Covenant Connections:
A Covenant of Old ~ A Hope Renewed
Scripture Text: Hosea 1.2 – 2.1
INTRODUCTION
If you are not familiar with Hosea ~ …his life and the message that God told him to announce ~ …if you don’t know that-much about Hosea, …then the story may be a little surprising. Actually, if you just looked at Hosea’s life, …you’d think you were reading the script for a modern-day soap-opera! But there’s more-goin’-on-here, than the broken-relationships and goofy-names…
So, let’s begin by quickly going through the list-of-characters. First, there’s Hosea. He’s probably a young man; …a man-of-God. We’re introduced to him by telling us that God began to ‘speak’ to him. He’s a prophet ~ …which means that he is a spokesman-for-God. He tells-it, like-it-is. Sometimes prophets are bombastic-and-confrontational; …other-times, they’d just-as-soon fade-into-the-shadows as-soon-as they get-done delivering God’s-Word. But, God gives Hosea an interesting directive: …He’s to-get himself-married! And-so, as-the-story-unfolds, …we see Hosea becoming a husband and a father, in-addition to-being a prophet. In-fact, a good-portion of the message that God wants Hosea to-proclaim is-made through his marriage-and-his-children! In-other-words, his family-life is a sort-of living-parable!
The second person we find in the story is Gomer. She is a lady of-questionable-character. Now, biblical scholars are divided when it comes to Gomer. Some think that she was already a prostitute when God directed Hosea to marry her. Others-say that she was not; but became a harlot sometime after they were wed. Still-others believe that while she wasn’t a prostitute before they were married, …she was a flirtatious, maybe-even promiscuous woman. And God told Hosea to marry her. But-whatever her attitude-and-reputation was-before they were married, …we know that after Hosea married Gomer that things unraveled in some-pretty-ugly-ways! Gomer is Hosea’s wife. She bears three children ~ some-of-whom may not be Hosea’s. And she is an adulteress. Not-the-kind of wife, …not the kind of marriage that you’d be-lookin’-for!
Three children are born into this mess-of-a-marriage. The first is Jezreel. His name means, “God plants”; …and it’s the name of a town that was nestled in a beautiful valley. However, through-the-course of Israel’s- istory, several-different massacre’s happened-there. And-so, this wonderful-little-town had ‘murder’ and ‘massacre’ woven-into its history-and-reputation. One Bible commentator says that naming a child “Jezreel” in ancient-Israel, …would be like naming a child “Auschwitz” or “Hiroshima” today! Can you imagine giving your child one-of-those names!?!... Talk-about a stigma! But, it doesn’t stop with the first-child.
The second-child is a girl, …and she is named Lo-Ruhamah. Her name means, “not loved”. If her name was simply, “Ruhamah” ~ …it would be a lovely name. It’s a Hebrew word meaning, “loved”; …sometimes it’s translated as “mercy”. But this-poor-child is named Lo-Ruhamah. “Lo”, in Hebrew, means “not”. And-so, this precious-little-girl is to walk-around the rest-of-her-life with the label: …not-loved, …no-mercy!
The third child is another son. Lo-Ammi. Again – you recognize the “Lo” prefix attached to the beginning of the boy’s name. “Ammi” means “my people”. It’s a tender and intimate term. Ever-since the Exodus of the people of Israel, out-of-Egypt, …ever-since they gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinaia, …ever-since Moses brought-down the Ten Commandment ~ …God has called the children-of-Israel, “Ammi”! “My people”. But-now, through the living-parable of Hosea’s life, …one of the children is named, “not my people” to indicate the absolute-brokenness of the covenant-relationship between the Israelites-and-God!
Well… that’s the list of characters in this sordid-story. But, it’s a story that is instigated by God. That’s not-to-say that God wanted all-the-ugliness to take-place the way-that-it-did. But, it is to say that He used the awfulness of Hosea’s marriage-relationship to preach-a-powerful-message about the state-of-the-covenant between God and the people of Israel.
