The Rev. Herbert G. Hand
Faith Anglican Church
Cordova, Tennessee
March 4, 2007
Series: Growing in Holiness
Title: The Unequal Partner in God’s Covenant
Text: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
I. The Marriage Covenant
Finding All Saints’ Church
In December of 1982, I met Mary LaRoche for the first time in Cayce, South Carolina.
The previous Sunday, I had visited All Saints’ Church. It was everything the Lord had been leading me to find:
A clear biblical focus.
A connection to the ancient church.
Weekly Holy Communion.
The presence of the Holy Spirit.
I was wondering if it was too good to be true. So that Wednesday night, I attended the mid-week Bible study, to see if this church was everything it seemed to be.
To my relief and delight, the church was even better than I could have hoped for.
Finding Mary
That night I was sitting near the back: listening, analyzing, trying not to draw attention to myself.
Near the front sat Gan Hervieux:
She was born in England in 1895.
She had glasses as thick as the bottom of a glass coke bottle.
She was short and bent over.
She was dirt poor.
She couldn’t drive.
She was weakness personified.
But I would soon find out was that Gan was a mighty prayer warrior. She was fully committed to the Lord Jesus Christ.
As the study was drawing to an end, she looked back at me through those thick glasses of hers and whispered to Mary and Judy,
"Why don’t you be a brazen hussy and go back to that boy."
Judy and Mary came back and sheepishly introduced themselves to me.
The Mutual Marriage Covenant
I was in no way looking for a wife, yet, six months latter, Mary and were exchanging our marriage vows in that church.
In the marriage service, we entered into what the Prayer Book calls, "The bond and covenant of marriage":
We became legally married in the eyes of the state – we got a marriage licence.
We exchanged mutual vows before God.
Our priest, Fr. George Salley, asked me:
Herb, will you have this woman to be your wife; to live
together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her,
comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health;
and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you
both shall live?
He asked her the same question.
We both answered, "I will."
After the message from God’s Word, I declared:
In the Name of God, I, Herb, take you, Mary, to be my wife, to
have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse,
for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to
cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.
She made the same vow.
Then I said,
Mary, I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all
that I am, and all that I have, I honor you, in the Name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
She said the same.
We both made vows. We both participated in the marriage ceremony.
Our vows were mutual. We entered into a 100% 100% equal covenant. We are equal partners in our marriage covenant.
All I had became hers. All she had became mine.
Liz and David’s Mutual Marriage Covenant
This summer, I’ll have the joyful privilege of walking my daughter down the aisle, just before she and David enter into their marriage covenant.
They too will make identical vows.
They too will both participate in the marriage ceremony.
They too will become equal partners in their marriage covenant.
All he has will become hers. All she has will become his.
II. Abram and God: Unequal Covenant Partners
In our reading from Genesis chapter 15, we find two very unequal covenant partners: Abram and God.
God alone makes the vows.
God alone participates in the covenant ceremony.
Abram becomes a covenant partner:
Not by his vows.
Not by his works.
Not by participation in the ceremony.
He becomes a covenant partner by faith, and by faith alone.
Covenant Ceremonies
In ancient times, when two men entered into a covenant. They would:
Exchange gifts
Share a covenant meal, including wine and bread. Each would drip their blood into the common cup.
They would declare their loyalty to each other.
Offer a sacrifice with the shedding of blood. The sacrificed animal would be cut into two pieces, allowing the blood to flow on the ground. The two covenant partners would walk through the pieces in a figure-eight, allowing their feet to mingle and be covered by the blood.
If anyone dared attack a covenant partner, the full military might of the other would come down upon the attacker. He would come to his covenant partner’s rescue.
All his material possessions became available to the other, and visa versa.
God’s Covenant with Abram
In our reading from Genesis chapter 15...
1. God alone makes the vows. He makes two vows to Abram.
First, God vows that Abram will have a son, and that his descendants will be a numerous as the stars of the sky.
Back in chapter 13 God said,
"I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted."
Genesis 13:16 (NIV)
In chapter 22 God said,
"I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore..."
