Rev. David Holwick F Abraham #6
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 20, 2005
Genesis 17:9-14
CUT MY HEART OUT
I. A delicate subject.
A. Forbidden verses.
In his suggestions about how to preach Genesis 17,
Dr. H. C. Leupold says:
"It seems to us that only the portions vs 1-8 and vs 15-21
are suitable for use as [sermon] texts...
The sections concerning circumcision are not adapted to use
in a sermon." [1]
Guess what I am preaching on this morning?
The "forbidden" verses.
B. A delicate procedure.
When I was attending college, we had a ritual every Saturday
night - watching the TV show "Saturday Night Live" in the
dormitory lobby.
One of the features of Saturday Night Live was bogus TV
commercials.
Back then a popular commercial was for a luxury car - I think
it was the Lincoln Continental.
To show how smooth the ride was, they filmed a Hasidic Jew
who was a diamond cutter sitting in the back seat.
A HUGE diamond was balanced on his lap, and he held a mallet
and a slicer.
As the car drove down the street, he whacked the mallet and
the diamond cleaved perfectly.
Saturday Night Live's version?
Same car driving along.
Same Hasidic Jew in the back seat.
But this time he is holding a male baby in his lap.
I won't tell you what happened, but in my opinion, Saturday
Night Live's version was more convincing about the
smoothness of the ride!
C. It's not about a procedure.
1) The real issue of circumcision is our relationship with God.
2) It is something you don't want to botch!
II. Sealing the covenant.
A. God's covenant with Abram continues to deepen.
1) In this chapter, his name is changed to Abraham. 17:5
2) The covenant is an everlasting (or open-ended) agreement.
a) It will pass down to succeeding generations.
3) The Promised Land is specifically identified with Canaan.
4) Circumcision is made the sign. 17:10
B. Abraham's duties are given.
1) Previously, the covenant stressed God's initiative.
2) Now, Abraham's role is highlighted.
a) He must walk before God. 17:1
1> A life of spirituality.
b) He must be blameless.
1> A life of morality.
c) He must keep the covenant by practicing circumcision.
1> It will always reminded of his relationship to God.
C. The payoff - God will be his God. 17:7
1) The essence of the covenant is personal, like the "I do"
["I will"] of a wedding ceremony.
a) It doesn't sound like much to us, but in Jeremiah and
Revelation, "I will be their God" culminates the
vision of the End Times.
2) The relationship IS the covenant.
a) Note how the stipulations are rather vague.
b) COMMITMENT is what God is after.
III. Circumcision as a sign.
A. Three types of "signs" in Old Testament.
1) Proof signs that convince you of something.
2) Illustration signs that resemble the situation announced
(enacted prophecies).
3) Reminder signs.
a) Unleavened bread at Passover is called a sign that
reminds them of the Exodus.
b) Circumcision is also a reminder sign.
1> The men will always know they are set apart for God.
2> It is the wedding ring you can't take off!
B. Entire clan, including foreigners.
1) Circumcision was common in Palestine.
a) For example, Egyptians and Arabs were circumcised.
b) One thing about Israelite circumcision made them unique.
2) Eight days.
a) Most societies do it at puberty or marriage.
1> It was a growing up ceremony.
b) Israel was different.
1> Circumcision was a symbol of belonging to the
people of God's covenant.
2> Jesus and Paul are both mentioned as being
circumcised on the eighth day. Luke 2:21
C. If you didn't cut your body, you were completely cut off.
1) This probably meant the death penalty, though it could
mean you would be shunned by the community.
2) There could be no halfway commitment.
IV. The deeper significance of circumcision.
A. It should cut deeper than the flesh.
Appeal of Moses in Deuteronomy 10:12,16:
"And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you
but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways,
to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your
heart and with all your soul...
Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be
stiff-necked any longer."
Note that circumcision here is a human action, equivalent
to loving and serving God.
Deuteronomy 30:6 shows it from God's perspective:
"The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the
hearts of your descendants,
so that you may love him with all your heart and with
all your soul, and live."
Finally, compare Paul's assessment in Roman2:28 -
Circumcision is not merely outward and physical.
It must involve the heart and be spiritual.
B. Christian baptism is equated with circumcision.
1) Colossians 2:11 makes the identification.
a) Both can be outward events, but they are really
intended to be an inward event.
b) Our circumcision must be done by Christ.