James Limburg says,
For no other prophet were professional calling and personal life so closely linked as for Hosea. He understood the heartache caused by the actions of his young wife as a parallel to the hurting in the heart of God…. For Hosea there was no separation between office and home, vocation and family life… The pain in the heart of the prophet became a parable of the anguish in the heart of God. (Interpretation, 9-10)
TRANSITION
No one gets married with the intention of failing! But, given the contemporary-statistics, …it’s pretty-clear that marriages and families in America have suffered from a lot of brokenness. Broken promises. Broken dreams. Broken hearts. Broken relationships.
They say that in some ways, divorce is worse-than death. At least, in death there is some closure and finality. When a marriage falls apart, …there’s a living-reminder of what-was, …but is-not, no-more. And it’s gut-wrenching!
You may be wondering if this sermon is about marriage. And the answer is: Yes-and-No!... It is, and it isn’t. It’s primarily about God’s covenant with His people. But, to get-at that ~ …to-help us picture that relationship, …to-imagine what it’s supposed-to-be-like, …and to-help us get-a-sense for how-badly it’s gone ~ …Well… to help us picture the relationship-which God plans-for and wants-with His people, …God draws-upon Hosea’s life-and-marriage as a living-parable.
The book of Hosea is a neglected book, in the church. Far-too-many-people have never-read it. Far-too-many only-have a vague awareness of his life-and-message. And-so, it’s too-bad that so-many of-us have missed-out on this amazing-book. In my-opinion, Hosea is second-only to-Jesus when it comes to teaching about the heart of God! You-might-be-thinkin’: “Hang-on, buck-a-roo! “What about Moses and David and Abraham!?!”
Well, each-one of-those-guys was an incredible man-of-faith. And, each is a giant in Israel’s life-and-history. Abraham showed what-it-means to be chosen and to-receive promises from God ~ …and how to-believe God’s- promises when there’s no-earthly-way that they’ll ever-come-true!
Moses modeled what-it-means to listen-and-obey ~ …even-when the whole-world is against you.
David lived-out his service to God with passion and humility ~ …even-though many of his closest friends-and-family tried-to-throw cold-water on him!
The lessons that David, Moses and Abraham teach us are very important… It’s stuff that every-believer needs to know and incorporate into our walk-of-faith. But Hosea…
Hosea lets us peek-into the corridors of God’s heart. Hosea ~ more-than any-other Old Testament person ~ …Hosea teaches us God’s hesed… What in the world is hesed!?! Well, to-understand the Hebrew word, hesed, I can give you a dictionary definition; …but, you’d quickly discover that there’s no word-in-English that is equivalent! That makes it hard to translate! It gets-translated a whole-bunch-of-ways, …because it’s a word that wads-all-those-English-words up-into-one! Lovingkindness, …mercy, …steadfast-love, …loyal-love, …faithful-love… Hesed means all-these-things, and-more! It’s a powerful-word. It’s a heavenly-word. It’s a godly-word. It is not a word that can be hijacked by Madison Avenue to describe how we feel about Big Macs. It’s a word that can’t be hijacked by Hollywood to describe casual-relationships between friends, neighbors or lovers.
There is something alien about this word… Alien to what-we-see in relationships around us. Alien to what we’ve experienced at the hands of family-and-friends. Alien to what many-people find in-terms-of the relationship-dynamics within local-congregations.
The world doesn’t-understand this word because… this word is not of this world. Ironically, …this world was created with this-word in-mind! This-world and everything-in-it was-created by the heart of God ~ …and the-heart-of-God is all-about hesed! Scientists talk a-lot-about the ‘fabric’ of the space-time-continuum; …they point-to the Periodic Table of Elements to identify the basic-building-blocks of the universe; …they emphasize the chemical and physical connections between all-things-living. But, even-more-basic than all-things that scientists and biologists and physicists and astronomers talk-about, …more-fundamental to the foundation of the universe and all-things within-it, ...more-basic to all of creation is the way that God wove-hesed-into the framework. The imprints, …the shadows, …the residue of hesed is all-over the blueprint of our design!