Genesis 22:17 (NIV)
But because Abram was 100 years old and because his wife, Sarai, was 90 years old, he assumed to receive God’s promises, he would have to adopt one of his servants – "Eliezer of Damascus" – to become his son.
God said, no.
"This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir."
Genesis 15:4 (NIV)
God’s covenant promise shows the supernatural power of this superior covenant partner.
The second vow God made to Abram and his descendants, was the land of Canaan, what we today call Israel.
2. Not only does God alone make vows for Abram and his descendants, but God alone participates in the covenant ceremony.
In verse eight,
8
...Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"Genesis 15:8 (NIV)
Back then, the covenant ceremony was like signing a binding contract today. It was the covenant guarantee.
9
So the LORD said to him,"Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."
Genesis 15:9 (NIV)
God didn’t have to tell Abram what to do, he knew these sacrificial animal were for the covenant ceremony – the guarantee of God’s promises.
10
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other...
Genesis 15:10 (NIV)
Abram was all ready to become an equal covenant partner with God. He was ready to walk through the pieces in a figure-eight with the Lord God.
Verses 12 and 17. But,
12
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
Genesis 15:12 (NIV)
17
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram...
Genesis 15:17-18a (NIV)
God allowed Abram to observe the covenant ceremony, but not to participate in it.
God alone made the vows. God alone participated in the ceremony. So how did Abram become a covenant partner with God?
Verse six:
6
Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.Genesis 15:6 (NIV)
Twenty-two-hundred years later, in Romans chapter four, St. Paul said,
2
If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."Romans 4:2-3 (NIV)
Abraham became a covenant partner with God by faith, by putting his trust in the Lord.
III. You and God: Unequal Covenant Partners
God’s covenant with Abram, foreshadowed the New Covenant.
Jesus alone makes vows. Jesus alone participates in the covenant ceremony.
You and I become covenant partners by faith alone.
The New Covenant Vows
John chapter 14 summarizes the covenant vows Jesus made.
He said,
2
In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."
5
Thomas said to him,"Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6
Jesus answered,"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:2-6 (NIV)
The New Covenant Ceremony
Jesus alone participated in the New Covenant Ceremony.
He alone offered himself as the covenant sacrifice on the cross.
At the Last Supper, Jesus foretold his covenant sacrifice. He:
27
...took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 26:27-28 (NIV)
Jesus-crucified is the guarantee of His covenant vows. As Hebrews 7:22 says,
"...Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant."
Hebrews 7:22 (NRSV)
All we had – sin, rebellion, disease – became His on the cross.
Galatians 3:13 says:
13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
Galatians 3:13 (NIV)
Second Corinthians 5:21 tells us:
21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
All He had – life, holiness, righteousness – became ours through the Christ-crucified.
Like Abram, we were not allowed to participate in the covenant ceremony. He did not allow us to die on the a cross as we deserve.
But now he does allow us to participate in the covenant meal: A meal of bread and wine, wine mingled with the blood of Jesus
According to First Corinthians chapter 11, at the Last Super Jesus spoke to you and me. He said,
24
..."This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
He said,
25
..."This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.1 Corinthians 11:24-26 (NIV)
You proclaim the guarantee of the covenant until he comes.
You become a covenant partner with God Almighty:
Not by vows.
Not by works.
Not by participation in the ceremony.
You become a covenant partner by faith, by putting your whole trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you are a covenant partner with God, all His might and all His resources are available to you.
If anyone dares attack you – a covenant partner with God – the full military might of God, will eventually come down hard upon your attacker. He will come to His covenant partner’s rescue.
That’s why when Saul was persecuting the church, Jesus took it very very personally. He said,
"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
Acts 9:4 (NIV)
Saul, you are persecuting my covenant partners. You are attacking me.
All His material possessions became available to you as well. He owns it all. In Psalm 50 reminds us:
10
for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.Psalm 50:10 (NIV)
IV. Conclusion
God alone made vows and participated in the covenant ceremony with Abraham.
Jesus alone made vows and participated in the covenant ceremony upon the cross.
Just as Abraham became a covenant partner with God:
Not by his vows.
Not by his works.
Not by participation in the ceremony.
But by faith alone, we too become covenant partners with God by faith alone, by putting our full trust in Jesus.