Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Today is the final act of our time with Abraham.
He’s not dead yet.
But his story reaches it’s deadly climax.
Everything comes to a head, everything comes to it’s breaking point.
Let me explain something to you, I’m terrified of this final act.
You ever read a text in the Bible and your scared of it?
You ever read a text in the Bible and become scared of it?
I’m not saying it gives you bad dreams, not that kind of scared.
I mean, have you ever been scared of a text because of what it means for us and what we are called to do.
Today’s text scares me.
And it should scare each one of you.
Today we will look at when Abraham is called by God to sacrifice Isaac and make a burnt offering out of him.
I’m sure you’ve read it.
You’ve probably heard sermons on it.
Out of many of my readings of it, and the sermons I’ve heard, I’m not often scared when reading it or hearing about it.
Often times the preacher or my own reading of becomes very analytical, and I neuter the power of the text.
Up front, let me tell you that I’m scared of this text.
I’m scared of understanding.
I’m scared of personalizing it.
I’m scared of applying it.
Abraham’s life has 4 movements to it.
We’ve experienced 3 of them in our time through Genesis so far.
In each of these movements God demands for Abraham to give something up.
And each thing that Abraham gives up, is a part of him.
It’s a major turning point in his life.
Abraham had to give up his family and country.
Back in , he was commanded to leave his kindred.
He was told to leave his homeland.
Leave his father.
Leave his relatives.
Never to see them again.
You’ve had to move in your life.
Have you ever moved because your job relocated you?
Maybe you were raised in a military family?
Uncle Sam moved you to the middle of nowhere.
It’s hard to pick up your family and move like that.
To uproot yourself, your children’s school, their friends, your friends.
How many of you have moved because you thought the Lord was calling you to go somewhere else?
I don’t know a whole lot of people who have done that.
That’s scary.
Yet, that’s what happened to Abraham.
He said goodbye to his family and left.
The second major sacrifice in Abraham’s life was his nephew Lot.
He was supposed to leave his family behind, yet his nephew Lot came with him.
Abraham was more of a father figure to Lot.
Abraham cared for Lot like a son.
Yet, he was commanded to separate from his past and from his family, including his beloved nephew Lot.
This is hard, because it’s not just separating from someone you love.
He has to separate from someone that he has responsibility over.
So there came a point where he and Lot stood on the top of a hill and looked at the land around them.
Abraham said you pick.
You pick whatever land you want.
You go right, I’ll go left.
You go left, I’ll go right.
And he separated from his adopted son, his nephew Lot.
There was a third major sacrifice in Abraham’s life, Ishmael.
Back in , Sarah gave her mistress to Abraham to impregnate.
She became pregnant, and had a son named Ishmael.
But this was not God’s desire.
God had promised him that he would have a son, and the son would come from Abraham and Sarah.
Ishmael was not the promised son.
Abraham cared for Ishmael, but Ishmael was who the promises were for.
And so finally in chapter 21, Sarah says that Hagar, that’s Ishmael’s mom, and Ishmael need to go.
It’s time for them to go.
Then in , God says to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman.
Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
And so, the third test for Abraham was to get rid of Ishmael and his mom.
Perhaps now you’re seeing why I’m scared of this text.
Abraham was called to sacrifice, to give things up for the Lord.
What have I given up for the Lord?
For most of us our big decision of commitment to the Lord is:
Whether you get up early on a Sunday morning to go to church.
Whether you’ll stay for CU.
Whether you’ll go to Bible Study.
Whether you’ll faithfully give to the Lord.
Do we consider where we live in our service to the Lord?
I’ve never went to the extent that Abraham did for his own obedience to the Lord.
Gotten rid of family.
In chapter 21, Isaac is born.
Sarah is 90 years old.
Then today we come to the fourth and final test for Abraham.
It’s a frightening one.
When she first heard she would become pregnant she laughed at God.
The idea was preposterous.
We find it in .
Fast forward a year, she’s just delivered a son.
No longer barren.
Let’s look at all of it today.
She laughs for joy.
Read
She’s a 90 year old woman nursing a child.
That’s a miracle.
And so she laughs, and others laugh as well.
They aren’t laughing at her.
They are laughing with joy.
The Fourth Test of Abraham
Verse 1 begins by saying, “After these things God tested Abraham ...”
Abraham’s been living in the land of Abimelech for many years.
At least 10.
And during this time, God presents him with a fourth and final test.
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