Sign of the Promise
Transcript
G'day everyone. My name's Raz. It's good to be with you here this morning. A show of hands real quick. Who here in the room has ever heard of the awkward turtle? The awkward turtle.
Okay, all of the millennials have heard of the awkward turtle. Excellent. The awkward turtle, I believe, was invented 10-ish years ago. It was kind of like just transitioned in right when I came out of high school. And I think this is what the internet tells me. I don't know if it's true or not.
The internet tells me that the awkward turtle was invented because people who were awkward in situations and conversations had this problem with their neck. Where they were speaking, something awkward would happen, and they would just kind of recede a little bit. So that their head tries to escape the situation and get inside their body. And that's kind of where the idea of a turtle comes along. But that was causing neck issues.
So, they invented this kind of hand gesture, which looks like this. Which is supposed to represent the turtle's body. Some people do it like that, but they're weird. It goes like this. And these are the little, what are they, they don't call them wings. They're like the flappers, whatever, of the turtle.
And whenever something really awkward happens in a conversation, you can kind of do the awkward turtle and just... Back yourself out of that conversation. And that's apparently... Look, when it came into existence, that was the thing that people did. Not saying it was good, not saying it was polite, but that's just kind of how it happened. For example, I'm not going to name names, protagonists in this story.
This is a true story. I won't tell you the person's name, but I'll give you a hint. He has a beard, and he was standing there about three minutes ago. This happened in this very room, and it was kind of just over there. And I was introducing my friend to my wife, Christina's mom. And in the...
Look, he's not very good with small talk. And we all know this. If you're friends with him, small talk is not one of his spiritual gifts. And so you kind of have to be prepared for situations like this. So I introduce him.
I say, this is Christina's mom. And this is what comes out of his mouth. He goes, oh, cool. Hi. So, how long have you been Christina's mom? And you can see in his eyes and in his brain, he's just processed the fact that he just said, how long have you been the mother of your daughter?
And his neck starts going like this. And then my neck started going like that. And Christina's mom's neck was like this. And everyone was like this. And that would have been the perfect time, permissible, to be awkward turtle. You can just back away from the creepy bearded guy.
That's how it's supposed to work. Now, I mention this. I mention this because this morning and for the next couple of minutes, we're going to have a good old-fashioned awkward fest. Between you guys and me, we're just going to get awkward real quick. Not because I like torturing people with awkward situations, although that's true. That's not the reason that this is happening.
We're going to have an old-fashioned awkward fest because we're in a section of God's story that sometimes churches in this world tend to breeze by. Not defining terminology, leaving people hanging in the dark a little bit. And so we're going to step through it. We're going to spend some time. And we're going to actually define terminology, make sure that everyone's on the same page, and get through it even though it's awkward. Okay.
Today we're going to spend pretty much our entire morning talking about circumcision. And I'm not talking about just like say the word and move on. I'm like, we're going to talk real quick about circumcision. And so for the people in the room who know, you know that the awkward total is about to come out. So I've prepared you well.
But for the people who don't know, and I don't want to call people out. I don't want to make you feel silly or whatever. But I just want to make sure that everyone knows exactly, clinically, what we're about to talk about so that, Lord forbid, nobody Googles anything this morning. That would be a travesty, and I've not done due diligence. So, without further ado, here is a very concise medical definition of the word circumcision. Circumcision.
I'm just going to put my hands here. Circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin covering the tip of the male genitalia. Now you know, right? Yes, I said that. Yes, I said that into a microphone on stage in a church gathering. It's going on the internet.
Internet. You're welcome, internet. You've been blessed this morning, internet. Now you're probably thinking, look, I would be thinking, if I'm where you were, what exactly does this have to do with covenant? Because we're talking about covenants, we're doing this whole series on covenants, and today we're just talking about foreskins and circumcision, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But in the passage we're about to read, God calls circumcision the sign of the covenant.
And for us to spend however many weeks talking about covenant and skip the sign of the covenant, just because it's awkward to talk about and no one wants to talk about circumcision, we would kind of be missing the point. So we're going to plow through today. We're going to try and understand what exactly was going on in Genesis when they talked about circumcision. And then we're going to say, we're going to try and work out what it means for us, and then work out where Jesus fits into the whole picture. Let me pray for us, and then we're going to open up God's word. God, I pray this morning that as we look into your scripture and talk about weird and awkward conversations, that you'll be opening our hearts and our minds to understand what it is you have for us today.
