Sermon Reflection 10/9/16

What comes to mind when you hear the terms “Covenant Theology”? Maybe you have studied up on it. Maybe you have heard of it but only enough to generate more questions. Or maybe you have no clue what it’s all about. It seems to me Pastor Gene’s comment is right; the concept of covenant is mostly something Christians attach a question mark to. I know in my case covenant and covenant theology always seemed to pop up as I was a budding Christian, but like pulling a trout from the stream it proved difficult to get a firm grip. Part of this is possibly due to the fact that the idea of covenant itself can be a bit technical and intellectual. Often times conversations and books about covenant theology can tend to camp out in that intellectual realm and not make it back down to ground level where most of us operate. The topic of God’s love however seems to be something Christians are much more comfortable with and tend to camp out on. 

One of the things I really appreciated about Pastor Gene’s sermon introducing covenant theology was that he took the time to bring the concept of covenant back down to ground level and rightly connected it to the love of God. We cannot say we prefer talking about God’s love to talking about God’s covenants anymore. If we are to feel the force of the heighth, depth, and breadth of the Father’s love for us we must take seriously God’s revelation of himself in the Covenant of Redemption, what was lost in breaking the Covenant of Works, and what it cost for Christ to bring the Covenant of Grace to fullness. I think it is no accident that in the recovery of the Gospel that came from the Protestant Reformation there also came a renewed vigor and study of God’s revelation of himself in his Covenants. The relationship between the grace rich and Gospel centered theology of the reformers and their progeny and the development of the Covenant Theology of the Scriptures was so linked that one current theologian answers the question of what reformed theology is saying, “Reformed Theology is Covenant Theology.” I pray this series in Covenant Theology puts on display the love of God and rightly brings his own glory front and center as it did for our fathers in the faith.

-SFE