Nathan E. Lewis

Sermon #6 = “Us and Them: The Covenant”
Joshua 24 and Romans 9

One of the great themes of the Bible is the Covenant of God. With this theme comes an overwhelming amount of “us and them” language. It is easy to find someone who criticizes the biblical text and the church for promoting the “us and them.” Richard Mouw opens his book, He Shines in All that’s Fair, reminiscing about songs he sang as a child in Sunday School. The song “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” includes these inclusive lyrics: “Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.” The song “One Door and Only One,” includes the language of “us and them”: “One door and only one and yet its sides are two. I’m on the inside, on which side are you?” In an all-inclusive society we bristle when someone suggests that there is an in-group and an out-group, a right and a wrong. Mouw writes, “There are two kinds of people in the world, those who belong to Jesus in a special way and those who do not…. There is no third group.”
“Us and them” language and practice are inescapable and found in nearly every gathering of humanity. What most us of mean when we say, “Let’s all get along and stop dividing,” is actually “All of you must agree with me.” It is not unrealistic to imagine a hot-headed atheist who accuses me as a Christian of practicing “us and them” language but in the next breath suggest that I, as a member of the church, am anti-intellectual and a bigot. It is also realistic to imagine a member of the Bahai, which is stripped of “us and them” language more than any other world religion to welcome me into his circle but then to insist that I must become a member of the circle and never depart from it unless I were to join another Bahai circle.
Recently, I was a guest in the home of Dr. Peter and Rebecca Jones and as we were sitting under the mulberry tree waiting for supper Peter was chattering about all of the indicators of the ever encroaching Monism upon western society. (Monism is the theory that reality is a unified whole and is grounded in a single basic substance or principle.) Observation of nature and the way things are proves Monism wrong. Not all is one. Our world is full of distinctions, not only on the surface but as microscopically as we can see. It is not that we are dualists who believe that everything breaks down into two opposing yet equal parties or parts. Never-theless, the distinctions in our world are beautiful, interesting, true and good. Our one God is distinguished in three Persons. The human race is male and female. On earth there is water and land. A star is not a planet; a fish is not a bird; a stone is not a loaf of bread. A cell has many parts and its nucleus is made up of distinguishable parts. I am less a fan of Esperanto and more an advocate for us learning several languages. The diversity of our world and culture makes this world an interesting and beautiful place.
I have met couples who have been married 30 years or more who would say, “After 30 years we have learned to live together by putting aside our differences.” Putting aside differences is not a denial that they exist. Indeed the language of “us and them” is inescapable. What we can do, as these married couples have done is to learn to live in peace in a world of distinctions.
The doctrine of common grace is not some spineless compromise to soften the harsh “us and them” language of the Bible. It is an acknowledgement that there are two distinct groups of people in the world: those who belong to Jesus and those that do not, yet God in his common grace has shown kindness to all. This doctrine of common grace in no way destroys the biblical doctrines of God’s eternal decrees whereby he has decided before he created the world who belong to Jesus and who do not. This is God’s infinite business. He has revealed to us that he knows certainly who belongs in which of these two large groups. But he has not revealed to us the names of members of these two groups. When God speaks into our world and interacts with humanity, he speaks with profuse “us and them” language. It is the language of the Covenant.
I have chosen two texts for us to consider this morning, the theme of the Covenant of God clear in both and so the language of “us and them” profuse. The first is Joshua 24, a narrative of the covenant renewal ceremony Joshua organized toward the end of his life. He gathered the nation of Israel now living in the Promised Land to remember the Covenant of God and to once again pledge to live according to it. In (1) Joshua gathers all the tribes of Israel and we pause to reflect upon the diversity of the one nation Israel, each tribe with its own elders, heads, judges, and officers. Undoubtedly, slight physical features and mannerisms distin-guished one from another along with slight cultural differences. Like all movements from tribalism to nationalism, Israel enjoyed unity to the extent that they all committed to one law and covenant.