I pray that that will be true for us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. If you've got a Bible, open up to Genesis 17. Genesis 17. Genesis 17, it'll be on page 8 if you've got one of these blue pew Bibles. Genesis 17.
What happens in Genesis 17 is about 15 years after what happens in Genesis 15, which is what we talked about last week. So last week we're in Genesis 15. About 15 years later than that, we find ourselves in Genesis 17. I'm just going to read the first chunk for us. Page 8, 17, verse 1. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty.
Walk before me and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly. Then Abram fell on his face and God said to him, Behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall you be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham. Real quick pause. God changes people's names pretty frequently, especially throughout the Old Testament, but it happens a little bit in the New Testament as well. It really just signifies a change in direction in that person's life.
It's almost like a graduation or a promotion. And typically the name that he gives them has some important meaning. So for Abraham, the name Abraham actually means father of a great multitude. Let's keep reading. From verse 5. No longer shall you be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham.
For I have made you a father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God. Now, this is more or less a restatement of stuff we already know. If you've been with us for a few weeks, we've been talking about the covenant to Abraham for a while now.
And this is basically just a rehashing of the stuff we've already talked about. But you'll notice he's 99 years old. The guy's super old. And sometimes with old people, you just have to repeat yourself. Especially if it's been 15 years, right? So God repeats himself and says, this is the covenant that I'm making with you and your offspring.
And his covenant with them is that they will become a great nation, that they will inherit land and that God will bless them. Basically, that his people will be in his place and they will have his presence. That's kind of the theme that we've been drawing through all of the covenant series so far. So it starts off in Eden when God puts his people in his place and has his presence with them and in amongst them. And then the fall happens and everything goes wrong. And ever since then, we've been asking this question, how is God going to point us back to a new Eden, a new creation that will once again be God's people in God's place with his presence?
Now God kind of moves on and talks about some of Abraham's responsibilities. This is verse 9. God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people for he has broken my covenant. Whoa. Things just got real.
Now in order to understand this we're just going to quickly revisit some stuff that happened last week. Last week we're in Genesis 15 and in Genesis 15 if you're here you already know this but for the people who weren't here in Genesis 15 God and Abraham established their covenant and it takes the form of what we call a suzerain vassal treaty and in a suzerain vassal treaty this is not Bible words this is ancient history words this is just the way things happened in the old days. The suzerain was the powerful nation ruler or whatever. The vassal was a weaker nation that had been conquered by a superior nation and they make a treaty in which the weaker nation says I want you to look after me and in doing that I will serve you I will do what you tell me to do I'll pay the taxes and I'll come to your aid whenever you're leading wars.
And what they would do is they would have this little ceremony that would play out. And this happens in Genesis 15 between God and Abraham God being the superior power and Abraham being the weaker one. What happens is they get a bunch of animals birds and goats and that kind of thing and they split them in half and they create a lane like a pathway through the middle where there's animal carcasses on each side of the pathway and all of the blood flows into the middle to form like a walkway of blood. It's pretty gross. It's pretty grim. It's pretty gruesome.
And what would happen in the suzerain vassal treaty is the weaker party would walk through that pathway of blood. And what they're saying by doing that is that stronger nation if I break my promises to you you get to do this to me. If I break my promise to you you get to destroy me. And in Genesis 15 Abraham and God set up this kind of a ritual but the major difference that happens is that right when Abraham's about to walk through bam God puts him to sleep. Then instead of Abraham walking through God walks through and then walks back through.
God goes through twice. And what he's saying by doing that is that if Abraham if the weaker party let me start let me backtrack if God the stronger party breaks his end of the deal if the stronger party breaks his end of the deal the weaker party gets to split him in two. That's not normal. That's not typical. That's not how it usually happens in these ceremonies. But what he also said by walking through twice is that if Abraham breaks his side of the deal God will also be the one who's punished.
God will have the right to punish Abraham but instead will punish himself. Now we're here in Genesis 17 this is 15 years later and circumcision is now part of this picture and this picture is pretty gross. It's bloodthirsty. It's disgusting. It's got retribution. It's got punishment written all over it.
