Covenant: Hope for Relationships

Watch

View fullsize

Listen

Read

Covenant: Hope for Relationships

Today, we’ll be diving into this reality:  

Focus: We will better understand covenant when we know that it is meant to provide HOPE for all earthly relationships

• Disposable Relationships 

• Covenant Loyalty and Strength

• Hope for Broken Relationships

• Restoration Through Christ

Disposable Relationships

Covenant reminds us that the relationships that God builds are not disposable.  

1 Samuel 26:1-5

Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon?” So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon. But David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come. Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment, while the army was encamped around him. 

What is God teaching us?  

What can we learn from this Biblical example?

The last time we heard from Saul, he was affirming the call of God on David’s life.  

1 Samuel 24:20-22 

And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house.” And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

Yet there are going to be people in your life who it seems like are always stirring up trouble for you, even when you just want to be left alone.  

Now, the Ziphites were once again inciting Saul to his murderous campaign against David and his men. 

These were the same ones who were previously attempting to aid Saul against David in I Samuel 23. 

Despite the good David had done as commander of Israel’s armies in service to Saul, the people of Ziph considered David disposable. 

But why was Saul so hellbent against David?

Saul’s heart was in a bad place - self-centered, insecure, jealous and vindictive. 

Because David threatened Saul’s sense of place and identity in the world, David also became a disposable relationship for Saul.  

We need to beware the trap of Saul.

So many people have been having a tough time during the pandemic and begin putting their issues on other people as if they are the cause of the problem.  

This is what Saul did with David. 

Saul didn’t obey God, and focused on David as the threat, the cause of his problems. 

He then considered David disposable as the object of his projected frustrations.  

But when there’s a pattern and a wake of dysfunctional relationships in my life, could it be that I’m the problem?

I need to stop and ask - am I doing something wrong?

*Unbeknownst to David, this would be the last encounter he would have with Saul. 

Very shortly, God would complete his earthly judgment against Saul and he would be killed as a result of battle with the Philistines. 

If David had given up at this point, it would have been too early. 

Through covenant relationships you are aided in finding the strength to continue on.  

Covenant Loyalty and Strength

Covenant allows us to benefit from the strength of loyalty.  

I Samuel 26:6-16

Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab's brother Abishai the son of Zeruiah, “Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him. Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?” And David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.” So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head, and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them. Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill, with a great space between them. And David called to the army, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?” And David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord. This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is and the jar of water that was at his head.”

A DEVELOPED SENSE OF LOYALTY IS GREATER THAN A MENTALITY OF TREATING RELATIONSHIPS AS DISPOSABLE. 

What people actually long for is the strength of loyalty found in covenant relationships.  

If this is the case, why are so many people abandoning them today?

Workplace culture today:

No pension

No watch

People feel used, many times abused and then replaced 

They rarely get a “Thank you”

Maybe you’ve felt this way before.  

If so, it is easy to begin to think to yourself, “If this is how the company treats me, and profits are the bottom line, why should I care?”

Yet it is important that you hear this during this time - YOU MATTER - to God, to his people and Christ’s Kingdom purposes. 

Covenant is what illuminates this truth and is the canvas on which loyal allegiances are painted.  

Now why are these covenant relationships so important to experiencing the strength of God?

“Without friends, no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.” 

– Augustine

Think about David’s predicament. 

Yet David had Abishai.  

What was so significant about how Abishai related to David so that David was able to experience the strength of covenant loyalty through Abishai? 

Abishai was on T.A.P. and gave David what it takes to be in covenant relationships:

1. TIME 

2. AWARENESS 

3. PROACTIVE AVAILABILITY   

1. TIME

It takes time sowing into the idea of loyalty to reap the strength of covenant relationships. 

You would think it was the other way around, but we say it this way because it is you investing in the value of loyalty that will enable you to develop the covenant relationships you desire. 

As always, you need to look to give it before you receive it.  

*Decide to be loyal and be amazed at the covenant relationships that God begins adding to your life.  

2. AWARENESS 

Awareness comes through relational proximity.

David and Abishai were in the flight (from Saul) and the fight (into the kingship) together.  

They had common concerns and shared experience unto God’s ultimate ends. 

Many times when you’re in the fight with those who have the word in them, have been fasting, been praying, been believing God like David over a long period of time, what they need to hear is that you are with them.  

Being with people of covenant in their time of need is what defines the strength of the relationship.  

When people are in the battle, they need prayers, ENCOURAGEMENT (not always instruction) and the support of presence.  

This is what Absihai did for David. 

The battle is not over just because you forget about it.  

Assume the battle is not over until they tell you it is over proclaiming Christ’s manifested victory. 

3. PROACTIVE AVAILABILITY  

The true mark of Biblical covenant is dependability and availability.  

Biblical Covenant is preserved through the Holy Spirit fruit of faithfulness.

Abishai was continually looking for an opportunity to be involved, not waiting for one to be dumped into his lap. 

So when the call to go into Saul’s camp came, Abishai was dependable, ready to be involved because Abishai remained close enough to David to hear the call and respond to it. 

David experienced the strength of covenant loyalty because Abishai was ready to be a SUPPORT AND BE ON MISSION. 

And in that loyalty, Abishai said, “I’m going to fight with you, fight for you, stand with you and when I am able, be with you.”

By availability, covenant relationships also help us go into the enemy’s camp to take out that which is threatening our walks with God. 

For some of you during this time, it can be as straight forward as needing accountability with the things you are watching, which can be a pollutant your soul. 

Abishai was willing to go with David to the camp of Saul to do this.  

Yet when they got there, Abishai was ready to put Saul to death. 

*How often do people set themselves in resistance against some evil, fail to acknowledge God’s ways, and end up becoming the very thing they were deposing?

David refused to fall into this trap. 

And David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.”

Our covenant relationships continually remind us that our God is holy, does things differently and makes men holy.  

He teaches his people to walk in the opposite spirit than the evil we see in the world and look to God for enduring deliverance.  

Hope for Broken Relationships 

Through Jesus, there is always hope for broken relationships.  

I Samuel 26:17-21

Saul recognized David's voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the Lord , saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.” Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have made a great mistake.”

The source of broken relationships is stubborn pride where people don’t own up to their faults.  

Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have made a great mistake.”

Admitting I am wrong and asking for forgiveness is powerful.  

