Covenant: Adoption
God Desires that We Have the Faith of a Son
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. March 21st, 2021
In Luke Jesus tells us a parable that strikingly distinguishes the old covenant from the new, the mosaic from the messianic. The beginning of the Lord’s work, to its completion. A man had two sons, which is always a bad sign in scripture. The younger one asks his farmer for his share of the inheritance. Now this is a big thing to ask, because wealth in those days was not easily liquidated. The younger son isn’t asking for money, he’s asking for a portion of the land, a portion of his family’s livelihood. But the Father, out of love, grants him his share of the estate and the son very quickly sells it and runs off with the wealth.
The youngest goes to a far away country where he squanders all that he has on sex, drugs, and rock and roll. After he spends everything he has a severe famine strikes the whole country and he falls into serious need. So he hires himself out to a gentile and works in a literal pig sty. He longs to eat the pods given to the pigs, but he wasn’t allowed to eat even that. Well, it doesn’t take long before he comes to his senses and figures that his father’s hired men are far more well fed. “I will set out and go back to my father,” he says, “And I will say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of our hired servants.”
So he gets up and goes back to his father’s house. But while he was still a long way off his father catches sight of him, is filled with compassion, and runs to his son. A rather ridiculous image to imagine. I imagine a picture of Abraham, for some reason, with the long beard. He girds up his robe, exposes his chicken legs, and runs down the dusty driveway leading with his head like in some cartoon. He careens down the way and throws his arms around his son, kissing him. The son then says, “Father, I have singed against heaven and against you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But before he can ask to be made one of the hired men, his Father cuts him off and commands his servants to get the best robe, to put ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, to slaughter the fattened calf and have a feast, for the son he lost has been found.
But everyone isn’t at the celebration. The good son remains in the field and refuses to go in. When his father comes out and pleads with him to return the good son says, “Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed. Yet you never have me even the young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home you kill the fattened calf for him!” You can imagine the sorrow in the father’s eyes and voice when he replies, “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
Both the prodigal son and the good son acted as if they were under the old covenant. They had the faith of a servant. In the case of the prodigal son he thinks his relationship with his father is a contractural one, tied to the land, that if broken cannot be restored. Once the land is split, and the property sold, he is no longer a member of the family. Having squandered his living in a gentile land and shaming his name he figures the best he can do is be his father’s servant. The good son too has the faith of a servant, he’s never realized his status as a son. He does not realize that all that his father has is his own, but thinks his relationship with his father is purely one of servitude and obedience. “I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.” He whines.
But the father in the story treats them both as they are. He receives the prodigal son into sonship so that he can have the faith of a son. And sadly tries to bring the good son from his servitude to recognizing he is a son. The former covenant made through Moses does bring freedom, but it also brings servitude. It brings freedom by showing us sin, it brings servitude by binding us to its commands. And as lovely as the Law may be, the Law also brings fear. Fear of punishment, fear of falling short of its strict commands. Further, the Law cannot make us righteous, it can only tell us what righteousness entails. A new covenant was still needed, one that could make us righteous. One that casts out fear with love.
Jeremiah prophesies the coming of this new covenant. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” The New Covenant, the covenant made in Jesus’ blood, puts the law in our hearts. It is the covenant of inward renewal. It is the covenant of our adoption as children of God. “Because you are sons,” Paul tells us, “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” Through this New Covenant we are made heirs of all that belongs to Christ. We are given every spiritual blessing, and we are transformed. Fear is cast aside because perfect love casts out fear. We no longer need to fear punishment for we know that we are dearly beloved children of God. And our hope in God carries us through all circumstances.
As there are two covenants so there are two sorts of faith. Some have only the faith of a servant, to others is given the faith of a son. The faith of a servant is a servile faith that operates out of fear and relies on works. It is the faith that thinks if I follow the rules, if I become a good person, I will be saved. The faith of a son is a joyful faith and relies on God’s grace. All faith is God’s gift. Those who are given the faith of a servant can move onto the faith of a son, the fruit of the new covenant.
God ultimately wants to make children out of us. God wants to adopt us, because God loves us, and we have strayed away for far too long. And this is how God wants to transform us. Not through external rules only, but through being made part of God’s household. Sharing his life. Of being transformed inwardly. By receiving his grace. It is to this end that Christ came into the world. It is to this end that Christ died, and was raised. God delivers us from death by making us his children by faith.