The whole picture is not particularly pretty. And I don't think it's meant to be very pretty. In verse 11 God says it it meaning circumcision it shall be a sign of the covenant of the bloodbath ceremony. It shall be a sign of that ceremony between me and you. In verse 13 he says so shall my covenant so shall this covenant be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. He's saying very explicitly I want you to remember this bloodbath ceremony.
I want the weight of what happened in that ceremony in that agreement in that covenant I want the weight of that to bear down on you at all times. I want you to remember it. I want you to remember it so much that I'm going to make it a part of you. I'm going to cut it into your flesh so that you will remember it. Do not forget the covenant. That's what's going on here.
So the covenant was made when a bunch of animals were slaughtered as a symbol of what would happen if one of the parties broke their promise. And in that situation it is no wonder that when God decided this will be the sign of my covenant he made it something rather gruesome something a little bloodthirsty. The whole point is to remind them of the consequences of what would happen should someone break this covenant. And apparently at least it makes sense to me what better way to make people remember that than to threaten a man where men do not like being threatened. Now you may be wondering at this point in time how do women fit into this?
Is there a sign for the girls? Is only the male in the whole generation covered with the sign that kind of thing? My first response and this is look this is just my fallen brain being sarcastic and wanting to say this you did just hear what the sign for the guys was right? Are the ladies really wishing for their own sign at a time like this? Probably not. But a far more accurate you know biblically historically correct you know actual real reason for this that I probably should explain is that back then they had what they call a patriarchal society.
Right? Are the ladies really wishing for their own sign at a time like this? Probably not. But a far more accurate you know biblically historically correct you know actual real reason for this that I probably should explain is that back then they had what they call a patriarchal society. It's no better no worse than the way that we do things
In our culture it's just different it's thousands of years old and it's the way things worked back then and back then in a patriarchy there was a male who was the head of a household and he kind of held responsibility for that household and so for women living in that society they would be born into their father's household and their father would have responsibility for their household and when they get married they would move into their husband's household and then their husband
Would be the head of that household and he would hold responsibility for that household so when God makes a sign of the covenant with the males throughout the entire generation and for the rest of history when all of the males are circumcised they're covering their households with that sign of the covenant and so for women the sign of the covenant being made with men doesn't actually neglect women based on the way their society functioned entire households were being covered with the sign of this covenant
So look I guess you just get a free pass on this one and you get to be covered by the men's sign of the covenant let's continue pick up the story in verse 15 and God said to Abraham as for Sarah your wife you shall not call her name Sarah but Sarah shall be her name I will bless her and moreover I will give you a son by her I will bless her and she shall become nations kings of people
Shall come from her then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old shall Sarah who is ninety years old bear a child and Abraham said to God oh that Ishmael might live before you God said no but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him
As for Ishmael I have heard you behold I have blessed him and I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly he shall father twelve princes and I will make him into a great nation but I will establish my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year we're going to take we're going to pause for just a moment this is not a main point for this morning but it's important to cover because there's some names we just read that we need to explain
Not a main point this morning but in Genesis 16 which is the chapter of the Bible that we just skipped between last week Genesis 15 and this week Genesis 17 in Genesis 16 Abraham has a son he has a son and his name is Ishmael but that son is not born from his wife Sarah but from his wife's handmaiden Hagar now this is not entirely uncommon and it's not the wrong way for them to do things back then
Because they lived in that patriarchy and for a man who had responsibility over his household he would need to have an heir so that that heir could then in turn have responsibility for the household and so when Sarah is not able to have kids Abraham she actually convinced him to have a kid so they would at least have a son who could take over for the family and that son became Ishmael through Sarah's
Handmaiden Hagar that's kind of where Ishmael fits into it so when God so when Abraham says please let Ishmael stand before you God says no I'm going to establish my covenant through Isaac who is your son who you will have through your wife for the history buffs out there Ishmael this other son of Abraham's is where the Islamic religion draws their heritage from
We're not going to park here we're not going to make a big point of this but just because it's true the Islamic nation the Islamic people draw their heritage from Ishmael and that's why we get a lot of questions like don't Muslims and Christians and Jews all worship the same God it's because at some point in time they all point back towards Abraham
