A Covenant Christmas: Covenant with Abraham

Good morning, everybody. My name is Dax Palmer, the director of Outreach. I'm excited to preach for y'all this morning. I've had a good time with the Lord the last couple weeks, and I'm very excited. We welcome all of you that are in house, those that are outside, and those that are visiting online.

We're going to get started with our scripture reading. We have a lot to cover, so feel free to tap the person next to you to continue the reading. We'll read this together. One, two, and three.

After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. "So reward shall be great." Abraham said, "Oh Lord God, what will you give me? Damascus." Abraham said, "Broken my covenant." — Genesis 15-17

Amen. Amen.

You know, one of my favorite shows that we watch as a family, especially on Sunday, is a show called America's Funniest Video. Anybody watch that? I didn't realize that show has been running for thirty-two years since I was nine years old. But in this particular episode, they had something going on called the Candy Challenge. So what would happen is they would put a piece of candy in front of a child, record it, and then walk away. Then they would determine whether this child has self-control or not. What they didn't realize was that they were doing the same experiment that happened in the nineteen sixties, which was called the marshmallow experiment. They were trying to measure the self-control of kids. What they found out is that yes, environmental factors did play a role—whether the kid would touch that marshmallow or not—such as hunger, boredom, if the child was tired, and stuff like that. But when they did the study again in 2012, they found something interesting. It wasn't just the environmental factors that played a role. In fact, they played a smaller role than what they figured out.

Listen to this: having reliable interaction with adults influenced what children did later. Kids who interacted with adults who followed through on what they said waited far longer on average before nibbling a marshmallow than other children who interacted with adults who didn't do what they said. The children seemed to be deciding how likely that promised future was going to happen.

When parents or adults don't follow through on what they tell their child, it impacts the way kids trust other people. If a child doesn't believe that the individual will follow through on what they said, they develop trust issues. The results are broken promises. How many of us have heard a broken promise or had a promise broken with us? Many of us don't deal with that broken promise issue as we get older. In fact, as you get older, life starts to affirm what you believe: you can't trust people. You ever heard that person that says, "I'll believe it when I see it"? Some of y'all have.

Here's the thing: just because we are Christians, just because we are Christians, it doesn't mean we trust God fully. There are times I question God myself. Did I do enough? Is Jesus truly the only way? Will God even help me or guide me throughout my life?

The Story of Abraham

I love what I love about Abram is that I see a lot of my story, our story in him. Like Jeff mentioned earlier, we are living in the stage of the already not yet. God had promised some things to us and to Abraham, but it hasn't come to fruition yet, and it's hard living it out. So today, as we begin the conversation of covenants, I want to show y'all that we serve a God that is faithful and keeps His promise, and we can trust Him.

Now, I want to be careful because sometimes we create promises and hold God accountable that He never even said. For instance: "God promised your best life now. If we are God's children, nothing evil will happen to us. In fact, if something does happen, it's because of your faith or because of your individual sin."

Listen to this one:

Train up a child in a way that he should go and he will not depart. — Proverbs 22:6

I've witnessed devout men and women training their children up. But yet as they get older, the children leave the faith, and we point fingers at that person, especially when it happens with pastors or leaders in the church. What people fail to realize is that even in a theocracy, people were turning away from God. So how can we think any different?

But if we believe these false promises that we hang on God's head, we begin to have trust issues with God. So today, my goal is to show you that God is faithful and will fulfill what He has promised. The message today is the promise-keeping God. The promise-keeping God.

And we will look at how God engages with Abraham, how God promises Abraham, and God demands obedience through the Abraham covenant.

Let's pray. Lord, I want to pray for the message today. I pray that it goes out today and transforms hearts, transforms minds, and transforms my own heart and mind. I pray that I get out of the way and give me the wisdom, the courage, and the boldness to speak your word to your people. In Jesus' name, amen.

Alright. So we have a lot to cover. I'm going to try to be as thorough as possible, but we're going to cover about three or four chapters in about thirty minutes. So bear with me.