2) Support for infant baptism?
a) Presbyterians and others would say so.
b) But the link is not to the eighth day, but to the idea
of initiation.
1> Both deal with those starting out in the covenant.
2> In the New Testament, adult converts are called
babies. 1 Cor 3:1; Eph 4:14; 1 Pet 2:2
V. What it means to have a circumsised heart.
In 1735 John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was on a ship
bound for America.
He had already spent five years in Oxford Seminary, and ten years
serving as a minister in the Church of England.
Now he was going to be a missionary to Georgia.
Wesley had been a failure in his ministry, though he had always
been religious.
He got up at 4 o'clock in the morning and prayed for two hours.
He would then read the Bible for an hour before going to the jails,
prison, and hospitals to minister to all sorts of people.
He would teach, and pray for, and help others until late at night.
He did this for years.
In fact, the Methodist Church gets its name from the methodical
life of piety that Wesley and his friends lived.
On the way back from America there was a great storm at sea and
their little ship was about to sink.
Wesley feared he was going to die that night and he was terrified.
He had no assurance of what would happen to him when he died.
Despite all of his efforts to be good, death for him was just a
big black question mark.
On one side of the ship was a group of men who were singing hymns.
He asked them, "How can you sing when this very night you are
going to die?"
They replied, "If this ship goes down we will go up to be with
the Lord forever."
Wesley went away shaking his head, thinking to himself,
"How can they know that?
What have they done that I have not done?"
Then he added, "I came to convert the heathen, but who shall
convert me?"
By a miracle of God, the ship made it back to England.
Wesley went to London and found his way to Aldersgate Street and a
small chapel.
There he heard a man reading a sermon which had been written two
centuries before by Martin Luther, entitled "Luther's Preface
to the Book of Romans."
[The man was too illiterate to write his own sermon.]
Luther's sermon described what real faith was.
It is trusting in Jesus Christ only for salvation - and not in our
own good works.
Wesley suddenly realized that he had been on the wrong road all
his life.
That night he wrote these words in his journal: "About a quarter
before nine, while he was describing the change which God works
in the heart through faith in Christ,
I felt my heart strangely warmed.
I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an
assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins,
even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
#11497
A. This is what real circumcision is all about.
1) A person becomes totally committed to God.
a) We accept Christ's work on the cross on behalf of us.
2) It is not something you can inherit from your parents.
B. Rumspinga.
There is a documentary about kids who are Amish.
They grow up with kerosene lamps and little bonnets.
All those cute images you associate with Lancaster, PA.
But at age 16 they are set free.
They can do pretty much anything they want.
This period is called "rumspringa," or running around.
I have heard about it, but it is stunning to hear what it can
entail.
Up to 1500 Amish kids, from several states, may show up at one
party on a farm.
Some come in buggies, but some come in their new muscle cars.
They carouse all night long.
They get drunk.
They fool around.
They race their cars.
One young Amish boy in the documentary even became a drug
dealer to support his methamphetamine addiction.
The whole time, they are facing the biggest decision of their
life: will they choose to be baptized.
Like us, the Amish believe baptism follows your decision to
follow Christ.
Unlike us, they believe following Christ means no electricity,
no cars, simple clothing, and shunning the modern world.
Once they make that decision, there should be no turning back.
Baptism must be a real decision, and not something their
parents force on them, so they are allowed the wild time.
But each of these young people realize their lives are going
to change forever, whatever decision they make.
One young girl choose baptism and the Amish church and its
simple ways.
A comment on the screen says once she did this, she no longer
allowed the commentary crew to film her.
Some of them chose not to be baptized.
Like Abraham's circumcision, this meant they could not go home.
They would be shunned by their families forever.
[2]
Biblical circumcision and baptism involve a change of heart
that come from choosing God.
Which way will YOU go?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] Leopold comment from sermon "Genesis 17, part 2," by Rev. Albert
C. Hitchcock, Wister Lake Chapel, November 5, 2000,
http://www.wiserlakechapel.org; Kerux sermon #20775
[2] "The Devi's Playground," documentary film written and directed by
Lucy Walker, 2004. (Note that these Amish kids cuss up a storm)
#11497 "Who Shall Convert Me?" author unknown; Fredericksburg Bible
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