Faith and The Ultimate Test // November 19, 2023

READ Gen 22:1-19

In our series, we have learned how Abraham became the father of all who have faith, an example referenced in all of Scripture. The answer is through many tests, but what we have in this passage is not just any test but his final, cumulative exam. As one scholar noted, “No other story in the Bible can match such haunting beauty and theological depth.” God wants us to be shocked by this story to better understand that true and living faith has less to do with us and more with Him. 

1. The Shocking Test

Abraham has been through a lot, and “after all these things” (v1), he finally received all that he had hoped for, an heir in his son Isaac. In Isaac are Abraham’s life, meaning, and hope for the future of the promise. Then God tests him in an almost incomprehensible way: to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering (v2). Why? How? As difficult as this is to grasp, we must first step back to why God tests. Just as an academic test reveals what is true in our minds, a spiritual test reveals what is true in our souls. A test is meant to reveal and refine our faith so that we might become more mature. 

It seems cruel, barbaric, and even terrible of God to put Abraham through a test like this. Yet, the shocking reality is that if the object of our faith really does matter and everything else will one day be taken from us, then there is nothing more loving and good for God to do than to ensure our faith is in Him. God will not allow his gifts to become our gods. No matter how shocking it is, God asks us to offer up and let go of those things we cling to so much and trust in to give us the future we want. 

2. The Shocking Response

We don’t know what Abraham was thinking right away because he woke up early without delay in setting out to obey God (v.3). The following verses move much slower as they capture his journey with Isaac, moment by moment, up until he is right about to slaughter his son. Abraham trusted God and obeyed, but it was not blind faith, grit, or duty as if “God says it, and that settles it!” 

What was in Abraham’s heart? How did he do it? During the journey, Abraham tells others that “we’ll” come back, referring to Isaac (v. 5). Hebrews 12:19 also reveals that he “considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead.” Abraham “considered” that the promise of God would not contradict the command of God, even if that meant raising the dead. He had genuine faith that God would provide, no matter what (v.8). This is the difference between dead and living faith. Empty faith says, “I believe,” but never offers anything up. Living faith says, “If it dies, God will raise up something better.

3. The Shocking Result

The shocking result is that God never wanted Isaac to be offered up. He wanted to show Abraham Isaac that he would provide the offering. The main point of this passage is not about what “Isaac” you need to give up; it is about God becoming for us “the Lord will provide.” This promise should dwell in the deepest part of our soul, as it surely did for Abraham, who displayed genuine faith in a trial. No matter how shocking the situation, God will see that his promise is fulfilled to those who place their faith in Him.

For the blessing to be received and come to all the nations, there had to be an offering to cover sin and unbelief that stood in the way. The Gospel is founded upon the God who promises: “I will provide.” God gave up his beloved Son, who was offered up in our place. He was called the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. He carried the wood of his own suffering up the mountain and silently obeyed his father. If God has done this, do we have any reason not to trust him? Romans 8:32 reminds us of a beautiful promise: “He who did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,  How will he not also with him grant us everything?”

QUESTIONS

1. What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2. Why does God test us? Have you wrestled with this in your life? How does testing our faith bring maturity? What do tests reveal about us? about God?

3. What are some examples of things people place their trust in and won’t let go of? Is there something in your life of which you say to God - “no not that, I can’t give that up!”

4. Have you experienced the tension between God’s promise (of life, grace, strength, abundance” and God’s command (that seems to lead to death, emptiness, weakness and suffering)? How does Hebrews 11:19 help us see how Abraham trusted God in this situation? 

5. What have you given up and allowed to die as a result of your trust in Jesus? If it’s hard to think of something - what do you think God is calling you now to give up and allow to die as result of trusting obedience to Jesus? 

6. Why is it so difficult to believe that God will provide? How does the gospel assure us - even against all odds - he will?

Meditate on Romans 8:32 and pray together about what areas in your life you may still resist to believe the promise in this verse. What is holding you back from trusting that “God will provide?” Why?

