We are beginning our time of Covenant renewal this morning. Leading up to today, we have been looking at spiritual renewal for the past few weeks, specifically . . .
Five Marks of Spiritual Renewal
This is what we have covered:
1. Instead of compromise, sin, excuses and apathy – we are honest with ourselves, see our failures and yield every part of our lives to God.
2. Instead of a damaged and broken relationship with God – we ask for forgiveness for our sins and find renewed relationship with God.
3. Instead of damaged and broken relationships with others – we find renewed relationships with others when we make things right with those we have wronged, and forgive those who have sinned against us.
4. Instead of grieving and quenching the Spirit, shutting the Spirit out of our lives – we invite the Spirit to work in us so that we are strengthened to do God’s will and bear the fruit of the Spirit.
5. Again, instead of grieving and quenching the Spirit – we invite the Spirit to work through us to minister to the needs of others with the power and abilities that the Spirit provides.
The reason I have shared on this leading up to our time of recovenanting is that this is meant to be a time of spiritual renewal.
This is certainly the way it worked in Israel. There are a number of examples of recovenanting in the Old Testament. For today, we’ll look at . . .
Joshua’s covenant renewals
He was a part of the original time of covenanting at Mt Sinai with Moses. But beyond this he was a part of three other recovenantings (at least as far as we know, there may have been more.)
1. Just before Israel entered the promised land – Deuteronomy 29. Israel had failed in the wilderness and most of that generation had died off. Moses gathered the people together on the plains of Moab.
- He recounted to them the story of God’s salvation.
- He repeated the Law of God in their hearing and expounded on it (which is where the name Deuteronomy comes from – the second giving of the Law).
- All the people committed to obey and serve God
This was time for them to be reconstituted as a people. The earlier generation had failed, and now the new generation was coming forward. This new generation was reminded of God’s Law and called to commit to this.
2. After the failure at Ai – Joshua 8:30-35. Because of Achan’s sin Israel was defeated before its enemies. And then, after they recovered from this Joshua gathered the people of Israel.
- They offered up sacrifices
- They wrote the Law in stone
- All Israel stood before the ark of the covenant
- They recounted the blessings and curses in the Law
- The Law was read before everyone
So this recovenanting came after deep failure on Israel’s part. It was a way for them to get back on track and recommit themselves to serving and obeying God.
3. Near the end of Joshua’s life – Joshua 24 he led the people in a covenant renewal.
- He gathered all the people together
- He recounted the story of Abraham, the deliverance from Egypt, and their victories over their enemies
- Joshua charged Israel to be faithful
- The people responded, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey” – v. 24
There was no failure here. The recovenanting was simply a part of the people being called to full commitment to God.
What we can learn from this
In each of these cases, covenant renewal was an aspect of their overall spiritual renewal.
- When there was failure, it was a time to regroup and repent
- When there wasn’t failure, it was a time to refocus and remember their commitment to obey and serve God.
Similarly for us recovenanting is an opportunity to
1. Honestly examine our lives and deal with our issues. One of the themes I have tried to highlight is that we have to be honest with ourselves. If we can’t do this, we won’t see the areas in our lives where we are failing. And if we can’t see where we are failing, we can’t act to make things right through repentance. We get stuck in the same rut of failure and compromise.
But if we are honest, we can make progress in our Christian lives.
Recovenanting is also an opportunity for us to 2. Reaffirm of our Christian commitment to God and each other. Whether we are struggling or not, it gives us a chance to remember and refocus. And this is what we want to do this morning.
William Higgins
Christian teaching 