The Church: the Community of God’s Covenant People
Anwar Sawaya
1. Introduction:
As I began to prepare for this message about the church, I started to think back about my childhood view of the church. I have to admit that my view of the church was neither accurate nor flattering. For starters, I used to think that the church was a building, a place where people got together once a week, on Sunday, to fulfill a religious ritual that was passed down by old fashioned people who died a long time ago. Now up to the age of around twelve, I attended church regularly, of course, not by choice but because I was forced to. I remember how sitting through a church service was absolute torture for me, especially when half of it was done in Latin. The church, I thought, had nothing to do with real life nor did it have any influence on my life, so why should I continue to go. By the time I turned 14 I stopped going to church services altogether with the exception of some holidays such as Christmas and Easter. Unfortunately, there has been, and are today millions of people around the world who view the church in the exact same manner. And there are millions of others who maybe have a different view of the church yet equally erroneous. Many look at the church as simply a social club in which one can fulfill some social needs. Others see the church as a fertile ground for networking, a place where you can establish good contacts and thus grow your business. Yet others may see it as a safe place to find a good wife. And the list goes on and on. There are many factors that contribute to us viewing the church in such a way, but for me, the main factors were the lack of knowledge, teaching and understanding and most importantly demonstration of what the church is really supposed to be.
So, what is the church? First, it is important for us to understand what the church is from God’s perspective and not from our own. As I was thinking, praying and meditating on some passages of scripture in preparation for this message, a few key words came to mind. It is those words, which compromise the title of my message, that to me, capture the essence of what the church is. Those words are: “The Community of God’s Covenant People.” So we are going to spend some time this morning looking at what exactly that means.
2. Community of God’s Covenant People:
It is critical for us, if we are to understand what the church is, to look at the concept of biblical covenants. Now I know Pastor Cam has been talking in his series on Exodus about the structure of the Mosaic Covenant which is helpful in understanding biblical covenants in general. But I’d like to take it a little further this morning and talk about the five point structure that is common to all the covenants that God has established with his people, starting from the covenant with Adam, and ending with the New Covenant in Christ that we enjoy today. My hope is that as we look at the structure of the covenants, we will have a better understanding and appreciation of what it means to be God’s Covenant People.
1. True Transcendence: many theologians have pointed out that biblical covenants usually start with some kind of declaration about the transcendence of God. Biblical transcendence means that there is a fundamental distinction or difference between God and man, the Creator and the creation. First, unlike pagan teachings, the Bible teaches that God and man do not share the same nature. God’s nature is superior to man’s and therefore is distinct from man. Second, God, throughout the scripture, declares himself to be the Creator of all things, and therefore he is the LORD and Ruler of all his creation. He describes himself as the King of kings and Lord of lords; the Ruler of all the nations; the Alpha & the Omega; the beginning and the end; the eternal, all powerful, all knowing, sovereign Lord of the Universe. I submit to you that no such description is attributed to man, except the God/Man Jesus Christ. However, although God is distinct from his creation, he is not distant from it. God is a personal and relational God who loves his creation and longs to connect with it, especially the crown of His creation, MAN. The way God has chosen to relate to man, both before and after the fall, is on the basis of covenant, or in modern terms, binding agreements.
2. Hierarchy: When God establishes a covenant, he appoints leaders, to serve and rule on His behalf within that covenant structure. God is the one who defines the leadership positions to serve his people as well as calls the right people to fill those positions. For example in 1Corinthians 12:28 Paul says: 28And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 1Corinthians 12:28
3. Ethics: Not only does God initiate the covenant but he sets the ethical terms & conditions of that covenant. Because of His transcendence, God is the one who dictates the terms under which man can enter into a relationship with Him. For example in the gospel of John Jesus declared: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know£ my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” In this passage God is proclaiming that the terms by which a person must enter into a covenant relationship with Him is through trusting and embracing his son Jesus Christ.
God also sets the terms in which his covenant people can relate to Him and to each other. These terms are the standard of the covenant. Mathew 28:18 thru 20 reads:18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in£ the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Notice that in verse 20, Jesus commanded his disciples to teach their disciples to obey all that He commanded them to do. In other words, the terms of the covenant must be obeyed.
