In reading Chapter 1 and 2 of the book Worship Old and New by Robert Webber, God was speaking to me throughout the chapters. Specifically in the nature of covenant. It may just be that I have been reading many other things on covenants, but I really like what Webber has arranged in this book on worship.
Covenant's are essentially an agreement between two parties. Okay, that sounds nice. It has a legal feel to it. Well, what if we go deeper. Covenant's establish relationships. Both parties, or people agree to something and this forms a covenant relationship between them. Now we have something that I can relate to. We have a relationship with God. Good, now that we already know and understand that let's move further.
Israel had a covenant with God. They assembled at the foot of Mt. Sinai and established a covenant with God. Moving on from that point in the story, I find an interesting thing when it came to Israel and covenant worship. Israel maintained their identity as the people of God and their relationship to God by worshipping Him. They maintained their covenant relationship with God by worshipping Him. That in itself was a kairos moment for me. That means I maintain my relationship with God in my worship to Him. This has a downside for me, the church and Israel. When we forget our covenant and worship idols, we forfeit our worship to God. It is lost just as we are when we forget who God is. But we can renew our relationship and our worship will once again be new.
We will continue to fail, because of our sinful nature. We can not maintain a covenant relationship with God. Jesus came to do what we could not do. He made a way to establish that covenant between us and God. No man could do that. It is only through Christ that we can live.
Lastly I want to touch on another thing that this chapter has taught me. God initiates our worship. And then we respond to it. I always seem to forget that response portion of worship. It goes hand in hand. We respond by remembering, anticipating, celebrating, and serving.
Matt