If you want to keep having that discussion we can talk about it later it's not a main point of this sermon because as it says God says no my covenant is not going to follow Ishmael it's going to follow Isaac and we're going to keep reading verse 22 actually let's go from verse 21 but I will establish my covenant
With Isaac whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year when he had finished talking to him God went up from Abraham then Abraham took Ishmael his son sorry then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born to his house or bought with his money every male among the men
Of Abraham's house and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day as God had said to him Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and Ishmael his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin
That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised and all of the men of his house those born in his house and those bought with money from a foreigner were circumcised with him Abraham and his entire posse all of them were circumcised in one day now this is not a day that any of them were looking forward to
I'm sure if you're 99 years old and this happens this is a day that you're never going to forget but so it was God wanted his covenant people to be physically reminded for their entire lives to be constantly reminded that they were different people because the blood covenant applied to them now if you've been paying attention all series
You would know that this is actually the second covenant that comes paired along with a sign the first covenant that comes paired along with a sign is the covenant made to Noah what happens in Noah's story is he gets all the animals on his big boat big flood comes and at the end of that the animals
Come off and God makes a covenant with Noah and says I'm never going to destroy the earth again and as a sign to you I'm going to give you what a rainbow and that's beautiful right magic the colors and that when you see a rainbow I saw a rainbow yesterday it was perfect I said Christina look at the rainbow and she took a photo of the
Rainbow and so if I if I were in Abraham's shoes this is not what happened but if I were in Abraham's shoes I can imagine God saying I'm going to make a covenant with you I'm going to give you a sign and I'm thinking sweet I'm going to get the next rainbow I wonder what it's going to be right maybe it's a maybe it's a pretty butterfly a new butterfly one's not on my boat yet he's going to invent a butterfly and every
Time someone sees that they're going to remember the covenant that's what it's going to be it's going to be maybe because Abraham's smart at one point in time God said I'm going to number your family like the stars so maybe he's going to get the rainbow of the night sky right like the northern lights and every time you see the northern lights or whatever it's going to be you'll think ah the covenant this is how my brain works I'll be like yes this amazing
Sign is going to happen and God says here's what you're going to do surgically remove the foreskin and I'm like whoa whoa you what what happened to the rainbows man give me a rainbow but I'm not Abraham we don't know what Abraham thought we know what he did and what Abraham did was he and his entire family his whole household was circumcised that day now for the last couple weeks as we know from the last couple weeks God promised God's promises to Abraham are fulfilled in Jesus and gifted to the church by
The reconciling blood of what Jesus did on the cross the promise to to Abraham that God would bless all nations comes true in Jesus and then is given to the church to go out and tell the whole world so that when Jesus says go and make disciples of all nations that's the continuation of God's blessing to all nations through Abraham and we've been made a part of that family by the reconciling blood of Christ so what exactly does that mean for us when it comes to this sign of the covenant how does circumcision fit into all of this should we be
Throwing circumcision parties alongside of our baptism parties whenever we have them that was sarcasm people before we take a peek into the New Testament we're about to look into it it's important to note that the the not the definition of but the interpretation of circumcision kind of evolved over time a couple thousand years is years past between when Abraham this covenant with Abraham happens and Jesus comes into the world and the New Testament is written and in that time the Jews have continued to be circumcised eight days old but the meaning of that circumcision in their heads has kind of changed they they've
Forgotten the covenant side of it and it's become this way for them to symbolize in their flesh that they're a descendant of Abraham and they think in their minds that because they're a descendant of Abraham they're set aside they're God's people and they're just good what was meant to be a sign to remember that the covenant has become for them a sign of I'm a descendant of Abraham and therefore God loves me in a moment we're going to look at Romans in Romans Paul is writing to the Roman church and in the Roman church there's Jewish believers in Jesus and there's also non-Jewish believers in Jesus and they've kind of in some some debate about whether or not the
Non-Jewish believers have to become circumcised in order to become real God's real family so we're going to put this on the screen this is Romans 2 says for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly nor is circumcision outward and physical but a Jew is one inwardly and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit not by the letter his praise is not for man but from God see Paul reminds us that the point of circumcision is a matter of the heart it's a matter of faith it's a matter of commitment to God's promise that happened in Genesis 15 with the whole blood ceremony he's saying that if you think you're good if you think you're completely saved because you have a scar that was given to