But, early-on in the history-of-creation, …we turned our back on God; …and when we did that, …we chose a way-of-life that is a far-way from hesed; …our way-of-life is a far-piece from the heart of God.
And-that’s-why the experience of hesed is so foreign to us!
What we have left are faint-impressions, …distant echoes, …finger-prints of what should-be. Our hearts cry-out for what we don’t have. Our souls thirst for what we turned-away-from so-long-ago. We were created out of God’s love; …we were created for hesed-love with God. But-instead, …we chose brokenness and emptiness and loneliness and poor, cheap substitutes.
You-say, “No! We wouldn’t do that!” But we do! We do it every-time we flirt with the world! We do it whenever we doubt God’s love. We do it every-time we’re suspicious that God asks too-much, …or that God demands the impossible, …we do it every time we-think-that God is holding-out on us! We do it whenever we dream that the grass is greener on the other-side of the fence. Whether we cross the fence-line, or not ~ that’s not-the-question! The question is whether we flirt!
Now in-all-of-this ~ …in-this-sermon, …and in-trying-to-hear Hosea’s message ~ …in-all-of-this, …there’s a personal-dynamic goin’-on. Our tendency is to hear all-of-this personally ~ …as though we-ask-ourselves, “Have I flirted with the world?; “…Have I chased-after cheap-lovers, in-some-way?”
And-it’s-good to-ask those-kinds-of personal-questions. Soul-searching. Personal-inventory. Puttin’ your heart-and-life under the magnifying-glass of God’s Word!
But, the message of Hosea is primarily to the community-of-faith! It’s a message for the Church!
Now of-course, there’s a personal-element to all-of-this; …and it’s hard to un-tangle all-that, …because each-of-our-actions contributes to the life-of-the-church. But, Hosea forces us to look at the big-picture and what-kind-of-part-we-play in grand-scheme-of-things!
Jesus taught that adultery occurs not in-the physical-act, …but in the heart-and-imagination. Hosea wants us to know that adultery is not simply a problem for marriages; …but it’s the core of what’s wrong with the church’s relationship with the Lord God! Our lips say we trust Him; …but we hold and hoard the resources that He’s blessed us with, as-though those-things are-what makes our life happy-and-secure! Our mouths praise Him; …but we talk-about our brothers and sisters like they-were-dirt. We think that God is great… almighty, in-fact; …but how-often do we find-ourselves thinking we know-best how to manage time, talents, and resources! We say we love God; …but we spend more-time chasing other-loves, than chasing-after Him!
Hosea is a book that haunts me. It haunts me because it exposes so much of how I go-about-living ~ …it exposes how the American-church goes about it’s existence ~ …it shows us that we are not-just neglecting our relationship with God. But, we are flirting-around!
Hosea’s life-and-marriage is a parable for the broken-covenant between God and His people. The covenant is broken because of the people’s adultery. Their “adultery” is spiritual-unfaithfulness… But, it takes specific, concrete actions in the marketplace and in society. Whether it’s paying-homage to a temple shrine to a false-god, …or whether it’s neglecting to show compassion to the poor, the hungry, the fatherless, or the stranger; …whether it’s putting yourself and your-own selfish-desires ahead of everyone-and-everything else, …or whether it’s putting your trust in creature-comforts and worldly promises ~ Sinful-actions begin with flirtatious-thoughts.
And-while the covenant-relationship between God-and-His-people is supposed to be characterized by fidelity, …loyalty, …steadfastness, …mercy-and-kindness ~ …while our covenant-with-God is supposed to characterized by hesed love, …we violate the covenant, …we injure the relationship, …we break our-part-of-the-deal when we flirt-around!
