God's New Covenant of Grace - Hebrews 8:6-13

Introduction

God’s covenant with Noah was all about God’s unconditional love for humanity and all creation.

God’s covenant with Abraham was all about God’s desire to grant descendents, land, nationhood and well-being, just seeking his people to walk blamelessly.

God’s covenant with Moses was all about receiving God’s promises and participating in God’s future through adopting the wisdom and boundaries contained in the commandments of Mt Sinai.

Yet, despite all this covenant kindness and seeking of relationship on God’s behalf, there remained one very serious problem … these covenants kept being broken on the human side … people just could not live up to their side of the bargain (even with God’s help) … they got caught up in their sin, and couldn’t keep their focus on God.

Through their consciences they knew they were doing wrong, yet couldn’t seem to break the habit.

We might think at times that violent murderers have no conscience, but these words come from American Gary Gilmour (who was executed in the state of Utah) in a letter to his girlfriend: “It seems that I know evil more intimately than I know goodness … I want to get even, to be made even, whole, my debts paid (whatever it may take), to have no blemish, no reason to feel guilt or fear … I’d like to stand in the sight of God; to know that I’m just and right and clean. When you’re this way, you know it. And when you’re not, you know that too. It’s all inside of us, each of us”.

Sin (which we could define as behaviour contrary to God’s ways that demeans and hurts people) builds up in people feelings of guilt and shame.

Guilt (the knowledge of doing wrong) could be appeased through making sacrifices according to Jewish customs, but shame (the experience of feeling unworthy) could never be appeased so easily.

What would God do about this dilemma?
Today we will see that Jesus fulfils God’s desire to covenant with humanity.

Guilt and Shame

It was not as if this problem had not been detected earlier – Jeremiah, who lived six centuries before Jesus, reflected on this whole covenant abuse situation, and looked forward prophetically to God ultimately solving this. Words from Jeremiah chapter 31 are quoted here in Hebrews to make that point. The covenants with Noah, Abraham and Moses were not complete and needed a further development to unfold. It would be in the fullness of time, just when the conditions were right, that God would act. And in this dramatic intervention, God would open the possibility of us people being delivered not only from guilt, but also from shame.

In the Careforce Life-keys programs, Allan Meyer tells a story that helps us understand the difference between ‘guilt’ and ‘shame’!

The shift from guilt to shame is the movement from ‘doing wrong things’ to ‘feeling a wrong person’. Habitually doing wrong or being desperately addicted to some substance or behaviour can lead to shockingly low self-esteem and feelings of shame.

This is the resulting destination of rejecting God’s covenant. Despite all the loving-kindness and patience within God’s intentions, God is not easily able to stomach rejection; leading to the prophet’s words in verse 9 quoted in our Hebrews text. But to be in this position is exactly what God wanted to avoid. God wanted people not to live in shame, but to see themselves as wonderfully made in the image of God (as we read in Psalm 139). So there would need to be a drastic intervention.

Intervention

The US Government had to come up with a plan involving drastic intervention into their financial crisis. There were all sorts of reservations about this type of intervention, and who knows whether it will really work or not. But God’s drastic intervention into human affairs has certainly been effective, and has changed the lives of so many millions of people. People, like you and I, who would otherwise be caught up in a sense of shame, have been liberated by Jesus’ acts of grace, and filled by the Holy Spirit bringing a whole new experience of life. We are worthy, we are valuable, we belong, we are gifted, and we have purpose. We can stand in God’s presence and worship, because grace has touched our “fallenness” and Jesus has taken our sins away.

How great is God, that when there was no other way forward, he gave up the best of himself onto a cross and shed the blood that would symbolise the new covenant. This was a call for us to identify with this act of mercy and receive its gift. As Jesus said at the last supper, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” … ‘take it and drink it and remember me’. ‘Remember that I have given you everything that you need to experience life in its fullness from here to eternity’. This is why the writer of Hebrews refers to Jesus as the “mediator”, the one who stands in the centre and forms the link between God and humanity … bringing together God's loving intentions and people’s trusting grace-driven response.

