Beginnings # 5
Once again, we turn to the book of Beginnings, the book of Genesis, as we continue in this series about foundations that undergird our understanding of this world and our God. Today’s subject matter is both comforting and complex! Our text comes from the 17th chapter of Genesis. I invite you to turn there today and to follow on in a couple of moments as I read the passage.
The Assurance of Living under God’s Covenant
Covenant - it’s an interesting word. One of the best ways to begin to understand covenant is by looking at marriage. Bev and I will celebrate 29 years of marriage in a couple of months. That we are still together today goes deeper than the fact that she is beautiful and that I am so easy to live with! ... You’re laughing, obviously not at the statement about her beauty because that is self-evident. It must be that you think I’m not easy to live with? ...
On January 10, 1975, as two kids, we stood in the presence of God and witnesses and promised to each other our love, for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Somehow, despite our youth, we grasped that the vows we made that evening were a covenant sealed in Heaven and we have invited the Presence of Christ to sustain and deepen our commitment over the years... and He has, praise Him! At various times in our marrage, one or the other of us has had to carry the heavier part of the load but we never abrogated our covenant. Our relationship was been tested but today it is strong and filled with JOY!
One reason is that we understand that the only way marriage works well is when:
Jerry is 100% a loving husband regardless of how well Bev is ’wifing;’ and
that Bev is 100% a loving wife regardless of how well Jerry is ’husbanding’ that day or week!
Ours is not a conditional love. It is a covenant love modeled on the love that God has for us! Covenant marriage partners set aside selfish demands and seek to serve each other, for the Lord’s sake... and they find great love in the process.
Apparently, many marriages formed these days are not covenant relationships, but rather contractual: that is bult around the premise that "I will do this IF you will do that. I will stay with you IF you meet my needs." The vows of the one depends on the performance of the other. Love never deepens because life is one endless negotiation between two people, each seeking for the advantage!
Sadly, many Christians labor under the same misconception in their relationship with God: believing that God loves them more or less depending on HOW GOOD they are, HOW MUCH service they are doing.. Etc.
Their experience of God’s Presence is inconsistent and as a consequence of not living in intimate relationship, they are not obedient to Him either! When they feel particularly needy, they suddenly become GOOD, like a kid in the weeks jsut prior to Christmas- thinking that their burst of religiosity will earn them the favor of God. The downside is that when life is good and they feel less spiritual need, they slack off on obedience to God. The result is an up and down pattern - saint this week, sinner next week - and a deeply unsatisfying, self-focused relationship with God.
Lacking understanding of God’s covenant love, they are trapped by their sins because they cannot take hold of the true victory that the Spirit. Passages like ’not of works so no one can boast’ make little sense to this kind of Christian. Theirs is a rule-based religion of works. They need a new revelation that will move them into a covenant-based relationship with God. In so doing, a new freedom and a deeper holiness is discovered!
In our text today, we will read of a new level of revelation that came to Abram about the nature and purposes of God’s works. He gained a deeper understanding of his covenant relationship with God and from that understanding, moved into a deeper obedience that was sustained by faith in the word of His God. My prayer is that each of us will, from the story of the father of the faithful, gain a renewed sense of assurance; that our hope in Christ will be deepened, and from that deeper love, will come a life of beautiful obedience to the will of God!
READ Genesis 17
One of the most amazing things about the story of Abraham is that HE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING TO EARN the love of God that was shown to him. I hear you objecting right now,
"Wait a minute, Pastor, we just read that all the guys in his household including the old man himself were circumcised because of God’s covenant. That’s something!"
If that’s your objection, you’re right, but wrong, too. Before Abraham ever did anything -- leave his country and people, journey to Canaan, build an altar, or become circumcised - God spoke to him and offered a covenant! Additionally, as we study the story of Abraham, we learn that he made some serious mistakes, committing outright sins. He lied more than once. He questioned God a few times. He even tried to help God out by fathering a son with his wife’s servant girl, Hagar! In all that, God didn’t revoke the covenant He had made with Abraham. In fact, as we have read this morning, God continued to speak to Abraham and draw him more deeply to Himself! A telling verse is the 6th verse of Genesis 15....
"Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord declared him righteous because of his faith."
The kind of covenant that God made with Abraham was unlike the agreements that were most familiar at the time. Kings made agreements with each other but they were two-sided with ’if-then’ clauses written in. The agreements were made between those relatively equal strength to prevent futher war that would cost life and drain resources. God’s covenant with Abraham was a covenant of loving care, a covenant between unequals, for most part, one-sided with God making all the promises and Abraham gaining the benefits!
At the beginning of this chapter, God underscores His greatness, calling Himself - "God Almighty." The Hebrew is El Shaddai - the Lord, the Mighty Warrior, Sufficient in Every way! What an awesome title! He is speaking to a mere man yet, God promised to
- give Abraham a huge family,
-to be the god of all Abraham’s descendants,
-to give the land of Canaan to his descendants.
To seal the deal, so to speak, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham. Abram meant, ’exalted father.’ Abraham was a play on the words that mean ’father of many.’
I love Abraham’s twin responses! They are so like ours when we hear the whisper of God’s Spirit in our hearts.
