A Family Covenant

I love going on vacation. I love getting away. Spending time with the family. Going to places I have never been before. And I even like going back to places that we’ve been to and loved.

Have you ever had one of those vacations that tested the family dynamic? You know the kind. Where towards the end of the vacation you had had just a little too much togetherness? Has anybody been there before? Can I see your hands? Yeah! Me too!

It is in those moments that we can teach our kids about grace and love.

When I was a kid, one of my best memories was our family vacation to California. If you have ever seen the Movie National Lampoon’s Vacation, well ours wasn’t quite as crazy but we had our moments.

If you can think of something major associated with California, we probably did it. And we even did a few things going and coming. From the Grand Canyon to the Petrified Forest, from Disneyland to Dodger Stadium, from Alcatraz to the Golden Gate Bridge we did it. It was a two week vacation. And by the time the vacation was over I think we were done with being around each other.

Here is a picture of us in San Francisco.

If you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of Genesis. I want to read 3 verses from chapter 18.

The context of what I am about to read to you is God and two other people, presumably angels, have just told Abraham and Sarah that Sarah was going to have a son by that time next year. And Sarah laughs as any of you ladies might do if you were Sarah’s age. She was 90 years old. Ladies do any of you want to be having a baby at 90? Of course not. But God told them they would and guess what they did, just as God had promised. But here is what God said beginning at verse 17

Genesis 18:17–19 NIV

Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

This is what is known as a Covenant. God made a covenant to Abraham. And in case you are wondering what a covenant is, it is an agreement. And to take it one step further, when God made a covenant with anyone, it was him promising to protect whomever if they kept His law and were faithful to Him.

There are several well-known covenants in the Bible. God made a covenant with Noah that he would never flood the entire earth again. God made a covenant with Abraham that he would become a father of many nations. God made a covenant with Moses that He would deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and give them land flowing with milk and honey, which is what we know as The Promised Land. And then of course the new covenant that we are living in now is God sent His son Jesus to come and be a sacrifice for us. Jesus died on the cross to take away the sins of the world. All we have to do is believe in Him and we will have eternal life.

Tedd Tripp wrote a book called Shepherding A Child’s Heart. In this book he wrote, “Genesis 18 calls fathers to direct their children to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Being a parent means working in God’s behalf to provide direction for your children. Directors are in charge. It involves knowing and help them to understand God’s standard for children’s behavior. It means teaching them that they are sinners by nature. It includes pointing them to the mercy and grace of God shown in Christ’s life and death for sinners.”

Father’s we have a huge role that we have to play. Our kids will see God in how we act and respond to them. Even in secular circles. They have found the psychology of people attributing to their perception of God the same characteristics they found in their earthly father figures.

Matthew Brown wrote in the Washington Times this, “Sociologists say it’s common for people to perceive that God is like the fatherly figures in their lives. If dad is caring, patient and concerned then children will believe God has those same characteristics. And the opposite holds true when a father is harsh, judgmental or absent.”

Father’s your kids are watching you. The role you play at home is the role they remember.

I mentioned the new covenant that God made with us. Go over to the book of Acts. I want to read from chapter 3, beginning at verse 24.

Acts 3:24–26 NIV

“Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

God has made an agreement with us today. In the old covenant, salvation came through a faith expressed by obedience to God’s law and it’s sacrificial system.

The new covenant would be personal. Knowing God is both a community experience and a personal knowing by each of us who have accepted Christ and chosen to follow Him. Christ has offered his own blood to make possible our direct access into the most holy place of God’s presence

Hebrews 4:16 NIV

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

In fact those who enter a personal relationship with God become his children.

Romans 8:15–16 NIV

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Just as God shows us love and grace, we can extend that same love and grace to our family, our children.

And just as God used Abraham’s family as a display of his covenantal love, He can use our families to help others come to know Him.

Are we perfect? No!

And we will never be perfect, but as parents we can show grace and love to our children and hope they will do the same. We raise our children in hopes they will some day grow up and want what we have. It doesn’t matter if you grew up in a home that didn’t believe. You are making a decision now. You want your children to carry on the Christian lifestyle that you have taught them. Start new traditions with your children.

Maybe you are here today and you don’t know Jesus as your savior. You can begin a new relationship with him today. No matter what you have done God is extended his grace to you. He loves you and wants the best for you. You just have to turn from your old life and start a new life in Christ.