This is the definition of confession. 

It is the precursor to repentance. 

Repentance is the bridge to restored relationship with God and people. 

It takes humility. 

It needs to be a practice, not a one time event. 

Saul had one last moment where he could have made things right.  

By standing firmly in this place of repentance, Saul could have provided some sort of healing for David, and ultimately saved his own life. 

Unfortunately, Saul continued in his sin until his death. 

This does not have to be your story. There is hope for your broken relationships. 

What fractured covenant has damaged your life and is eating you alive? 

Who do you need to contact and make peace with today?

Restoration Through Christ

God calls us into restorative relationships through Christ

I Samuel 26:22-25

And David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and take it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.” Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

We’ve all fallen short at some point and have done damage to the most important relationships in our lives. 

We’ve all broken faith with God and should be disposed of because of our sin. 

Yet like David in Saul’s camp, Jesus comes into our lives to deal with what is killing us. 

Though we deserved death, Jesus walked in the opposite spirit and came to give us life. 

Jesus lived perfectly, spoke wisely and healed graciously.  

Just as David spared Saul on the hill of Hachilah, Jesus went to the cross at Calvary to take the punishment for our sins. 

Because he was sinless, God the Father raised Jesus from the dead and through our repentance, gives us another chance to do the right thing. 

And now, Jesus models perfect covenant for us. 

As we follow him, Jesus gives us his time inexhaustibly, he’s aware of our every need and fights for us continuously. 

But how do we walk in this covenant strength of God?  

1 John 1:5-2:2

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Jesus is loyal to us, even in our shortcomings and failures. 

He calls us to treat one another in the same way.  

When we are found in Jesus, our identity and place in the world are eternally secure. 

Let’s give our loyalty to the king whom we can ultimately trust with our days and live in true covenant with the people who call continually upon his name.  

Second City Church - Covenant, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Covenant: God’s Redeeming Plan

Watch

View fullsize

Listen

Read

Covenant: God’s Redeeming Plan

The idea of covenant can be a foreign concept in our day, one that has been misunderstood and eroded. 

Yet it is an eternal, heavenly value. 

Covenant is a principle which God uses to build individuals, families, churches, communities, cities and nations.

Examples of covenant with which you may be familiar:

• Business covenants (contracts)

• Alliances between nations (treaties)

• Marriage

• God’s covenant with humanity through the gospel

Focus: We will better understand covenant when we know that it is meant to help preserve the PLAN of God through us. 

• Every Day Discernment 

• Preserving the Covenant 

• God’s Redeeming Plan 

Every Day Discernment

We need to develop eyes to discern what God is doing around us every day. 

1 Samuel 25:1-38

Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’” When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. And Nabal answered David's servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this. And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage. But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”

What is God teaching us?  

What can we learn from this Biblical example?

First, we see that while on the run from murderous King Saul, David and his men continued to do good.  

David came across a family which included… 

• Nabal, who was noted as a spiritually dull, worldly and unconcerned with the righteous ways of God. 

• Abigail, who was noted as discerning and beautiful

In the grazing fields of Nabal, David and his men protected the sheep of Nabal at a time when raiders and thieves could have easily wrought destruction on Nabal’s business.  

This was an act of kindness - an olive-branch from David and his men to Nabal with the only expectation of reciprocated civility.  

The time of sheering was one of work and feasting.  

David and his men were looking to be rewarded for their efforts with food.

Nabal was a Calebite, more than likely a descendant of the man who, along with the Biblical hero Joshua, helped lead the Jewish people to entering the promised land of Israel. 

Nabal should have understood God’s ways, that you honor people for the good that they do from which you benefit, whether it was solicited or not. 

But Nabal’s men called him worthless. 

Why were Nabal’s men calling him worthless?

It wasn’t because Nabal wasn’t rich or a worldly success.  

It was because of Nabal’s character. 

Nabal wasn’t discerning enough to listen to appeals to righteousness.  

Nabal didn’t ask for David’s help and felt he should be left alone.  

Nabal expressed entitlement as if he was owed the good that David and his men did for his flocks.  

As a businessman, Nabal needed to be careful not to reduce everything down to numbers and remember the priority of godliness. 

He did not show any expression of thanks. 

To the contrary, Nabal took the occasion to insult David and his men in their time of need. 

And Nabal answered David's servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?”

It was because Nabal was ungrateful - a true shortcoming of our generation. 

Nabal was not discerning enough to know that that with which he had been blessed by God was to be used as a part of God’s unfolding redemptive story.

Nabal’s failings:

1. Nabal had a worldly, self-centered response to the needs of David and his men. 

2. Nabal did not consult God to determine if or how he was to meet that need. 

3. Nabal failed to consider the purpose of his encounter with David. 

4. Nabal refused to submit to his role in God’s bigger plan, helping to keep God’s anointed king and his men supplied on the way to David’s ascension to the throne.   

David was offering covenant peace to Nabal just as Jesus beckons us to follow him into his Kingdom purposes.  

Nabal, however, was not interested in the one who would be made king, just as people act with indifference towards Jesus’ rulership in their lives today. 

So our first lesson is this:

Ladies, when you have a God-fearing man you need to thank Christ in heaven and extol your husband on the regular for being a godly man. 

It is a gift. 

Too many are like Nabal. 

At the same time, men, when you have a God-loving, discerning and virtuous woman like Abigail, you need to thank God in Heaven for her. 

Often she is God’s grace to you helping to save your household in ways that make up for your mistakes and in ways that you don’t even know.  

So how do we preserve the covenants initiated by God?  

Preserving the Covenant

The purposes of God are preserved when we fight to honor the covenants God gives us. 

I Samuel 25:18-28

Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.” When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.” And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand! For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.” And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

Somehow, word was getting around that God had anointed David to be the next king of Israel.  

We know this because Abigail acknowledged it. 

It would have therefore been Nabal’s God-fearing responsibility to see if this was true and submit himself to being a part of what God was doing. 

It is no different today than word going out that Jesus Christ, the unique Son of God, has  been anointed king of the earth. 

It is now incumbent that we do our due diligence to confirm and submit to his claims if they are true.  

“Man’s condition ought to impel him to seek to discover whether there is a God and a solution to his predicament. But people occupy their time and their thoughts with trivialities and distractions, so as to avoid the despair, boredom, and anxiety that would inevitably result if those diversions were removed.”