Of course, we still have responsibility for our attitudes and behaviour, and once we do something that we shouldn’t have … the consequences are still out there for others and ourselves to bear. This reminds us to watch ourselves and also allow God’s Spirit to transform us. We look to Jesus and seek to discover the better way, and how that hits the road in everyday life.

The writer of this letter to the Hebrews was bold enough to say that the way earlier covenants were focussed is now obsolete (v.13). The coming of Jesus supersedes the ‘old covenant’, much like the entire ‘new testament’ interprets the ‘old testament’ for our age. Although the successive covenants of the ‘old testament’ teach us about the nature of God, the old covenant could not bring ultimate forgiveness and a changed state of being. Mere ritual doesn’t bring transformation, only a relationship with Jesus does! Abiding in Jesus, walking with Jesus, following Jesus is all that counts, and the only thing that will bring life.

Features of the New Covenant

Those boundaries we are looking for are now supremely described in the gospels, especially made clear in Matthew chapters 5 to 7. This is where the intention of God’s covenant can really be understood. And how can all the commandments be summed up? Love God, love your neighbour, love yourself – that’s the new package!

“God’s laws will not merely be written on tablets of stone: they will be impressed upon the workings of the mind, and they will be engraved in the heart, the centre of the human personality” (H W Montefiore, “The Epistle to the Hebrews”, 141).

So the covenant mediated by Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s covenant to humanity, for this covenant is about hearts and minds being changed into alignment with God’s heart and mind. History proved that the ‘old covenant’ had only worked on the external and led to a whole lot of ‘appearance management’ rather than inner change.

So, how can shame be lifted off us? If this shame is lifted off us, we will offend God less, hurt others less, and be much more free and peace-keeping in our living. Our burdens will be lifted and we will shine the light of Jesus wherever we go. So this would be a worthy investigation for us … how is it that this feeling of being unworthy or entirely a wrong person can be lifted off us.

It is by believing what we read in verse 12 (first said by Jeremiah, and then quoted here and tied to Jesus). God says, “I will remember their sins no more”. The failure and defeat of the past is wiped away (like rubbing all the writing off the chalkboard, or painting all over the graffiti with a fresh coat of paint). Future possibilities are no longer compromised or curtailed by the past – there is a fresh canvas on which to begin a whole new painting. We can be re-created into the image of God.

Karl Menninger, the psychiatrist, said that if he could have convinced the patients in his psychiatric hospital that their sins were forgiven, 75% of them could have walked out the next day. Such is the power of forgiveness truly received!

“Something beautiful, something good, all my confusion God understood. All I had to offer God was brokenness and strife, but God made something beautiful of my life.”

The crescendo of this passage is where the writer to the Hebrews concluded his quotation from Jeremiah here in verse 12. But this is not about pretence or ‘appearance management’ or simply behaviour; this is about inward change.

We should also not neglect that God’s desire to eternally covenant with us through Jesus, has a horizontal dimension … that this is something we participate in together as God’s people, bringing mutual responsibility and accountability to each other, along with so many opportunities of encouragement and practical support. Then there is the missional perspective, the call to draw others into experiencing this ‘new covenant’.

Will you release your life to Jesus, receive all the mercy he offers you from the cross, and follow him into a great life? Put your hand up for Jesus; thank him, engage with him, learn about him, live like him, be part of the Jesus movement.

God's Covenant with Moses - Being a "Treasured Possession" (Exodus 19:1-9)

(1) Introduction / Revision

I came to this passage with a measure of excitement. I can actually be God’s “treasured possession”. Whether or not we feel treasured by other people, we can be considered by God as a “treasured possession”. I say “can be considered” rather than ‘are’ considered (which we might prefer) on the basis of this text, because there seems to be clear qualifications to this. But of course where there are qualifications, we are not left to qualify in our own strength, God himself is able to get us across the line … if we are willing!