Israel wandered, …floundered, …flirted, …strayed. As-a-result, …the covenant with God was broken. Not because God wanted to look for “greener pastures”; …but-because the people didn’t love Him more-than anything-else. They loved cheap substitutes. They chased cheap thrills. They believed empty promises. They pursued pimps-and-bullies. Does it make sense!?! Of-course not! It’s ludicrous. It’s non-sensical. It’s crazy.
But, that’s the mixed-up, …messed-up, …confused-state-of-things when Hosea steps-onto the stage-of-history. His marriage… His relationship with Gomer is simply a picture of what’s-goin’-on in the relationship between God and His people.
CONCLUSION
I’m really-not-sure how to draw this-thing to a close. It’s so gut-wrenching! It’s so pathetic! Why would God’s-people put their trust in horses-and-chariots, when God could deliver them from Pharaoh’s hand? Why would the people flirt with gods of stone and bronze, when the Lord shows himself in lightning-bolts and colorful rainbows? Why would God’s-people act-as-though they’ll starve-to-death if they don’t hoard all-they-have for themselves , and-in-the-process, let their poor-neighbors fend-for-themselves? Why would God’s-people waste-their-beauty on immorality-and-unlawfulness, when the Lord has cherished them and shown them a better-way-to-live?
But, that’s-just-the-kinda-situation that God wanted Hosea to deal-with! And the stunning… awful-news that God tells Hosea to-tell the people of Israel is-that they have broken the covenant. He is no-longer their God because they have chased after other-gods. They are no-longer His people because they have become people-of-the-world. The covenant is broken and the relationship is severed! And it’s all because of their sinfulness. It’s their-doing, not-God’s. But…
But, God has something to say about all-this. There are consequences to actions. The people have flirted with the world and, as-a-result, their relationship with God is now-broken. But… Sprinkled through the first chapter of Hosea ~ …mingled-in with all the devastating-consequences ~ …sprinkled thought-out this passage are glimmers-of-hope. It’s-as-though judgment is not the final word. It’s-as-though God has not-given-up. It’s-as-though the Lord is going to fight for His beloved, …He will-yet try to restore the covenant-relationship to the way it’s supposed to be! Listen to these phrases:
“Yet I will show love;
…[they] will-be-like the sand on the seashore;
…they will be called sons of the living God;
…the people… will be reunited.”
These are words of hope that spring from the heart of God. The covenant has been broken. Things are bleak and devastating, now. But God ain’t-gonna-let-it stay that-way. He longs to have things restored. He wants all His wayward children to return home to their Father. He wants His beautiful “wife” ~ the Church ~ …He wants us to love Him with all our heart, and all our soul, with all our mind, and all our strength.
No matter how elusive …or how difficult …or how scary the steps that God calls us to take in our walk with Him, …or-in the relationships within the church-family, …the fact is that we can step out in those directions in faith because we know God’s heart toward us; …we know His plans for our relationships, …and we know the grace that makes it possible to be restored as His-people!
You may have been wondering whether this message is for us, as-individuals, …or us, as-a-church-body. It is primarily for us-as-a-church.
You may have been wondering whether this message is primarily about marriage, …or about something-else. It is mainly about our-relationship to God ~ …but our relationship with God affects every-other-aspect of our lives: …including our marriages.
You may have been wondering whether this message is for ancient-Israel, …or is it for the modern Church. It’s an old-word, …but it is oh-so-relevant to us, today. It’s a word-of-warning to all-God’s-people, in every-generation; …telling us that our hearts-and-eyes need to remain focused, …faithful, …steadfast on the Lord. Do not flirt with the things-of-the-world. Do not let your hearts be led-astray. Do not be duped into believing that life or happiness or blessings or-whatever ~ …don’t be fooled into believing you can find any-of-that anywhere-else, …other-than in your walk with God! Love Him supremely ~ O Bride of Christ! And let that love spill over into your relationships with each-other and with your neighbors and even-with your enemies!
