Covenant and Commitment; For audio podcast PPN
Summary
Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner episode “Covenant and Commitment”. The theme of covenant is strong in the entire bible as it describes God’s relationship with his people and what He has agreed to do, what He has promised to do. As you walk the path of salvation, you first accept grace as faith, then you are baptized into covenant. This covenant relationship allows you to receive grace and understanding, blessing and gifts of the Father. A covenant is different than a contract. If one person breaks a contract it becomes null and void. Not so with a covenant. It remains valid.
Other episodes to deepen your understanding of Covenant and Commitment:
TOS083 Tabernacle of the Lord, TOS081 Patriarchs of the Old Testament , The Sacraments playlist, and our Basics of Faith playlist.
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The theme of covenant is strong in the entire bible as it describes God’s relationship with his people and what He has agreed to do, what He has promised to do. In the book of Hebrews of the New Testament we are told of God’s words in Chapter 10 “15 The holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying: 16 “This is the covenant I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord: ‘I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them upon their minds,’” 17 he also says: “Their sins and their evildoing I will remember no more.”” These words directly echo God’s word through the prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament. The prophets also reveal and describe the people who refuse to obey God’s commands. Those who fail to keep the agreement of obedience suffer greatly. And many lose out on the Kingdom of God because of that. However, the Lord remains totally committed to his people.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit as we discuss Covenant and Commitment. The major covenants in scripture were made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, King David, the Exiled Prophets, the Body of Christ—the Church and the 2nd Coming.
How does God keeps his part of the ‘bargain’? As the Trinity, each divine Person adapts the needs of the people of God. God is a Father to emulate, to provide for his children, the one who set the course for salvation by requiring the obedience of the Son.
God the Son whose love for the Father can be imitated in word and deed. As the Shepherd of all, the Divine Shepherd leads the people towards the fullness of the kingdom; he leads you into the waiting arms of the Father. It does not matter the length of the journey; it is possible. Some are closer, some are farther away. As you turn your eyes toward heaven, as you turn your attention towards Him and all your actions respond to the merciful grace that is poured out, you will find your way even among difficulties. He is the God who saves.
God the Spirit who provides the bond of man to God, the grace, the communication, the Relater who connects the spirit of man to the source of all life.
The Father and Son and Holy Spirit combine to provide the food for life—the Body & Blood of the Christ. Man can survive but not flourish without the Bread come down from heaven. What a gift! And it is given to those who need it so, even after they turn away from the God who has given them the path of Life. Even the greatest sinner can come kneel before the Eucharistic Presence of God. Even the greatest sinner can turn their face to God, repent and be saved.
The Gospels try to teach the holders of the New Covenant how to act, how to react when challenged. God’s grace is sufficient for them to keep his command to love God above all and to love neighbor as self, but to receive the grace they must choose to do so by their actions of “agreement”. As the Exodus shows us, even though we are a stiff necked people, God still gives us glorious gifts to insure that sooner or later we will become what is intended, sooner or later we will have his glory. We just have to cooperate
Although God created man to love one another, when sin entered the world through freewill so did the lack of loving the way God loves. Often, since there are flaws in people and that can sometimes cause a cycle of flaws through many generations—people inflict harm on one another. This harm then festers and if not healed quickly can form a sort of scar tissue that shuts off the pain centers around the hurt. This can deaden the soul. This can block the heart from loving and from being loved. God’s grace can penetrate even the ‘rock hard heart’ through prayer and surrender. Like a surgeon who cuts out a tumor, God can remove the accumulated garbage by revealing Truth. What truth? That we are is God’s Child. That His Love is real. That God loves us and His love does not rely on us acting loveable. What blocks His grace? Free will refusal! It does not mean that He have stopped loving us!
A simple way to penetrate these wounded hearts that are full of garbage that was dumped by others is through forgiveness. Forgiveness does not require agreement with the garbage. It does not require acceptance of the garbage. It only believes that God took the garbage to the Cross. God offers forgiveness to the one who spread the garbage in your heart in the first place and God asks you to cooperate with Him in forgiveness toward them. How wonderfully freeing it is to dump garbage out of your heart and allow God’s peace to refresh and renew. Then the repair can take place.
