Number six in a series of ten

"A New Way Envisioned"

by Pastor David Layman

July 29, 2007

Jeremiah 31:27-34, Matthew 26:26-28

The movie "Breaking Away", filmed in Bloomington, has a scene where a used car dealer has sold a lemon to a college student. Shortly thereafter, the college student with several of his friends come pushing the broken-down car back in. The student demands his money back. The dealer refuses. The student says "But you told me this car has a 90 day unconditional guarantee!" And the used car dealer says "Show me where I put that in writing!"

God made a covenant through Moses with the children of Israel. God was evidently wise to the ways of used car dealers, for God cut the words of the 10 commandments into stone. No tricks, no disappearing ink--this covenant was meant to last. Better than just making promises, God had already fulfilled His promise by delivering the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. All the Hebrews had to do in response was to keep the 10 commandments, to sustain the relationship.

What kind of a relationship was it? It was a relationship of fatherly guidance, and husbandly love. It was a relationship from the center of God's heart! The prophet Jeremiah quotes God as saying He took the Hebrews "by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt." The prophet Hosea invoked this same kindly parental love when he quoted God in Hosea 11:1-4:

"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

The more I called them, the more they went from me;

they kept sacrificing to the Baals,

and offering incense to idols.

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,

I took them up to my arms;

but they did not know that I healed them.

I led them with cords of human kindness,

with bands of love.

I was to them like those

who lift infants to their cheeks,

I bent down to them and fed them."

What do we say when we lead a small child across the street? "Take my hand". We get a special feeling with a small child's hand in ours as we walk them somewhere. God shares this special feeling of fatherly affection and guidance. The covenant relationship between God and us is similar to a parent's love for his or her child.

Jeremiah also quotes God as saying He's like a husband to rebellious Israel. God loves us intimately and personally--not as a distant king, but as a loving husband. Marriage is a covenant, likened to God's close relationship with Israel. But Israel proved to be an unfaithful spouse, as the prophet Hosea personified in his relationship with his adulterous wife, Gomer. The covenant cut on stone meant a lot to God, but very little to Israel. The stone tablets of the 10 Commandments were symbols of the covenant, just as rings are signs of our promise in marriage. Yet the people of Israel broke their covenant promises to God, and broke the tablets of stone. If we have experienced the heartache of a broken relationship when someone has been unfaithful to us, we will know a bit of the heartache and pain the prophets spoke of, that God experienced!

There is much judgment spoken of within the prophets. If judgment were the final word, we would be bereft of hope. But the prophets declare that as terrible as the nation's sin had been, God is preparing to do something new! Ezekiel 36:26 quotes God as saying "A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you..." Isaiah quoted God saying "From this time forward I make you hear new things..." And Jeremiah intones

"The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." The Lord concluded "I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more."

In preparation for the Old Covenant, God freed the Hebrew children from slavery in Egypt. Jeremiah looked ahead to Jesus, and foresaw God's promise of the greatest exodus of all: freeing humankind from the captivity of their sins and guilt. I Corinthians 11:25 quoted Jesus saying at the last supper "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." In Matthew 26, Jesus at the last supper refers to his blood of the (new) covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (26:28).

One of the most heated issues facing church and society today is the issue of homosexuality. Our society seems to be fractured between two factions, symbolized by a protest that took place in Lynchburg, Virginia, Oct. 23 of 1999. The late Jerry Falwell had agreed to meet with a group of gay activists who had charged him with inciting violence against gays. A group of protesters held up placards with messages printed on them such as "God hates fags", and "Sodomites burn in hell." These religious protesters considered Falwell a turncoat for meeting with gays. A group of gays were standing across the street, same sex couples embracing one another and egging on the religious protesters, who were shouting out "You're going to burn in hell!"

A local reporter covering the event walked up to a bystander and broke down into tears, asking in despair "Where is Jesus in all of this? Where is Jesus?" (Alan Chambers, God's Grace and the Homosexual Next Door, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 2006, p. 43.) This reporter asked the right question. Jesus came into our world to bring a new covenant. The Law delivered thru Moses was broken again and again. The children of Israel suffered the destruction of their nation, and captivity in foreign lands. They returned to the promised land and rebuilt their society around a strict keeping of the law of Moses. The only problem was that, by the time Jesus came into the world, the religious establishment had become harsh and judgmental. Jesus came bringing the new covenant, the instruction of God bathed in mercy, straight from the tender heart of God. Jesus was constantly criticized by Pharisees, who failed to rejoice at the blind being healed because the healing might have been done on the Sabbath, who wanted to see sin punished rather than forgiven. Through the tender heart of Jesus, children were blessed, the hungry fed, and sinners were fellowshipped with and forgiven. Jesus was accused of being a "friend of sinners". Jesus never excused sin, or called it by another name. He didn't tell Zacchaeus he'd fellowship with him when Zacchaeus repented. Jesus started with the fellowship of his great heart, and Zacchaeus' repentance followed.

Jesus found that having a heart that desired to reach out to sinners of all stripes--Jewish, Greek, Roman, religious and secular, wound up sending him to the cross, where He died for all us sinners. It was costly for God to write the new covenant upon the heart of Christ, for that heart had a spear thrust into it. But God raised Christ from the dead, and the new covenant beacons to us today.

That reporter in Lynchburg asked in tears, "Where is Jesus?" It's a good question. My response would be that Jesus was NOT present in either the religious people screaming invective, or in the behavior that goes against scripture. But Jesus was present in Lynchburg that day in a Christian pastor who left the angry religious protesters, went over to the gays present and apologized for the hatred and invective. Jesus is also present in a small organization called "One By One", which is a Presbyterian outreach to those who want to leave their same sex orientation. I heard Kristin Johnson, One By One's director, speak at the recent conference I attended in Montreat. Kristin is the daughter and granddaughter of Presbyterian ministers. By her own admission, Kristin has struggled with same sex attraction, having been involved in relationships with both women and men that, according to Scripture, God does not sanction.

Kristen now sees that Jesus came to bring the forgiveness of sin and new life. He didn't shout condemnation from across the street to sinners. He met them in fellowship, loved them, and encouraged them to follow Him into a new life. Unfortunately, churches are the last place many caught up in sin would want to be, because of the image of judgmentalism and "old covenant condemnation" that churches have acquired. Philip Yancey tells of a Christian talking with a prostitute who was considering leaving prostitution behind. The Christian encouraged the prostitute to find a church home, and the prostitute responded in amazement "Church? Why would I want to go to church? I already feel badly enough about myself!" Hope House begins its outreach to alcoholics and drug addicts not with a lecture or condemnation, but with fellowship, a meal, a clean bed. That's the way of the "new covenant" that Jesus came to bring. We need to start with grace, compassion and fellowship when we meet others caught in the snares of sin. And we need to remember the spiritual sin of self righteousness may be even deadlier than the sins of the flesh!

In Jeremiah's day, a favorite proverb was "The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." People were saying "The reason we're suffering is really because the generation before us made a mess of things." People today are eager to blame their troubles on society, genetics, the mess we inherited. But Jeremiah reminds us "All shall die for their own sins." God is not going to punish us for someone else's responsibility!

Next week, in our series on the Bible, we turn to the new way made flesh, Jesus, our Lord and Savior. But let's not wait for next week! We stand but a whisper away from the new covenant of God. And that whisper is "Father, forgive me. Jesus, be Lord of my life!"

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