So, I was listening to someone preach about Abraham sacrificing Isaac, and I thought of a few things… then I went back and read it, and thought of a few more things… well, here are my thoughts…
- v.2 says, “Take your son, your only son Issac, whom you love” and give him as a burnt offering…
- John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…”
- When Jesus is baptized, the Father says (Matt 3:17), “This is my Son, whom I love…”
- You see where I am going with this? There is quite a parallel between this story and the story of Christ…
- v.8 says, “Abraham said, ‘God will provide for himself the lamb…’”
- I realize Abraham was talking about the immediate situation, and he may have actually expected God to intervene, or he may have just told Isaac that so that he wouldn’t have to tell him the truth… but you can’t help but think about how Abe’s statement here is true on a much deeper, much more glorious way…
“By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
- Thank you, Abraham, we really appreciate that one. Seriously.
- 1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
- Abraham was willing, even to the point of raising his knife, to give the life of his only son in obedience to God.
- God was willing, (and had planned to do so and has now done so), to give the life of His only Son out of his love for the world…
- Oh, and about that Lamb… that sacrifice that God was going to provide?
- 1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
- Back in 1 John 2, a little something extra is added on: He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
- “and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…”
Leah and I have been rethinking our ideas about youth ministry here in the past few weeks. Its not so much that we are realizing new things, but that we are trying to implement things that we’ve known all along. I have about 47 books on youth ministry. I haven’t read all of most of them, but I’ve read at least a little of all of them… and they all talk about the same thing: building attractional programming and building positive relationships.
The relationship stuff can be helpful.
However, most of them are filled with statistics and psychological stuff. All of that can be helpful, but rarely do these guys actually talk about teaching kids the word of God.
When youth ministry becomes primarily about programming, the goal is no longer to see kids know and treasure Christ, but for them to be assimilated into the programs: teenagers start leading the worship band or take charge of the children’s sunday school classes, and the youth pastor is convinced that they are “saved.”
When youth ministry becomes primarily about relationships, the goal can move from knowing and treasuring Christ to making positive decisions and doing good. A teenager volunteers at the soup kitchen or collects canned food for needy families and we think they’re “saved.”
Pause for a second. Those are great things. I wish every teenager in my youth group would be a leader in church life or volunteer their own time to helping others. I’m not opposed to that at all. But it needs to be the result of their knowledge of and love for God.
The goal is to see them know and treasure Christ above all else. Period.
How are they going to do that if I water down his word?
How are they going to do that if I talk about funny stuff or “relevant” stuff more than I teach them about who Christ is and how worthy of treasuring He is?
Their math teachers don’t water down Trigonometry for them. Their English teachers don’t make them read the abridged version of Hamlet. Why should I water down God’s word? If they can understand Calculus and Chaucer, then they can understand justification.
We’re still building relationships with them. We’re still having fun with them. But we’re through watering Truth down. Period.
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On a lighter note, Leah and I were trying to write a real song and this is what came out:
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Over at Internetmonk.com, there is a really cool thing call the Liturgical Gangstas. He asks a question and has someone from a number of different denominations answer it. Check it out if you haven’t already. The second one is about the meanings of Sacramental, Attractional, and Missional. Interesting stuff. Be sure to read the first one about Spiritual Growth, as well.
Sometimes I wonder who decided which verses of Scripture would be the most commonly memorized. While some of them are good, many of them are incomplete in what they say about the nature of God or of salvation or of whatever they talk about.
This wouldn’t be so huge of a problem except that a lot of Christians know nothing more of God or of 
Christianity or of the Bible than those few verses that they memorized as children.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
-Ephesians 2:8-9
This is good. It teaches us about salvation by grace through faith… it clearly denies salvation by works… but in the long run, I think this has been a pretty damaging memory verse because of its incompleteness. Many people take this to be cheap grace–grace that costs nothing and leads, as Bonhoeffer puts it, to the justification of sin, instead of the justification of the sinner.
It continues in verse ten to say, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” This verse is rarely, if ever, memorized by Christians. Here Paul is clearly saying that saving faith is followed by “good works.” Of course there are a lot of different ways to interpret what kind of works it is exactly talking about, but I think it probably includes things like service, mercy, love, caring for the poor and downtrodden, that sort of thing, more than it includes things like not smoking, not cussing, not drinking, and handing out tracts.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
I don’t even need to give the reference for that one. I think this verse has caused more of the easy-believeism that plagues evangelicalism today than anything else. Sure, it is true. It is only by grace through faith that we are saved. But what about verse 21? “But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” Once again, things concerning the Christians obligation to actually follow Christ in faith are left out. Jesus called his disciples to have faith, sure, but he also expected them to follow him.
John 8:32 “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We’ve all heard that one as well. But it doesn’t really make much sense on its own. The verse before it says, “If you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples… and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We need to abide in his word. Not simply memorize a few random verses. Abide.
I don’t do it nearly enough. God’s word is powerful. God’s word is authoritative. God’s word is the power unto salvation. The whole thing. Period. And it really will set you free.