William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics

To his detriment, Nabal rejected the invitation to covenant relationship with David and his men. 

Maybe you have rejected overtures made by godly people in your world trying to further influence you for God’s call on your life.  

This ultimately put Nabal’s entire family in danger, which all sin ultimately does. 

Because of Nabal’s sin, Abigail had to step up. 

There are some of you who will be called to do the same. 

Yet there is a false, unbiblical notion of unity being taught in our churches today.  

God wants us to fight for the covenant of marriage and unity within the family unit, but not at the expense of his word.

Over and over again we see one spouse holding another captive to the detriment of the entire family. 

We need to understand though, that unity in any covenant is subject to our unity with God.  

Choose to obey God’s word even if you do not have agreement. 

And if you have to choose sides, make sure that you choose God’s side first.  

If you are going to fight for unity in your home, first make sure that you are unified with God and his word.   

That’s the best thing you can do for those you love.  

That is why years later, Jesus said:

Luke 14:26-27

26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

The heavenly reality is that you love your family best when you love God first, and so preserve all important covenants in your life.  

Abigail had to step up in the midst of Nabal’s sin to make sure that her entire family didn’t perish.  

There are times when you may find yourself in a home where the covenant of God is not being honored.  

If that is the case, always remember that your first covenant is with God and you are obligated to obey him first and above anyone else.  

There may be times like Abigail’s that you must do what it takes to see your family make peace with the anointed king.  

If you have to initiate Bible study, prayer and church participation even when your significant other is not on board, you do so knowing that God will back you up.  

Abigail’s courageous actions diverted the wrath of David and your courageous actions can do the same for your family.  

Pray, teach, live, give and serve like those whom you influence lives’ depend on it -  because their formation in Christ actually does.  

This is how Abigail saved her household.  

This is the truth and we need to have no doubt about it - God will judge our unrepentant sin.  

Though Nabal was wealthy and successful, his unrighteousness caught up with him and it will with you as well if you do not turn to the Lord.  

As is our situation with Christ, if Nabal had responded to David’s original overtures, it would have saved Nabal’s life, and in the future, given him the rewards accompanying friendship with the king. 

Yet Nabal rejected these kindnesses. 

Nabal had a heart attack or stroke when he realized that David and his men were as close as they were to coming and giving Nabal what he deserved.  

Ten days following, God struck Nabal down for his sins and he died.  

That was the sad story of Nabal and the fate of many godless men today.  

Yet David’s story ended differently.  

Why?

David showed the restraint necessary to walk in covenant character.  

How?

David responded to people sent by God to help him preserve his covenant behavior. 

Because life is a marathon and our journey can be longer than we anticipate, there will be definite moments along the way when we are tempted to get off track.  

Think of what that may have been for you recently. 

Has it been bitterness because of all that is transpiring in our nation?

Is it a desire to disengage and seek comfort because of the emotional strain of the pandemic?

Is it the trap of entertainment that is dulling your godly convictions as you spend hours of more time alone and at home?

Because of Nabal’s response, David was tempted to leave his godly trajectory and take vengeance for himself.   

David would have left the path of the covenant life and promises that God had for him. 

But it was David’s relationship with Abigail that would help David and his men maintain this trajectory.  

Abigail was God’s agent to help preserve the covenant promises of God for David and her family.  

We all need covenant relationships to keep us from doing stupid things detrimental to the call of God on our lives. 

You need people whom you give permission to speak God’s word to you, to tell you “no” and to tell you that not all of your ideas are God ideas, that some of them are actually bad ideas.

This is what Abigail would become for David.

So our next take away needs to be this : 

Don’t make life altering decisions before consulting God’s word or the covenant relationships God has given you. 

They are a protection to keep you on course.

Abigail literally kept David and his men from ending Nabal’s life.

We will all have encounters with ungrateful, spiteful, unreasonable people like Nabal, whether in the workplace or in our communities.

David made a vow to take vengeance on Nabal.  

Yet when David was halted by Abigail’s counsel,  David broke his vow and came to repentance. 

What vows have you made in your anger or pain that you need to break so that you can return to the Lord?  

When we allow godly counsel in our lives, it saves us from destructive paths and allows us to return to the righteous covenants of God.  

This is the nature of ongoing repentance that we all need in our lives.

It is when we experience God’s redeeming plan.  

God’s Redeeming Plan

God saves us by redeeming the fractured covenants in our lives through Jesus. 

I Samuel 25:39-42

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

When Abigail lost her husband because of his sin, God had a redeeming plan so that she would not be left alone. 

David represented the redeeming love of Christ. 

David became the leader needed in Abigail’s home and would walk with her into God’s covenant purposes.  

As David with Abigail, Jesus comes as the better bridegroom to provide for, protect and lead those who’ve devoted themselves to him.  

No matter our background, our previous associations or our sins, Jesus comes to redeem us from a life that was headed for destruction.  

Because Jesus was the righteous king that committed no sin, Jesus was able to pay the price for our offenses against God at the cross, and three days later be raised from the dead. 

As David with Abigail, Jesus now gives us the opportunity for forgiveness of sins along with a new name and new life in him.  

As David provided a new home and a new covenant family for Abigail, so God does so for us through his church. 

God’s loving plan in Christ also has the power to redeem covenants that have been broken. 

Whether because of adultery, abandonment or some other sin, God has a history of redeeming covenants that were previously broken through repentance and faith. 

If you are a man or woman like Nabal today, you can learn from Nabal’s example and repent. 

You can put your faith in Jesus’ atoning work for you on the cross, becoming the better man or woman that God has called you to be by his resurrection power.  

You can join our men’s group which is going to be going through the book Kingdom Man - Every Man’s Destiny, Every Woman’s Dream....

As a woman you can sign up for our future women’s precept Bible so that like, Abigail you can in the wisdom and grace of God.  

The church is Christ’s bride whom he will come one day to bring into his heavenly home.   

May we be watching and waiting while walking in the covenant relationships he’s given us to make us ready.  

Second City Church - Covenant, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Covenant: Honoring the Process

Watch

View fullsize

Listen

Read

Covenant: Honoring the Process

We must learn to honor the process that God has to bring us into his covenant purposes. 

