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Covenant: God’s Redeeming Plan
The idea of covenant can be a foreign concept in our day, one that has been misunderstood and eroded.
Yet it is an eternal, heavenly value.
Covenant is a principle which God uses to build individuals, families, churches, communities, cities and nations.
Examples of covenant with which you may be familiar:
Business covenants (contracts)
Alliances between nations (treaties)
Marriage
God’s covenant with humanity through the gospel
Focus: We will better understand covenant when we know that it is meant to help preserve the PLAN of God through us.
Every Day Discernment
Preserving the Covenant
God’s Redeeming Plan
Every Day Discernment
We need to develop eyes to discern what God is doing around us every day.
1 Samuel 25:1-38
Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’” When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. And Nabal answered David's servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this. And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage. But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”
What is God teaching us?
What can we learn from this Biblical example?
First, we see that while on the run from murderous King Saul, David and his men continued to do good.
David came across a family which included…
Nabal, who was noted as a spiritually dull, worldly and unconcerned with the righteous ways of God.
Abigail, who was noted as discerning and beautiful
In the grazing fields of Nabal, David and his men protected the sheep of Nabal at a time when raiders and thieves could have easily wrought destruction on Nabal’s business.
This was an act of kindness - an olive-branch from David and his men to Nabal with the only expectation of reciprocated civility.
The time of sheering was one of work and feasting.
David and his men were looking to be rewarded for their efforts with food.
Nabal was a Calebite, more than likely a descendant of the man who, along with the Biblical hero Joshua, helped lead the Jewish people to entering the promised land of Israel.
Nabal should have understood God’s ways, that you honor people for the good that they do from which you benefit, whether it was solicited or not.
But Nabal’s men called him worthless.
Why were Nabal’s men calling him worthless?
It wasn’t because Nabal wasn’t rich or a worldly success.
It was because of Nabal’s character.
Nabal wasn’t discerning enough to listen to appeals to righteousness.
Nabal didn’t ask for David’s help and felt he should be left alone.
Nabal expressed entitlement as if he was owed the good that David and his men did for his flocks.
As a businessman, Nabal needed to be careful not to reduce everything down to numbers and remember the priority of godliness.
He did not show any expression of thanks.
To the contrary, Nabal took the occasion to insult David and his men in their time of need.
And Nabal answered David's servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?”
It was because Nabal was ungrateful - a true shortcoming of our generation.
Nabal was not discerning enough to know that that with which he had been blessed by God was to be used as a part of God’s unfolding redemptive story.
Nabal’s failings:
Nabal had a worldly, self-centered response to the needs of David and his men.
Nabal did not consult God to determine if or how he was to meet that need.
Nabal failed to consider the purpose of his encounter with David.
Nabal refused to submit to his role in God’s bigger plan, helping to keep God’s anointed king and his men supplied on the way to David’s ascension to the throne.
David was offering covenant peace to Nabal just as Jesus beckons us to follow him into his Kingdom purposes.
Nabal, however, was not interested in the one who would be made king, just as people act with indifference towards Jesus’ rulership in their lives today.
So our first lesson is this:
Ladies, when you have a God-fearing man you need to thank Christ in heaven and extol your husband on the regular for being a godly man.
It is a gift.
Too many are like Nabal.
At the same time, men, when you have a God-loving, discerning and virtuous woman like Abigail, you need to thank God in Heaven for her.
Often she is God’s grace to you helping to save your household in ways that make up for your mistakes and in ways that you don’t even know.
So how do we preserve the covenants initiated by God?
Preserving the Covenant
The purposes of God are preserved when we fight to honor the covenants God gives us.
I Samuel 25:18-28
Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.” When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.” And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand! For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.” Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.” And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
Somehow, word was getting around that God had anointed David to be the next king of Israel.
We know this because Abigail acknowledged it.
It would have therefore been Nabal’s God-fearing responsibility to see if this was true and submit himself to being a part of what God was doing.
It is no different today than word going out that Jesus Christ, the unique Son of God, has been anointed king of the earth.
It is now incumbent that we do our due diligence to confirm and submit to his claims if they are true.
“Man’s condition ought to impel him to seek to discover whether there is a God and a solution to his predicament. But people occupy their time and their thoughts with trivialities and distractions, so as to avoid the despair, boredom, and anxiety that would inevitably result if those diversions were removed.”
William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics
To his detriment, Nabal rejected the invitation to covenant relationship with David and his men.
Maybe you have rejected overtures made by godly people in your world trying to further influence you for God’s call on your life.
This ultimately put Nabal’s entire family in danger, which all sin ultimately does.
Because of Nabal’s sin, Abigail had to step up.
There are some of you who will be called to do the same.
Yet there is a false, unbiblical notion of unity being taught in our churches today.
God wants us to fight for the covenant of marriage and unity within the family unit, but not at the expense of his word.
Over and over again we see one spouse holding another captive to the detriment of the entire family.
We need to understand though, that unity in any covenant is subject to our unity with God.
Choose to obey God’s word even if you do not have agreement.
And if you have to choose sides, make sure that you choose God’s side first.
