First Lesson: Jeremiah 1: 4-10 Responsive Reading: Psalm 71: 1-6 Second Lesson: Hebrews 12: 18-29 Gospel Lesson: Luke 13: 10-17 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
If there was one day that I dreaded as a child, it was “Report Card.” Day. My Mom was a really good student growing up. When she was in high school, she was a National Merit Scholar which was awarded to those who excelled both in grades and test scores. After having children, she went back to school and earned a Master’s in Education. I never remember a time when she hasn’t had a pile of books near her. Well, all my trouble began at a young age. I was asked to take the Iowa Basic standardized tests. I did well . So according to my parents, anything less than straight A’s would be a disappointment. The problem was that like a lot of twelve-thirteen year old boys I lacked focus and study skills. So B’s and C’s would soon decorate my report card and I never looked forward to the report card arriving . If I thought today was the day, I would try to be able five miles away from home by the time my Mom picked up the mail. My parents did as much for me as any parents possibly could to improve my grades. They would offer rewards, they would enlist tutors, and they even willing to drive me to a new school. So did I ever really get my act together? Not really, at least while I living underneath my parents roof. Here’s the thing, my parents through all this keep referring to me as their son, regardless of whether I had ever been the perfect son. My imperfect school days lead us into today’s Lesson coming to us from the Book of Hebrews[1]. Hebrews is a book written to the earliest Jewish Christians residing in Jerusalem. It’s meant to serve as a history of God’s activity beginning in the Old Testament with which the Hebrew Christians were familiar into the current age when the New Testament was written. It’s the third straight Sunday that I’ve preached on the Book of Hebrews. Two weeks ago, I preached on the story of the Father of Jewish people in Abraham who clung to the great hope of the long-awaited Messiah, even if Jesus would not be born for nearly 2000 years[2]. Last week, told the story of the persecution of Christians in the present age how they would prevail within all their trials even death itself[3]. This week’s lesson explores one of the most major Old Testament themes of Covenant. While Covenant might not be a familiar term, let’s begin by thinking about a term in better known term of “Contract[4].” When I moved to Silver Bay, I had a satellite dish installed, so I needed to sign a contract vowing to be a customer of the Dish Network for two years. I could have broken the contract by not paying. Dish would have stopped providing me T.V. service at that point, plus being legally entitled to more money on top of this. You order a pizza, but don’t hand the delivery driver money then “No pizza for you." On the other hand, if the delivery driver fails to give “pizza,” You’re not going to chase them with money as they drive off. So contracts are two-way agreements that can be broken when either party fails to keep their promise. So what makes a covenant different than a contract? Think back to the story of my parents and my disappointing grades. My parents were never going to disown me for getting a “c” in math; they were going to do everything they possibly could to support. The best distinction between a contract and a covenant? Would be that contracts are agreed to based on the commitment of both parties such as paying bills for goods, whereas covenants are dependent on the unconditional commitment of on the one establishing the Covenant. If one wants to understand the Old Testament, it is a book of Covenants[5]. The First Covenant establishes Adam and Eve within the Garden of Eden. Genesis 1:28, “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” After Adam and Eve eat the Forbidden Fruit, they try to hide like me on report card day, but a Second Covenant is established: Genesis 3:19: “By the sweat of your face; you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The following verse might not have at first seemed like a Covenant; it would have been the equivalent of my parents permanently grounding me on account of grades. What good could possibly have come from being returned to the ground from which Adam and Eve came? But it was when Adam and Eve fell into the Sin, that the first promise of the eventual savior was set in motion. The next famous covenant comes in Genesis 8 given to Noah after the flood. God declares Genesis 8:21: “Never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” The most important Covenant given to the people of Israel of whom Hebrews was written takes place in Genesis 12 where God declares to Abraham’s descendants “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you[1];” It would be through Christ Jesus that Jewish Christians would receive this blessing, also known as “The New Covenant[7].” The New Covenant made upon a cross would not have any conditions, and it would be an covenant unto eternal life. What might this covenant mean for us? Earlier this Summer, the Baseball Hall of Fame had its induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York. Three hundred twenty-three individuals had previously made up the Baseball Hall of Fame; no one had been unanimously voted in until this year with the election of former New York Yankee Mariano Rivera[8]. Rivera had the most high-stress role on the Baseball team as the closer. The guy assigned to get the final outs with the game on the line and the pressure at its highest[9]. Rivera was most known for two things throughout his career, his nearly unhittable cut fastball and his Christian faith[10]. How were the two connected? In the year 2001, Mariano Rivera lost not only a game for the New York Yankees but the final and deciding game of the World Series in the 9th Inning[11]. Mariano Rivera was able to quickly see this loss as a tool for the good. You see the Yankees never got a World Series celebration that year. So a teammate of his Enrique Wilson got to take home an earlier scheduled flight. Wilson’s originally scheduled flight if they had won the World Series crashed, taking the lives of everyone on board. The following led to Rivera declaring: “I am glad we lost the World Series,” “because it means that I still have a friend[12].” So Mariano Rivera was able to see God’s hand in his life even after his high profile disappointment. What it means to be a Covenant people is to understand that God is still your God even at those moments of your life when like Mariano Rivera you experience your greatest failures. God will not abandon you, even when you seemingly think you find evidence that he has. My Mom was a Middle School English Teacher for twenty years. She would encounter often encounter a certain type of mother when she was teaching. The mother would have had a boy in 7th grade. The boy was sloppy, he wouldn’t always turn his work in on time, he struggled with staying focused in class, staying out of trouble, and wouldn’t always have the best grades. These mothers would be at their wits ends over what lied ahead for their child. My Mom would then tell them the tale of a former student of hers, who had all these same qualities: sloppy, disorganized, would get in trouble and didn’t always have the best grades. My Mom would then declare that this boy now years later is a Lutheran Minister and her son. The power of covenant is such that were many times that I could have easily gone down a much different path. My parents on the toughest days of my life have continually vowed never to stop supporting me. A parental covenant such as this one, can be one of the most profound influences for us, but our lesson declares that as Christian people we live under an even more powerful covenant. Our lesson for Today describes the fulfillment of all God’s covenants upon Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. The day when the Angels finally surround us[13]. On this day, we will look into the eyes of our savior, deep down, we might be scared and afraid because of our failures and disappointments of this life, like myself on the day of receiving my report card. But the nature of being a covenant people reminds us that God’s goodness, mercy, and grace are way more powerful than any bad grades we’ve maybe received Amen [1] Genesis 12:2. [1] Hebrews 12:18-29. [2] Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16. [3] Hebrews 11:29-12:2. [4] Shelley, Bruce. “Contract vs Covenant.” Sermon Illustrations. Web. Aug.1.2019. [5] Unger. F. Merrill. The New Unger’s Bible Hand Book. Revised by Gary N. Larson, Moody Press, Chicago, 1984, p. 595. Found on Sermon Illustrations.com. [6] Genesis 12:2. [7] Unger. F. Merrill. The New Unger’s Bible Hand Book. p. 595. [8] Stonestreet, John and Roberto Rivera. “Unanimous.” Break Point. 11. Feb. 2019. Web. Aug.1.2019. Found on E Mail Mediatations. [9] Stonestreet, John and Roberto Rivera. “Unanimous.” Break Point. [10] Stonestreet, John and Roberto Rivera. “Unanimous.” Break Point. [11] “2001 World Series.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 13.July.2019. Web. Aug.1.2019. [12] Stonestreet, John and Roberto Rivera. “Unanimous.” Break Point. [13] Hebrews 12:2. Comments are closed.
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