Judgment and Faith // November 12, 2023

READ Genesis 18:16-33

One overarching lesson from this series has been that living by faith was not easy for Abraham. He often struggled, doubted, and wrestled with trusting God, yet through all this, God worked to build in him a refined, tested faith. In this passage, Abraham struggles with how to reconcile his faith in God with God’s impending judgment of two cities. He is not alone, as many of us today also struggle to understand God’s judgment in the context of His character, our world, and our future.  

1. Understanding God’s Judgment

We have to be honest and admit it – we all believe judgment is necessary. We may hide from this truth in places of peace or comfort, but it is nearly impossible when we open our eyes to the amount of violence, oppression, and injustice in the world. The real issue is that we disagree on who is qualified to judge and for what acts judgment is called for. God’s judgment is based on a complete and accurate perspective of the situation, something humans could never achieve. He reveals to Abraham that he not only hears injustice as an “outcry” but that he goes “down to see” it (v. 20-21). God is concerned about setting things right, as the Hebrew term for judgment (misphat) means in this passage. Even if it is hard to receive, would we not prefer a Judge who was perfectly just, exhaustive in knowledge, indiscriminately attentive? Our God is also patient in executing judgment, even amid the outcry of evil in our world.

2. Responding to God’s Judgment

God does not only want Abraham to understand judgment, but he also invites a response. We read in v. 25 that he “stepped forward” to make a case before God. Instead of rejecting him, God graciously invites Abraham’s response as an expression of genuine faith:

• Interrogate (v. 25) - Abraham voices his struggle and even questions God’s character. What does God say? “You’re right.” “You’re right to care about justice!” We should never be afraid to express our honest struggles to God.

• Intercede (v. 26-32) - Abraham intercedes not only for his nephew Lot and his family but for the entire city to be spared. He does so with great humility and reverence. God wants his people to intercede. His job is to judge; our job is to intercede.

• Entrust (v. 32) - At the end of our pleading, we must entrust ourselves to God. Abraham’s inquiry ends at a certain point, likely because he’s heard all he needs to validate his trust in God.

3. Escaping God’s Judgment

Abraham learned something important in his interaction with God that enabled him to trust God’s role as judge and His righteous judgment. God explains how his judgment will work. Not only would the righteous not be swept away with the wicked, but He would “spare” the whole place, everyone “for their sake” (v. 26). The translation “spare” is not strong enough and could accurately be translated as “forgive.” The God of righteousness, who has every reason to carry out firm judgment upon sinners, makes a way of forgiveness for all. The righteousness of the few is imputed or covers the wickedness of the many. 

The tension is at the heart of the whole Bible. As the grand story of the Bible moves forward, this interaction will reframe the story: Will there be a righteous remnant to spare the wicked, provide an escape from God’s judgment, or intercede for them? This tension, “imbalance” in God’s judgment, is only resolved in Jesus Christ. The Gospel confirms that we are forgiven and spared from judgment on account of the vicarious substitution of Christ. He bore the full judgment of God in our place. We find escape from the judgment of God, not by our righteousness but by faith in the righteousness of another, Jesus Christ our Lord.

QUESTIONS

1. What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2. Do you struggle with the idea of a God of judgment? Explain in your own words why - even if we struggle with it - that a God of perfect judgment is far better than the alternatives.

3. How can living in a place of peace or comfort shield us from the necessity of judgment? 

4. What does Abraham’s interaction teach us about what kind of prayer life we should have? Which part (interrogate, intercede, or entrust) do you find most naturally in your prayer life? Which one do you struggle with?

5. How do you tend to play the judge over others? What does this reveal about your own heart? 

6. How does the reality that you escaped judgment because of Jesus’ righteousness impact how you should judge others? What should compassionate judgment look like for fallible people like us?

Faith and Laughter // November 5, 2023

READ Gen 17:15-19; 18:1-15; 21:1-7

Martin Luther once said, “You have as much laughter as you have faith.” He’s saying  laughter is a sign of faith, but how can that be? Abraham’s story shows us that laughter is not only an important theme in his story but in its relationship to faith in God. Each passage considers a different kind of laughter that arrives at the laughter of faith. Remember that the name Isaac also means “he laughs.” For us to reach the laughter of faith we often must first pass through the others as Abraham and Sarah did.

