Well, this morning, we are beginning a series of messages on church membership. And as it applies to church membership, also the body of Christ and belonging to the body of Christ. Our purpose in these messages is to better understand the biblical patterns and purposes around our community together as God's people and to establish the context and importance of membership in the local church. While emphasizing church membership goes against modern trend trends, excuse me, in the church, we will show that membership and belonging as a God's people belonging together is based both on biblical arguments and principles of wisdom that establish both the responsibilities and benefits of identifying oneself with the people of God. I believe you will find this to be an informative and helpful series, no matter where you are at in church membership. See, a high view of church membership is one of the distinctives here at the chapel. Unfortunately, the idea of identifying with the church in membership is really no longer a popular idea in the modern church. Many churches today are absent a membership process. They have abandoned Sunday evening and midweek gatherings. And so our strong commitment to community makes us somewhat unusual. And so this series is intended to explain why we treasure and value the idea of believers identifying themselves with and belonging to a local body. Now, our journey through this series on church membership is going to start with the word covenant. It may seem like a strange place to start, But covenant is a concept that we identify typically with the Old Testament. And it's not something that we immediately would associate with being a part of the body of Christ. So this morning, I hope that we can make that connection. And I hope to show that the relationship between God and his people is revealed to us through a progression of covenants found through the whole of scripture. These covenants are more than just historical events. They're more than just the subject of theological debate. They are foundational in understanding who we are as a community and how we are to view our life together as God's people. I believe we would agree that the church is not a community created by man's design. It's God's design. Throughout scripture, it is clear that God was the one who initiates and establishes relationships with his people as a community. And they are joined not only to him as their God, but they are joined together as his people. The idea of community flows out of and is a reflection of the community that exists within the divine trinity. And we've had messages in the past that made those connections. The community of God, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. is reflected in our community. We reflect their community together. You see, God intends for us to live not as independent individuals, but rather we are to live together as dependent and a redeemed people. Moreover, our life together in community is as brothers and sisters. And this illustrates this relationship, illustrates our dependence then upon Christ, but also upon one another. And our belonging as community, as a body of believers, as the church is a wellspring of many blessings as we receive the encouragement, instruction and accountability that is needed for us to walk the life that God intended. So before we begin taking a look at this idea on covenants, let's start with a prayer this morning and ask God's favor upon our time in his word. Father, we do bow before you. We humbly bow our hearts before the great God of the universe. And you have revealed yourself in so many ways. And your word is rich, Father, and this morning I pray But you would allow what you would have to be said to come across. Father, it would be true to the word, true to the idea of covenant and community. And Father, I pray that it would fall upon the hearts of your people in a wonderful way, that you would enrich our lives together, that you would challenge us by your word. and that we would walk closely with you in the reflection of your character. This we ask and pray and plead with you in Jesus name. Amen. If you were to look up the word covenant in the Webster dictionary, you would find that it means to enter into a contract or an agreement The modern idea is that a covenant represents a binding legal commitment between two parties. The contract communicates the obligations of each party and the benefits or payment upon fulfillment. But it also represents the consequences or penalties for breaching the agreed upon terms. The power to keep a contract in our day and age is based upon its enforceability under the rule of law. In other words, the parties who sign the contract or who make the agreement are compelled to keep it, knowing that the promise of both benefit and penalty will be enforced by the government. But to fully understand the idea of covenant, we want to develop our definition biblically. While it sounds strange to our ears, the biblical definition of covenant is based upon ancient forms of treaties that the Old Testament readers would have been familiar with. You see, people of the Old Testament times would enter into formal binding agreements by a form of both oath and ritual. The parties would swear an oath of their obligations to one another in the form of pledges or promises that they would make. The making or binding then of these oaths was often followed by a ritual where an animal was sacrificed, divided in two with each party walking between the parts of the sacrificed animal. The symbolism of this ritual declared that their own life was to be forfeit, should they not keep their word, their oath, their pledge and promise. The power to keep a covenant oath was based upon the character and integrity of each party. And so the ritual sacrifice of an animal reflected the solemn nature of that covenant and the commitment of both parties to keep their word. Compare this to today where verbal oaths and agreements mean very little and cost very little and are often broken. But we can understand the motivation to keep an agreement when your life is on the line. The imagery of a sacrifice and penalties of death should not be lost on us today. It was Christ's sacrifice on the cross that forever paid the penalty of our oath breaking and met the obligations of a covenant that we could never fulfill. And as modern believers, there is another point for us to understand here. The many covenants of scripture are also a key element of God's self-revelation of his