12
Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
Similar to Deuteronomy 8:2-3
2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
God tests in order to know/prove/reveal what's in our hearts. Because he's looking for partners. Ones he can trust to be his faithful image bearers. That's been the project from the beginning.
---
God keeps working with us
Our tests may expose us but they don’t cancel us
If you’re not dead the tests aren’t done
You’re breathing?
There will be another test.
---
So should we pray for tests?
Lord's Prayer - "And lead us not into temptation/the test"
Please don’t put me into a test that I’ll fail.
Don't lead us into unbearable testing.
---
Perhaps we should learn to pray, "God, expose me, without a test"
Allow me to see my duplicity, lack of faith, idols without having to make a complete mess of my life.
Pray in such a way that you’re preparing for the inevitable test. But not for the test.
---
And when I am tested…help me to see, and to trust, that there is a way out
1 Cor 10:13
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted[ beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
---
Perhaps Abraham story isn’t just about Abraham being found faithful, but about God being found faithful
Abraham isn’t the only one who is revealed
God is revealed as the God who provides
The same God, who in the fullness of time, would provide another sacrifice – his own son – for the sins of the world
Who does God want to be for you in this season?
Who does God want to reveal himself as to you?
Who have you been doubting he is?
---
Genesis 16:1-4
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
---
While it isn't stated directly, Abraham's faith is tested many times throughout his story. Sometimes he passes, sometimes he fails. His life looks a lot like us.
Abraham's failures, and ours, expose our lack of faith, which is one of reasons God tests us. To reveal what is within us.
---
Genesis 22:1-18
1Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 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.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
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 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 The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
---
Notice in the passage there are 3 series of summons and response exchanges. But vs 8 stands out as not fitting the other patterns.
Summons by God – v1
Response from Abraham – v1
Command from God – v2
Summons by Isaac – vs 7
Response from Abraham – vs 7
Question from Isaac – vs 7
Statement by Abraham – vs 8
Summons by Angel – vs 11
Reponse from Abraham – vs 11
Statement by Angel – vs 12
Vs 8 is the key – God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.
---
“Abraham’s anguished acknowledgement that God is God…The God who delivers is the one who prohibits any alternative God, any alternative trust.”
- Walter Brueggemann
---
Genesis 22:12
Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
Similar to Deuteronomy 8:2-3
2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
God tests in order to know/prove/reveal what's in our hearts. Because he's looking for partners. Ones he can trust to be his faithful image bearers. That's been the project from the beginning.
---
God keeps working with us
Our tests may expose us but they don’t cancel us
If you’re not dead the tests aren’t done
You’re breathing?
There will be another test.
---
So should we pray for tests?
Lord's Prayer - "And lead us not into temptation/the test"
Please don’t put me into a test that I’ll fail.
Don't lead us into unbearable testing.
---
Perhaps we should learn to pray, "God, expose me, without a test"
Allow me to see my duplicity, lack of faith, idols without having to make a complete mess of my life.
Pray in such a way that you’re preparing for the inevitable test. But not for the test.
---
And when I am tested…help me to see, and to trust, that there is a way out
1 Cor 10:13
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted[ beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
---
Perhaps Abraham story isn’t just about Abraham being found faithful, but about God being found faithful
Abraham isn’t the only one who is revealed
God is revealed as the God who provides
The same God, who in the fullness of time, would provide another sacrifice – his own son – for the sins of the world
Who does God want to be for you in this season?
Who does God want to reveal himself as to you?
Who have you been doubting he is?