Posted by David on December 13, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
In warfare, there is a modern term often heard-collateral damage. My Webster’s New (though quite old) Collegiate Dictionary defines collateral as indirect or parallel (along with some other concepts). In warfare, collateral damage concerns innocent [civilian] people who suffer fatal or destructive wounds as a result of the actions of military forces. It is the common way to refer to civilians who are killed or maimed as the result of a military confrontation.
A man, woman, or child who dies or is maimed as a result of collateral damage is just as dead, suffers just as much pain, or causes just as much grief to his/her family as the man/woman in the military who dies or is maimed in the same hostile action. Dead is dead. Maimed is maimed. Pain is pain. Grief is grief. The end result: the grieving survivors have zero confidence in the nation whose personnel caused the collateral damage.
Christians need to give great care to avoid collateral damage. At times Christians become so emotional about their personal cause that they ignore the effect of their actions on the souls and spirits of others. How awful it would be to be surrounded in Judgment by a great cloud of witnesses who were the collateral damage of our words and deeds! How wonderful it would be in Judgment to be surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who came to or remained in Christ because our words and deeds prevented collateral damage!
With God, there is no collateral damage. His people are committed to a “no collateral damage” policy. Consider Matthew 5:43-48. Godless people know how to be nice to those who are nice to them. Godly people know how to be nice to enemies.
Christian Jews had a lot to tolerate in Christian gentiles, and vice versa. The uncleanness, food (sacrifices), and kept days to which Paul referred involved spiritual acts. Those two sets of Christians reached totally different conclusions about those acts. Paul did not say, “Decide a winner, decide a loser, and become identical.” He said that God’s kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, not winners and losers.
As we commit to a policy of no collateral damage, let’s invest as much in the salvation of others as God did. May our actions and words never negate Jesus’ death in their lives!
Posted by Chris on December 9, 2007 under Sermons
Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 – A comparison
| “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20) |
|
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Deuteronomy 5) |
What are the different situations that may account for the change in order?
- Ownership of land?
- Social status of wife?
Deuteronomy
- The second (giving of the) law
- Deuteros = second; Nomos = Law
– Decalogue 2.0
- Moses’ last words to Israel
- Bridges the Past Tradition and Current Situation
- Deuteronomy is for each generation (see Deuteronomy 6)
Deuteronomy 17:18
[The King] is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left.
Deuteronomy 5:1-3
Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our ancestors that the LORD made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.
Deuteronomy 29:12-15
You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, … that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today.
Three Settings – One Book
- Before entering the land
- Living the good life on the land
- After losing the land in exile
Living Interpretation – A Process
Posted by Chris on under Sermons
Read Ten Words [Exodus 20]
In his book, The Year of Living Biblically, writer A.J. Jacobs sets out to follow the teaching of the Bible as literally as possible. He will not pick and choose which instructions to follow, so he lets his hair and beard grow out and will not wear clothing of mixed fibers. Of course he observes the Ten Words, including the Tenth Commandment.
Jacobs makes a list one day of all the things he covets … a PDA, his neighbor’s front lawn, the speaking fee of a fellow author, George Clooney’s fame. He even covets for his infant son. He wants his son to have the vocabulary of other kids. Jacob’s begins to notice that coveting leads him to compare himself to others, including his wife’s ex-boyfriend. Jacobs concludes that he tends to spend a lot of time and mental energy on breaking the tenth commandment – and it’s all the harder not to do that since our advertising age seems to run on coveting. But Jacobs finds a tactic that helps him overcome coveting: “If you’re intently focused on following the rules of the Bible, you don’t have time to covet. Not as much anyway.”
The tenth word to live by takes us back to the first. The first and tenth words to live by are bookends. Unlike the other eight that are focus on visible actions, the first and tenth have to do with our heart, or our state of mind.
What is our focus? Is it God, or it the goods of our neighbor? Is it the Lord, or is it self?
Remember that the last six of the Ten Words are aimed at how we ought to live in community with one another. What happens to us as a people when we covet? Coveting is desire. It is very much related to greed and jealousy. Describing it so harshly, none of us would think much of coveting. However, since coveting is an internal problem and not connected to any specific action, it is a subtle problem. As a people, we have ways of ignoring the detriments of coveting.
