The Covenant and Earthly Security

Security has become a paramount concern for Christians in America today. You can see this in the uncomfortable considerations that many larger churches have to now make in whether to have a security team, whether to arm them, and how to provide for the safety of the congregation. In addition, due to the rise of secularism, many Christians feel that the church is increasingly marginalized and threatened. This has led some Christian leaders like Robert Jeffress, Paula White, and Jerry Falwell Jr. to take up politics for the sake of protecting the church. Paula White said in an interview, speaking of the need to support the re-election of President Trump, “we’re going to lose the freedom of America soon.” In the same interview, Jim Bakker worried, “This election is so important. It just scares me, what is going on.” Jerry Falwell Jr. has taken action by establishing a political think tank called the Falkirk Center. Part of its mission statement says, “Bemoaning the rise of leftism is no longer enough, and turning the other cheek in our personal relationships with our neighbors as Jesus taught while abdicating our responsibilities on the cultural battlefield is no longer sufficient.” I want you to notice the words used in these quotes: “lose”, “scared”, “battlefield”. These words and others, like “fear” and “war”, are often used by these and other Evangelical leaders to call for the support of one candidate or policy.

            But, brothers and sisters, the fear of a loss of security is nothing new. In fact, the theme of living by sight versus living by faith has been a major part of the story of Genesis. Cain went out from the presence of God and built a city to protect himself from his relatives. Lamech called down a curse on anyone who would try to harm him for killing young boy. The people of Noah’s day consorted with fallen angels to gain technology, power, and long life. The people of Babel built a tower to avoid being scattered. Lot looked towards the Jordan Valley and saw the protective walls of the city of Sodom.

Even Abraham was drawn into this allurement of security. Just after receiving the promise in Genesis 12, he goes down to Egypt to escape a famine that had come on the land of Canaan. Out of fear for his own life, he had his wife, Sarai, lie and say that she was his sister to avoid being killed by covetous pagans. And, now, in Gen. 20, we have nearly an exact repeat of that same story, as Abraham has wondered Southwest into the land of the Philistines. There are three aspects of this story that I want you to recognize today.

First, remember that this story comes on the heels of an important episode that starts back in chapter 18. Remember, back in Chapter 18, God comes to Abraham and Abraham rushes around to prepare this great feast. In doing so, Abraham is put forward as this great example of hospitality. Also, in that chapter, remember that God reminded Abraham and Sarah that he would fulfill his promise to give Abraham a son through Sarah, and that nothing is impossible for God. God would protect the covenant promise that he had made, even though it seemed impossible. In Chapter 19, we find that God sent two angels into Sodom to find Lot and get him out. In that chapter we find again the theme of hospitality, as the men of Sodom ignore all norms of hospitality and instead seek to ravage the two visitors. God totally annihilates the city, but in his covenant protection, he delivers Lot and his family from danger.

I say all of that to point out that these things have to be in the back of Abraham’s mind as he journeys into Philistine territory. He has seen what happens in big cities. He has seen the lack of hospitality, the utter disregard for law and lack of respect for human life. But, while all of that is on his mind, he has forgotten the faithfulness of God in keeping his promise to Abraham time and again. In this, Abraham has now become the man of sight. So, as he is entering the city of Gerar, he tells Sarah to pull out the old trick from Egypt and say that she is his sister. Don’t miss how tragic this is! God has just promised to them that they will have a son within a year, and at the first hint of danger, Abraham is willing to give his wife of promise away to the king of the land to save his own neck! He is once again trusting human methods and wit instead of trusting in the promise of God. If nothing is impossible for God, then surely his own protection is included in that!

            Second, notice that God has full control over this situation, even though Abraham has absolutely none. The king of Gerar, Abimelech, seeing that Abraham has a beautiful sister, takes her into his harem. But, as soon as he does this, he begins to have problems. We aren’t told exactly what the problem is, but it appears that his whole household becomes infertile for the time that Sarah is in his harem. Then, Abimelech has a dream in which God reveals that he is the source of the infertility, and not only is he causing that, but he will kill Abimelech if he does not return Sarah to Abraham.

