“Covenant and Mission”

Sermon Title: Covenant and Mission

Scripture: Genesis 25:1-11 ESV

Introduction

Genesis 25 is not about missions; the interpretation of this chapter is about God’s covenant and His faithfulness to His people as His covenant people. Genesis 25 begins with a bit of a surprise. Abraham takes another woman as his wife named Keturah. We know that she used to be one of his concubines, but other than that we don’t know much else. We actually don’t even know whether or not this was before or after Sarah’s death. Although Genesis is for the most part written chronologically, there are places like genealogies where it is written thematically and not chronologically.

The Children of Abraham

I have a lot of questions on my mind, but what’s important is that through Keturah, Abraham had six other sons other than Isaac (Gen. 25:1–2).

But have you noticed that among the six sons of Keturah, the author only expands the genealogy of two of them: Jokshan and Midian? And from Jokshan, Dedan’s genealogy is expanded (Gen. 25:3–4). The significance of Dedan and Midian is that their descendants would go on to become nations that would reappear many times in the Bible and be involved with Israel repeatedly, either as a friend or enemy.

Of these, Midian is best known to us for the group of people who accepted Moses when he ran away from Egypt. Moses would eventually marry into the family of the Midianites. Zipporah became his wife and Jethro his father-in-law. When we are introduced to Jethro, the Bible describes him as a priest of Midian. It is most likely that he was a priest of pagan gods. He may have had some knowledge of Yahweh God, but how much he knew about God is uncertain. But after hearing from Moses about how the Lord had delivered the Israelites out of slavery, Jethro confesses that the Lord is greater than all gods. He then brings offerings and sacrifices to God and worships with Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel (Ex. 18:10–12). We see Jethro coming to know that the Lord our God is greater than all gods, greater than his gods, and he becomes a worshipper of God.

Now, I want you to hold on to that thought.

In Genesis 25:5–6, Abraham gives everything he has to Isaac while giving gifts to the sons of his concubines and sending them eastward. Here, we see clearly that Isaac alone is the heir of the covenant because God had chosen Isaac to be the one through whom God’s covenant would continue. Yet, through these other sons of Abraham, we also see the fulfillment of God’s promise that Abraham would become the father of a multitude of nations (Gen. 17:4–6). And as readers, we know that God’s sovereign purpose is still upon those who were outside the covenant line. We see God creating a movement that began with Abraham, that moves to Midian, which then moves to Jethro, and in hearing of God’s salvation, Jethro makes a confession of faith in the one true God, and Jethro becomes a worshipper of God. This is a glimpse of the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham, that through his offspring all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 22:18). While this promise is actually about the salvation that would come from Jesus Christ, we see a glimpse of that salvation through the covenant of God.

In verse 9, we see the return of Ishmael who helps bury Abraham, and we see the mentioning of the cave of Machpelah, the field that was bought from Ephron, as if God is reminding us of His promises to Hagar to bless Ishmael and that He was fulfilling His covenant by taking the first steps with Abraham buying the land (Gen. 25:9–10). And lastly in verse 11, the covenantal blessings are given to Isaac, who is at Beer-lahai-roi, where Isaac was in Chapter 24, where he stood before God and communed with God. Generations may pass, but the covenant remains and is sustained by the faithfulness and commitment of God alone.

What we see here in today’s passage is not merely a genealogy of people and the transitioning of generations. What we are seeing is the fulfillment of God’s covenant and the continued fulfillment of God’s covenant through which God invites His people to participate and witness God’s mission of redemption in this world.

From Covenant to Missions

Now, I want to ask you a question to think about: What if God never made a covenant with Abraham? If God’s covenant never existed, what would our world be like? Of course, it may be a fruitless question to ask because God could have used some other method to redeem the world and reveal Himself. However, when we consider that God sovereignly chose out of the wisdom of His counsel to use the covenant with humanity, what disappears if the covenant didn’t exist?

No covenant with Abraham may mean no Israel as God’s chosen covenant people through whom God reveals His Law, His Word, His Worship, and His will for redemption through His servants the prophets. No Moses, no Exodus, no Mt. Sinai, no tabernacle, no temple, no unified kingdom under King David, and no one to announce the coming of the Messiah who is to save the world from their sins. The Bible as we know it would be different as well.