God first called Abraham—Abram—in chapter 12 of Genesis, and he's about 75 years old and Sarai is about 60. And he tells Abraham, "Go out from your land, your relatives and your father's house and go to a land that I will show you." And God tells him all the things that he will do.

Now for most of us, if you are in your sixties or seventies, all your family is around you, especially in a culture like that. Very rarely will you leave and begin a new journey. And if you haven't had kids at 60 or 70 years old, chances are you don't want kids at that age, especially babies at that age. I mean, I'm in my forties, right? And having a baby right now scares me. I love my kids. I love them to death. But man, at this stage of life, I'm like, I'm good.

And here's the thing—a couple weeks ago, and I won't point fingers at my wife, I'm the kind of the jokester in my wife and my family. But a couple weeks ago, I called my wife and she had the audacity to tell me she was pregnant, right? And don't point fingers at her because we joke like that. But I'm going to tell you, when she told me that, my heart began to pump a little faster. I started having flashbacks of poopy diapers, being up all night, teething, all this stuff, childcare. Holy cow.

But we can laugh at these things because we aren't Abram. But already we see that just because you are in a relationship with God and living in his promise, it doesn't mean it will be easy. It will cost you something.

But here's the interesting thing—there's not a word from Abram. He's not asking God why, he just goes. And think about it, Abraham is losing all that he knows. His place of security, the land that is probably passed down from generation to generation. His comfort, he's moving from his family and God is calling him to start a new family. And God is telling him to trust him with the things that have not yet come to pass. We don't know if God spoke to Abraham before this or not—it's not recorded. But God is saying to trust him and the things that have not yet come to pass.

In chapters 13 to 14, Abraham has an event in Egypt. There's a famine and he goes to Egypt and he tells his wife, Sarah, "Tell them you are my sister. I'm scared. I don't want to get killed." And then he has another challenge—he goes and rescues his cousin Lot from a hostage situation. A lot of hardships that Abraham is going through, and it could seem like God's promise is false. We read these things with no connection, but he went through some hard things. I can imagine that he's questioning his faith, the promises. God promised all these things. It's been years, but it seems like life is getting harder.

But don't we act the same way when hardship comes? Loss of a job, loss of a loved one, abuse, depression, divorce, anxiety. "God, I thought being a Christian protected me from all this, but yet my life has proven to be different. Why?"

But what we've got to understand is that God never promised Abraham or us that the journey will be safe, fun, always enjoyable. No, he promised that he will be with us and that he will get us there. Amen.

So we can understand that Abraham, when he says in chapter 15, "Lord God, what can you give me? Since I am childless. Look, you've given me no offspring. So a slave born in my house will be my heir. We haven't had a baby yet. We've been trying for years. This slave will be my heir."

See, when God doesn't move on our time, we begin to doubt God's promises. But I love the kindness of God. He says this:

"This one will not be your heir. Instead, the one who comes from you, your own body will be your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look at the sky and count the stars if you are able to count them. Then he said to him, 'Your offspring will be that numerous.'" — Genesis 15

It's amazing how nature can enhance one's belief in God. I can imagine Abraham walking outside, looking about the sky and seeing the beauty of creation. I remember you did that post a couple weeks ago. Psalm 19 says this:

"The heavens declare the glory of God and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour out speech. Night after night, they communicate knowledge." — Psalm 19

There is no speech, there is no words, their voice is not heard, their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. It's like God took him outside and showed him his work. Abraham, let me show you something. Let me show you some of my work. And I can see Abraham looking over in awe at creation screaming creator. It was at that moment that he believed in God.

Abraham believed the Lord and he credited to him as righteousness. — Genesis 15:6

Now this might be a shock to some of you, maybe not, but I'm a nature person. I'll pass on the camping. Thank you all who had invited me camping at one point, but I will pass. I will settle for my nature walks and my nature shows. But don't get me wrong. I love the evolution of technology. But there's something about nature that draws you close to God—the creativity, the beauty, the controlled chaos, the way animals live and survive, the way the earth is just far enough that the sun doesn't burn it and the moon is positioned in a way that affects our tides. I mean, if you just walk outside, it realigns your perspective about God.