1 Samuel 24:1-22 

When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats' Rocks. And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe. And afterward David's heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord 's anointed.” So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way. Afterward David also arose and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage. And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David seeks your harm’? Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.’ See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness.’ But my hand shall not be against you. After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a flea! May the Lord therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you, and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand.” As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house.” And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

What is God teaching us?  

What can we learn from this Biblical examples?

There will be moments in your life when you want to take your own destiny into your hands.  

Most people have some measure of ambition in life. 

Some of it is God inspired.  

Much of it is not.

There is a difference between being anointed to execute a task and having the capacity to steward it well.  

Before God allowed David to become king, he would take David through a process to learn godly leadership.  

Could it be that where you find yourself today is in a similar season of process and character development?

David’s men were ready for him to fulfill a position.  

God wanted David to go through a process. 

Be careful of peers who are trying to puff up your head to the exclusion of God’s wisdom from those who have gone before you. 

In their impatience, our peers, like David’s men, often don’t know what they don’t know or what you need to know to fulfill your call in God successfully. 

David’s men said of Saul when he was in the cave that it was time for David to kill Saul and assume the throne that God had promised David.  

David’s men were looking only to their ambition to interpret the situation and not to the ways of God.  

The ways of God are important because as Moses prayed when leading the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt,

Exodus 33:12-13 

Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”

Meaning God had given Moses a task, but Moses knew he would need God’s favor and ways to fulfill it.  

David had that recognition and we need to have it as well.  

David’s men had the right goal, that David should be made king, but the wrong process.  

Yet David was convicted by the Holy Spirit when he cut off a piece of Saul’s robe, getting close enough to threaten Saul’s life. 

When we don’t trust God in the process, it is sin. 

Why is it sin?  

And better yet, what is sin?  

“What is sin?

It is the glory of God not honored.

The holiness of God not reverenced.

The greatness of God not admired.

The power of God not praised.

The truth of God not sought.

The wisdom of God not esteemed.

The beauty of God not treasured.

The goodness of God not savored.

The faithfulness of God not trusted.

The commandments of God not obeyed.

The justice of God not respected.

The wrath of God not feared.

The grace of God not cherished.

The presence of God not prized.

The person of God not loved.

That is sin.”

John Piper

All of these descriptions are characteristic of us when we don’t trust God in the process as the commander of our destinies. 

Yet David rose above this when he corrected his posture towards Saul after cutting off a piece of Saul’s robe.  

Where did David get such a thought that what he did was in error?  

Why did David come to repentance?

David got this thought from the word of God in which he was commanded to base his convictions. 

Exodus 22:28

“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

This did not mean that David agreed with everything that King Saul did as a leader, or even more, that God approved of it.  

God had left Saul, had already pronounced judgment on Saul, and it was only a matter of time before this was seen.  

If David had been willing to forcibly take the kingship by killing God’s anointed in King Saul, David would have set a precedent for the forcible insurrections that we see modeled in godless monarchies throughout history. 

What David was learning was how to trust God through the process. 

This would create in David the character he needed for true leadership blessed by God.  

Psalm 78:70-72

He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance. With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.

What you see in David’s kingship is a recurring theme of success and triumph.

David was able to experience this because God was with him, meaning that David was living in God’s pleasure. 

It would have been a sacrifice of this standing if David forsook the pleasure of God for an expedited ascension to the throne through ungodly means.  

Yet do we truly believe that it is God who exalts one man or woman, and brings another down (Psalm 75:7)?  

Or have we put our ultimate trust in idols of human governments and human scheming to accomplish our ends? 

“Suffering always reveals idols of the heart.” ―James MacDonald, Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling: Changing Lives with God’s Changeless Truth

David would not forsake the process for an idol of position. 

The question is for us:

What idols have times of testing and waiting revealed in our hearts?

Covenant Process and Character

Our covenant relationships help encourage us in God’s order, God’s process, God’s character and God’s timing.  

When we speak of the word character, Biblically it is a term used for that which has been tested by circumstance and proven to be both trustworthy and reliable.  

How does covenant relate to character in the midst of God’s process that we must come to honor?

Covenant provides security while we are being shaped. 

It provides stability while we are being challenged. 

It provides consistent direction when our focus is tested.  

Covenant provides positive and godly accountability to keep us on course. 

In uncertain times it was God’s covenant devotion to David that kept David steadfast while on the run from Saul. 

It was David’s covenant interactions with his men that helped forge the character of God in them all.  

This character helped David and his men, and helps us be grounded in:

1. God’s order which teaches us the healthy dynamics of relationships, including respecting God-given authority 

Whether it be with a parent, a spouse, a coach, a workplace employer or a ruling official, God has order that is to be honored, despite leadership’s imperfections.  

Unless they are telling you to break the commands of God, their leadership is to be respected. 

We must show mercy for others even while we realize there is hope for us.  

This is what David did for Saul, leaving the judgment of Saul in God’s hands.

When challenged to take Saul’s life, David responded to his men saying:

“The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord 's anointed.”

We need to understand that every leader is in process and if God has called you to be one, so are you. 

The question is for character to be formed - 

Have you done the things your leaders have already asked you to do - things that they believe are in order to help develop you?

Our covenant relationships help develop the character of Christ within us. 

David continued to do the righteous thing following the ways of the Lord and leading those he influenced to do the same.  

When you continue to make the difficult, righteous decisions, it creates an atmosphere, an environment for others to rise to godliness as well.  

This is how David’s covenant with his men helped turn them from those who were simply known for being discontent, in debt and in distress to those who would be known as David’s mighty men, extending his Kingdom all across the land.  

It was through David’s covenant with God that he was able to display the Holy Spirit fruit of long-suffering, otherwise known as patience and rest in that trust.  

How do most people come against the authorities that mishandle them?

They do so by cutting their leaders down, little comment by little comment, just as David cut off a piece of Saul’s robe. 

Yet this was this sin from which David turned. 

David encouraged his men to do something different and embrace God’s order.  

David bowed down before Saul to pay Saul homage, respecting Saul’s God-given authority.  

As the people of God, we must develop a CULTURE OF HONOR CULTURE to combat the natural human tendency towards cynism and rejection of healthy authority. 

It is part of God’s redemptive testimony left to be expressed through the church.  

Why is this important? 

Just as we can not love God who we can not see if we can not love our fellow man who we can see (I John 4:20), we are deceiving ourselves to think that we can submit to God’s authority which we can not see if we do not respect the authorities which we can. 

