Hey all, Pastor John here. Thanks for tuning
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Now let's dive into this week's message. Amen.
Well, we're going to hop into our series. We've
been in a series called True and Better. And
today we're talking about covenant, not consent.
Now, if you thought you came to a church where
they're going to just agree with you on everything
and you're going to walk away feeling really
coddled and affirmed, you're at the wrong place.
That's not what we do every day of week. What
we do is we go to the Word. And we submit ourselves
to the word and we let the word form us and shape
us. And sometimes even in myself, that means
I don't like it, but it's true. Amen. And that's
kind of what we're talking about today. All right.
So let's go there today. True and better. We
live in a world that is shaped by a powerful
assumption and it quietly kind of governs the
way that we think, how we relate and how we decide
really what is real. real in this world. And
that assumption is this, that nothing is truly
binding unless I personally choose it. Nothing
is truly binding unless I personally choose it.
And in our cultural imagination, legitimacy flows
from consent. Authority is valid only if I grant
it. Commitments matter only as long as they serve
and identity is real only if it aligns with my
inner psychological self. Even truth itself is
treated this way, isn't it? We don't ask what
is truth or is it true. What we say is things
like, oh wow, that really resonates with me.
Or does this feel authentic? I'm not sure. Or
does this affirm who I understand myself to be?
And if the answer is no to any of those, well,
even if there is a long history, even if it has
deep roots, even if it claims divine authority,
we feel justified in setting it aside if we say,
you know, it's not for me. Because in the modern
world, choice is not just a freedom, choice has
become a moral authority. To choose is to validate.
To withhold consent is to delegitimize. And that's
why phrases like my truth feel natural to us
in this day and in this moment, because we're
not just people who make choices. We are people
who assume our choices give us the right to decide
what counts, what matters. And this doesn't stop
with just lifestyle choices or lifestyle preferences.
It reaches all the way into belief itself. For
many, belief is no longer a response to reality.
It is an act of self -expression. It's something
I own. It's something I control. It's something
no one else has a right to question. Belief becomes
important to us, not because it is true, but
because it is mine. And this didn't come about
from nowhere. This way of thinking grew out of
real concerns, real concerns about abuse of power,
about coercion, about manipulation, about forced
conformity. There's a good reason to reject domination
and cruelty. But somewhere along the way, our
culture didn't just reject abuse of authority,
it rejected authority itself. Specifically, it
rejected the idea that truth could make a claim
on us at all. And so we arrive at a place where
the highest good is not faithfulness, it's not
obedience, it's not actual truth, it's autonomy.
And into that world scripture continues to speak
a very different word. Not choose for yourself.
and then reality will form around you, but that
there is a reality that is already given to us.
A reality already given and you and I are invited
to live faithfully within it. And that's where
we turn first. If you're taking notes, the first
of five points, we'll move through them fairly
quickly today, is number one, God governs reality
by covenant. God governs reality by covenant.
To understand how different scripture's vision
really is of all of this, we have to continue
to rewind to the very beginning. The Bible doesn't
start with choice, does it? It starts with creation.
Before anyone consents, God speaks, let there
be, and reality responds. Light does not go,
you know what, I'm gonna take a vote as to whether
I wanna shine or not. And the sea doesn't negotiate
with God where the boundaries will fall. The
land doesn't ask permission whether life will
sprout out of it. God names, God orders, God
declares what is good. And finally, human beings
arrive on the scene and we wake up into a given
world. A given world, already ordered, already
meaningful, already governed. And so scripture's
first assumption is not autonomy, it is creature
-hood. If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you
to turn to Psalm 24. It will be up on the board
as well. We're just gonna read the first two
verses of Psalm 24 right now. Psalm 24 verse
one says, the earth and everything in it. What's
included in everything? The earth and everything
in it. The world and its inhabitants belong to
the Lord. For He laid its foundations on the
seas and established it on the rivers. The earth
and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants
belong to the Lord. You know what that is? That
is a claim of ownership. That is a claim of ownership
and a declaration of authority. And from the
very beginning, God relates to his creation,
not through contracts, but through covenant.
