Understanding the Church Covenant (Part 2)
The introduction to the church covenant we use at Fellowship reads as follows:
[1] Having been brought to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to give up ourselves to Him, and having been baptized upon our profession of faith, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, relying on His grace, solemnly and joyfully renew our covenant with each other.
There are three important things to note in this first paragraph:
First, the covenant is to be made by Christians only. You see Jesus’ words from the opening verses of Mark: this covenant is to be made by those who “repent and believe” in Jesus Christ (Mark 1:15). Everything that follows in this covenant is an expression of that first commitment we make - not to the local church but to Jesus, as we gave ourselves to him (Matthew 16:24-26).
Second, the covenant is to be made by baptized Christians. The church covenant begins with our commitment to Christ, and is fleshed out by our commitment to one of his churches. But in between those realities is the important recognition that we are making this covenant as those who have been baptized. It is in baptism that we declare both our allegiance to Jesus, and the congregation. It is in baptism that we visibly, publicly, step out of the world and into the church. And of course we do this in the trinitarian name.
Third, the covenant can only be kept with God’s help. Note the words “relying on His grace…” Any ability we have to fulfill the promises of this covenant is attributed to the work of the Holy Spirit, not to us. We should have no reason to be proud of spiritual success in our lives. God gets all the credit and all the glory.
[2] We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
This line is a quote from Ephesians 4:1-3. We’re called to work for unity because unity does not automatically happen on its own. Why not? Because even with the best of intentions, we are still a group of sinners in the middle of our sanctification, and when you bring sinners together, they naturally divide, nit-pick, and selfishly exalt their rights and preferences. So yes, we have to make effort toward unity - and if you are not chances are one of your relationships in the church not going so well right now.
We also pray for unity. I am curious - how often do you pray for this when you pray for our church? This can be a great check when inter-personal sin begins to swell up in your heart. Before you become resentful, before you gossip, before you attempt to slander that brother or sister, ask yourself if you have been praying that God would make our church united.
So, as members of this church we commit to praying for and working for unity. We commit to not talk behind each other’s backs, to forgive each other, to give each other the benefit of the doubt, to surrender our preferences and opinions for the good of others and the glory of Christ, to be careful with each other’s reputations. This means we take time to listen to each other and consider each other’s desires. And we do all of this as an expression of what is already going on in our private prayer lives: we ask God to unify our church and then we act on that prayer.
Next week, we will unpack the next couple of sections in our covenant.
[1] Having been brought to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to give up ourselves to Him, and having been baptized upon our profession of faith, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, relying on His grace, solemnly and joyfully renew our covenant with each other.
There are three important things to note in this first paragraph:
First, the covenant is to be made by Christians only. You see Jesus’ words from the opening verses of Mark: this covenant is to be made by those who “repent and believe” in Jesus Christ (Mark 1:15). Everything that follows in this covenant is an expression of that first commitment we make - not to the local church but to Jesus, as we gave ourselves to him (Matthew 16:24-26).
Second, the covenant is to be made by baptized Christians. The church covenant begins with our commitment to Christ, and is fleshed out by our commitment to one of his churches. But in between those realities is the important recognition that we are making this covenant as those who have been baptized. It is in baptism that we declare both our allegiance to Jesus, and the congregation. It is in baptism that we visibly, publicly, step out of the world and into the church. And of course we do this in the trinitarian name.
Third, the covenant can only be kept with God’s help. Note the words “relying on His grace…” Any ability we have to fulfill the promises of this covenant is attributed to the work of the Holy Spirit, not to us. We should have no reason to be proud of spiritual success in our lives. God gets all the credit and all the glory.
[2] We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
This line is a quote from Ephesians 4:1-3. We’re called to work for unity because unity does not automatically happen on its own. Why not? Because even with the best of intentions, we are still a group of sinners in the middle of our sanctification, and when you bring sinners together, they naturally divide, nit-pick, and selfishly exalt their rights and preferences. So yes, we have to make effort toward unity - and if you are not chances are one of your relationships in the church not going so well right now.
We also pray for unity. I am curious - how often do you pray for this when you pray for our church? This can be a great check when inter-personal sin begins to swell up in your heart. Before you become resentful, before you gossip, before you attempt to slander that brother or sister, ask yourself if you have been praying that God would make our church united.
So, as members of this church we commit to praying for and working for unity. We commit to not talk behind each other’s backs, to forgive each other, to give each other the benefit of the doubt, to surrender our preferences and opinions for the good of others and the glory of Christ, to be careful with each other’s reputations. This means we take time to listen to each other and consider each other’s desires. And we do all of this as an expression of what is already going on in our private prayer lives: we ask God to unify our church and then we act on that prayer.
Next week, we will unpack the next couple of sections in our covenant.
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