Covenant Service

06-01-13TSJ Methodist Church

The Covenant Service

1. Introduction

Two young Christians once made a covenant together.

They agreed that, come what may, they would each tithe ten percent of their income every year.

They were both young and neither of them had much money.

But then they both went off to University.

One trained to become a clergyman and the other went into banking

Whilst the vicar’s salary did not go up that much over, the banker’s salary did

After ten years, he was earning £10 thousand and so tithed one thousand pounds the year.

After 12 years he earned £100 thousand and so tithed £10 thousand pounds.

However after 20 years, he earned his first million but couldn’t bring himself to write a cheque for £ 100 thousand for the church.

So he telephoned his friend who by now was a vicar and asked to see him.

Walking into the vicar’s office, the banker begged to be let out of the covenant, saying,

"This tithing business has to stop. It was fine when my tithe was one thousand pounds, but I just cannot afford a hundred thousand pounds.You’ve got to do something, Vicar!"

The vicar knelt on the floor and prayed silently for a long time.

Eventually the man said, "What are you doing? Are you praying that God will let me out of this covenant to tithe?"

"No," said the vicar. "I am praying for God to reduce your income back to the level, where one thousand pounds is your tithe!"

For many people the concept of a covenant is a foreign idea.

But to the writers of the New and the Old Testament – our Bible - it was central.

For it goes to the very heart of the Gospel

It is unfortunate that our Bibles are divided into the Old and New Testament and not into the Old and New Covenant.

Because the word “testament” nowadays is synonymous with the idea of a Will

But in Biblical thought, a testament or covenant isn’t a Will.

A covenant doesn’t kick in when you die – it kicks in now.

A biblical covenant between two parties is more like a contract today.

There are obligations for both sides to keep.

The Old Testament is full of covenants – God’s Covenant with Noah, his covenant

with Abraham, his covenant with Moses. …David to name a few.

And then you have David’s covenant with Jonathan – a covenant between two friends

You will also find covenants between kings on various matters - especially in the books of Genesis and 1 Kings

Kings in ancient times made covenants to fix their spheres of interest or terms of peace.

(p.366-7 -Dictionary of New Testament

Theology Vol 1 Colin Brown - general editor)

The relationship between the partners in a Covenant is expressed by “covenant loyalty” a term known as hesed in Hebrew.

A covenant worked by setting out the rights as well as the responsibilities for BOTH SIDES.

And a good covenant was one where both

parties were satisfied with what was agreed.

In other words a good covenant is one in which you have a win-win situation rather than a win-lose

A covenant forced on the weaker party by the stronger was rarely going to work in the long run.

Example: The closest equivalent to a covenant today is the wedding covenant, where both parties go into it willingly and understanding the rights and obligations

And it is that Covenant – the marriage Covenant that is specifically referred to in the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament:

This is what Malachi says in Mal 2:13-14

13Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.

14 “You ask why? It is because the Lord is acting as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, through she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant” (Mal 2:13,14)

In Malachi’s time, things were not going well for the Jews because they had not only broken their Covenant with God, they had broken it with their wives as well

As their wives got older, they would take on younger trophy wives and put their first wives aside

Malachi remonstrates with them for doing that because God takes covenants very seriously

2. God’s Covenant with his people

For very early in the Bible, God makes a Covenant with his people. IT is summed up best in Ex 6:7

“I will make you as my own people and

I will be your God.”

Wonderful – but what does it mean?

The Covenant of God with his people is explained in more detail in Dt 4;13