What do I mean by covenant? Well, marriage is
a good illustration that shows the difference
between the two. A contract says, I'll stay as
long as the terms work out for me. and maybe
down the road we'll renegotiate ever so often
so I can make the terms work or maybe I've got
an exit strategy on that, right? That's a contract.
A covenant says, I bind myself to you and that
bond between you and I now define the reality
in which I will live out my life. You see the
difference? You don't renegotiate marriage every
morning, do you? As I had this in thought, we
were driving home last night after our disciple
group, and I was thinking about the sermon. It
was kind of ruminating in my head. The car was
quiet. Everyone was quiet. And I turned to my
wife, and I said, let's stay married one more
day, at least. She looked at me, and she said,
you're weird. And then we just drove on, right?
And so I'm providing her a little context this
morning. We don't renegotiate and go, you know,
let's give it another day. Maybe tomorrow we'll
do it a little different, but you know, let's
renegotiate. No, the covenant creates a reality
you now live within. And scripture says that
this is how God governs the world. Not by waiting
for our consent, but by establishing covenant,
claiming his people and calling them to faithfulness.
Biblical covenant all always begins with God's
initiative. I made you, I rescued you, I brought
you out, I chose you, and only then do commands
follow. And this is the pattern throughout scripture.
Before Israel ever heard the first of 10 commandments.
What did God say to them in Exodus chapter 20
verse 2? Before he gave them the 10 commandments
that were probably most of us are all familiar
with, God said something to them. He said, I
am the Lord your God who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. Grace
first. I brought you out. I delivered you. I
chose to move. I initiated, I moved in and I
saved you. Then obedience comes. Therefore have
no other gods before me. It's not obedience to
earn belonging. It's obedience because belonging
has already been given. And that's why biblical
obedience is never presented as arbitrary control.
It's always framed as covenant faithfulness.
remaining faithful to the covenant. That's what
Nick made reference to earlier in Psalm 18. David
is not touting the glories of his accomplishments,
so God goes, woo, all right, I want you on my
team, right? What David is saying is, you made
a covenant with me, and you laid out in the covenant,
in fact, where's my Bible? In fact, I think,
If we just went back to Psalm 24, right? Let's
go there really quick. Let's just go off the
rails. Let's just go for the ride. Psalm 24,
what does it say? Who may ascend the mountain
of the Lord? That's the very next part. Who can
stand in his holy place? The one who has clean
hands and a pure heart, who has not appealed
to what is false. or has not sworn deceitfully,
what will happen to that man? He will receive
blessing from the Lord and righteousness from
the God of his salvation, such as the generation
of those who inquire. When David says, because
of my righteousness, he's not saying again that
he earned it. What he's saying is I have remained
faithful to the covenant and your covenant told
me what to do, but it also told me what the result
would be. You would deliver me from my enemies
and you done it. I was faithful and you did your
part. You made the covenant. I was faithful,
you delivered me. The Bible always frames obedience,
not as some sort of arbitrary controller, some
mean daddy in the sky who just tells you things
to do. It was always framed as covenant faithfulness.
God initiating, humans responding, God fulfilling
the covenant promises. for faithfulness. God,
in all of his faithfulness, fulfilling the covenant
curses for lack of faithfulness, because God
is the same. It's living in alignment with reality
that God has already established. And this is
where scripture confronts the modern assumption
head on, because in the Bible, reality does not
become binding when you consent to it. Reality
is binding because God is ultimate. You don't
choose gravity, yet gravity governs you, right?
You don't negotiate your very existence, and
yet here you are living. As scripture says, moral
and spiritual reality works the very same way.
God's authority is not validated by our agreement.
God's truth does not wait for our approval. We
don't bring any meaning into this world. I said
that in the first service, I said, man, I'm really
sorry for the flowers out here. But hear this,
we don't bring any meaning into the world. We
are invited to receive it and to live under it
and into it. It's available for all of us. But
we're not the center. And that's why covenant
is such a threatening idea to the modern self
because covenant says you are not self -owned
or self -defined or self -authorized. You belong
to a creator who is good, who is wise, who is
loving, but who does not surrender his throne.
