Sermon Sketches: Genesis 19:3-8a ~ God's Promises: A New Identity

We continue to leap through the grand story of God’s people in the Old Testament. From Abraham a few weeks ago, we jumped to his great-grandson, Joseph the dreamer, in Egypt. Joseph eventually becomes one the of the leaders of Egypt and his family—those brothers who sold him into slavery and his father—all join him there (by the way, those dreams all came true.) Time passes, the government changes, and soon the favored people became the disfavored people—the people of Abraham, the children of Jacob, became slaves. God calls Moses to lead the people to freedom, and back to the land of promise. At the beginning of the great exodus, God carries the people through the Red Sea and destroys the Egyptian army that is in hot pursuit. Today, we find God’s people and their leader, Moses, at Mt. Sinai—that symbol of God’s presence.

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Do you ever find yourself wanting to be someone else, to be someone different from who you are? Perhaps we've all fantasized at times about moving far away and making a clean start, getting a new identity. God, too, wants to give us a new identity. It's not that God made a mistake in who we are--we make the mistakes. Perhaps we could say it better like this: God wants to remind us of who we are and of the amazing relationship we can have with our Creator.

Our focus is Exodus 19:5-6: Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

We find here one of the several “If..., then....” promises of God, found throughout Scripture, promises that are predicated on our activity, our attitudes, our behavior. Some of God’s promises are conditional.

Of course, we know some things are unconditional in this world—

• God’s love for us.
• A parent’s love and care for their child (or, this should be unconditional.)
• Our Christian disciplines and holy habits—we do these regardless of God’s response, or should.
• The proper execution of our jobs—we do what we’re hired to do...regardless of feelings, people, etc.

But, a lot of things in this world are conditional. In the freshman composition course I teach at the local community college, the grades are conditional— “If you show up and do the work, you will pass the class.” Promotions in the work-place are usually conditional— “If you meet the standard and go beyond, if you put in the hours, if you bring in the money, you will be promoted....” Sometimes, we do have conditional relationships— “Hey, Bro., can I borrow your amazing ‘flower-power’ t-shirt for the concert in the park tomorrow?” Bro: “Sure, I guess so...if you cut the grass for me this afternoon.” And, of course, even those unconditionally loving parents can be conditional— “Dad, can I borrow the car?” Dad: “If you clean your room, take out the trash for your mom, and make a ‘B’ on that Math test tomorrow, yes.”

About those conditional promises: Often times, people—parents, bosses, teachers—are striving to instill positive disciplines in those seeking favor. They want to teach us that nothing is ‘free’ in life. They have good intentions, but we tend to want everything for nothing. Others simply want to control and manipulate—to get what they can out of us. So, what is God up to here? What is this conditional promise about?

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

When I give my college students that beginning-of-the-semester promise—if you show up and do the work, you will pass the class—I am not promising to actually do anything myself. I’m making a declaration of what the results of their own actions will lead to. I do not say, “If you show up and do the work, I will pass you.” Rather, I say, “...you will pass the class.” This is a conditional promise that seeks to establish behaviors that will result in something positive for the person who embraces them. And, God seems to be speaking in the very same way:

     “...If you obey..., then...you will be....”

It’s not, “I will make you to be....” Rather, you will simply be this because of your obedience and covenant keeping. Your doing these things will result in something positive. You will become something different for having done these things. In fact, if you do these things, we--God and human--will have a new relationship, and we humans will have a new identity--treasured, priests, holy nation.

Of course, Moses takes this back to the people, and they—with the best intentions, I’m sure—say, “Yeah! We’ll do it!” And, as we follow the story of these people, all through the wilderness wanderings, they continually renege on the deal...a practice they carry on through the conquest of Canaan, the Kingdoms...all the way to the dissolution of Israel. A kingdom of priest and a holy nation they never really became...because they could not or would not live up to the conditions of the covenant.

But, that is not the end of the story. In fact, God did get that kingdom, that nation.

In the New Testament, Peter writes, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (I Peter 2:9-10).

So, God just did it, just made it happen anyway? What about the conditional covenant? Well, none of that changed. To this very day, the condition is still there, “If..., then....” So how does this work?

Romans 8:1-3 provides the answer: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Granted, Paul is a bit thick in his writings at times, but the clarity of what we find we find in vs.3-4 is unquestionable: “God...by sending his own Son...condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us....” In other words, God has allowed Jesus to be the one who obeys and keeps covenant in our place and gives us the privilege becoming “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.”

Again, we aren’t made to be these so we can sit back on our chosen, royal, holy and special back-sides to enjoy our 'specialness;' we are made these things so we can “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” We are made into this people, priesthood, nation so that we can declare God’s grace, love, forgiveness and mercy to a world starving for forgiveness, love...for a second chance.

So, how many of us are living into our identity? How many of us live as chosen, royal, holy and special people? I wonder if many of us are not living like the almost-broke, aimless fellow on the streets who doesn’t know he’s been given an inheritance, title, lands and more. Worse, we know we’re children of God, and we still choose to live aimless, loveless, empty lives.... Today is a good day to change that!

Christ has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. On this World Communion Sunday, we come to the Table to remember—and to celebrate!—the love of God shown to us through the Son, Christ Jesus our Lord...and may it be a time we determine to live into our God-given identity.

~Amen~