Genesis 22:1-14

If we tell people that we are Christians, then they assume that we have a faith don't they, but what does it mean to have faith in our Lord and what can faith bring about? We don't tend to have too many readings from the OT in this church but in our reading tonight, Abraham gives us a perfect example of what faith is and what it can achieve.

In Jewish tradition, Abraham is generally seen as the founder of the Israelites because after this event, God promised him that his descendants would be as numerous as the sky because of his obedience. Which is all very well, but this story is incredulous isn't it, that any parent would be willing to sacrifice their own child to God who blesses us with children in the first place?

Abraham was married to Sarah who had been barren all her life, and although Abraham loved Sarah deeply, they never expected to have a child so late in life, let alone a son! Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100! However, when God decides that something is going to happen the impossible becomes a reality. (Even gay and lesbian people being Christians!)

So at this late stage in life, Sarah and Abraham had Isaac. Now in Jewish families at that stage the first born son was so precious. Remember this happened at a time when the society was so patriarchal or dominated by men, that only sons meant their family name could be continued, so without a son, your family ended. Anyway, you can imagine how precious this child was to them both.

At the time there was no Jewish law to follow, no temple to worship in, no actual Jewish religion; all there was, was a kind of family tradition/belief in the One True God - Yahweh, as they called God at the time. Yet Abraham was so in tune with God that he knew when God spoke - it just shows you that we don't need organised religion to know God personally.

It clearly tells us at the beginning of the reading that God wanted to test Abraham to confirm his faith and to see how much Abraham could be trusted with. God did not tempt Abraham - the Enemy tempts us to get us to fail, whereas God tests us so that we can prove our commitment.

I believe that God is testing us as a church at the moment because we speak about getting a new building, we talk about growing in numbers, we say we are ready to share Jesus with those we meet, and yet verbally stating these things is not the same as doing them. Saying we need money to get a building is not the same as actually giving when it hurts our pockets or putting time and effort into fundraising. I really believe that God wants us to move forward in many ways but it will not happen until we get out and do something active - however difficult it may be.

Do you realise how difficult it was for Abraham to be willing to sacrifice his only son? Yet Abraham never even questioned what God was asking did he? He didn't beg God to change the decision, he just got up dutifully early the next morning to travel with his son to the place of sacrifice. What obedience, what trust! God was asking something that was abhorrent to Jewish people - to kill any child was bad enough, but to kill a first born son was absolutely unthinkable. Can you imagine the tense atmosphere, the suffering of Abraham and Sarah, the utter fear that Abraham felt, yet he still obeyed and had faith in his God. He kept saying to Isaac didn't he, "the Lord will provide," such was his faith, yet he was still moving towards that place of sacrifice that God had called him to.

Then at the very moment of sacrifice, when Abraham had showed his commitment and belief in all that God led him to do, he was rewarded beyond his dreams. The Lord's angel stopped him in his tracks and God provided a ram for the sacrifice after which he was told that because of his faith and his willingness to give all that was precious in his life to God, that his descendants would be more numerous than the stars in the sky. Wow! That was a major promise to a man of Abraham's traditions.

But it happened for 2 reasons:
i) Abraham was very in tune with what God was saying because he was "in touch" with God constantly.
ii) He trusted God however outrageous God's commands seemed, he went wherever God led him and he was obedient even if it meant doing something totally against what his beliefs originally were. He had faith!

We have been a church now for 2.5 years and I believe that it is time to grow in faith, in love, in maturity and in spirituality. This is why we have to move buildings, because God knows what is best for us and what can be achieved through each one of us, but we also have to show God that we mean business by our faith. Moving from here is very hard because it feels safe and it is our first church building, but when we move, if we really want to do all that we say - ie we want a large church that works in the community, that employs a full-time pastor, that evangelises to those in need, that fights for social justice etc,- if we really want all this then we have to be prepared to do things beyond the norm.
Maybe it's giving time to fundraise when we really don't have much time and we'd rather sit at home in front of the TV to chill out on that evening - that would be a sacrifice of faith.
Maybe it's giving money when we had put it aside for a specific purpose - that would be a sacrifice of faith.
Maybe it's walking round houses, leaflet dropping on behalf of the church's Christmas services to tell more and more people where we are and that Jesus really does love them - that's a sacrifice of faith.
Maybe it's telling others that we are gay and Christian knowing that it could cause some rejection yet wanting to spread the word that people can be both and God will still love them - that's a sacrifice of faith.
Maybe it's coming to mid-week GAP groups, or a self-help group, to show God we are willing to learn more about one another, the Bible and our relationship with God, even when we really could find far more interesting things to do we think - that's a sacrifice of faith.
Maybe it's giving God the go-ahead to develop the gifts of the HS within us even though we may feel nervous and afraid of what that might mean.

Whatever it is that we are being called to sacrifice and have faith over, the important thing is our willingness to be obedient, however ridiculous or impossible it may seem. "When we do what we can, God will do what we can't." I believe that the people of this church have been led here to establish this new wine - a new work of God, and that has often but not always meant leaving a previous church and becoming part of this one.

Now at the time we left previous churches, the idea of a church that was fully supportive of and enriched by LGBT people, may have seemed preposterous, yet having experienced what God is doing here many of us have taken a step of faith by trusting God in what we had previously understood as an impossibility, and by joining this work of God.

I do not believe anyone can tell me that God is not working in this place. I have seen people's lives changed through their renewed relationship with God; I have seen people meet with God for the very first time; I have seen God set this church up from nothing; I have seen God provide a space where people can take communion freely for the first time often in many years; I have seen God set people free from the lies that bound them before they stepped foot in this place; I have seen us grow from being in touch with 7 to 70 people of all ages and genders; I am seeing the gifts of the HS used more and more as we find confidence and trust in our Maker; Halleluia!

I'm going to finish with a quote: "Faith hears the inaudible, sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible." You gotta have active faith - just watch what God can do as we step out into the unknown with a willingness to obey and serve our Lord.

Amen.