The Covenant Is Everything

It’s been a quiet couple of weeks for me. I’m still riding the bikes, but mostly so I could go out to my prayer chapels around the county. The thing weighing most on my heart has been identifying the biggest single issue that should characterize the ministry of Kiln of the Soul, and the legacy of the Radix Fidem way.

Of course, it’s the Covenant.

This is the place we start with anyone who isn’t familiar with our community. Not merely the existence of the Covenant, but that the Covenant is everything. It’s the foundation, the starting place for what Christ is doing in His people. We must work to establish this understanding. Without the Covenant, God’s involvement in human existence is random. All of His promises reside in the Covenant. Without that, we have kept Him at arm’s length.

It’s not a question of what God does; He’s been doing the same thing since day one in the Garden. This is where we stand; it’s the only way to enter His Presence. If we do not embrace the Covenant, we place ourselves outside His promises. All of the talk about God’s great power and love mean nothing until you enter the Covenant.

And by its nature, the Covenant is feudal. It’s submission to Christ. Without His Lordship via the Covenant, you are not a functioning part of His household, His Kingdom. It’s not a question of what you believe intellectually; this is the crux of saving faith. That word “faith” means your feudal submission to Christ.

That’s the first half of His Law within the Kingdom. The other half is that we love each other as He does. That’s what Jesus said to the Rich Young Ruler and to His disciples at the Last Seder. It gets mentioned in other places in the New Testament. The Covenant defines who is your “neighbor” that you must love sacrificially. It’s our tribe. If you don’t claim the Covenant, then I am not required to take seriously your claim to follow Christ. You aren’t family.

If you count yourself part of this community, that’s what I hope you’ll be able to emphasize to everyone with whom you discuss Christian religion on any level. All that orthodoxy, in all of its competing flavors, is not the issue. It’s whether you are living in submission to Christ as Lord.

I’m praying that this message explodes into the religious consciousness of all humanity.