A public commitment to Jesus Christ and His Body, the Church
As I was looking over a church’s “membership” questions a few years ago, my heart sank in sorrow and, honestly, disgust. It was as if they were asking you to join a community clubhouse. There was no spiritual substance whatsoever to their questions. I wrote down what I thought they should be asking and put it to the side. A few weeks later I went back and put together what I believed to be true concerning the Lord’s requirements for joining His church. Using the scribbled notes, I wrote the questions as wedding vows that could literally be answered “I do.”
The heavenly Bridegroom is asking mankind to enter into His marriage covenant per His terms. Many within our nation have forgotten the One with whom they are betrothed. In particular, the church in America needs to repent and renew their “marriage vows” with the Lord before it’s too late. While our Bridegroom’s return has delayed we have fallen asleep (Matthew 25:1-13). Those with oil in their lamps will enter into the wedding feast. They have kept their hearts ready through obedience.
When I perform a marriage ceremony, I always explain the difference between contract and covenant. There is an enormous difference between the two. The word “contract” always implies limited commitment, covenant unlimited commitment. I tell the couple the Bible teaches that marriage is to be a permanent relationship between one man and one woman, freely and totally committed to each other as companions for life. It’s to be a covenant relationship patterned after God's covenant relationship with His people. The problem is our western lack of understanding concerning the meaning of covenant. We treat it like a contract that is self-serving and comes with limited liability.
Covenant is a word almost never heard in American life today. To the Christian it speaks of a commitment to Christ and to one another which is deeper and more demanding than most of us understand, or maybe willing to make. Within the Scriptures, when someone entered into a covenant, it was a sacred, serious, final, and irrevocable commitment. Commitment is the key. The broken marriages within the church are a reflection of our half-hearted commitment to Jesus Christ.
A fellowship partner with Jesus Christ is one who has been willingly joined together with Him through repentance. In this new relationship, established by the blood of Jesus, you have entered into an everlasting covenant that also includes His Body, the church. The term “fellowship partner” is derived from the Greek word “koinania” which means; “fellowship, partnership, association, community, communion, joint participation, (social) intercourse, the share which one has in anything, intimacy.” The internal relationship with Christ is expressed through our external relationships within His Body, the church. Our public treatment of one another is visible evidence of our private life with Christ.
Profaning The Covenant
What does it mean to profane the covenant of God? Malachi 2:10 says, "Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?” To be in covenant with God also means that you are in covenant with every other believer. It is a dual covenant, both vertical with God, and horizontal with one another. You cannot separate the two. You cannot separate the Body (believers) from the Head (Jesus). How we treat one another, we treat Christ.
This was the indictment of the Lord against the priests in Malachi. Because of the ungodly way they were treating each other, they were profaning the covenant of the Lord that started with their patriarchal fathers. So do we when we do not put into practice the “one-another” commandments of the Lord (see “The One Another’s” listed below). The Hebrew word interpreted “profane” means, “to defile, to pollute, to desecrate, to break one’s word, to dissolve”. A lack of repentance can actually dissolve the covenant! The covenantal blessings or curses that flow to others around us are all dependent upon the obedience, or disobedience of His children. That is the weightiness, the extreme seriousness, of remaining faithful to the covenant we have entered into with Almighty God. As the church goes, so goes the world. That is a historical fact.
One of the meanings for the word “profane” is “to bore through, to wound, to pierce”. To profane the covenant of God is to wound or pierce His Son, Jesus Christ. When we mistreat another brother or sister with whom we are in covenant, we wound the Lord. The sin of “Body-piercing” is regularly being practiced within Christianity today. What we do to one another, we do to Jesus. We are one Body. We are in danger of profaning His covenant with us when we in the Body mistreat one another.
The way we walk out, or manifest the horizontal aspect of the covenant, reveals to everyone, including ourselves, the true commitment of our vertical commitment to the Lord. It is God’s litmus test before men, proving our commitment to Himself. The way we treat one another in public is the proof of how we treat Jesus in private. A half-hearted commitment to one another is due to a half-hearted commitment to the Lord.
The vertical and horizontal aspects of the covenant between God and man are embodied within Matthew 22:36-40. A Pharisee asked Jesus, “’Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind (the “vertical” covenant). This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself (the “horizontal” covenant). On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’”
The Vows Of Those In Covenant With Jesus Christ
I believe that the Lord is calling His people within our nation to remember from where we have fallen, repent, and renew our vows, or should I say, renew our covenant with Him. His judgment over this land draws near. We have turned our back on the One who gave us birth. The protective covering of his “King-dome” over you is gained through repentance.
Our land has been under a covenantal relationship with the Lord since its conception. The Mayflower Compact was the first. They clearly stated our national purpose; “For the glory of God and the advancement of the gospel.” This covenantal purpose was acknowledged and publicly entered into by further generations throughout our history. I believe that it is our turn.
The Lord is once again revealing His plan for America, reminding us of our part in the chain of Christianity around the globe. Satan has tried to erase the providential past from our history. It is our responsibility to stir up our children by way of reminder. In this dark hour we must help them see and understand the Christian history of our nation. I have written much on this subject in a book entitled “Profaning The Covenant; Defiling God’s Covenant With America.”
