Covenant: Context and Understanding

Fifty2 Sunday’s ~ Listening for God

            Last Sunday’s sermon was taken from Hosea. As always happens, this small book reminds me of something that occurred thirty six years ago. At the time, my life was in a bit of turmoil and for some reason, although I was not a Christian at the time nor attending church or even thinking about doing so, I thought having a bible would help-so I bought one . My first attempt at reading it  was to begin where it opened which happened to be in Hosea. I was utterly confused and bewildered by what I read and quickly shut it with no inclination to try again. I had not understood what I read because I had no framework for it - and no one to explain it to me at the time. The ability to understand a matter is dependent upon knowing the context. This sermon illustrated the importance of this point.

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In the book of Hosea, God tells the prophet to marry Gomer, an “adulteress” (Hosea 1:2-3), Hosea does as he is instructed even though he knows his wife will not be faithful to him. This is the story of God and his people-covenants have been made and repeatedly broken and still God persistently desires to be in relationship. Through the prophet (Hosea 2:16-20) God speaks about a covenant that would someday be established - a new kind of covenant. This covenant was described by Jeremiah (31:31-34):

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when I will make a new covenant

with the people of Israel

and with the people of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant

I made with their ancestors

when I took them by the hand

to lead them out of Egypt,

because they broke my covenant,

though I was a husband to them ” declares the Lord.

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel

after that time,” declares the Lord.

“I will put my law in their minds

and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

No longer will they teach their neighbor,

or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’

because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.

“For I will forgive their wickedness

and will remember their sins no more.”

In saying that he came to “fulfill the law” Jesus commented that not “the smallest letter” of the law would disappear until everything is accomplished or fulfilled (Matthew 5:17 & 18). Obviously the law was important to Jesus but more so, the ‘new’ covenant he came to establish. To understand this covenant one has to know why the old covenant was not suffice making a new/different one necessary(context).

Key Point	Context	Understanding
The covenant (the “law”) God established with Moses was not sufficient to forgive sins once and for all (Hebrews 10:1-4) and so it was made obsolete (Hebrews 8:13).	A blood sacrifice was required for God to forgive sins. The death of Christ on the cross-fulfilled this requirement and cleanses sins in the way that the sprinkling of the blood of goats and calves never could (Hebrews 9:13 & 14).	It was God’s will that Christ be the sacrifice of atonement by the shedding of his blood—that we by  faith may receive forgiveness of our sins  (Romans 3:25a).
Christ fulfills the law and establishes a new covenant and serves as its “mediator” (Hebrews 9:15).	The new covenant was instituted during the Passover by Jesus at the Last Supper:  “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:19-20).	“Therefore he (Jesus) is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

           

Before I came to faith none of this ever made sense to me-especially the part about why a blood sacrifice was required. I think it is important for any of us who may have been “in Christ” now for a while to recognize that what we know, what we say, what we do may not be clear or make sense to those who have no context upon which to build an understanding.  It is the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch that comes to mind; “The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:34 & 35). Phillip provided the eunuch the context he needed to understand.

The Fullness of God

Fifty2 Sunday’s ~ Listening to God

         Sunday I attended a church that meets in an old factory that has been converted into a bar that is closed on Sundays. It has thick bare brick walls, wide plank wood floors and dim lights that give it a rustic quaint sort of charm.  The songs sung were ones I had never heard before and the sermon was from Matthew 28:16-20. What I heard that ‘spoke’ to me happened before the sermon in the scripture reading, Colossians 1:15-20; specifically it was verse 19 that really caught my attention; “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him”.

         The word “fullness” has a certain essence of completion, maturity and finality about it-like a woman when she has reached the end of her pregnancy-there is certain ‘fullness’ about her or a piece of fruit-like a peach—when it has become fully ripe. Vines Dictionary of New Testament Words offers that this verse (above) is the description of: “God, in the completeness of His Being” as in: Ephesians 3:19; Colossians 1:19, 2:9 (Vine's Expository Dictionary). I like that description and yet it seems difficult to fathom that the “completeness” of God was embodied in the person of Jesus Christ.There is nothing I can add to that to better quantify or state the significance of  the fact that everything about God was fully existent and exemplified in Christ.

Clarke’s commentary says this about Colossians 1:19: “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell - As the words, the Father are not in the text, some have translated the verse thus: For in him it seemed right that all fullness should dwell; that is, that the majesty, power, and goodness of God should be manifested in and by Christ Jesus, and thus by him the Father reconciles all things to himself. The πληρωμα, or fullness, must refer here to the Divine nature dwelling in the man Christ Jesus.” 

