October 23, 2005

Keeping the Covenant

Psalm 25 8-14
Isaiah 40:27-31
1 John 3:16-24
John 15:9-17

The term "covenant" is a concept that goes back originally to the time of Noah, in one of the earliest biblical stories. It is part of our faith in the deepest sense, and is most often thought of as an agreement between God and God's people, what God promises to do for the people and what the people promise to do in response. The two major parts of our Bible, the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, are also called the Old Covenant or the First Covenant - meaning the covenants God made with the people of Israel through Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the prophets - and the New Covenant - the promises God has made with all humanity through Jesus Christ.

If covenant is so important to our faith, how, then, are we to keep the covenant? How are we to obey the directives, laws, and commandments that God lays out for us to follow? On this day we call Stewardship Sunday (called Covenant Sunday in some churches), what does keeping the covenant mean to us as God's people in this time and place? To answer these questions, I want to briefly look with you at each of our Scripture lessons for today.

We begin with Psalm 25, where the idea of "keeping the covenant" is most explicitly laid out. The Psalmist declares that out of God's goodness sinners are instructed in the paths to follow. That's you and me, friends! We're all sinners because we're not perfect, and yet if we follow in the paths where the Lord leads us, we'll discover God's will and be better prepared to resist sinful inclinations. God always takes the initiative toward us. Our response, being obedient to God's commandments, helps us to follow in the ways we are to live. When we think of commandments that must be obeyed, most of us immediately think of the Ten Commandments. But keeping the covenant and obeying God's commands is more than just adhering to the law, it's more than a legalistic following of right behaviors, it's more than a series of "Thou shalts" and "Thou shalt nots."

The more is that which Jesus embodied, the core of the gospel message, that is love. Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John that his commandment is that we are to love one another as he has loved us. What comes first is the love of God in Jesus Christ for us. By keeping the commandment, the covenant of love, we abide in Jesus' love. Our Lord considers us his friends when we follow in his way. The relationship is closer, more intimate than that of a master and servant. Again, God takes the initiative: "You did not choose me, but I chose you." For what purpose? To bear good fruit - remember last week's sermon? The bottom line for Jesus is for us to love one another.

What does the kind of love that Jesus is talking about - sometimes referred to as agape love - what does this kind of love really mean? What is it? Is it the sentimental, syrupy love portrayed in romance novels or on soap operas? Not at all. Is it the warm fuzzy feelings we get when we're near someone we care about in a special way? No, this isn't it either. As Jesus puts it in the Gospel, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." Love, as Jesus defines it, and as his words are amplified in the First Letter of John, love is radical sacrifice. The writer of the letter explains that as Jesus laid down his life for us through his ultimate sacrifice on the cross, we, therefore, ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. This is how we know love. This is how we abide in love. This is how we are to live out love in our lives.

Jesus expects that we who claim him as Lord will live out his love sacrificially - maybe not literally giving up our lives in an ultimate sense, but living sacrificially for others - opening our hearts to those in need when we have the "world's goods," the resources to meet those needs; loving others more than just in word or speech, but in deed and in truth, loving which shows itself in action.

As we contemplate what keeping the covenant means in terms of our personal stewardship, I want to share with you what others have to say about this. I begin with a true story. A businessman and a Christian missionary are travelling in Korea, and one day they see in a field by the side of the road a young man pulling a plow, while an old man holds the handles. The businessman takes a snapshot of the strange sight. "That's a curious picture; I imagine they are very poor," he remarks to the missionary who is his interpreter and guide for the journey. "Yes," is the quiet reply. "This is the family of Chi Noui. When their church was being built they had no money, so they sold their only ox and gave the proceeds to the church. This spring they are pulling the plow themselves." The businessman is silent for some time, then he replies, "That must have been a real sacrifice." "They do not call it a sacrifice," says the missionary. "They think it's a wonderful thing that they had an ox to sell." (i) Opening our hearts to meet the needs of others is keeping the covenant - and good stewardship.

The second illustration comes from Anthony Robbins, the well-known self-improvement and leadership guru, and creator of "Personal Power" and "Get the Edge." In his book, "Unlimited Power," he says: "Take ten percent of all that you earn up front and give it away. That's right. Why? One reason is that you should put back what you take out. Another is that it creates value for you and for others. More important, it says to the world and to others that there is more than enough ... When do you start to give ten percent away?" he asks. "When you are rich and famous? No. You should do it when you are just starting out. Because what you give away becomes your seed corn. You have got to invest it, not eat it, and the best way to invest it is to give it away so that it produces value for others." (ii) Who would have guessed that Tony Robbins would promote tithing?! But here it is. That's real good stewardship!

