Move Week 1

Has anyone here had a moment where your parents asked you to do something, and you just looked at them like they were crazy because what they were asking you to do made no sense to you? I imagine most of us have experienced something like that.

I imagine Abraham had a similar feeling. Only for Abraham it wasn’t his parents asking him to do something that seemed dumb. It was God asking him to give up the thing he had waited over 25 years for.

If you were at Remix this weekend you know we are in a series all about worship. We believe worship has the power to move us and change the environment around us. But in order to tap into that power we need to understand what worship is and why we do it! And in order to do that we need to look at the source. We need to go all the way back to the first time the word worship was used in the Bible.

Abraham and his wife Sarah didn’t have any kids. But God promised that they would. In fact God promised to make Abraham the father of a nation. So they waited for God to fulfill his promise. And they waited and waited and waited again. Abraham and Sarah waited over 25 years to finally have a kid. By the time they did they were both over 90 years old.

Can you imagine the anticipation that had built up? And the excitement when it finally happened? After all the waiting and impatience and stupid mistakes Abraham and Sarah made, they finally had the family they had been waiting for.

And after they had Isaac and got to watch him grow up for a while. That is when God asked Abraham to do something that didn’t make any sense. Genesis 22:1-2 says,

“After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. “Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

I think it is really interesting how God worded what he was asking of Abraham. He made a point to say “your only son Isaac, whom you love.” God knew what he was asking of Abraham would require incredible trust and obedience. Isaac was his only son, who he waited 25 years for, how could God ask him to do something like this??

Well if you were here this weekend you already know that God wasn’t actually planning to let Abraham sacrifice Isaac. God always had a plan to replace the sacrifice. But Abraham didn’t know that. As far as Abraham knew, God was serious.

That’s why I am so amazed by what Abraham does next. Genesis 22:3-6 says,

“So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together.”

He didn’t hesitate, he didn’t question God. He didn’t get upset. He just obeyed. He grabbed Isaac and his servants and started walking. And in this act of obedience we see the word “worship” being used for the first time.

Now as we continue to read this story, we don’t see Abraham and Isaac gather around a campfire to sing some songs. We don’t see them show up at a church service with a bunch of worship leaders leading them at the beginning of service. In fact there is no music involved in this story at all.

What this tells us is that worship is not just singing on sunday worship is obedience.

Abraham worshiped God by doing what he asks and it is the same for us.

When you obey God, that is an act of worship. When God asks you to do something that doesn’t make any sense and you still follow through, that brings honor to God. Worship is so much more than just singing songs together at church. We have opportunities to bring glory to God in every aspect of our lives, and the way we do that is by committing to obedience.

The question is what is God asking you to do? For some of you, maybe he is asking you to do something that makes no sense. But for some of you I think God is probably asking you to obey him in really simple ways. Either way you have a choice, will you obey God and live out worship in your everyday life? Or will you continue to give God half your heart on Sundays but not enough to actually obey him when it counts?

Move Week 1

Small Group Study

Icebreaker: INFECTION

NEEDS: n/a

SETUP: Move chairs into different spots to create obstacles to slow down students in the room.

Directions:

1. In this game there is one person who starts out as patient zero. This person is then infected and they must "infect" all the other players to win the game.
2. The game ends when there is one person left standing.
3. There will be a 2 minute timer so there is a chance for the humans to win!
4. If the first round goes by fast, do 3 rounds where there can be multiple chances for humans to win.

Small group questions:

1. In your own words how would you define worship?
2. Why is it important for us to have a good understanding of worship?
3. If you were in Abraham’s shoes, how do you think you would have responded?
4. What does Abraham’s story teach us about worship and obedience?
5. What is the value of obeying God like Abraham did?
6. What gets in your way of obeying God in your life? Be specific?
7. How can we as a group help each other to deal with the things that are getting in the way of obedience?

Moving Forward: Is there an area in your life that you are struggling to obey God right now? Share it with the group now. Let’s pray together and commit to holding each other accountable to take a step of obedience.