And I want to challenge you: if you are struggling with your belief in God, hardships in God, whatever it may be, enjoy nature, go outside. Because if God could control the complex earth, the complex universe with complex planets and stars, he could control our complex lives and meet us there.

Then Abraham says in regards to the land, "Lord God, how can I know that I will possess it?" He said to him, bring me a three year old cow, a three year old female goat, a three year old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. Then God tells Abraham to cut the animals in half and essentially what he does, he creates a pathway that is separated by these animals. God is preparing what is called a blood covenant.

The Blood Covenant

This practice is not unique to Abraham and God. In fact, this is practiced throughout the cultures around that time. And what it communicates to both parties is: if I break any parts of this covenant, let me be as examples. Like I said, this is not unique, but what is unique is that God is the only one that passes through this covenant.

One commentator says this: the covenant was sealed by God alone. Nothing dependent on Abraham. Everything dependent on God who promised to be faithful to his covenant.

When God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself. — Hebrews 6:13

This is why I push back with people when they say they have a problem with the God of the Old Testament. He's violent. He's evil. He can't make up his mind. This is why understanding the covenants is crucial. See, once you understand that a just God who has no obligation to save us—in fact, we are enemies—he engages with his enemies, us. He promises to bless his enemies, us, and redeems his enemies, us. Is there any other god in any other religion that even comes close to our God?

God knows that Abraham will not be able to uphold his part of the covenant. So God passes through by himself. It's almost like God knows our hearts. It's almost like God knows that we are prone to wander. God engages. But after God engages, we see that God makes a promise.

In chapter 16, which we didn't read, Abraham and Sarah have this great idea to help God. And I say Abraham and Sarah because it takes two to tango, right? They both had to come in agreement and say this is the way. And what they do is they say, maybe God got a little off. He doesn't really understand that we're a little past our childbearing age. So I got a great idea. Let's go through a maid servant. Because he did say through your loins, not mine, but he still say through yours. So I got a great idea. Let's have relations with our maid servant Hagar. And then thirteen years later, Ishmael is born.

Now we enter chapter 17 and Abraham is 99 years old and Sarah is in her early nineties. And it's in this chapter that we get more detailed information about the promises. But here's the interesting thing: before he does that, he engaged Abraham with something he didn't say before. He says, I am God Almighty. El Shaddai. It's as if God is preparing Abraham for what he's about to say. Abraham, I'm about to tell you something crazy. But before I tell you this, I want you to know that I am El Shaddai. I am the God of all power.

But before God makes his promise, he changes their identity. He says, your name will no longer be Abram, the father is exalted. Your name will be Abraham, the father of the multitude, for I will make you the father of many nations. And what's lost between their culture and ours is the meaning of names.

Most of us don't name our kids based on what the name means, which was common practice during this time. Usually, we give our kids names with sentimental value to us—either a loved one, or perhaps a junior, or somebody that you book you read like my mom did. But either way, some type of sentimental value. But in those days, when change happens in a culture, you are essentially changing their identity, similar to what we do here. I could change my gender and therefore change my identity.

God changes his name from Abram, which is "the father exalted," but Abraham didn't have no kids, so this name really didn't make sense. He was supporting his own father. But he changes him from Abram to Abraham, which is translated "the father of many nations." And God sees him for who he is, but identifies him as what he will become. Abraham, I see you as the father exalted, but you're gonna become the father of many nations. Identity change.

And I wonder, I wonder, how many of us are still holding on to our old identity? I don't know what identity you're holding on to. Maybe identity of failure, overachiever, addict, gossiper, deceiver, know-it-all. Maybe your identity is in your race, your gender, social class, social status—I don't know. But maybe the reason why you're not developing in your faith is that you're rejecting the new identity which we have in Christ and holding on to what you know.

