Sermon manuscript:
I’d like to consider our Old Testament reading today about
Abraham and Isaac from two perspectives. First, I’d like to consider how an
unbeliever might regard what is going on. Then I’d like to consider how a
believer understands what is going on. By looking at this event from these two
different perspectives, I hope that you can see the radical difference faith
makes for how a person understands God and his actions.
So let’s begin with the unbeliever’s perspective of Genesis
22. In a way, Genesis 22 is one of the unbeliever’s favorite parts of the
Bible. The unbeliever wants to believe that the bible is irrational, unreliable,
full of tales and myths, and even those tales and myths are often more
disturbing than edifying. Thus it is below the dignity of any sane, rational
person to believe what the Bible says. Genesis 22 seems to offer support for
such a view.
After all, what kind of a God says to anyone, much less to
one of his faithful followers, that he should sacrifice his son, his only son,
whom he loves? It is a monstrous thought. Any parent can tell you the utter
repugnance they have toward such a thing. A parent would much rather sacrifice
their own self, and spare the child, rather than put any child whom they love
to death. So the idea of God demanding such a hateful thing is the kind of
stuff that makes people say, “If God is like that, then I don’t want to have
anything to do with him.” Thus we can see that the God of Genesis 22 is hateful to the unbeliever.
Abraham, the believer, is also hateful to the unbeliever.
What kind of deranged fanatic is willing to go through with something like
this? If Abraham is willing to do this, then what is he not willing to do for his God? Abraham seems to be the type of
person that makes people say that organized religion is bad, that all kinds of
atrocities have been done in the name of religion.
So that’s what an unbeliever thinks of this God and Abraham
his servant. Wwhat kind of God and what kind of believer would be more
acceptable to the unbeliever? That’s actually pretty easy to answer. All you
have to do is consider the popular beliefs all around us. Unbelievers are
pretty content with how the average person thinks about God and how people
should be pious.
Let’s get a little more specific. Unbelievers want a God who
is very detached and afar off. He’s out there somewhere, but he doesn’t say
much and he doesn’t do much. If anything he is just happy to watch people have
a good time on this earth. He doesn’t make any specific serious commands. He
might have some suggestions, but it’s always up to the person whether or not he
or she would like agree with him. He certainly, never ever, says anything weird
like: “Abraham, sacrifice your son, your only son, whom you love.”
God, to an unbeliever’s mind, always has to present himself
in such a way where everybody wants
to believe in him. If God should happen to break that rule, like he does here,
then we can just ignore that. Cut it out of the Sunday School curriculum. This
kind of thing happens all the time, even with good publishing houses, like our
Concordia Publishing House. They mean well. They do not want to scandalize
anybody with the gory or seedy details. But this editing only plays into the
unbelieving mind we all have. All people, to a greater or lesser extent, believe
they have the right to believe in God only to the extent that we want to. If
God does something we don’t like, then we can safely ignore that.
So what this means is that a person can pledge allegiance to
God, but despise whatever nasty things the Bible says that he has done. So what
is important for them is that the idea
of God and the idea of faith are
embraced. That is considered sufficient. These things should never get too
specific. If these things get too specific, then it might cramp our style. And,
after all, what is really important about life is that we always have a good
time.
In order to always have a good time, one’s religion should
never be taken too seriously. It should be seen as kind of a hobby, or how a
person might be a member of a public service organization like the Lion’s Club
or the Kiwanis. Just as God should always act in such a way where everybody
always wants to believe in him, so
also religion, according to the unbeliever, must always be something that a person
wants to participate in. If that rule
should be broken, then a person is fully justified in walking away from
something like that. Thus, with Abraham, surely he didn’t want to participate
in that stressful, terrifying event. He should have just quit, and practiced
his own religion at home.
I think you already know that this God and this religion—which
is the most widely practiced religion among us—is terribly boring. It’s as
boring as a Lion’s Club meeting. But it does have one redeeming feature that is
so powerful that our people can’t help but embrace it: It is as tame as a
kitten. The devil gets banished. Hell is written out of existence. God always
agrees with you. So you are free to pursue all your life goals to your heart’s
content. Then, after living your long, happy life, you can have your life flash
before your eyes before you die. You can lap up the sweet sentimentality to the
last drop. Then we, who are left behind after your passing, can get together
and celebrate your life! This is the Gospel, not according to St. Matthew or
St. Mark; it is the Gospel according to Saint Disney.
There is an obvious contrast between popular religion and
what God has revealed to us in the Bible. Popular religion is super, duper
safe. The Bible teaches that life is not safe. The devil prowls around like a
lion. The plague prowls in the darkness, and the pestilence destroys at noon.
Finally all will be brought before a Holy God whose holiness is such that
sinners can’t help but be terrified before him.
Consider even the very heart of our faith: Jesus’s
resurrection from the dead. On that Easter morning the women ran from the tomb
with shivers racing up and down their spines. They said nothing to anyone
because they were afraid. So if being as tame as a kitten is the sign of a good
religion, then Christianity gets a big fat F.
