Costly Grace

PREFACE

Morning friends. [Slide 1]

As you heard before, my name’s Ethan. I’m the new Student Minister here.

And I have the great privilege of opening up God’s Word for us this morning.

As we just read we’ll be looking at Genesis 15 this morning.

Next week Ernest will be starting on Ecclesiastes...

But for just this week we’ll be looking at this one chapter in Genesis.

So keep you’re bibles open.

And let me pray before we dig in...

Father God,

Thank you.

Thank you for your word.

Thank you for your grace.

Help us as we try to understand your word,

and really, really appreciate your grace this day.

AMEN.

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever made a promise? [Slide 2]

Kept it?

Broken it...

Or maybe one’s been made to you.

Maybe many.

Each of us would have experienced promises in some way, shape or form.

Think of Children and Parents.

That relationship.

Whether you have children yourself, or you can think back to your own childhood.

Picture this... [Slide 3]

A little boy.

A small little boy.

A smiley little boy.

He can walk.

He can run.

He can dream.

But still...

He’s still trying to figure out...

Trying to navigate the outside world.

Imagine the busy streets of Hurstville.

You know how it gets...

The moving cars. The speedy cars!

The constant people.

The noise.

OH THE NOISE!

Imagine the little boy on the edge of a road.

Watching the cars.

So...so many to keep track of.

People constantly moving.

And he steps out.

An immediate tug!

An immediate tug of his hand and arm.

A tug that brings him back to the sidewalk.

A tug that brings him back to safety.

He’s next to his dad. As he always was.

His dad’s holding his hand as he always was.

The little boy...

Even though he is safe,

Even though he’s all good...

Feels unsure.

Feels confused.

Feels shocked.

Feels a little silly even...

Dad comes down,

Kneels next to him.

And he says:

“That was a little silly...

But you’re ok.

I’m here.”

The boy still a bit unsure...

And the father seeing, says:

“It’s my job to protect you,

and more than that...

It’s my job to protect you,

even when you fail to protect you

Both are on me

I PROMISE!”

[BIG Pause]

Our relationship to God is similar to that of a father and child.

More. It is that.

He is our Father.

And I want to ask...as we come to this passage today...

What do you do with your doubts? Your unsureness? Your questions?

We may all - by now - have learnt to cross a street safely...

Sure!

But we still very much need to hold our Father’s hand that is full of grace!

To know that he is there.

...and to know he’s got us!

So let’s jump into this passage that will help us...

To know what to do with our doubts...

And to know God’s grace...

As we follow the man - Abram - with his struggles and doubts...

And we follow the Lord with his assurance and grace.

Let’s dig in!

[Pause]

QUESTIONS & DOUBTS (1-8)

A little bit of context. [Slide 4]

We’re jumping into Genesis 15 here. [Slide 5]

Genesis is a big book in the bible, it’s the first book in the bible.

I know you guys were look at Genesis 1-3 in the later half of last year.

But for some wider context...

Genesis can be broken into two parts (though it’s not perfect).

That being: Gen. 1-11 & Gen. 12-50. [Slide 6]

Gen. 1-11 is more of a wider scope [Slide 7]. It’s a very universal history. Creating the whole world, first families of the world, fall of the whole world, flood of the world and dividing of languages of the world.

Then we come to Gen. 12-50 where it zooms in on one man [Slide 8], Abram, who becomes Abraham in Ch. 17.

And the rest of Genesis is dedicated to four individuals: Abraham, Issac, Jacob and Joseph. The family who would become Israel, the family of God.

Today we are looking at an earlier passage in the second-part of Genesis. [Slide 9]

Following Abram.

Who God had called and made promises to in Genesis 12.

God had promised him: [Slide 10]

PEOPLE.

LAND.

BLESSING.

So let’s look now at Verse 1 of this great passage...[Slide 11]

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield,

your very great reward.”

God’s word comes to Abram.

God, God himself comes to Abram and delivers comfort...

He first says ‘do not be afraid’.

I find that fascinating.

