Day 15 ( covenant)

Had my church leaders round for lunch yesterday.  They have three children under five so it wasn't exactly the ideal time to have a deep and meaningful - it was more a ' getting to know you' time.  But of course we did touch on a few spiritual things.  One of which was covenant.

Surprisingly Wikipedia offers quite a helpful definition of what a Biblical covenant is.

1. First, a covenant defined (or sometimes created) a relationship. This relationship might be between a king and his vassal states, between a deity and his nation, between two humans, etc.

2. Some covenants are conditional (if one party does A, then the other party will do B), just as with a present-day contract. But generally, ancient covenants are unconditional (each party commits to a certain action, regardless of whether the other party keeps the covenant). ^[1] [2]

3. Covenants often included the slaughter of animals as a symbol of their significance.

4. Unlike present-day contracts, covenants often carried no expiration date. Thus the parties were understood to be bound by the covenant until death (or forever, in the case of covenants with God).

5. A contract is enforced by the civil government; a covenant is regulated by God.

6. A contract involves the exchange of property or actions; a covenant binds two parties together personally. ^[3]

The thing which really stands out to me in that list is the fact that God's covenants with us are unconditional.  That the promises He makes are not contingent on us keeping our side of the bargain - which is amazing isn't it?    When God killed an animal to give Adam and Eve a covering He was shedding blood for the forgiveness of their sins - despite the fact that he knew they would go on to sin again.  And again.  And again.   When Jesus came to earth as a baby to shed His blood as the ultimate and final sacrifice He kept His side of the bargain regardless of how we were going to respond.  I'm pretty sure that this is one place where our God has one over on other religions.  He takes the initiative and puts in place a rescue plan before we have even made a move towards Him.  He doesn't require us to fulfil a list of conditions before He throws the lifeline.   We don't have to pray in a certain way or follow a set of religious rules, or go to some sacred place.  Isn't that just the most fantastic good news.  That even whilst we were still in our sin Christ died for us ( Rom 5:8) ?

God has cut us a deal - and in this deal He pays all the expenses and we get all the benefits.  Why aren't people flocking to the church and knocking down the doors to get in saying  ' give us what you have got'  ?   Seriously.  Why aren't they?   It doesnt make sense.   If you stood outside Tesco and told people that you were paying off their mortgage for them, all they had to do was sign up......   would they do it?   I wonder.  I wonder if people would think it was ' too good to be true'.  These days people are not good at receiving  and they have an inherent mistrust of being scammed.   But thats no excuse for us not standing there and telling them anyway.

Come on church.  We have great, brilliant, fantastic, life saving, life changing news to give to the world.  A FREE gift to give people this Christmas.   Let's not waste any opportunity just to tell it like it is.  God loves the world. He has paid the price. It is for you and it is free.  Come and get it!