THERE IS A WAY TO SPEAK TRUTH TO POWERS - GOD’S WAY. 

DAVID HAD HIS MOMENT OF SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER SAYING, 

“May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.”

David helped his men honor God’s order by maintaining the delicate balance of being vocal while remaining godly and trusting the Lord to avenge him. 

At the same time, and this is what people often miss, David made his intentions of peace clear to Saul.  

David began by acknowledging Saul’s authority saying, “My lord the king!” and “See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it.”

David continually verbalized the fact that he did not want to be at odds with Saul. 

Thus David did his part to bring character to God’s covenant process. 

2. God’s process teaches us to be fully present and active while waiting waiting for change. 

David was not waiting to be king to act and lead in the character of a godly king. 

The take away for us is this:

Be all in, in the stage and season in which you find yourself as if you will be there forever.  

You may not be, but it provides you the confidence knowing that you gave God your all while He had you there.  

Be sure of this:

Proverbs 12:24

The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.

You will definitely not be promoted or see better days if you’re doing a half-hearted job where you now find yourself.  

3. God’s character teaches us how to live during the process. 

The process of God helps develop the character Christ in your life.  

We often treat character as optional.  

Character is a non-negotiables to God.

We have 30+ year olds still talking about the pains of adulting. 

Yet the transition of that ship should have sailed a long time ago.  

When it hasn’t, our character can be detrimental and it would have been for David’s men had David not stopped the attempt on Saul’s life.  

“People destroy with their character what they’ve built with their gift unless real transformation has occurred.”

-Graham Cooke

Think of several of the high-profile disruptor  companies over the past couple of years that have had to undergo major overhauls because of the reckless culture the gifted founders created (Wework, Uber, etc.)

It is through tough moments that we see true sanctification in our lives.

This sanctification process is like:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON by F. Scott Fitzgerald 

4. God’s timing teaches us that God will put us in the places that HE wants us when both we and those with whom we are to be in relationship are ready. 

When David did the right thing and offered mercy to Saul, Saul did not immediately turn to what was right. 

Yet God was still working. 

Saul was confronted with and momentarily acknowledged the justice of David’s cause, giving ear to David. 

Saul acknowledged David as more righteous than himself and even affirmed the fact that God would make him king.  

David’s righteousness de-escalated the situation and momentarily softened Saul towards David when Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.

Yet Saul had no come to Jesus moment.  

He did not permanently relent from the pain he was causing David, but merely gave him temporary relief that day. 

As you are in process, you will experience similar things. 

Just remember that God is still working, his promise hasn’t changed, and this is all part of the process.  

The lesson David needed to learn is that it was a matter of timing.  

Trusting in God’s covenant process, David developed the character to make a promise to Saul to the benefit of Saul’s family even while David was waiting on his own conditions to improve. 

We need to learn the same lesson.  

Why? 

Because God is ultimately Lord of the process. 

Galatians 4:4-5 

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

The Lord of the Process

For Jesus to truly be Lord of our lives, he must be the Lord of our covenant process. 

Just as David had to learn to wait on the Lord for his promotion, so did Jesus who would be exalted as the ruler of all the earth. 

In the same way, we must allow Jesus to be the Lord of the process to bring us into his covenant promises.  

Though David was the anointed successor of Saul, for a period of time David had to deal with the shortcomings and failings of his predecessor.  

God the Father was using this process to shape David just as the Father used Christ’s condescension to make Jesus a merciful and faithful high priest to fallen humanity.   

Of Jesus, the Scripture said:

Hebrews 2:17-18 

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

And again it says:

Hebrews 5:7-10 

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

The cross of Jesus Christ is where the cave of Wildgoats’ Rocks is realized for us. 

Just as David’s faithful service to Saul was returned with murderous spite, so Jesus is often rejected by a world that he came to heal and save. 

But just as there was a day of reckoning for King Saul, so there will be a day of judgement for every man and woman to give an account to God.  

David trusted in this and was exalted as king while Saul perished.  

By his resurrection from the dead, Jesus has also been declared the eternal, exalted king of the line of David and those who oppose him will be crushed at the culmination of human history. 

Yet just as in the cave of Wildgoats’ Rocks David restrained his vengeance to see Saul go free, so Christ suffered the process of God’s crushing at the cross for our sins, that those who would repent of their rebellion against God might also go free.

Let’s humble ourselves today and so honor the process that will develop the character to bring us into God’s covenant calling and promises.  

Second City Church - Covenant, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Covenant: Define the Relationship

Watch

View fullsize

Listen

Read

Covenant: Define the Relationship

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Why is covenant important? 

Covenant is the basis of all meaningful relationships in life. It clarifies our priorities by distinguishing between those with whom we are to build life vs. those who are merely passerby. Most importantly, covenant is the basis of our relationship with the living God through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Just as last week we learned that covenant relationships help catalyze the purposes of God in our lives, today we will see how these covenant relationships help maintain vision to fulfill God’s purposes. 

Focus: We will better understand covenant when we know that it is meant to help maintain our vision in God.  

• Opaque Times

• Defining the Relationship

• Christ our Covenant Vision 

Opaque Times

1 Samuel 23:15-29

David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.” And the two of them made a covenant before the Lord.

David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home. Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon? Now come down, O king, according to all your heart's desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand.” And Saul said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, for you have had compassion on me. Go, make yet more sure. Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he is very cunning. See therefore and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”

And they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon. And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told, so he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.”

So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi.

Covenant relationships help us see God clearly during challenging times.  It is easy during challenging times to lose focus, hope and vision for the ultimate high calling that we have in God.  During trying periods we begin to ask questions of ourselves like:

• What is God’s endgame?

• What’s the point of all this suffering and when will it end?

• How do I protect God’s vision for my life and continue in faithfulness?

This is the challenge through which David and his men undoubtedly had to press while being on the run from King Saul.  As David and his men continued their flight, they moved through Ziph, a town in the Judean mountains. Unfortunately, just like the people of Keilah, the people of Ziph were willing to give up David and his men to King Saul.

Here we see yet another difference between those with whom you have covenant and those you do not: People of Biblical covenant see what God sees - what others do not. 

