The
Life and Faith of Abraham: God’s Covenant
Genesis 16-17
I wonder if you can guess the current US box office hit of the year? It a wildlife documentary directed by the French biologist, Luc Jacquet, which was made for less than £4.5m but has already grossed £37m. “The March of The Penguins” has already taken America by storm and will premiered at the London Film Festival next month and released in Britain in time for Christmas.[1] According to the Independent yesterday,
“It recounts an epic tale: the life cycle of the emperor penguin, Ap-ten-od-y-tes forsteri, the largest of the 17 penguin species, all of which are found in the southern hemisphere. Every aspect of emperor penguin life is tough, for the bird is the southernmost species and breeds on the ice-bound Antarctic land mass. What it takes to do this is remarkable. At the end of the Antarctic summer, in March, the birds flop out of the Southern Ocean where they have been assiduously stuffing themselves, and begin a long trek to their mating grounds, up to 70 miles away. Thousands gradually come together, tramping over the ice in long single files like patrols of infantry. But that's only the beginning.
After courtship and pairing, the female bird produces a single egg, and then one of nature's great curtains comes down.
A six-month [winter] dark descends, and the temperature drops with it, to minus 60 and [lower] - and the female bird departs. She has gone without food for so long - and the effort of producing the egg has been so great - that she must return to the sea to feed. The task of incubating the egg, in the harshest conditions on earth, falls to the male of the species.
When blizzards arrive, with 100 mph winds in a nightmare of [24 hour] frozen dark, [they] huddle round together in great groups to keep a minimum of warmth… Most survive, and so do their eggs, kept secure and warm in a fold of abdominal skin just above their feet; and after 60 days of this, the eggs hatch. The male feeds the tiny chick at first with a milky substance, then eventually the female returns to take over, recognising her mate by call.” How do the penguins survive 100 mph winds and -60 degree temperatures? By taking turns at standing on the outer edge of the huddle where it is coldest, and then moving back in to the relative warmth and shelter of the huddle. The film is an extraordinary story of co-operation and endurance, and audiences have been hugely moved... It seems to me to be a vivid natural illustration of what God intended human society to be. A supernatural window on what his Covenant people, the Church, have been called to be, to show those who are spiritually cold, lost and alone in the dark, how to find the way home to the Father.
God’s rescue plan for the world began a long time ago with Abraham. From Abraham, God was going to build a family of faith who would become an entire nation that in turn would lead the whole world back to God. That is the context for the covenant God makes to Abraham in Genesis 16-17. Lets explore the passage and ask three questions:
1. What did the Covenant mean for Abraham?
2. What did the Covenant mean for the Jewish people?
3. What does the Covenant mean for us today?
1. What did the Covenant mean for Abraham?
“No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7I 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. 8The 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.” 9Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.” (Genesis 17:4-11)
God gave Abraham a new name and promised
1. Children “father of many nations” (17:2-4)
2. Significance “Kings will come from you” (17:6)
3. Inheritance “The land of Canaan” (17:8)
Notice this was an established fact not future aspiration “I have made you…” (17:5), past tense.
Notice also this was an eternal covenant - “an everlasting covenant” (17:7) - a covenant that God will keep for eternity. But notice also it was a conditional covenant “Walk before me and be blameless” (17:1)… “you must keep my covenant” (17:9)… failure to be circumcised was a reason why someone would, “cut off from his people” for he would have “broken my covenant” (17:14). Established, everlasting but conditional.
This is what the covenant meant to Abraham. A new relationship with God that warranted a new name, the supernatural promise of a son, Isaac, and through him, a nation and homeland, and ultimately, a world-wide family of many nations.
2. What did the Covenant mean to the Jewish people?
The rest of the Bible answers that question as God reveals more and more of his rescue plan for this world. God clearly promised them a central role in fulfilling his purposes for the world, and a home base from which to do so - Canaan. What was that purpose?
"I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” (Isaiah 42:6-7)
A little later God promises through Isaiah, “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)
Tragically, Israel came to see their relationship with God as an exclusive privilege, their residence in the land as a right, their sign of circumcision as a means of salvation, and adherence to the letter of the law as a basis for separation from the other nations. They lost the plot - they lost sight of their purpose.
