We all have things that we value in life. And we want to accumulate as many of these things as possible. Maybe you have found a sweater that you absolutely love, so you bought it in every color they make it in. You can do that because to have a black sweater doesn’t mean you can’t also have a blue sweater. Or maybe you really value work done by a specific artist. You can acquire new pieces by this artist without having to give up the pieces that are already hanging in your home.  

But there are other things we value where to have one of them means we can’t have the other one. I value being fit; I really do. But I also value donuts, especially from Bob’s or Johnny’s. Do you see how these two values might compete against each other? You can value living in San Francisco and New York and Tokyo and London, but you can’t choose one of them without forfeiting the others – at least at the same time.

For most of us here, we value having God in our lives. And we also value having many other things in our lives. And when it’s like the sweater or the art pieces illustration, all is well…because we get to hold onto multiple things we value. The challenge or the test comes when we begin to realize that we cannot have both God and everything else we value. And these are the moments when decisions must be made about what we value most.

Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”

Jesus gives us a parable about a man who knew he couldn’t obtain this treasure without giving up everything else he valued. What would lead him to do such a thing? He knew he couldn’t miss out on this treasure, even if he had to lose out on other things he valued.

God is interested in knowing how much value we place on him. The first commandment of the 10 commandments – “You shall have no other gods before me.” When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And sometimes the only way we can know if we’re doing this is when we’re asked by God to give up something in our lives that has supreme value to us.

Our text for today is Genesis 22:1-14. I want to go ahead and tell you that parts of this story are going to disturb and infuriate you. But don’t let that cause us to miss out on the greater lessons God is wanting to teach us today.

Genesis 22:1-14 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 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.” 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. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 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, 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?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. 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. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “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.” 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. 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.”

On the surface, this sounds like God is advocating for and even commanding child sacrifice. As people have engaged this story throughout history, many have been appalled at God for asking this of Abraham and at Abraham for going through with it. I get it. But I have chosen this text because it shows us what’s really in God’s heart and what’s really in our hearts. It gives us a fundamental picture of what Christianity actually is and what worship looks like.

Isaac is the miracle baby that Abraham and Sarah have waited on. He is the one God promised to provide, even when they were long past the normal childbearing years. The name Isaac means “son of laughter” and you can imagine the joy he brought to them. And now God shows up to Abraham to test him. Abraham has had his faith tested so many times already.

Do not assume that the greatest test of your faith is behind you.

If I’m being honest with you, I kind of hope the greatest test of my faith is behind me. My faith was greatly tested when I lost my mom when I was only 25. My faith was greatly tested when we moved out here to start this church. My faith was greatly tested when it took over 3 years to bring Kavita into our family.

If God had asked Abraham to do almost anything else, it would have been so much easier for him to say “yes” to it. But God asked for the thing that Abraham values most. “Take your son and sacrifice him.” I couldn’t do this. And I’m guessing you couldn’t either. And thankfully there is no New Testament example of Jesus asking anyone to do this. But it does implore us to ask ourselves some questions.

What is off limits when it comes to what God can have in your life?

What will you refuse to give up or offer to God? When we say that our vision is to orient our entire lives around Jesus, what exceptions are you writing into that? “I am committed to orienting my entire life around Jesus except for my work, except for what I do on my computer late at night, except for the direction of my family, except for my dating life, except for this one little habit that I have.”

Abraham gets up early the next morning to do the thing God asked him to do. How did he respond so quickly with this kind of faith and obedience? He was obviously living with a “yes” in his spirit for whatever God asked him to do.

Most of us are withholding our “yes” from God until after we receive His question.

Abraham had to reconcile how God would keep his promise, while essentially asking Abraham to offer the promise as a sacrifice. How did he reconcile these two things? For this, we need to go to New Testament commentary about how he did this.

Hebrews 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

Abraham believed that God would keep his promise, even if a resurrection had to take place.

Isaac asks his father on the way to the mountain, “The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answers, “The Lord will provide.” And just as Abraham takes the knife to slay his son, the angel calls him by name. “Do not lay a hand on the boy. 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.” And Abraham looks up and sees a ram and he ends up sacrificing the ram instead of Isaac. And he gives a name to this place – The Lord Will Provide.

The God who asks everything from you is the same God who provides everything for you.

Abraham and Isaac were spared from this moment because the ram became the substitute. But when God sent Jesus to earth to sacrifice his life for the sins of the world, Jesus was the substitute. Jesus could not hold onto his life and pay the price for our sins. So as Scripture says in so many different ways, “Jesus loved us and gave himself for us.” God also knows what it feels like to give up what is most precious to you.

Worship is about offering our entire lives to God and for God. And it’s about trusting that He can provide what we need most, no matter what it might cost us.

What in your life do you think has a better future in your hands than it does in God’s hands?

Why do we hold things back from God? We think what we give him won’t be safe or that we’ll lose what matters most to us. Here’s a fundamental question that will determine how we view God, whether we put our faith in Jesus, and how we worship God:

Do you believe God is ultimately a Taker or a Giver?

For God so loved the world that He gave.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Faith in Jesus.

Surrender, believing ultimately God is a giver.