Do you think that the people of Ziph would have been willing to give David and his men up if they truly realized what God was doing - that God was going to make David king? Most people in the world will only treat you with what their natural eyes can see. They will relate to you based on your gender, your ethnicity, your past, your present socio-economic status, your credentials or experience.  

People of covenant, however, have the ability to focus on God’s future prospects and calling on our lives.  The people of covenant invest in you, labor for you and fight for the promise of God in you long before it materializes. Though David’s condition was far worse than in I Samuel 20 when Jonathan and David first renewed their covenant, when Jonathan goes to David in Horesh Jonathan is able to see even more clearly that David will be king. 

Both Jonathan and David were of the family of Saul. Jonathan was Saul’s son and the natural heir to the throne. David was King Saul’s son in law who he brought near (“keep your friends close and your enemies closer”) through marriage to his daughter Michal, but was the God appointed successor to the throne because of Saul’s perpetual disobedience.  

Jonathan acknowledged through his covenant with David the greater covenant - the one God was establishing with David beyond the natural, bringing David to the kingship he promised him. His trust in the Lord (demonstrated in I Samuel 14) enabled him to receive whatever role the Lord had for him, and to encourage David in God’s promises, even when it meant that he would not himself be king. 

When Jonathan said, “I will be next to you,” it meant that Jonathan would be second in rank, but not the heir. How powerful this is when people are released from striving and feeling like they always need to push themselves over and above others!

This allows you to see clearly -  Being able to say, “I am not the top dog.  I am second (or whatever place God has for you)” enables you to fulfill the purpose of God by walking in the STRENGTH OF YOUR ROLE.  

Covenant releases us from the sinful fruit of envy because we are able to walk in the security that God has given us importance and an invaluable contribution through the covenant relationships that he gives us.  

As Aslan reminds us in the Chronicles of Narnia: “You doubt your value. Don’t run from who you are.”

You will not be overlooked by God who establishes covenant with you. 

You will not be forgotten by those whom he’s given you to walk in covenant. 

Defining the Relationship

Covenant relationships need to be intentional to be fruitful.  

The truth is that covenant relationships are based on commitment, not convenience.  However, commitment can be difficult at times and challenging to maintain. Think about the friendships you fell into during college life vs. those in you must work for in adulthood. 

Yet people ask the question, “Isn’t it enough to just be in relationship with the people you’ve always known and with whom you’ve always been familiar?” Is it? Or does God have something more?

God definitely has more for you if your friends have consistently and always been accomplices to your perpetual sin. 

I Corinthians 15:33 (ESV)

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Yet people will also ask, “Why should I have to make effort if we’re supposed to be in covenant? “Shouldn’t things just be organic?”

Loving people over any extended period of time will require sacrifice.  Your number will eventually be called and the requirement will come. Sacrifice is the mark of any covenant relationship. Remember, in the Scripture above, David stayed in the stronghold and Jonathan went home. 

We also see that commitment is expressed at times in unpleasant, but necessary counsel. In I Samuel 20, we see Jonathan telling David truths that he didn’t want to hear that would ultimately save David’s life. Though David served valiantly under Saul, Saul was now turned against David and intent on killing him. Jonathan let David know of his need to flee. He was pointing out the places David didn’t need to go and the people who would harm David by association. 

We all need God appointed people who we trust to do this in our lives. 

If you are not sure that you are in covenant with people, make a covenant to ensure that you have agreed upon purpose in Christ. 

Distinguishing Marks of Covenant:

1. You are intentional with the relationship. You don’t wait for ideal circumstances for covenant to fall into your lap. Jonathan went to meet David at Horesh. 

2. You define the relationship so you both have clear understanding of covenant expectations. 

3. You inconvenience yourself to make it happen. You will have to make ongoing and repeated effort to maintain and reestablish your covenant relationships. Never have a one and done mentality.  “Do you love me?”  “Of course I do. Didn’t I tell you at the altar?”

4. You diligently strengthen one another’s hands in God. You PURPOSEFULLY and regularly remind one another of the PROMISES of God.  This allows you and those with whom you are in covenant to see clearly in the midst of the long fight of faith. This is what Jonathan did for David, reminding David of the certainty of God’s promise to bring him into the kingship despite the optics of his then present circumstances. 

This is important because:

“Your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts.”

-Craig Groeschel, Pastor of Life.Church which develops Youversion and the Church online platform

Covenant will also bring you to the word of God to show you that life is not all about you. We see from Saul’s reaction to the people of Ziph that his focus was continually on himself.

He said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, for you have had compassion on me.”

Saul was so removed from the word of God at this point and so warped in his thinking that he felt anyone helping him fulfill his murderous campaign was worthy of God’s blessing and was being loving.  Similarly, by exposing the whereabouts of David and his men, the people of Ziph would have thought that they could curry some sort of favor with Saul for their benefit.  

How true it is that myopic people, even in the midst of sin, can make conversations, focus and relationships all about them. They take from relationships solely for their own ends.  

In many modern relationships, the sad truth is that people can be incredibly self-focused and the relationships can be terribly one sided, even while invoking the name of the Lord.  

Have you been there before - part of conversations where people couldn’t stop talking, usually about themselves, and never asked you one question about your situation?

This is not Biblical covenant.  It is not even good social skill yet it happens all of the time. Biblical covenant is a mutual care for those involved to the benefit of all parties in service of the one true king. 

Christ our Covenant Vision

The crowning of Jesus as the one true king is our covenant vision.  

Ultimately, David was able to persist in faith when he was reminded that God had made a promise to make him king. His covenant with Jonathan helped maintain that vision, being strengthened in the Lord despite the threats on his livelihood. David persisted because God had shown him the end game.  

God’s covenant people are able to do so today as they maintain the heavenly vision - the promise of Jesus being exalted as the resurrected king.  We look forward to being co-heirs with Christ, as he rules over his restored creation.  

In the meantime, God’s covenant with his people means that he will not give us up to permanent destruction or failure. It may be hard to see when you are dealing with the threat of layoffs, the stress of a new business venture, remote work and maintaining the equilibrium of family life at home. 

Yet know that just as Jonathan with David, the covenant that you have with Christ is meant to keep you alive, encouraged, growing and advancing while God works behind the scenes. 