         Here are the other verses that share this same explanation of fullness:

Ephesians 3: (18 &) 19: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Colossians 2:9 & 10: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.”

         These two verses are about us as believers and followers of Christ—and the fact that any deficit or lack in us has been filled by the grace of God in Christ. Here is the connection to the key points of the sermon taken from Matthew 28: 18-20: 

1.  Jesus Christ fully embodies God - Matthew 28:18: the “Great Claim”: “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”;                               
2.  Jesus' purpose is to reach everyone with his love and to invite them to become his follower - Matthew 28:19 the “Great Commission”: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”      
3. Jesus wanted them to learn of him and have confidence that he would be with them - always - Matthew 28:20 the “Great Comfort”: “…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We have much to be grateful for-therefore let us rejoice in being made full in Christ!                                                                                                                                                   Amen~

Hope - Essential for Life

Fifty2 Sunday’s ~ Listening for God

            The sermon was about hope and although no direct connection was made to the tragic events of last week that took place in Baton Rouge, St. Paul & Dallas, it was the pink elephant in the sanctuary.  

             The scriptural context for this sermon was Luke 10:25-37 (Parable of the Good Samaritan)  and Colossians 1:1-6 & 9-14; the key verse (5) “…the faith and love that spring from hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel…”. Hope is the anchor for faith and love. Although it is said that “hope springs eternal” (from Alexander Pope’s Poem “Essay on Man”) what about when hope is gone?  One might utter as Job once did,  “Where then is my hope? Can anyone find it? No, my hope will go down with me to the grave. We will rest together in the dust” (Job 17:15 & 16).  (Another scripture passage that bemoans the loss of hope is Lamentations 3). 

According to the online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word hope is simply defined as: “to want something to happen or be true and think that it could happen or be true”. Interestingly, it is among the top 1% of all words looked up (dictionary/hope). Considerable research has been done about hope, the following quote is taken from an article about hope by Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman: “The person who has hope has the will and determination that goals will be achieved, and a set of different strategies at their disposal to reach their goals. Put simply: hope involves the will to get there, and different ways to get there.” (hope article). Hope is essential for life; it inspires, motivates, energizes, and invigorates. Even when life beats us up, if we have hope we can usually find the will to go forward. 

This week President Obama quoted the following scripture during the memorial speech he gave in Dallas. What we need as individuals and as a nation is hope and the encouragement to persevere through suffering and difficulties. These verses remind us that hope is the byproduct of difficulties that one grows through. 

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”(Romans 5:3-5)

And now let’s all sing together-“My Hope is Built”

“My hope is built on nothing less 
than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

Refrain: On Christ the solid rock I stand,

all other ground is sinking sand;

all other ground is sinking sand.”

(hymn)

The Perfect Beginning

Fifty2- Sundays ~ Listening for God

            Sunday’s sermon was the second of a series titled “The Gospel of One Hand”. The areas to be covered in this series include the following: Creation, Fall, Community, Cross, Faith, Transformation, Covenant, Resurrection, Purposes, Culmination and Incarnation. I was a little late so I missed hearing what the sermon was titled, but it might have been “Foundational Principles”, “Back to the Basics” or maybe “First Things First”. The preacher’s opening question also could have been the sermon title, Where to begin when considering the gospel story? Below is the basic outline of the sermon and my comments/thoughts follow that.

Before time began, before the creation, God was …

·       I Corinthians 2:7: “No, we declare God's wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.”

·       II Timothy 1:9: “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,”

·       Ephesians 1:4 & 5: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—"

God’s character is the gospel story… He is…

Holy (Leviticus 19:2), Loving (Psalm 51:1), Gracious (Joel 2:13), Faithful (I Thessalonians 5:24) & more…

·       Exodus 34:6b & 7: “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” 

·       Micah 7:18: “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”

His plan and purposes are not haphazard or random and they originate from who He is…

Isaiah 46:10 & 11:  

             Declaring the end from the beginning,
                 And from ancient times things which have not been done,
                 Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
                 And I will accomplish all My good pleasure

             Calling a bird of prey from the east,

                 The man of My purpose from a far country.

                 Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.

                 I have planned it, surely I will do it.

They are embodied in Christ and include us...as described in  Ephesians 1:3-10: 

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  For he us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”

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This sermon established the foundation upon which the gospel was (is) built. The foundation is God, it originates in Him for the fulfillment of His plan and purposes. 

