Sunday, July 9, 2023
Faith...The Willingness to Let God Be God
Music
Introit
Hymn #32
Hymn #684
Hymn #817
Hymn #539
Sermon Notes
By Jeff Gilstrap
Scripture:
Genesis 22:1-14Theme:
Faith is not so much a technique for achieving a happier, better life. Faith is trust in God that no matter where God leads you, even if you are not sure your life’s destination, you know for sure that the God of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jesus is the true and living God, the only one who can command, the only one worthy of sacrifice and obedience, the only one who will provide when we least expect it.
Reflections:
Abraham is considered in Jewish and Christian history, a man of great faith. In fact, in the book Hebrews in the NT, Abraham is made the great exemplar of the Christian faith, even though Abraham never met Christ. It would do you good to reread the Abrahamic story in Genesis.
Our story is one that makes us uneasy, a story of child sacrifice. Abraham is given the shocking assignment by God: “Take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him up as an entirely burned offering there on one of the mountains that I will show you.” How can this be? Can it be that the God who has so miraculously loved Abraham by giving him a son can now demand that son’s life? It’s unthinkable. There, on the mountain Abraham built an altar, laid the wood, bound his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham raised the knife to kill his son, but “the Lord’s messenger called out to Abraham from heaven, ‘Abraham? Abraham? . . . Don’t stretch out your hand against the young man, and don’t do anything to him. I now know that you revere God.’” There was a ram caught in a thicket. The ram was killed and offered on the fire instead of Isaac. As a result of God’s intervention, Abraham named the place “the Lord provides.”
I think it is easy for us to get caught up in the emotion of this story and miss a beautiful part of the story…the Lord provides. In our life of faith, we will go on a journey that makes no sense to us but in the end the Lord provides. The Lord will provide what we need if we believe and trust. The struggle is we fight the path because we want to go the direction we want and not trust the direction God lead us. How can we be more like Abraham, have faith and trust God in our future when we it seems uncertain or even wrong?
Questions:
- Why do you think Abraham never questioned God?
- Is there ever a time when we feel like God calls us to do something completely wrong or immoral?
- Is this an act of faith or blind allegiance?
- Have you had a time when you felt like you were wandering and in the end God provided?
- How can we trust and believe God will provide?
Music Notes
By Kenneth Jones
Reflections:
Introit: Paraphrased from Psalm 25, “Trust in God”, the first verse in particular is about having faith in God and his provision.
Opening Hymn: A hymn of breadth and wonder, “I Sing the Mighty Power of God”was originally titled “Praise for Creation and Providence”. God, the one who commands, worthy of our praise, always provides, even in creation.
Special Music: An arrangement of “Great is Thy Faithfulness” titled simply “Faithfulness”, by Joel Raney. This came to mind because our faith in God should be firmly rooted in God’s provision and faithfulness to us.
Responding Hymn: The footnotes describe “Faith Begins By Letting Go” like this, “This text affirms that faith is not a state of being but a process of becoming what we are meant to be in relationship to God, other people, and the world.”
Sending Hymn: For our Sending Hymn we turn to a lesson about faith taken from the New Testament story about the appearance of the Risen Christ to Thomas; “We Walk by Faith and Not by Sight”
Benediction: July’s Congregational Benediction is “We Will Go Out with Joy”