Sunday message · Better:Jesus is Greater series
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Message Summary
In the second message of the Better: Jesus is Greater series, Jeff Varughese, one of Clarity’s community leaders, follows Abraham’s story to Genesis 22:1–14 to show how God’s love overcomes our doubts. Jeff calls himself an open book, yet one subject still makes him uncomfortable: a career path that has taken him far from what he studied and expected. It is hard, he says, to tell a good story when you don’t have an ending. At times he doubts God’s promises for him, and that leads him to doubt God’s love.
Doubt is common, Jeff says, whether it concerns finances, health, relationships or our emotional and spiritual lives. Usually it comes down to doubting God’s provision, and then his love, until God feels distant and we stop praying, pull away from people and end up isolated, defeated and unloved.
Abram was seventy-five when God promised to make him a great nation, but he had no son. When he voices his doubt in Genesis 15, God does not scold him. Like a loving father, God reassures him, shows him the stars and restates his promise. Jeff draws two lessons: we never have to be ashamed of our doubt, and even in the middle of it we can keep talking with God. Abram and Sarai still grow impatient and take matters into their own hands, and when God repeats his promise years later, both of them laugh. God asks, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” After twenty-five years, Isaac is born just as God said.
It is easy to read this as a story of patience rewarded, Jeff says, but that misses the main point. Our culture trains us to see ourselves as the protagonist of our own story, and then we judge God by whether he follows our script. But God will not play a supporting role. Hebrews 12 calls Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, so Jeff asks, “When it comes to your story, who is holding the pen?”
In Genesis 22, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son, whom he loves, and Abraham sets out early. Isaac carries the wood for his own sacrifice, and when he asks where the sheep is, Abraham answers that God will provide. The angel of the Lord stops him, and a ram caught by its horns in a thicket is offered in Isaac’s place. Abraham names the place The Lord Will Provide, because by now he knows the story was never about him.
Unlike Abraham, God the Father did sacrifice his one and only son, who carried the wood he would die on. Just as the ram was caught by its horns, Jesus wore a crown of thorns, and he died in our place. When we doubt God’s provision or love, Jeff says, look no further than the cross. He closes with three responses: talk honestly with God about your doubts as Abraham did, share them with your community, and cling to the cross, remembering that God is completely committed to you and madly in love with you.