# Worship is Covenantal



## Romans922 (Jun 4, 2011)

Is Worship Covenantal?

Or what would your thoughts be if you went to a church website and it had the following: 



> *Worship is Covenantal*
> 
> The two most important concepts for understanding what worship entails are covenant and sacrifice. Though Christianity is often described as “a personal relationship with Jesus,” there is much more to it than that. There is no doubt that God’s relationship with his people is personal, but a more biblical description of this relationship would be that it is covenantal (Gen. 17:1ff). In other words, God never deals with His people merely as individuals, but always in the context of a covenant or formal arrangement that he has made with us collectively.
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## Peairtach (Jun 4, 2011)

> The two most important concepts for understanding what worship entails are covenant and sacrifice. Though Christianity is often described as “a personal relationship with Jesus,” there is much more to it than that. There is no doubt that God’s relationship with his people is personal, but a more biblical description of this relationship would be that it is covenantal (Gen. 17:1ff). In other words, God never deals with His people merely as individuals, but always in the context of a covenant or formal arrangement that he has made with us collectively.



I like the emphasis on the worship and church being covenantal.



> > Throughout the Bible, God continually calls His people to renew their covenantal relations with Him, and the way this is done is through sacrifice (I Kings 3:15; Psa. 50:5). Since the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, it is no longer animals, but the worshipers themselves, who are the sacrifices (Rom. 12:1-2). The concepts of covenant and sacrifice, therefore, lie at the core of biblical worship
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I don't see the clear relation between the Leviticus passage and the pattern of worship laid down. There are more models in the Bible anyway. The New Testament doesn't give such rigid and ritualistic views as to precisely what a worship service entails or means. 

The idea of covenant renewal may be a legitimate aspect of Reformed worship but can be misunderstood and turned into a ritualistic work that helps us to persevere in the faith and in the covenant. 

In a sense we "renew" covenant with God by His grace everytime we seek forgiveness, cleansing, repentance and new obedience, but the word "renew" may give people the idea that the covenant had failed. The covenant hasn't failed, our justification and adoption haven't failed and God is preserving us, and by drawing us back to seek forgiveness, cleansing, repentance and new obedience is _continuing_ the work of our sanctification by His grace. All of these things and more are benefits of being in the Covenant of Grace with God through Christ.


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