First, we read that Abram fell facedown! That’s appropriate, isn’t it? When God speaks, we humble ourselves or at least we should. His body language shows great humility. This old man puts his face in the dirt!
An aside - What to enrich your prayer life? Let your body’s language correspond to the words of your lips.
Are you giving adoration and worship? Raise your hands!
Are you humbly seeking an answer? Get on your face.
Are you celebrating His goodness with praise? Clap, Sing, and dance!
Abraham got on his face in humility before God Almighty. But note a second response to God’s covenant.... Re-read v. 17-18
Abraham laughed! The text doesn’t support that this was a mocking laugh, but rather a wondering laugh that reflected on the apparent ridiculousness of God’s promise but with faith.
God is going to make me a father at 100 and my wife a mother at 90? Amazing ... what a joke that’s going to be! Sarah pregnant at 90?"
Imagine Abraham face down in the dirt, worshipping God even as he laughed with amused wonder!
There is a complication, too. For 15 years or so, Abraham had been investing himself in Ishamael! He thought that Ishmael was the son of promise, the one who would inherit the covenant. But, now God’s word turns the world upside down.
After speaking positively about Ishmael’s inheritance, God renews His promise: 21 "But my covenant is with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year."
When we grasp the depth of God’s covenant love for us, it is appropriate to chuckle at the apparent ridiculousness of the whole proposition! That God loves you and me... insignificant people... and makes it possible for us to love Him at His own expense, that is ridiculous, yet wonderfully true!
There was a two-fold response that was asked of Abraham:
- walk before me blamelessly, and
- cause every male in your household and family to be circumcised.
Do not mis-read the intent of these commands. In no way, did indicate that Abraham would EARN the blessings of the covenant with these actions! Abraham’s obedience was motivated by faith in the Word of God. The PROMISE preceded the PERFORMANCE! Abraham was saved by his faith, but the reality of his faith was expressed through his obedience. He lived in the blessing of God’s covenant, NOT BECAUSE HE MERITED those blessings, but because God granted them.
For the final thought this morning, I invite you to turn with me to the book of the Romans. Believer, I want to drive home the point that YOU, too, can live in a covenant relationship with God! You, too, can know the great assurance of being a child of Heaven, the assurance that HE loves you NOW, and that Heaven is your eternal home. You need not live an up and down Christian life that is tied to your good works, that is focused on your performance of religious acts. You can move into a holy life that is empowered by FAITH, consistent month to month, year to year, and marked by the blessings of God!
Romans 3: 21-24, 30 - A declaration of faith-based salvation
BIG Q - 3:31 The Message: "By shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don’t we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded?"
In other words, as long as we BELIEVE the right things, having faith in the covenant, are we relieved of the necessity of living a holy life before the Lord? Can we take God’s grace for granted? Of course not. Real faith always brings about change in actions, too. The Bible is quick to point out, however, that our assurance of right standing before God is NEVER focused on ourselves or our good works but ON HIS COVENANT PROMISE!
The example of Abraham in receiving the covenant guides us in our understanding. Romans 4:1-12
Circumcision (the ritual act required by the covenant) didn’t make Abraham acceptable to God. Faith did. Circumcision was a response of faith.
Let’s bring that to today’s experience. There are a couple of equivalent experiences in Christianity. We could consider Baptism or receiving Holy Communion. Many believe that because they have been through the ritual of Baptism or because they regularly receive Communion, they are acceptable to God, saved by their religious works.
According to Romans 4, that is a mis-guided hope! It is focused on the wrong person.
Without a faith that brings Christ’s righteousness, baptism is without effect. A person who has not received the covenant in faith may be baptized, but he will enter the waters of baptism a dry sinner and come out of the water a wet sinner!
A person may take communion every time they are in a church service, but if they have not accepted the covenant promise of God in Christ Jesus, they are just having a snack! I don’t mean in any way to be irreverent, but we must not put our hope in the wrong things.
No matter how often you’re in church, no matter how many rituals you perform, no matter how rigidly self-disciplined you may be-- apart from God’s covenant given through Christ Jesus, there is no saving grace!
Ephesians 2: 4-10 expresses this wonderful truth, a truth that so defies our logic that it may make laugh, by saying.... But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) ... God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Believer, keep the covenant. Walk before the Lord in mature faith that looks on Him, that loves Him. There is a place for doing good things:for serving, tithing, worshipping, being baptized, taking Communion -just as there was a place for Abraham’s obedience in circumcision! Focus on His covenant, then in responsive faith do those things that please the God who gives His great grace.
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John tells us that ’we love because He, God, first loved us.’ At the Cross, the God’s covenant was offered to YOU. Jesus tells us that He gave his life to seal the covenant of grace for us. Each time we hold the Communion cup, we remember His promise and are reminded of the depth of God’s love for us. 1 Cor. 11:25 records the words of Jesus as He said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Become a child of Abraham, the father of the faithful! Imitate his faith.
You will find life eternal, the blessings of Heaven for now and for life everlasting! Leave behind the old religious ways, the up and down life that knows no assurance. Instead, trust God’s promise and become a steady Believer known for a steady faith in that is set squarely on the foundation of God’s faithful promises.
Amen.
© Jerry D. Scott
