Title: The Covenant of Rebirth
Synopsis: This is a covenant specific to Abram & Sarai and their
descendants. It is a promise of new birth – both in the renaming of
Abram & Sarai but also of the promise of the future birth of a son.
In this covenant, God is birthing a new people, a people who purpose
is to know him. Jesus came to reconstitute a new Israel, a new
people by renaming, rebirthing them.
Whenever I read this passage all I can think about is a fellow
classmate in seminary who was about to get married in a few weeks
and happened to mention in class one day that he didn't understand
what all the hoopla was about this marriage covenant thing. He
couldn't see the difference between a wedding covenant and a
contract. He then went on to state his rather convincing argument
that marriage was nothing more than two parties entering into a
contract.
Well, we were kind of speechless. I felt rather devastated having
only recently been married myself; surely our relationship was more
than a mere contract! But I must say that I have him to thank for
forcing me to be able to think through and understand what a
covenant truly is. In its most simplistic terms, the difference
between a contract and a covenant is that a covenant includes God.
Perhaps if more marriages were viewed as covenants rather than
contracts maybe more would stay intact?
God has made a covenant with us; not just a mere contract. God has
promised us his blessing on all of us through Israel. And the good
news is that God will take us as we are!
Just a start!
Southern Belle
Greetings, this is my first contribution on this site. I have been
reading many of your wonderful contributions and have been helped by
them. This is a very good site by fine pastors of integrity.
I'm just beginning my thoughts on this passage (for Sunday). Instead
of trying to exegite this, I like to post a couple of thoughts that
seem to go with this. First, we read of a beginning of a
relationship with God which was brought by God to Abram and Sarai.
God always comes to us seeking a relationship. Secondly, Lent is a
time for our pondering our lives and how they affect our
relationship with God. I'll wonder if we are much different from
Abram and Sarai...if we are as "approachable" to God as they
are....and if we trust in God as much as they did. So much for now
and I wait eagerly for other thoughts and ponderings on this text.
Peace and Joy, Francis (in Mich.)
Southern Belle:
Thanks for your thoughts about Covenant. I heard a good description
of Covenant from a RC priest, Ray Carey, from Portland, OR (I
think): Contract means the two parties sign on to the minimum. I
have to do such and such and you have to do so and so, and if one of
us breaks the contract, there can be a lawsuit. All we sign up for
is the minimum - not to care for each other, not to go beyond what's
on paper. You can sign a contract with someone you hate, and still
fulfill the provisions of it. Covenant, on the other hand, requires
not the minimum, but the maximum. I "sign on" to whatever it takes,
always looking for another, greater opportunity to further this
"endeavor" to which you and I have both sign our names. You cannot
be in covenant with someone without love. Although his description
didn't specifically say what you did (that God is part of any
covenant), it's in there. Doing the maximum, going the extra mile,
is impossible w/o God's grace. The whole idea of doing whatever it
takes, or actually more than is "required," can only be rooted in
relationship with God, who did just that in creating and redeeming
us. (See good old John 3:16.)
Cool, huh? Metz in Indiana
I'm looking at the name-changing issue, and I'm also preaching on
the gospel text. Seems to me that the name-changing signifies the
covenant with God, God changing the identity (not the word I want to
use) of Abram and Sarai, just as their lives are being changed.
Christ gives us a new identity when we enter into covenant with him.
In this case, we take on the new name of Christian or maybe
cross-bearer.
You can help me with information about the significance of new names
in OT times, NT times, and modern times.
Also, I'm looking for the words/music to a gospel song called "I
asked Jesus if he would change my name."
Pam in San Bernardino
Dear Metz in Indiana yes, way cool. There is no doubt that this is
the nature of our covenant with God. My question is, is this the
nature of the difference between covenant and contract or
differences between different kind of covenants?
I have read that the Covenants in the Bible reflect a particular
kind of covenant current in the ancient near east that was
established by a powerful king with a much less powerful king. Love
may or maynot have had anything to do with it.
Also, there are covenants associated with land sale that have often
been used to exclude people on the basis of race, ethnicity,
religion and economic class. I say all this because I really like
your distinction. and I want to use it.
Thanks for helping me think early in the week!
Lewis
Metz in Indiana:
Thanks so much for your additional comments regarding
contracts/covenants. Even though that definition doesn't implicitly
mention God, it really helps add some cement to my thought process!
I've been wondering this week how I was going to preach
contracts/covenants with a lawyer sitting in my congregation!
Southern Belle
P.S. Hopefully this will only get sent once this time!
It's been ages since I've contributed, but here's my take on this
text as of Tuesday night... Isn't it assuring that God spoke these
words of covenant even after Abram and Sarai tried to force God's
hand earlier by having a child with Hagar? When God started talking
about descendants Abram probably wanted to run get Ishmael so he
could finally pass on the responsibility of covenant-bearing to the
younger generation. Abram would have no clue that the child of
promise would be someone other than Ishmael. When God said he would
give Abram a son by Sarai, Abram's first reaction might have been to
help God see things his way (an all too common human reaction). As I
get ready to preach this text I think of all the folks who have ever
told me they were too old, too young, too new to the church, etc...
to follow God's call of discipleship in some specific area of the
church. Maybe all this will cometogether for me (and y'all) by
Sunday
Peace, David in NC
Just to go along with Davids offering - isn't this similar to what
Peter faces in the gospel lection? He wants, in fact recognizes
Jesus as Messiah, but he wants the Jesus he can understand and
manipulate in some way. Yes to Messiah, no to suffering thanks all
the same.
