THE CHURCH AS A COVENANT COMMUNITY
Deuteronomy 5:1-21; 2 Corinthians 3:4-6, 12-18
SEPTEMBER 14, 2008
The way we look at our relationship with the Church is really important. Our understanding of the Church is so important because it determines the shape of our Christian lives. It determines the vision and passion of our ministries we offer to God. If we think the Church as just a human institution made up of individuals choosing to join an organization that is governed by its own petty rules and regulations, we will see our Christian lives as being our own private business that is totally independent of the Church. Our ministries will be personal projects to fulfill our desires and our goals. If we understand the Church to be, first and foremost, a people God has called into being, and an organization of His creation, then God’s vision for the Church becomes the determining factor of our lives and our vision.
The people of God have always known that the Church began with God. The New Testament Greek word for Church, ekklesia, means “the called out ones.” The Old Testament equivalent described Israel as the people summoned into the presence of God to hear Him and to respond obediently to Him. God commanded Moses,
“Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children”
(Deuteronomy 4:10).
Deuteronomy 5 describes Moses and Israel obeying this command. The formation of ancient Israel as the people of God was neither Moses’ nor Israel’s idea. It was God’s idea. God called Israel into being, and God calls the Church into being. When God called His people, He called them into a covenant community (Deuteronomy 5:2-5).
What is a covenant community? It is a group of people bound together by a promise or a vow or covenant. The covenant relationship we normally think of is the covenant relationship between a man and woman when they get married. They make a covenant to be true to each other for the rest of their lives. God calls us to make a covenant relationship like that with His Church. He wants us to make a commitment to His Church community.
I. THE COVENANT COMMUNITY IS BASED ON HISTORY.
The opening words of the covenant appear in Deuteronomy 5:6:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
The Old Testament covenant of community of Israel was based on the Exodus, which was God’s gracious act of freeing them from slavery. The people’s crying to God in their bondage, the calling of Moses, the plagues and struggle with Pharaoh, the Passover lamb, the Exodus, the passing through the Red Sea, and God’s provision through the wilderness wanderings - form the story of God redeeming Israel out of slavery.
Israelite worship would incorporate forever the retell of that marvelous story for two reasons. First, in hopes of creating for each new generation who never heard the story, a desire to commit to live in faithful covenant relationship with God. And Secondly, to remind and awaken in the older generation, a desire to commit to live in faithful covenant relationship with God, as well. We call that revival. So the covenant community is based on history.
During the Last Supper Jesus described the cup as
“the new covenant in His blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20).
The New Testament covenant community of the Church is based on the gracious act of the atoning death of Jesus and His resurrection. As Christians we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we preach the cross of Christ, and we worship on Sunday in celebration of the Resurrection as reminders of what God has done in history to make us His covenant community.
The Church of the Nazarene was called into being by God through His gracious acts in history a century ago to proclaim Scriptural Holiness. In many places around the world at that time, God was pouring out His Spirit on people and calling them to share His holy nature and His passion for a holy people. The Church of the Nazarene was formed by people who heard that call of God to holiness. Retelling the stories of how God raised us up to proclaim scriptural holiness, creates in each new generation that has never heard the story, the vision God desired to accomplish through us as a Church. Retelling the stories of how God created the Church of the Nazarene awakens anew in the older generations a desire to renew that vision and relight the passionate fires of holiness.
That is why we celebrate our Centennial. It is not to glorify the Church of the Nazarene or to boast of our achievements. We celebrate our Centennial to remember the way God entered human history and raised up our church to proclaim holiness around the world. Our remembering will stir anew in us the passion and desire to accomplish what God desired to do through the people called Nazarenes.
II. THE COVENANT COMMUNITY LIVES WITH OBLIGATIONS.
When a man and a woman make a covenant relationship with each other, there are certain expectations. There are certain obligations. Like love, honor and keeping yourself only for them in sickness and in health – until death parts you.
Immediately following the reminder of the Exodus, God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel as His expectations for the Old Testament covenant community (Deuteronomy 5:7-21). Deuteronomy 5—26 records many commands that God expected Israel to obey in gratitude for the freedom He had provided. Some people who enter the covenant relationship of marriage are surprised to find that the marriage covenant comes with expectations and obligations. They should not be surprised. All covenant relationships have expectations and obligations.
Since we are saved by faith, not by works, are there no obligations in the Christian covenant community? The confusion arises over the difference between how we enter the new covenant community and how we live in it. We are saved by faith through grace, not by works, not by fulfilling obligations. We enter the new covenant community by faith alone. However, God has expectations for us as we live in that community. Jesus summarized those obligations with the two Great Commandments—to love God wholeheartedly and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40). The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and transformation toward Christlikeness (2 Corinthians 3:18) are also expectations of life in the new covenant community.
Life in the covenant community of the Church of the Nazarene also has expectations. We remember not only our history but also our obligation to witness to the world through living a holy life. That is why we Nazarenes are committed to the Covenant of Christian Character and the Covenant of Christian Conduct. These general and specific rules express our understanding of what God asks of us in covenant community.
III. THE COVENANT COMMUNITY HAS CONSEQUENCES.
Because there are obligations in a covenant community, there are also consequences. The Old Testament relates consequences for obeying and failing to obey covenant obligations. Deuteronomy 5:16 gives us the consequences of obeying the fifth commandment:
“so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”
Deuteronomy 27—28 lists the blessings that follow obedience and the curses that come with disobedience. The most severe consequence of disobedience would be for God to terminate the covenant relationship. In a marriage that’s called divorce.
The New Testament covenant community of the Church also has consequences for obeying and failing to obey Christ’s expectations. Failing to obey the law of love cripples the witness of the Church and hamstrings the fulfilling of the Great Commission. Living out the expectations of Christ results in the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives and having a part in joyful worship and witness to the world.
If we, as the Church of the Nazarene, are obedient to His call to propagate holiness of heart and life around the world, we can look forward to another century of significant ministry, great growth, and spiritual success. If we forget who we are - and why God raised us up, we will lose the joy of salvation and perhaps cease to exist before another hundred years ends.
CONCLUSION/INVITATION
God has called us into covenant relationship with himself. We are not just another human organization. The Church is a covenant community. That means we have a history that can revitalize our vision. It means we have obligations that call us to live in holiness. It means we face consequences that motivate us to be truly the people God is calling us to be.
But we can never be a holy, covenant community unless we experience God’s transforming work of making us holy. As we come to the end of this service, I would like to ask every one of us to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit and ask Him, “Holy Spirit, what do You need to do in my heart to make me holy?”
Let’s respond in obedience to the Spirit’s work within us.
—Roger L. Hahn
(Revised by Andy Grossman)
“Create in me a Clean Heart”
