Defined By Faith

The Old Covenant is more than a codified list of commands. It is more than a list of “dos and don’ts.” What it comes down to, in the midst of those detailed commands and expectations, is a system of faith and a covenant of relying on God more than others or self. It is predicated entirely upon faith, and – though our covenant, its terms, and its sacrifice are different – our relationship with God is no different today. Our lives in God are predicated entirely on our faith. On that faith rests the foundation of our spiritual lives.

II Corinthians 5:7 tells us we walk by faith rather than sight, similar to Hebrews 11:1, defining faith as the evidence of things we cannot see. Romans 3:28 then simply states we are saved by faith, and our salvation in faith is no different than the children of Israel’s justification through faith. For our faith then informs our conduct and our personal surrender to God’s will, truly understanding it by putting that faith into practice.

Faith Beyond Rationale

Faith is not always purely logical. Remember Abraham. In Genesis 12, God tells Abraham (then Abram) to leave his life behind him to inhabit a land he had never seen. Hebrews 11:8 tells us that Abraham obeys by faith, not knowing where he was going. Later, Abraham is asked to offer up Isaac, his only son, and Paul makes reference to this event in Romans 4:1-3, citing Abraham’s great faith. The Hebrew writer speaks of Abraham’s faith in the resurrection of his son.

Think of crossing the Red Sea. Think of the bronze serpent. Think of Joshua and Caleb encouraging the people to take the Promised Land. Consider Job, in Job 31, expressing his lack of understanding; then, in 40:3, after God provides an answer to Job, he relents and lays his fate in God’s hands. Even going as far as I Corinthians 1, Paul describes the gospel itself as something that goes against our reason and wisdom, yet it is God’s power to save.

We can read through Hebrews 11 and see person after person who do seemingly impossible things, who face insurmountable odds, who accomplish great deeds, because of their faith. Does this look like a faith that is inactive? In James 2:17-26, we see that faith without action is empty and lifeless. It is more than an acknowledgement of God. It is living for and by God.

Faith in Action

Again, look to Abraham in Genesis 22. It is in verse 12 that the angel proclaims, “for now I know that you fear God.” Did Abraham not already have a faithful heart? We know he did, but there is a difference between thought and action. Feelings are not actions. We can know about God intellectually; we can feel a relationship with God; we can understand God’s word. Without putting that knowledge and those feelings into action, though, our faith is empty. This may involve some significant sacrifices in our lives, but none of those can match what Abraham was willing to sacrifice in faith.

This is not, however, salvation dependent upon our own abilities or our checklist. Trusting in God and obediently yielding to Him in all things will abase self rather than elevate self. Our hope, trust, and confidence is placed entirely in what God has done and will do for us – no more and no less. We cannot lessen our faith by falling into inactivity, nor can we constrain it by relying on traditions and rituals, placing confidence in the flesh.

Faith – a complete, living faith – does require action. It requires obedience. It compels us to change our lives, but it is not a reliance on self. In Galatians 2:20-21, Paul plainly states that his faith drives self out of the equation of his life, living by and relying completely upon the teachings and promises of Christ, not nullifying God’s grace but by putting faith in that grace into action. Just as God wanted the children of Israel to wholly rely on Him in all things, He wants the same commitment from us today. We must crucify self, let Christ live in us, and take up a life defined by our faith.

lesson by Tim Smelser

The Seed, the Promise, and Ishmael

Genesis is a good place to appreciate what God sees as most important. At the end of the book, in Genesis 49, Jacob is blessing his sons, and, in verse 10, the Messianic promise is passed unto Judah. The book details the line of God’s promise and why certain people are chosen or passed over as God maintains that line. Returning to the beginning of the book provides a key for all that follows. In Genesis 3:15, the promise of enmity between the seed of woman and the devil is first made.

Immediately, in Genesis 4 a contrast is drawn between Cain and Able. Genesis 6 draws a contrast between Noah and the sinful population around him. This contrast continues, and, in Genesis 21, we see this conflict between Ishmael and Isaac. This strife between the devil’s followers and the seed of the promise until it culminates with Christ’s crucifixion and victory over death in the gospels.

The Seed of Promise
Genesis 12 records the multifold promise God makes to Abraham in which God promises the blessing of the world through Abraham’s seed. This term of seed repeats through the book, and, in Genesis 21, God makes it clear that the seed of promise will continue through Isaac. Isaiah 41:8 records God calling His people the seed of Abraham His friend. Also, Acts 3:25 has Peter and John focusing in on that same language, looking back to those promises made in Genesis. Galatians 3:16 then makes it clear that this singular see was to culminate in one, that is Christ.

In II Samuel 7, God makes reference to a seed of promise when David wishes to build God a great house of worship. In verse 13, God speaks of a sure household and throne for David. The prophets refer to this offspring as a branch of David, and Jeremiah 33:26 records God saying His promises to the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and David are as sure as day and night. In John 7:42, while Jesus is calling on those around Him to come and drink the water of life, the people question his lineage, whether or not he is of the seed of David. Romans 1:1 has Paul placing emphasis on this lineage while writing to Jews and Gentiles in Rome, and, in Revelation 22:16, Jesus Himself refers to the seed of David.