See, for God to fulfill his promises for us, he has to give us a new identity. The Bible says we are a new creation. He changes our identity to fulfill his promises. And right after this identity change, he gives six promises—six "I will" statements. I will make you the father of many nations. I will make you fruitful. I will make nations and kings come from you. I will confirm my covenant with you and your offspring. I will give you this land that you are residing in, and I will be their God.

God said to Abram, "As for your wife Sarai, don't call her Sarai no more, for her name will be called Sarah." And God changes her identity to continue to fulfill the promise. And then he says this, so there's no misunderstanding about the baby: "I don't want the same mistake you all did in chapter 16." He says, "I will bless her. I will give you a son by her, and she will produce nations. Kings of people will come from her." Don't repeat that mistake.

And here's the interesting thing: God is the one that names Isaac. Not Abram, not Sarah, but God names their first child. And remember, names have meaning in this culture, and the meaning of Isaac means "to laugh" or "rejoice." Some commentators attribute that name because of Abraham—the fact that Abraham laughed when God said that you're gonna have a baby. But I believe, I believe God named him Isaac because God wanted people to remember to rejoice. Because this is evidence, this is physical reminder that this is the child of promise. In fact, this is the child that our child of promise will come from. Isaac is a reminder for us to rejoice because this is when the story begins to narrow. This is what Paul calls the child of promise.

He says in Galatians, when he talks about the two sons of Abraham—one of a slave woman and one of a free:

Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of the promise.

Because of this, God is calling us to rejoice. Why? Because God is a covenant-keeping God. We need to rejoice because we serve a God who keeps his promise. The God who engages is the God that promises, but is also the God that demands obedience.

Circumcision

Circumcision. Tough one. He says this:

This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you. You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant. If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.

Now, most males have this procedure done as a baby, which is a blessing so we don't remember the pain. But I'll tell you this: if I am 99 years old and God is telling me circumcision, I'm asking God, "Is there another way?" I mean, the pain alone could take me out. And plus that, how am I gonna explain this to my 13-year-old son and the rest of my community?

Circumcision. This was a painful procedure. You guys, remember in Dinah, when she had got violated and her brothers went to go kill the whole city? They said, "We wanna be joined with y'all," but the Israelites said, "No, you must become circumcised first." And so they went to go get circumcised, and two men knocked out the whole city after they got circumcised. This is a painful procedure, but God demands obedience.

But the problem for us is that we tend to view obedience through convenience. Meaning, I will be obedient when it's convenient for me, when it fits my schedule.

Maybe when my kids get older or when my work slows down, I'll be obedient. But this story says no. I will be obedient even when it hurts, even if it will cost me something.

Now remember, God told Abraham to leave everything he's ever known, gave him a new identity, gave him promises and asked him for obedience. And in this case, obedience is circumcision. But think of it—none of the promises have already happened yet and God is asking him to do something, demanding him to do something.

So what does circumcision mean? I don't want to examine this lightly. There are hundreds of books talking about this, or there have been church splits because of this—the meaning of circumcision. But one of the benefits of this act of obedience is it opens the door for people to be part of a covenant community. It didn't necessarily mean that you were of the covenant community, but it just gave you access to the benefits.

And throughout Israel's journey, they divided people into two camps: the circumcised and the uncircumcised. So this was a big deal. In the book of Acts, regarding the early church, Acts 15:1 says this:

Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved." — Acts 15:1

And this wasn't some isolated thinking or a new thought. This is baked in their tradition. Circumcision equals salvation. This is why some of the issues that Jesus had with the Pharisees—they believed they were saved because of circumcision.

But if we don't understand the purpose and meaning of circumcision, then we might be missing out on the promises of God. Not only that, but we might be headed in the wrong direction. Because there were a lot of people circumcised but were headed in the wrong direction.

So the question is: Is circumcision needed for salvation?

The Ring Analogy

I try to think of the simplest way to break this down. So I want you all to compare circumcision to my ring. Does my ring have any power? Does it improve my marriage? Do I need it to be married? No. So it has no power.

