On giving up control of the future

I'll try a new posting strategy...

Here's a snippet from a sermon I gave recently and if it strikes you as interesting or provocative then make a comment and we'll see how this blog thing progresses.

The story...reaches its climax as Abraham binds his son and raises the knife to kill Isaac, his beloved son. In this moment we see Abraham offer his son back to God and along with Isaac’s life is Abraham’s future, the future of his family, and the future of God’s people—the people through whom God had said the entire world be blessed. Do we go too far if we say that the future of the world is given back to God as Abraham raises the knife to slay his son? Do we go too far to say that in that great and terrifying act of faith, the hope that the history of the world will turn out for the better rather than for the worse is given over into God’s hands? I say this because the promise to Abraham was that the nations of the world would be blessed through his offspring (Gen 12.1-3; 22.18).

“And by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.”

What Abraham did was to relinquish control. First he relinquished control over his son, then control over his family, and then, ultimately, he relinquished control over history. As his hand is staid, and the ram appears in the thicket, he discovers that this God that has called him out, is a God who will provide; that he is a God who in his mercy and grace will give back his son, his family, the future of his people, and through his people, the world—as a gift. If there is a future, it will be God’s future. If there is a people, it will be God’s people. If Abraham is to have a family, it will be God’s family. If he is to have a son, it will be because God has given him a son.