RENEWING OUR COVENANT WITH GOD. This morning we have an opportunity to renew our commitment to the covenant we have

Transcription

1 RENEWING OUR COVENANT WITH GOD Matthew 9:35-38 Philippians 3:7-14 Revelations 2:1-7 Hymns: 653 God is here 375 Almighty Father of all This morning we have an opportunity to renew our commitment to the covenant we have with God through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. It was John Wesley who suggested that this should be an annual practice in the Methodist Church because we have to be reminded what the commitment entails we so easily forget that is why Jesus instituted the sacrament of Holy Communion to help us remember what He has done for us. Similarly the Covenant Service is to help us remember the commitment we made to Jesus when we accepted Him as our Lord and Saviour and we do it in the context of the sacrament of Holy Communion to be reminded of God s commitment to us. Friends, our relationship with Jesus Christ is a covenantal relationship, which means it is a permanent and binding agreement to belong together no matter what in other words, a covenantal relationship is one that cannot be broken but the reality is that often we treat our covenant with God as a contract that s easily broken when we don t get our way. Friends this has been my experience the moment the going gets a little tough, my initial reaction is to throw in the towel rather than use it to serve Jesus when the road gets a little rough and the pressure of the world starts to push us into its mould - the commitment starts to wane a little and so we need opportunities to renew it otherwise we can easily be engulfed in the world s ways and life quickly deteriorates into self-centered

2 living. Now, there are two sides to our covenant with God there s God side and our side. In essence our side of the covenant is a commitment to grow as disciples of Jesus we have to commit to doing as Paul did (Philippians 3:12): I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal, but I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that, which is the reason he made me his. Our covenant with God is not about some distant destination it s about a journey we commit to everyday of our lives. God s side of the covenant is to provide all we need for the journey and we know that God is faithful and that He ll keep His side of the covenant. So this morning, in order to prepare us renew our side of the covenant I would like to very briefly look at three commitments we make as we do that. The first and most important commitment is the commitment to grow in our love for God. A heart that is motivated by self-interest is the greatest barrier to growing as a Christian whereas a heart that is passionately in love with God is what will build and sustain a healthy, maturing faith. It s a case of making sure that we keep God in first place in our lives because when God is no longer our first love we will be in danger of losing our faith and ultimately our salvation. This was the problem the church in Ephesus had - Jesus says to them (Revelation 2:4-5): Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height

3 from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. It is so easy to allow other things to become our first love especially when they seem noble and sometimes even Christ-honoring. Let me give you some examples to show you how subtle and enticing these idols can be: Making a name for ourselves having a good reputation Making enough money to provide for ourselves and our loved ones Feeling important and valuable in our own hearts Loving and serving the people in our church or community The things that we can allow to replace God as our first love are not always bad they might even be noble, but they become unhealthy when they take first place in our hearts. Friends, if we are serious about our commitment to love God we will learn to identify when we are tempted to let something else become our first love. In being faithful to our side of the covenant we must make sure that God rules supreme and that our hearts are beating passionately for Jesus. The second commitment is the commitment to grow in our love for our Christian family. Someone once said, The Christian army is the only army that shoots its wounded. I guess what they re trying to say is that being a Christian can be painful at times because love makes you vulnerable when you love you risk being hurt through criticism, disappointment, betrayal, even envy and jealousy. I think there is nothing more painful than being hurt by those who are meant to love you I m sure many of you can testify to the pain of being hurt by a brother or sister in Christ. The church is not a hotel for saints it s a hospital for sinners spend enough time in it

4 and you ll be hurt. We are broken and sinful people and we ll hurt each other and the temptation is to deal with the pain by shutting off our hearts we don t want to be hurt and so we allow our hearts to grow cold and distant. Jesus understood that an authentic relationship with God leads to a deep and growing love for people and especially the family of God Jesus said (John 13:35): All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other. Friends, we must never forget that people matter to God and as Christians we are called to open our hearts loving and sacrificing for our brothers and sisters in the faith sometimes risking great pain. This is the way of Jesus and so it means that we have to learn the wisdom and power of forgiveness if we don t our spiritual hearts will die and we will become shells of the Christians God wants us to be. In fulfilling our side of the covenant we have to commit to walking the way of forgiveness instead of allowing our hearts to grow cold by taking a never again posture. The third and final commitment of the covenant is the commitment to grow in our love for the lost. When last have you shed a tear for someone who doesn t know Jesus? This one area of growth we need to ask God to help us with. There are two pitfalls we need to be aware of here. The one is isolation where we can get so caught up in the busyness of being Christian that we almost never relate with people who are lost sometimes out of fear of rejection

5 or ridicule or being influenced by the world we avoid contact with non-believers particularly on a social level all our friends are Christian we only go to places that are so called acceptable in Christian circles the temptation is to only mix with our own kind and so isolate ourselves from those who desperate need to see Jesus in us. (Bill Hybels yacht story) Remember Jesus almost desperate plea (Matthew 9:37-38): The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. The world is the harvest field and we are the workers God is sending us into the world to reap the harvest and our tool is the gospel. The other pitfall is separation where we can separate our Christian life from our everyday life we just blend in with the environment if it s Christian then we re Christian if it s not then we re not having a heart for the lost means that people will know we are Christian even if we don t say so just by observing us they will see Jesus. In being faithful to our covenant with God we will be committed to loving the lost in a way that reflects our Saviour s heart (Matthew 9:35-36): Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. In indicator that our commitment is strong is when we are moved by compassion to reach out to those who are not yet part of God s family.

6 As we renew our covenant this morning let it not be just a lot of words we recite - let's really make the words our own so that our commitment does indeed have a deep impact on our love for God our love for our Christian family and our love for the lost. The Covenant Prayer: I place my life in your hands for it to be yours to direct and not mine May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it; May you guide when I should be active and when I should rest; May you sustain me when I am well and when I suffer; May you be reflected in me when I am praised and when I am challenged; May I give thanks to you when I enjoy abundance, and when I know what it is to go without; May my whole life be given in service of your love and salvation, use all that I have and all that I am for your purposes; And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other. This is my commitment - I stand by it. And I ask that you, Jesus, bear witness to it. Amen.