1. Drone
images (3 SLIDES)
2. Overview
of ‘covenant’.
3. Definition (IMAGE)
a.
an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not
do something specified.
4. Covenant
– Hebrew and Greek - over 260 times.
5. First
occurrence – Genesis 6:8-11 – Noah. (by
chance!). Noahic covenant (IMAGE)
a.
Then God
said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you
and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was
with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came
out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant
with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never
again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
b. Two
parties, but Unilateral.
i.
Responsibility to fulfil lies entirely on
one party, namely God.
c. Unusual
– will come back to that.
6. Abrahamic
Covenant – Genesis 17:4-8 (IMAGE)
a. “As for
me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No
longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you
a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of
you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting
covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations
to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole
land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting
possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” BUT a response was required.
b.
(IMAGE) “As
for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the
generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after
you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.” Genesis
17:9-10
c.
Bilateral covenant.
Responsibilities on both parties. This was the pattern from then on.
7.
Mosaic Covenant
a.
Nothing
to do with this (IMAGE)
b.
Everything
to do with this! (IMAGE)
c.
(IMAGE) “Then
Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said,
“This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the
people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I
carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my
treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me
a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak
to the Israelites.” Exodus 19:3-6
i.
NB –
particular role. Whole earth still his
ii.
BILATERAL
covenant – responsibilities on both parties. IF you obey, THEN you will be my
treasured possession. You’ll be blessed.
iii.
Gave the
law that they were to live by.
1.
Ethical
commands; sacrificial system.
8.
And you know how the story goes. Don’t need
to rehearse it all – they kept breaking the terms of the covenant. Proved
hopeless at keeping their end of the bargain. (IMAGE)
a.
Made idols, worshipped other gods, kept
going astray.
b.
Huge swathes of the OT are God saying
‘What’s going on with you, Israel? You’re breaking the covenant we made. Turn
back before it’s too late.”
c.
They’d been promised God’s protection, but
only as long as they stayed faithful to the covenant. So when Babylon and
Assyria came calling, they were swallowed up – taken off into captivity again.
d.
And in that hard place, they had to learn
all over again that being God’s covenant people came with obligations.
e.
They re-applied themselves; they came back
to him, and back to the land. They re-built Jerusalem and the temple. They had
yet another new start.
f.
But within a few hundred years, Imperial
Rome marched in and took over. Took over the very city where God himself was
thought to dwell. How could that be, if God were still on their side, they
wondered?
g.
And the Pharisees argued that greater
holiness was the answer. And the Herodians said ‘no’ – we need to compromise
with Rome. And the Essenes said ‘there’s no hope here – we need to go to the
desert and start again.’ And the Revolutionaries said all that stuff was a
waste of time, and sharpened their daggers and lurked in the shadows.
h.
God’s treasured possession, God’s holy
nation, confused, turned in on itself and going nowhere.
i.
Why? Because they couldn’t keep their end
of the bargain. No matter how hard they tried, they always kept falling back
into ways of living that saddened or angered God.
9.
The old covenant, wasn’t working. And
maybe, like me, you’re wondering – if God knows everything why did he bother
with a covenant that doesn’t work? Why didn’t he go straight to the new
covenant in Christ?
10.
Maybe part of the answer is it’s only when we
keep failing that we realise how much we need help. And it’s only when our
pride is finally broken that we’re ready to accept help.
11.
And
I know this is skating on the thin ice of gender stereotypes, but bear with me.
Let’s say, ladies, you’re out in the car for a drive with your man. And you’re
lost. And you both know that you’re lost but he’s not prepared to admit it.
12.
What
are your choices in that situation, assuming there’s no sat-nav to fall back
on. You can intervene, offer to dig the map out of the glove box and have a
look. You can suggest stopping to ask a passer by. But you know fine well he’d
say ‘no’ to both of those because of his stubborn pride. So in your wisdom,
what do you do? You sit back and let him make a mess of it. Because it’s only
when he admits his need of help that he’s going to be ready to accept it.
13.
Maybe Israel’s story is God’s way of teaching
us that we can’t do this by ourselves. That we really do need his help. And
that’s exactly what we get in this new covenant in Christ.
14.
I’d
asked you to listen out for the differences between the old and the new
covenants when you were listening to the reading earlier on. I wonder if you
managed to pick them out?
15.
Firstly,
the old covenant was external and legal. It was about laws and commandments. Do
this, don’t do that. Why? Because it’s
written here on this piece of stone, or this roll of papyrus.
16.
But
the new covenant is internal and relational.(IMAGE)
a.
“I will
put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God
and they will be my people.”
b. Under
the new covenant we’re moved to serve God because his spirit lives within us as
our friend and counsellor – teaching us right from wrong; convicting and
encouraging us. Helping us navigate our way through life.
c.
