The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost July 27-28, 2024
“A Lasting Covenant” Genesis 9:8-17
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
When is the last time you read the account of God’s creation from Genesis 1? It starts out, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The orderly process of light created first, then the heavens, the seas, the land begins. He made creatures in the sea and on land, plants, trees and then man.
You will see a phrase used over and over again in Genesis 1. It reads, “And God saw it was good.” Good. Perfect. Wonderful. Magnificent. Have you ever been to the ocean to catch the sunrise or the sunset? OH!! It is good!! Ever been to what seems to be the top of the world on one of the mountains here in Colorado? OH!! It is good. You ever get to witness the beginning of life – your kid, some livestock, a kitten or a pup? OH!! It is good. And when God was all done creating, after He fashioned Adam just as He wanted him to be and all the order of creation was completed, we read, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)
But it didn’t stay that way. Adam and Eve were graced with the birth of two sons. But deep hatred lived in the soul of Cain, their firstborn. He murders his own brother, Abel. After the murder of his brother, God asks Cain where his brother was, he responds with indifference, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9)
And it just gets worse and worse. Everything God made was good, in fact, “very good.” But within 6 chapters in the Bible, people had turned evil, and God had had it. “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of heaven, for I am sorry that I have made them.” (Genesis 6:5-7)
What a change in the posture of our God. He went from marveling at the work of His hands to the shame of what they had become. A world changing event occurred. A flood was sent to all the world. God decided to start over. 8 people were saved. Noah. Mrs. Noah. 3 sons. 3 wives. An Ark full of animals.
And when the flood was all over, God made a promise, a covenant about what would be next. He said, “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-13)
Don and Marilyn Loptien tell me an account of two of their grandchildren, Hazel Mae and Luke. Hazel is just about 6 and Luke is approaching his 4th birthday. Whenever and wherever they are when they hear a siren from a fire truck, an ambulance or a police car, they tell everyone that they need to bow their heads and pray for the person who is hurt or needs our prayer. To them, and it should be to us, that sound is a sign that we need to do something at that moment.
You’ve seen a rainbow. Maybe you’ve even seen a double rainbow. What do you think when you see it? Is there really a pot of gold at the end of it? Maybe you think about the song, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow?” The rainbow is there to remind you of the promise that God has made to us. God says, “When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9:16)
Do you know what a covenant is? It is an agreement. A promise. A contract. We do them all the time. We buy or sell a car, or we buy or sell a house, and we sign all the papers for it. We make a contact, an agreement, we speak our word and make a promise. Two parties, or sometimes more, talk about an exchange of goods and property. It is a word that says, “You will do this…I will do that.”
Some of you have a ring on your finger and some time ago you made a covenant with another. It sounded something like this, “Do you take _______ to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death parts us, and I pledge you my faithfulness.”
We call these bilateral covenants. They are made between two equal partners. A person with a house and a person with some money. A person who has transportation and one who needs it. A man and a woman who realize that life is better when burdens are shared and joys are multiplied.
But this covenant in Genesis 9 and a number of other covenants in the Bible are not bilateral – made between two equals – but they are unilateral. And who makes it? God makes it. Concerning this new beginning that God was making with His creation, God initiates the work. “This is the sign of the covenant that I will make between you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations…”
Do you see it in your life? God takes the first step, He initiates the good things brought into your life. When I think of covenant I think of Holy Baptism. Paul was a great believer in the waters of Baptism. He writes to a fellow pastor, Titus, and says, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:4-5)
The step for our eternal salvation, coming through the washing away of all sin, through the blood of Jesus Christ, was God’s thought. Unilateral. We didn’t think of the plan and reach an agreement with the Almighty. No. John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Do you want to know what a covenant is? Many of you take it every Sunday. Holy Communion. The Lord’s Table. In Matthew’s account of the life of Jesus, Jesus speaks about a new covenant that He is giving to His believers, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28)
I bet all of us have been burned by folks who promised us things, who gave us their word, and maybe even signed a contract but failed to live up to it. I saw a guy this week who had me look way up at his ceiling. There were water stains there and work that someone started was not completed. He told me that he had already paid some painter to finish the work and they never came back. Some of you have had others say to you, “I will love you forever” and then they change their mind, or you change yours. You bought a house, or a car, and you forgot the first principle of making a purchase, “Buyer Beware”. Not all covenants, contacts or agreements work out.
But God’s covenants with us are different. He is ever true to His word. He places a rainbow in the sky and promises no flood will cover this earth once again. He makes an eternal covenant that says, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” (Mark 16:16) He makes an eternal covenant and says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:54) He makes the promise, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
What should you do when God makes such generous offers to you? Receive them. Take them. Believe them. Take all this love and favor in. And, with a humble heart, tell Him thank you. Amen!!