1. The Laughter of Disbelief

When the Lord tells Abraham that his wife will bear a son in her old age, he falls facedown and laughs (17:17). How could a couple in their 90s possibly bear a child? His laughter is a kind of disbelief but not necessarily a mark of irreverence or hard-hearted doubt. Why? Abraham’s laugh is not a sign he doesn’t get the promise, the word of God; it’s a sign he does get it. That is why God was gentle with his disbelief. Consider how shocking it is that God chooses impossible situations to display his glory. If you haven’t laughed at the promise of God, then have you ever really heard it? If we haven’t laughed at the gospel and all it promises, we likely haven’t truly understood it! 

2. The Laughter of Disappointment

Sarah’s laugh is different than Abraham’s because she puts up more of a wall between herself and God. For many years, the deepest longing of her heart was to have a child. Perhaps that was now just a faint hope from the past? If Abraham had diminished hope in this possibility, she had undoubtedly lost hope. God questions Sarah’s laugh (18:13) because he notices something cynical underneath. God questions us because he wants us to express ourselves honestly in our disappointment and remember that nothing is impossible for Him! Though Sarah denied it, the Lord called her out. Though our disappointments can put up a wall over time between us and hope, God answers our laughter of disappointment by reminding us - “Is anything impossible for Him”? Even if we put up a wall, he is still there behind it. 

3. The Laughter of Faith

The Lord came to Sarah just as He had promised and kept his word to her and Abraham. Lest they should ever forget their laughter, He told them to name their son Isaac, which means “he laughs.” Sarah even proclaims her laughter and the fact that others will laugh with her (21:6). She knows that no one could ever look at their story without laughing about the Lord’s impossible, wonderful, and marvelous grace! She realized she and Abraham (and all who hear their story) will never be able to look at Isaac and say, “Look what we did. We did it. Our story is a story about our obedience, ability, and resources.” No! It’s a story where they only brought their helplessness, barrenness, and deadness, and God, in his grace, brought birth to the barren, power to the weak, and life from the dead. They would laugh every time they said his name and say, “Look only God could do that! Can you believe it?” 

Here is the lesson about faith - Faith, saving and sanctifying faith, is trust in God to do the impossible. To remove every ounce of trust that we can earn, win, or achieve the blessing of his favor, his forgiveness, and his Fatherly love and accept it all as a gift we don’t deserve. 

Once we see the depth of our need, our sin - we laugh at any notion that we can earn God’s approval! Once we see the depth of his grace in Jesus Christ - we laugh in wonder that what is too good to be true is, in fact, true! To receive all the promises of God, we simply trust. This is why the apostle Paul tells us (Rom.4:11ff; Galatians 3:7, 29), to become a Christian is to become a child/heir of Abraham, ie an Isaac - a he/she laughs. 

QUESTIONS

1. What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2. What does it mean to laugh in disbelief at something? (ie as in “They stared at the Taj Mahal in disbelief”). How is Abraham’s laugh a laugh of disbelief? 

3. It was said in the sermon, “If you haven’t laughed in disbelief at the gospel (that it’s too good to be true), you probably don’t get it”. Discuss whether you agree with this and whether you have ever responded to God’s promise by saying inside: “Haha! Yeah right…  it’s just too good to be true!”.

   Hint: Why doesn’t anyone laugh in disbelief at a religion that says, “Be good and you’ll get the eternal reward”, “Obey and God will bless you”, “Be devoted and God will be devoted to you”.

4. How can our laughter be a sign of a wall of doubt or cynicism between a person and God like Sarah’s? Have you experienced this? What does God’s interaction with Sarah tell us about how God reacts to laughter of disappointment?  