The question for you and I is will I live as
a creature? or insist on being my own God. We've
been in this passage as well, but turn over to
Romans chapter one. The second point is when
choice becomes authority. Romans chapter one,
it will not be up on the screen, but I'll read
it either way and you can read along or just
listen. Romans chapter one and beginning in verse
21. Romans 1 .21 says, for though they knew God,
for though they knew God, they did not glorify
him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their
thinking became worthless and their senseless
hearts were darkened, claiming to be wise, they
became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal
God for images resembling mortal man birds, four
-footed animals, and reptiles. Therefore, God
delivered them over in the desires of their heart
to sexual impurity so that their bodies were
degraded among themselves. They exchanged the
truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served
what had been created instead of the creator
who is praised forever. Amen. Scripture never
treats choice as a problem itself. The choice
is a gift and personal agency matters. But something
subtle has happened in the modern world. The
choice has quietly kind of changed jobs. Whereas
choice was given and meant to be a means, choice
was given as a means, a way of responding faithfully
within God's world. It has now become an end.
The thing that now authorizes what is real, what
is good, what is true is my own personal choice.
In other words, choice no longer serves reality.
Reality is now expected to serve choice. Freedom
used to mean the ability to live well within
an ordered world. And now freedom is defined
as the power to determine the order itself. And
once that shift happens, the self moves to the
center. What do I mean by the self? The self
is what emerges when the human desire replaces
God's word as the governing authority of life.
When the human desire replaces God's word, as
the governing authority, the highest authority
of life, the inward authority of the self, we
begin to trust, to define us, to direct us, to
show us how we ought to live or how we want to
live. We allow the inner light to guide us instead
of the external, true, never -changing, unshakable
Word of God. That's what I mean by self. And
the modern self does not primarily ask what is
true or even what is good. The modern self asks,
how do I feel about it? How do I feel about it?
Identity now flows inward out from feeling and
desire and self -perception. As scripture gives
us a sobering warning to this, When human beings
take upon themselves the authority to define
reality, the result is not freedom. The result
is fragmentation. The self, the human desire
that replaces God's word as the governing authority
of our life was never designed to carry the weight
of that position. The desire to move from living
under God's word to standing over God's word
as its judge. That same move shows up again and
again in scripture. Whenever people insist on
defining good and evil for themselves, the language
that shows up in the Bible over and over again
is almost always the same. Everyone did what
was right in their own eyes. Everyone did what
was right in their own eyes. And friends, that
is not describing some liberating freedom. The
modern self would say, that sounds like freedom.
That's the goal, is that everyone would do what
is right in their own eyes. But the scripture
says that's not freedom. That is describing collapse.
That is describing chaos. That is describing
fragmentation that leads to destruction. That
is describing Walmarts on Black Friday, right?
That's describing driving in Uganda where everyone
did what was right in their own eyes. And there
was no governing authority that anyone wanted
to submit to. And here's a part that we can miss.
This doesn't just happen. out there in culture.
Some of us can like go, oh, there it is. Man,
I'm gonna wave my fist and say, yeah, those people
out there, everything you said so far, preacher
man, that describes them. It happens in us. Whenever
God's commands feel like we can negotiate them,
they're negotiable. They're not authoritative.
Whenever we say, I'll follow God as long as it
aligns with me. What we're really saying is I
reserve the right to rule. I reserve the right
to rule. And once choice becomes authority, belief
itself is no longer about truth, it's about control.
Number three, belief is not neutral. One of the
most, or the more common things you might hear
people say today is, you know, I'm just a skeptic.
I'm just trying to follow the evidence, right?
Yeah, I hear all that you said. I've heard all
of your case. I've read the Bible or I've had,
you know, I've gone to a church that would preach
the word. I've seen all that, but I'm just trying
to follow the evidence, right? And again, this
sounds humble, this sounds reasonable, it sounds
open -minded, but the Bible actually kind of
tells something a little bit more, a story that's
a little bit more unsettling. The Bible does
not treat belief as a purely intellectual act.