You at eight days old that makes that identifies you as a descendant of Abraham you've missed the point a Paul says here that circumcision is a matter of the heart and it's your heart that shows your attitude and your disposition towards God the Jews misunderstood the sign of their covenant what God intended in Genesis 17 was that they would keep covenantal relationship with him but what they ended up believing was that they were the in crowd I'm a descendant of Abraham so I'm good right but they were wrong the sign was never about that the sign of the covenant was don't forget the blood ceremony which they'd forgotten Colossians 2 is going to come up it says in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by
Putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ Christ's circumcision is made without hands it is not a physical circumcision the sign is not physical not an external sign it's internal it's a spiritual thing that's happening verse 12 says having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead we consistently explained baptism as an outward sign of an internal change that's exactly what's going on here Christ paid the penalty Christ has already paid the penalty he fulfilled the promise made to Abraham and when when Christ died on the cross when Christ died on the cross and his blood was spilled he fulfilled everything that happened everything that was bound to happen as a result of that ceremony in Genesis 15 when God said if
You screw up I'm going to punish me and he walked through that blood that happened when Jesus died on the cross that happened when Jesus paid the penalty for our sin we no longer need a physical sign of circumcision because Jesus has fulfilled the covenant that it points to so since Jesus the sign is taken on a new form it's no longer physical and external it's internal it's surgery of the heart and it's performed not by human hands but by the Holy Spirit the sign of the covenant then shows itself through your actions and the way that you respond as a result of who you've become in Christ now this next point is important this is a comparison of how it worked then and how it works now so it's going to come up on the screen for the avid note takers who are going to want me to repeat this 50 times God's covenant with Abraham God's covenant with Abraham was marked with physical blood from sacrificial animals and the physical surgery of his people God's covenant with us is marked with the
Physical blood the sacrificial Christ and it's marked with the spiritual surgery of our hearts I'm going to repeat that once more because it's crucial God's covenant with Abraham God's covenant with Abraham was made with physical blood of sacrificial animals and physical surgery of his people God's covenant with us is marked with the physical blood of the sacrificial Christ and the internal spiritual surgery of our hearts what was a physical external sign for Israel is now an internal spiritual sign for us it is embedded and convict and we are convicted in our heart and soul and it will be evident in how we choose to behave in this world for Israel the day-to-day reminder was embedded in their flesh for us it's embedded in our soul in our hearts and in our minds in such a way that Galatians 5 says for in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything but only faith only faith working through love it does not matter if you're circumcised or uncircumcised externally as long as you have faith and it works itself out in love
So what then does it mean for us today to have this circumcised heart internal heart change leads to external actions if you've been convicted in your heart and soul it will be evident in the way that you choose to behave now let me be clear when I say the word behave let me be clear what you choose to do the physical actions you take does not affect your salvation status what you do does not affect your salvation but what you do does reflect what you believe and what you believe does affect your salvation here's the problem that I think Christians often face here's a here's a problem that I think we often face if we've been around the church for a really long time if we've been in community groups if we've been reading the word we all know the different things that we ought to do we know the kind of things that we ought to do but we also have this separate category of things that we actually want to do and we distance them we know that we ought to think when we are gonna open our way big** we know the way we're supposed to think that we are supposed to think that we are supposed to be a light in this world we know that we're supposed to hate evil and love what is good we know that we're supposed to bear Each reordas burdens we know that we're supposed to preach the gospel to all nations we know a bunch of stuff that we ought to do do, but it's not always what we actually want to do. Tim Keller, he's a well-known pastor in New York. He says it like this. He says, a circumcised heart looks like this.
When what you ought to do and what you want to do are the same thing. That's what a circumcised heart looks like. When what you most ought to do and what you most want to do have become the same thing. Now that's all well and good, but it's kind of intangible. What exactly does that mean? Well, if you're a Christian, if you're a Christian, where do you see change in your life? In what ways has your heart taken a new direction so that you now want to do things that you ought to do rather than what you've always wanted to do? What thing, what thing did you think you would never give up? This whole Jesus thing, this whole church thing was never going to affect my desire to do this. And if that's changed, then that is an indication of a circumcised heart. So for example, you may, you may be, I don't know, just super lazy. And your idea of an ideal Saturday is a Totino's pizza, stick it in the fridge, not in the fridge, in the oven.