We serve a great big God who is very different than all of our
categories.
Thanks for all who add to this rambling discussion.
NY Sheepdog
For Francis in Mich. and David in NC - Read on in Chapter 17.
Abraham did not respond in faith to this promise of covenant. Verse
17 he fell on his face and laughed... "Can a child be born to a man
who is a hundred years old?" Verse 18 "O that Ishmael might live in
your sight." Abraham laughs. Sarah laughs (next chapter), but God
has the last laugh - Isaac! God constantly reorders our expectations
- see Peter in the Gospel text - and leads on new totally unexpected
paths. Jeff in NY
Another point in that direction, re: covenant. The verses that are
not part of the lection say that Abraham's "part" of the covenant
was to walk with God and be circumsized. God's "part" was to walk
with Abraham wherever he went, to give him a family (without which
people in that day had no identity), to give them a land (a "safe"
place to be), to stay with Abraham's offspring forever...
This echo's Lewis' comment above re: covenants being between a power
and a non-power (might we even go so far as to say a non-entity?).
God's covenant with Abraham was not really a two-way street. God's
baptismal covenant with us isn't either. We do very little, and our
part is always in the nature of a response. God does most (if not
all!), and always has the first say, as well as the final say.
Thanks. Keep it up!
Rick in Canada, eh?
March 16, 2000 Why did God inter into a new covenant relationship
with Abraham and change his name? I believe that he saw into the man
and found in him a faith worthy of a promise. Not a carnal faith,
for indeed Abram laughed and doubted as did Sarah. No, God saw much
deeper. He saw a man that would be willing to sacrifice his son to
please God. He saw a man who had already left his family and home to
please God. He did not see a perfect man. Rather, he saw the
potential of the man. He saw a new creature with a new name. A born
again man before it was possible to be born again. Isn't that what
is so very awesome about God. His wisdom, His planning, His
foresight, His perfection. I find it amazing that God still attempts
to relate to our wicked and perverse generation. A generation that
attempts to justify killing the unborn with the rationale that women
must have a choice. A generation that finds every excuse to doubt
God's word and its power to redeem and deliver men and women from
sin. A generation that is so sexually liberated that shrinks are no
longer calling child molesters deviants. A generation that lambastes
Christ's standard of perfection and champions sexual perversion. And
God still loves enough to shower his mercy and grace upon us and woo
us to Himself. Which of us would be so gracious to those who mock us
and ridicule us, who twist our clear words so that they make them
say the opposite of that which was spoken? God's fulfilling of his
promise to Abraham even after he went in to Hannah is one small
sample of the magnificent love He has for humankind. But, our day is
coming. Christ will return and call unto Himself all who are true
believers. O that God would see in me the faith found in Abraham.
Dale in KS
Walking habitually before God nicely illustrates the difference
between a minimal-action contract and a covenant of full commitment.
We are called to make walking before God (obedience, faithfulness,
mercy, justice) a habit. Something we do all the time, without
having to come to a new decision at each crossroad. From God's tone,
it's clear that the promise of a son isn't given without the
expectation of responsibility on Abraham's part to live the covenant
in his daily life. Ken in WV
Ran in DFW asks a few good questions re: "Walking Blameless before
God". FWIW, here are a few of my thoughts.
"Does this mean no more sins?"
No. I think it's more along the lines of living with no more
excuses.
"How can you walk before God and be in relationship with God?
Shouldn't we walk next to God?"
Maybe a better way to put this would be, "living in the sight of
God." God is not off in a far heaven / Olympia / Halls of Valhala,
where he is doing his God-thing, and only takes time to pay
attention to us when we pray. God is ALWAYS looking at us, watching
us, indeed, looking out FOR us, watching OVER us, taking care of us.
Living in response to this promise changes how we approach our daily
life. We don't try to do good things in order to get God's
attention; we do things the way we do because we have received the
promise of Abraham - we will never be outside the active, loving
consideration of the God who loves us in the here and now.
"Who besides Jesus has ever really pulled this off?"
If we see this kind of living as something we are going to give to
God in order to make God happy, then I think we are in trouble,
because, as you say, we can't "pull this off."
However, if we have truly been given the promise, as Abraham was, we
realize the futility of even trying to live that sort of life. We
are set free to begin looking for another kind of life, one which
responds to the promise already made, to the salvation already
begun. Note the wording in v. 5: "for I have *made* you the ancestor
of a multitude of nations."
When God gives a promise, it's already made, it's already on the way
to being fulfilled, for those with eyes to see....
That's MY take on the matter, anyway! Hope this is helpful.
Rick in Canada, eh?
Hey Rick in Canada, Thanks for the input ya'll. I have got to start
turning on this Bat Channel sooner. After reading your response, I
think that the only way we can mess up the covenant is by second
guessing it. Yet, even when Abram and Sarai panicked and tried to
get this thing worked out for God, God still made it happen. The
best answer the A&S could come up with was Ishmael. Was that even an
answer?
This is an "allow yourself to depend on God no matter what" type of
scripture. The language "walking before God" is only because we as
humans can't imagine seeing in any other way except with eyes. I
REALLY LIKE THIS WALKING IN THE SIGHT OF GOD INTERP. It now makes a
little sense. I just needed that one brick to come loose so I could
bring this wall down.
Enjoy the Preachin' eh?
Ran in DFW
PS Go Stars!