I think you could take this is a lot of ways.

But I think the force here is comfort.

God comforting Abram...

Who we know from later in the passage is struggling with being child-less.

And God continues...

We see him comfort and remind Abram...

of Him and His promises.

God is reminding Abram that he is blessed.

(Shield + reward)

And through Abram being blessed by God...

...he (& his children) will bless many!

[Slide 12]

God comes to Abram with comforting reminders of his promises.

How does Abram respond?...

Verse 2-3: [Slide 13]

2 But Abram said,

“Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”

3 And Abram said,

“You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

Doubt. [Slide 14]

How does Abram respond?

IN DOUBT.

In v.2, Abram could in effect be saying:

what purpose will your gifts serve if I die childless...

God comes to Abram, reminding Abram of himself and of the promises he has made.

God, seemingly unprompted reveals himself to Abram, comforting and reminding and loving.

We may think of this as small.

It’s not.

This is an incredible revelation from God to Abram...

...and his response is to ignore God current word, and doubt God’s promises.

[Slide 15]

I remember when I was a kid,

My dad talked about getting me a PlayStation 3. [Slide 16]

Which is a game console.

And I remember he talked it up a little bit.

I found out later there was a deal that if you got a specific TV, you got one with it.

The only issue, a lot people/parents did the same deal,

and so...there was delays...

And so, to fill the gap, he got me a game for my PlayStation 2...

And it was a good game.

It was a great gift.

BUT.

I remember the first thing out of my mouth...

“What about the PlayStation 3?”

No appreciation for the present thing...

And completely unsureness about the future thing...

[Slide 17]

Abram Doubts.

Yet. God is gracious.

Verse 4 starts with Abram getting God’s word again.

Receiving the Word of the Lord.

And it is not God’s judgement of him or reprimanding his “doubt”.

But making clear,

Abram WILL have a son.

His OWN son.

His own FLESH and BLOOD.

[Slide 18]

Then God takes him outside in Verse 5, and says:

“Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.”

Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

God’s word should be enough...

...is enough for us to believe him.

But God here does more.

In v.4 he makes clear to Abram in word that Abram will have a son.

And then in v.5 he takes him outside to look up at the stars.

He illustrates his promises through the starry sky.

He shows the magnitude and weightiness of this promises.

Abram you can’t count the stars!

That’s how marvelous this promise is.

So, what is Abram’s response?

Verse 6: [Slide 19]

Abram believed the Lord,

and he credited it to him as righteousness.

This is one of the most important verses in the Old Testament.

We don’t have time today to plumb it’s depths.

If you want to see why I would suggest reading Rom. 4 & Gal. 3. [Slide 20]

There is lots of important things about this verse,

but I think one of the most important things is it’s simplicity.

Abram believed. [Slide 21]

As we’ll see there is still bubbles of doubt.

But through it...he genuinely believes.

There is a reason Paul calls him the father of faith in Gal. 3:6.

And out of Abram’s belief, God continues with his promises.

He has reminded Abram of his BLESSING in v.1. [Slide 22]

And they have just had a back and for about DESCENDANTS. [Slide 23]

Now God turns to promise of LAND in v.7. [Slide 24]

And he makes it clear to Abram that he WILL possess this land.

That it will be Abram’s descendants...

...who occupy this land...

...while being blessed by God...

...and blessing others!

Another incredible revelation...

...and in v.8 another bubble of doubt.

Read with me (v.8): [Slide 25]

But Abram said,

“Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

Just two verses prior, Abram believed.

He didn’t believe abstractly.

That is to say, he believes in God...

he believe God’s words and promises...

he believes God.

trusts God.

knows God.

So, why this bubble of doubt? [Slide 26]

I think it helpful at this point to notice something.

At no point so far, nor later in this passage, do we see God reply:

How dare you question me?!

Everyone deals with doubt...

get over it!

He doesn’t do that... [Slide 27]

God does not CONDEMN Abram’s doubt.

He CHALLENGES it.