Putting it in the fridge isn't going to do anything. Put it in the oven, sit in front of Netflix all day and binge watch. Who even cares? Saturday, you do what you want, right? And someone calls you and says, hey, I really need help moving this table. Will you come and help me? And you lie. You say, sorry, I'm busy. I guess that's not a lie. You've got a plan. It's just a really bad plan. And so you're lying to your friend and you say, no, I'm not going to do it. And then you go about doing what you want to do rather than what you know you probably ought to do. And then over time, you start hanging out with a community group, start reading your Bible, you start coming along to Sunday gatherings and you start learning some stuff. You start getting to know the people and you start to love the people. And for some reason, something unexplainable is happening inside of you and you actually want to help these people. And so when someone calls you and says, hey, I'm moving house this Saturday, will you come help? That actually sounds more desirable to you now. The thing that you ought to do has kind of become the thing that you want to do.
Maybe you're completely different. Maybe that's not you. Maybe you've never understood the whole Jesus-y no sex before marriage thing. Maybe that's never really, you know what people say, but it just doesn't affect you. And so you've gone from girlfriend or boyfriend to girlfriend or boyfriend. You've lived with people. You've maybe even had kids with people. And so you're living in this situation. You've got a kid, that kind of thing. And you're basically, you've got to pretend marriage. You're basically married. You never actually got married. There's no paperwork. There was no ceremony. But look, it's more or less the same thing. You just don't like labels. You don't like commitment. And the whole Jesus thing isn't really going to affect that. And then you start hanging out with church family. You see what marriage looks like in other people. You see what Jesus-honoring marriage looks like in other people in the church. And you start to think, maybe they do have it right.
Maybe that's a pretty good option. And suddenly you desire that for yourself. And so you decide, maybe we should get married. Maybe commitment isn't that bad of a thing. Maybe I should just do it. And in the meantime, maybe we should live separately until we actually get married. And what you know you ought to do, and what you actually want to do, are slowly becoming the same thing. Maybe for you, money is a big deal. Money kind of is a two-sided coin, ironically. And there's the people who are savers. And there's the people who are spenders. And so for the savers, when it comes to money, there's a number in their bank account, where if their bank account is on or above that number, they're good. They're fine. They're safe. And they know that if anything happens, they don't need to rely on anyone. They don't need to take out loans. They just know they're good because I've saved up that many dollars. And I can protect myself. I'll be okay. I'll make it through.
I'll be good. And then they've got accounts set up for the Disney trip in 15 years, and the kid's first car, and the braces, and all that kind of stuff. They don't even have a girlfriend yet, but they've planned for all of that. Money is a big comfort thing for these people. Then there's the other side, which is the spenders. And the spenders think, new Xbox. Bam, got it. New sound system. Bam, got it. Curved TVs. Bam, I bought three. These people rack up debt. Maybe they won't rack up debt. Maybe they have tons of money, but they use that money so that they get the stuff that they want. Boats, cars, flashy lights. Ooh, everything. Anything that'll make them feel good in that moment. Because that's all the stuff that they want to do. For the other people, they want to save. They want to feel comfortable because money is a buffer zone. For these people, money is what they want to spend it on things because things gain them approval or power or whatever it is that they want comfort in their own lives. And so these people, whoever it is with this money issue going on, they start hanging out with church family. They start reading the Bible. They slowly get convicted of how money should actually be spent in this world. That I'm just a manager of the money that God has given me in this moment, in this time for me to have control over temporarily now. But they see that there's actually better uses for that money. And so when someone in their community group needs help financially, they help them out. They want to help them out. When they see that the church is trying to change West Columbia, they want to impact West Columbia with the gospel message. They give financially to the work that the church is doing what they ought to do and what they want to do are slowly becoming the same thing. That's what it looks like when a heart has been circumcised.
The problem that the Jews had in Jesus day is that they remembered their circumcision, but they distorted its meaning. They pointed to their outward signs and said, look, I'm worthy because I'm a descendant of Abraham. And because I'm a descendant of Abraham, I'm good. But it's never been about the outward sign. It's never been about that. The outward sign only ever existed to point people to covenantal faithfulness in what God had done in that covenant, covenant to the promises that God had made to humanity and to Abraham in that covenant fulfilled in Jesus. That was the point of circumcision and they'd missed it. As Matt makes his way back up here, I want to ask you all, are you changing? Can you look back? Can you look back and see change? And if so, is the change that you see a changed heart? Is it just, is it just outward signs or is it a changed heart? And if so, if it is a changed heart, praise God, praise God, because what you want and what you know you ought to do have slowly become the same thing.