We center our economy too often on coveting. Many of us are overworked trying to earn more so that we can own more. We may be able to get more, but we lose the time to enjoy what we have. But instead of labeling this as coveting, we describe it as ambition, providing for the family, supporting a lifestyle, working for a better life, getting ahead.
- Story of the fisherman and the business man – An exhausted businessman traveled to a faraway island for a vacation. Everyday he went to the beach to swim and relax and every day he noticed a man with a boat and fishing net. He was cleaning one, maybe two fish every day. The business man finally asked, “You’re a fisherman, right? I noticed that you catch just one or two fish a day.” The fisherman replied, “Yes, I usually find plenty of fish in the morning.” The businessman asks, “But what do you do with the rest of your day?” Fisherman: “Well, let’s see. I clean the fish to eat or sell. I go home and take a nap. I work on my house, I eat supper with my family, then I play guitar and sing with my friends.” The businessman with furrowed brow said to the man, “Well see here, if you were to fish all day you could probably triple your profit. You could use that to buy a bigger boat, hire workers, and maybe even expand your business by getting into distribution.” “Why would I do that?” the fisherman asks. “Why, you could eventually get to the point that you would be set of life. You could quit work, stay home most of the day, take vacations, relax and spend time with friends and family whenever you wanted.” “Well man, that’s what I am doing now but I only have to catch one fish a day to do it.”
On the other side of the economic equation we are consumers and not just overworked providers. The Christmas season is big business. [Do we ever stop to think at how natural it is for us to find Santa in a store? Santa and commerce go together.] Shopping has become an activity that pleases us rather than something we do out of necessity.
- Woolworths was one of the first stores to put merchandise out for the shopping public to handle and select without the assistance of a sales clerk. Earlier retailers kept all merchandise behind a counter, and customers presented the clerk with a list of items they wished to buy. We sell things for no other reason than the fact that someone will want it – or because our neighbor may want it!
When wants and desires come between us, we will all be unhappy. [A neighbor of Abraham Lincoln saw him carrying two of his sons, one under each arm. The little boys were crying. The neighbor asked Lincoln what was wrong. He replied, “Just what’s the matter with the whole world. I’ve got three pieces of candy, and each wants two.”] The tenth word is a a perfect sign-off to the ten words to live by. It reminds us that unchecked desire, jealousy, and discontent leads us to violate the other commandments. As a result we wound our neighbor and wreck our life together …
- King David ignored God’s words to live by. He stole another man wife thus ignoring two of the words. He lied about it and had the other man murdered thus ignoring two more of those words. He invoked God’s name to justify his actions, thus he violated even another. But it all began by ignoring the tenth word to live by. He was coveting his neighbor’s wife. And he ignored the tenth because he ignored the first. David should have been doing what God called him to do – leading the armies of Israel – but instead he was at home.
- Coveting is the attitude of heart that preceeds us not living according to God’s words.
The remedy is to go back to the first word that God spoke. He will be our God. He are to be his people.
Jesus is asking us to look inward and question what it most important. Where’s our treasure? Is it God? Is our treasure found in the kingdom of God? Or do we have our eyes and hearts set on our neighbor’s stuff?
Rather than compete with our neighbor, let’s be content with what God gives us. A few weeks ago we spoke about greed and materialism, but let’s go a step further. Let’s listen to Jesus: He recognizes the bookends to these Ten Words and gives us Two Words to Live By …
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matt. 22:37-40
Special Note:
The following is a bibliography of resources used throughout this series on the Ten Words to Live By. I am grateful to the authors of these books for being my “conversation partners” in this series. In both agreement and disagreement, these resources have proven to be useful aids in the writing of the sermons and classes.
J. John, Ten: Living the Ten Commandments in the 21st Century, (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor Publishing), 2000.
Anne Robertson, God’s Top Ten: Blowing the Lid Off the Commandments, (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing), 2006.
J. Ellsworth Kalas, The Ten Commandments from the Back Side, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press), 1998.
Rich Atchley, Sinai Summit: Meeting God With Our Character Crisis, (Siloam Springs, AR: Leafwood Publishing), 2003.
S. Hauerwas and W. Willimon, The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press), 1999.
Carl E. Braaten and Christopher R. Seitz (eds.), I Am the Lord Your God: Christian Reflections on the Ten Commandments, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans), 2005.