character and his relationship with his people. What do they reveal to us? Well, they reveal that God is a covenant keeping God who is always faithful to his promises. They reveal that God initiates the relationship with his people. that he will be our God and we are to be his people. They reveal to us that he is merciful and kind, that he is slow to anger and steadfast in his love. The progression of these covenants repeatedly reveal a pattern of mercy and redemption, mercy and redemption, and the flow of those lives of those who are unable to keep those covenant obligations to God that he required. And perhaps most importantly, these covenants build and lead us to the one true covenant keeper, the one true promise keeper fulfilling all the covenants and who is the author and guarantor of a better covenant because it is based on better promises. But now I'm getting ahead of the message. So this morning, we want to quickly touch on each of the key covenants of scripture. So let this be fair warning. We're going to have an express tour. We're going to move pretty quickly to cover all of this. We'll be flying over at a high level over a number of scriptures. They're on the slides and this passage and the slides will be online as well for you to look at. So if you want to go in deeper and dig and look at some of these passages, I would encourage you to do that. The covenants you see on this slide depict the progression of God's relationship with his people throughout the whole of biblical history. You can see that there is a repeated story of God's people moving from failure. I'm sorry, favor to failure, favor to failure in each of these covenants. And then we see that God rescues his people each time as the sovereign plan, his sovereign plan of redemption unfolds. And so in each covenant, what starts with God's favor, such as in the garden, ends with mankind's fall in the garden through Adam. And each covenant is a pattern that is repeated over and over again, each and every covenant until Christ comes and fulfills them all at the cross, keeping those requirements and keeping the oaths for us that we could not. In each of these covenants, there is an obligation of performance expected with blessings for obedience and penalties for failure. We see a repeated pattern of starting off well under God's authority and blessing. But over time, God's people fall away and it ends badly for them. Similarly, we see God's people start in a place of blessing and each time they end up removed from that place of blessing. However, as disheartening as this pattern may see, we also see that it's the means by which God brings about his ultimate plan for redemption of his people. And it is a pattern that reminds us of the patient and loving mercies of our God for his people. As over and over again, he exhibits his mercy, his faithfulness, his steadfast love for his people. The progression starts with two proto covenants or covenant like promises that God makes to mankind in general. First of these is to Adam and is found in the first three chapters of Genesis. Adam was expected to care for and have dominion over the earth, but he and he were given one restriction. One thing they were not to do. They were not to eat of the fruit of the tree of life. Adam and Eve did. And in failing to keep the covenant, they incurred the penalty for failure to obey what God had asked them to do. And even though Adam and Eve deserved God's wrath, he spared them. He spared them the consequences and carried forward a plan that was cast on all mankind. And with their fall came a curse, a curse of pain, toiling, and physical death in this earth, along with the removal of Adam and Eve from the place of blessing where God had placed them. The next covenant promise is made to Noah after the flood. During Noah's time, man had flourished upon the earth, but they had become evil and corrupt, and God finally decides to destroy all living things. Noah alone is found to be righteous, and God spares a few from the flood as a remnant of all mankind. So in a single cataclysmic event, mankind goes from multiplying to near extinction. Yet God again relents. After the flood, God makes a covenant with Noah and by extension to all mankind. He makes a covenant never to flood the earth again. And out of the remnant that is Noah's family comes a man named Abraham who will bring forth the seed of a nation that God will use one day to bless all mankind. The progression of covenants continues with three covenants made to the nation of Israel. God first makes a covenant with Abraham and his family, and they go from the cap from the promised land of Canaan to captivity in Egypt. Next, God makes a covenant with Moses and Israel as a nation, and they go from deliverance out of Egypt back into the promised land. But they end up falling into corruption and defeat to the nations all around them, becoming like those nations. Finally, God makes a covenant again with David and again with Israel, now an established mighty kingdom. But again, over time, they fall into disobedience and the nation ends up divided, defeated, and destroyed. And again, like the flood, only a remnant of Israel is saved. But out of the remnant of Israel comes one who establishes a new kingdom for his people, that fulfills all the prior covenants, one who, like Adam, represents all mankind, but establishes a new covenant that reverses the pattern after the fall. And he takes a remnant of mankind, that is to say, a chosen people from the bondage of sin in this life into the blessings of a glorious kingdom, a place no more crying, no more tears and eternal life with him. One who, unlike us, is able to both keep and fulfill the obligations of a covenant, as well as pay our debt, the debt of our death oath to satisfy the wrath of a perfectly just God. The pattern of these covenants reminds me of the storyline of so many movies where the characters get deeper and deeper into trouble. and rescue at the end seems nearly impossible. And you're wondering how they'll ever get out of that mess. And so you sit on the edge of your seat, just waiting and waiting for the hero to come and rescue them. Except the Bible is not a movie, and the characters of history are not fictitious. And thankfully, we know how God rescues his people. And we not only know how God rescues his people, We know the one who is so much more than a hero. So this takes us to our text this morning, found in Hebrews 8, verses 6 through 13. Feel free to turn there. I'm going to have the text on the