Our covenant relationships continually remind us that our God is a miracle worker. This was seen in the rescue that David experienced at the Rock of Escape. Just as when death was at David’s door God stepped in at the last moment to call Saul away to fight the Philistines, so God is working behind the scenes by the power of his Holy Spirit on behalf of his people today. It is because of Calvary’s cross that God has established covenant with you so that Jesus has become our Rock of Escape. 

On the cross Jesus took the punishment that we deserve, diverting Satan who would come to destroy our minds, bodies and futures because of our sins. 

By Christ’s resurrection from the dead he gives us forgiveness of sins and eternal escape from the death that would otherwise claim our lives.  It is what God’s church will experience, even as we navigate the last days full of uncertainty and threat prior to Christ’s return. 

Matthew 24:3-14 

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Covenant is what God uses to communicate his expectations to humanity. 

Covenant is also the very basis of our access to the realities of the Kingdom of Heaven, including our redemption, the favor that is upon us, forgiveness, present and future healing, justification, sanctification and one day glorification in Christ. Our covenant relationships remind us that Christ is the one whom every tongue will confess and before whom every knee will bow, proclaiming that Jesus is Lord.  This promise is true of Jesus, even during opaque times.  

His sacrifice was perfect - now we make our sacrifices to strengthen one another’s hands in God to win the lost and make disciples to his glory. We maintain this vision until we see Christ, with whom we have covenant, crowned as the one true benevolent King of all the earth. 

Study

Click HERE to download our study guide

Second City Church - Covenant, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Covenant: Do It Anyway

Watch

View fullsize

Listen

Read

Covenant: Do it Anyway

Pastor Rollan Fisher

As we continue to live through the Pandemic, it is a good time to reestablish the purpose and importance of Biblical relationships.  

To do so, over the next several weeks we will be studying the life of the Israeli hero David during a particular season of his life prior to his kingship. 

In David’s life we will see fleshed out the meaning of covenant - gaining a better understanding of God’s covenant with us and the value of our covenant relationships with his people to whom he joins us.   

Focus: We will better understand covenant when we know that it is meant to catalyze our participation in the PURPOSES of God. 

• A Picture of Biblical Covenant

• Covenant and the Purposes of God

• When there is no Covenant 

• God Delivers Anyway 

A Picture of Biblical Covenant

1 Samuel 23:1-14 

Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors.” Therefore David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” But David's men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”

Then David inquired of the Lord again. And the Lord answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.” And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow.

So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech had fled to David to Keilah, he had come down with an ephod in his hand. Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.

David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” Then David said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account. Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard?

O Lord, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.” Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go.

When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition. And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

What is God teaching us?  

What can we learn from this Biblical example?

In this passage we see a clear picture of what it looks like when you are in covenant with people (David and his men). 

You also see a clear picture of what it looks like when you are not (Keilah). 

First, we need to understand the nature of covenant. 

“If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together.”

-African Proverb

Covenant is an ongoing commitment between two parties centered around a set of agreed upon standards or expectations.  

It can otherwise be known as a pact with the intent of accomplishing a common goal. 

Why are covenant relationships important in your life?

You will always have people in life who attempt to use you for their benefit alone. 

It is the gift of God and a jewel when you find people with whom you share a mutual concern and commitment.  

The latter are people of covenant with whom you need to build your life.  

This is part of the promise of the Kingdom of God. 

In this I Samuel passage, we see that David was in covenant with his men with whom he went to fight.  

He was not in covenant with the people of Keilah who were willing to turn him over to Saul when they were threatened. 

This is the difference between relationship of covenant and that which is not. 

Though they benefited from David’s efforts, the people of Keilah showed no commitment to David or his men. 

David and his men, however, were committed to one another despite the difficulties of their battles and their ongoing flight from King Saul. 

Covenant and the Purposes of God

Covenant relationships are often the relationships that God uses to propel you into his kingdom purposes. 

We all need relationships like these in our lives.  

Who determines with whom we are in covenant? 

It is God who determines the people with whom we should build our lives in covenant.

God introduces us to these people through life circumstances, the leading of the Holy Spirit and the gospel.  

Those prepared for covenant with us are not often the people we would choose, but in God’s wisdom, they are the people whom we need.

Who were David’s men?

I Samuel 22:1-2

David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.

David and his men may not have naturally chosen one another. 

They certainly would not have chosen the conditions that brought them together. 

Yet they are the very relationships that God would use to build them as warriors to advance his purposes throughout the earth.  

What were the characteristics of the covenant between David and his men?

David and his covenant men:

1. Lived life together for God’s heavenly call, motivated by more than individual gain

2. Traveled together while suffering in the wilderness strongholds (caves) until God brought David into the kingship

3. Fought together for a kingdom purpose greater than themselves 

You see this reflected in the New Testament missionary journeys of men like the apostle Paul and his church planting companions in the book of Acts, who, in the face of great trial and sufferings, successfully spread the gospel throughout the Roman Empire.  

It is what God continues to do today through his church. 

God often forges covenant relationships in the midst of trial to remind us that the relationships that he builds are meant to endure.  

These covenant relationships have the capacity to overcome times of instability and constraint because they are committed to survival and advancement together. 

Where has God taken you that you never expected to be?

With whom has God joined you with whom you never expected to be joined?

Prayerfully answering these questions will help us make the most of the opportunities for covenant relationships that God has given us. 

When there is no Covenant

Our covenant relationships catalyze our participation in the purposes of God when we’d prefer to go in the opposite direction.

In the I Samuel passage, David’s men certainly would not have chosen to fight the battle at Keilah.  

They were already afraid with the instability of their own affairs.  

They were living in their own version of the stresses and emotional toil caused by our pandemic. 

How could they possibly have the bandwidth to think about this mission?

Though David would initially learn strategy and battle as one of the favored commanders of King Saul’s army, he would learn about the faith-filled, merciful and enduring leadership that it would take to lead a nation of all types in the cave of Adullam.  

In the midst of their trial, the rescue of Keilah was a part of David and his men fulfilling God’s Kingdom purpose for them. 

Why was Keilah important?

It was a city that meant “citadel” situated in the lowlands of Judah.  

Keilah was part of the territory of Israel that the enemies of God, the Philistines, were ransacking and which God wanted to deliver.  

David readily recognized this because of the covenant God established with the people Israel by his word, promising to be both their protector and provider as the Israelites lived in obedience in the land to which he called them. 