Ishmael and Isaac
Returning to Genesis 21, Sarah calls on Abraham to cast Hagar and Ishmael out of their household because of the animosity between the women and their children. Approximately fifteen years separate these children, and Ishmael is pictures as mocking of Isaac. The Hebrew gives the idea that Ishmael is playing as if he is the true heir of Abraham’s household rather than the baby Isaac, only recently weaned in Genesis 21. God validates Sarah’s concerns, and He tells Abraham to follow her advice to cast Hagar and Ishmael out.

Galatians 4:22 makes a parallel that Ishmael represents that which is carnal, and Isaac represents spirituality. In verse 28, Paul makes the connection that we are supposed to be trusting in the spiritual promises of God, and he speaks of the physical standing at enmity with the spiritual. The two cannot exist together. We cannot be spiritual while holding onto the physical. The conflict in Genesis 21 is a continuation of the conflict that begins in Genesis 3, and it foreshadows John 15:18.

A Shadow of Christ
Isaac is the only begotten son of Abraham and Sarah. He is the seed of promise through whom the nations will be blest, and God even calls on him to be sacrificed. Through Isaac, God sees Abraham’s love and commitment to God, and God demonstrates that love and commitment to us in not sparing His own Son. God gave up the culmination of the seed of promise for the sake of our sins, raised Him up, and sits Him down at the throne’s right hand. It all begins in Genesis.

sermon by Tim Smelser

Cutting a Covenant

It’s interesting how clear God makes it to His people that He will do things in His way as opposed to their way. However, He often communicates His plan in ways to which we can relate. He makes promises. He creates covenants. He uses imagery and forms familiar to hose with whom He is communicating.

The events of Genesis 15 is a passage that is pretty familiar to most of us. Prior to this chapter, God has made promises to Abram regarding a land, a nation, and a blessing through his descendants. This promises is repeated, but, in chapter 15, Abram asks how these promises will be fulfilled. He doesn’t see how a great nation can come from an old man and a barren woman. In response, God instructs Abram to make a sacrifice, a very unique and strange sacrifice. He cuts several animals in half and creates a path between the separated halves. Abram goes into a deep sleep filled with horrors, and God speaks to him in this sleep. Smoke and a flaming torch cross the path between the hewn animals, and God reaffirms His covenant with Abram.

The Importance of His Covenant
What happens here? God cuts a covenant with Abram in a practice familiar to Chaldeans and the nomadic tribes of the region. Tow leaders would walk together along a path between hewn animals, inferring carnage will come to those who seek to break or interfere with the covenant formed. It is the forming of a very serious relationship. Jeremiah 34:18 refers to this practice, and God says He will make His transgressing people like the sacrificed animals. He warns them of the doom involved with their breaking of the covenant they had with God. They had been unfaithful, and they would be delivered to their enemies. This is the gravity with which God views our covenant-relationship with Him.

In Matthew 26, we read of the night Judas will betray Jesus, when Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, and when Jesus institutes a memorial of His impending death. In this, He references a new covenant sealed by the dividing of His body and the spilling of His blood. Jeremiah 31, after numerous promises in the previous chapters of a coming king like David, God describes a new covenant that He will make with His people. In that upper room, Jesus is telling His disciples He is bringing that new covenant, and the Hebrew writer, in chapter 8, expounds upon how this new covenant is different from and superior to the one it replaces.

I Corinthians 11:23 again refers to Jesus’ body being broken as the bread and the cup as His blood. The Greek word translated as broken in verse 24 is often used metaphorically as shattered. It is an image of being violently torn, as if by a great force. Each record of the crucifixion in the four gospels tells of the temple’s veil being torn in half, top to bottom, when Jesus cries His last. Hebrews 10:19 compares Jesus’ flesh to that veil that was torn in half. Symbolically, Jesus is cut as the sacrifice for our covenant between us and God.

Maintaining the Covenant
Jesus lives as a spotless lamb. His blood is shed and His body broken for the institution of our new covenant. Upon His crucifixion, God cut a covenant between Himself and man, a new testament rooted in the same tradition with which He formed a covenant with Abram before the nation of Israel had even been born. In Hebrews 10:28-29, God warns us against breaking that covenant, trivializing His blood, and trampling the body broken for us. Finally, Isaiah 53:5-6 describes the wounding of God’s Servant for the sake of our transgressions. We are like straying sheep, so one spotless lamb accepts the consequences we deserve.

The events in Genesis 15 may seem strange to us now, but they illustrate a serious and committed relationship between God and Abram. It was something holy and sacred. Likewise, we today have a sacred covenant with our God. May we never break that bond lest we treat our Lord’s sacrifice as inconsequential. Instead, we should daily be renewing our commitment and our service to Him.

sermon by Tim Smelser