This sermon brought to mind a book I read many years ago, We Shall Judge Angels (1994) by Harold J. Chadwick, in which he discusses what I have come to think of as the ‘grand scheme’ of God’s plan and purpose. This plan stretches from “pre-time eternity” (before the creation of the temporal physical world, time and space) through to “post-time eternity”. Prior to reading this book, I had the naive understanding that Jesus must have been God's 'Plan B', the way to get us out of the mess we made when all His other efforts were exhausted or failed, similar to what the author states here:

Although a close examination of the Scriptures and God’s eternal purpose reveals otherwise…(many) seem to believe that God’s original plan was to create a perfect world; a world without sin, without problems, without imperfections, starting with the man and woman in the Garden of Eden. But Satan, in the form of a serpent, somehow sneaked past God and crept into the Garden and talked the woman into eating of the fruit that God had forbidden for man to eat. As a result, God’s creation was spoiled. Ever since, God has been doing the best He can to straighten out the mess Satan made of His perfect world. … Ergo: God made a mistake. Several mistakes in fact; even as basic and human a mistake as underestimating the power and cunning of the devil—whom He himself created as Lucifer and transformed into Satan (p.55 – 56).

            The author goes on to point out that this sort of thinking (“theological theory”) has resulted in many Christians assuming God needs our help in straightening out this mess. The fallacy of this thinking is that if God ever made one mistake, then he has continued to do so, and we are all in deep trouble as the consequence of this and the result is there is nothing we can place our confidence in – because a God who makes mistakes is “untrustworthy and dangerous – flawed and imperfect”.

          God is perfect; as are His purposes and plan. Once again the author states:

Jehovah God is perfect and all He does is perfect. Within His eternal purpose in Christ, established before the foundation of the world, the earth was perfect, the Garden of Eden was perfect, and the man and woman were perfect! So how can we explain the serpent in Eden, the obvious flaw in the man and woman, and their consequent disobedience of God? Since we must not for one moment even consider an iota of imperfection or lack of foreknowledge in God, there can only be one explanation: God perfectly created an imperfect world and imperfect creatures that are perfect for His eternal purpose in Christ (p. 57).

          This is good news because sometimes I become distressed at the mess the world is in, or disappointed with myself or how things are going in the life of a loved one. It is a relief to know God's perfect plan and purpose(s) include the imperfect. I thank God for this and need to take more comfort in this fact, as Romans 8:28 says "... (we) know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

A Disruption to the Norm

Fifty2 Sundays ~ Listening for God

Now days it is a thing to talk about disruption in fields of business and technology as something that upsets the usual way of operating; as defined “A disruption is a major disturbance, something that changes your plans or interrupts some event or process” (dictionary). The sermon I heard last Sunday provided a bit of a disruption to my thinking. The lesson was taken from Luke 16:1-9, the story of the shrewd manager who is called upon by the rich man (aka ‘God’) to give an account of how he has managed his boss's possessions. The manager recognizes that he is at risk of losing his job and quickly has those who are in debt to the rich man alter what they owe him which brings him the praise for being shrewd. On initial examination it appears as if deceitful behavior is recognized as being the right way to do business. The preacher was quick to say that this text is not condoning lying, cheating or the use of trickery. 

Jesus said the people of this world are “more shrewd with dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light” (verse 8). The implication of this statement is that as ‘people of the light’ we should be the shrewdest of all in how we conduct ourselves and interact with the world. According to the preacher, the word shrewd in Hebrew means “intense creative thinking”. It is the sort of thinking necessary when options are few, needs are significant and a solution is urgently required. The preacher described the manager’s behavior as creating “positive networking to promote gratitude”, or to my way of thinking, he was ‘paying it forward’- because as the scripture notes, the manager wanted to be welcomed into people’s houses if and when he lost his job (verse 4). 

In striving to become fully mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28) we are to “turn the other cheek” (Luke 6:29), be clothed “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12), and “walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us...” (Ephesians 5:2). On top of that, we should be "…sheep among wolves… and… “shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). In doing these things we will be disruptors of the norm much as Jesus was and still is.

Silent Tears & the Daddy Hole

Last Sunday I heard an excellent sermon - it was one of a series of sermons on healthy relationships. It was Father's Day and I imagine I was not the only one of 1000+ in attendance who did not expect the focus to be about fathers who wound their children. Although the silence that quieted the auditorium communicated the audience was truly listening, it must have been the Holy Spirit that guided the message to the hearts and souls there as I heard and saw a significant number of people sniffling and wiping away silent tears. The "Daddy Hole’ is how I term what this sermon was about and there are lots of adults who have in their heart this gaping hole with fragile edges that can easily retraumatized by life.