4. Sanctions: God takes his standard or law very seriously to the extent that he does attach consequences for both obedience and disobedience to the terms of the covenant. If His covenant people obey the terms of the covenant, then they are promised positive consequences and if not, then they are promised negative ones. I call Deutoronomy 28 the blessing and the curse chapter. In verses 1 & 2 we read this: 1If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God, Then from verse 3 to 14 it goes on to list the blessings that God will bestow upon them because of their obedience. Verse 15 then states: 15However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. The scary part is that you have then from verse 16 till the end of the chapter, verse 58 a long list of curses. Lest we think this is just an Old Covenant thing, listen to what Galatians 6:7 says7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature£ will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let me give you a word of caution here; Both positive and negative sanctions do not always come immediately, but be sure of this, THEY WILL COME. This should both encourage us and put the fear of God in our hearts. This will encourage us when we try to live our lives in accordance to the terms of the Covenant, and yet cannot tangibly sense the blessing of God. Galatians 6:9 tells us: 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Take heart, God’s promises will never fail and his blessings will come. On the other hand it will put the fear of God in our hearts, in that although we might not be recipients of God’s discipline right away when we are disobedient, we know it will come. That promise hopefully will lead us to repentance and obedience to his Word.
5. Continuity: God is not only concerned with the present but also with the future. As we read a moment ago in Mathew 28 Jesus said Go make disciples of all nations. This command is not limited to just Jesus’s own disciples, but is extended to all disciples in every generation until he comes back. And that includes us. So what Jesus is asking us to do is to go out into the world and extend an invitation to all people to come and enter into a covenant relationship with God. And that includes our kids and the next generation. God’s covenant love and his purposes extend from generation to generation.
Now that we’ve looked at the five points of covenants, let’s turn our attention to the concept of community.
When the Bible mentions the church it does so in two ways: one is to describe the church as the universal church, in other words the covenant people of God in all times, in all places, and even the ones who have faithfully departed this life. When we enter into a covenant relationship with God in Christ, we automatically become part of the universal invisible church of the past, present and the future. An example is found in Mathew 16:18 where Jesus said: 18And I tell you that you are Peter,£ and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades£ will not overcome it. Jesus uses the church here to describe the universal, invisible church that transcends time and space.
Two, it describes the church as the visible, local church that is the expression of the universal invisible church. Romans 16:5 states 5Greet also the church that meets at their house. Here Paul is sending a greeting to the local church that meets at Priscilla£ and Aquila’s house. At that local level the church is the community of God’s Covenant people. The emphasis here is that the church is not a mere collection of isolated individuals, but it has a corporate or communal nature which is absolutely essential to its being. Again, when we enter into a covenant relationship with God and become part of the invisible church, God puts a strong desire in our hearts to become part of the visible and local community of God’s covenant people which we simply call the local church.
The characteristics of community living:
Covenant community is best defined by its characteristic found in the passage that was read earlier in the Acts chapter 2. I’d like to read again verses 42 thru 47. 42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. In those verses, I believe that 4 characteristics of community are highlighted:
1. The church devoted herself to the Apostles teaching. I can just imagine the church sitting at the feet of the Apostles and hanging on their every word. See, it was the Apostles who first sat at Jesus’ feet cleaving steadfastly to Him and listening intently to His words. Now it was their turn to impart to the people that which was imparted to them. What did the Apostle teach the church? They taught them about the Lord, His Word, which is the book of the covenant, and how to apply it to their lives. Why did they devote themselves to the Apostles teachings? I believe because they understood deeply the concept of Covenant living. They understood that the author of the covenant is also the regulator of the covenant and He is the one who issues the terms, laws and standards of the Covenant, as I have already mentioned before. So, to God’s Covenant people, the Word of God is the foundation of all of life. Jesus said in Mathew 4 that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Without the Word there is no faith, because faith comes from hearing and hearing the Word of God. Without the Word, there is no true knowledge, no true wisdom, no true understanding, no rules of Holy Living both in relating to God and to one another, no weapons of spiritual warfare and the list goes on and on. They took the Word seriously and devoted themselves to learning it and applying it in their lives. How serious are we, church, about the Word of God. How devoted are we to it. How much time do we spend per week, both individually and corporately in the Word. How much do we challenge each other to listen to the Apostle’s teaching and to apply it in our lives. I have to confess to you personally, not enough. I have to confess that the Word is not high enough on my agenda or priority list. I have no problem fattening myself physically with food, but I often starve myself of Spiritual food. Brothers & sisters we must imitate the early church in our devotion to God’s Word.