There’s a preacher who helpfully says: [Slide 28]

‘There is a balance where, doubting is never encouraged, but doubters are always welcomed and acknowledged’ (2x)

For this spectrum to work, there needs to be GRACE. [Slide 29]

[Pause]

And so what is God’s reply to yet again another display of doubt?

Well...many have called this chapter one of the greatest, that talks about grace in the whole bible...

And so let’s turn to v.9 now...

COVENANT & GRACE (9-21)

This is where the passage gets a little weird for some...

Read with me (v.9): [Slide 30]

So the Lord said to him,

“Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram,

each three years old,

along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

This is God’s reply to Abram’s doubt.

The first time was to make clear his promise in v.4.

And then take him outside and show him the magnitude of the promise in v.5.

Now with Abram doubting again in v.8...

Here in v.9 we see God giving Abram instructions.

Abram says - really he asks - how he can know that God’s promise will happen...

How can he know?

And God gives him a shopping list.

God’s reply is go get me these things.

Get me: [Slide 31]

a heifer - which is a cow, usually who has not borne calves.

a goat.

a ram.

and two different birds:

a dove.

and

a pigeon.

God seemingly gives no further instruction past this.

“Go get these things”...that’s it!

Abram asked a question.

And God gave instruction.

I feel any child can appreciate a level of frustration here.

I can think of countless times I have asked my mum or dad something...

And their reply is either go do this or a question back...

[Pause]

But God has a plan.

And even more surprisingly Abram has grasped that plan.

We see Abram fumble around a bit in this passage...

Having a bubble of doubt...

Similar to us at times.

But here.

He understands...

He prepares and protects.

v.10-11: [Slide 32]

10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other;

the birds, however, he did not cut in half.

11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses,

but Abram drove them away.

v.10 is odd.

It is bizarre to us.

But let us not forget that this is around 4000 years ago.

Let us appreciate the time, and where it has come from.

As we’ve said, Abram understood God’s request in v.9 and takes it a step further.

He brings the animals to God...as was asked... [Slide 33]

But then...

he cuts them in half. [Slide 34]

He doesn’t cut the birds in half.

And then, he arranges them. [Slide 35]

Five animals.

Eight pieces across from each other.

And v.11 we see Abram protecting what he has prepared.

And so, we may ask WHY? [Slide 36]

God told Abram to bring the pieces.

So why has Abram prepared them in this way?

Because unlike most of us on first read of this passage...

Abram understood God’s instructions and beyond.

They were making a COVENANT. [Slide 37]

A simple definition of covenant is:

a legal agreement between two parties.

Now much more could be said on that...

But what God establishes here between Abram and Himself,

is an agreement between them,

that stipulates the conditions of their relationship,

and the fulfillment of those promises.

And some of you might still be asking:

Cool. But why the chopped up pieces?

How do we make contracts?

We sign them.

We get a pen and a piece of paper.

When we get a job.

When we go to school or Uni.

When we married.

And many more things...

There is word of mouth things… [Slide 38]

But for the most part we live in a WRITTEN CULTURE.

Not an ORAL one.

I was a carpenter...or really, I did three years of an apprenticeship.

But in that time I learnt a fair bit about building...

or again, more accurately, I experienced a lot of building things...

One of them.

Contracts are necessary.

And it goes both ways.

There were many...many times that my boss was questioned...

The time a job has taking.

The material being used.

The cost of things.

And more...

And most of the time he was doing the right thing,

he was fulfilling his side of the contract...

he was fulfilling the conditions.

But if there wasn’t a contract,

If everything wasn’t written down.

It would be hard to prove,

And easy for the other side to manipulate...

It goes both ways.

It’s good to have a contract.

And in our culture, it’s good for it to be written down.

[Pause]

But why the pieces?

Ours is a written culture.

This passage is written from an oral culture.

That doesn’t mean they just spoke about everything.

They did talk through contracts and agreements...

But that’s not all they did.

They didn’t sign something.

They acted it out.

They dramatised it.

They acted out what we write.

And they dramatised the consequences of breaking it.

Just like with building.

