RISE Church Decatur
Covenant and Creation
Please find Scriptures and key points here to follow along on Sunday morning. An audio Recording of the message will be available this week at https://risechurchdecatur.com/listen/
Locations & Times
RISE Church
1901 S Trinity St, Decatur, TX 76234, USA
Sunday 9:00 AM
Sunday 11:00 AM
Why is covenant important?
From beginning to end, the story of the bible is all about covenant. Understanding covenant clarifies and unifies the word for us which:
1) Changes our understanding of the word.
2) Changes our thinking.
3) Changes the way we live.
From beginning to end, the story of the bible is all about covenant. Understanding covenant clarifies and unifies the word for us which:
1) Changes our understanding of the word.
2) Changes our thinking.
3) Changes the way we live.
What is covenant?
- Covenant is unconditional and says: I will be what I should be whether you are what you should be or not. (e.g., marriage) It’s stronger than a contractual relationship and more loving and intimate than a personal relationship.
- Covenant is the highest, most sacred form of relationship God has ordained/created. It is the way He relates to us and the only way we can have relationship with Him.
- Covenant is unconditional and says: I will be what I should be whether you are what you should be or not. (e.g., marriage) It’s stronger than a contractual relationship and more loving and intimate than a personal relationship.
- Covenant is the highest, most sacred form of relationship God has ordained/created. It is the way He relates to us and the only way we can have relationship with Him.
Covenant with Abraham
-God’s covenant with Abraham in Gen 15 is both the origin of God’s redemptive plan and the foundation that all other covenants were built on.
-God’s covenant with Abraham in Gen 15 is both the origin of God’s redemptive plan and the foundation that all other covenants were built on.
- Two parties in a covenant would take an oath, pronounce the blessings, and then walk between the pieces in effect acting out the curses of the covenant saying, if I don’t honor my oath may I be cut into two just like these animals.
- God puts Abraham to sleep and then walks through the pieces himself as a smoking pot and a flaming torch. God is not only promising to bless Abraham, but he’s also promising to die and be torn to pieces if he doesn’t bless him.
- This was a unilateral, one-sided, unconditional covenant. Abraham was being promised all the benefit without having to take the oath.
The maker of covenant
- the word of the Lord came to Abraham. John 1:1 tells us the word is Jesus. The person walking through the pieces to make covenant with Abraham was Jesus himself.
- Jesus fulfilled the conditions of the law so that God could love you unconditionally. Through his perfect life, Jesus fulfilled the covenant, bringing the blessing, and he took the curse of the covenant, which left the blessings for me and you.
Covenant & Creation
- Any covenant is only as strong as the covenant maker’s ability to keep it. It was specifically the God of all creation that Israel called on to keep the covenant.
- Israel looked back to creation, and to their own Exodus story where God’s power was displayed over Egypt’s Gods, in order to pray and trust that God as creator will do again what he has the power and the right to do, and as the covenant God what he has the responsibility to do.
- Any covenant is only as strong as the covenant maker’s ability to keep it. It was specifically the God of all creation that Israel called on to keep the covenant.
- Israel looked back to creation, and to their own Exodus story where God’s power was displayed over Egypt’s Gods, in order to pray and trust that God as creator will do again what he has the power and the right to do, and as the covenant God what he has the responsibility to do.
- v.1-11 is a lament over the destruction of the Temple. v.12-17 is all about God as creator. Then v. 20 brings everything together and calls on God to remember his covenant.
- The creator and covenant god can be relied upon to act in accordance with his creating power and his covenant faithfulness to fully accomplish his plan of redemption and renewal.
- The creator and covenant god can be relied upon to act in accordance with his creating power and his covenant faithfulness to fully accomplish his plan of redemption and renewal.
Jesus & New Creation
- Jesus is the one through whom both creation and redemption have come about! Jesus is the point at which creation and covenant come together. And this coming together took the form of an actual event – his crucifixion.
- All things are created through Jesus, he cuts covenant with Abraham to launch his plan of redemption, then comes in the flesh to fulfill that covenant himself, and as the God of creation, launches the beginning of new creation!
- Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruits of new creation, and anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. Just as we were created in the image of God, so we will be newly created in the image of the resurrected Jesus!
- Through the cross we see the fullness of God’s self-giving love. The God of all creation chose to bind himself to his own creation through covenant and willingly chose to give his life to fulfill that covenant.
- The breadth of what God has done through covenant is astounding! This whole picture of creation and covenant coming together in Jesus is what leads Paul to overflow with joy in Rom 11:33 & 36.
- All things are created through Jesus, he cuts covenant with Abraham to launch his plan of redemption, then comes in the flesh to fulfill that covenant himself, and as the God of creation, launches the beginning of new creation!
- Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruits of new creation, and anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. Just as we were created in the image of God, so we will be newly created in the image of the resurrected Jesus!
- Through the cross we see the fullness of God’s self-giving love. The God of all creation chose to bind himself to his own creation through covenant and willingly chose to give his life to fulfill that covenant.
- The breadth of what God has done through covenant is astounding! This whole picture of creation and covenant coming together in Jesus is what leads Paul to overflow with joy in Rom 11:33 & 36.