Copyright © 2017 Jesse Aaron Benack All rights reserved. The Southern Baptist Theological ...

129 Pages·2017·1.29 MB·English

Copyright © 2017 Jesse Aaron Benack
All rights reserved. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has permission to
reproduce and disseminate this document in any form by any means for purposes chosen
by the Seminary, including, without limitation, preservation or instruction.
EQUIPPING MEMBERS AT CALVARY CHAPEL EVANGELICAL
FREE CHURCH IN VALLEY VIEW, PENNSYLVANIA, WITH
A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF THE COVENANTS
__________________
A Project
Presented to
the Faculty of
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
__________________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Ministry
__________________
by
Jesse Aaron Benack
December 2017
APPROVAL SHEET
EQUIPPING MEMBERS AT CALVARY CHAPEL EVANGELICAL
FREE CHURCH IN VALLEY VIEW, PENNSYLVANIA, WITH
A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF THE COVENANTS
Jesse Aaron Benack
Read and Approved by:
__________________________________________
Robert L. Plummer (Faculty Supervisor)
__________________________________________
Oren R. Martin
Date ______________________________
I dedicate this project to my longsuffering and encouraging wife, Laura.
Without her support and uplifting, this would not be possible.
Apart from my Savior, she is God’s greatest gift to me.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Research Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Definitions and Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2. THE CENTRAL ROLE OF COVENANTS IN THE
HISTORY OF GOD’S REDEMPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Need for Biblical Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
God’s Covenant with Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
God’s Covenant of Redemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
God’s Covenant with Noah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
God’s Covenant with Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
God’s Covenant with Moses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
God’s Covenant with David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
God’s New Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3. THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF THE COVENANTS IN THE
CHRISTIAN’S SPIRITUAL FORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Covenants Help Christians Read the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
iv
Chapter Page
The Covenants Help Christians Understand Their
Relationship with God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The Covenants Stimulate the Christian’s Eternal Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Conclusion: The Covenants and Christians Maturity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4. DETAILS AND SCHEDULE OF THE COVENANTS PROJECT . . . . . . . . 54
Administering the Covenant Study Pre-Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Covenant Study Sermon Preparation, Development, and Approval . . . . . . 55
Summary of Covenant Sermons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Covenant Family Study Development and Approval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Summary of Covenant Family Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Covenant Family Study Journal Distribution and Collection . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Administering the Covenant Study Post-Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5. PROJECT EVALUATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Evaluation of the Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Evaluation of the Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Strengths of the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Weaknesses of the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
What I Would Do Differently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Theological Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Personal Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Appendix
1. SURVEY OF THE BIBLICAL COVENANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
2. SERMON SERIES EVALUATION RUBRIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
3. FAMILY STUDY EVALUATION RUBRIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4. FAMILY STUDY JOURNAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
v
Appendix Page
5. FAMILY STUDIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6. PRE- AND POST-SURVEY COMPARISON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
7. PRE- AND POST-SURVEY T-TEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
8. SURVEY RESULTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
vi
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table Page
A1. T-test: Two-sample assuming unequal variances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
A2. Statement 1: Understanding the biblical covenants is important
for Christians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
A3. Statement 2: I know the covenants in the Bible are important,
but I don’t understand why . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
A4. Statement 3: I have greater security in my relationship with
God because of my understanding of the covenants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
A5. Statement 4: I understand the difference between a covenant
of works and a covenant of grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
A6. Statement 5: I believe the various covenants in the Bible
are interrelated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
A7. Statement 6: I can confidently tell others why the covenants
are important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
A8. Statement 7: The covenants help me to understand the overarching
message of the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Figure
A1. Pre- and post-survey comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
vii
PREFACE
I am grateful to the kindness of my church in encouraging and enabling me to
pursue this course of study. They have been a constant blessing in the life of my family.
They truly exemplify the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
I am also thankful for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the
blessing that the institution has been to me during the course of my doctoral studies. The
faculty and classes have been a tremendous encouragement. My experience in the D.Min.
program has been the best educational experience of my life. In particular, I am grateful
for my supervisor, Dr. Robert L. Plummer. He has been a great encouragement and guide
throughout this process. I could not have asked for a better supervisor to shepherd me
through this program.
This work would not have been possible without my wife, Laura. Her support
and love have been invaluable to me throughout this project. I do not deserve her, but I
thank God for her. I am also thankful for our children: Noah, Daniel, Evangeline, Micah,
and Penelope. They all are proof of God’s kindness toward me, and they inspire me to
work harder and follow Christ more closely.
Most of all, I am grateful to my Lord Jesus. He has been faithful to me, despite
my unfaithfulness to him. He has given me the best news to drink deeply from and
proclaim. May he be glorified in and through this project.
Jesse Benack
Valley View, Pennsylvania
December 2017
viii
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Does the Old Testament matter for Christians? Should followers of Jesus be
concerned only about the portion of Scripture which mentions Jesus explicitly? This
project helped the members of Calvary Chapel Evangelical Free Church (CCEFC) gain
an understanding of the Bible’s unity. This objective was accomplished through a series
of expositional sermons that explored the divine covenants. The purpose of this project
was to equip the members of CCEFC with a biblical theology of the covenants.
Context
Calvary Chapel Evangelical Free Church is a small church in rural Pennsylvania.
The people of the church have a strong love for God and for his Word. Yet for some,
there was a need for increased theological depth in their comprehension of the Word.
There was a hunger for God’s truth, but also a necessity to grow in their understanding of
how the whole of Scripture tells a unified story.
This lack of understanding led some to devalue the Old Testament, even voicing
the opinion that the Old Testament is not important for the Christian to study or understand.
One man even called on me to stop teaching from the Old Testament, suggesting that I
stay exclusively in the New Testament. This idea contradicts what Jesus and the New
Testament authors testified about the Scriptures (Luke 24:27; John 5:46-47; 2 Tim 3:16-
17). Thankfully, very few hold so strong an adversarial view toward the Old Testament.
The majority of members of CCEFC affirm the value and importance of the
Old Testament, but some struggled to understand why and how these Scriptures apply to
Christians today. This lack of understanding may have been attributed to past teaching in
1