Move: Week 1

Trust is so important right? In a friendship or a relationship, you have to trust each other or you aren’t going to make it very far. Think about it, if you are constantly worrying about whether or not your best friend is going to fail you, that’s not going to make a very good friendship. So, do you trust your friends? If you are dating someone, do you trust them? What about your parents and siblings do you trust that they have your back?

What about God? Do you trust Him? Abraham did. Last week we read about a really weird moment in Abraham’s life. In Genesis chapter 22, God told Abraham to take his son Isaac up onto a mountain and sacrifice him for the Lord. If you read last week, what did Abraham do? He obeyed God. He didn’t question Him or fight it, He just got up, and did what God wanted him to do. Thankfully God was just using this experience as a test and Abraham didn’t have to sacrifice Isaac, but he was willing to be obedient until the final moment.

What we learned from that story last week is that worship is obedience. Abraham worshiped God by obeying Him even when what God asked him to do didn’t make any sense. Worship is not just the songs we sing but it is in our willingness to obey God no matter what He asks of us. That’s exactly what Abraham did.

But the question is how? How could he obey God when God asked for something that seemed so terrible? The answer is simple.

Abraham obeyed because he trusted God.

I am sure Abraham probably had questions. Abraham probably did not want to sacrifice his son. Who would want to do that, right? But Abraham was able to obey because he knew that God was trustworthy. How do we know that? Look at what Abraham says to his servants right before he and Isaac go up to the sacrifice. Genesis 22:5,

“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.”

Notice the wording here. He says “We will come back to you.” Abraham told his servants that both he and Isaac would return after the sacrifice. How could they do that if Isaac was dead?

Now you could argue that Abraham was just saying that because he didn’t want to tell his servants what he was about to do. It’s kinda brutal you know “Hey I’m gonna go sacrifice Isaac and I will be back,” I wouldn’t want to say that either. But I don't think that is what he was doing. I think Abraham believed the whole time that God was going to provide a different sacrifice. Look at the conversation between him and isaac in Genesis 22:7-8,

“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?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.”

See, Abraham has been obeying and trusting God for decades. When you spend that much time with someone, you get to know them right? You learn their character, what they stand for, if they are trustworthy or not. Abraham knew God’s character. I believe he was able to obey because he knew God was trustworthy and would work it out.

Because of his trust in God he followed through all the way to the last moment. Let’s read the rest of the story. Genesis 22:9-14,

“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. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “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.” Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide.”

Abraham trusted God so much that he was willing to go all the way through with it. Abraham showed that he trusted God would handle whatever happened next. Abraham showed that he believed that God knows best and if God was going to ask him to do something it was worth doing, no matter what.

And God proved that he was worth trusting. He didn’t leave Abraham to figure this out on his own. No, God showed up and provided a sacrifice which was His plan all along. Abraham obeyed because he trusted. What this tells me is not only is worship obedience but

Worship is an act of trust.

There are going to be moments when God asks you to do something that doesn’t make sense to you. There are going to be things in the Bible that are hard for you to obey.

When you come across something that doesn’t make sense to you, are you going to walk away or are you going to trust God?

For example, maybe you find yourself in a situation where your friends are partying. It seems like they are having a really good time. They invite you! What’s the harm, right? Everyone’s doing it, but you are a follower of Jesus right? And you know the Bible teaches three things about drinking. One you have to obey the law of the land and the law of the land is you have to be 21 years old to drink. 2. You know the Bible says we are to never get drunk because you will never see an intelligent drunk. And thirdly, the Bible teaches that we would never want to do anything that would cause someone to stumble in their faith.

That means we would never want to be a poor example of what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus. If you ever find yourself in that scenario, will you trust God’s wisdom? And if you do that is an act of worship because you chose to follow what God wants for you even when it doesn’t make perfect sense to you.

I will give you another scenario. Maybe, your friend stabs you in the back. They talked about you behind your back and they really hurt you. All you want is revenge at that moment. It’s all you can think about but in the back of your head Jesus is saying to forgive them. I don’t know about you guys but at that moment, forgiveness does not make a lot of sense to me, like they aren’t even sorry but I am supposed to forgive them?

The question is do you trust God enough to do the thing that doesn’t make sense. Because that’s worship.

So, what is it in your life that you don’t trust God with? Is He asking you to do something that doesn’t make any sense? Is there something you are afraid of that you can’t imagine how God is going to work it out? Are you going through a really hard time and wondering if God even cares? Here’s what I would encourage you to do. Take some time this week to pray and say,

God, I trust you. I believe you can get me through this dark time or this tough decision. I believe you are with me. I will obey you, even though it doesn’t make sense to me.

Try it out and see what God does. See if your trust in Him grows.

One more thing that gives me strength to trust God when life makes no sense if to sing to God a defiant faith song. A song that ticks off Satan and gets the focus off my problems and onto the ultimate problem solver.

When I sing to God I remember how awesome and powerful God is. I am reminded that there is nothing that he can’t do and that he is all I need.

Think about some of the song lyrics we sing.

“We’ll see You break down every wall
We’ll watch the giants fall
Fear cannot survive when we praise You”

“You're the God who fights for me
Lord of every victory”

“You rescued me
So I could stand and say
I am a child of God”

I’m telling you when we sing those kinds of songs and we mean them something happens inside of us. Where we were once weak, now we are strong. Where we were once confused, life becomes clearer. Where we were once afraid now, we find the courage to face another day.

When we sing and take songs like that seriously, we start to realize just how trustworthy our God is and we are able to go out in the world and obey Him because we trust Him.

So if you want to live a life of worship, you need to spend time in worship. When we take worship seriously our trust and love for the Lord grows and that affects the way we live our lives.

So Rally is coming up in a couple weeks. We are going to get together and we are going to sing defiant faith songs that worship God a lot. I know it can be tempting to mess around and miss the significance of what we are doing but don’t waste this opportunity. Let’s give our best worship this week. Instead of goofing off with your friends. I want you to actually think about the lyrics we are singing and the God we are singing to. And as you are singing and praising God, tell him I trust you. Even when my life makes no sense, I trust that you have a greater plan and that your plan is going to be better than anything I can imagine. That is what it means to worship God.