One month after the Battle of Lexington in 1775, the Rev. Samuel Langdon, who was President of Harvard, preached to the leaders of Massachusetts. He called them to repentance, as well as action in faith to set up their banners and fight in the name of the Lord. Langdon then personally led them to the heights of Bunker Hill to prepare for that historic battle.
On June 20, 1775, he recorded in his diary the scene within his congregation the day before he left to be a chaplain in the American army. He describes the solemn atmosphere of the meeting, the people knowing the battle that lie before them. He spoke of a “Deacon S.” who stood up and declared, “Brethren, our minister has acted right. This is God’s cause; and as in days of old the priests bore the ark into the midst of the battle, so must they do it now. We should be unworthy of the fathers and mothers who landed on Plymouth Rock, if we do not cheerfully bear what Providence shall put upon us in the great conflict now before us.”
There is a great conflict before us also. The troops of darkness have aligned themselves opposite us, fortifying their positions through lies and deceptions. We must put on the armor of light that comes through application of the truth, cheerfully bearing what Providence has put upon us as well. The Lord will lead His faithful children in victory. Who will deny himself, take up his cross and follow Jesus? The power of God will be released through his sanctified vessels of honor, establishing His kingdom on the face of this earth forever. We must answer the call. As Paul told the church in Rome; “be wise in what is good, and innocent in what is evil. And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Amen.
These are the vows placed upon my heart concerning the general conditions of the Lord’s covenant. They need to be studied first to understand the terms of following Jesus. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the will of the Lord within a person. My prayer is that you take what I believe I have received from the Lord and use it for His glory. A vow should never be taken lightly. Otherwise, this will become another useless ritual of man. This should be entered into with reverence for the Lord, understanding the price He paid on the cross for our sin. May God bless you as you turn your eyes upon Jesus and prepare for war.
The Vertical Covenant (With Jesus Christ)
1. Do you believe that salvation and forgiveness of sins comes through belief in Jesus Christ as the Son Of God, and that you have received that salvation through repentance? (John 3:16; Acts 4:12)
2. Do you understand that by entering into this covenant you are entering into a sacred, serious, final and irrevocable commitment to Jesus Christ and His Body, the Church? (Hebrews 7:22; 8:6-7, 9:16-17)
3. Do you agree, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, to no longer live for yourself, but rather to deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Him? (Math. 10:37-39, 16:24-27; Mark 8:34-38; Luke 9:23-26; 2 Cor. 5:15)
4. Do you agree in this covenantal relationship to submit to the Lordship (His dominion/government over you) of Jesus Christ, who as your heavenly Bridegroom purchased you with His blood? (Acts 2:36, 20:28; 1 Peter 1:17-19)
5. Do you understand that entering into this covenant gives your heavenly Father the right to lovingly discipline and scourge you as necessary so that you may share in His holiness? (Hebrews 12:4-11)
The Horizontal Covenant (With One Another)
6. Do you understand that those who have a covenant relationship with God also have a covenant relationship with each other and are therefore commanded to behave in certain ways toward one another (see partial list below)?
(1 John 1:3, 6-7, 2:9-11; Phil. 2:1-7)
7. Do you understand that in this covenantal relationship you become your “brother’s keeper” (Genesis 4:9) out of love for the Lord and His Body, the Church, submitting to one another (church discipline) in the fear of the Lord, thereby maintaining purity and health in our midst? (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 5; Hebrews 12:12-13; 2 Thess. 3:14-15)
8. Do you understand that how we treat one another, we treat Jesus because of the covenantal connection that joins the two? Do you also understand that when you act treacherously (deceitfully, faithlessly) against your brother or sister in Christ that you sin against the Body and profane the covenant in Christ, cursing the covenantal blessings that bring the life of Christ to you, the brethren, and the world? (Malachi 2:1-10; 1 Corinthians 6, 11:29)
The One Another’s
All who have entered into the New Covenant in Christ are required to behave in certain ways toward one another. This isn’t a complete list of all the mutual obligations of believers toward one another, but rather a general picture that helps us begin to understand our intended relationship designed by God. It is to be worked out in love within the community of the brethren through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
➢ Wash one another's feet; a servant's attitude (John 13:14)
➢ Love one another (John 13:34, 1 John 3:16-18)
➢ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love (Romans 12:10)
➢ Build up one another (Romans 14:19)
➢ Accept one another (Romans 15:7)
➢ Admonish one another (Romans 15:14)
➢ Greet one another (Romans 16:16)
➢ Serve one another (Galatians 5:13)
➢ Bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2)
➢ Show forbearance to one another (Ephesians 4:2)
➢ Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32)
➢ Be subject to one another (Ephesians 5:21)
➢ Teach one another (Colossians 3:16)
➢ Comfort one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18)
➢ Encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13)
➢ Stimulate one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24)
➢ Confess our sins to one another (James 5:16)
➢ Pray for one another (James 5:16)
➢ Be hospitable to one another (1 Peter 4:9)
➢ Be clothed with humility toward one another (1 Peter 5:5)