Some time ago, I began blogging on our Sunday sermons to help myself review; today, I’m continuing that by covering our Dec. 13 sermon, on Hebrews 11:17-19, by Pastor Peter Kim. You can stream the recording of this service here.

Our text was this:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.” He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

In this sermon, we looked at how important it is for our faith to be tested – not because God doesn’t already know the nature of our faith, but in order for it to grow, and to help us ensure we are building on the right foundation.

The test, here, was in part to ensure Abraham trusted the giver, and not the gift – to ensure he recognized that God himself was the greatest gift, not the gift of Isaac. Frequently, we may take the gift God gives us and miss God himself, being distracted by the gift away from the giver. Here, God was helping to make sure that Isaac was not Abraham’s hope, but that God was. And, indeed, such was the nature of Abraham’s faith that he believed God and obeyed. He rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and left. He trusted the Lord.

The test was also to help Abraham see something even greater, to help Abraham find out what he loved most. Part of the command God gave was for Abraham to offer Isaac, “whom you love”. And Isaac would have been loved so much. Here, though, God is helping Abraham to learn that even as much as he loves Isaac, he loves God more. The same happened after Peter had denied Christ three times, and then after Jesus’ resurrection he comes to restore Peter. There’s this famous exchange where Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Jesus, and Peter says yes; on the third response, Jesus accepts that he loves Jesus “more than these”. The reference of “these” is left unclear, probably deliberately, because at some level the question is whether Peter loves Jesus more than everything else. And this involved three times, both because Peter had denied Jesus that many times, and because three represented completeness; it was a complete restoration. In any case, the great goal here was that Abraham, and Peter, and we, love God more than all else.

Sometimes, P. Peter noted, we may get so caught up in trying to fix the church that we don’t enjoy it, or so caught up in trying to preach the gospel we don’t enjoy it, or to improve our marriage that we don’t enjoy it. But the best way to truly enjoy God is to enjoy the life he has given us, as he has given it to us, and to love him in response. God saved us to glorify him and enjoy him forever.

So, we need a faith founded on his word, and to make sure that we get our greatest joy in loving him most of all. This, then, served as a reminder not to let walking with God become a burden, but a celebration of who he is.