“An Everlasting Covenant”
Genesis 17:1-8
“I will establish my covenant between me
and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant to be God to you
and your offspring after you.” Genesis 17:7
The term Covenant is dear to us in this church- it is
our name.
Many
years ago they were considering a number of names
And
finally after much debate and discussion
We
decided on “Covenant”.
What a great name it is for a church. It
is Biblical.
There was the Covenant with Adam and Eve and God
in the
Garden of Eden;
There
is the Covenant with Noah and God in the rainbow;
There
is the Covenant with Abraham and Sarah
Fulfilled
by the birth of Isaac
By
the ritual of circumcision
and the act
of tithing;
There
is the New Covenant written upon our hearts
To
remind us that God is our God and
We
are God’s people
As
prophesied by Jeremiah.
And
finally there is the New Covenant sealed in the blood
Of
Jesus Christ as a fulfillment of all the previous
covenants of God with humanity.
A covenant is a theological term.
It is more than a contract
It
is a binding pact between God and God’s people.
And
the term is Genesis 17 “Everlasting Covenant”
Is
particularly important.
The word berith is connected with bara- to eat.
Covenant are sealed not with ink on
paper but a shared meal.
We live in an age when paper contracts
are regularly broken. The
newspaper is filled with reports of broken contracts
The
broken contract between an amusement park
Owner
and the lenders;
A
broken contract between celebrities who bought
a
horse for their daughter and changed their mind;
I
don’t even like to read the sports page because it is
More
about players and coaches and their contracts
Than
it is about the actual sports games.
But a covenant is different than a
contract.
We
only use the term covenant in two modern day events.
We
describe marriage as a covenant
And
we describe the last will and testament
As
a covenant.
We
know that we aren’t doing very well with marriages since
50%
of marriages in
But
the last will and testament is perhaps the best human
Example
of a covenant that is close to everlasting.
Even
with that Wills are disputed and end up
In
court.
But the Covenant with God is different
Not because
we are different in our side of the covenant but
because God is different on both sides
of the covenant.
The
covenant with God is everlasting because God is not only
The
senior partner in the covenant but also the
Cosigner
with us on our side of the covenant,
God
is the judge who reviews the terms of the covenant
The
advocate, in Christ, who stands with us
And
the sovereign who enacts payment,
And
God is the one who fulfills that
Payment
on the cross of Christ.
When God says everlasting, God means
everlasting.
That is good news for us because it
means that God
Will
not give up on us even when we give up on each other
And
ultimately give up on God.
God
has established an everlasting covenant
With
you and me.
Not
matter what we do God will not give up on you.
God
will not give up on me.
Thanks
good news!
The covenant of God attested to in
scripture is for us.
That’s the
good news that’s the temptation
From
the beginning of time.
That
is the temptation to think that God won’t fulfill
His
side of the covenant and to think
That
the covenant is only for us.
And
to try to divide the world in to
Covenant
people and people who
Are
outside the covenant.
When God makes the Covenant with Noah
It
is a covenant with every living creature:
“I have set a bow in the clouds that will be
a sign of the covenant between me and the earth…I will remember my covenant
that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh”
And it is ratified with a sacrificial
meal (Gen
When God makes the covenant with Abraham,
Abraham
thinks it is only for him.
He discounts the covenant with Sarah
when he tries
To have a child without her;
God
said “I will establish my covenant with
you and
With your descendants as an
everlasting covenant.”
The covenant
is not just about God and Abram
But
also about Sarai and all the descendants
And it is
ratified with a meal shared with God’s messengers.
Today we have gathered to share a
covenant meal yet again.
We
are blessed to have the name “Covenant”
Which
reminds us of God’s everlasting covenant with us.
It
is personal. It is for you and me.
God
is here with us in ministry and mission.
But
God is not only with us.
God is in covenant is lasting. It is with our descendants.
Our
children and children’s children and all our descendents
So
we are challenged not only to be faithful in our
Own
lives but also to raise our children in the
Knowledge
and love of God and to know
God’s
love and covenant is with them.
God is covenant is everywhere
God’s
covenant with Abraham and Sarai was to be
A
light to the nations.
God’s
plan was not just to bless the nation of
Abraham
but to use Abraham to witness
to all the nations of the earth.
God
wanted to use Abraham and wants to use us
To
fulfill the covenant God made with Noah
“A covenant between God and the whole earth…
Every
living creature.”
Today on World Communion Sunday we will
again eat with God
In
remembrance of God’s Covenant with us.
I
hope that you will take this meal shared in Christ
Personally
because Jesus does want you and me
To
know that this covenant is personal.
But
it is also everlasting.
It
is God’s promise to every living creature on the earth
And
it is a lasting covenant with all our descendants.
God does not want us to keep this good
news to ourselves
But
to share this everlasting covenant with the world. Amen