We have previously looked at the covenants made by God with Noah and with Abraham. With Noah, God expressed His unconditional love for humankind – in saying that never again would God destroy the earth. With Abraham, God showed that if people would just respond to His call, then God would bless them with descendents, land, nationhood and well-being. Now, in interacting with Moses, God will establish more of what it means to live in relationship … relationship with God and relationship with fellow human beings.

So successive covenant statements made by God, first offered the people a future, then great hope within that future, and then an opportunity to participate in bringing about God’s future through trusting in Him! First comes God’s creative and graceful actions, then the taking up of our assigned responsibilities naturally follows. Ultimately God’s covenant with humanity, and everything God was seeking to achieve, would be fulfilled through the coming of Jesus and our response to him.

(2) Question

The covenant God was offering through Moses brought with it some very direct initiatives (referred to as the ‘ten commandments’). What would be some of the primary reasons why God would give us commandments to follow???

· to keep us on track
· so we know our responsibilities to others
· to be a ‘spoil-sport’ or a controlling ogre ?!?; or
· to help us reach our potential and be described as ‘treasured possessions’.

(3) Background

God had called Moses to be the leader of the people of Israel in bringing Abraham’s descendants out of slavery in Egypt. God’s direction in the people’s escape from Egypt proved everything that God had committed to in the earlier covenants with Noah and Abraham.

But the human side of these covenant relationships always seemed to be lacking. Moses, under God’s leading, had acted with great integrity, yet when any little thing went wrong on their journey toward the ‘promised land’, the Hebrew people would moan and groan, and blame Moses and doubt God, be rebellious and disloyal, and even ridiculously wish that they had stayed in Egypt. This, despite being miraculously provided with water and food when it was most needed.

No wonder they needed more divine guidance and some sort of framework for living. We know in the post-Jesus era a lot more about the sort of living God requires, but back then God would have to deliver some basic commandments that in a real sense protected people from the worst side of themselves.

The pastor came over to visit the home of members of the congregation. Wanting to make a good impression, the lady of the house asked her little daughter to run away and get that ‘good book’ that the family loved so much and gained so much inspiration from. Imagine how the mother felt when the daughter returned with a Myer catalogue in her hands.

(4) Commandments

God had shown complete loyalty to His creation and His promises. Now it was time for the people to step up! Yet we know that God was always more on about the forming of relationship with Him, than imposing a whole lot of rigorous rules. So any biblical commandments that we encounter, whether the ‘ten’ in the old testament, or the ‘greatest’ commandments in the new testament, we know that these were to serve a greater purpose than just abiding by rules for their own sake.

Having said this, we also know that the commandments that most of us have read and heard many times are very sensible and life-giving. Like the ancient people of Israel, we have to learn the simple truth that God always knows best. Life will work out a whole lot better if we rely on God rather than our limited selves, and take God’s advice on things like taking Sabbath rest. God’s covenant desires and resultant commandments are all about the sort of lifestyle and ethics that we should embrace, that in turn influence our openness to God’s presence and leading in our lives.

Such commandments are the proving ground of our faith; abiding in God’s ways allows us to experience God in personal ways. Even the covenants of the ‘old testament’ speak of grace leading to salvation, but increasingly also speak of the obligations of being recipients of God’s unconditional favour. We read in Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 9: “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations”; yet we also read of the very natural implications of not choosing to love God through following His ways … it will not go so well for them (and we have seen how this is true)! Yet ultimately God is not defeated, and God’s plans go forward and His purposes are fulfilled … through perennial patience and amazing grace.

(5) Text of Exodus 19

In verse 4 of chapter 19, we have the beautiful picture of the Hebrew people being carried on eagle’s wings out of Egypt into the heart of God. Here would be yet another opportunity for the people to wholly appreciate God. Without the weight of slavery and torture bearing down on them, they would have the opportunity to experience God’s provision and guidance afresh and embrace God’s attitudes and way of being. Could these people truly be God’s “treasured possession” through a two-way intimate relationship? Wouldn’t you want to be regarded as God’s “treasured possession”??

