October 23, 2016 sermon Reflection

Sermon Reflection 10/23/2016

In the beginning pages of Scripture we read a tragic story of man’s fall into sin as a result of disobedience. Pastor Gene reminded us this past Sunday that what took place was more than simply Adam not obeying God’s directions, like a son disobeys a father. Adam broke a solemn oath, sovereignly administered with attending blessings and curses, a bond rooted in love and graciously administered to Adam by God. It was a covenant Adam transgressed, a covenant which set the limits and bounds of, among many other things, Gender, Marriage, Work, and Worship. Interestingly, the Westminster Standards, in speaking of this covenant in Shorter Catechism question 12, refers to it as a Covenant of Life. It was through this covenant God meant to administer his kingdom and govern life in it. Our lives were meant to be lived out in that covenant relationship. We were created in our beings to run with the grain of that Creation Covenant. Adam broke this covenant in sin and now the whole creation groans under the curses of this covenant (Rom. 8:20-22). We cannot deny the implications of that covenant breaking today; life in our world is marked by knots and worm-holes that disrupted the grain and beauty of God’s original creation. Not only do we see its effects in the brokeness of the world, we feel its effects as we experience difficulties in our marriages, dissatisfaction and futility in our work, and emptiness in our worship. We are ourselves covenant breakers and, with the creation, groan under not only the implications of Adam’s sin but also our own. 

It is true grace was not absent from the administration of this Creation Covenant. God was not obligated to enter covenant with Adam at all, that he did so was gracious in itself. Also, God could have required perfect and personal obedience of Adam with no promise of life and blessing. That God extends that promise is also gracious. But, after Adam broke that original covenant, God had made plans to put His amazing grace on display in ways that should cause us to lift our hands in praise and our voices in thanks to Him for His incredible mercy. The Covenant of Grace is so identified for a reason; it displays God’s gracious character even towards a rebellious world. I look forward to that proclamation of grace every Lord’s day, but I will especially look forward to understanding it more fully in the weeks to come as we continue the series on God’s Covenants of Promise. 

-SFE