In his very first sermon, Jesus proclaimed that the prophecy of Isaiah which had originally been the mission statement for Israel, was now his. He would achieve what they had failed to do.
When the 12 tribes of Israel rejected their Saviour Jesus, the Light of the World, he raised up 12 apostles and entrusted to them to be the light of the world, light for the Gentiles. In Acts 13 Peter cites Isaiah as the reason why the apostles would now go to the other nations with the good news. It became the decisive step that convinced the Jewish authorities that the church was no longer a Jewish sect, for allowing Gentiles in without insisting they be circumcised or keep the law. Peter specifically applies Isaiah 49:6 to the church "’I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'" (Acts 13:47).
Far from having an exclusive relationship with God through physical decent, Peter warned his Jewish audience soon after the Day of Pentecost that if they persisted in refusing to recognise Jesus as their Messiah, they would cease to be the laos of God, ‘Anyone who does not listen to him (Christ) will be completely cut off from among his people.’ (Acts 3:23)
Jesus and the apostles repudiated the notion that the Jews continued to enjoy a special status or relationship apart from belief in Jesus as their Messiah. Indeed Paul refutes the notion that Jewishness may be defined by race or adherence to Jewish law.
“A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.” (Romans 2:28-29)
In the New Testament the concept of ‘chosenness’ is only applied to those who have or who will believe in Jesus Christ. It is never used exclusively of the Jewish people, apart from as members of the Church. Jesus Christ is the ‘chosen’ one.
In Romans 11:5 Paul refers to a ‘remnant’ of Jews, who like himself are ‘chosen by grace’ and now included in Christ and his Body the Church. In the New Testament, however, the term is always used to refer to the Church, the Body of Christ never to a separate existence as a race. For example,
‘Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.’ (Colossians 3:12)
‘But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, … Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)
The promise made to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations was fulfilled in and through the Church, never Israel as a nation. Paul makes this very clear in Romans 4.
“It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15 because law brings wrath... Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring--not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God.” (Romans 4:13-17)
So we are the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham some 4000 years ago. Abraham has become the father of many nations, not by physical descent or obedience to the Law but through the New Covenant by faith in Jesus our Lord and Saviour.
3. What does the Covenant mean for us today?
The covenant promises made to Abraham were fulfilled in and through Jesus and the blessings or that covenant are for us to experience and to share. Paul writes to the Corinthians about it:
“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:16-20)
God is building a new community on earth - made up of every race and every language - one new family who are the spiritual children of Abraham.
A couple of weeks ago I shared some interesting statistics in the e-news from a Gallup survey on how ‘Friendship Boosts Church Attendance’. The "best friend" factor is the tie that binds many people to their church community. Apart from family members, 39% of respondents said their "best friend" attends the same church.
Its not clear whether they joined a particular church because their best friend did or whether someone became their best friend from the same church. Probably both. Gallup points to the impact in several areas:
• Community life: The best friends in the same congregation attend more regularly than the loners, 72% at least once a week compared to 51% whose best friend attends a different church.
• Belonging: Best friends in the same church feel more connected to the congregation (84% to 71%) and feel like the leaders care for them (82% to 67%).
• Faith: Best friends in the same church feel closer to God and display a more integrated faith. They are more likely to worship and pray daily (69% to 51%) and say their faith is involved in all of life (74% to 54%).
I encourage you to go and see The March of The Penguins” before Christmas because it will help us prepare for our Spring initiative on membership. In the Spring we are going to major on membership - what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ; what it means to be the new community of God.
And
during Lent we are going to encourage everyone to join a small group to participate
in 40 Days of Purpose, a 40 day series of daily devotional readings combined with
five weekly small group bible studies leading up to Easter. At the end of it,
we are going to invite you to become the first formal members of Christ Church.
In
the past its been very informal and casual - fill in an electoral roll form and
just turn up and you can be a member. From Easter 06, being a member of Christ
Church is going to mean something special. The apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians:
“Now
you are no longer strangers to God and foreigners to heaven, but you are members
of God's very own family ... and you belong in God's household with every other
Christian.” (Ephesians 2:19)
In an article entitled, “Turning attendees into a part of the family” Rick Warren writes[2], “Today, a lot Christians are what I call "floating believers." It is an expression of … rampant individualism. Anywhere else in the world, being a believer is synonymous with being connected to a local body of believers. You rarely find a lone ranger Christian in other countries. Many [Western] Christians, however, hop from one church to another without any identity, accountability, or commitment. They have not been taught that the Christian life involves more than just believing – it also includes belonging. We grow in Christ by being in relationship to other Christians.
