Sermon Title: When God Asks the Impossible
Sermon Text: Genesis
Where were you when you discovered that the Challenger had exploded? You probably remember, just like you remember where you were when President Kennedy was assassinated (if you were even born then).
My daughter Courtney’s class was watching it live in their classroom. The group of ten year olds was devastated by the tragedy. That evening she wanted me to promise that I’d never go up in a space shuttle. For her, the idea of safe space travel was impossible, yet we later discovered that it was indeed possible. We discovered we could learn from our mistakes, even if we could not always prevent more space tragedies.
I know that last week I said that the story of Noah tells us that God does not ask us to do the impossible, and now I am saying the exact opposite with this sermon title – “When God Asks the Impossible.”
But I still believe that God does not ask us to accomplish things that cannot be done, but let’s face it: sometimes it feels like God is asking just that. And this part of the story of Abraham and his family feels a lot like the impossible.
The story of Abraham and Sarah is
not a short story. It is filled with
adventure, lies, deceit, frustration, anger and joy, just to name a few. They deal with infertility, surrogate
parenting and disillusionment. Yet they
become parents in their senior years to the child who would bring them joy.
Then we come to this passage, one of the most difficult to comprehend in the entire Bible, a story we share with our Jewish brothers and sisters and the Torah, as well as Islam and the Koran. READ HERE:
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him,
"Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac,
whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt
offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his
donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut
enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him
about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the
place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants,
"Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will
worship and then we will come back to you."
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it
on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of
them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his
father Abraham, "Father?"
"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
"The fire and wood are here,"
Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb
for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham
built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and
laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he
reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11
But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham!
Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do
not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not
withheld from me your son, your only son."
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram [a] caught by its horns. He went over
and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to
this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be
provided."
15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a
second time 16 and said, "I swear by myself,
declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your
son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make
your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the
seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,
18 and through your offspring [b] all nations on earth will be
blessed, because you have obeyed me."
19 Then Abraham
returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham
stayed in Beersheba.
(www.biblegateway.com - New International
Version)
This passage leads us to many questions. Like… How could Abraham even think about doing such a thing? Was Isaiah aware of what was happening? How could God ask this of them?
I’m sure you have more questions, and I wish I had the answers for all of them. Even in all my reading, quite frankly, it is still hard to find a truly satisfactory answer here because it is hard to get past the fact that God has asked Abraham to kill his own son.
There are those who believe that it was Abraham who misunderstood what God was asking, thereby taking God off the hook.
There are those who believe that this story never took place at all, but became part of the legend of the time. There is a commentator who believes that Abraham loved Isaac more than anything on the earth, including Sarah and God. And this was God’s way of helping Abraham to understand that fearing God doesn’t mean having a phobia about God, like one would have about snakes or heights. Instead, fear of God is about awe and reverence; willingness to really and truly put God first in our lives, above anything and everything. ("When God Tested Abraham," The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself, Daniel B. Clendenin, Journey with Jesus Foundation.)
But we have this story before us and we must find truth in it, even if some do not believe it is factual. Just because it is difficult to comprehend does not mean it is not truthful. Life is seldom neat and tidy, so we are left with bits and pieces of a story that we can’t really understand. And we are left wondering if God would ever ask that of us. What is our Isaac? What could God ask of us that seems impossible?
It feels like God is asking the impossible of us when:
These problems are not easy to deal
with. In our midst today people are
living with cancer, facing surgery, fighting depression, looking for a decent
job, worrying about children and parents, trying to save relationships, or
wondering how long they can pay their rent.
I don’t have to know everyone’s story to know that even here today,
someone is dealing with any one of these seemingly impossible situations. But God and life often ask difficult, impossible things of us.
I’m not going to stand here and say, “just trust God” because that isn’t enough.
Many years ago as a single parent, I was also surrounded by people who loved us, helped to take care of the kids, and provide support. But one Sunday I was feeling particularly overwhelmed by the events of the week when one older lady took my hand, patted it and said, “You just trust in the Lord and everything will be okay.” And then she walked away and left me standing there wondering if she really believed that or if it were so ingrained in her vocabulary that she could say it with that cadence without it every really soaking into her reality.
When someone near us is facing the impossible, we are called to be present in his life. Not just with pats on the hand, but with our hearts, our souls, and sometimes our wallets.
