Monday, September 11, 2017

Circumcision

Sunday's Sermon: Circumcision
September 10, 2017
Pastor Ed Evans

Prayer:
“Father, we bring You praise for the time and place to come before You with open minds and open hearts for what You have for us this morning. For we would learn what it means to be trustworthy, to be committed to a promise. In the world around us today such social frameworks and business practices such as a man’s word, a woman’s word, seems to have lost the bond it once had. May that not be the case in our commitments to You, O Lord.
We would learn from history this morning of Your promises, liberation, of Your God-given power to so love You and others with everything of our heart, mind and soul. We ask these things in the name of Him who loved us first, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen.”
Scripture:
Genesis 17:1-14
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, 2 that I may make My covenant between Me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 “Behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 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. 8 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.”
9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 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, 13 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. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
Now, since we’re dealing with circumcision this morning, I was tempted to suggest to you ladies we wouldn’t be needing your attention for the next half hour, but the Lord in His wisdom corrected that when He brought to my attention certain verses in Colossians. So, you’ll just have to pay attention, after all. Be patient, we’ll get there.
Now, this Old Testament covenant in Genesis is pretty specific, so let’s begin by talking about its impact on Christians today.
Circumcision is the surgical removal of the male foreskin. The word “circumcise” literally means “to cut around.” It was a religious rite, required of all of Abraham’s descendants as a sign of the covenant God made with him. Mosaic Law repeated that requirement, and Jews throughout the centuries have continued to practice circumcision.
But New Testament Christians are no longer under the Old Testament Law, and circumcision is no longer required. We find this in a number of New Testament passages (Acts 15; Galatians 2:1–3; 5:1–11; 6:11–16; 1st Corinthians 7:17–20; Colossians 2:8–12; and Philippians 3:1–3). Our deliverance from sin is the result of faith in Christ; it is Christ’s finished work on the cross that saves, not the observance of an external religious rite. In salvation, Galatians 2:16 tell us the works of the flesh accomplish nothing.
You may often hear it said that Jesus did away with the Old Testament laws of Moses and the prophets. But He didn’t. Jesus came to fulfill the law and what was prophesied. Some will claim our problems with God today are because we don’t keep the old laws, but I don’t see them wearing phylacteries or blue threads in tassels on their garments, nor do they advocate the destruction of a home when mildew is discovered.
It isn’t the old laws that are important. It was never about the laws, but about our commitment to worship the one God.
Hebrews, Chapter 10 is a golden chapter for explaining what is going on here, how, and why. I want to read you here just verses 10 through 14, but I encourage you to go back and read that entire chapter on your own. For some it may be a life-changing chapter.
Hebrews 10:10-14 reads: “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for Me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings
You have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of Me in the scroll of the book.’”
8 When He said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then He added, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” So ends the reading from Hebrews 10.
When the Israelites came out of captivity, and back to the ruins of Jerusalem, with its broken walls, the old temple where not one stone rested on another, it was necessary to remind them who they were, and whose they were. So Nehemiah had the people listen to the readings from Moses’ Torah, for seven days. On the eighth day, Nehemiah gathered them together, had them stand up and read together the following prayer, from the book of Nehemiah, Chapter 9, verses 5-8:
5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be Your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
6 “You are the LORD, You alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships You. 7 You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. 8 You found his heart faithful before You, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And You have kept Your promise, for You are righteous.” So ends the reading.
Notice the prayer begins with the admonition, “Stand Up!” The footnote in the Common English Bible says, “Their devotion to God was expressed physically. The people felt so moved that they couldn’t worship God by sitting still.” The reference to Abraham and God’s covenant with him in the prayer recall one of the reasons for their hope and enthusiasm.
This 17th Chapter of Genesis we are studying is organized around five divine speeches. We find those speeches in verses 1-2, 4-8, 9-14, 15-16, and 19-21. This is where God tells Abraham what He, God, is about to do, and what is expected of Abraham.
Haven’t you ever wished God would just get with you and give you a heads-up on what He’s about to do? C’mon, God, let’s huddle-up here, You tell me what’s coming and I can be ready to do what You want me to do. Right?
