Covenant Commitment

Hi everybody and welcome to this week's online message.

This is the last in our series of teaching on the book of Nehemiah.

And today we're looking at chapter 10.

Before I begin my talk, let's just bow our heads and pray together.

Our gracious Father, thank you very much for your word.

And Lord, we thank you, at least mostly, that your word shines a light into our lives.

And Lord, when it does that, we have to confess that we don't always like what we see.

But we pray, Lord, that you would help us and strengthen us.

And in the power of your Holy Spirit, would you please help our lives

to align increasingly with the life you have for us in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

So, the text I want to preach to you from is the first verse of our reading,

which is the last verse of Nehemiah chapter 9.

Nehemiah 9 · chapter mention

In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement,

putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests,

are affixing their seals to it.

These people were getting serious about their religion.

And in getting serious about it, I probably do just need to say that

some of the stuff in chapter 10 in a multicultural society

seems a little grating.

So, the idea that, you know, sons mustn't take foreign wives,

our daughters must not take foreign husbands,

sounds really strange to us.

I mean, bear in mind that, of course, in those days,

it was parents who fixed up marriages.

But there was a bigger reason why

some of these prescriptions sound a bit weird in chapter 10.

And that was, as you recall,

the Jews had been in exile for decades in Babylon,

in a world where their religion was not primary,

and other religions held force, animism,

worship of the king, as we read about in the early chapters,

we read about in the early chapters of Daniel.

And during that time,

you might have hoped that the Jewish religion

would have strongly influenced the pagan culture

in which they found themselves,

but ironically, exactly the opposite happened.

Jews had become compromised in their faith.

They'd taken on some of the practices of those foreign religions.

And chapter 10 is Nehemiah's attempt

to try and recover the religious identity

and behavior of the people of God.

And so here is this covenant.

Now, it's not to say that,

not to say that the warning to not marry foreigners,

it is kind of repeated in the New Testament.

And before I tell you where and what this is about,

I just want to say that I don't think it's the most unforgivable sin.

So if you're a person who's married an unbelieving man

or an unbelieving woman,

I don't think that's the end of your story with Christ.

And indeed, there are many stories of people who did that,

and the unbelieving spouse actually became a believer.

There are also far more stories and far more worrying stories

of an unbeliever marrying a believer

and the unbeliever having more influence on the believer

than the other way around.

And that's what had happened in exile here.

But in 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 40,

we read these somewhat harsh words.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers,

for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?

Nobody could ever accuse Paul of not being black and white.

I mean, you know, very stark kind of teaching there.

And I want to say that I don't think that's terrible general advice.

At the same time, I want to say to those of you

who have married unbelievers,

that you've not committed an unforgivable sin.

But it might well be that the theme of today's talk,

and that is making a recommitment to God,

might be especially relevant for you.

And here I want to give a little bit of context to chapter 10

in terms of chapter 8 is about conviction.

Ezra the scribe gets up,

reads the word of God from dawn till midday,

very long reading,

it's a hot day, there's a crowd,

he reads it.

And as the people listen,

they come under conviction,

like this is not the life that we've been leading.

We've been leading a compromise life.

So their conviction led to what Clive was talking to us about last week,

and that is confession.

Last week, confession.

As Clive put it,

clearing your plate,

getting stuff off your chest, as we say.

And I want to say that that is a really important thing.

I don't think that saying it once a week in church

and the kind of general confession

is probably enough to cover the wandering of many of us day in, day out.

I think we should think about that every day.

Lord, you know,

give me the strength today to live as you want me to live.

And at the end of the day,

just maybe before you drop off,

a little recollection.

What's gone well with my life in God?

What's not been so good?

What can I improve tomorrow?

And in a sense,

that's what's driving Nehemiah in this book.

After the walls complete,

amazing, 52 days and they're done.

And now Nehemiah sees that the most important task is

that having enclosed Jerusalem by the walls,

he now needs to put some boundaries around the people of God

in order that they may live as God wants his people to live.

It's a really important thing there.

So conviction leads to confession.

And chapter 10 is really about commitment.

