A Sacred Covenant

Becoming a Christian is no small matter, yet it is treated as such in churches all around the country. A pastor will give a sermon and then give the altar call. The lights dim down and soft music starts playing which sets the mood. Soon enough “with all heads bowed and all eyes closed” people throughout the room begin raising their hands. “I see you in the back, praise God! Are there any more? You could miss the biggest chance of your life…” It makes me sick that it has become so trivial and cliché. I think we are doing people a disservice by pushing them towards the biggest commitment they will ever make, before they are ready.

Asking Jesus to become your Savior is as big of a commitment as marriage (even bigger in my opinion)! In fact, the Bible continually compares our relationship with God to marriage, in the Old and New Testaments. It is a relationship that is meant to be eternal, one that continues after death and one that affects every area of our lives.

• Isaiah 54:5 – “For your maker is your husband; the Lord Almighty is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.”
• Isaiah 62:5 – “..As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”
• In 2 Corinthians 11:2, Paul compares the Church to the bride of Christ. ” I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.”
• Again in Ephesians 5:25 – “Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her..”

These contemporary, hurry up, Las Vegas style church conversions closely resemble the type of marriages that people enter into today. People today downplay their vows and justify getting divorced after a year or two by saying “I was young and stupid; I didn’t know what I was getting into.” Are we encouraging non-believers to enter into a similar kind of commitment just so a Church or pastor can get his numbers up? I sure hope not! But that is what is happening. People are not being made aware of the weight of such a decision. It is not just a prayer that you pray and go on with your life as usual! I think Matt Heard, pastor of Woodman Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs, ends his sermons appropriately. “Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, I am here at the end of the service If you have any questions.” The fact of the matter is that once you make that decision, God demands your faithfulness, and you will be held responsible for not being faithful more so than unbelievers.

After the fall of King Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was divided into two kingdoms. The ten northern tribes of Israel made up the norther kingdom and the tribe of Judah (the tribe of David) made up southern kingdom. When the northern kingdom ,”Israel”, broke away, they abandoned God and worshiped idols. Judah still claimed God yet worshiped idols as well. God expresses his discontent in Jeremiah 3:9-11 “Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all of her heart, but only in pretense... Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.”

Why does God care? Exodus 34:14 says, “do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” When people say they want God to save them from their sin, He takes them at their word and enters into a covenant with them. But be careful, because God does not take well to a cheating heart; He never has and He never will. Just as we are devastated by a cheating spouse, so is God. In Jeremiah 3:1-2 we read, “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers – would you now return to me? declares the Lord. Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for loves, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.” God cares, BIG time!

Maybe some people are ready and maybe their lives will be changed but I don’t think that is the case for many people. For many, “saying the prayer” is a way to go to heaven without any strings attached here on earth. If you are seeking a “friends with benefits” relationship and think that you are saved now but that you will “sow your wild oats” while you are young and return to Christ when you are ready to settle down.. consider this, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” (Hebrews 6:4-6).