When someone near us is facing the impossible, we are called to not just listen, but really hear what they are saying.
When someone near us is facing the impossible, we are called to allow them to grieve like the commercial where children talk about their rights when it comes to health care. It ends with a little girl saying, “I have the right to cry.” We all have the right to cry.
When someone near us is facing the impossible, we must, must be available emotionally and physically for our friend, family member, sister or brother in Christ.
And when we are the person facing the impossible, it helps us to cope when we allow people be present with us. It helps us as well as the ones offering the help. Letting people into our lives can bring the presence of Christ as nothing else can. God works through us and with us in all we go through.
You know, there are 13 mentions of the word “impossible” in the Scriptures. Three of them speak of things truly being impossible as in “there were so many, it was impossible to count.” But the other 10 speak of overcoming the impossible. Among them are:
Genesis 11:6 (Tower of Babel)
The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have
begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.Genesis 11:5-7 (in Context) Genesis 11 (Whole Chapter)
Matthew 17:20
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if
you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move
from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:19-21 (in Context) Matthew 17 (Whole Chapter)
Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."Matthew 19:25-27 (in Context) Matthew 19 (Whole Chapter)
Mark 10:26-28 (in Context) Mark 10 (Whole Chapter) Luke 1:37
For nothing is impossible with God."Luke 1:36-38 (in Context) Luke 1 (Whole Chapter) Luke 18:26-28 (in Context) Luke 18 (Whole Chapter)
These passages remind us that God through Jesus Christ offers what we cannot imagine or even dream of. God offers hope through the impossible. God can do what we cannot. This passage is a constant reminder that God doesn’t abandon us, not even in difficult, impossible times.
God and those God sends can help us deal with illness, even if we cannot avoid it. God and those God sends can help us deal with family issues even if we cannot control them. God and those God sends can help us deal with any conceivable problem, but we have to honest and admit that we will all face problems in our lives. How we deal with them says volumes about us as believers. Acts 2:23-25 (in Context) Acts 2 (Whole Chapter) Hebrews 6:3-5 (in Context) Hebrews 6 (Whole Chapter)
And yet,
what would life be like if we never saw things as impossible? You see, there is a difference between things
being impossible and thing seeming to be impossible. Saturday’s thought for the day was from Helen
Keller: We could never
learn to be brave or patient if there were only joy in the world.
I want to
close with a poem by Sue Kidd Ship
(www.humanempowerment.org)
"Consider the Impossible"
Without the impossible, there would
be no inventions.
There would be no medical interventions.
Disabled could not learn to walk and communicate.
Foods could not combine to become something else.
Wheels could not turn, and gravity could not keep us on
earth.
Stars could not move and rainbows could not exist.
The earth would still be flat.
Without the impossible, trains
could not "run" and planes could not fly.
Illness could only progress.
Feelings could not inform us.
Fear would always stop us.
Women and minorities would be enslaved.
Men would be victims of expectations.
Businesses would not thrive because no one would trust.
Without the impossible, marriage
would cease to be.
Relationships would be based on mutual convenience.
Love, unconditional acceptance, would not exist.
Energy would cease to flow.
Lives would wither and die.
Life would not move forward; evolution would cease.
Minds could neither dream, nor possibilities be realized.
Without the impossible, you and I
would not be who we are today.
Democracy would not exist.
Striving would cease.
Challenges could not be overcome.
No one would ever win.
Connections with humans around the globe
Would be without empathy and concern.
Without the impossible, new ways to
get things done
Would not be created.
New organizations
Would never be designed.
Will to overcome
Would be dormant.
Life as it is would not improve.
Without the impossible there would
be no mountains to climb,
Races to run, diseases to conquer,
Efficiency studies to conduct,
Bigger and better structures,
Smaller and more affordable technologies.
Exploration of the universe above, or the universe below,
Nor expansion of the universe within.
May there always be the impossible
So that we may have reason to live.
PRAYER: God, help us to live as if we really and
truly believe that nothing is impossible with you. Help us to live in ways that show the world that we believe
in you and your presence in our lives.
Help us to reach out to others who are overwhelmed with the impossible
things life hands us. And thank you for
Jesus Christ who conquered the impossible in life and death. In his name we pray. Amen.