            I want you to notice two things about this exchange between God and Abimelech. First, notice that Abimelech is more righteous than Abraham. Abimelech recognizes what he could have potentially done as a great sin. Also, he recognizes that God is just, asking whether God would judge an innocent people because of the lie of Abraham. And, Abimelech fears God and immediately repents, doing everything that God required of him. In this story, the pagan king is a better example of Christian faithfulness than the man of faith, Abraham.

            Also notice that God is not just the God of Abraham, he is Lord over all people. Most people of that day believed that gods were regional, and so if you went outside of your region, your god might not have any power. This may actually explain why Abraham assumed that he had to protect himself while in Philistine country. Yet, God is still powerful, even over the house of the king of this foreign land.

            The final point I want you to notice about this text is that God keeps his promises, even when the man of faith is faithless. Abraham was willing to give away the promise of God for the sake of security, and God is the only one who acts in this story to save the promise.

            Abraham is not the only character in Scripture who was willing to compromise the promise for the sake of security, though. Israel, time and again, was willing to make covenant with pagan nations for protections against their enemies. It seems that even the greatest examples that are set up for us in the Old Testament are ultimately willing to throw away the promise of God for security. But then, there’s Jesus. Jesus lived a life that rested solely on God’s ability to fulfill his promises. At his birth, the powers of this world raged against him as King Herod sent soldiers to kill every newborn son in Bethlehem, and yet God protected him by leading his family away into Egypt. When tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he rejected the power of Satan to give him all of the kingdoms of men while escaping the cross. Even on the night of his betrayal, he rebuked Peter for chopping off the ear of a servant of the guard and went so far as to restore the ear. Jesus offered no defense at his trial and hung defenseless on the cross while his accusers mockingly called him to come down if he really was the Messiah.

            Yet, the true power and security of Jesus is found on that following Sunday, as an angel appeared before a battalion of Roman soldiers, rolled a two ton stone away from the tomb and then sat on it, displaying the power of God, not just over the kingdoms of this world, but over death itself. Jesus Christ, in his resurrection, provided a security that this world cannot offer. We may think that we can find protection for our lives through a firearm or a security system or the right town or the right laws or the right political candidate, but the truth is that none of those can save us from the judgment to come. Jesus told his disciples in Luke 12:4-7, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.” The one we should really fear in this life and the life to come is the one who has authority over our souls, God himself. And, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have no more fear, even of death.

            Friend, you may think that you can provide security for your life by preparing in one way or another, but you ultimately cannot protect yourself from the greatest threat of all, the judgment of God. No amount of preparation can save you from that. But, Jesus has overcome death and hell for you. He has taken the wrath of God for you and because of that, you can live without fear knowing that your life is secure in him.

            Brothers and sisters, we are called to faithfully hold to the promises of God in Jesus Christ. I will be honest, I worry for the soul of the American church today because we seem so fearful that we are willing to turn to earthly measures to secure our safety, and in so doing we are giving away the promises of God. Now, understand in this that I am not telling you how you should vote in November. If you look at one candidate and think that he or she holds to policies that align with your values, then vote for him or her. But, we must repent of the idea that one candidate or another can somehow give us security and safety through whatever means necessary, while compromising our morality in the process. If we hold to any other leader other than Christ to protect the Church, we are giving up the promise for the sake of our own security. I hope that we as individual believers and as the church in America can live as a witness to our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ in spite of what persecution and hardship might come in America because of it.

            But, there is a sense of assurance in this passage today, as well. Even though Abraham, the man of faith, was willing to give away the promise for his own security, God was still faithful. And, brothers and sisters, even though we so often are faithless, both in our return to sin and in our lack of trust, yet God is still faithful. Take heart from this story that the promise that God has made to save and restore you does not rest on your own abilities to secure it, or in your consistent faithfulness, but on the faithfulness of the one who made the promise and who secures it through his Son.