Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Sermon Notes 8/14/2011

Sermon Text: Genesis 17:1-27
Sermon Title: Circumcision: The Shadow of the Spirit
Scripture Reading: Romans 4:1-12

Review

Genesis 12 – Following the Covenant of Works with Adam and the Fall à Cain à The Flood Narrative à Ham à Nimrod and Babel à God makes the Covenant of Grace with Abram.

Genesis 13 – After Abram goes to Egypt, Abram and Lot separate

Genesis 14 – The great battle between Abram and Chedorlaomer; Abram meets with the King of Sodom and Melchizedek

Genesis 15 – God reaffirms the Covenant of Grace with Abram by “cutting” the covenant when He walks between the pieces

Genesis 16 – The allegory of Hagar and Sarai

Genesis 17 – 24 years have now passed since Genesis 12

Introduction to Genesis 17

The LORD comes for the final time to reaffirm the Covenant of Grace originally introduced in Genesis 12. Why is it necessary that things take so long? Abram gets to know the LORD more intimately each time the LORD comes to Abram to reaffirm His Covenant. 

In Genesis 12 Abram learned that the LORD is full of grace. When Abram learned this about the LORD, he responded in worship.
  • “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12:7). “And the Scripture, forseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’” (Galatians 3:8). “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16).

In Genesis 15 Abram learned that the LORD sovereignly GIVES sinful, unbelieving, selfish, fearful, doubting people the joy of participating in His plan. Abram is assured that although he is held personally responsible for his choices, the success of God’s plan is not dependent upon Abram (I am in vv. 1, 7). Abram learns that God is a Covenant-making God who:
  • Holds people fully responsible for their actions (Genesis 16).
  • Places the full load of responsibility upon Himself by His Word to accomplish His plan (know for certain in Genesis 15:13; Genesis 15:17-18)

In Genesis 17 the LORD reveals more of Himself to Abram by using the Hebrew name “El Shaddai.”
  • “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless’” (Genesis 17:1).

With each encounter with the LORD, Abram learns something new about who God is. The first three things listed below are consistent in each of these accounts. The following five observations will probably always be consistent in the narrative of your life:

Repetition: “Covenant” is used thirteen times; “Circumcise” is used ten times. 

Circumcision is the main idea of this narrative. Also, remember as Moses writes this, Exodus 4:24-26 (the LORD sought to put Moses to death because of failure to circumcise). 

The parallel to Old Testament circumcision (cutting away of outward flesh) is the cutting away of inward flesh by the Spirit.
  • “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may life” (Deuteronomy 30:6).
  • Ezekiel 36:22-32
  • Mark 1:4-8
  • “For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 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 from man but from God” (Romans 2:25-29).
  • It is important to know that in the Old Testament, non-Israelites could be circumcised. Any Gentile might participate in the highest privilege of Judaism, if he should indicate a willingness to meet the same requirements laid on the Jew himself. The uncircumcised Gentile could “become and Israelite.” Since this is the case, Israel cannot be defined simply in terms of racial distinctives (see Exodus 12:43-39). – From O. Palmer Robertson’s The Christ of the Covenants.

God Almighty or El Shaddai

Remember, when God introduces Himself using new Hebrew names, He is telling His audience something new about who He is. 
  • God revealed himself to Adam as LORD (Yahweh), the personal God. God has already revealed himself as El-Elyon (God Most High) in the context of the King’s Valley with Melchizedek. God revealed himself to Hagar as El-Roi (The God Who Sees and Seeks Me). 

We see this name first in Genesis 17:1 and later in Genesis 28:3 – Isaac blesses Jacob; 35:11 – God changes Jacob’s name to Israel; 48:3 – Jacob speaking to Joseph).

The following three points are extremely applicable:
  • The best way I know how to illustrate the meaning of this name, El Shaddai, is by remembering the words of David in Psalm 22:9, “Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at mother’s breasts.” To further highlight this meaning, notice the “I will” in vv. 6-8, 16, 19. It is used frequently in Genesis (giving life to the barren or lifeless/hopeless), 31 times in Job, and seldom every again elsewhere.
  • God uses “El Shaddai” prior to changing the names of Abram, Sarai, and Jacob. In the Old Testament, your name was your identity and purpose. As we become more intimate with God through His Word, the very core of who we are is changed. Also, see Peter’s name change in Matthew 16:13-20.
  • God’s primary plan is not to accomplish a task through us or for us. God’s task is for us to know Him and be changed by Him. Why did it take so long for Abram to have a son? The birth of a son was not God’s primary objective for Abram and Sarai. Having a son was the tool God used to cause Abram to know Him and be changed by Him. What if every day for 25 years Abram would have driven down to the store and bought a pregnancy test for Sarai? Think of the wasted time, money, and dashed hopes. Abram’s expectation should be to know God intimately and to be changed by Him.

Think for a moment about being a parent and having to circumcise your 8-day-old baby. First of all, the painful and irreversible act of circumcision must be done to you while you are helpless. The painful (Luke 9:23) and irreversible (Philippians 1:6) act of sanctification is something done to us by the Holy Spirit. Often, God uses circumstances to hold us down. As with a baby, a team of people is more helpful to see this process through to completion.
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