Harbor Church - Mid City

Building a Great City (Through a Covenant)

Neh. 9:38-10 Mid-City 11/14/10

After they praise God in prayer and remember how great he has been in history, they make a binding agreement with God called a covenant that follows the basic pattern of covenants made in their historical day. You see this in v38, “In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement.” Most translations use the word covenant here—it is a synonym. A covenant is a binding agreement that flows out of a relationship of love.

This morning we’re going to look at the covenant that the Israelites made with God that functions in a very similar way. But, this isn’t just a history lesson—see the binding commitments they made are still binding on us. This is not a history lesson: this covenant still applies today if you are in a covenant relationship with Jesus.

Now for those of you who are not yet Christians, this will help you see what commitments you eventually need to make if you choose to follow Jesus. Just this week a non-Christian asked about this. He has always been deeply skeptical about Christianity and recently he has begun reading the Bible and considering Christianity. And so he said, “Now, listen. If I become a Christian, does this mean that I am going to have to put on my facebook page, “Jesus rocks.” And I am going to have to become a Republican?”

No, the Bible doesn’t bind you to these commitments. American Christian sub-culture might try to, but the Bible doesn’t bind you to facebook posts or political parties. But that begs the question: what does it bind me to. Well, let’s look at what the people of God committed themselves to in Nehemiah’s day because these same things are still true for us today in the way that Jesus wants us to live

1. Bible (v28-29)

V28: 28 “The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand— 29 all these now join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord.” So the first thing they commit to is the Law of God—that is code for saying the Bible. What they say is this, “The Bible is going to be our highest authority. If I am thinking in a way that is inconsistent with the Bible, then I’ll change my thinking. If I am living in a way that is inconsistent with the Bible, then I’ll change the way I am living. This, my friends, is at the heart of what it means to follow Jesus—that you commit yourself to living under His authority expressed in the Bible.

Let me show you practically how this works out. I am in a mission group with 3 other men—these are men who help me keep my covenant commitments to Jesus. Bill McCurine, who preaches for us, is in this group. Bill told us a story about his son Quintin that he gave me permission to share. It is always more fun to share Bill’s sin than it is mine and he was kind enough to let me do so. Quintin is in graduate school, and the registrar had made a clear error saying that he owed $8,000 and that he couldn’t enroll in classes until it was cleared up. Quentin met with him and they kept insisting that he owed the money, even though Bill and Quentin knew that he didn’t. So Bill said that he was driving and scheming about how to begin to apply the correct legal pressure. He was thinking of what lawyers he was going to call and how they would draft the complaint when all of a sudden the Lord spoke to him through Scripture and with one word: Ahaz. And he said he was driving and he almost had to pull over because he was afraid he was going to wreck from the tearing up.

This is 2 Kings 16. See Ahaz was the King of Judah who didn’t trust in God to protect him but who decided that it was better for him to trust in men and aligned himself with the King of Assyria instead of the King of Kings. Classic case of self-trust versus what the Bible calls us to do over and over again—put our trust in the Lord. And Bill was kicking himself—I should have known better. And here I am, just like Ahaz, putting my trust in lawyers to solve this. The point of the story isn’t that you, as a Christian, can never use lawyers. I would have never gone into law if that is the case. No—what I want you to see is how Scripture spoke into Bill’s life and lead him to repent of his self-trust. He was thinking incorrectly about how to handle it. His thinking wasn’t in line with Scripture, so he repented, and he committed it to prayer.

Addendum: The next day he gets an exultant email from his son saying, “Dad, you won’t believe this. The registrar just admitted that it was his fault. He said that he dropped the ball here and that it would be cleared up by the end of the day. And it was.”

2. Marrying someone who shares your passion for Jesus (v30)

V30 “We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons.” So here they said we won’t allow our sons or daughters to marry someone who isn’t one of your people God. Now why do they do this? Is this just because they were a little too strict as parents. Are they like the Cleavers from Leave it to Beaver? Little too strict. We live in a Modern Family world—no way this can still apply to us, right.

Well, you might think this if this was the only place in the Bible that mentions not marrying someone who doesn’t share your commitment to Jesus. But this isn’t the only place you see this in the Bible.

Malachi 2:11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god.

Ezra 10:2 “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel.

You’re looking for a loophole here. You’re thinking about a hot girl or guy that isn’t a follower of Jesus and you’re thinking—ahh, but he has only mentioned the Old Testament thus far. In the words of Lee Corso on Sportscenter, not so fast. Same thing, just phrased a little differently in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.” So, God is pretty clear from start to finish—he doesn’t want someone who is in relationship with Him marrying someone who isn’t in relationship with Him.

Now, lets take it a step further: dating. What does this mean for you as a follower of Jesus when it comes to dating? Should you date a non-Christian? Well, you can look from Genesis to Revelation and you won’t find a verse that says Christians shouldn’t date non-Christians. I know, I know, those of you who are Christians have probably heard lots of talks about how it isn’t Biblical to date non-Christians, but this is an example of where people are trying to be safe but actually going beyond what the Scriptures actually say. How do I know this? Because the Bible doesn’t speak about dating. Period. You didn’t date in Biblical times. Your families arranged for you to get married. The dads got together and said, “OK, how many goats will you give me for my daughter?” Or the dad met with the suitor—think of Laban and Jacob and he said, “OK, you can marry my daughter if you work for me for 7 years.”

But given what we saw earlier in the Bible about how marriage should be between two people who share the same commitment to Jesus, you see why Christians give this advice, even if dating wasn’t a part of the Biblical world. If God won’t let you marry a non-Christian, then why date them.

