On Being a New Covenant Church

I was caught by surprise last Sunday when I saw that I was to lead us into partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Since I had been thinking about the church as a covenant community, I shared some thoughts about covenant-making in the Old Testament, (Dt. 5 & 7) as basis for our thinking as we drink the cup of which Jesus said in the New Testament, “This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt. 26:28). As I reflected on that revolutionary declaration by Jesus and our continuing act of drinking the cup, I came up with a practical proposal. What if we changed our historic call to be New Testament Christians and a New Testament church to being new Covenant Christians and a new Covenant church? Would it make any difference?

Here I must footnote my thinking. Stanley Grenz in Theology for the Community of God says, “Fundamentally, the church of Jesus Christ is neither a building nor an organization. Rather, it is a people, a special people who see themselves as standing in a relationship to the God who saves them and to each other as those who share in this salvation … the church is a people in covenant.”

That theology makes a difference in three ways: 1) The church is not just a voluntary collection of saved people. It is a saved people who have been called to participate in the mission and goal of God in this world. God gives and makes covenant. He saves a people and declares his covenant promise, “I will be your God and you shall be my people.” And the people say, “all that you say we will do.” 2) The church is an obedient, committed people. It is good to be people of the Book, to hear and obey Scripture. The church’s pledge is not just to a Book but to a God who speaks, to Jesus our Savior and to the Holy Spirit who reconciles and pours God’s love into our hearts. 3) The church is a saved people who covenant with each other to be the community of God in this world. Ahh, there is the rub. How do we do that in a self-centered world? We must! The church is a 3-C church: Conversion leads to Commitment leads to Community. Yes, let us be and become a new covenant church.

—Tom Yoakum