screen. You can read along. And on the text on the screen, I've highlighted some words that I would like you to kind of just pay attention to as we're reading through this. Hebrews 8, 6 through 13, this is God's words to us this morning. But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second For he finds fault with them, the covenants, that is, when he says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant. And so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful for toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. And speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what has become obsolete is growing old and is ready to vanish away. In Hebrews, we see the superiority of Christ over the forms and covenantal systems of the Old Testament. And this passage is just an excerpt taken from all of the things where the author of Hebrews demonstrates the superiority of Christ, including the old covenants. And so we see that Christ is superior to the angels and the Levitical system of priests in chapter one, verse four, and a chapter seven, verse seven. His name and ministry are more excellent in chapter one, verse four, and the verse we read just now, chapter eight, verse six. We see that he deserves more glory than Moses. In chapter 3, verse 3, we see that Christ is the better hope of 7, chapter 7, verse 19. He is the guarantor of a better covenant in chapter 7, verse 22. He is the better priest of chapter 8. We see that the covenant Christ mediates is better since it is enacted on better promises in chapter 8, verse 6. He is the better sacrifice of chapter 9, verse 6. He is the better possession of chapter 10, verse 34. And his blood speaks a better word in chapter 12, 24. And Christ brings to us the hope of a better country and a better life in chapter 11, 16 and chapter 11, 35. Here, the repetition and the breadth of the scope of Christ's superiority is made very clear. And so we see that it is Christ who brings to us a better covenant. The heart of this passage is taken directly from Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34. Here, Jeremiah prophesies of a covenant that is to come that will not be like the previous ones. And so even though this text in Hebrews is in the New Testament, the heart of it is taken out of an Old Testament prophecy. You see, the previous covenants that God had made with man were imperfect. They could not produce the righteousness God required, nor did they restore what was lost in Adam. Time after time, mankind in Israel are unable to fulfill their covenant obligations as God's people. But the problem was not with the covenants, but rather the problem was with man's sinful nature and his spiritually dead condition. What was needed was someone to redeem us from our hopeless state. Our passage this morning makes it clear that Christ fulfills the first covenant with Israel. Christ comes and lives a perfect life. He dies and takes the penalty for our sin. And then he is raised again on our behalf. He now stands as the mediator of a new covenant on our behalf. Christ fulfills Jeremiah's prophecy and he inaugurates a new covenant. He is the one who both arbitrates and meets the obligations that we could not fulfill. He restores the fellowship with God lost in the garden, and he reestablishes our relationship with him under a new covenant that is far superior and supersedes all the previous covenants. Look at the last part of verse 12. And speaking of this new covenant, we see the phrase, I will be their God and they shall be my people. This language is a key thread to the covenantal language of the Old Testament. Over and over again, if you do a phrase for my people or be their God, you will find it throughout the Old Testament. Let me take you back for a quick look at these phrases in the covenants we just looked at earlier. To Abraham, God covenanted to be God to you and to your offspring in Genesis 17, seven. To the captive Israelites in Egypt, God makes a covenant with these words. I will take you to be my people and I will be your God. In Exodus 6-7, later speaking to the Israelites before entering the promised land, God says, For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. In Deuteronomy 7-6. And later, in Deuteronomy 29, 12-13, he tells them, so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, that he may establish you today as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And then lastly, to David, God says, And I will appoint a place for my people, Israel, and I will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more as formerly from the time that I appointed judges over my people, Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. We see in 2 Samuel 7, 10 through 11. And then in the New Testament, we see in Romans 9, 25 through 26, Paul quoting the prophet Hosea's words with those who are not my people, I will call my people and her who is not beloved. I shall call beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people there. They shall be called sons of the living God. Amen. But the old covenant language of belonging to God and being joined together as his people did not end with the nation of Israel. It carries through into the new covenant and to those who are now truly of Abraham, who have been brought together as the church. You see, Gentiles have been grafted into the true Israel. And just as Israel was the primary means by which God made himself visible to the world around them under the new covenant, the church is now the primary visible means by which he makes himself known to the nations. The church is the primary means by which God accomplishes his mission. How does he do this? First, the covenant story of scripture speaks to commitment. As people chosen by God, we are to be committed to God and to one another. There is to be a desire and loyalty to God and his people that is evident to each other and to all who observe our lives. We are to desire to walk in obedience to our God and in service to one another, and you cannot do both outside the context of being a part of a community of God's people. It is this commitment to God and his people and to one another in love and service that makes his name great to every neighbor and to every nation. Second, the covenant story speaks to identity. We are to see ourselves first and foremost as the people of God. We belong to Christ, brothers and sisters. We are new creatures and we find the essence of who we are in him. That identity also impacts our relationships with one another. We are