Worship as covenant renewal

The third commitment reads as follows:

We are committed to a biblically-shaped, God-prescribed, covenant renewal worship service (Deuteronomy 29-30).

Let's look at what that means and how it affects our daily lives.

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Biblically-shaped, God-prescribed

I won't belabor this point, but suffice it to say that every church is following some sort of set plan for their worship service. Even the most anti-structure churches have structure, they just don't want to admit it. Since this is true, and routine and structure is unavoidable, the only option is to ask ourselves, "Is the structure of our church's worship biblical and warranted by God?" Let's assume that God is pleased by us doing what he has commanded. Can we find examples of our preferred worship style in the bible, or is it simply our preference?

The New Testament is admittedly thin regarding the prescribed worship of the people of God, and that can lead us one of two ways. One direction to go is the one that says, "Since there isn't much commanded, that must mean we can basically do whatever we want." Even reading that aloud sounds wrong. The second direction is the one I am advocating for, which says, "If God doesn't say much in the New, that must mean he has said a lot in the Old." It's the same thing with parenting. There are only a handful of explicit commands for parents in regards to the way they should raise their children, and that isn't because God doesn't care about parenting in the New Covenant, but rather because he spoke about it ad nauseam in the Old Testament.

So when we approach worship, we want to be whole-bible people who draw on the overarching narrative of God's plan of redemption across the entirety of Scripture.

Covenant-renewal

After we have laid a foundation of being tied to Scripture in our worship, we move on to the idea of a covenant renewal service. In the Old Testament, God's people gathered corporately to renew covenant with their God. This wasn't redoing the covenant, but was reaffirming its truths in the people and to Yahweh. This repetitive and intentional approach to worship was done with a long-term view in mind. God wasn't looking for every single one of his people to have an emotional experience every time; he also wasn't looking for the stranger and sojourner to walk in and have some radical experience. No, what God wanted, and wants, was the long and slow process of having the experience of being called to him, being cleansed by him, being taught by him, being fed by him, and being sent out by him to become the reality of his people's daily experience of life. Let's look at each of those parts now, drawing on a large scale example from Deuteronomy 29-30.

God Calls Us

These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh commanded Moses to cut with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He had cut with them at Horeb. And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. Yet to this day Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am Yahweh your God. Then you came to this place, and Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we struck them down; and we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. So you shall keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. “You stand today, all of you, before Yahweh your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, that you may enter into the covenant with Yahweh your God and into His oath, which Yahweh your God is cutting with you today, in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

- Deuteronomy 29:1-13

The text begins with Moses standing before the people as the mouthpiece of God, a divinely chosen and called herald of the Lord's will. He summons Israel to Moab, and there he reiterates the reality of God's creation, sustaining, and subsequent blessing of the people. But do not miss the simple fact that it is God who calls the people, not the other way around. For mankind to try and strong-arm God into coming down and blessing them would be to make the same mistake that was made at Babel all over again. For the follower of Yahweh, as we are to this day, the worship we render to him is initiated by him.

God Cleanses Us

"Now not with you alone am I cutting this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of Yahweh our God and with those who are not with us here today— for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; moreover, you have seen their detestable things and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them— lest there be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. And it will be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to sweep away the watered land with the dry.’ Yahweh shall not be willing to pardon him, but rather the anger of Yahweh and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. Then Yahweh will separate him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of the law. “And the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, shall see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which Yahweh has afflicted it, and they will say, ‘All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and nothing sprouting, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ And all the nations will say, ‘Why has Yahweh done thus to this land? Why this great burning anger?’ Then men will say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which He cut with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not apportioned to them. Therefore, the anger of Yahweh was kindled against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; and Yahweh uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and He cast them into another land, as it is this day.’ “The secret things belong to Yahweh our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

- Deuteronomy 29:14-29

As the text continues, we see the people being called to recognize and be cleansed of their sin. All throughout the bible, we see the pattern of man recognize his own finitude and fallenness when he comes into the presence of the Holy One. Isaiah 6 shows this powerfully, where the prophet is brought into the throne room of heaven and is undone at the soul level. The first thing he notices is his own sinfulness, declaring, "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips" (Isa. 6:5). When we approach God, we are approaching one who is holy, set apart and other, and that holiness should cause us to see our lack of holiness, namely, our indwelling sin. Now, one danger is to see ourselves as worms and unworthy of being in God's presence, which is contrary to the declaration of our righteousness in Christ and our standing as sons and daughters of the Most High. But the Scriptures are also clear that we still sin, and that the proper way of dealing with it is confessing it (1 John 1:9). So as God's people who have been called into his presence, we must begin with being cleansed through confession.

