Jeremiah 31:31-34

"The days are surely coming says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the House of Judah." (Jer. 31:31) A "new covenant?" What's a covenant? "Covenant" is just not a world that people use much now a days. Basically a covenant was an agreement of contract between two parties. We are familiar with contracts. Two people sign a piece of paper and agree to fulfill certain responsibilities.

In Bible times God drafted a contract with Israel. God promised to be their God and care for them. They promised to be his people and follow His will as described in the commandments recorded in the Bible.

The Old Testament in the Bible tells of how the people often failed to live up to their end of the bargain. In Israel God had bought a lemon. But it was not Israel's fault. They were only human. But even though people failed to live up to the contract God never let the people down. There were times that he allowed them to be conquered or experience hardship but God always preserved them and they have persevered until this day! God could have said, "You broke the contract! You can just disappear like al the other conquered nations. But God was true until the end.

Another word for Covenant is Testament. That brings us to the passage in Jeremiah that we just read. Jeremiah says that God is drafting a new contract, a new covenant, a new testament. The old testament was written on stones and the people often ignored those written words. Often times they misunderstood or were led to misunderstand them. The laws were an expression of God's will, yet they could not see their true meaning.

But this new covenant is different. It is not written on stones that can be misread or ignored. God will write it on the people's hearts. Their own hearts within them will bear witness. The truth of God will be communicated directly to them by the Holy Spirit of God.

And God would forgive their sins! Yes they will still fall short. But their forgiveness will be assured.

We the present day church, are the fulfillment of that prophesy. Jesus came and died for our sins to pay for the price for our salvation. And he promised the Holy Spirit to all His believers. That Holy Spirit communicates with our hearts and helps us to see the true will of God.

Some refer to this as the covenant or Grace; most simply call it the New Testament. It is a contract signed in the blood of Christ who came to be our mediator in this matter. We fail on our part of the contract but that failure is covered by Jesus' righteousness. The basic contract is the same. God says I will be your God and care for you like a good shepherd and you will be my people and follow me like loyal sheep.

We are here today to reaffirm that New Testament as this New Year begins. Our salvation is not dependant on our ability to fulfill our side of the contract. But we still want to live up to it as much as is humanly possible. And with God's help we can. So let us reaffirm our relationship with God our father Christ our brother and the Holy Spirit that by grace lives in us.

Hebrews 13:10-16

One day the Prime Minister of Israel was visiting the President of the United States. They were sitting in the Oval office just talking. Then the President pointed to a red phone on his desk. With a proud air he said, "Have you ever seen one of these? It is a dedicated line to God.

The prime minister of Israel was unimpressed. He said "I have one of those too." The President said, "Do you use it much. I find that the long distance charges are exorbitant! We have enough national debt as it is. Do you have that problem?"

The Prime Minister of Israel just waved the question off and smugly replied: "I don't have that problem. You see from my office it is a local call."

I guess this could be the theme of the book of Hebrews in reverse. Basically Hebrews argues that though Jesus, God is a local call for us Christians. God used to be a long distance call under the Old Covenant or Testament made with Israel at Mount Sini. That Old Testament was one of animal sacrifices. But under the New Covenant or New Testament God is made accessible because of Jesus!

This idea is pretty basic to us modern day Christians. But I think we often miss what this really means. The thing that Hebrews does is that it uses the symbols and the imagery of the Old Testament, the old time religion, to explain the New Testament, the new time religion. So to understand what is being said here we have to understand the old time religion of the Old Testament.\

The first thing that our lesson says is that "We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat." When the Children of Israel were wandering through the desert and for a long time after they arrived in the promised land they worshipped God in a tent. It is sometimes called the Tabernacle. And it was really a series of tents within tents. In the center was the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was. And near it was an altar. Not everyone was allowed to approach the Altar, only the priests and only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies to be in the presence of God. And many of the sacrifices made on the altar could be eaten only by the priests.

So the people only had access to sacrifice and to God through the priests. That was the Old Time religion, but through Jesus and this new time religion we have an altar that even they could not access. Through Jesus we have a direct line to God and it is now a local call. By the Grace of God we can know God in a way that those who used to worship in the Tabernacle could not!

The next thing that Hebrews says is, "For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp." The first verse focused on the sacrificial system as a whole, but this verse focuses on a particular part of the sacrificial system of the old religion. Specifically the Day of Atonement. Once a year an animal was sacrificed for the sins of the people and the blood from the sacrifice was taken by the High Priest into the innermost sanctuary called the Holy of Holies to be sprinkled there. This made atonement to God for the sins of all Israel. Unlike some other sacrifices, the body of the animal for this sacrifice was not eaten by the priests. Instead it was taken outside the camp and burned like trash.

Of course under our new religion, the New Testament, we don't make sacrifices for our sins. That is because Jesus was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. He was the Lamb of God that makes atonement, paying for the sins of the world. But he was nailed to a cross outside the city. Crucifixions were conducted outside the city because the laws of Moses considered any contact with a dead body to cause ritual uncleanness. Jesus had been judged, or rather misjudged, to be unclean a blasphemer because he claimed to be the Messiah. So the breaking of the body that atones for our sins was done outside the city.

The cross itself is an example of this. You know the cross was an instrument of death and torture. It was considered unclean. But Because Jesus' blood was shed on a cross to save us all it has been cleansed. You wouldn't wear a hangman's noose or an electric chair around your neck or on your earrings. But we treat it as a symbol of God's love and grace not an instrument of death. Jesus' blood has made something ugly and evil into something beautiful and good. In the same way the blood of Christ shed outside the city of the old religion has cleansed us and made us insiders in a whole new and glorious way.

So, through Jesus we have a direct line to God and we are made insiders by the one who came outside to die for us. So what should we do in response to this great act of God's grace? "Therefore let us go forth to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured." We should go where Jesus is. He went outside of the boundaries of the old time religion to bring God's grace to those who were closed out. We too should take the gospel to the people outside the church so that they can have a local line to God through Jesus Christ. Like him we may suffer abuse for that, but that is little in comparison to the sacrifice he made for us.

What should we do? "Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name." We no longer offer sacrifices of animals to God, but we can offer up our praise and devotion. I am not just talking about singing. God can be praised in so many different ways: Through art like these banners here. Through dance, through drama, through our words and action and attitudes. We should give our hearts to him!

What else should we do? "Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God." We should serve God. We should love our neighbor and seek to do good for others. We should feed the hungry clothe the naked, comfort the distraught, heal the physically and emotionally injured and seek justice for the vulnerable. God no longer asks for lambs and rams and calves given in sacrifices on altars. Jesus took care of all that. What he wants is sacrifices of righteousness and love given on the altar of our hearts.

"Oh give me that new time religion, give me that new time religion, give me that new time religion its good enough for me!" The old time religion of the Old Testament was about separation from God. And that is appropriate for humanity is separated from God by sin. But reaching God required making a long distance phone call through priests and sacrifices. The long distance phone bill included animals slaughtered on the altar.

But though Jesus we have a new time religion. In this new religion we who were once outside, have been included. We have been given an altar in the Holy of holies that no one else has ever been able to access. God is now a local call. But it is not free. There is still a long distance phone bill. The difference is that it has been prepaid by Jesus on the Cross.

God in grace has given us the New Time Religion! What should we do? Give yourself to him, make your life a sacrifice to him. Go outside the camp and seek out the lost. Perform sacrifices of love and justice in your community. And make your life a praise and sacrifice to God.

Give me that new time religion! Amen!