first brothers and sisters in Christ as God's people. We now find our identity and priority in the community of Christ. The world is no longer our home. And just like the Israelites coming out of Egypt, we join together as pilgrims and our journey is for a better promised land. The world is not our home, just as Egypt was not the home of the Israelites. There is a transformation of who we are and whose we are when we join Christ in belief and in faith. And as we join with the church, that joining is to be a reflection to others of our belonging to God. They are to see the image of Christ in us. Lastly, the covenant story speaks to being in a place of God's blessing. When God's people are committed and identify themselves as his people, there is a promise of blessing. The story of redemption is God's people in God's place for God's purposes, and there are blessings that come to those who identify themselves and join together with God's people. In a new covenant community, this happens through baptism and church membership. And there'll be more about that in the messages to come. But for this morning, I want to say that the church is a place of protection, a place of instruction, a place of accountability. And a place of love. And I believe, truly believe that the fullness of the blessings of community come together when you have publicly identified yourself with the body of Christ. This life is not meant to be lived alone. The importance of this connection between covenant language and God's relationship with his people is seen in this repetition throughout scripture. The unmistakable themes of these covenants is that those whom God calls are his people. They are called out ones. They are chosen ones. They are a special and holy people. They are in the place of God's dwelling. They are the object of God's affection. And all of this language applies in new and greater ways under the new covenant that was established at the cross. Christ has called us out and chosen us. We are to be a special and holy people in Christ. And through His Spirit, we are the place of His dwelling. Christ's great love at the cross has shown to us God's great affection. And Christ has given his life to redeem and rescue a remnant to make his people. So how does this affect our view of being a part of a local body? While the remaining message in the series will flesh this out, let me ask you to consider a few areas to reflect on. If God chose to use covenant relations, excuse me, relationships to call out and identify his people and to reveal himself to us. Shouldn't that be something we pay close attention to? It's not a minor point of scripture. Please understand that I'm not making a case here for infant baptisms and covenant communities, as we see in reform denominations. It's not the purpose of my message this morning. But I do want you to see that just because we don't follow those practices does not mean we should ignore the importance of belonging to a new covenant community, which is the body of Christ. And let me emphasize even more that belonging is so much more than just casual attendance or staying on the periphery of church activities. Belonging to the church involves commitment and joining with God's people in service to him and his great mission to bring glory to his name. in the making of disciples. So as you examine your heart this morning, ask yourself, am I committed? Do you make gathering with God's people regularly a priority? Do you give of your time, talents, and treasures in a way that demonstrates the value you place upon belonging to Christ? What does it take to get you to break the commitments you have made? You see, the measure of our commitment is demonstrated by how much or how little it takes to pull us away. How committed are you to God and his people? Belonging to the church also involves your identity with and as God's people. So what do you identify with most? Or maybe a better question or personal question is, what do other people identify you with? Are you known more for your passion for a particular sports team than as a Christian? Are you known for your more conservative political views or as a Tea Party patriot than as a follower of Christ? Do you view your identity based upon your occupation more than you view your identity as a Christian and belonging to a church? You see, the fruits of our lives give clear evidence to what we identify with. If your family or livelihood were threatened because of your identity with Christ, would you deny going to the chapel? Would you stop attending? Such a question may become a reality sooner than we think. If not for us, perhaps for our children. Brothers and sisters, the New Covenant community of church. Is holy and precious to God. Scripture tells us he is jealous for his people. Zechariah 114 says, I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. And James picks this testament up in the New Testament in first chapter four, verse five, when he writes, or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scriptures say he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us? So are you jealous for the church? Do you yearn to be a part of this community and to be with God's people? Is there a passion in your heart for ministry and service? If you have not joined in membership, who or what is holding you back? May God work in all our hearts this morning to make his church and its mission the defining purpose and identity in all of our lives. Let's close. Father, Maybe a difficult message for some. But you have, in your great love, made it very clear to us that you have established and initiated a relationship with your people that is carried throughout the course of time. And when we could not fulfill the obligations of covenant, of obedience, desiring and having a passion for our God, you sent your son. And you brought a new covenant, a better covenant, grafting in the Gentiles to the house of Israel to make a mighty church that will include every tongue and every tribe and every nation. And at some great day, you will join us all together in glory at a great, great feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb. And we will rejoice before you as we see the sovereign work and plan of God in its perfection. Oh, what a day, Father, that will be. And so, Lord, call us to commitment. Call us to identify with your people and with you. God, call us to live lives that demonstrate how much we treasure all that you are and who we are in Christ. May this be our aim, we pray in Jesus name.