“So it will be, when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you cause these things to return to your heart in all the nations where Yahweh your God has banished you, and you return to Yahweh your God and listen to His voice with all your heart and soul according to all that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, then Yahweh your God will return you from captivity and return His compassion on you, and He will gather you again from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you. If those of you who are banished are at the ends of the sky, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there He will take you back. And Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. “Moreover Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. And Yahweh your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. And you shall return and listen to the voice of Yahweh, and you shall do all His commandments which I am commanding you today. Then Yahweh your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for Yahweh will return to rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers, when you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, when you return to Yahweh your God with all your heart and soul.

- Deuteronomy 30:1-10

The confession is not merely of our sin, but is followed by a confession of what we believe about the one who cleansed us. This is where we proclaim the truths of our Father in heaven, the Son, and Holy Spirit. We incorporate one of the ancient creeds, most frequently the Nicene Creed, which is a declaration of the essential truths of God and the work of redemption in history. This is a vital piece of our confession, this declaration of what we believe regarding the Lord.

God Teaches Us

“For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far from you. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us and make us hear it, that we may do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and make us hear it, that we may do it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

- Deuteronomy 30:11-14

After we have been called and have confessed our sin and our faith, God instructs us from his Word. In the passage above, and much of the Old Testament, the people were instructed from the Lord through the mediation of a prophet or priest, standing in the place of God and speaking for him. In the new covenant we still have mediated teaching from God, but now it is the Holy Spirit speaking through the bible, brought forth by a qualified preacher who has been with God and is accurately handling the Word of Truth. We submit ourselves to the teaching of God, allowing the sword of the Spirit to disassemble our pre-understandings and opinions and reassemble us more into the image of Jesus.

God Feeds Us

“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and calamity; in that I am commanding you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not listen, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it.

- Deuteronomy 30:15-18

While not explicitly mentioned in the text above, the principle is there: after God's people have been called, cleansed, and consecrated, they are always fed and sustained by the grace of God in an ongoing way. For the people of Israel, this feeding was predominately seen in the Passover Feast, that annual reminder of the freedom and blessing found in Yahweh. For those of us who in the new covenant, ours is the Lord's Supper. It is this covenant meal that feeds and fuels us in an ongoing way as we partake of his body and blood. One of the ways that God has always kept his people from drifting into idolatry and eventual apostasy is by being the source of life that their souls crave. We see that in the Passover, and ultimately in communion.

God Sends Us Forth

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your seed, by loving Yahweh your God, by listening to His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

- Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Finally, we the people are commissioned by God to go forth into the world and live in a way that is shaped like this covenant renewal service. We are to rise everyday in the strength of the Lord, his voice calling us to life. We are to walk humbly throughout the day and confess our sins as often as we recognize it. We are to listen to the Spirit moment by moment, hearing his voice through the Scriptures we have read that day and conforming our thoughts and actions to it. And we are to be reminded of the grace we get to literally taste every week in the Supper, that spiritual food given to nourish us. All of this is part of how we go forth and live, being sent by God to go and live in a way that is counter-cultural, other-worldly, and eternally-impactful. It is he who sends us out and, according to the Great Commission, it is his authority that authorizes us to live this way publicly.

So as we worship this way, week after week, expect to be changed. Maybe not this week, or even the next, but over time your life will become Jesus shaped. How can we be sure? Because we take God at his Word.

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This series of articles is from our church's 8 Commitments. These are guiding declarations regarding faith and practice that shape how we do church, both now and in the future.