“On December 8, 1941, the day after that day of infamy when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt gave a famous speech of only 520 words. Over 150 of those words decried how the previous day’s attackers “deliberately sought to deceive.” Today, his surprise that the attackers had acted without integrity sounds almost naïve, even childlike. FDR and the American people were shocked by treachery. Nowadays we’ve become so accustomed to empty words, we hardly notice them. People used to say, “You’re only as good as your word.” Or, “A man’s word is his bond.” Those idioms are fading. Like the frog in the gradually heating pot, we haven’t noticed that, when it comes to integrity, we’re already frog stew.
We Christians now routinely bewail the decline of our culture, repeating metrics that demonstrate how low we’ve fallen: the divorce rate, the skyrocketing number of births out of wedlock, the percentage of Generation Z identifying as LGBT, etc. But have we noticed what’s become of integrity? Sure, it’s less obvious. But unfaithfulness is a leading indicator of decline.”
To read the entire Truthscript article: The Demise of Integrity as a Sign of Decline.
Legal “No fault divorce” says the marriage covenant can be broken without cause. There has been a decline of the church covenant. The church covenant was the constitution of the church. When other churches claimed that they’ve inherited the right to be a church from Christ through “apostolic succession,” inherited through the ages by their denomination (something the Bible never teaches), congregational churches believe that when we assemble, according to Jesus’ words (Matthew 18:20), in His name, thus committing to be an assembly based on Christ. That commitment is expressed in a church covenant.
For more on the church covenant, see:
Baptist Polity Inherited from Congregationalism (starting on page 153 in The Journal of Baptist Theology and Ministry)
Our covenant gives us the right to be a church, to preach the Word, serve the Lord’s Supper, and baptize. But now, in this culture, when keeping your word “even when it hurts” (like Psalm 15 says) seems strange, church covenanting has become rare. Many older churches may have a large copy of their covenant hanging on a wall but they don’t pay it any attention. Probably most new churches don’t have one at all. After all, when no one feels bound by their word, when formal commitments seem confining and oppressive, and living together without a covenant (a marriage) is normal, what’s the covenant about? As someone asked me once, ‘Why have a covenant? Why not just have a “vision statement”?’
What is a covenant? We see the importance, the vitality, the power of a covenant here in 1 Samuel 20. Listen:
Jonathan’s Faith (20:1-23)
Perhaps no one better shows what a covenant is than Jonathan who first made a covenant with David. Jonathan can’t imagine that Saul would be going back on his word. It would be treacherous. He can’t imagine that his father would break his commitment because he never would.
“Kindly” (20:8) is the translation of the Hebrew word “hesed,” meaning “steadfast love,” or “loving kindness.” Hesed expresses the warmth of God’s mercy and the security of God’s faithfulness. Jonathan asks David, “When” you are king, show me the Lord’s hesed. The warmth of God’s mercy, the security of His faithfulness.
Here’s an RC Sproul lesson on one of the most important words in the entire Bible (besides the name of God):
If Jonathan has faith in David — a christ — , he’ll be faithful to him. Jonathan made a covenant with David. If he’s going to keep it, then the plot against David means that he has to choose between his father and David.
Jonathan has so much faith in the Lord’s blessing on David, he commits himself to that family (that doesn’t exist yet). Jonathan is a picture of the believer. He could inherit the treasures of the world, but chooses to trust a christ, David, even the “house of David,” thus the Son of David, thus the Christ.
Jonathan says that if Saul really has betrayed his vow and is plotting to kill David, then “The Lord has sent you away” (20:22.) The Lord is in control of Saul’s plot against David. Saul in his derangement is not out of God’s control. The betrayal, if true, is God’s way of sending David.
Then, showing his faith, Jonathan confesses, “the Lord is between you and me forever.” Covenants are made before the face of God.
For more on how Jonathan is a model believer in Christ, listen to the YouTube video above.
Saul’s Rage (20:24-34)
What matters to Saul is the kingdom for himself and his family. David must die because he gets in the way of his dynasty. Saul has broken his vow and is out to kill David. Now, he’s angry at Jonathan. If we side with Christ, we shouldn’t be surprised when the world treats us like it treated Christ.
For more on how Saul persecutes the church, listen to the YouTube video above.
David’s Tears (20:35-42)
Saul couldn’t believe in the Lord and so, in his quest to destroy the Lord’s anointed, destroys himself. David sheds tears for him. We weep because of the destruction they bring on themselves for daring to oppose the Lord. The world hates God and we weep for the world because of all the destroyed lives their futile attempts to overthrow the Lord will produce. People think they can set themselves against the Lord by chasing dollars, living for wealth or immediate pleasure, celebrating pride in their immorality. We should weep for the world because at the end, the only thing their determination to replace Christ with . . . whatever they try, money, pleasure, pride, the party, the self, will only destroy themselves.
David sheds tears, also because Saul’s deranged plot will mean that David doesn’t get to see his friend any longer. He feels, like in “Blest Be the Tie”, “When we are called to part / it gives us inward pain; / but we shall still be joined in heart / and hope to meet again.”
song:
David has tears because the covenant expressed his heart. It’s steadfast and warm, like the Lord’s covenant love. Jonathan is saying, ‘our offspring, the children of faith, are bound to your offspring, David, the Son of David.’
For more on how 1 Samuel 20 shows us what a covenant is, listen to the YouTube video above.
In eternity past, the Lord foreknew His people. He loved us. He covenanted with us. We can be at peace because He will hold us fast. We can know that neither life nor death nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the steadfast love of God in Christ Jesus. Because we have a covenant.
For the full exposition of 1 Samuel 20, listen to the YouTube video above.
Covenant Reformed Baptist Church is Caswell County’s/Danville’s Reformed church.