5. How does Isaac’s name (“he laughs”) reinforce the message of the gospel that the promise is not earned but received by faith? How might it be healthy for us to laugh at our attempts to earn God’s blessing, love and approval? How might it be healthy for us to laugh at God’s ridiculous and unrelenting grace given to us in Jesus? (this is the “it’s too good to be true but it’s true kind of laugh)

6. Which of these applications is most important to you right now:

• The more we grow as Christians, the more we laugh.

• We don’t need to take ourselves too seriously.

• When our laughter wanes, it’s usually a sign that we are living like “it’s up to us”. 

  Spend time sharing and praying the truth of the gospel into areas of disbelief and disappointment.

Assurance of Faith // October 29, 2023

Read: Genesis 17

We come to a chapter about how God provided assurance of faith to Abraham at a crucial moment when he really needed it. The tension is that God expands and enlarges his promises beyond anything he has ever said to Abraham before, but everything about Abraham’s situation makes it almost impossible for him to continue to have faith in any of it. Have you ever felt like this? “God, this is who you say you are and what you say you will do, but when I look at my situation, it’s almost impossible to believe it.” In this passage, God shows us how to find assurance when our faith wavers. 

1. Our Need for Assurance

In the first verse, we can see why Abraham needed assurance. Many years had passed since the Lord had last appeared to him, and he was now 99 years old. Like Abraham, we need assurance, and God knows we need assurance. The picture here is not one of Abraham having total certainty between these encounters. He is very likely wrestling with God, struggling to believe. Not only that, but God’s promises seem impossible, and his timing doesn’t always make sense to us.

God waited to do what was humanly impossible in order to show Abraham and all those after him where faith truly belongs- in Him alone. His power, not ours, His timing not ours, His way not our way. God knew this was hard for Abraham. He knows it is hard for us.

God did not dismiss the reasons why Abraham’s faith was shaky and uncertain. He acknowledged them and addressed them in appearing to him. he Bible does not teach that to be a Christian means having 100% certainty, no doubt, or a never wavering faith. As time goes on, we will struggle, our faith can weaken, and sometimes God will seem utterly silent. God does not condemn or scold us for needing assurance of faith but recognizes our need in the midst of doubts, fears, anxieties, and worries.

2. God Gives Us Reasons For Assurance

God knows our need for assurance and meets us in our uncertainty. He doesn’t simply understand our need for assurance, He also provides solid reasons as a basis for our assurance. Two powerful reasons given in this passage are as follows:

• Who God Is - God reminds Abraham, “I am God Almighty” (v.1), and “I will be your God” (v. 7,8). Our God is God Almighty (El Shaddai) - omnipotent. There is no situation that is too impossible or hopeless for Him. Abraham’s focus was on himself and his circumstances. God was showing Abraham to begin not with who Abrahm is but who He is. We can see this in the passage: God begins, “As for me” (v4), then “As for you” (v9), then “As for your wife Sarai (v15), and finally, “As for Ishmael” (v20). In telling Abraham “I will be your God” (v7), God is saying he is not just a god out there but a God whose Almighty power is at work in Abraham’s life and situation.

• Who God Says We Are - Sometimes, our struggle with the assurance of our faith is with God. Other times, it is with ourselves. The same is true for Abram and Sarai, so God renames them Abraham and Sarah. Notice that God renames them before their lives show any evidence, any measurable or concrete proof, that they really are a new Abraham and a Sarah. This shows us an important truth - God says we are not who we say we are; we are not who others say we are; we are who He says we are. When we don’t feel like we are worthy to call ourselves a Christian or a son/daughter of God, this passage tells us - our names/identity are not earned by our performance, they are given by God and received as a gift.

3. God’s Gift For When The Reasons Don’t Seem To Work

When we fall back on reasons, but they can’t seem to hold us up, God gives Abraham (and us) something even more. God gives us a sign, which is “a sign of the covenant between me and you” (v.11). A sign is something that points to something else. Circumcision was the sign of God’s covenant put on the man’s reproductive organ because a child was at the center of the covenant promise. In the sign, God declares the child of the promise through whom He will bless the world will come not by you (Abraham) - your power, your wisdom, or your timing - but by me (the Lord), my power, wisdom, timing. This sign would be not just for Abraham but for his descendants as a sign to live by faith in the God who keeps his promises.