William P. Brown (ed.), The Ten Commandments: The Reciprocity of Faithfulness, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press), 2004.
Lewis B. Smedes, Mere Morality: What God Expects from Ordinary People, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans), 1983.
Joan Chittister, The Ten Commandments: Laws of the Heart, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), 2006.
Posted by David on December 6, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
Jesus opened his longest recorded teaching (Matthew 5-7) with what most of us know as the Beatitudes. In my opinion, the theme of the entire lesson focuses on how a righteous person looks and acts. In my understanding, the Beatitudes are a composite view of a righteous person who looks to God to define what he/she is and how he/she acts. Jesus spoke of poverty of spirit, mourning, gentleness, hungering and thirsting to understand God’s ways, mercy, inner purity, making peace, and suffering. For many, these are not the attitudes of righteousness.
In my opinion, because we realized the enormous consequences of rejecting Jesus as God’s promised Messiah, we tried to make it as easy as possible to respond to Jesus. While there are many groups who used various concepts of grace to make it convenient to be Christians, we (the Churches of Christ) emphasized a lack of commitment. The commitment to service after baptism did not parallel the importance of being baptized. Thus baptism became the objective instead of the beginning.
We addressed two difficult problems: 1) sincere people who reach different conclusions, and 2) young children who understand basic facts but not long-term concepts (with a strong emphasis on “easy”). Thus, a lot of people became Christians, not because they were committed to a Savior, but because, “It is easy to be saved, and I do not want to go to Hell.” A personal observation: when serving God becomes demanding, many are not committed to the demands of being Jesus’ disciples. Thus, they often wonder, “Where is the ?easy’?”
Jesus did not teach being righteous was easy. He taught that with God’s mercy and kindness it was possible. He who emptied himself of equality with God the Father (Philippians 2:5-7), who endured rejection by people believing they understood God better than he did (Matthew 24), and who endured unjust trials and death on a cross, did not call people to a “convenient righteousness.” It is not easy or simple to recognize personal insufficiency, be gentle, be learning constantly, be merciful, be internally pure, make peace, or be persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Though exhausting, it is possible.
Do not be a Christian because you expect it to be easy. Be a Christian because you are committed to a Savior. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary (Galatians 6:9). Do not get tired of doing good and being godly.
Posted by Chris on December 2, 2007 under Sermons
James 4:1-3
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 3
- The responsibility of words (1-2)
- The tongue (3-8)
- Small and powerful
- Small and dangerous
- Consistency (9-12)
- Wisdom and peace vs. Bitterness and disorder (13-18)
Truth or Lying?
- Telling the truth respects others as important persons.
- Lying demeans and dehumanizes others.
Glue or Acid?
- Truth is a glue that bonds us to one another
- Lying is an acid that corrodes our life together
Posted by Chris on under Sermons
The Power of Words
God created the world with words. Of all the creatures he made, only humanity is given the ability to use words. All animals can communicate, but only humans can use words. Words can contain meaning as hold that meaning forever. Words have power. They exist outside of us in some sense.
A single word or sentence can set off conflict — or end it. When a word is spoken, it cannot be unspoken. When heard, it cannot be unheard.
The Ninth Word to Live By (Exodus 20:16) recognizes the power of words and the way that words can create trust and community. It is critical that we speak the truth to one another and about one another. Telling lies about others, or giving false testimony about others, uses words for evil rather than good. It tears apart relationships and breaks down community.
The one graduation speech I can remember was based on Prov. 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” Words used rightly are precious things. And word used rightly is truth, because God is truth. And it is good, for God is good. And it is constructive, for God is life and God is love.
- Let us pay attention to what we say …
- Is it true? Even the media misses this. We are so used to accepting as true what is spoken in the media. “Did the president lie?” It doesn’t matter which president, the question hints at the importance of truth. We are unfortunately jaded because we’ve been lied to by government and media. It has eroded trust. So, it is important that we speak truth, but even so there are other responsibilities …
- Is it good? Afternoon scandal shows and gossip magazines at the check out aisle feed our fascination with shocking truth. The stories may be true, but is the telling of it any good? Just because something is truth doesn’t mean we have to speak it or tell it. Sometimes “bad truths” have a way of being circulated. If no good comes from hearing it, why would we tell another? Ben Sirach 19:13-17 …
Question a friend; perhaps he did not do it;
or if he did, so that he may not do it again.