Using Genesis 3 (the fall of Adam and Eve) as the scriptural background the preacher discussed the role sin plays in perpetuating the cycle of dysfunctional and destructive relating and how it wreaks havoc through the generations if unbroken. Ephesians 6:4 was cited because it specifically addresses how fathers should treat their children; “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” This verse the preacher said, is God’s way of telling fathers – ‘don’t make it hard for your children to understand the way I love them’. Another tragedy for some so wounded is the difficulty they have in relating to God as “Father”. To illustrate this point, the preacher told a poignant story of a young man with whom he had worked who eventually was able to forgive his father and found by addressing God using one of this other names, he was able to come to faith. Thus the cycle of multi-generational dysfunctional relationships can be broken in Christ. 

I too at one point would have been sniffling and crying-listening to this sermon. My parents divorced when I was very young and my father became a rare and distant presence in my life leaving a daddy hole in my heart that was more like a black hole where anything that entered disappeared and yet still exercised great power and influence in my life. Fortunately before he died, I was able to forgive him for the hurt he never appreciated he had caused me. My own faith development was no doubt influenced by the lack of fathering as much as by the absence of any real spiritual guidance I received as a child. Even though I had no formal church or religious upbringing, God was present in my life. Like Ecclesiastes 3:11 says the human heart hears the call of eternity and for me that started about the age of 7 or 8. I recall wrestling on my own with how to address God. At first I decided to use “Lord”, and then I progressed to “Father” and eventually I gave myself permission to use “God”.  I realize how silly that might sound, but in my childlike thinking it was a combination of reverence and uncertainty. 

Today as a believer and follower of Christ, I feel confident in how I address God, most often it is as “Father". Maybe this comes naturally ... “Because you are his sons (& daughters), God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba Father” (Galatians 4:6). 

Amen

            

Does God’s Truth Need Protecting?

What I heard last Sunday (while attending my own church) was a question concerning God's word - does it need protecting? The minister did not articulate out loud that question-but at some point during his sermon he mentioned in the history of 'our' church movement there were those who felt the need to protect the word (the doctrine) of the church. This in part he said was due to a "suspicious (mis)understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit".

The question is paradoxical in nature – it is like asking ‘Does God need protecting’? If the answer is ‘yes’ then whose job is it to protect it? And if it is ‘no’ does that mean there is no need to be concerned with what is done with the word of God? The biblical text for Sunday’s sermon was Paul’s letters (I and II Timothy and Titus) that contain much about individual behavior and manners fitting of a follower of Christ, including how the word of God is handled.

In the letters to Titus and Timothy, Paul addressed known problems that the young churches in Crete and Ephesus were experiencing. Issues such as: “false doctrine”, “foolish controversies”, “arguments and quarrels”, “godless myths and old wives tales”, “endless genealogies”, false teachers and “godless chatter” along with “opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge", what is  “ungodly” and how such teaching was spreading "like gangrene" (I Timothy 1:4, 4:7, 6:20; II Timothy 2:14,16, 17 & 23;Titus 3:9;). He warned Timothy that “a time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine” (II Timothy 4:3) and in “later times” there will be those who abandon their faith and “follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (I Timothy 4:1). This certainly would seem to support the need for some sort of policing of the Word of God.

In the same letter(s) Paul offered Timothy and Titus encouragement and guidance when he wrote that “all scripture is God breathed”.... “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:16). Timothy was urged by Paul to be devoted to “public reading” of the scriptures and “preaching and teaching” (I Timothy 4:13) and to “correctly” handle the “word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15) and do so with “great patience and careful instruction” (II Timothy 4:2). Titus was instructed by Paul to “straighten out what was left unfinished” (Titus 1:5), “teach what is in accord with sound doctrine” along with other words of guidance (Titus 2:1-10).

The fact is the infallible Word of God has been left to fallible people without anyone to 'police' it other than the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 55:11 says that God's word will accomplish what He intends it to.  As believers and followers our job is to let God's Word be “a lamp unto our feet” (Psalm 119:105) and be transformed by it (Romans 12:2). Perhaps the most sobering words on this matter were spoken by Jesus; "If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day" (John 12:47 & 48).