Topics – Love, Sacrifice, Covenant
The love of God expressed in Christ on the cross shows the radical lengths God is willing to go to restore us. This healing of our relationship with God takes the form of a covenant, not a contract.
Focus Scripture – 2 Corinthians 4:4HIDESHOW
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Extended SummaryHIDESHOW
The Bible makes it clear that only the Holy Spirit can open our eyes to the overwhelming grace of God. The “Good News” is so outrageous that we can’t fathom it without God’s help! This is why Scripture calls us to pray so we can receive it (2 Cor. 4:4, 6; Eph. 3:17-19). Sadly, the gospel can get trivialized by framing it in the language of merely a contract where God holds up one end of the deal and we hold up the other and everyone gets what they need. Instead, we need to understand it as a covenant.
As we can see, there’s a very different character—or heart—behind these two ways of relating. The contract tends towards self-protection and the covenant assumes both parties are willing to love self-sacrificially toward one another. Just as the Apostle Paul taught that love fulfills the law (Romans 13:8-10) so also covenant “fulfills” the contract and goes well beyond it. Where the contract is primarily about external circumstances of concern, the covenant is concerned with matters of the heart (internal).
Practical Applications (homework)HIDESHOW
Part of our problem in understanding God’s love is that we see our relationship with him as a contract instead of a covenant. And the ultimate expression of God’s love for us – death on a cross – can be misinterpreted as Jesus just taking on the punishment for our sin. In reality, Jesus gave his life for us, his bride, because she was in trouble. He loves her so much that he came to earth to rescue her from the mess she’d gotten herself into! To help lock in this truth, work through these steps with someone you’re close to:
- For a few minutes, reflect on sin in your life that you’re ashamed and embarrassed of. It could be a gossip habit, a judgmental attitude about someone or a group of people, dishonesty at work, resentment or unforgiveness about mistreatment you endured – whatever. Spend some time thinking about situations when you’ve fallen into this sin.
- Now, imagine sitting in a room next to God while the “evidence” of your sin plays on a television. In your imagination, how do you see God respond? If there is any anger or wrath in your picture of him, take a note of it. In your mind, does it look like God wants to punish you for your sin? What if you play the tape while Jesus is there? Is his reaction any different?
- Talk together about this experience. How is your picture of God less than loving? How has it been influenced by contract thinking instead of covenant thinking? Discuss how you think the God of Love would really respond if you were in that room together. Would he cry with you? Hold you? Help you find strength to overcome your sin? What would his face really look like?
- Take a few minutes to repeat the exercise. This time, in your imagination see God respond to you differently. He hates your sin, but he loves you, and he wants you healthy and whole.
Reflection QuestionsHIDESHOW
- What stood out to you most from this message and the supporting texts?
- Spend some time discussing together how the gospel changes when presented as a contract verses a covenant. What language is used when the gospel is described as a contract? What story is told? How does this change when the gospel is presented as a covenant? How is that storytold differently?
- What do you think is the most important difference between a covenant and a contract?
- As a group, what role does/could a covenant play in your relationships with each