I imagine, sometimes, that Jesus must have had an extraordinary patience coupled with a keen sense of sarcasm. That latter bit was probably toned down a good bit by the time they got to writing down what He said.

So, one day, two of his disciples come to Him and say, "Lord, we would that you should do whatsoever it is that we ask...". And I can just hear Jesus thinking to Himself, "Oh boy. I have GOT to hear this...".

"What is it that you want?"

"We want you to grant us to sit on your left and your right in heaven."

And Jesus, in his typical "dodge the question" style (it's not really dodging, but rather He often made it a point to answer questions with questions of his own), says to them,

"Are you able to drink of the cup that I drink of? And are you able to be baptised with the baptism I am to receive?"

And they said to him,

"Yeah, we can do that!"

Anyone who's been a Christian for more than a week or so knows this story:

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Wait here; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

We all know this story. We listen to it, or versions of it, in sermons every Sunday, somewhere in this country.

We are very comfortable with this story, and because of it, we are very comfortable with God. But we are so only because we know how this story ends. In the end, the Angel of the Lord stays Abraham's hand, right at the very last second, and says, "that's OK... that's far enough."

We like to imagine ourselves in that same situation - how we would so boldly and bravely go to the altar to make some tremendous sacrifice; sacrifice something very dear to us; sacrifice it with permanency, knowing that we would not get it back. But we are so very ready to go there, to offer, to sacrifice it all - We are ready and willing to give everything for Jesus!

Like the disciples of Jesus said, "Yeah, we are able to drink of this cup", having no idea what it might really mean to them or their families.

But how ready are we really? How willing are we really?

How willing ought we to be, to take that knife in hand, not knowing if this time God might actually NOT stay our hand, but require the sacrifice?

It's always a possiblility. Just because God staid Abraham's hand doesn't for one minute mean that he will stay yours.

When you come to him with a sacrifice that's bigger than you really intended, just because you thought in your heart, "Surely, he won't let me actually go through with it. Surely he will stop me right at the last moment and provide an alternative..."

When he asks of you a sacrifice of something precious, something dear, something priceless... When you think to offer something difficult, or hard, don't walk to that altar boldly thinking "Aha! This is just a test. He won't let me do something with permanent consequences."

Consider the possibility that he will!

We have let this story of Abraham and Issac lull us into forgetting that God is a terrible God - a fearful God. As C.S. Lewis put it, "He is not a tame lion." He is a God who works all things for His own glory, and at our expense (or so it appears on the surface of things).

Well, sir, I'm just a child - a young man. God will not require everything of me at such a young age.... It was young Issac on the altar.

But, I have a family, a wife and children to provide for. God would not require the ultimate sacrifice of me, for their sake. Issac WAS the family, the family was on the altar.

At no place, and at no time do you have any comfort in scripture that God might not require of you a sacrifice that he expects you to actually make. After all, he spared not his own son, even though he asked to be spared!  And that Son spared not His own disciples.

You sing, "All to Jesus, I surrender, all to him I freely give. I surrender all..." Do you not ever stop to think that perhaps God will actually require it of you some day? That you might be called upon to sacrifice your house; your job? Your life's savings in his service? And that God won't consider it "just a test" but actually require it of you?

When you nod approvingly when hearing about how we, as Christians, are called to sacrifice even everything we have, even our own bodies in his service, do you not consider that by nodding your approval, God might not be marking you for just that?

So you can speak so boldly about going out and being a missionary. I can do without a house. I can do without a car.

We say these things so easily, because in the back of our minds, we are thinking about that story of Abraham and Issac. "God won't expect me to actually DO it.... I can say big things. I can boast of what I'd be willing to do. It's enough if I'm just willing to do it. That's what matters..."

Is it? Or might God not stay the hand in your case?

There's nothing for you in the way of comfort in this story of Abraham and Issac. How God chose to treat Abraham has nothing to do with what he might do to you.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. A God that says, "Be careful what you promise to me. It is better to not vow, than to vow and not pay."

My friend, the place of the Christian is to reverence and respect God for the infinitely glorious and infinitely powerful God that he is, and to trust him, not ourselves, that no matter what the outcome, it is best for no other reason that it is God's choice - not yours.

Be not just willing, but be prepared to actually do. Be prepared to the point of actually expecting it.

And keep in mind, too, that this sacrifice might not be so obvious as a stone altar, some ropes, a knife, and a voice from Heaven saying, "Do this."

Just a moment ago, I mentioned what another version of this sacrifice might look like to a couple of people who didn't recognize the enormity of what they proposed to sacrifice for God.

It was James, and John - Jesus' disciples. They came to Jesus with a boldness that if they knew what it was that they were asking, and what they were promising, they would have considered a bit more before offering it.

Are you able to drink of the cup that I'm going to drink? Are you able to be baptised with the baptism that I am about to be baptised with? Yeah. Sure. We can do that.

They answered, not even able to comprehend what it was that they were offering to sacrifice, and certainly not thinking that Jesus would actually require it of them.

But he did. And they did sacrifice. And God did not stay the hand that spilled the blood of these two disciples on the ground.