“Easy, you say. To convert them.” Missionary dating. When I go on dates, I am going on the mission field to convert people. Couple problems with missionary dating: (1) you don’t convert people, God does; (2) you better be ready to date someone for a long time b/c your timeline for conversion and God’s may be radically different; (3) you’re setting the person up for spiritual failure that you’re dating b/c of the motivation problem. “Convert and I’ll marry you.” Their going to inevitably question, “Did I really do this because I believe in and am in love with Jesus, or was I just using Jesus to get to you.”

Now those of you who are Christians and even those of you are not Christians are starting to object: how narrow-minded and intolerant of you to say that I shouldn’t date someone just because they don’t share my religious beliefs. See I have a number of friends who are not Christians, some that are married to Christians, some that aren’t. And several of the non-Christians have told me this, “I fully support my spouse’s religious convictions and I will never do anything to hinder that.” That sounds good and super-tolerant, but let me show you the problem with this, which should help you see why Jesus doesn’t want you in a relationship with someone who isn’t in relationship with Him.

If you are a follower of Jesus, then that means he is the center of your life. He isn’t peripheral. He is Lord—that means He has final authority on every decision you make. He isn’t peripheral, He is your Counselor—that means He speaks into every are of your life.

So, think about how this plays out in your marriage. Let’s start with money. As a follower of Jesus, you get it, that your money isn’t yours—it is on loan to you from Jesus for a few short years. As a result, you want to invest 10% of it back into the church. Then you say to your husband, “And let’s think about how we up the percentage that we’re giving to the work of Jesus Christ each year?” And your husband says why and you try to explain the gospel to Him. He may not be opposed to Jesus, but it is hard to get really enthusiastic about changing your lifestyle and living sacrificially so that you can give more to something or someone that you don’t believe in. Who hasn’t changed you.

Then you start talking about raising your kids. You think one of the most important things that you can do is raise your kids to serve and love and worship Jesus, to seek first His kingdom. This isn’t the most important thing to Him, by any stretch, and you know it so you even hesitate to bring it up. See what it would mean for your spouse to fully support you to see your kids seek first the kingdom of God is to help you teach them to pray. But he can’t because he doesn’t pray. He would need to help you teach them to learn how to read the Bible b/c he doesn’t read it.

Calling: At the beginning of your marriage, you use language about begin called by God to do things and to your husband this feels like you are just playing the God card and using manipulative spiritual language. How does he argue with God? Every time you mention God in the decision making process, his body language gives him away. A roll of the eyes, a snide remark, “Here we go again, quoting the Bible. Can’t you just think for yourself.” And slowly, but surely, there is a loss of intimacy over time. Because slowly, but surely, you stop sharing, because he doesn’t get you or get the one that means the most to you. He can’t get you—there is no way because He can’t understand, nor can you share, the most meaningful part of your life. So you gradually, either consciously or subconsciously, move your spouse to the margins of your life.

So, some of you are facing some really, really hard decisions. I don’t in any way want to make light of this decision when your heart is involved. But better to make the hard decision now and break up than to be unequally yoked because it just will create a loss of intimacy if you end up being married. There is no way around it.

But before we move on—one last question: what if you already are unequally yoked. You either didn’t know this or just didn’t care and you married someone who isn’t in relationship with Jesus. Some of you may be thinking, “Is he saying I can pull the rip cord and get out of this marriage if my husband or wife is an unbeliever?”

No. Once you commit, you’re in it. I Cor. 7:13-14, “If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. So, either way, difference of religious beliefs isn’t a reason for the rip cord. But here is where it gets really good. Look at how redemptively Jesus works. 14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband.”

Even though Jesus warned you against doing this, he works redemptively. See missionary marriages are a whole different ballgame than missionary dating. Time and time again I have seen the power and presence of Jesus come over an unbelieving spouse through a believing spouse. Not by beating them over the head with a Bible, but by them actually seeing that because of your relationship with Jesus, you love them better, you serve them better, you deny yourself more, you are kinder, more gracious, more full of the fruit of the Spirit of Jesus. And they meet Jesus through you.

Summary: dating/married/gay—hard being faithful to your covenant obligations to Jesus is hard. Whether you are dating someone and realize you must break up with them; whether you are in a tough marriage or a great marriage; whether you’re gay and you’re trying to figure out what a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ looks like. It is really hard to live up to the binding commitments the Bible is aking you to make.

In reality, none of us have been true to our covenant obligations. And all of us have done the same thing the Israelites did—we’ve failed in our covenant obligations. But thanks be to God for the gospel: the good news of Jesus Christ, that He made a New Covenant with us.

Hebrews 8 ““The days are coming, declares the Lord, 
   when I will make a new covenant 
with the people of Israel 9 It will not be like the covenant 
   I made with their ancestors… 
 
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant. This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel I will put my laws in their minds 
   and write them on their hearts. 
I will be their God, 
   and they will be my people. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness 
   and will remember their sins no more.

I will forgive their wickedness—our covenant violations--and remember their sin no more? How? By becoming sin on our behalf on the cross. The covenant keeper was willing to hang in the place where the covenant breakers belonged.

But sin and death and covenant breaking would not have the last word. Jesus won and He is alive, and it is true today that He is “writing His laws on our hearts and minds.” A new day has dawned. A resurrection day. A new hope is born if you have His Spirit. He can make you faithful to your covenant obligations.

Recent Sermon