In (2) as Joshua rehearses the history of Israel reminding the people of their common father, Abraham, the first Hebrew had been born and raised a pagan idolater. This is a significant distinction of personal history. Anyone who has entered into the Covenant of God should never forget that at one time he/she was outside the Covenant of God. As Paul wrote to Titus, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”
Beginning in (6) the “us and them” language is “poured on thick.” Israel is “in” and Egypt is “out.” You might say, “Well, I can accept ‘us and them’ language when one party is oppressors, tyrants, inhumane imperialists. If one party is victimized and enslaved by the other party, then I embrace the ‘us and them.’” Virtually anyone who knows a little about human history rife with genocide, greed, land grabbing, and war comes round to embracing the “us and them” distinction. In (11) we begin to read about Israel’s conquest of Canaan, one of the big beefs non-Christian scholars have against the Bible. The Promised Land is occupied by distinct groups of people: the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Israel routs them, or nearly all of them and God says in our text, “I gave them into your hand.” For many people this is an unacceptable presentation of God who betrays himself to be cruel, favoring one nomadic group called Israel over against several other nomadic groups who settled in the fertile land first. We can accept a God who delivers Israel from the Egyptians who enslaved her, but we cannot accept a God who then makes Israel the conquerors and land grabbers, who kill men, women, and children, even cattle, as they sweep the Promised Land clean of its inhabitants. Now do we have a problem with the “us and them” distinction or do we have a problem with God? Would it help for us to discover that these tribes occupying the Promised Land were more debauched and cruel than the Egyptians were? Would it help to embrace the justice of God who uses imperfect human instruments to deliver his justice in this world? Would it help to read of Rahab, the prostitute, who escaped the sword as she put her faith in God and entered into the covenant community? Would it help to read the whole Bible to see how the coming of Christ changes everything and makes sense of it all?
Joshua addresses Israel with these words: “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” We have the same choice between us today. Will we choose to serve “the God of peace who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus?” Or will we choose to join millions of Americans who have chosen paganism and materialism? Make a choice. Any choice you make will land you in a group distinct from several other groups. If we believe in human choice, then we must scrap Monism and embrace “us and them” distinctions, unless, of course we demand that everyone else make the same choice as we have deemed the only right and proper choice.
Let us turn our attention to an even pricklier text, Romans 9. It is not prickly because it is unclear, but because the “us and them” distinction is as clear as it gets. In (6) we learn that there is an “us and them” distinction within the covenant community! “Not all of Israel belongs to Israel.” The distinction is made between “the children of the flesh” and “the children of the promise.” Paul then reminds us of Israel’s patriarchal history and brings the distinction down to a pair of twin brothers: Jacob and Esau. We all know all too close at home that the “us and them” distinction not only divides groups that have never met each other and speak different languages, but it also divides brother against brother, sister against sister. But Paul presses the biblical revelation to its ultimate and divine end to the grand distinction between Creator and creature. He reminds us that the division between these two twin brothers existed in God’s infinite and eternal purposes and decrees prior to the birth of the twins! Prior to their birth, before they had the committed any good or bad – God elected one and not the other. The “us and them” language in (13) is as stark as it gets. God says, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” The doctrine of common grace found in the Bible presents God’s kindness and patience with both these groups: those who are eternally loved of God in Jesus Christ and those who are eternally hated by God defying Jesus. The doctrine of common grace describes a calm before the storm, space for every single human being who has ever lived to experience and enjoy the love and favor of God. The doctrine of common grace does not strip God of his right to decide what he will do with his creation, particularly with the fallen race of humanity. As the God of Justice, he must punish sin and has the right to decide ultimately how he will redeem and restore what humanity has so wretchedly destroyed.
Romans 9 brings us to the ultimate distinction, not the “us and them” distinction that divides us but the Creator vs. creature distinction distinguishing God from humanity. Paul has the audacity to mention Sodom and Gomorrah towards the end of Romans 9. Many people, understandably have difficulty with God destroying Sodom and Gomorrah and most of us have an incomplete understanding of the reason why God did so. However, Paul’s point in mentioning these two cities is that God shall also bring judgment by destruction upon members of not only of the “them” groups, like Sodom and Gomorrah but also upon members of the “us” groups, like Israel and the church. None of us can say, “I chose the right group to join and so I am on the winning side, the group upon which God’s favor rests. I will keep a low profile, live like I want to and God will not detect that I actually don’t fit in the right group.” The “us and them” language and distinction is a result of humanity’s fall into sin and now God must repair, redeem, reconcile, and restore.
In the beginning God and humanity enjoyed perfect peace and harmony. The distinction of Creator from creature was present. The distinction between male and female did not divide but rather enhanced the human experience. The distinction between humanity from animal, nevertheless landed both on one side of the distinction and God alone on his side. But both sides lived in perfect peace and harmony. As Cornelius Van Til has observed, “Man was originally placed before God as a covenant personality.” God’s original intent is fellowship between the distinguished parties of the covenant. His historical enterprise is to restore that fellowship. The end and glory of God’s work will be the complete restoration of all things. In the end, the Covenant of God is not a system or contract of division and strife but rather it is the only vehicle that can deliver to us: peace, reconciliation and fellowship.
Choose today to serve the Lord God and you will discover the blessings of the Covenant: Peace with God and peace with one another. Peace with all creation! The Lord Jesus Christ is presented in the Holy Scriptures as the fulfillment of the Covenant of God and so he is our peace. Put your trust in him today.