C.S.
Lewis once wrote an essay on church membership, reminding us that the word "membership”
is of Christian origin, but it has been taken over by the world and emptied of
all its original meaning. Today, most people associate the term "membership”
with paying dues, meaningless rituals, silly rules and handshakes, and having
your name on some dusty roll. [God has] …a very different image of membership.
… being a "member” of the church [does] not refer to some cold induction
into an institution but rather it means becoming a vital organ of a living body
(see Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians. 6:15, 1 Corinthians. 12:12-27). Rick insists,
“We need to reclaim this image!”
The
meaning of membership
Joining a church used to be an act of conformity in our society.
You joined a church because everybody else did. Now the rules have changed and
conformity is no longer a motivating factor. In fact, George Gallup has found
that the [many]… believe it is possible to be a "good Christian” without
joining (or even attending) a local church.
[With
most secular clubs and societies] Membership is … an act of commitment.
The way you motivate people to join today is to show them value-for-value what
benefits are in return for their commitment. In the Spring we are going to explore
the numerous benefits to membership:
Rick highlights five:
1. It
identifies me as a genuine believer (Ephesians 2:19, Romans 12:5);
2. It
provides a spiritual family to support and encourage me in my walk
with Christ (Galatians 6:1-2, Hebrews
10:24-25);
3. It gives me a place to discover and use my gifts in
ministry (1 Corinthians 12:4-27);
4. It places me under the
spiritual protection of spiritual leaders (Hebrews 13:17, Acts 20:28-29);
5. It gives me the accountability I need to grow (Ephesians 5:21).
The church of Jesus Christ provides us with benefits people cannot find anywhere else in the world:
Our
church is a family
There are many analogies for a Christian disconnected from a church: A football
player without a team; a soldier without a platoon; a tuba player without an orchestra;
and a sheep without a flock. But the most understandable (and biblical) picture
is that of a child without a family.
1 Timothy 3:15 refers to the church as “... the family of God. That family is the church of the living God, the support and foundation of the truth.” (LB)
God
does not want his children growing up in isolation from each other so he created
a spiritual family on Earth for us. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2:19 “...
you are members of God's very own family ... and you belong in God's household
with every other Christian." (LB)
A Christian without a church family is an orphan. Since the 1960s, our society has become increasingly anti-institutional. People use the phrase “organized religion” with contempt, the cause of prejudice and wars, and attendance is in decline.
On
the other hand, people are longing for a sense of family and community. Today,
there are a number of factors that have fragmented the nuclear family in our culture:
The high divorce rate, delayed marriages, the emphasis on individuality, alternative
lifestyles, women working outside the home, and the high rate of mobility. In
our mobile society, people have few roots. People are no longer surrounded by
the extended family of aunts and uncles, grandparents, and brothers and sisters
that provided a safety net for previous generations.” When God promised Abraham,
he would be ‘the father of many nations’ he wasn’t exaggerating. When God promised
to establish an eternal covenant with Abraham’s descendents, he had you in mind,
along with the people of Virginia Water, currently wandering around alone in the
dark like emperor penguins.
The
longing to belong
“Today, we have a record number of single adults in Britain. We’ve become what
Vance Packard calls, “a nation of strangers.” As a result, we’re experiencing
an epidemic of loneliness in society. One Gallup poll reported that four in 10
people admit to frequent feelings of “intense loneliness.” Everywhere you look
there are signs that people have a deep hunger for fellowship, community, and
a sense of family. Beer commercials don’t sell beer – they sell fellowship. They
never portray anyone drinking alone. It’s always in the context of people enjoying
each other’s company with phrases like – “It doesn’t get any better than this!”
We are noticing that Independent-minded baby boomers are suddenly longing to be
connected as they enter middle age - our growth as a church is mostly in this
age group. This longing for belonging provides us with a timely opportunity. Positioning
our church as an extended family – as “a place where you are cared for” – [as
the best place to belong] - will strike a sensitive cord in many lonely hearts.”
What are we waiting for? Lets pray.