Tuesday, October 30, 2012

It's a Matter of Faith: the Altar


Genesis 22:1-14

            When I say the word “Altar” what comes to mind for you? Many people mistakenly call our communion table “the altar”, because in some churches that is what it is called. An Altar is a place where sacrifices are offered to a god. The reason they call it an altar is that in their minds when they are consecrating the elements, they are re-enacting Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. For Presbyterians, we understand communion to be a remembrance of what Jesus did on the cross, not a re-enactment of the sacrifice, because Jesus said “do this in remembrance of me.” Those elements for us remind us of what happened on the cross and, as I am found of saying, the great love that was behind his sacrifice for us. It is as I think of how much Christ love us, loved me, even though I was responsible for his death because of my sin, that I grow in my love and gratitude for Him. Thus, this table is not a “holy altar”, it is a common table that God uses for a holy purpose, each time we celebrate communion.
            But just because our communion table is not an altar, does not mean that we do not have an altar in our lives. You see we carry our Altar with us. It is an altar that is there with every decision we make and every action we take. It is there whether we are in church, thinking about church, or church is the farthest thing from our minds. The altar is not unlike the one that Abraham faced in our passage today.
            You remember Abraham from the series we did last summer, 2011. God had come to him and told him that if only he would trust God and follow God’s direction in his life, that he would make of his descendants a great nation. God told him that the reason God wanted to do this was so that God could use that nation to bless the whole world. Abraham had accepted God’s offer, but would only trust God so far. Up to this point, he had shown a penchant for acting on his fear by attempting to manipulate the people around him with lies and deceit, trying to work God’s plan in his own way. He had been on a long road toward the ultimate lesson he needed to learn,  to really trust this God whom he had agreed to follow. But whenever he was faced with fear for his own life and future, that trust had failed and he had leaned on his own sneakiness.
            Now, through a miracle that only God could have done, the promised son, Isaac, had been born and life was good. He had watched Isaac grow up, each day, reminded of that miracle that God had done for him and Sarah. He knew that God was working his plan through them, a plan that would bless the whole world through his descendants, the proof was all around him. Life didn’t get any better than this.
            Then, seemingly out of the blue, God comes to him one night and says, “I want you to take Isaac on a journey to a place where I will show you, and when you get there, I want you to sacrifice him to me. Can you put yourself in Abraham’s place? If you are like me, it is hard to imagine. In the dark of that night as he lay in his bed, what must have been going through his mind. He may have thought about the practices of the people around him who worshiped those angry, distant pagan gods. Molech, he demanded the sacrifice of the first born son, in order to insure fertility. But this God to this point had been different. God had given him wealth, God had given him this miracle child. God had bailed him out time and time again, when he had failed to trust him. But now, he was making this request. It was so unlike God to do this. Maybe if I pretend that I didn’t hear. Maybe if I ignore what God is asking. It is Isaac. What do I do? If I go through with it, my line is dead. This long journey that I have been on will have been for naught. Why would God do this?
            Yes, why would God do this, if God did not have a plan? Every time I have distrusted God, it has been a disaster. Every time I have trusted, God has performed a miracle. My plans fail, God’s plans succeed. Hmm. I guess the question is do I trust God?
            Our passage says, early the next morning, Abraham rose and took Isaac and journeyed until God said stop. For three days he could have turned back. But this time the old Abram the schemer, was gone and Abraham, the man of faith remained. They arrived at the mountain that God had chosen. Abraham tells his servants to wait. He places the bundle of wood on his son, and indication that Isaac was a strong young man, not a small child, and they go. Even as they go, Isaac notices the lack of an animal for a sacrifice and comments, and in Abraham’s response, we see the new man of faith. God will provide. They arrive at the top of the mountain, they build the altar put the wood on it, then Abraham binds Isaac and places him on the altar. This son that he had longed for, that was more valuable to him than all his wealth he placed him on the altar and raised the knife. This was the moment of absolute trust.
            There is a famous painting by Rembrandt that depicts this scene where the angel of the Lord, literally grabs Abraham’s arm to keep him from completing the sacrifice. I don’t know how far it went, but the God finally reveals what he was after by making this request of Abraham. “Now I know that you trust me. You were willing to give me your only son. The most valuable thing to you in all the world.” I will provide what you need.
            In that moment, Abraham had to decide if he trusted God enough, if his relationship with God was important enough, if he loved God enough, to give him his beloved son. In essence what he was doing was laying his whole life on that altar. Isaac was the summation of his past, his present his future. He had to decide if he trusted God with all of that. Would he chose to stop trying to control and manipulate his own future and simply obey God, or would he go back to his old ways. Who was he going to trust?
            Each of us faces this same altar in our lives. It is not made out of literal stone, but it is very real. In fact that altar is in front of me every second. Each time I face a choice about how I will respond to a situation I need to lay my past present and my future on the altar and chose to do what God would have me do. By doing this, I demonstrate that I trust that by showing my reverence to God, my love for God, I trust that God will be true to His word and, as it says in Romans 8:28, cause “all things to work together for good, for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purposes.”
            By not doing this, say to God, “I choose to trust in myself and my own wisdom to make sure that my present and future turn out the exact way I want. I know that my plan for me is better than anything that You, God, could devise.
            So as we step into each day, we have the choice of laying our past present and future on the altar and saying “God I yield myself to you. I will trust you by living my life as you want me too. I will do what you ask. I will give you the things I hold dearest in my heart and say, I trust that you will do with them as you see fit.”
            Then, like Abraham, we will see that God will provide everything we need and more than we dreamed. (Stephanie’s Pearls below)
           