A modern theologian, Fred Buechner, puts it this way: "In the Christian sense love is not primarily an emotion but an act of the will... You can as well produce a cozy emotional feeling on demand as you can a yawn or a sneeze. On the contrary, love is being willing to work for our neighbors' well-being even if it means sacrificing our own well-being to that end..." (iii)

For me, keeping the covenant means putting our love into action. Our Pilgrim Church Covenant certainly seems to support this. A portion of it reads: "We promise to live Christian lives, to share in the work of this family of faith and the whole church of Christ, to be loyal to this church, to attend its appointed services, to promote its usefulness as God's instrument, and to walk with one another in love and faithfulness." That's a tall order. Where do we get the energy and stamina to live such a Christian life? The answer to this question can be found in our second Hebrew Bible lesson today, in the words from the prophet Isaiah, words addressed to a people who are weak, discouraged, and tired, to a people who want to follow in God's ways, but who are not sure they have the strength or the inner resources to do so on their own. Perhaps these words are addressed to you and me as well. God "gives power to the weak and strengthens the powerless. [and] ... those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

Let me conclude by telling you a story, maybe you've heard it before. It's called the "Parable of the Eagle." A man is walking through the forest and he comes across a baby eagle that has fallen out of its nest. The man brings the eagle home and puts it among his chickens and ducks and turkeys, and gives it chickens' food to eat, even though it's an eagle. Five years later, a naturalist comes to see him, and upon going through the chicken yard, comments, "That bird is an eagle, not a chicken." "Yes," says its owner, "but I have trained it to be a chicken. It is no longer an eagle; it's a chicken, even though it looks like an eagle." "No," says the naturalist, "it is an eagle still. It has the eye of an eagle, the heart of an eagle, and the spirit of an eagle, and I will make it soar high up to the heavens." "No," says the owner, "it's a chicken, and it will never fly."

So they agree to test it. The naturalist picks up the eagle, holds it up, and says with great intensity, "You are an eagle. You have the eye of an eagle, the heart of an eagle, and the spirit of an eagle. You belong to the sky and not to this earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle turns this way and that, and then, looks down and sees the chickens eating their food, and jumps down. "I told you it was a chicken." "No," says the naturalist, "it is an eagle. Give me another chance tomorrow." So the next day he takes it to the top of the house and says, "You are an eagle. You have the eye of an eagle, the heart of an eagle, and the spirit of an eagle. You belong to the sky and not to this earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly." But again, seeing the chickens feeding below, the eagle clumsily hops off the roof and feeds with them. "I told you it was a chicken." "No," asserts the naturalist, "it is an eagle. Give me one more chance, and I will make it fly tomorrow."

The next morning he rises early and takes the eagle outside of town, away from the houses, to the foot of a high mountain. The sun is just rising, gilding the top of the mountain with gold; every crag is glistening with the joy of the beautiful morning. He picks up the eagle and says to it: "You are an eagle. You have the eye of an eagle, the heart of an eagle, and the spirit of an eagle. You belong to the sky and not to this earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle looks around and trembles, as if new life were coming to it, but it does not fly. Then the naturalist turns the eagle and makes it look straight at the sun. Suddenly the bird stretches its wings and, with the screech of an eagle, it starts to fly, soaring higher and higher, reaching new heights with every flap of its majestic wings. And it never returns. It realizes at last that it is an eagle, even though it has been kept and tamed as a chicken. (iv)

Hear again the words of Isaiah: "But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." My brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are eagles. Maybe others have tried to keep us in the chicken yard, maybe they've put us down as not having the potential for anything great in life, maybe they even called us turkeys - maybe we've done this to ourselves. But you and I are eagles, loved and cared for by God and made in God's image. We have the capacity within us to stretch forth our wings and fly. We can live the life of sacrificial love. All we need to do is trust in the Lord for help, and like the eagle ... focus our eyes on the Risen Son. If we do, we will be able to keep the covenant, mounting up with wings like eagles, and reaching new heights we never dreamed possible. So may it be. Amen.

The Pilgrim Church of Duxbury
Rev. Kenneth C. Landall

i Autoillustrator, #4434.
ii Ibid., #22046.
iii Frederick Buechner, "Wishful Thinking," ibid.
iv James Aggrey, "Parable of the Eagle."