Sunday, April 3, 2011

Sunday, April 3rd

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Deuteronomy 28-29 and Luke 7:31-50

In Deut 29 Moses calls for commitment, urging the people to honour their part of the contract they had made with God. Not just learning God's word (thought that's important too), but doing it.

From this sermon...
With the massive group standing before God, it is easy to miss the personal nature of God’s promise. While speaking to everyone in the nation the pronouns used are singular. There is a very personal tone here. This is emphasized even more by the repetition of the word "today" five times in the passage. The recurrent reference to the presence is a reminder that the Covenant is not locked away in some remote past.

While our faith is rooted in history and it points to a future, we live it out today. It is easy to think of God’s promises for Israel 3000 years ago or His promise to us when we die, but we forget that the Covenant is about how we live here and now.

What we see in this passage is not an initiation of the Covenant. For that you would go back to Adam in Genesis 3. Rather, throughout God’s dealings with His people, He constantly renews that Covenant again and again. It's too late to serve Him yesterday and we don't know about tomorrow; we serve Him today.

For every new generation, the challenge of the Covenant would always be "today." It if for this reason that Hebrews 4, quoting Psalm 95:7ff, calls every generation of believers to enter the Sabbath rest, to cease from trying to erect their own righteousness and rest and rely on the work of Christ for us... for you.

It is not enough that your parents believe. It is important that you too respond in faith. It is important for those of you who are older children and teens to take this to heart. The Covenant encompasses the family, but as you mature you need to own this Covenant for yourself....

As we’ve seen, the promise is initiated by God and fulfilled by God. As a unilateral promise, as God makes and keeps the Covenant, so we can be certain of its completion. God gives His word that we will be His people and He will be our God....

Despite [our] breaking the Covenant, God remains faithful. The promise remains secure. We read earlier in Romans 4 of how that Covenant is applied to us. Paul uses Abraham, likewise citing Genesis 15 which we read. Paul sees no radical change in how God worked in Abraham, David or in us. The Covenant God made with Abraham is the same one with us. It has not changed; it has only be made more full....

In verse 13 we see how this promise connects itself with the promise given to their forefathers. It is the same promise. This passage makes it clear that God does not set up a variety of Covenants, one with Abraham and another with Moses. What took place on Sinai forty years before when the Law was given, what takes place now on the plains of Moab, has the same foundation as what was said to Abraham....

God initiates; we are to respond. The response detailed here is one of acceptance, of agreeing to the terms....

Similar to Genesis 15, you recall Abram’s response to God’s Covenant: he sleeps through it. God in sovereignty and grace initiates and fulfills. Abraham’s duty is to believe this is so. The Covenant already exists (verse 12); they are entering into it; literally, cross over to it. That is, they respond in faith....

Being declared righteous by God comes not from our own achievements, but by believing our sins were placed on Christ and His righteousness placed on us.


When we truly understand the covenant God has made with us, against the backdrop of His absolute holiness, we will be like the woman in Luke 8 who comes to Jesus in absolute gratitude for all He has mercifully forgiven.

Tomorrow's passage: Deuteronomy 30-31, Luke 8:1-25

2 comments:

Pamela said...

Great connection! I have admired the woman who was not afraid to stand out and take the bold initiative and not care what anyone said. May we also be as bold.

Miriam said...

Great post, Tammy. Lots to think about. " The Covenant God made with Abraham is the same one with us. It has not changed; it has only be made more full...." Amazing.

I love the story of the woman in Luke and how Jesus told her that her faith had saved her, in spite of what everyone knew about her. It really emphasizes for me that my sins are not so bad that he can't forgive them, and that I don't somehow have to become "better" on my own first before approaching the throne of grace. He takes us as we come, if we have faith and repent.