Word of Salvation – Vol. 42 No. 16 – April 1997

 

Covenant Kids – Comfort and Hope!

 

A Sermon by Rev. D. Van Garderen on Genesis 17:7, 9

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 1:1-20

 

Dear Congregation.

I've always felt a real sense of wonder and awe when seeing a newborn baby.  What a magnificent craftsman God is!  Human life, both its physical and spiritual dimensions, is a supreme demonstration of God's amazing creative acts.

Psalm 139:13-14 puts it this way:

"For you created my inmost being;
 you knit me together in my mother's womb.
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
 your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

And yet, having said all of that, there is also a sense of real dread when I think about children being born and growing up in this day and age.  The world to which today's generation of children and teenagers is going to be exposed is frightening.

A while ago, New Zealand heard of events in the rural town of Marton.  TV reports exposed a teen sub-culture, heavily into its own kind of music, drugs and rejection of all forms of authority.  Something snapped among these kids.  Five of them, in a matter of six weeks, took the ultimate 'choice' and killed themselves.  When the story was told, NZ shuddered.  What a futile lifestyle.  What emptiness.  No wonder we 'boast' the highest rate of teen suicide in the world.

What was noticeable above all was the music the young are being fed.  I claim no understanding or expertise here.  I can't hear the lyrics and the beat turns me off.  But the sadistic savagery; the lust for power, power and more power; the crude sex-saturated language; above all, the beat which causes body adrenalin to pump with fury, all of which is heightened by means of drugs easily available, is hellishly frightening!

And, if I hear things correctly, it's not just the extreme fringe 'out there' – but many of the kids right here – that are surrounded by this where they study, where they work, where they seek entertainment, what they themselves are increasingly seeking to do and be involved in!

I know that each generation always thinks that its current problems and difficulties are more complex and challenging than ever before.  Mine did, as did that of my parents.  My children have believed it of their generation, too.  The young often tell their parents, "It was a lot simpler, easier and straightforward in your day." Likewise, many a father and mother will make 'back in my days' sound a lot less corrupt, worrisome and scary than the present!

There is a sense in which things are getting worse all the time.  What used to be on the extreme fringes a few years back is becoming more and more 'mainstream' now.  More young people than ever before are beginning to experiment as opportunities beckon them relentlessly.  It's dangerous to be young!

At the same time, nothing has changed.  There is nothing new under the sun.  No temptation will ever hit them or you that has not been common to our human experience from the beginning.  Why?  Because the source of the problems facing any individual in any and every generation is not 'out there,' but in here', that is, in the heart.  The main worry is not what is 'out there', but what is in the heart!

Jesus said (Mark 7:21-23), "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean."  His diagnosis of the problem is that it is not the forces 'out there' that are the real problem.  The real source of the problem begins 'in here' – deep within our human nature.

James wrote: "What causes fights and quarrels among you?  Don't they come from your desires which 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" (Jas.4:1-3a).

What a terrible, frightening dilemma.  Babies, children, created, 'knit together' in their mother's womb by God himself, 'fearfully and wonderfully made' and yet fallen, utterly and completely.  As David laments in Psalm 51:5 "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

What hope is there for us human beings – for our babies, our children, for this generation?  What chance have they got?

THE GRACE OF THE SOVEREIGN LORD

Admit it, the only real hope for you, me, our children, babies, toddlers, teenagers and for all of humanity lies beyond ourselves.  No matter how hard we may try, no matter what we do, what we study, how much money we throw at solving the problems – we can't do anything substantial about changing our human nature and inclinations!  If there is one thing which the 20^th Century has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, it’s that!

Is there no way out?  Is oblivion, whether induced by music, drugs, counter-culture or even suicide, the only escape?  It would be if there was no God.  If there is no God, if the kind of God who speaks and reveals himself in the Bible does not exist, there is no hope, no escape – just empty futility – hell.

But there is a God.  There is a God who, in spite of us – in spite of every rotten, sinful thing about us – still comes to us to help us and our children.  Amazing really!  In spite of everything, our attitudes, our active rebellion, our destructiveness, our corruption and sinfulness – God still comes to help!  What astounding grace!  God's amazing commitment to help us and our children is formalised by means of what the Bible calls the 'covenant.'  A covenant is an agreement, a set of promises between two parties.  It is the most solemn, binding and unbreakable kind of contract known.  Only death can free a person who makes a covenant from its promises, conditions and consequences.

About 4,000 years ago, God came to a man called Abraham and proposed to establish a covenant between himself and Abraham's household.  God said:

"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...!" (Genesis 17:7).

WHAT GOD PROMISES

God bound himself to be the God of Abraham, Abraham's children, and their children – forever.  That means that God is committed totally to use his limitless wisdom, understanding, justice, power, patience, mercy, compassion, etc, in order to help and save Abraham and his descendants.

What that means is that God has sworn to be the greatest, most powerful, caring, vigilant and glorious king and sovereign ruler over our lives.  He is going to be a father to out-father our fathers.  He is going to be a perfect shepherd, protector, provider, mentor and guide.  He is going to use all of his knowledge, wisdom, power and might to keep us, day and night, and forever.  God promises to be God to Abraham and his offspring forever.

