Genesis 22:15-18

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.”

• Service of Worship Vs. 16-18

Abraham took the fire and the knife and put the wood on his son and climbing the mountain together he bound him and placed him on the altar. Then he raised the knife fully intending to sacrifice his son to the Lord, willing to hold nothing back, Abraham yielded every ounce of self to the perfect will of God. God intervened and provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in the place of his son Isaac and in the end, Abraham’s worship served to glorify God alone. Abraham’s faith and act of selfless worship delighted the heart of God and brought a statement of appreciation from Him. When we devote ourselves to selfless worship we bring glory to God. Psalm 50:23 quotes God as saying, “But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.”  True biblical worship gives God the place of absolute preeminence in our lives.  He alone is glorified in genuine worship and that is how worship serves the Lord.

• Satisfaction of Worship Vs. 16-18

God will be no man’s debtor and after Abraham’s demonstration of absolute faith He gave Isaac back to him. Abraham ascended the mountain with a heavy heart knowing the high cost of honoring God yet his obedience was rewarded.  He might have climbed that mountain questioning the ways of God, but he came down with a deeper understanding of God. He might have climbed that mountain expecting to give yet he received, instead of taking there was thanksgiving. When Abraham placed Isaac on the altar, God gave him back and Isaac became even more precious than before. One of the greatest blessings of real worship is that it brings the manifold blessings of God back to the giver. God will honor those who honor Him through worship but this is not why we worship. When we are willing to sacrifice all that we have, all that we are, and all that we care about on the altar of His glory, He will respond by blessing us and using us in greater ways than we could have ever imagined. Abraham learned the reality that the sacred mountain of sacrifice always brings satisfaction. God’s power and presence is manifested in our lives through real worship, if we would only be willing to take all that we are and yield it to all that He is. When we respond in worship to all that Jesus is, as He is revealed in the Word of God, God responds by doing for us what he did for Abraham. He gives us the Son in greater measure, giving us a greater appreciation for the Person of Christ. When we worship Christ in light of His death on the cross, the cross becomes more precious. As we worship Him in His resurrection, His resurrection becomes more precious. As we worship Him for grace, love, salvation, eternal life, heaven, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the church, and everything else He has given to us in Christ, those things become infinitely more precious to us.

Ephesians 1:3 tells us that God has already “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” When we give God pure worship for Who He is and what He has done for us, He responds by giving those things back to us in greater degree. It is not that we have more of those things, it is that those things become more real and precious to us. One of the greatest benefits and blessings of true worship is that it enriches that which we already have.

Abraham’s worship involved placing all that he was and all that he had on the altar of submission. Today we need to ask ourselves a question that may help us to reflect and discover where we are at. Only the Holy Spirit can search our hearts, so cultivating, carving out, and creating a space for this to happen as we ask this question is vital: When you examined your worship in light of what you have discovered from Abraham are you

•         Worshiping Him as He is revealed to you in the Word of God, the source of worship?

•         Absolutely submissive to His will?

•         Is your worship sacrificial?

•         Are you practicing self-denial and separation?

•         Does your worship serve the Lord by glorifying Him?

•         Does your worship provide satisfaction as he becomes more precious to you?

Sadly for many today we have reduced worship to a half hour of music but worship is more than a time slot and it is not about the lyrics it is about our lives. When worship becomes a performance it becomes a problem, nothing more than a chore and a means to an end. Powerful worship lives in the moments, every moment where we discover a God who loves us. Has God spoken to you about your worship, will you come to Him today and let Him work in your heart to bring you to a place of powerful and pleasing worship?

Genesis 22:2-5

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.”

• Sacrifice of Worship Vs 2, 5

Abraham reminds us that worship isn’t cheap but costly and for Abraham it required the cost of his precious son. God asks Abraham to give what he loved the most, the light of his life that represented all of his hopes and dreams for the future. He had waited 24 years for the promise to become a reality and now God wanted him to give it all back. To Abraham, Isaac was life itself and God calls Abraham to take and sacrifice what is the most precious. Today we have traded costly worship for cheap, convenient and comfortable worship. When Abraham spoke of “worship” he knew that true worship involved him making the greatest sacrifice possible and he willingly offered God the treasure of his heart. David understood the cost of worship when he said, “I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” 2 Samuel 24:24. Mary knew this, and John 12:1-8 describes the sacrificed of her pride, her glory and her treasure for the opportunity to worship at the feet of Jesus. Worship is why the wise men journeyed on, so they could kneel in humble honor and offer their treasure before the child King Matthew 2:1-12. Through the ages many have given it all, even their lives, as sacrifices of worship for His glory. Hebrews 13:15 tells us: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” yet for many selfishness holds us back from the sacrifice of worship. It always costs something to worship the Lord, yet are we really willing to give it? Maybe it’s the cost of time to study His Word so that truth can be discovered. The cost may include the loss of prestige the acceptance of friends, family, and society. What treasure are you willing to offer to God through worship? Romans 12:1 tells us to offer our lives as a sacrifice. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” What would you offer today would you offer your will and your ways?

• Separation of Worship Vs 5

When this small band of pilgrims arrived at the place God revealed to Abraham, a separation took place.  “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.”  Those two servants were not part of the worship experience because they would have hindered and possibly stopped him from doing what the Lord had called him to do. So they had to be left behind and only Abraham and the treasure of his heart were allowed in the place of worship. There is an important worship lesson for us here and that is that there are many things in life that would hinder our worship. Like those two servants there are many things that would intrude themselves into our worship that have no business being there. We must say to those things, ““Stay here while I go and worship.” What things compete for your attention while you seek to worship? Anything that would hinder us, the problems of the flesh, the mind, the world, must be banished when we go to seek the Lord in worship. Anything that distracts the mind and detours the heart from Him is a hindrance to genuine, biblical worship. Often we find ourselves pondering problems and people instead of being passionately engaged in the privilege of personal worship.  Heb. 10:21-22 says, “and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings”  We have the privilege of a “High Priest” and the responsibility to “draw near with a true heart.” We are called to approach the Lord with a heart that is fully focused on Him. We must detach from anything that would distract and leave it behind so that like Abraham, we can go from “here” to “there”. For Abraham, the place of worship was not “here” in the valley with the servants it was “here” on the mountain with the Lord. If we are going to worship, we too must move from “here” to “there” as we separate ourselves from any that would hinder us from being totally given over to God. What has your attention and occupies your mind when you come to worship?

•  Self-Denial of Worship Vs 5

When Abraham told the servants that he was going up to “worship”, he knew that it meant the sacrifice of his son. Abraham yielded himself to the will of his Father not his wants and that is self-denial. Absolute self-denial required that he sacrificed his opinions, his desires, his will, his preferences, and his very future to the glory of God. Self-denial allows us to let go of self so we can get lost in the Savior. Abraham’s worship was not about him, it was about the Lord. We must deny self because worship is never about us and we will never really worship as long as we are focused on self. Abraham did not seek to worship in a way that would allow him to be exalted; he worshiped in a way that brought all glory to God. If we want to worship the Lord, we must cease to exalt self and we must focus on exalting Him and Him alone! Real worship happens when we forget about self and get lost in His glory for His glory!