Question a neighbor; perhaps he did not say it;
or if he said it, so that he may not repeat it.
Question a friend, for often it is slander;
so do not believe everything you hear.
A person may make a slip without intending it.
Who has not sinned with his tongue?
Question your neighbor before you threaten him;
and let the law of the Most High take its course.
- Let us pay attention to how we say it …
- We should only speak the truth – and only if it is good to speak that truth. Even still, we have a responsibility for HOW we speak.
- In our age of Talk Radio we tend to think that dialogue only counts if it is arguing. The proliferation of argumentative, combative talk shows is what George Will has called the coarsening of public conversation. This is where we need to be more mature as the people of Christ …
- If we have to speak a difficult truth with someone we should approach the matter humbly. Respect the other by asking for the opportunity to speak and be heard. Don’t be tricky or coy (So, have you stopped beating your wife?). Jesus teaches us that the goal of approaching others is to build community. Winning someone back means that you have fellowship with him or her again. Where 2 or 3 are in agreement, Jesus is with them.
- Let us pay attention to HOW we say the truth for speaking words “unfitly” cause more pain rather than change.
- Let us pay attention to what we hear …
- The thief can steal all the items he wants, but he depends on the “fence” to sell the ill-gotten gains. Without the fence, there would be no market for stolen goods. Likewise, without an willing audience, there’s no market for lies and gossip.
- Just as the fence cannot justify his participation by saying, “I didn’t steal it.” So also, we cannot justify the distribution of half-truths, lies, and gossip by saying, “This didn’t come from me.”
- The doctor told a man that he had a condition that would result in rapid hearing loss and he would have to have hearing aids. The doctor was rather stunned when the man smiled at this news. Doctor: “Most patients are disappointed by this news, why are you smiling?” Man: “Well, my wife is the town gossip and she always tells me stuff I don’t want to hear, now your are installing an ‘off ‘ switch in my ears.”
- Most of the literature on office and school gossip is aimed at the “listener.” The message is clear: Don’t listen to it and it will not continue.
- God’s people have had this literature for ages – the ninth word to live by.
It is a great responsibility to use words. There is a great responsibility in telling the truth, how we tell it, and what we will and will not listen to. If it seems hard, then know this: It is hard. But if words are going to mean anything at all, then we should thank God for the responsibility. And if words and truth mean anything to us then we will pay attention to what we say and how we say it – and we will pay attention to what we choose to listen to …
When someone asked us if we believed “Jesus Christ is the Son of God” and we said yes – and if we were baptized into the name of Christ on the basis of that confession – then we very much must honor the sacredness and preciousness of truth and the responsibility of using words to bring life and build up.
[Sources consulted: The illustration of the thief and the “fence” is taken from Kalas, The Ten Commandments from the Back Side.]
Posted by David on November 29, 2007 under Bulletin Articles
As we get older, life changes and takes on new qualities. Whatever you used in the past to measure the significance of your life becomes less meaningful, less important. You begin realizing that your life is coming to its close. All the medicine, all the surgery, all the technical advances in our physical world cannot keep physical life from ending.
In the past you acknowledged the things God did and does. He created, He can renew, and He sustains what He renews. He created-He made physical existence possible. He renews-He can make it possible for anyone to begin again in Christ. He sustains-with His grace and mercy, He can make anyone His continually.
It is only as you get older that you are filled with a new sense of awe at the incredible things God does. As we become increasingly powerless, we see from different perspectives the awesome things God does. The “beginning again” of anyone-privileged or not, educated or not, free or not-is truly remarkable. Regardless of what a mess you made of your past, regardless of how poor your focus was, regardless of how stupid your past choices were, in Jesus Christ you can begin again-incredible!
What God did and does in Christ is so “mind blowing” it is beyond our comprehension. In Christ’s death, God paid the full price of our renewal. In Christ’s resurrection, God assured us that He is more powerful than physical death, that the end of the physical is not “the end.” The fact the He can take that which was created in His image, trashed and marred beyond recognition, and create again men and women who can reflect Him is beyond our imagination. The fact that He can sustain them in all their human weakness really reveals what faith is all about. (Do you trust God to do what He promised to do?)