It treats belief as a moral act. In other words,
believing or refusing to believe is not just
about information, it's about allegiance. Where
is the allegiance of your heart? So how does
scripture talk about unbelief? Well, it doesn't
say that people lack truth. You know what the
Bible says in Romans? It doesn't say people lack
truth, but in Romans one, it says that people
suppress the truth. And the Bible doesn't say
in John that the light of the gospel, the light
of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ was
just a little too dim for some people to see.
John says people loved darkness. People loved
darkness. It doesn't say that truth was not available.
Man, if it was just more resources, more truth
available, it says that truth was not welcomed.
And that tells us something. That tells us that
the issue is not always is there enough evidence.
The issue is what would this truth require of
me if I accepted it? In Romans chapter one, Paul
says that what can be known about God is evident
among all people, but the truth is intentionally
suppressed. Why? Because acknowledging God as
God means surrendering the right to self -rule.
In John's gospel, Jesus says that people intentionally
avoid the light of truth. Why? Because it exposes,
truth reveals, it confronts, it disrupts our
illusion of control. And that's why belief always
carries a cost. To believe something is true
is not merely to agree with it. It is to place
yourself under it. Let's say that one more time.
To believe something is true is not merely to
agree to it or mental assent or intellectual
acknowledgement. It is to place yourself under
it. And that is exactly what the modern self
resists. We have been formed to think of belief
as something we own it's mine But scripture says
belief shapes obedience belief directs desires
Placing yourself under God's word can change
your desires You hear what I'm saying Just think
about all the things that you hear in the modern
world That's not what you're hearing. You're
not hearing that place yourself under God's word
and your desires will change. You're saying you
have those desires. We need to affirm them. We're
going to ally with you. We're going to affirm
those and we're going to let you pursue those
desires to whatever degree you want to pursue
them. And even if I see destruction, even if
I see chaos and fragmentation in you, I'm just
going to keep leaning in and help you pursue
those. The scripture says of people, not that
they didn't know, but that they did not love
the truth. They did not love it. Truth in the
Bible is not just something you acknowledge.
It's something you bring yourself under. It's
something that you submit to or you resist and
reject it. So here's a question beneath all of
this. Is it possible that when we say, I just
can't believe that what we might be saying is
I won't submit to that because to believe what
is true may cost us control over our own lives.
abdicating the throne of self -rule, the approval
of others, certain desires that we have grown
attached to, the right to name ourselves on our
own terms. Belief becomes selective. We resist
it. We accept truth. Even as believers, we accept
truth that comforts us. We resist truth that
commands us. We embrace grace as forgiveness.
It's like, oh, Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved an undeserving wretch like me. And
then as we'll see in Titus, when that grace comes
and says, I'm going to teach you how to be godly.
I'm going to teach you how to let go of those
ungodly desires. We go, oh, I don't want that
grace. I don't want grace as lordship. I want
grace as forgiveness, but I don't want grace
as lordship. And scripture will not let us separate
the two. Because the same truth that saves us
also governs us. The same Christ who welcomes
us also reigns over us. Which means belief is
never neutral. It is either an act of surrender
or it is an act of resistance. Number four, grace
without governance. Yes. I agree. Once belief
becomes an act of self authorization, it reshapes
our faith. As believers, we don't abandon Christianity
outright. But when we adopt that frame of reference,
when we lean more into the definitions of the
modern self, it reshapes our faith. We don't
outright say, oh, I reject Christ. We begin to
reframe what Christianity looks like. God is
no longer the one who defines reality. God is
the one who supports my version of it. So we
begin to relate to God selectively. Like, I'll
receive forgiveness, I'll receive comfort, I'll
receive hope, I'll receive peace, I'll receive
purpose, but command, but authority? Things get
uncomfortable, don't they? And so without ever
saying it out loud, many of us adopt kind of
a consent -based spirituality. God is welcome
as savior as long as he does not insist on being
Lord. Grace becomes therapeutic rather than transformative
in our life. Jesus becomes a companion rather
than a king, and faith shifts from covenant faithfulness
to personal preference. We follow Christ where
it aligns with us. We interpret him or we reinterpret
him or his words whenever it challenges us. I
love this Soren Kierkegaard's crack that he wrote
down one time. It came to mind as I was preparing.