But I can also have the wrong view of the ring. I could get married just to get a ring. We see this all the time. "Buy me the ring, I'll get married." And if you cheat on me, buy me another ring, a bigger ring. You see this in Hollywood, right? "I can lie, cheat and steal and do whatever I want because it doesn't matter because I got the ring."

Am I able to get a ring without being married? Sure. So you can have a wedding ring without actually getting married. And this was the problem with some of the Israelites. They had the ring. They had the circumcision without being in relationship with God. They believed that the act of circumcision gave them all the benefits of being in a covenant relationship with God without actually being in the relationship. Licentiousness. "I don't need to do anything. I'm good. I can sit back, relax, enjoy the ride. I'm in the club."

But God says—God pushes back on this. Jeremiah 9:25, he says this:

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, where I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh. — Jeremiah 9:25

And Deuteronomy 10:16:

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn. — Deuteronomy 10:16

See, God judged Israel not because of how they lived. God judged Israel because of how they lived after circumcision, after they got circumcised. But how many of us are acting like the Israelites? Just because we are good with salvation, we don't think there's anything for us to do.

What the Ring Means

So what does it mean? The ring. It reminds me. When I put this ring on, it does empower me like a superhero, but it's reminding me—a reminder to me that I am in a covenant with another person. It points back to the covenant promises that were made at the altar.

So when I don't feel like being married, I'm reminded of the vows that we took before God and man. See, this covenant was never just about me. It's about us. I don't cut out on my wife when things get hard. I'm reminded: this is a covenant.

But because we are sinners, we do have biblical grounds to leave. However, because we're in a covenant community, we hold each other accountable.

Israel was to be reminded of what God has promised through circumcision. This ring also governs how I should live. It reminds me that because I am married, there are certain things that I should avoid and also certain things that I should do. Israel was to do justice, serve the poor, the immigrant, the orphan, the widow—but yet they failed.

And also, this ring communicates to others that I am in a relationship with somebody.

Friends, we have a greater circumcision than this. We have a circumcision that hands can never do. Paul says in Colossians 2:10-11:

You have been complete in Christ. — Colossians 2:10-11

In him, you were also circumcised in the putting off of your sinful nature with the circumcision performed by Christ, not by human hands. The first circumcision was done by the power of man, but this circumcision is done by the power of God.

And this circumcision that we have in Christ does a few things. It reminds us that we serve a God who is faithful and keeps his promises. We're reminded that God made a promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us. We are reminded that we are children of the promise and co-heirs of Christ. We are reminded that God prepared a place for us far greater than the land of Abraham. We are reminded that God has promised to be our God forever.

And even though there's no blood in this new circumcision in Christ, we still have pain, hardship, because now we're dealing with the heart. And God has to cut off or prune all the impurities of my heart. My view of justice, my view of work, relationships, marriage, even my view of church.

And what does God command you to do? What is that one thing that God is pushing you to do? Will you be obedient to the Lord?

A Final Challenge

As we close, you all remember the study I mentioned earlier about the kids? I believe we are in the same predicament. Instead of scientists and researchers, we have three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil trying to get us disobedient to the Lord. And here's the thing—they know exactly what to put in front of us. They know what buttons to push, what we long for. Control, some of us. Pride, envy, temptations, substances, whatever it is, they know what we desire.

But the good news is that we serve a God that fulfills his promises. So if God says that we will never thirst again, we gotta believe that and hold on to that. Friends, whatever your candy challenge is, we have a God that engaged us with Jesus, fulfilled his promises in Jesus, and will raise us up like Jesus. We have a God that keeps his promises so we could trust him. Amen?

Prayer

Lord, I wanna thank you for just being who you are, Lord God. Continuing to show up when we think that there is no hope. Lord God, just empowering us to do what you have commanded us. So Lord God, today, this week, Lord God, help us and teach us to hold on to your promises. Hold on to what you have given us, Lord God, and trust and believe that you have never failed us, and that you will not begin now. We love you and we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.