But it didn’t make any difference with Abraham, did it? Here was a very holy man, in God’s eyes, and yet as time goes by and God acts in Abraham’s behalf – in behalf of mankind, actually – Abraham still steps sideways and messes up what God’s doing. He has a child out of wedlock, embarrassing his wife, Sarah; he goes into foreign lands and claims Sarah is his sister, not his wife, and almost gets his head lopped off when other royalty wants to take Sarah for a wife.
Doesn’t really do us much good to know what God’s up to, then, does it? Maybe that’s why God and His angels keep their own council.
I was always puzzled as to why God changed Abram’s name from Abram to Abraham, until I learned that Abram means “exalted father”, and he was, and Abraham means “father of many” or “of multitudes”, which he was about to become; a patriarch of millions.
The name “Sarah” means “princess”, already appropriate as the future mother of royalty. But the Bible notes many other name changes: Jacob was renamed Israel; Simon became Cephas; Saul became better known as Paul (which was both a Latin and Greek variation of the Hebrew Saul); and of course, Jesus of Nazareth became known as Jesus Christ.
What about some of your names? Were you named for a favorite family member? Does your name have a linguistic significance? In my case, I’m of English, Irish, Scot and Welsh ancestry, and the name Edward means “Guardian”. I’m told I was named after a rich uncle who left us nothing.
Here in the south it’s a tradition to use your middle name instead of your first name. Mine is “Marshall”. As a child we moved a lot so at one school I decided to use Marshall instead of Edward. I heard every Marshall joke there was: Marshall, where’s your horse; Marshall, where’s your badge; Marshall, where’s your gun. And then from the girls, “Marshall, are you going to arrest me?” But I was just too young for that nonsense. At the next school I was Edward again. Nobody knew me and that was fine with me.
But as with Abram and Abraham, do you see how your name can be a reflection of who you are? What about you? Does your name reflect who you see yourself to be? [Are you really a Mavis? You are definitely a Kay, I think. I think Oscar fits. Are you sure you are Dorothy? Donna?]
God’s covenant with Abraham involved not only a name change, but it bound Abraham and his descendants to God in an intimate way; that they were chosen could never be forgotten.
The name change also suggested that Abraham would have the responsibility not only of reproduction and physical molding, but also the responsibility of transmitting to his descendants that faith was the sacred obligation that undergirded everything in God’s covenant. It was about faith.
And were we to make a personal application here, it would be to ask the question, what is the spiritual legacy you are leaving to your children, or to the grandchildren or others who you influence? Do they see Christ in you? In your actions? In your words?
The intentions and applications of God’s covenant with Abraham are pretty clear to us. That covenant covered all of Abraham’s extended family and all of his household servants and slaves. But what about those outside that covenant. The intent of that covenant has guided Jews, and today continues to guide the Jewish nation, down through the ages. On the eighth day after birth, a Jewish boy child is both circumcised and named.
But unlike Adam and Noah, Abraham was not the sole patriarch on the earth at that time. And there are millions today outside the requirements of that covenant. Does it have any impact on them?
Just as circumcision signified initiation into God’s covenant with Abraham, his household, and his descendants, in the same way baptism in the Christian tradition represents the Christian’s initiation into the church. In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, Chapter 2, verses 9-11, he used the concept of circumcision to explain how the Christian is united with Christ in baptism.
Let’s take a look at the Colossians verses: “9 For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 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…”
“Made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh…” Isn’t that interesting? And at this point I rush to dip just my toe into one of my favorite verses of scripture, Galatians 5:28, which reminds us, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
I just want to do a little dance down the street like King David did, when I read that verse, for it rises Christ up into the heavens far above any other religion or belief!
I know I don’t need to tell you, for you already know it, but the followers of Jesus Christ are the ONLY ONES guided by the love and forgiveness of their sacrificing savior, Jesus Christ, who loved us even before we knew Him.
He paid our debt on that cross for every sin we have ever committed, or have yet to commit, long before we ever knew who He was.
The covenant of circumcision reminded Abraham and his heirs that they had been drawn into a covenant relationship with God Almighty. The sign of the rainbow reminded God of God’s promise to the earth. The sabbath reminded the people of Israel that God had made them holy. And their history reminds you and I of the commitment, the love, the forgiveness of our God, El Shaddai, God Almighty; Adonai, Master and Lord.

Let us close by reading in unison the prayer found on page 607 of the United Methodist Hymnal, “A Covenant Prayer in the Weslyan Tradition.”
“I am no longer my own, but Thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom Thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by Thee or laid aside for Thee,
exalted for Thee or brought low for Thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to Thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O Glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Thou art mine, and I am Thine.
So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”

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