And what does He want from us? He wants us to become what He remade us to be. Why? So we can reflect Him. The objective is to see us and glorify God because God made us what we are. Read Matthew 9:1-8 and pay special attention to verse 8. Then read Matthew 5:16. Consider 2 Corinthians 9:13.
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Posted by Chris on November 25, 2007 under Sermons
- The best New Testament companions of the Ten Commandments are the Sermon on the Mount and James.
- Read James 4:1-10
- Friendship with the world and Friendship with God
- Greed as a force that leads to anxiety
- Desire for things
- Murder and Coveting
Two Reflections
- 1991 – On the streets of London.
- The homeless poor.
- The two I met were would steal and cheat in order to survive.
- Christian witness
- They had never met someone who was a friend of God
- All they knew was friendship with the world
- 1992 – Mexico
- My co-worker and brother in Christ in Mexico
- My age, married with three children.
- Karen and I were invited to a meal in his house.
- A small place. Rice, beans and tortillas.
- They shared a feast with us. Hospitality.
- They were friends with God.
Posted by Chris on under Sermons
If you went shopping on Black Friday or Green Saturday (and even if you have shopped on-line in advance of Cyber Monday) it is likely that you went about your purchases and business unconsciously aware of the many security devices that are now a common feature of our public life.
Consider the fact that we move past security cameras regularly in banks, stores, and public spaces. The items we buy are protected against tampering and shoplifting with plastic seals, magnetic strips, ink packets, and strapped-on sirens. When we check out check out or shop on-line our transactions are locked up in 128-bit encryption and initiated with PIN codes and passwords. All of these layers of security, and we are rarely conscious of them!
These facts of life indicate that our culture is conditioned to assume that someone is always stealing something. Doesn’t that strike us as a natural outlook? It’s not only the suburban teenager stuffing a sweater in her oversized bag that we imagine stealing from us. We have also learned the hard way that some of the richest and most powerful people in big business and government are also thieves. The image of the robber in a striped shirt and domino-mask with a dollar-sign bag has been replaced by a man in a $5,000 dollar suit and tie.
There are a few other facts we might draw from the reality of our high-security world:
- First, stealing costs us all. Who pays for all the cameras, metal detectors, and encryption? We all do. And it doesn’t only cost us in cash, there is an erosion of public trust that is costing us dearly.
- Second, not only is public trust eroding, but the environment we live in is highly toxic to personal integrity. If there is theft going on everywhere, then who really notices our efforts to be completely honest – does it really matter?
- Third, stealing in America is not typically motivated by material needs. Only in the rarest cases or in disasters do we hear of people stealing for food and water. When we consider that statistically, theft was less of a problem in the Great Depression than it is today, we might conclude that theft today is not based on need, but it is motivated by greed.
Greed
Greed is a problem for all classes. The wealthiest and poorest may be influenced by greed. Related to the greediness of our culture is the rampant materialism and consumerism of our age.
Do we really need to go shopping at 3 AM on the day after Thanksgiving? I always wonder what the hot item of the year is when I see people lined up and camped out in front of a store. Deck the Halls takes on new meaning at this time of year ever since people started throwing fists at each other trying to grab a limited supply of Cabbage Patch Dolls and Tickle-Me Elmos.
The long-lines, the early-bird shoppers, and the huge profits are often reported on the news with a wink and nod, but do we ever stop and realize how upside-down it may truly be? In our country we wait in lines for high-priced Playstations and Nintendos, but in many other nations the people wait in lines for food that may not be available. What we spend on our one purchase may be as much or more than what people in other nations make in a single year.
Overcoming Greed
- Concept of Ownership –
- God owns all things. “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.” -Psalm 24:1. Do we own anything that hasn’t been given to us?
- Stealing is the false idea that you can take something and make it your own. That goes beyond legal and illegal. Even if you acquire something “legally” it may not be your own. Stealing can be more that theft.
- Giving counters Greed.
- Do we really think that God has no interest in how we spend all of our money as long as we give him a tenth? Stop and think about it: God doesn’t care if we lose large sums of money at the casino as long as we paid our tithe? Money that could have been given to help others? Stop and think about it: God doesn’t care that we have more houses, cars, and clothes than we need as long as we put our offering in the plate? Stop and think about it: God doesn’t care that we have bought high-end tech gadgets which are marked up by 1000% as long as we pay him his cut?