God is not like us. He is not like even the best of us. We, having been originally made in His image are nothing like that image anymore - twisted and perverted by sin. When God calls to you, it is best to say, as Abraham said "Here am I, Lord" and then go humbly and do as he bids you and nothing more - neither in act, nor in your heart!

Let your words be "Yes, Lord." And nothing else. God is not interested in "variety", or "a fresh experience", or "novelty", or any other such nonsense. God is interested only in what he has commanded. Why? Because when your command is the perfect embodiment of everything that is good and holy, then how can you possibly alter or improve on it? Anything done to something that is already perfect will only corrupt it.

That is why God commands the Israelites in such mind-numbing detail... And He expects there to be absolutely no deviation from his command whatsoever. NONE. Not even the slightest bit.

For He knows (and has said so), "You will bring nothing of your own device into my service, for the very moment you lift up your tool upon my altar, you have polluted and perverted it.

He killed two young boys who thought to bring a litle novelty into his temple service, and He did so without even so much as a prior warning or command not to do what they did. And Uzzah.... My friends, Uzzah is still dead in his grave. No warning.... DRT.

Why? Is God an incorrigible tyrant? No. Because He knows that His own word, His own command, His own design and desires and patterns and ways CANNOT BE IMPROVED ON, BECAUSE THEY ARE ALREADY ***PERFECT*** IN EVERY WAY.

He knows that attempts to follow a "better way that seems right to man" will not end in mistakes, or less than satisfying results. He knows that "the end thereof is DEATH." God's seemingly overy complex law is not complex for no reason. It is designed not to be followed, but to point out that you do NOT follow. And by doing that, drive you to despair and hopelessness in anything other than the way that HE has made. The sacrifice that HE has brought. And the altar that HE has built. Because only HIS way cannot be improved on.

And that way is Jesus Christ, and complete and absolute trust in Him is the only way to please God.  Everything else from man stinks in His presence and He will not accept it.  Again... not because He is a tyrant, but because His way is perfect and cannot be improved by man's innovations.

Jesus did not come here to be an example to you of how to live your life, as if you would say to Him, "Yeah... We can do that!  Dang, that was easy!  Where's my easy button?"  He did not come here to show you "a way for you to follow", for he says, "I AM THE WAY".

God has said, "I do this [work of Salvation by faith in Christ] not for your sake, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned and perverted throughout all the nations."

The central of God in the Old Testament is exactly the same message of Jesus Christ in the New Testament:

1) God is absolutely pure, holy, righteous, and just. And,

2) You are none of these things.

Because of that, judgement comes, and wrath, and all that "hellfire and brimstone" stuff that "enlightened" people like Rick Warren, and Rob Bell, and Brian McClaren, like to ridicule.  But God has made a way.  "This is my beloved son.  Hear Him....By the way, have I introduced you to my son?..."

THAT is the central message of the Gospel and the Law and the Prophets.  It is NOT about building churches or relationships, or having fellowship, or singing worship songs, or self help groups, or any other such thing.  Those things come later, and only to those who have first repented of their sins and come to Christ to be utterly broken and emptied of themselves and their self-esteem, and their sense of self-worth. 

You become worthy when you become worthless - and not one second before.  If you are spending all your time in the "pulpit", telling people how valuable they are to God, and how much worth they have, all you are doing is a great disservice to them if you are not absolutely certain of their standing before God.  And since you cannot be so certain, then the best thing to do is stick to the text and not try to improvise.

One great piece of advice, when reading the scripture is this:  make note of who Jesus is talking to when he says things.  Notice that when he says something like "ye are worth more than many sparrows", that he is talking to his disciples.  He NEVER says things like this to the crowds.  NOTE how the beloved "Sermon on the Mount" was not preached to the crowds.  It was taught TO HIS DISCIPLES, in the presence of the crowds - not TO them.

When explaining himself, he tells them that there is a difference in the message He brings to them - his disciples - and the message he brings to the crowds.  And it's not a very pretty picture that He paints.  In fact, what Jesus says about this is one of the more terrible and horrible things in all of the new testament.

PLEASE... People.... GOD IS NOT LIKE YOU. 

Can we please dispense with this nonsense about "Jesus Is Your Buddy?"  Jesus is the same GOD I've told you about in the Old Testament.  One and the Same.  When people say things like "Jesus never condemned homosexuality", my answer is always the same: He most certainly did.  Did you not read where Jesus said "thou shalt not lie with a man as with a woman?"  Yeah, that's Him back there too!

He doesn't think the way you think. He doesn't feel about things in the way you feel about things. In the real, finality of truth, it is true to say that God is utterly alien to man, and man cannot even begin to grasp his mind.  But God knows this, and has made a way for you to come to Him, even though you may be filthy with sin (and that, you most certainly are).  He has made a way for you. 

 And that way is to believe in and trust Him whom he has sent, Jesus Christ, only. If you are wondering if there is a word for this kind of life; there is. It's called "humility." 

I have it on good authority that God likes it.

Epilogue:

I "got saved" in 1984, but I tell you the truth: I am every bit as sinful and vile today as I was in 1983.  The only difference is what sacrifice I am bringing to the altar, now.  That's the ONLY change.  I'm no longer offering ME on the altar.  I'm accepting the sacrifice of another in my place, and apart from that I stand before God completely, and utterly empty-handed.  And if that is not enough, then I am lost.