And you get to live in God's grace, understanding it better and better every single day, because what you know you ought to do and what you want to do are both happening at the same time. If you're only concerned with yourself or your outward appearance, then your heart isn't changing. And what you actually need is internal spiritual surgery. The answer to your problem is not a simple external change. It's an internal spiritual surgery of your heart. You know, we started this morning awkwardly talking about circumcision. And when God instituted circumcision, it was intended to remind people consistently of the blood covenant. It was supposed to seal in their flesh an identity as a people made in God's image to serve him and to love him and to have faith in the promises that he had made to humanity. The sign is not the same for us anymore.
It may no longer be a physical surgery, but we are still marked as God's people. God's surgery is of our hearts. His circumcision of our hearts is what aligns us so that what we know we ought to do and what we want to do get to become the same thing. The circumcision of our heart is what helps us to love and desire what God loves and desires. Let's pray for that in our lives today. God, I pray, I pray that you will continue to show us what we ought to be doing and help us, help us to want to do that. I pray for those in the room who look to outward signs as a means of showing that they've earned salvation. And I pray that you will perform surgery on their hearts. God, I pray that, I pray that you will continually align our desires with your desires so that what we ought to do
And what we want to do become the same thing. Amen. We have communion set up in the back. And in communion, we remember Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross. The bread represents his body which was broken for us on our behalf. And the grape juice, it represents Christ's blood that was spilled to pay for our sins. This is a thing that Christians do. So if you're not a Christian, you might want to just stay where you are. But if you're a Christian in the room, as you take communion, thank God. Thank Him for the sacrifice that He made in Christ to pay the penalty of that blood covenant. And pray for yourself that what you know you ought to do and what you want to do
Can become the same thing.
When what you ought to do and what you want to do are the same thing. That's what a circumcised heart looks like. When what you most ought to do and what you most want to do have become the same thing. Now that's all well and good, but it's kind of intangible. What exactly does that mean? Well, if you're a Christian, if you're a Christian, where do you see change in your life?
In what ways has your heart taken a new direction so that you now want to do things that you ought to do rather than what you've always wanted to do? What thing, what thing did you think you would never give up? This whole Jesus thing, this whole church thing was never going to affect my desire to do this. And if that's changed, then that is an indication of a circumcised heart. So for example, you may, you may be, I don't know, just super lazy.
And your idea of an ideal Saturday is a Totino's pizza, stick it in the fridge, not in the fridge, in the oven. Putting it in the fridge isn't going to do anything. Put it in the oven, sit in front of Netflix all day and binge watch. Who even cares? Saturday, you do what you want, right? And someone calls you and says, hey, I really need help moving this table.
Will you come and help me? And you lie. You say, sorry, I'm busy. I guess that's not a lie. You've got a plan. It's just a really bad plan.
And so you're lying to your friend and you say, no, I'm not going to do it. And then you go about doing what you want to do rather than what you know you probably ought to do. And then over time, you start hanging out with a community group, start reading your Bible, you start coming along to Sunday gatherings and you start learning some stuff. You start getting to know the people and you start to love the people. And for some reason, something unexplainable is happening inside of you and you actually want to help these people. And so when someone calls you and says, hey, I'm moving house this Saturday, will you come help?
That actually sounds more desirable to you now. The thing that you ought to do has kind of become the thing that you want to do. Maybe you're completely different. Maybe that's not you. Maybe you've never understood the whole Jesus-y no sex before marriage thing. Maybe that's never really, you know what people say, but it just doesn't affect you.
And so you've gone from girlfriend or boyfriend to girlfriend or boyfriend. You've lived with people. You've maybe even had kids with people. And so you're living in this situation. You've got a kid, that kind of thing. And you're basically, you've got to pretend marriage.
You're basically married. You never actually got married. There's no paperwork. There was no ceremony. But look, it's more or less the same thing.
You just don't like labels. You don't like commitment. And the whole Jesus thing isn't really going to affect that. And then you start hanging out with church family. You see what marriage looks like in other people. You see what Jesus-honoring marriage looks like in other people in the church.
And you start to think, maybe they do have it right. Maybe that's a pretty good option. And suddenly you desire that for yourself. And so you decide, maybe we should get married. Maybe commitment isn't that bad of a thing. Maybe I should just do it.
And in the meantime, maybe we should live separately until we actually get married. And what you know you ought to do, and what you actually want to do, are slowly becoming the same thing. Maybe for you, money is a big deal. Money kind of is a two-sided coin, ironically. And there's the people who are savers. And there's the people who are spenders.