I want to ask you a question.

You know,

are you ready?

As we come back to church,

to live services,

you know,

kind of a bit more freedom about being there,

a bit more freedom with what we're able to do in church.

Are you ready?

To recommit your life.

I don't know about you,

but it's taken immense amounts of self-discipline

to kind of keep going with God during lockdown.

You know,

it's so easy just to fill lockdown life with meaningless things

and,

you know,

work,

trying to work from home and all that stuff with all the distractions

and some of the good things that go with that.

But are you ready now as we come back

to make a recommitment to God?

That is such a big deal, I think.

I really would like you to think about that very carefully.

And this is a covenant.

Nehemiah uses the language of sealing the covenant.

It's a word that can also mean cutting a covenant.

And this sounds a bit strange to us,

but,

you know,

the way you kind of sealed a covenant,

cut a covenant,

was you took an animal

and you chopped it in half right down the middle

and you opened its two sides up

and then the people who were agreeable to the covenant

would walk through the spilt blood

between the two halves of the dead animal.

I mean,

speaking personally,

I'm not too sorry we don't do that anymore.

But I am sorry that we don't make a covenant with God

to seek to live the life that he wants us to live.

And so weird here that Nehemiah uses the language of curses.

People are basically saying,

if we don't keep this covenant, Lord,

would you curse us?

In other words,

would you please help us

to take responsibility for our failures

in keeping this agreement

that we're making with you

at this day,

which will be binding upon us

and upon our families

into the future.

There are a lot of people

who think that

these chapters of Nehemiah,

together with one or two other chapters

written at the time,

these chapters

redefined

and set the course for Judaism

into the future.

As to be said,

there are other commentators

who take great offense

at the prohibition

on

foreign marriages,

et cetera, et cetera.

And we understand that,

but we have to understand that

in a context.

So,

God is a God

who likes covenants.

He made a covenant

with Abraham,

you remember,

that he would bless

Abraham's descendants

and make them as numerous

as the grains of sand

on a beach.

He made a covenant

with Moses

that Moses would lead

his people

out of slavery

in Egypt

and towards

the Promised Land,

although Moses himself,

because of his disobedience,

would never actually

lead the people

into the Promised Land,

just to the kind of edge

of the Promised Land.

And then

Joshua

took over

and

fulfilled

the covenant

God had made

with Moses.

And then

you get

the Davidic covenant,

the covenant

made with King David,

that the Messiah,

the chosen one

who would come

and bring

released to the people

of God,

who Christians

believe is Jesus,

but Jewish people

are still waiting for.

That Davidic covenant

was that

it would be

from the house

of David

that the Messiah

would arise.

And you remember

at the beginning

of the Gospel

of Matthew,

there's this great

long genealogy

which is there

to prove

that

Jesus

can be shown

directly to be

part of the house

of David.

His lineage

goes back

to David

and his family.

And then

there is the most

amazing covenant

of all

and it's this covenant

that I really want

you to think about

and recommit

yourselves to

today.

And that is

the covenant

that Christ

brought in

to our world,

God's new covenant

as we call it.

And that new covenant

was not sealed

with the blood

of a dead animal

but sealed

with the blood

of Jesus

who voluntarily,

willingly gave

his life

on the cross

of Calvary

that we might

have the potential

of forgiven sins

and a new life

with God

in Christ.

That's what

St Paul

wrote about

extensively

and it's to

that new covenant

to that

instigator

of the new covenant

Jesus

who I ask you

to recommit

yourself today.

There are a lot

of things

in this world

that can

attract you,

that can pull

you out of shape,

that can

impact upon

your walk

with God.

And so I invite

you to make

a covenant

today

in order

that you

set your

stall out

to say

my priority

is God

in Christ

in my life

and everything

I do,

everything I do

is to glorify

him.

there was a

revivalist

preacher

who was a

very odd

chap I think

in many ways.

He was an

academic

theologian

on the one

hand,

he became

a pastor

at the age

of 18

and at the

age of 19

barely out

of his teens

he decided

that he wanted

to take God

seriously

and so

he

wrote

these

70

resolutions

and sought

to keep

them

for the

rest of

his life

because he

knew

without

something

to focus

on

he would

not

stick with

it,

his life

would just

become

backslidden.