Soren Kierkegaard said, the Bible is very easy
to understand. The Bible is very easy to understand,
but we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers.
We pretend to be unable to understand it because
we know very well that the moment we understand,
we are obligated to act accordingly. In the Bible,
grace is never opposed to obedience. The amazing,
forgiving grace of God is never opposed to obedience.
In fact, grace is the root and obedience is the
fruit. Listen to what Titus 2, 11 through 12
says. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing
salvation for all people. Woohoo, right? Grace,
let's give it, amen. Bringing salvation for all
people, verse 12. Instructing us, that's Lordship
language. We went from forgiveness language,
redemption language, to Lordship language right
there, like in two seconds, right? He appeared,
he brought salvation to all people and he instructed
us to deny godlessness and worldly lust and to
live in a sensible, righteous and godly way in
the present age. Will we resist? Or will we live
life under that reality? Jesus never said, come
to me and remain exactly who you are. He says,
follow me, take up your cross, deny yourself,
lay it down and follow me, which means movement.
It means reorientation. It means surrender. And
yet God's authority is not cruel. Biblical covenant
is not about God does not rule by force or coercion.
He rules by truth, love, and faithfulness. His
commands are not arbitrary. All of his commands
are ordered toward life. But they are still commands.
And I think some of us, we hear a command in
the word, maybe something that has been preached
or something read from here or something you
read in your Bible. And you know it flies in
the face of what you have chosen or how you've
chosen to live, what you've placed your life
under and what you're submitting to. And we read
it and for some of us, we think, man, that is
so not who I am. And we make a decision about
whether or not. We will listen to his commands
and trust that they are ordered toward true life
or in their place or in his place. We will ascend
to the throne, place the crown on our heads and
we'll say, I know better. And don't hear me say
that somehow that's easy or somehow that feels
good. or anywhere along the part from the moment
you decide that, for a long time that anywhere
you go, yeah, that was a great choice, right?
But that's what trust and faith is, is that I'm
putting my trust and faith in a faithful and
trusting God who continues to initiate his love
for me, keeps to, you know, what was he saying?
His goodness is running after me. It's constantly
running after me. That's a good God. And maybe
I can trust and reorient my life around that
truth. and believe and hope and trust that good
is coming. It's aiming me toward true life. But
we oftentimes want grace without the governance.
We want to belong without obedience. A savior
who never tells us no. But a God who never contradicts
us can never truly save us. Why? Because salvation
means God rescues us from ourselves. And so a
God who never contradicts us can never truly
save us because salvation means a God who rescues
us from ourselves, from our false autonomy, from
our self -authored identities, from the crushing
weight of having to be our own authority. Covenant
faith says I no longer decide what is true. I
no longer decide what is good. I no longer decide
who I am I receive those things From the one
who made me And that's not oppression That's
rest That's rest The self was never meant to
rule reality And when we stop demanding that
God submit to us and we finally discover the
freedom of submitting to Him, we begin to live
out that reality. Number five, last point. Where
does this all show up? If all of this stays kind
of abstract, it's easy to just kind of nod at
it and keep it at arm's distance. So let's bring
it in. It shows up in how we understand our bodies.
We're gonna actually talk about this next week.
We're gonna talk about our bodies and God's design
for our bodies. What he lays out in scripture
is true for our bodies. In a consent -based world,
the body is just raw material. Something I own,
something I manage, something I can define or
redefine at will. But scripture treats the body
as a gift. Scripture even calls the body a temple
of the Holy Spirit. Scripture treats the body
as a stewardship, not disposable, not self -designed,
but made by God and claimed by God. And so where
does this show up? It shows up. in our view of
our body. It shows up in community. In a consent
-based world, community exists to affirm me.
And when it stops affirming me, I leave. But
covenant says community exists to form me, to
shape me in truth. To love me enough to stay
even when I get crazy and for me to love enough
to stay even when they get crazy It shows up
in commitment Consent says I stay as long as
this works for me Covenant says I remain faithful
because I was made for faithfulness by the faithful
God And that difference can reshape marriages.