The contract is to create accountability.

The builder is accountable to build.

The owner is accountable to pay.

And when one breaks it...

There are consequences...

[Pause]

The point of the pieces is like our written contracts.

Abram had set up...had prepared for a covenant.

In this area, around this time.

How people would make agreements...

Covenants.

Is they would do what Abram has done... [Slide 39]

Get animals.

Prepare them.

And arrange them across from each other.

In the end it should be a bloody path to walk between the pieces...

And that’s what they would do.

The two people, or two parties.

The ones making the covenant. [Slide 40]

Would together side-by-side, walk between the pieces.

And in doing so...

They would be saying in acting this out: [Slide 41]

If either of us break this covenant...

LET US BECOME LIKE THESE PIECES.

In walking between the pieces...

one would identify with them...

in the consequences to bear.

So...who passes between the pieces?

[Pause]

Let’s see what God does...

v.12: [Slide 42]

As the sun was setting,

Abram fell into a deep sleep,

and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.

This passage started early in the morning it seems.

Before the sun rose, God comforted Abram.

Reminded him of the promises,

and even showed him the stars of the early morning.

It has been a long day.

With Abram getting all the preparations for the covenant ready.

And now as the sun was beginning to set.

A darkness that was not caused by the sun fell over him...

This is not a normal darkness...

It is thick and weighty.

It could be called a darkness of horrors...

v.13-16 declare clearly that Abram’s descendants will possess the land...

But not until after much hardship...

As we find out in Exodus.

And then...

As the sun sets, and darkness is at it fullest...

Something breaks through!

v.17: [Slide 43]

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen,

a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared

and passed between the pieces.

I think this is one of the most bizarre...

and one of the sweetest verses in the entire bible!

And it tells us who passes between the pieces...

Abram has just been struck.

weighed down.

By this horrible darkness.

It says in verse 17 that the sun had set.

So, the last bit of light had disappeared...

And only thick darkness remained...

When light broke through...

The greatest of light.

a smoking firepot with a blazing torch… [Slide 44]

And to our modern ears that may sound odd...

But the words here are the same words that describe...

God on Mount Sinai in Ex. 19.

and

God in the pillar’s of smoke and fire.

This was God appearing.

God breaking through the darkness.

These represent God’s very presence.

And who passes between the pieces...

God.

God himself.

Passes between the pieces.

Remember.

Covenants are no small thing.

By passing between pieces, you take on the identity of the pieces,

in that you bare consequences if you break it.

When God passes between the pieces, [Slide 45]

he is saying, if he break it:

may my immutability - that is God is unchangeable

may my immutability suffer mutability.

may my immortality suffer mortality.

may I become like these pieces...

Cut up.

Cut off.

may I die.

I think this is something really cool to think about.

But at the same time...

I don’t think it answers Abram’s original question:

How will I know your promises will happen?

And this. This is great.

But God’s gonna do that.

God was always gonna do that.

God keeping his side of the arrangement.

God is the only truly trustworthy one.

There’s a preacher who says, if he was in Abram’s shoes he would be thinking:

I was never scared of you keeping your side of the covenant, Lord...

I was scared...I am scared of me failing.

And so we’ve seen who goes through the pieces...

But who doesn’t.

[Pause]

Abram doesn’t. [Slide 46]

He watches as God goes between the pieces alone.

At this point you might ask...

Was the Covenant even made?

[Slide 47]

v.18 - on that day the Lord made a Covenant with Abram.

Yes. Yes. 100% yes.

A covenant was made.

So we know God walked though.

We know Abram didn’t.

And we know a covenant was made.

So why?

God said by walking through...

if I fail...I bear the consequences.

But he also said much more...

By walking through alone, God declared...

if YOU fail...I bear the consequences.

He said all he said before about himself...

and Abram!

As He passed between the pieces,

he was saying, if he or Abram broke it:

may my immutability suffer mutability.

may my immortality suffer mortality.

may I become like these pieces...

Cut up.

Cut off.

may I die.

IF I OR YOU BREAK IT!