WHAT ABRAHAM (AND OFFSPRING) PROMISE

The feature of a covenant promise is that there are two parties making promises.  In the covenant with Abraham, as recorded in Genesis 17, God makes his promises - and so must Abraham and his household.  Therefore God commanded him: "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come...!" (Gen 17:9).

In other words, Abraham and his descendants – to enjoy God's covenant promises must own them.  It is a two-way responsibility.  They are absolutely bound to keeping the covenant – to honouring, serving, seeking, obeying, trusting and loving God on his terms.  Worshipping God as God.  Honouring his name.  Keeping his day holy.  Walking according to his commandments.  Seeking help, forgiveness, mercy and strength from God and no one else!

Get the picture?

If there's going to be any hope, any kind of help and future for any human being its got to come from God and the covenant partnership he offers to those he loves.  There is no one or nothing else who or that can truly help.  God offers that help by establishing a covenant in which he binds himself and those who enter into it with him.  He will be faithful to his promises, and the covenant partners must be faithful to theirs!  That's the Bible formula for hope.  There is no other.

THE SIGN OF THE TWO-WAY PROMISE

For a promise to have legal and binding power, it must have a seal or a sign which guarantees the commitment of those making it.  It can be a signature, a solemn handshake, an oath.  It can be a symbol such as an engagement or a wedding ring.

In the case of the covenant between God and Abraham (and his descendants) it was circumcision.  This sign, demanded by God himself, was God's personal proof that He was committed to him who had it.  At the same time, those who had this sign took it as an indication that they were committed to serving and trusting in God.  The sign binds God and the person who has it to each other.  A circumcised person knew by means of that sign that God was utterly committed to him and that he, as a covenant partner, must be utterly committed to God.

THE PROMISE AND THE SIGN TODAY

What is so amazing is that the promise made to Abraham 4,000 years ago is still in force today!  When God says 'everlasting,' he means it!  But there is a difference.  In the days before Jesus came, the promise God made was restricted to the physical descendants of Abraham – one nation only.

When Jesus came, he renewed the covenant and broadened it out to include all and everyone who turned to Jesus and confessed him to be Saviour and Lord.  Jesus became the mediator of the new covenant – so that God's promise to be God extended to all who called on him.

I want you for just a moment to turn to two Bible passages.

First of all, to Galatians 3:26-29...

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Note well – we who believe, who have faith in Jesus Christ, are all sons of God (that word 'sons' includes women as well as men, as the context demonstrates).  All sons of God are 'Abraham's seed' spiritual heirs of the same covenant God made with Abraham.  Above all, pick up what amounts to a very special technical term.  I refer to the word 'promise'.  This word highlights the content of the covenant – God’s promise to BE God and all that this means.  The commitment God made to Abraham and descendants is now a commitment made to all who have faith in Jesus.  Ours is the promise!

Second, turn back to Acts 2:38-39...

"Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-for all whom the Lord our God will call."

Pick up that same key word, 'promise'.  Note one other thing.  The promise extends to all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ – and to their children!!  God is as committed to the children of Christians as he was committed to the children of Abraham!

The seal or guarantee of that promise, of entering into the covenant with God today, is baptism into the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

APPLICATIONS

Therefore, God is in a covenant relationship with all who believe – and with their children.  Children and young people – God is completely concerned and involved with you.  Your baptism is God's personal proof and guarantee of this.  You are 'covenant kids'.  The promises God makes in the Bible – all the way from Abraham onwards are promises God has now made to you!  Awesome, isn't it?

What this means is:

1.  That you accept that God is there – and God's explanations of things are true.  God tells you that the troubles and temptations that you face day in and day out are not primarily 'out there'.  Don't blame the music – blame your choices to listen to and be saturated with it.  Don't blame the guy that offers you a free joint or a pretty pill – blame yourself for taking it.  The problem with sin begins in here' – your choice to obey or disobey God's will.

2.  But there's more!  No matter what, where, how and when – you’re never, ever on your own!  God is there.  No matter what the world or the devil throws at you, no matter how great the temptation, God's help is there to give you strength to be able to fight!  God is on your side!!  He's committed to you.  With every temptation there is always a way of escape.  God guarantees you that in his Word.

3.  You in your turn are committed to the conditions God has put on you.  You're under orders to obey him, no matter what.  His order is always the same: "Follow me!"  You're not free to choose.  You're 'covenant kids' blessed, and at the same time, under orders!

4.  You are also promised help and deliverance.  God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and has more than enough love to forgive and renew you.  So seek his help – call on him while you can.  Tell God everything all the time.  Tell him the truth, the whole truth.  Only a fool doesn't – and only a fool of the most foolish sort doesn't come completely and utterly clean with God.  God is a perfect lie detector!  So as a sinner, as someone who fails and needs help – know this: God has bound himself to helping, to forgiving, to wiping the tears from your eyes and washing the blood and bruises off your face.  Jesus is the proof.

Can you see it?

The hope of our children – from baby onwards – is God himself!  As parents and children we have an absolute guarantee of God's commitment to us – sealed in the form of a covenant promise.  A covenant community and covenant members with covenant kids...  Hallelujah!

Scared about the children's future in this wicked world?  I'd be petrified except that I know and am in covenant with the covenant God of the Bible.  And that makes ALL the difference!

Amen.