That difference can reshape friendships and relationships.
That difference can reshape how we view our job,
our vocation, our purpose on this world. It shows
us how even to respond to suffering. Consent
-based logic says, if this hurts man, something
must be wrong. Something must be wrong. This
situation, this circumstance, whatever I'm going
through, I don't like it. I want to get away
from it. That's what consent pays. I don't consent
to this, God. No, no, no, no, no. But in a covenant
logic, it says, wait, God may be sending me something
to receive here. In this suffering, God may be
sending me something to receive. He may be forming
me. He may be refining me. He may be deepening
my trust in him in this circumstance. I don't
want to look past this suffering and say it's
for nothing and just escape. Oh my God, I want
you to give me stronger arms to bear up underneath
and through this. Don't hear me say all suffering
is good. But God does not waste any of it. And
he will use it to form and shape and conform
you to the image of Christ. It can show up in
the way that we relate to the church. Do we approach
the church as a spiritual vending machine? A
place where My needs are met a place where that
must match my preferences. Oh, I don't like the
way we do that. I don't like the way that's done.
I don't like the way he looks. Thanks a lot.
No, just kidding. Do we approach it as a place
that meets my needs? And I only consent to be
a part of this church if it meets my needs and
it matches my preferences. or as a covenant family?
Do we see it as a covenant family where we are
shaped, where we are corrected, where we are
discipled, informed, and sent out by the word
of God week after week through the good times
and the bad times, through all the struggles,
through the strife and the disagreements, that's
a shaping process, God can use all of it. Now
don't hear me say any of this, that you're supposed
to stay in an abusive situation. or when there's
clearly unbiblical things being taught or demonstrated,
you should correct those. You should stand up
against those. And then, if they're not listened
to, you should, in a biblical way, walk through
the process of continuing the correction or leaving
in a Christ -like way. If we're talking about
the church, or even in relationships. I am not
talking about abuse, I am not talking about anything
domineering it, but don't hear me say, somehow
I just gave you an out for everything. None of
these areas, community, relationships, church,
body, none of these are neutral. Everyone asks
the same kind of underlying question. Am I living
as a self authorized person or individual? Or
am I living as a covenant? Bound disciple. When
truth confronts us, do we lean in or do we pull
away and run? When scripture challenges us, do
we receive it as life, even if we don't like
it? Remember, what's the modern self say? How
do I? feel about this? That's not a very good
question. Good question is, is it true? Because
truth can form and shape our feelings and desires.
Covenant faithfulness isn't about getting everything
right either. But it is about at a base level,
who we allow to define reality. And so I'm gonna
move into the conclusion. Who has the right to
define reality? Well, the modern self answers,
I do. Scripture says God does. And the difference
between life and flourishment and fragmentation
and destruction is in which one you live under.
The gospel is not the announcement that God finally
agrees with us. The gospel is the announcement
that God in love has come to reclaim us, that
in Jesus, God enters our reality, he takes on
flesh, he submits to suffering, he bears the
cost of our rebellion, and he rises from the
dead, not as a suggestion maker, but as Lord.
Which means covenant faithfulness is God rescuing
us from the impossible burden of ruling ourselves.
Do you understand that, right? When you say that
he rises as Lord, what you're saying is, I needed
a Lord. The Lord I had before was not a good
Lord. I needed a Lord to govern my life. He rises
as Lord on all who put their faith in him and
see him as Lord. You know who was Lord before
him? You were. You were Lord of your own life.
You are the reason you needed him. Scripture
calls us to repent. It says lay down your throne.
Stop insisting on being the final authority over
what is good, true, and real. Receive your life
back from the very one who made it. Identity
was never meant to be negotiated by preferences.
Truth was never meant to be ratified by consent.
Freedom is found in faithful alignment with God
-defined reality. That's where freedom is. And
reality is governed not by our choices, but by
a good and gracious King. And so the invitation
of the gospel is not merely to believe something
about God. It is to trust Him enough to live
your life under His truth. And friends, that's
not loss. That is true in eternal life. Amen.