This chapter spotlights God's immutable reliability. The God of Abraham is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Abraham's God is our God. I want to share the particular details of this story in effort to raise our Ebenezer stone (1 Samuel 7:12) in honor of the One who is Faithful and True. When God tests our faith (James 1:2-4) may we remember Genesis 22 that we might trust Jehovah-Jireh.
The extreme test of faith that Abraham receives in Genesis 22 is one of the most familiar stories in Scripture. Would Abraham trust and obey the Lord even when doing so made no sense at all? "When praise demanded a sacrifice would he worship even then?" Genesis 22:1-2, After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
For First Baptist Church our faith was tested when obedience to God's Word meant ongoing internal opposition, much slander and gossip, and eventually numerical and financial losses. Let me be honest here. Even when you are firmly convinced that the most important kind of church growth is spiritual growth (per Col. 1:28) it is still not easy to remain faithful to the Word of God when you begin to suffer for righteousness sake. It is not so easy being a 'Word-dominated, 9-Marks' church when the going gets tough.
Abraham's radical response of faith is described in verses 3-10. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you." 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 8 Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
Our response of faith was not nearly as "radical" or "moving" as father Abraham's but it was just as necessary if the reforming work of God was to continue at the FBC of Freeport. From weekly sermon expositions of controversial texts (2 Timothy 4:1-5), to private one another type conversations with wayward church members (Gal. 6:1-4, Matthew 18:15), to explosive outbursts of wrath at congregational meetings, the temptation to compromise was ever before us. Would the lay leaders continue to hold the line or would they try yet another ministry paradigm? Would the membership continue to come back each week to worship, serve, and fellowship? Would the pastoral staff persevere during the most trying of times? Would our church continue to trust and obey even when doing so did not make a lot of sense (humanly speaking)? When obedience demanded a sacrifice (time, treasure, reputation) would we worship and obey Christ even then? This test of faith seemed to reach a pinnacle for us in 2012.
THIS POST WILL BE CONTINUED....
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