WOW!

[Pause]

Now, Abram at this point has no reply of doubt.

We actually don’t know what his reply was at all.

But I imagine his silence speaks into reverence.

I do think he genuinely appreciated what happened this day.

But I also think he couldn’t fathom the cost of grace.

[Slide 48]

Grace means a free, undeserved gift.

It is free. That’s the point.

It’s free for us but it doesn’t mean it’s not costly.

Darkness fell on Abram, but as we read...

Light broke through. God broke through.

Darkness fell again around 2000 years later.

A thick darkness so great it put out the sun at noon.

Jesus Christ - surrounded by that darkness...

hanging on a cross, at the end, cried out:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The consequences fulfilled...

He was cut off.

For us.

[Pause]

God walked the pieces.

Promising Jesus to die.

For us.

Abram could never have walked through...

We could never have walked through...

This is grace.

Undeserved.

Unmerited.

Freely gifted.

Grace.

[BIG Pause]

How do we think and feel about grace?

I think there is lots of ways to think about...

But I want to talk about two: [Slide 49]

Cheap Grace and Costly Grace.

Cheap grace is a mindset,

in which you don’t think of grace...

and therefore what Jesus has done as highly...

You think of it cheaply.

I think this can come out in a lot of ways.

Usually in two:

1. That we can get to a point,

where we think of grace so lowly,

that we do nothing.

Why would we do anything?

Why would we work for the Lord...

...if the Lord has done it all?

We’re good!

God walked through the pieces...

I can put my feet up!

That may be the extreme case...

but this idea can work in our lives,

in small and hidden ways.

I don’t know if anyone has heard of the phrase: act first, ask for forgiveness later...but I think it in-part, speaks into this idea, of...thinking of grace cheaply. Even if you’ve never said this or thought this, I think for all us in our lives we may have acted on it...

I think of the times in my life when I could have prayed before going along with sin, whether that was with others or not...and I pushed down that thought of prayer...that thought of grace...to take hold of sin because I thought of grace so cheaply...

2. The other end of that extreme,

lies those who think it cheaply...

cheaply enough to be bought.

Who work and work and work...

Knowing God walked through the pieces...

and try to catch up to him...

and go through too...

Again, another extreme case...

but this also works in our lives,

in small and hidden ways.

I think we sometimes think this is an other religions thing. They work for it...we don’t. And on the biblical level I want to agree...but if I think we were all honest, I think we would find more struggle than that...

I think in theory most Christians know they cannot earn grace, and know to accept it as a free gift...but in practice I think we have more struggle than that...

I think of myself. At multiple times in my life I have come to a place where, when trying to figure out serving at church, I have asked myself: “what do I need to do?” Instead of: “what can I do?” or more “what can I push myself to do?”...because he infinitely pushed himself for me!

That’s another small example of cheap grace. Trying to see grace as a commodity to be bought than a gift to stir your heart to praise...

[BIG Pause]

So what is Costly Grace? [Slide 50]

It is not costly to us, but free for us.

It is not done by us, but done to us.

It is not work upon us, but joy in us.

Grace is costly to the giver, not the gifted.

Our response should be joy.

How does grace make you feel?

Does it make you feel like you don’t have to do anything?

Does it make you feel like you want to buy it?

There was a woman a number of years back,

she attended a church in New York for a number months.

In that time she came to see something,

something that she had not seen at any other church...

The gospel. And grace.

She had heard God only accepted those...

who were good enough...

who did enough...

Her reply: “that’s SCARY!”

The minster was able to talk with her,

and ask, why...

She said:

“If I am saved by my good works,

then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me...

...or put me through.

I would be like a taxpayer with “rights”,

I would have done my duty,

and now I would deserve a certain quality of life...

But if I am a sinner saved by grace...

then there is nothing he cannot ask of me.”

[BIG Pause]

We joyfully.

And gratefully.

Belong to Jesus.

Who provided to us,

all this (out)...

all this (in)...

by sheer grace...

...at infinite cost to himself.

Let’s pray...

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