To be regarded as a “treasured possession” is to be ‘valued property’. For God to regard us as such is like the diamond miner who picks up what just seems to be a rough and dull stone but shouts with delight because he knows the value of what is within. So, what’s our part in this, in dispensing with the rough and the dull exterior to reveal the gem inside? What does it seem that we have to do (v.5) to be regarded as God’s “treasured possession”??? Praise God … it’s not rocket science!

How does being a “treasured possession” play out in life? During these ancient times, God was seeking the Hebrew people to collectively be God’s “treasured possession” amongst all the nations of the earth. Bringing this up to date would mean all those who have accepted God’s grace, become Jesus followers, and identified with God’s Kingdom by being involved in the church of Jesus. This ‘plays out’ through such people like you and I declaring (in their very lives) the praises of God, in such a way that all the people around will know (by our conduct and our words) that we belong to God, that we have indeed moved from darkness to light. We are “holy” through continually receiving the forgiving, cleansing and transforming nature of God; we are “priestly” as we serve the spiritual needs of others as representatives of God. We are ‘set apart’ by God for special purposes; not separated from those around us, but with a defined mission in the midst of community.

When Moses explained all this to the elders amongst the people (v.8), there was a good response: “Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do”. We know that the people of Israel, and then the people of the Christian church, have failed so often to live the way they should, even when they started out with words like this; but they remain good words for us to say, to mean, and to seek to live up to.

(6) Major Themes of the Ten Commandments

What can we see in the famous ‘ten commandments’ (listed in Exodus 20:3-17) that would lead to being regarded as one of God’s “treasured possessions” [or maybe, ‘good and faithful servants’]?

The first three deal primarily with our relationship with God. With having no other god, not making any idols for ourselves, and not making any wrongful use of God’s name – we are placing God in the right place in our lives … right in the centre. God does not want us to be distracted by either:
· an undue trust in anything that is not God, especially things that are only material and not of ultimate value; but this would also include putting other people or belief systems on pedestals from which they can only fall and let us completely down; nor
· devaluing God by taking our relationship with God anything other than completely seriously.

The fourth commandment sets sensible parameters around our own life (“remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy”). If we keep firmly in mind that we are not meant to be robots bent on 24/7 activity, rather that we are flesh, blood and spiritual beings that need nourishment and rest if we are going to grow and flourish, then we will experience much greater well-being. We will not ask others to work beyond their capacity, nor will we demand this of ourselves. If we understand that our ‘spirits’ first and foremost need to be attended to through being involved in worship, prayer and scripture study; and that being social beings we need to also be involved in Christian community and the mission of the Church – then we will notice that our lives experience purpose, hope and a sense of peace.

Commandments five to ten refer to the basic responsibilities of community life, from which most of our criminal and civil law have come from. Being connected to God, and understanding the sacredness of life and the everyday needs of other people, of course we will –
· not neglect to look after our parents, those who have come before us and usually deserve respect and care.
· not take away any one else’s life (because of our own anger, self-centredness, or desire for power and control).
· not compromise anyone else’s or our own sexual boundaries, in our thinking as well as in our behaviour. The only way to completely embrace this and guard this … is to affirm that all sexual intimacy belongs in the context of committed marriage relationships only.
· not take what does not belong to us.
· not even be jealous about what another person has (that we haven’t), lest this negatively influences us in our thinking, and then subtly changes our behaviour.
· not tell untruths / lies about others.

Following this would be a reasonable test of how serious we are about being God’s person, and a very fine start to being regarded as a “treasured possession”.

(7) Conclusion

Will you receive God’s covenant promises, as being promises being made directly to you? Will you affirm the importance of all the ethical and life-giving covenantal commandments and take them on board as priorities in your life? Can you say that you are God’s “treasured possession” as the days of your life unfold? Will you open up to God and allow Jesus to transform you into the person you were created to be?

This will take humility; this will take courage; this will take a hunger and a thirst for change! This will take a preparedness for risk-taking and for trust!

Later in Exodus (34:10) we read God's words of encouragement to Moses and the Hebrew people: “I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform marvels, such as have not been performed in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the Lord; for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you”.