2. The church devoted herself to Fellowship: This early church understood that at the heart of community living is Koinania the Greek word for fellowship. So they also devoted themselves to it. Fellowship, in the scriptures is defined as sharing our lives together. True fellowship gets below the surface, it is not superficial. It is being involved in each others lives, helping, encouraging, challenging, forgiving, teaching one another and praying for one another. In Acts 2:44 we are told 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Remember that at the time there was a famine in Jerusalem, so the church there had no problem in pulling all their resources together and helping each other out. Romans 12: 15 says: 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. A Couple of years ago I went through some really tough times both physically and emotionally; brothers and sisters I can tell you that I would have not made it without my family and the community of God’s people. I remember going to the family retreat that year, and I pretty much spent my time in bed in the hotel room. And I was struggling, really struggling and Pastor Cam walked into the room. I remember looking at him and it was like looking at Jesus. I broke down and started to sob uncontrollably . Pastor Cam came around, put his arms around me and began to mourn with me, minister to me and pray for me. That is fellowship. I believe that there are three main keys to Godly fellowship:
First key is Godly, sacrificial love for one another. The following verses from 1John 3 say it all. Those are verses 16-19: 16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
Second key is faithfulness to one another. Faithfulness, I believe has two components to it. One component is to make a commitment to follow God’s commands in relating to one another. Our relationships tend to be stronger when we do it God’s way. Brothers and sisters, we have the tendency to mess things up when we think that we know better than God. The second component of faithfulness is loyalty to one another. Loyalty means that we persevere in our relationship with one another thru the trials and tribulations of life. We neither quit nor abandon each other. It is horrifying to me, and I believe it would’ve been to the early church, on how easily sometimes we break fellowship with one another or with the community of God’s people. Loyalty is essential to true fellowship.
3. To the breaking of bread: I heard once someone saying jokingly that Christians love to eat, well I would like to say that Christians love to eat together. There is something covenantal about sharing a meal together. In the scriptures, we see that after covenants are cut, there often are celebrations that involve meals. Even in today’s world, and in most cultures, when a man and a woman enter into a marriage covenant, a celebratory meal usually follows for all to share. Well, I am not going to spend too much time on this because I think we do a good job at it as a church, as evident by this (point to the tummy).
4. To Prayer: Prayer is that sweet fellowship that we enjoy with our Lord as we communicate with him and pour our hearts out to Him. Prayer is the acknowledgment of our need for the Lord and our utter dependence upon him. I believe that Prayer is the catalyst that unleashes the power of God in our lives both individually and corporately. It is through prayer that we invite God to work in us and through us. Without prayer, we are useless to God in terms of accomplishing his purposes, because when we are prayer-less we are powerless. The early church understood the power of prayer and they devoted their lives to it. The results were amazing as, by the admission of their opponents, they turned the world upside down for Christ.
Jude 1:20 states 20But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. In Thessolonians we are told to pray continually. My pastor in the U.S. used to say that the Christian life is not difficult, it is impossible without the power and grace of God. One of the ways that we appropriate God’s grace in our lives is thru prayer.
Back in May of 1986, while I was a student at the University of Dayton in Dayton Ohio, USA, I was invited to a church service at a Bible believing church. It had been years at that time since I last attended a church service. As I walked into the building, I sensed something different from what I was used to. At that service I experienced a vibrant community life that I had not been exposed to previously in church. People were sincerely worshiping the Lord and not just going through the motions. There were prayers, reading and preaching the Word of God. After the service people did not just bolt out of the doors of the church building but they were actually talking and inviting each other to their homes. People even approached me and started talking to me. They were truly interested to know more about me. That sense of community grabbed my attention and kept me coming back to that church. Three months later I submitted my life to Christ as Savior & Lord. Today I cannot imagine myself not being part of the community of God’s covenant people.
Brothers and sisters there is a dying world out there, a world full of hatred, divisions and wars. We have an opportunity, in this place, to be a beacon of Godly light and hope to such a world. Therefore, let us strive, in His power, to be a true community of God’s Covenant people.