Just as Abraham was given a sign to assure him when the reasons didn’t seem to work, so are we. It’s a different sign. The sign of the new covenant in Jesus Christ is baptism. The apostle Paul connects circumcision to baptism when he says, “You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Col 2:11-12). 

Baptism is our sign that we have a new name: the same as Jesus’ - son or daughter of God. We have a promise: I will be your God and you will be my people. We have assurance that God is who he is and that he is our God. When all else fails, we need only to look back to the sign of our baptism to see that God Almighty (El Shaddai) has been there all along and he will carry us through.

QUESTIONS

1. What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2. Have you ever gone through an extended period of time where you felt a lack of assurance of faith? What does God’s appearance to Abraham in a time he needed assurance tell us about how God responds to the ups and downs in our faith?

3. Three reasons were given for Abraham’s struggle with assurance - 1) God’s timing is not our timing 2) Our ways make more sense to us than God’s ways 3) God’s promise seems impossible to us (in our situation, circumstance.

   Which of these is most impacting your assurance of faith today? How?

4. Sometimes our lack of assurance has to do with doubts about God, how does this passage give us reasons to regain our faith?

5. Sometimes our lack of assurance has more to do with ourselves. How does this passage give us reason to regain our faith when this is the case?

6. What are some practical ways we can “use” the reasons God gives us when our faith is weak, assailed or ebbing? Discuss practical examples that have worked for you.

7. Have you ever been at a point that no matter how hard you tried to “use the reasons” God gives for assurance - they didn’t seem to work? How did you make it through this season?

8. God gave Abraham a sign to assure him when the reasons didn’t seem to work. The sign of circumcision was a physical, visible reminder of God’s covenant promise (when he doubted God) and Abraham’s place in God’s covenant (when he doubted himself).

   In the new covenant, we are given the sign of baptism. Baptism is a physical and visible reminder of how God has fulfilled his covenant promises in Jesus Christ. It’s a physical and tangible sign that the promises are ours by faith.

   How can baptism be a sign that assures us of God’s faithfulness - even when we don’t feel it? even when we don’t feel we deserve it?

Faith That Falters // October 22, 2023

Read: Genesis 16:1-16, 21:8-21

The Westminster Confession defines the “principal acts of saving faith” as “accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone…” This confessional understanding helps us identify how and where our faith can falter. Even those with great faith, like Abraham or Peter, have moments of faltering faith. Both accepted what the Lord had said and received the promise with faith, but he struggled with resting in God’s means and timing to fulfill the promise. But no matter how bad it gets, God is not done working. God sees and hears us in moments of our greatest weakness. Like Peter, when we sink beneath the waves, we find it is the grace of God in Christ that saves us.

1. Genuine Faith Falters

The setting of the story (16:1-3) highlights a problem: God’s promises are not coming to pass as Sarah and Abraham had expected. Sarah accepted and received the promise of many descendants, but when she remained barren after living in the “land of Canaan ten years” (16:3), there was no resting in God’s plan. Sarah felt the weight of emotional pressure (she wanted a child), social pressure (she was expected to have a child), and theological pressure (it was God’s will for her to have a child). Abraham is under pressure too, but this section leaves out details other than “Abram agreed to what Sarai said” (16:2). In despair, Sarah blames God for her barrenness: “the Lord has prevented me from bearing children” (16:2). The emotional, social, and theological pressure was too much. 

This is a low point for both of them and as the story progresses, it worsens. It is worth remembering that Sarah and Abraham have genuine faith and struggle to live out that faith in actions of trust and obedience. These are two realities that reflect our experience today. Like Sarah and Abraham (and Peter), even when we accept the truth of the gospel and receive God’s grace in Christ, we still struggle with “resting on Christ alone for salvation.” A changed life is not automatic; we don’t one day wake up and have it all figured out. As a living sacrifice, we tend to crawl off the altar only to depend on ourselves once again.

