Covenants and Contracts
Sermon March 3rd, 2024
Sermon March 3rd, 2024
Covenants and Contracts
Exodus 20:1-17
Ah yes, we are back with our favorite passage again, the 10 Commandments. We explored this passage a couple of months ago, but we are going to look at this passage in a different light - through the lens of covenants and contracts.
So, let’s start with a pop quiz! Yes, friends, the dreaded pop quiz. Let’s think about the past week, the past year, and your entire life and see if you have failed at keeping any of the 10 commandments. I’ll give you a moment to think…
We all fail, perhaps daily, to keep these commandments. We are destined to fail; it is inevitable, part of our human fabric. This reminds me of a quote from my favorite movie, Apollo 13: “Failure is not an option.” They were talking about getting the 3 astronauts back to Earth without incident after the service module exploded; this does not really apply.
It is okay to fail. When we fail, we learn. We pick ourselves back up and dust ourselves off and keep going. And when we fail, especially at keeping the commandments all the time every day, God promises to deliver us, to provide for us, to be our Lord and Savior. In return, all God asks of us is to follow the commandments. Yet, we struggle to keep our end of the contract. So what does God do? God makes a covenant with us, a covenant with ways for us to live our best lives and to live as God intended.
Contracts and covenants are vastly different things. Contracts are formalized agreements based on mutual assent. We think of employment situations, business agreements, etc… In a contract, each side gives as much as necessary, and in the end, a mutual goal is achieved. One of the parties is the primary beneficiary of the contract. The rules of bargaining govern contracts. Contracts are often transactional, focusing on the exchange of goods, services, or obligations. They are often legally binding agreements. While contracts and covenants are different, they do inform each other.
Covenants, on the other hand, are a deep, soul-level connection that binds one to the other. Covenants are built on trust, loyalty, and mutual respect. In the sacred covenant God has made with us, the 10 commandments are the terms of it. They are not arbitrary rules but expressions of love and gratitude within the covenant. Today, we are bound by a covenant that God established through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Later, when we share the communion meal, we will be reminded that the cup we share is the blood of the new covenant God has created and sealed.
In making the covenant with us through the 10 Commandments, God expects us to love and obey, to advance God’s will, and to care for each other, but our failure to do so, our mistakes and inabilities, does not affect God’s commitment to us. God knew exactly what God was doing when creating a covenant with us. God knows that we are imperfect; it is understood. However, love and grace endure through God.
Let us look at how God’s covenant works through us in our lives. Our understanding of keeping promises, acting with integrity, and honoring commitments flows from our understanding of the covenant with God. We are reminded that these commandments are guidelines for living in alignment with God’s will and purposes–which we, in turn, live out by keeping our promises and honoring commitments. We honor our parents, which shows the importance of family and community in our lives. It reminds us of our interconnectedness and our responsibility to care for one another as God cares for us.
We should be reminded that the core of our actions should stem from love, not just duty. In Bible Study this week, a member brought up the book Savannah Guthrie wrote and is on tour promoting, called Mostly What God Does. In her book, Guthrie tells us that everything should boil down to loving one another. If we do all things in love, the world would be different. We could change how we see one another, even heal the hurts that divide us. As the Apostle Paul says, “Love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that love is the greatest. Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love one another. The 10 commandments are all signs of God’s love for us and how God wants us to live in the world as faithful people.
As we live our lives, may we strive to be individuals bound not just by legal agreements but by the unbreakable bond of love and covenant. We are to approach relationships with the same commitment and faithfulness God shows us and demonstrates in God’s covenant with us. When we do that, we create bonds that are unbreakable and enduring. Contracts are transactional and usually benefit one side over the other. Covenants are deep, enduring connections that bind one to the other through love.
We may fail at times, but the beauty of the covenant God made with us is that we are forgiven through God’s grace and God’s love of us. As we go out into the world this week, continuing in our individual Lenten journeys, let us remember the covenants God has made with us and the covenants we make with one another. Let us look at our relationships and see where we can create deeper, unbreakable bonds with one another, including our relationship with God. It is not a contractual obligation but a covenantal bond between ourselves and God. May we remember this always.
To God be the glory this day and always. Amen.