Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

The title for the sermon this morning is, “Our Faith Affects Our Family’s Futures.” It’s true!

I love my family, as I’m sure you love yours. Because I love them, I desire the very best for them. And because I love them, I would do anything for them. We often think of this in terms of big things, but it’s especially true in the small things. Love is being excited about things they’re excited about. Love is caring for each other even when you’re angry. Love is wiping bottoms, and noses, and the playing silliest made up games with your kids because those things mean the world to them.

And by demonstrating this love to our kids, they learn to trust us. So that even if we tell them to do something that doesn’t make sense, or something they don’t want to do, they would do it anyway because they trust their parents. In all of this, we have the great privilege of modeling God’s love to our children. How we do that will have a huge impact on their faith and future.

Read Hebrews 11:17-21

It goes without saying that parents have hopes and dreams for our children’s futures. We hope that they’ll be happy. We hope that they’ll be productive members of society. We hope that they won’t make the same mistakes we made. It’s been said, “I’ve learned so much from my mistakes, I’m thinking about making a few more.” Our kids will make mistakes, too, but we pray that they won’t be hurt by our sins. And more than anything we hope that they’ll trust in God and serve Him all over their lives.

Abraham hoped to have a child, and God promised him that he would. Not only that, God promised Abraham that through his son Isaac God would make him a great nation. So naturally Abraham assumed Isaac would live and have children, and Abraham hoped that Isaac would be blessed and be a blessing. But what do we do when God asks us to give up our hopes and dreams? Or to do things that we think may even hurt our families?

So do you see the problem being pointed out in verses 17-18? God had promised that He would make Abraham a great nation through Isaac. But God also commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. This was before the law was given, so Abraham apparently didn’t know that sacrificing your children was actually displeasing to God.

So what would Abraham do? Would Abraham try to reason with God? Would he try to change God’s mind? Or would he simply disobey God’s command? Would he put his love for his son above his love for God? Abraham did none of those things. Instead, it appears Abraham determined immediately to obey God. Abraham trusted God. Even though what God was asking didn’t make sense, Abraham trusted God. And Abraham reasoned that God could even bring Isaac back from the dead.

And in this Old Testament story we see Christ foreshadowed. Years later, God would send His only Son to the earth in order to sacrifice Him on a cross. And the Son would be obedient, and would go to the cross not questioning His Father. Only with Jesus, God wouldn’t stop at the last moment to provide an animal sacrifice. Because Jesus Christ is the Perfect Lamb of God, provided for our sin. He is the One all other sacrifices pointed to. He is the perfect sacrifice, the one that can actually remove our sin from us. So if anyone would repent and believe in Him, he would receive eternal life!

But the Son of God didn’t stay dead either. And He didn’t just rise figuratively like Isaac. Jesus actually rose from the dead!

So let’s recap: Abraham was promised a child through whom God would make him a great nation. Isaac was born, fulfilling the promise. God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham obeyed God, but at the last moment, God told Isaac to stop and provided a more suitable sacrifice. So figuratively speaking, Abraham received Isaac back from the dead. Fast forward about 2,000 years, and God sends Jesus to the earth to the final and complete sacrifice for sin. Jesus obeys His Father, and is sacrificed on the cross, and rises on the third day, not figuratively, but literally, proving His divinity and authority. God did all this to satisfy His wrath toward sin on our account. He did it for us, because He loves us. So surely we can trust Him.

When God gives a command, He doesn’t want your excuses, He doesn’t want your hesitation, He wants your obedience, because your obedience shows where your faith is, and God wants your faith in Him.

We need to live out a faith that tells our families that they aren’t the most important thing in the world to us. God is most important. That’s not to say we should neglect our families. But we shouldn’t make our families idols in our lives, people that we worship more than God.

What kind of affect do you think Abraham’s actions had on Isaac? Isaac learned in a very real way that Abraham trusted God, and sought to obey God. So Isaac saw the learned the importance of following God from his dad. Our faith affects our family’s futures.

Do your kids learn the same thing from looking at your life? Do you serve God even at personal risk? Even if it means risking your family? Or do you play it safe? Again, I’m not saying we neglect our families. We need to provide for them (1 Timothy 5:8). But I am saying that sometimes in America we provide a little too much for our families, and it hinders the work we could be doing for God. And it hinders the work that our children could do for God. It shapes the way they think about their stuff. It shapes the way they think about their very lives. We ought to make it clear that our lives are not ours to live. We need to live them for Christ, who gave His life for us, that we might give our lives to Him. Our children need to know that it’s okay for them to be missionaries. It’s okay for them to risk their lives for the gospel. In fact, it’s more than okay. We’d be thrilled if they did so!

Abraham had the kind of faith that obeyed God, and his faith transferred to his son Isaac (v. 20). Isaac spoke blessings over his children. We all hope our kids will be blessed. But this goes beyond hoping. By faith, Isaac communicated true future blessings to his children that could only have been revealed to him by God. If we have faith, God speaks to us, and to our children through us.

In the same way, Jacob also blessed his descendants (v. 21). Jacob also blessed his own children, including Joseph, but it mentions Jacob blessing Joseph’s sons because Jacob gave them a special blessing, treating them as his own sons. Jacob did this by faith. He was following God’s leading. Because Jacob blessed them like this, they each received a portion of the Promise Land. Our faith affects our family’s futures.

But it wasn’t just the act of speaking blessings that caused later generation to follow God. Notice Jacob’s posture as he blessed Joseph’s sons by faith: Jacob bowed in worship. We can’t just decide one day to be better parents. We need to humble ourselves before God. Genuine faith worships God, and leads our families to worship God. Our families need to see where our devotion lies. Go into your prayer closet when it comes to being seen by the world, but bring your family in with you. Show your family that God is worthy of worship. Show your family that you live by faith in the God who is trustworthy.

How much do you trust God? Do you know that God only desires the very best for you? Do you know that God does everything that He does for your good, because He loves you? Do you know and follow Jesus, who died for you so that you might trust in Him?