If you are going to fight for unity in your home, first make sure that you are unified with God and his word.
That’s the best thing you can do for those you love.
That is why years later, Jesus said:
Luke 14:26-27
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
The heavenly reality is that you love your family best when you love God first, and so preserve all important covenants in your life.
Abigail had to step up in the midst of Nabal’s sin to make sure that her entire family didn’t perish.
There are times when you may find yourself in a home where the covenant of God is not being honored.
If that is the case, always remember that your first covenant is with God and you are obligated to obey him first and above anyone else.
There may be times like Abigail’s that you must do what it takes to see your family make peace with the anointed king.
If you have to initiate Bible study, prayer and church participation even when your significant other is not on board, you do so knowing that God will back you up.
Abigail’s courageous actions diverted the wrath of David and your courageous actions can do the same for your family.
Pray, teach, live, give and serve like those whom you influence lives’ depend on it - because their formation in Christ actually does.
This is how Abigail saved her household.
This is the truth and we need to have no doubt about it - God will judge our unrepentant sin.
Though Nabal was wealthy and successful, his unrighteousness caught up with him and it will with you as well if you do not turn to the Lord.
As is our situation with Christ, if Nabal had responded to David’s original overtures, it would have saved Nabal’s life, and in the future, given him the rewards accompanying friendship with the king.
Yet Nabal rejected these kindnesses.
Nabal had a heart attack or stroke when he realized that David and his men were as close as they were to coming and giving Nabal what he deserved.
Ten days following, God struck Nabal down for his sins and he died.
That was the sad story of Nabal and the fate of many godless men today.
Yet David’s story ended differently.
Why?
David showed the restraint necessary to walk in covenant character.
How?
David responded to people sent by God to help him preserve his covenant behavior.
Because life is a marathon and our journey can be longer than we anticipate, there will be definite moments along the way when we are tempted to get off track.
Think of what that may have been for you recently.
Has it been bitterness because of all that is transpiring in our nation?
Is it a desire to disengage and seek comfort because of the emotional strain of the pandemic?
Is it the trap of entertainment that is dulling your godly convictions as you spend hours of more time alone and at home?
Because of Nabal’s response, David was tempted to leave his godly trajectory and take vengeance for himself.
David would have left the path of the covenant life and promises that God had for him.
But it was David’s relationship with Abigail that would help David and his men maintain this trajectory.
Abigail was God’s agent to help preserve the covenant promises of God for David and her family.
We all need covenant relationships to keep us from doing stupid things detrimental to the call of God on our lives.
You need people whom you give permission to speak God’s word to you, to tell you “no” and to tell you that not all of your ideas are God ideas, that some of them are actually bad ideas.
This is what Abigail would become for David.
So our next take away needs to be this :
Don’t make life altering decisions before consulting God’s word or the covenant relationships God has given you.
They are a protection to keep you on course.
Abigail literally kept David and his men from ending Nabal’s life.
We will all have encounters with ungrateful, spiteful, unreasonable people like Nabal, whether in the workplace or in our communities.
David made a vow to take vengeance on Nabal.
Yet when David was halted by Abigail’s counsel, David broke his vow and came to repentance.
What vows have you made in your anger or pain that you need to break so that you can return to the Lord?
When we allow godly counsel in our lives, it saves us from destructive paths and allows us to return to the righteous covenants of God.
This is the nature of ongoing repentance that we all need in our lives.
It is when we experience God’s redeeming plan.
God’s Redeeming Plan
God saves us by redeeming the fractured covenants in our lives through Jesus.
I Samuel 25:39-42
When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.
When Abigail lost her husband because of his sin, God had a redeeming plan so that she would not be left alone.
David represented the redeeming love of Christ.
David became the leader needed in Abigail’s home and would walk with her into God’s covenant purposes.
As David with Abigail, Jesus comes as the better bridegroom to provide for, protect and lead those who’ve devoted themselves to him.
No matter our background, our previous associations or our sins, Jesus comes to redeem us from a life that was headed for destruction.
Because Jesus was the righteous king that committed no sin, Jesus was able to pay the price for our offenses against God at the cross, and three days later be raised from the dead.
As David with Abigail, Jesus now gives us the opportunity for forgiveness of sins along with a new name and new life in him.
As David provided a new home and a new covenant family for Abigail, so God does so for us through his church.
God’s loving plan in Christ also has the power to redeem covenants that have been broken.
Whether because of adultery, abandonment or some other sin, God has a history of redeeming covenants that were previously broken through repentance and faith.
If you are a man or woman like Nabal today, you can learn from Nabal’s example and repent.
You can put your faith in Jesus’ atoning work for you on the cross, becoming the better man or woman that God has called you to be by his resurrection power.
You can join our men’s group which is going to be going through the book Kingdom Man - Every Man’s Destiny, Every Woman’s Dream....
As a woman you can sign up for our future women’s precept Bible so that like, Abigail you can in the wisdom and grace of God.
The church is Christ’s bride whom he will come one day to bring into his heavenly home.
May we be watching and waiting while walking in the covenant relationships he’s given us to make us ready.
Second City Church - Covenant, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020