And so for the savers, when it comes to money, there's a number in their bank account, where if their bank account is on or above that number, they're good. They're fine. They're safe. And they know that if anything happens, they don't need to rely on anyone. They don't need to take out loans. They just know they're good because I've saved up that many dollars.
And I can protect myself. I'll be okay. I'll make it through. I'll be good. And then they've got accounts set up for the Disney trip in 15 years, and the kid's first car, and the braces, and all that kind of stuff. They don't even have a girlfriend yet, but they've planned for all of that.
Money is a big comfort thing for these people. Then there's the other side, which is the spenders. And the spenders think, new Xbox. Bam, got it. New sound system. Bam, got it.
Curved TVs. Bam, I bought three. These people rack up debt. Maybe they won't rack up debt. Maybe they have tons of money, but they use that money so that they get the stuff that they want. Boats, cars, flashy lights.
Ooh, everything. Anything that'll make them feel good in that moment. Because that's all the stuff that they want to do. For the other people, they want to save. They want to feel comfortable because money is a buffer zone. For these people, money is what they want to spend it on things because things gain them approval or power or whatever it is that they want comfort in their own lives.
And so these people, whoever it is with this money issue going on, they start hanging out with church family. They start reading the Bible. They slowly get convicted of how money should actually be spent in this world. That I'm just a manager of the money that God has given me in this moment, in this time for me to have control over temporarily now. But they see that there's actually better uses for that money.
And so when someone in their community group needs help financially, they help them out. They want to help them out. When they see that the church is trying to change West Columbia, they want to impact West Columbia with the gospel message. They give financially to the work that the church is doing what they ought to do and what they want to do are slowly becoming the same thing. That's what it looks like when a heart has been circumcised. The problem that the Jews had in Jesus day is that they remembered their circumcision, but they distorted its meaning.
They pointed to their outward signs and said, look, I'm worthy because I'm a descendant of Abraham. And because I'm a descendant of Abraham, I'm good. But it's never been about the outward sign. It's never been about that. The outward sign only ever existed to point people to covenantal faithfulness in what God had done in that covenant, covenant to the promises that God had made to humanity and to Abraham in that covenant fulfilled in Jesus. That was the point of circumcision and they'd missed it.
As Matt makes his way back up here, I want to ask you all, are you changing? Can you look back? Can you look back and see change? And if so, is the change that you see a changed heart? Is it just, is it just outward signs or is it a changed heart? And if so, if it is a changed heart, praise God, praise God, because what you want and what you know you ought to do have slowly become the same thing.
And you get to live in God's grace, understanding it better and better every single day, because what you know you ought to do and what you want to do are both happening at the same time. If you're only concerned with yourself or your outward appearance, then your heart isn't changing. And what you actually need is internal spiritual surgery. The answer to your problem is not a simple external change. It's an internal spiritual surgery of your heart. You know, we started this morning awkwardly talking about circumcision.
And when God instituted circumcision, it was intended to remind people consistently of the blood covenant. It was supposed to seal in their flesh an identity as a people made in God's image to serve him and to love him and to have faith in the promises that he had made to humanity. The sign is not the same for us anymore. It may no longer be a physical surgery, but we are still marked as God's people. God's surgery is of our hearts. His circumcision of our hearts is what aligns us so that what we know we ought to do and what we want to do get to become the same thing.
The circumcision of our heart is what helps us to love and desire what God loves and desires. Let's pray for that in our lives today. God, I pray, I pray that you will continue to show us what we ought to be doing and help us, help us to want to do that. I pray for those in the room who look to outward signs as a means of showing that they've earned salvation. And I pray that you will perform surgery on their hearts. God, I pray that, I pray that you will continually align our desires with your desires so that what we ought to do and what we want to do become the same thing.
Amen. We have communion set up in the back. And in communion, we remember Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross. The bread represents his body which was broken for us on our behalf. And the grape juice, it represents Christ's blood that was spilled to pay for our sins. This is a thing that Christians do.
So if you're not a Christian, you might want to just stay where you are. But if you're a Christian in the room, as you take communion, thank God. Thank Him for the sacrifice that He made in Christ to pay the penalty of that blood covenant. And pray for yourself that what you know you ought to do and what you want to do can become the same thing.