            What are your fake pearls? What do you need to place on the altar? Is it your family? Do you trust God to care for them, teach them, guide them, get in their face? Is it your career? Do you trust God to lead you to the place where you can use your skills and gifts to make the most difference as you serve others? Is it your need to control? Are you willing to trust that God can work, even though you don’t have control of all of the details? Is it your fear of death? Do you trust that God is, through the gift to us of his own son, preparing a place for you? Do you trust that as it says in Romans, In life or death we belong to Jesus? Is it your wealth? Do you trust God to provide what you need for life? As we approach this stewardship season, our theme is “It’s a matter of faith. Do you have faith that if you give to God what God asks and take a step toward tithing, can you trusting that God will provide all that you need in the other ninety of your income? Listen to the testimony of Abraham, a weak, scared man, who learned to trust God with his greatest treasure and found that God will Provide. I invite you to place your all on that Altar each and every day and experience what God can do for you.


Stephanies pearls as submitted by Chelsey Lynds
A little girl, named Stephanie, and her father went to the dollar store one Saturday morning to spend her well earned 25 cents from chores. Just as Stephanie is about to buy a pack of water balloons, she spots the most beautiful pearl necklace she had ever seen. Enamored by its beauty, she checks the price and finds that they are 5 whole dollars. She then decides that she will work twice as hard during the week and save up her money to buy it. For five weeks she works and saves! Saturday finally comes, so her and her father head first thing in the morning to the dollar store. They get there a couple minutes before the store opens. Filled with excitment, little Stephanie can barely sit in her seat. Then, just as the CLOSED sign is flipped to OPEN, Stephanie dashes into the store, snatches the pearls off the rack, and proudly slaps her five dollars on the paying counter. In the car, she could not take her eyes off of her pearl neckace. Her father smiled at her delight.
            Weeks and weeks go by. Stephanie wears her pearls night and day. She feels like a princess at school. One night after praying with Stephanie and tucking her into bed, her father asks Stephanie, "Do you love me?" "I love you Daddy."
"Will you give me your pearls?"
Stephanie gets a gross feeling in her stomach. "No Dad. I want them! Please can I keep them?"
Her father agrees and kisses her goodnight. The very next night, after praying for Stephanie and tucking her into bed, he asks her, "Do you trust me?"
"I trust you Daddy."
"Then will you give me your pearls? Stephanie, I know you love them but may I have them?"
"No Daddy! I really love them."
Her father kisses her goodnight and smiles. Stephanie gives a lot of thought to her father's request the next day and wrestles back and forth about it. She realizes that she loves her father way more than the pearls and suddenly feels glad to give them to him. That night, as her father is kissing her goodnight, Stephanie reaches out her hand with the pearls and says,"Here Daddy."
Her father with a smile stretching from one ear to the other takes Stephanies pearls then reaching into his pocket brings out the most beautiful pearl necklace. Stephanie gasps. The pearls on the necklace were all the colors of the rainbow!
"It's the real thing Steph! I love you! Now you have pearls that suit my princess."

"Thanks Dad!" Stephanie gives her dad a big hug.

To hear the audio version of this sermon on Oct. 14, 2012, go to http://www.discoverstmark.org/308226.ihtml
http://freechristimages.org

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