"Covenant and Kingdom" a reflection by Pastor Welty

This Fall we have been looking at the ideas of covenant and kingdom in the Bible. These ideas come from a book by Mike Breen by the same name and provide a very helpful foundation to our understanding of who we are in Christ.   We looked at a number of Biblical characters to see how those two dynamics played out in their lives.    

Covenant means that God wants to have a relationship with us, which is why He sent Jesus to die to make that possible.  God created us to be in a relationship with Him, but our selfish choices or sin interfered with that.  Jesus died to redeem us and reconcile us to the Father.  We need not further evidence of God's love and tenacious desire for us than the cross of Jesus Christ.

Kingdom means that we have responsibilities as children of God to represent God in our world and influence our world for His  Kingdom.  We are to be salt and light in this world and bring God's Kingdom to bear in our lost and confused world. 

These same ideas are described by words like invitation and challenge.  God invites us to have a covenant relationship with Him and then challenges us to make a kingdom difference in our world.   Jesus got even more basic using words like "come" and "go".  He invited people to follow Him but then sent them into the world to bring Kingdom impact.

Balance between these two ideas is needed.

If we are only focused on our covenant relationship with God, we can begin to feel like a "cozy consumer".  We approach our faith with a "what's in it for me" mentality.  When we're only focused on covenant we may be tempted to  see God as a loving, doting grandfather who indulges His children at every turn.

The other extreme is being too focused on our Kingdom responsibilities.  When we do this we feel the stress and pressure to serve God.  We grit our teeth and try to serve God in our own strength.  Consequently we find no joy in it; rather it feels like an obligation.  We frenetically run from one task to the next and end up empty instead of full. All the while we hope that God notices our efforts and is pleased with us.

Balance is important between covenant and kingdom and covenant must precede kingdom, or we will try to please God in our own strength and will end up weary and perhaps even resentful.  It's important to sit with the idea that we are loved by God and cherished by Him, but it can't end there.

While it is important to know that we are loved by God,  it's also important to realize that He wants us to make a difference in our world for His Kingdom.  But he doesn't want us to try to make a difference without him, so He gives us His Holy Spirit to remind us that we are His children and to empower us to serve Him.

My hope is that  as you read God's word, you will see how these two ideas are often part of the Biblical narrative.  I also hope that you will take time to ponder these concepts in your own life.  May God help us to be people of the covenant and the kingdom.  If you would like to chat with me about this, please reach out to me.  I'd love to talk and pray with you about this.