The suffering of the people of Keilah was important to the Lord, so the battle became important to David and his men. 

Thus, David rose up in faith and stirred his men to take action. 

As our covenant relationships propel us into the purposes of God, they also continually remind us that our God is a deliverer. 

Yet before David did anything, he looked to God’s Word and inquired of God in prayer to get the Lord’s direction. 

This needs to be our practice. 

This will allow Jesus, and not our preferences, to be the one who defines our relationships and involvements. 

When we would prefer to remain in caves, it gives room for God to call us out.  

I thank God for the people in my life who remind me of the eternal call of God, to win the lost, make disciples and believe for the ever-expanding influence of Christ’s kingdom when we’d all be tempted to be afraid.  

The good news is that God does not change his mind even when we need the reassurance of his plan, going repeatedly to him in prayer.  

We learn from David’s interaction with his men that we are not to make decisions purely based on what we feel in the natural. 

God calls us to advance whether or not there is resistance and even when conditions don’t feel right. 

This is why years later, by the Holy Spirit, David’s son, King Solomon would write:

Ecclesiastes 11:4 

He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. 

Solomon understood by the example of his father that many of God’s promises are obtained with a struggle and that we realize these promises by faith and endurance as the Lord works through our efforts and on our behalf (Hebrews 6:12). 

God uses covenant relationships to teach us how to carry our crosses, allowing the mentality of “relationships on my terms” to die.

We learn how to consider others interests above our own in covenant relationships, and the good of the whole group rather than just my part.

Covenant relationships teach us how not to be selfish.  

Though contrary to our feelings, relating this way provides strength in relationships. 

Because of their covenant, David and his men were able to enter the battle of Keilah in the strength of their commitment to God and one another.  

Yet let’s look at the other side of things. 

When there is no covenant, you never know what to expect and you never know what might happen in your relationships. 

Why were the people of Keilah ready to give up David and his men who had fought to rescue them from the hands of the Philistines?

It was because they were willing to benefit from David’s service, but they had no covenant with him. 

In the previous chapter of I Samuel, we see that King Saul had literally destroyed the priests of Nob because they had unknowingly aided David and his men in their flight from Saul’s murderous pursuits.  

How much more would King Saul and his army do to the people of Keilah?

Because there was no covenant, when the people of Keilah were threatened, or their relationship with David was no longer personally advantageous, they were willing to give up David and his men to the hands of Saul to secure their own stability.  

This is not Biblical covenant. 

Yet most people today would not take issue with this.  

The problem, however, is when we think in a short term manner in relationships, there may be momentary gain, but long-term loss in what we experience in the kingdom. 

What is unsaid here is that by the commitment to David and his men being unreciprocated, the people of Keilah were leaving themselves exposed to the future attacks of the enemy, the Philistines. 

Biblical covenant is what David and his men expressed to one another - fighting together, advancing together and eventually thriving together. 

Who have you developed these types of relationships with for God’s Kingdom purposes?

How does this all apply to our lives in Christ?

God Delivers Anyway

Like David, Jesus is our great leader whom we follow in the covenant that he established for us through his death on the cross. 

We follow Jesus even in times of displacement and trial until the ultimate coronation of Christ upon his return.  

We have the strength to do this by his Spirit, by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.  

Yet God has not left us alone in the flesh.  

Like David’s mighty men, God intends for us to have covenant with his people, the church. 

And in the time between Christ’s first ascension and final return, Jesus commands us to do good, regardless of other people’s responses.  

We see throughout Scripture that God initiates covenant with people who end up being faithless towards him at times.  

Yet because of his grace, God delivers anyway. 

The threshing floor of Keilah is a reflection of Jesus at the cross.  

Just as the Philistines were fighting against Keilah and robbing their threshing floors, so there is a devil who looks to besiege the lives of those around you. 

Just as in the case of Keilah, there is the better David, King Jesus who fights to save us even before we’ve shown any faithfulness to him (23:2). 

John 10:10-21 

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Jesus here was using the language of covenant commitment.  

The most important thing we can learn from the I Samuel passage watching David shepherd his men is elements of God’s covenant with us through Jesus. 

Through Christ’s sinless life and sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus took the punishment for our wrongdoing, providing the means for us to establish a covenant with God.  

It means that though we were in distress, we were in insurmountable debt before God because of our sin, and bitter in soul because of the harshness of life, Jesus came to save us. 

By his resurrection from the dead he allows a turn-around - that those who would repent of their sin might not only be forgiven but come into covenant with him to be reshaped into mighty men and women.  

Just as David had been anointed king of Israel by God, so Jesus has been anointed king of all kings and lord of all lords.  

Yet just as there was time between David's anointing and ascension to the throne, so there is time now in between Christ’s exaltation by his resurrection from the dead and his final judgment and restoration of all things.  

So what is Jesus doing during this time?

Just as David had his mighty men, so Jesus has his church.  

Just as David chose through the strength of his relationship with these men to save Keilah, despite their faithlessness, so Jesus comes to save a world where only the few will gain eternal life through Calvary’s grace.  

Jesus called his followers to covenant with him and one another to catalyze gospel work - regardless of what you think the world’s response might be. 

What is our Keilah and what can we do?

Our Keilahs are the cities in which we live and its people who are being besieged by our adversary, the devil.  

Yet even during times of seeming uncertainty, we are grounded in stability because of our covenant with Jesus and one another. 

We have nothing to fear, for we know our future destiny in Christ and only have hope to offer.  

So from that place of confidence, we can engage even virtually in such things as our Each One Reach One Campaign

• Start the One to One with someone 

• Invite people with you to services and weekly community groups to experience the deliverance of the Lord. 

People often abandon God’s kingdom purposes because they have been burnt by relationships in which they invested, for which they fought and bled. 

However, as we look to God, we are reminded of his eternal covenant with us, the strength of the covenant relationships he offers us with his people and we rise in faith anyway. 

Let the words of Mother Theresa propel you on:

Mother Theresa’s, Do it Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

We are in the throws of a life-altering societal shift. 

Yet God is using this time to develop and reinforce life-long covenant relationships that will catalyze the purposes of God in your life. 

Just as David and his men in their time of trial saw the deliverance of Keilah, so God will save many during our pandemic as we choose to be about Christ’s purposes anyway. 

Study

Click HERE to download our study guide

Second City Church - Covenant, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020