Archbishop William Temple once said “For the religious man to do wrong is to
defy his King; for the Christian, it is to wound his Friend.” It’s easy to
defy an authority figure with whom you’ve no real connection. But hurting a
friend? That’s a whole different ballgame.
d.
In the new covenant, the law is no longer
outside us. It’s internalised and made relational through the presence of God’s
spirit.
17.
Secondly, the new covenant is a great leveller
(IMAGE)
a. “None of
them will have to teach their fellow-citizens or say to their fellow citizens,
‘know the Lord’ which begs the question ‘so what on earth are you doing every
Sunday morning at 11 o’clock, Paul, if not teaching!
b. But the
point is, this new covenant will not be about head learning, or about
education, important though those things are. It’s about heart knowledge;
experience of God. And those things are open to everyone.
c. Jesus
had no formal theological education. The other rabbis scarcely recognised him
as a rabbi because of that. But the people recognised him. They knew when they
heard someone speaking with the authority that comes from knowing God.
d. Thank
God it isn’t just smart people or educated people who can teach us about God.
What counts is knowing him, not knowing about him. And that is open to anyone.
e. I thank
God for the things I’ve learned from men, women and children who have far less
theological education than me, but have been walking with God far more closely.
They are my teachers.
18.
And
lastly, listen to what God says about sin. Israel had centuries of
sin-management through the sacrificial system. You mess up, you sacrifice. You
mess up you sacrifice. Like the sketch we had a couple of Sundays ago. You keep
dropping pebbles into the bucket. But nothing really changes.
19.
But
in the new covenant, he says “I will forgive their sins and will no longer
remember their wrongs.”
20.
And
here, we’re getting very close to the heart of the gospel.
21.
Under
the old covenant, the sinner had to keep coming back each time to make amends,
offering a sacrifice so they could feel in harmony with God again.
22.
But
look what happens in the new covenant. Uniquely, it’s not we, but God who makes
the sacrifice. It’s God who offers himself, in the form of his Son, as the
Passover lamb. A perfect sacrifice, for all sin, for all time. That’s what was
going on on the cross. (SLIDE)
23.
Behold, says John the Baptist, as he sees the
Christ walking on the shores of the Jordan. “The Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of … of whom? The good people, the
elect, the religiously minded, the Christians only?”. No – the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world.
24.
I
believe that on the cross, Jesus offered a perfect sacrifice, for all sin, for
all time. That’s what was going on there. The good news we proclaim is that it
has all been dealt with by this new covenant, sealed in Christ’s blood and as a
consequence anyone who wants to can have friendship with God again.
25.
And the wonderful thing is that God just
chooses to do this. Do you remember earlier on I said that the Noahic covenant
was unusual because it was unilateral? It didn’t depend on our response. Well here’s
the thing. This new covenant, in Christ, is also unilateral. God chooses to
forgive, unilaterally, without our deserving it or earning it or working for
it. He does it because he is God and he is good. And the theological word for
that kind of kindness is grace.
26.
We
can take it, or we can leave it. I believe he gives us that choice. But make no
mistake, his grace has gone out to all the world in Christ.
27.
As I
was researching for this morning, I found this wonderful passage in the prophet
Isaiah, speaking to Israel as they languished in exile and had almost given up
hope.
9 “To me this is like the days of Noah,
when I swore that
the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have
sworn not to be angry with you,
never to rebuke
you again.
and the hills be
removed,
yet my unfailing
love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of
peace be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
28.
This is our last reflection on Hebrews for a
while. And I know it’s been tough going, for you and for me at times. It’s not
an easy book to get your head around. But it’s important to try, because
there’s no shortage of people trying to live the gospel backwards. Thinking
they have to try hard to earn God’s acceptance and forgiveness, when Hebrews is
telling us that in Christ, they already have it.
29.
You’ve heard me say it many times before, but
if I keep saying it enough, one day it’ll stick! The gospel isn’t “‘sort your
life out and God will love you. It’s ‘God loves you – so sort your life out’.”
30.
Take a trip to Golgotha with me, as we close.
Look up, if you can, to the man hanging there on the cross.
31.
All
your sin, for all your life, is resting on his shoulders so it doesn’t have to
rest on yours.
32.
God has decreed that his self-offering pardons
the world. And unless you live somewhere other than the world, that includes
you!
33.
You have God’s favour, not because you deserve
it, but because he’s chosen to give it. That’s the kind of God he is.
34.
And that’s why, in that first Advent season,
the herald angel said to the shepherds: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good
news of great joy that will be for ALL the people. Today in the town of David,
a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ – the Lord. Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace to men – ON WHOM HIS FAVOUR RESTS”.
35.
Joy for ALL the people. Peace to men, and
women, on whom his favour rests.
36.
This
is the good news of the new covenant. God, in Christ, has reached out to the
whole world in forgiveness.
37.
How will you respond?
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