I’m not just running wild with my imagination. Paul reminds us that to Israel belonged the adoption, glory, covenants, Law, worship, promises, patriarchs, and ultimately that according to the flesh, Christ came through them (Rom. 9:4–5). Taking away the covenant isn’t just taking away Abraham’s story from the book of Genesis. What disappears is the covenantal road that God paved through history throughout the entire Bible towards our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But God did give us the covenants. He did give us His promises. He did give us His Law, His Word, His Prophets, His Worship, His love, His everything in His Son Jesus Christ. Through Christ, the blessing of Abraham has come even to the Gentiles (Gal. 3:14).

This is why we are gathered together in this room. This is why the church, our church, exists today. This is why we of all different ethnicities and nations from all around the world, backgrounds, cultures, and all walks of life, who are not the physical descendants of Abraham, worship the God of Abraham as our God. Because if we belong to Christ, then we are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise (Gal. 3:29). We do all these things because it was made possible for us because of our union with Jesus Christ through whom the blessing of Abraham comes to us today. Genesis 25 isn’t just ancient history anymore. It is our history because in Christ, we are the children of God.

The covenant promises ultimately find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and through Christ the blessing promised to Abraham goes out to the nations. And from this mission of God flows what we call missions today.

God’s Mission

There are many ideas and definitions of what missions are. If you have 100 missionaries, you would probably get 100 different answers, but there are two particular ideas that I love. “Missions exist where worship does not.” It reminds me of Jethro, having heard the Word of God, becoming a worshipper of God. Another idea that resonates with me as I consider God’s covenant is this: “Missions do not begin with the Church because it is God’s mission and it begins with Him.”

From the very beginning to this very day, it is God who moves and carries His plan of redemption, but through Christ we are allowed to participate in God’s Mission. We do not create or sustain missions, nor is it by our power that people are saved. We are not the center of missions. This is not your mission. It is God’s mission. What we call missions streams down from God’s mission of redemption that is revealed through His covenant. God is the one who, since the beginning, sends. He has sent His Word, His Law, His prophets, His Son. The Father and the Son sent the Spirit, and Jesus now sends the Church.

Then the question is: Why does God call us to participate?

God does not need us to spread the gospel. He can do a much better job without us. Jesus worked very efficiently when Jesus revealed Himself to Paul. What this means is that the reason why God chooses and calls us to missions is not about efficiency. It was about us. It was about His desire to be with us because He so loves us.

Earlier, I told you about my up and down week, and the message that God had placed in my heart. The message was this: Minjae, in the midst of your circumstances, do you desire to move the heart of God? Given this opportunity, how should you respond to the Lord in faith?

When I say “move the heart of God,” I don’t mean manipulating God to do something or making God move to action. I don’t mean making a change to His eternal being nor to His emotions. What I mean is what Scripture means when it tells us that God takes pleasure in His people, that faith pleases Him, and that He rejoices over His people with singing (Ps. 147:11; Heb. 11:6; Zeph. 3:17).

Most of the time, we ask the Lord to touch us, to move our hearts, for us to feel His presence and power, and rightly so. But how often do we think about blessing the Lord? How often do we think about moving the heart of the Lord who rejoices and sings over us? Where being a delight to the Lord is our foremost desire in life?

I believe that missions, be it local or overseas, or the ways God calls us to participate missionally inside and outside the church, is God allowing us the opportunity to understand that we’re not going there to save the world, but we’re going there to witness how God does. We get to see God’s mission at work and through it we are given the opportunity to know the heart of God. Those who know the heart of God are those who desire to be the delight that moves the heart of God.

What does this look like? All of heaven rejoices. Jesus tells us that heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7, 10). And I believe the completed picture of the covenant and missions is found in Revelation 7:9–10, where a multitude that no one can number, from every nation, tribe, people, and language stands before the throne and before the Lamb worshipping God for His salvation.

What is God’s mission? What does mission seek? To bring home that one lost sheep out of the 99, the one sinner who repents. To bring that son or daughter back home. That through the hearing of the gospel, like Jethro, like Zacchaeus, like so many others, like you and me, they would repent, believe, and worship Jesus Christ. And heaven rejoices. Missions is about God inviting us very close to the heart of God.

Brothers and sisters, perhaps the Lord is stirring up your heart with a desire for missions, local or overseas, but at the same time, you have obligations in your life that seem to prevent you from answering that call. You have obligations as a student, or obligations to your job. You’re a parent with obligations to your spouse and kids. Perhaps you feel too young, or too old, or too unready.

Brothers and sisters, if you feel the Lord giving you a passion to take part in His mission, may you receive that calling in obedience. Remember that God’s mission does not depend on your circumstances, but the Lord is faithful and powerful enough to work through them. We can, as a church, live to please the Lord. We can participate in the rejoicing of heaven.