But who made the rule that religion has to be as tame as a
kitten? I think we are so used to that idea—we’re so thoroughly trained in that
idea—that we can’t hardly see straight when it comes to Genesis 22. We’re so
busy being embarrassed about God, or trying to make excuses for God, that we
don’t even see what is going on. So let’s look at Genesis 22 from a believer’s
perspective.
For that I’d like to quote rather extensively from the New
Testament book of Hebrews. What we will see is that Genesis 22 is not an
isolated event for Abraham. It wasn’t as though this were Abraham’s only
interaction with God. God had already dealt with Abraham. This is the
continuation of a pattern. Hebrews chapter 11 says:
By faith Abraham obeyed when he
was called to go to a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance, and
he left without knowing where he was going.
By faith he lived as a stranger
in the Promised Land, as if it did not belong to him, dwelling in tents along
with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was
looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder
is God.
By faith Abraham also received
the ability to conceive children, even though Sarah herself was barren and he
was past the normal age, because he considered him faithful who made the
promise. And so from one man (and he as good as dead), descendants were born as
numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand along the
seashore.
And now we come to Genesis 22:
By faith Abraham, when he was
tested, offered Isaac. This man, who received the promises, was ready to offer
his only son, about whom it was said, “Through Isaac your offspring will be
traced.” He reasoned that God also had the ability to raise him from the dead,
and, in a figurative sense, Abraham did receive him back from the dead.
As the writer of Hebrews sketches Abraham’s life for us, we
can see that it is pretty much the opposite of the unbeliever’s religion.
Instead of God being distant, he is incredibly near for Abraham. Instead of
God’s specific words being neither here nor there and completely ignorable,
God’s promises were incredibly important to Abraham, even before they came to
fulfillment, and even when it didn’t look like they would be fulfilled. Instead
of living for this life and dining on the sentimentality of how wonderful it
all is, Abraham set his eyes on a much more distant horizon. He was but a
stranger here. Heaven was his home. He was looking for his permanent dwelling
in the temple not made with human hands where he would dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. Thus the resurrection of the body and the life of the world
to come was not only kept in mind, it was at the center of his vision.
I’m sure you caught the refrain in that quotation from
Hebrews: “By faith.” By faith he left behind his family and pushed on to
a greater inheritance. By faith he lived in tents. By faith he conceived a
child even though he and Sarah were too old to have children. By faith he
believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead, if need be. By faith Abraham
keeps his eyes on God. His relationship with God is not a hobby. He’s not
looking for an earthly quality of life. He is looking for God to fulfill his
promises. Blessed is the one who is looking for God to fulfill his promises,
for such a one will not be disappointed.
God will keep his promise of our heavenly inheritance through
Jesus Christ our Savior. But God already provides comfort and relief in this life
for those he loves. Here, with Abraham, God had mercy. He stayed Abraham’s hand
and showed him a ram caught in a thicket. The ram was sacrificed instead of
Isaac. Notice the name that Abraham gives to that place. He called it, “The
Lord will provide.” Let that be your own motto. In the midst of sadness and
suffering: “The Lord will provide.” In
the valley of the shadow of death: “The Lord will provide.” The God of all
comfort comforts us in our afflictions.
I hope that I have made it clearer to you on how differently
unbelievers and believers regard Genesis 22. In a way they both find what they
are looking for. Unbelievers are looking justification for why they despise and
ignore their Creator. They want to feel good about how they have their
priorities straight, namely, faith, family, fun. Here it seems that they have
an ironclad case against God. He is a monster, and anyone who believes in him
is a monster too.
Believers look to the same event and see a fellow pilgrim.
Abraham is making his way to that city that is without a human architect or
builder. We are making our way to that city too. God lays afflictions upon
Abraham. God lays afflictions on us. God comforts and sustains Abraham so that
he is not tested beyond what he can bear. God promises the same for us.
Plus, when it comes to how believers understand Genesis 22,
there is one thing we’ve left out. And, in fact, this might be the most
important thing: believers find a wonderful foreshadowing of our redemption in
the ram who was slain in Isaac’s place.
One day our heavenly Father would sacrifice the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world. On this occasion the Father’s hand would
not be stayed, but he would put to death his Son, his only Son, whom he loved. Atonement
was made. God’s deadly wrath against sin is satisfied. The devil can no longer
hold on to us with his accusations of wickedness that otherwise would land us
in hell. Instead we receive adoption from God. He claims us as his own children
and heirs.
And the story is not yet over for us. One day a trumpet will
blow. We will go out leaping like calves from the stall with the warm spring
rays of God’s holiness and love radiating down upon us. Shivers up and down the
spine cannot do justice to that day. We’ll have never experienced anything like
it. We will see God.
Lord, provide for us, that we be prepared for that great
day. The Lord will provide.
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