PASTOR MCGARY’S WEEKLY

COVENANT: THE STORY OF US

Jeremiah 31:23-34

March 17, 2024

      One of the movies produced by The Hallmark Channel was titled, “The Story of Us”.  As I thought about that title, it occurred to me that through the course of 66 books, the Bible records the story of us from a faith perspective.  More accurately, the Bible tells the story of God and God’s relationship with us.

     Starting with the book of Genesis, which means origin or beginning, and continuing through the book of Revelation, we see a thread and we learn how God has diligently and faithfully worked to maintain a connection with us.  In the church, we refer to this thread and connection as a covenant.  Humanity, such as we are, has not made it easy for God to stay connected with us.

     We began Lent with the story of Noah.  Because God saw the wickedness of humans was great on the earth, God looked to Noah, who was a righteous man, and his family to start over.  The covenant God made with Noah and every living creature was that never again would all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood.  God sealed this covenant with the sign of the rainbow.

     God maintained the covenant with Noah’s descendants through Abram.  God promised Abram descendants, as many as the stars, and land if Abram would pack up all his family and possessions and move to the land God would show him.  As a sign of their covenant, God changed Abram’s and Sarai’s names and Abram agreed to follow in God’s way and perform ritual circumcision.  The covenant was tested because Abraham and Sarah became impatient.  In spite of them taking matters into their own hands, God came through.  Sarah gave birth to Isaac.  Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of twelve sons, who became the twelve tribes of Israel.     

     Through Jacob, the Hebrew people landed in Egypt and after pharaoh died, the new pharaoh enslaved the Hebrew people. Hearing the cries of God’s people, God covenanted with Moses to lead the people out of Egypt.  God made a new covenant with the Hebrew people based on the Ten commandments and the Hebrew people promised to obey them.  Promises, promises, how easily we forget.  In a minute’s time the people did their own thing and everything became a mess again.  It took forty years and the death of that first generation, including Moses, before the people finally crossed the Jordan to the promised land.    

     Do you see a pattern here at all?  The story of us does not reflect well on us.  It’s not hard to believe as we fast forward to the prophet Jeremiah, that the people were in trouble again because of their own disobedience.  They did their own thing in their own way with little regard to God’s way.  Bad behavior has consequences.  Like Humpty Dumpty, the nation took a great fall.  A monster truck named Babylon rolled right over them, leveling Jerusalem, destroying the temple, and removing many people, including King Hezekiah, to exile in Babylon. 

    The nation of Israel was devastated.  How was God going to fix this mess this time?  More to the point, would God even consider trying to put these fragmented pieces back together again?  As I said, behaviors have consequences and we know from experience that just saying, “I’m sorry,” does not always fix things.  Sometimes it is not possible to go back; sometimes we have to sit with and live with the fallout for a while, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Where God closes a door, God opens a window. There exists the possibility of moving forward and the God of Genesis, which again means origins and beginnings, is all about new starts.   

     We are all familiar with the slang meaning of insanity. It is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  By nature, God is unchanging.  God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  God will always come to us when we call upon God’s name in our need.  So how would God prevent humanity from constantly falling prey to sin and disobedience?  God couldn’t, but God could take the initiative.  God would bring new life out of destruction, hope where there was no hope, life out of death, and make a way out of no way.  

        God said to Jeremiah:

 For the days are surely coming”, says the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors, and they shall take possession of it….

the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound
    and the citadel set on its rightful site.
Out of them shall come thanksgiving
    and the sound of merrymakers
I will make them many, and they shall not be few;
    I will make them honored, and they shall not be disdained….

 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord.

     God would also take the initiative in helping the people relate to God in a new way.  Instead of working with the law on tablets of stone, God would write the law on the hearts of God’s people. 

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… 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.  No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.

     God did all the hard work to set God’s people up for success, but as we know, that covenant was broken too.  The spirit of God’s law was lost, and the law became legalistic, lacking any grace.  God would have to take more drastic measures.  At the Last Supper, the Gospel According to Matthew records, “Then he (Jesus) took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

     As we stand before the cross on this 5th Sunday in Lent, we can honestly say that our covenant with God is on shaky ground and it’s not God’s doing.  There are days when we wonder if anyone knows the Lord at all.  A youth slams another youth’s head on the concrete repeatedly fracturing her skull and putting her in a comma; a 14-year-old youth is stabbed to death in a fight, and another 13-year-old  youth pulls out a gun a fires a shot during a fight, really?  What’s happened to us?  Our children are a reflection of us.  We can’t just point a finger at people who are unchurched either.  There are some days when we don’t act so much like God’s people either.  Have we too chosen to do our own thing with little regard to God’s will and way?

     Christ died to sin once for all, but that does not leave us off the hook.  With every new generation, God’s hope at peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation is renewed.   We are the Church, the Body of Christ.  God’s law is written on our hearts.  The prophet’s voice is our voice.  God’s covenant rests within us.  How are we going to write our chapter of the story of us?  I am always encouraged that with God, all things are possible.  So, I leave us with the chorus of a song by Wayne Watson called “For Such a Time as This”.  These lyrics speak to me and help me remember who I am connected to and what I am called to do. (CCLI#991857)

For such a time as this I was placed upon the earth
To hear the voice of God And do his will, whatever it is
For such a time as this For now and all the days he gives
I am here, I am here And I am his For such a time as this.  Amen.

Calvary Information