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!

Genesis 22:1-3

1 Sometime 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.

People had been worshiping God since Adam and Eve were created, in Genesis 4 we see Cain and Abel involved in sacrifice and worship, Gen. 4:26 says, “… then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.” Gen. 5:22 tells us that “Enoch walked with God…” Gen. 6:9 tells us that Noah also “walked with God.” yet Genesis 22:5 is the first time the word “worship” is used. So what is worship?  Today Abraham’s journey of worship reveals to us something about our own worship. The truths told teach us about the character, the conditions and the challenges, while revealing Abrahams faith and teaching us some very powerful truths about worship, first is the:

• Setting of Worship

Have you ever wondered why our worship wanes, why we are hot and cold? Could it be that our worship is centered around our circumstances instead of our Creator?  When we look at the setting of worship we see Abraham using the word worship in the midst of the most difficult trial he ever faced. Often we value worship only as a mountain top experience yet for Abraham worship started in the deepest valley of his life.  Abraham saw this situation as an opportunity for worship because he understood that the setting for worship is not driven by our surroundings but our Savior.

• Source of Worship Vs 1-2

Abraham’s worship was based on the spoken Word of God. Verse 1 says, “God called,” Abraham found himself engaged in the worship of Almighty God because God told him exactly what He wanted. God not only told Abraham what He wanted but also what to do, Verse 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.” Abraham’s worship was based on the Word of God which stands in sharp contrast with today, where most of our worship is fueled by feeling instead of the Father. When worship is based on our whims of whatever feels good instead of His Word it drifts dangerously with the flow of feeling. Feelings are directed by the current of circumstance which ebbs and flows, rising and falling on the temporary tides of today. True worship is guided by the Word of God because true worship is a response to revelation, so true worship is always a matter of faith, Romans 10:17 “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The word translated “worship” here means to “bow down; to prostrate oneself, to humble oneself before God. God has revealed Himself to us in His Word and we respond to that revelation with worship by humbling ourselves to Him and bowing down before Him in reverence and adoration. Genuine biblical worship is responding to all that God is, as He has revealed Himself in the Bible. God says He loves me, God says He sent His Son to die for me, God says He will never leave me, God says that He will supply all my needs, God says He is my Father. The list could go on but the point is that when I understand Who God is and what He has done for me, I worship Him when I respond to His revelation with humility, gratitude and reverence. So if we are going to worship the Lord, we must do it His way. Our culture makes worship about the music yet the back ground for worship here contains no keyboards, or guitars, or drums not even a choir or an organ. Instead, in the fore ground there is an altar, and a heart of sacrifice. Worship is more than words and what we do with our lips it is what we do with our lives, the word worship is a verb, an action word. Worship is a response to our Redeemer and music can be an outward expression of that response but it’s still about our Maker not our music. Worship is a reflection of His revelation, it is what should hold our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection. So what has God revealed to you today and how will you respond to Him, will you bow before Him in reverence, love and adoration?

•             Submission of Worship Vs 3

Often when God speaks we hear and hesitate but Abraham responded in faith, submitting himself to God’s Will. Abraham’s worship was a reflection of humble submission to the will of God manifested in obedient action:

He “…got up early.”

He “saddled” his donkey.

He “took two of his servants with him”

He took “Isaac his son.”

He “chopped the wood for the burnt offering”

He “set out for the place God had told him about”

I’m sure Abraham didn’t fully understand the reason for the Lord’s command. I’m sure his mind was troubled and confused and his heart heavy as he went about his tasks. Yet he did what the Lord told him to do. Abraham heard the Word of the Lord and submitted himself to it, willing to humbly obeyed God. This is the picture of worship not void of feeling but not driven by it. Today God has revealed His will to us and instead of obedience there is opposition, whining in place of worship, protests instead of praise. Worship is not just rooted in what the Word of God says it is rooted in obedience to what the Word of God says. It is one thing to know what God says, but it is another thing altogether to obey God especially when His commands make no sense. What the Lord called Abraham to do was unprecedented, no one had ever been asked to do that before.  Yet, Abraham obeyed God because Abraham trusted God, it was not based on commonsense but on the command of the Creator. Abraham humbled himself and obeyed by faith, he trusted the Lord to know best and that kind of faith is an essential component of true biblical worship. Obedience to the Word of God is worship, praying, reading the Bible, tithing, witnessing are all acts of worship, when they are done out of a heart of love and humble submission to God. So what has he commanded you to do, are you worshipping through obedient submission?