INTRODUCTION
What’s the most important thing in the world to you? Grab a piece of paper, or a pew envelope, or a corner of your Bulletin, and write down the most important thing in the world to you…

GENESIS 22:1-19 [NLTse]
Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.
“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”
2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”
6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.
9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from Me even your son, your only son.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from Heaven. 16 “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed Me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by My Own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed Me.”
19 Then they returned to the servants and traveled back to Beersheba, where Abraham continued to live.

SERMON
Abraham was extremely wealthy. Kings considered him to be too powerful for them. He had so many workers, servants, and slaves that once – having armed them all – he defeated the combined military forces of several city-state nations! (With God’s help, of course.) The Bible talks about Abraham “camping” in different places, but Abraham’s “camps” must have been the size of large towns and city-states themselves!
But he had no son; he had no heir. Abraham had no children at all. One of his servants would end up inheriting his massive estate.

And then Isaac was born.

Abraham was 100. His wife, Sarah, was 90. But she miraculously became pregnant and she gave birth to Isaac!
And we can, perhaps, imagine how the sun must have risen and set on Isaac! After a lifetime of waiting Abraham finally had a son! He and Sarah finally had a son! And then the LORD commanded Abraham to offer the boy to Him as a sacrifice…
The very first of the Ten Commandments is “You must not have any other god but Me, says the LORD.” (See Exodus 20) And the Lord Jesus followed that up by saying, “Whoever comes to Me and does not hate father and mother, wife, husband, and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be My disciple.” (That is, when compared to our love for the Lord that our love for everyone and everything else must seem like hate—even our love for our fathers and mothers, our wives, husbands, and children, our brothers and sisters—and yes, even our love for our own lives must seem like hate compared to how much we love the Lord! Otherwise, Jesus says, we cannot be His disciples. And, I think we can know we have another “god” besides the LORD in our lives when we find that we don’t hate that one or that thing in comparison to our love for the Lord. As a matter of fact, I think we know we have another “god” in our lives besides the Lord when, if something happens to that one or that thing, then we get mad at the Lord and stop trusting Him and even, perhaps, start hating Him because of it!

Look at what you wrote on the pew envelope or piece of paper… If that person died, or if that thing was stolen or broke or was taken away, or if you lost the health you treasure or lost the job you love or was suddenly unable to do this or that thing that you love to do – whatever it is that you value most here in the world – if that was taken from you would you hate God for taking it (or for taking them)? Or is your love for our Father truly so great that, in comparison, you really do hate all else, and you truly would trust Him and surrender to Him the loss of even that which you consider most precious?

I remember, years ago, walking through a busy parking lot with my wife, Amy. We were waiting to cross at an especially awkward intersection when Amy saw an opening and ran across. It was like my life flashing before my eyes as in slow motion I saw a car that she hadn’t seen, and she was running right into its path. In that heartbeat I remember being so filled with my love for her and wondering if I would ever trust God again if He took her from me. In the next heartbeat I remember realizing that, if the devil could get me to hate or lose faith in God by hurting Amy, that then Amy would never be safe from the devil, because he would know that he could always use her to get in-between the Lord and me. And in the next heartbeat I realized that I needed to surrender Amy’s life and welfare into God’s hands: That her in His hands – alive, dead, sick, healthy – was the only place where she would ever truly be safe. And that she in His hands was the only place where I would ever truly be safe. And then the moment was over. The car braked. Amy made it safely to the other side. And I followed soon after.

God sometimes gives us opportunities to show Him, to show ourselves, and to show the watching world that He alone is the most important thing in our lives, and that nothing else is even close. And sometimes He does that by providing opportunities for us to “sacrifice” what may be competing with Him.
Of course, He’s worth it.

The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with love that never fails. He is good to everyone and showers compassion on His entire creation. (Psalm 145:8-9) Yes, He is rich in mercy and He loves us so much that, even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (Ephesians 2:4-5) No, He doesn’t deal harshly with us, even though sometimes we deserve it. He has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west! He is tender and compassionate to those who revere Him, for He knows how weak we are… (Psalm 103:10, 12) He is good, and so ready to forgive, and so full of love that will never fail for all who ask Him for His help. (Psalm 86:5)
Yes, He is worth it!

I want to invite you to make a sacrifice to the Lord right now. I want you to sacrifice to the Lord that which you wrote down on that envelope or piece of paper at the beginning of the message. I’m going to invite this morning’s Ushers to come get the Offering Plates and collect that which is most important to us in this world: Just fold your piece of paper in half and place it into the Plate as a sacrifice to the Lord. (If you’re not ready to sacrifice your most-loved one or thing then feel free to put in a blank envelope and blank piece of paper, if you’re self-conscious about it, and be asking the Father to help you sacrifice it to Him as the week goes on…) But, Ushers, won’t you come and gather our sacrifices to our God…

[Have them give the Plates to me. Spread them across the top of the Lord’s Table. And give the Plates back to the Ushers.] [Sing the Doxology.] [Then lead in a sacrificial prayer over the sacrifices.]