John and Kathy Deisher

One Call, One Harvest, 50 Teams

covenant

Covenant Relationship

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"So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and  peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts." Malachi 2:4-7 ESV

It can be interesting to lead people as a pastor. Sometimes so interesting that we get caught up in the day-to-day activities of sermon prep, administration, counseling, etc., and lose track that we serve God in a covenant of life, a covenant of peace, a covenant of wonder, and holy fear. We can lose sight of the fact that we stand in awe of the very name of God, the covenant creator, and forget our fellowship with Him.

Out of that covenant relationship, we learn how to instruct in God’s truth as we walk with Him in peace and uprightness as we serve as His messenger.

The covenant relationship comes first. The instruction comes out of that relationship. And then it repeats. Constantly. Continually.

Seek God first. Everything else will be added.

Monday Musings – Covenants & Communion

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2 Kings 4:17 And Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people, that they should be the LORD’s people, and also between the king and the people. (ESV)

Joash was seven years old when he began to rule Judah. He was in no position to know how to rule. What seven-year-old is ready for that responsibility? So Jehoiada the priest stood in a position to help Joash learn how to lead, and he did so by starting with covenants.

That’s what priests did in the Old Testament. They worked in the world of covenants.

A covenant is “an agreement between two contracting parties, originally sealed with blood; a bond, or a law; a permanent religious dispensation. (COVENANT – JewishEncyclopedia.com)

As leaders living out our faith in Christ, we also work in the world of covenants.

Covenants are not communication.

Covenants are communion.

The task of living out God’s covenant given to us through Jesus Christ is not communication but communion — “the healing and restoration and creation of love relationships between God and his fighting children and our fought-over creation.” (The Contemplative Pastor, Eugene Peterson). It is loving God and loving others.

What are some of the ways we keep covenant before people?

As men and women of the covenant, we teach how to be the Lord’s people.

We remind people of not only God’s obligation in the covenant but our obligations as well.

We help identify the idols, the strongholds in life that need to be torn down.

We live in communion

— Photo by Robert Lukeman on Unsplash