2. The Way that Faith Falters

Because Sarah feels this immense pressure—because she is not resting in faith—she devises a plan to accomplish it on her own. Sarah tries to accomplish God’s plan in her own way and timing by offering her maidservant, Hagar, to Abraham to “build” her family (16:2). Notice that Abraham has been completely silent and goes along with the plan. His misguided compliance is cast in the same terms as Adam’s obedience to Eve in Gen 3:17. The point is that Abraham is as guilty as Sarah—they both fail to rest in God’s promises and take matters into their own hands. Both Eve and Sarah “took” and “gave” something (an apple or Hagar) to their husbands (Gen 3:6; 16:3). Doing it “my way” is the way that faith falters.

Sarah’s scheme works exactly how she planned, and it is a disaster. The temptation is clear: to get the promise (a good thing) on my own terms (a bad thing). When Hagar learns she is pregnant by Abraham, she becomes proud. Hagar looks at Sarah with contempt. According to Paul (Gal 4:22-25), Hagar’s contempt represents the judgment that works-righteousness brings down upon those who try to plot their own way forward into the promises of God. No condemnation is more severe than the lofty path one has set for oneself as the means of salvation!

Sarah tries to drive her failure away by making Hagar’s life miserable, but she cannot put Hagar away. Repentance draws fault near by accepting responsibility and asking for forgiveness rather than trying to drive fault away. Sarah cannot cover her actions, just as we cannot put away the consequences of our sin by driving them out of our memories and into the wilderness of forgetfulness. Regret alone accomplishes nothing. Only repentance leads back to wholeness again.

3. The One Who Rescues Faith that Falters

Though Hagar fled, the Angel of the Lord found her. It gives the impression that the Lord sought Hagar, not vice versa. We may think that we found Him, but the reality is: He found us. We were lost and confused, wandering away from Him. He came looking and found us! Hagar could flee from the presence of Sarah, but she couldn’t flee from the presence of the Lord.

The angel of the Lord comforts Hagar, “The Lord has heard your cry of affliction” (Gen 16:11). The angel speaks of “the Lord” (Yahweh) as a separate person, and it seems that the angel is speaking on behalf of Yahweh. Yet, Hagar refers to this angel as God: “You are El-Roi” or the God who sees me” (Gen 16:13). ​​This is a story of how God himself comes near to the lost and broken. God came near to Hagar. He sought her out in the wilderness and found her.

And the Lord sees you, he hears you, right now, today. He has come near to you as Christ became a man and took on flesh, like the angel of the Lord, Jesus. Christ alone is the one who sees and hears and rescues faltering faith. Do not take matters into your own hands, but accept, receive, and rest in Christ for salvation! Whether for the first time or the hundredth, let Peter’s cry be yours: “Lord, save me!”

QUESTIONS

1. What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2. What are some examples of emotional, social, and theological pressures that challenge your faith? How can wrestling with our faith through pressure reveal that we have genuine faith?

3. Is it more difficult to rest in our faith than to accept and receive God’s promises for us? How does accepting, receiving and resting in God’s promises look in our life?

4. What might we learn about ourselves from the experience of Sarah and Hagar? 

• Can you think of a time you took something into your own hands, and it went as you planned, but you still failed to achieve what you expected? Did you shift any of the blame? 

• Have you ever participated in someone else’s plan only to find yourself full of contempt by the end? Did you hide or run away from these feelings?

5. What does this story have to do with works-based righteousness? Do you ever fall back into this mindset? Why or why not?

6. Hagar refers to God as El-Roi, “the God who sees me.” How does God’s intervention in this story give you hope and point you to the Gospel regardless of where you have been? How does this impact the way you treat others? 

7. When we are struggling, what difference would it make for us to know God hears and sees us? 

8. Where in your life do you need to say, “Lord, save me?” Has your faith faltered recently? Have you trusted in your own plans? Have you refused to come near to the God who sees you? Take time to confess this to the Lord and encourage someone else if they share this with you.

Listen to the sermon on SoundCloud here.