Sunday, November 25, 2018

Covenants vs Contracts

   Recently I finished up another book by NT Wright on the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul.  Wright touches on Paul's life, his New Testament letters to the various churches and things that were culturally relevant to the first century church.  There are a few things that caught my eye in the book that has gotten me thinking and one of the concepts I have been wrestling with is how Paul presents what the church is to look like.

   Where we get our concept or the word church comes from the Greek work ecclesia, which has the meaning of assembly, congregation, or people who are called out.  Paul adds another concept and that God and His people actually partner together for the work of the kingdom.  If we are to look at this partnership, I think that there are several things that come into play and need to be looked at.  Such things are the relationship between contract and covenant, if we are the church, do we really need to meet together, and do we all need to look alike to be the church. 

  When I first think of partnership, I often think of that there is some sort of contract involved, wither it is written or unwritten.  Contracts are meant to lay out expectations, duties and it usually is for a particular period of time.  As I pay attention to the sports world, one could come to the conclusion that contracts are meant to be broken.  Whether it is a head coach being relieved of their duties during the middle of the season, to athletes holding out, in hoping to get a new and even better contract.  Maybe it is just a Western thing, but with contracts, we can write in outs of how one or both parties can nullify the contract and so it becomes void.  This allows both parties to either renegotiate a new contract or go their separate ways.  Marriage has become nothing more than a legal contract, where if one or both parties realize that it is not what they signed up for or the terms of their marriage (or contract) are either not being meet or are being broken, they rip up the contract and get a divorce. 

   Another idea of contracts is that we either agree to give up something or to provide some sort of service.  It seems to me that a contract or a contract mentality never really provides an all or nothing scenario.  We are willing to give up a portion of ourselves or let this thing run a part of our lives, but we save room for other things that are important to us.  This could lead to us not giving are all or trying to find ways around our obligations of the contract.  This could lead to insincerity, not giving our all, or our relationships becoming so awkward that we just avoid people at all cost.  Or to paraphrase a quote from the movie Top Gun, "Our ego is writing checks that we either can not or are unwilling to cash."

  The idea of covenant, has some similarities as a contract, but it is more binding.  Throughout the Bible there are several covenants or promises that God set up with His people and even creation.  Whether, it is the Noah Covenant (where God will never flood the earth again), Moses Covenant (the Ten Commandments), the Davidic Covenant, (where the promise Messiah will come through his family)to Jesus covenant where He will make all things new and our relationship with God will be restored.  My favorite covenant is the one with Abraham in where God made a promise to Abraham that His descendants will be as numerous as the stars.  One can read about the covenant between Abraham and God in Genesis 12-17.  There are several basic differences that come up in this section of Scripture that helps explain what a true covenant is.  The first one is that there is sacrifice involved to seal the covenant.  The sacrifice makes it real per se and it gives both parties a stake in what is being promised.  One thought is that if the covenant is broken, the offender will suffer the same consequences as the what was sacrifice did.  When we have skin in the game, it helps us to keep up our end of the covenant and to make it work.

   Another idea of a covenant is the idea of an outward sign signifying what has taken place.  It acts a reminder of what is promised and even who we belong to.  Just as a wedding ring shows our commitment and that we are spoken for, in the Old Testament, circumcision was that commitment and it was a reminder of who we belong to.  In essence, we are drawing a line in the sand and that from this day forward I choose to live my life differently and not as my own.  I think we need the daily reminders of who we belong to and the promises we made, or we tend to forget rather quickly.

   The last idea that I will mention here is that every time a covenant is formed, God is always involved.  It could be in our marriages, friendships, to those who keep us accountable, to even our work.  A true covenant is where God is involved and He is the one setting the standard.  A covenant without God is nothing more than a promise or contract that can be easily broken.

  So how do covenants work to those who are not only called out, but partnering with God.  The first one is that yes we are the church, but this does not give us an excuse to gather as Gods people.  I know being apart of the church is out being Gods hands and feet, which is an important aspect of partnering.  When we only focus on being the church, I have this feeling we are turning ourselves and the church into an inanimate object or some sort of machine.  When we are solely focused on being the church, I think it robs us and others of our personhood and it treats others as an end to a mean and not as people of God with feelings, emotions and a history. Truly partnering with God is of course going and doing, but we are also called to gather together on a regular basis.  How can we find time to worship, confess, grow, learn, and listen if we do not gather with people who are like minded and who are striving to become a people who are sanctified through Jesus Christ if we don't meet. 

    Any time we are in covenant with God and other people we have to have thick skin and a soft heart.  What I mean by this that we can not be easily offended by everything that comes our way.  Anytime when we deal with other people, there is a good chance of something stupid will be said and or done.  We have to know what is truly offensible and what we need to let roll off of our back, hence the think skin.  When we are in a covenant with God and others we can not be so hardened that we can not hear the truth and being to take it in and use it to change.  Having that sensitive heart allows us to be more open to Gods leading and knowing where to go, what to say along with when and how do these things.  When our heart is hard and we do these things, we can come across as a jerk and most of the time we are. 

  My last thoughts is that covenants are hard, because it requires sacrifice and a reminder that we do not have it all together, not matter how hard we try.  This is why contracts and more so covenants that God needs to be involved, because contracts have the here and now in mind, covenants may have the here and now aspect, but it also as the eternal perspective that is kept in focus.