That

young

pastor's

name

was

Jonathan

Edwards

he became

part of

the great

religious

awakening

and a

revivalist

and believe

me there

are not

many

theologians

who

academic

theologians

who played

their part

in revival

praise God

there are

some and

Jonathan

Edwards

is definitely

in that

camp.

I love

to tell

the story

that he

was the

most surprising

man to

be a

revivalist.

He had

thick

pebble

dash

not

pebble

dash

pebble

lensed

spectacles

and people

say that

you didn't

sit on the

front row

when Jonathan

Edwards got

going because

you get

soaked

because saliva

came as

disgusting

I know

but I

just think

you know

how amazing

that God

uses a

bespectacled

thick

perspective

academic

theologian

to bring

down the

fire of

God

on Jonathan

Edwards

listeners.

the one

thing that

you need

to know

is that

a recommitment

always has

a price.

At the

time of

the covenant

we read

about in

Nehemiah

Nehemiah 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10

that price

was some

money and

some produce

and to

offer the

life of

their sons

not in

sacrifice

but for

to be a

Levite

or to

become a

priest

to help

with the

running of

the temple

we couldn't

literally become

a Levite

because the

Levites were

a tribe.

So

this new

covenant

is so

amazing

because the

price is

paid

in the

death of

Jesus

on the

cross of

Calvary

who loves

you and

who longs

that your

life would

daily be

more aligned

with the

life that

God in

Jesus has

for you.

And if

you have any

sense that

you need to

make this

recommitment

you need to

have a

similar sense

that I'm

unlikely to

keep the

demands of

recommitment

without help

from on

high.

And that's

why God

sends his

spirit.

And we

can ask for

that spirit

to help

us.

Not just

to forgive

us but to

cleanse us

so that our

desire to

do things

that are

wrong will

be cleansed

away from

us.

Lots of

people today

are kind of

distorted by

their strange

obsessions to

be a

celebrity,

to be

whatever your

obsession can

become.

But a

healthy

Christian who

want to be

obsessed to

live the

life that

God in

Christ has

in store

for you.

We come to

the end of

our series.

We come to

the end of

online messages.

May this be

your moment

for the Holy

Spirit to

whisper in

your ear and

invite you to

the kind of

recommitment that

Nehemiah called

the people of

God to then.

I believe that's

what's needed in

our time, that

we, the people

of God,

recommit

ourselves to

him and to

the life that

he has in

store for

us.

May God

bless you as

you recommit

yourselves to

him.

Let's pray.

Lord, we

want to say

that there's

so much in

our world

which is

attractive to

us.

and yet,

Lord, we

know that if

we pursued

many of

these things,

we would

end up with

a life that

was far

away from

the life that

you have for

us in

Christ.

And,

Lord, we

pray that

your Holy

Spirit will

bring us

under conviction

not to be

satisfied with

a life of

half-commitment.

Lord, we

pray that

your Holy

Spirit will

provoke us

to confess

from our

hearts those

things that

we feel ashamed

of.

And,

Lord, we

thank you

that the

writer of

the epistle

to the

Hebrews uses

the language

of the

sprinkling of

Jesus' blood

on us to

rid us of

our guilt.

Lord, would

you please

help us to

make a

heartfelt

confession.

confession.

And,

Lord, at the

same time

to alleviate

our guilt.

May it be

gone,

Lord.

And because

you've

convicted us,

Lord, and

because you've

forgiven us,

we thank you

that you invite

us to yet

more commitment.

And so we

pray, Lord,

today with

those people

of God of

old, that

we might in

our own way

make a

covenant with

you to

live the

life that

you have

for us.

And,

Lord, we

recall that

it was through

the reading of

your word that

people came

under conviction.

Lord, may we

be people of

your word.

And,

Lord, as we

seek your

blessing, we

ask that we

may bless

many through

this recommitment.

And we pray

it in Jesus'

name.

Amen.