- The 10% is not all that God owns or cares about. God has an opinion with the 90% too. In his parable of the seed and the sower, Jesus taught that the deceitfulness of wealth and desire for things chokes out the growth of the gospel in our lives (Mark 4). James issues a serious warning to those who live in self-indulgence (James 5). The message is clear that we should use all of our wealth to honor God.
- Giving counters greed and every act of giving is a rebellion against the desires and powers that makes us materialistic. How we give should lead how we spend.
- Today is Always Thanksgiving. We have our holidays backwards. We gather around to give thanks for what we have on one day – the fourth Thursday in November, then for the next month we are consumed with materialism. It seems like we should start the shopping season and have Christmas and then after we open all the presents the next day ought to be Thanksgiving. If we did that we might not scurry and scamper for so much stuff. We might realize that we are really just children over-doing it on too much Halloween Candy.
- If we realize that all we have comes from God then we give thanks. Cultivating an attitude of thanksgiving transforms our attitude about things and ownership. It overcomes greed and it allows us to be more content. We learn to trust God by giving thanks. And it just might change our whole society starting with us …
Acts 4:32-37 –
There’s something different about the community of believers that live with Christ among them. There’s no stealing among them. There are no PIN Codes or passwords. There are no metal detectors or magnetic sensors. There are no food lines or forgers. Why? Because they have overcome greed and need. Why? Because they don’t own anything they will not share.
This could be us, if we have the spirit of Christ rather than the spirit of the age.
This could be us, if we devote ourselves to the apostle’s teaching, worship, and prayer.
This could be us, if we will truly meet together and eat together with glad and sincere hearts.
And if this could be us, we just might be filled with awe and wonder at what God can do through us!
Posted by Chris on November 18, 2007 under Sermons
Covenants
- Foundational oaths and agreements
- Antecedent to Law
- Noah (Genesis 9)
- Abraham (Genesis 12)
- Jacob (Genesis 28)
- Jew-Gentile Controversy (Acts 15)
Covenant-Keeper vs. Self-Maximizer
[This dichotomy is taken from Lewis B. Smedes, Mere Morality: What God Expects From Ordinary People.]
Covenant-Keeper is …
Loyal
Trustworthy
Dependable
Committed
Keeps faith
Holds relationships together
Keeps life decent
Self-Maximizer is …
Seeks fulfillment
Self-asserting
Evaluates relationships on basis of return
Seeks maximal happiness
Striving for personal growth
The virtues of the covenant-Keeper are what we want in all other people. But they can be personally demanding.
The virtues of the self-maximizer are not all bad, but if everyone felt that way society would collapse.
When staying committed is drudgery and self-mortification, why? Why keep covenants?
Why Keep a Vow?
- We give ourselves over to a permanent identity in the face of an unpredictable future
- Covenants and name-changes go together
Abraham’s covenant with God assures Abraham that he will be “Father of a Nation” even though he cannot secure that future for himself.
In a marriage, a man and wife assure one another that they will be one even though they cannot guarantee how their lives will turn out.
- Breaking a vow is murder and stealing.
- Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Parson’s Tale – Understand also that adultery is fitly placed in the ten commandments between theft and homicide; for it is the greatest theft that can be, being theft of’ body and of soul. And it is like homicide, for it cuts in twain and breaks asunder those that were made one flesh, and therefore, by the old law of God, adulterers should be slain. But nevertheless, by the law of Jesus Christ, which is a law of pity, He said to the woman who was taken in adultery and should have been slain with stones, according to the will of the Jews, as was their law: “Go,” said Jesus Christ, “and have no more will to sin,” or “will no more to do sin.”
Submit to One Another
- Ephesians 5:21
- The Bride of Christ
- Christ takes care of the Bride as if she is part of his own body
- Fidelity
- More than not committing adultery
- Covenant-keepers seek the growth, enrichment, pleasure, and freedom of the other -(1 Corinthians 7)
Bad Marriage
According to the prophets, God himself suffered the pain of a bad marriage – a marriage hurt by adultery.
- Ezekiel 16
- Hosea
- Isaiah 57
John 8 – There is grace and renewal for all broken covenants in Jesus Christ.