In Holy Scripture, the law is strategically taught in the book of Romans; love is taught in the book of Philippians. They are truly the same thing but people have not yet discovered that as they hear these writings. The Sacrament of Reconciliation allows you experience law and love together, to agree to dump your own sinful garbage and to ask God for forgiveness of your disobedience. It restores your side of the covenant with God that you received through Baptism.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraph #1129 shares, “The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. “Sacramental grace” is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of Adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature [cf 2 Peter 1:4] by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.”
From the beginning of the human race shown in Genesis God set into motion his plan of salvation. The intimate connection of Adam and Eve with God was broken by sin. In recompense,Adam’s sons offered sacrifices of blood and tithes. These offerings were imperfect communication with God.
Another character in Genesis, Abraham, became the father of faith after God called him to leave his homeland and go into a promised land. Abraham obeyed God. Abraham’s world revolved around Isaac, the child promised by God and given in his old age. God tested Abraham by asking him to offer his son in sacrifice. The blood sacrifice was a sign of covenant. God wants us, too, to be willing to trust Him enough that we would set aside that which we love or desire most to deepen our relationship with Him. Abraham was obedient. His son Isaac carried the wood up the hill on his shoulder just as Jesus carried the wood up Calvary. God stopped the hand of Abraham and provided an alternate animal sacrifice, a ram. By covenant, Abraham was willing to give the life of his only son; by covenant God the Father was willing to sacrifice his son, Jesus. The saving power of the sacrificial blood of Jesus freed us from the death of sin and reestablished the fullness of man’s relationship with God. In the book of Exodus, by covenant, Moses instructed the people to sacrifice and eat a lamb, using its blood as a sign on the doorpost for the Passover of the angel of death. This saved the mortal lives of their first born sons but was still an imperfect communication with God. Jesus was born a man to become the Lamb of God. His perfect blood was the perfect sacrifice, and restored perfect connection between God and man.
In 1 Corinthians Chapter 11:23-26 Paul writes: “23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, 24 and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” “25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant of my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”
As you walk the path of salvation, you first accept grace as faith, then you are baptized into covenant. This covenant relationship allows you to receive grace and understanding, blessing and gifts of the Father. As you mature, you are held accountable for your actions and you are called to witness your faith to others. Deeds and attitudes are measured against the faith and grace you have been given. All must love the Father and those the Father has commanded you to love. Darkness is overcome by the blood of Jesus and healing takes place through the Holy Spirit restoring connection with the Father. Light dissipates darkness.
The power of Christ andof the Holy Spirit provide light like when your Christmas lights strung together light up your house. Sometimes a bad bulb makes the whole string go out. The problem is not with the source of power.You have to remove the bad part and replace it with good to allow the fulfillment of the connection. God’s plan is for us to become outlet boxes with God as the Main Power Source. The flaws inherited from Adam are like a loose wire; the effect of sin causes shorting out. Baptism and Reconciliation—re-establish contact by cleansing contact points. Stripping the wire is required—dropping away the world’s coating.
Twice in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus tells people to pluck out their eye or cut off their hand if it causes them to sin. It is not that an eye or a hand is sinful but it is the eye’s agreement to sin that must be removed—you must cut off access to viewing sinful actions, for example pornography. It is not that the hand itself that is sinful but the action it cooperates with that is sinful—such as cheating and stealing or beating and battering others. A man without eyes cannot view lustful images. A man with no hands cannot perform the sinful deeds without the hand’s cooperation.
Are you ashamed of certain things? Would you choose to hide them? These things steal your time and can lead you to lose the eternal time of joy and peace that the Lord has invited you to receive. The choice of freewill is our gift from the Lord. If we don’t want to spend time with Him now—He will not force us to change and spend eternity with him. Do not delay your choice to spend your time with the Lord—it may be your final choice.
Destruction is the ploy of the one who hates you. Stand not close to the edge of destruction—its “winds” can suck you into the abyss. The wind of the Spirit are ever lifting, raising you into God’s presence. The wind of destruction is like a low pressure that feeds on that which is above it.
Terrible things happen in the world but God is there, watching, waiting for sinners to turn their face, their hearts toward Him. Whenever you seek God’s presence, He is with you. As you gaze upon His Body, He is with you. As you speak His Name when gathered with others He is with you.
The cover of this podcast is a desert scene of the tabernacle of the Ark of the Covenant painted in watercolor by my pastor, Msgr. David LeSieur. God instructed Moses to build the tabernacle in such a way that the Presence of God could travel with the people to lead them through the desert and beyond. As you gaze upon it remember it foreshadows God’s covenant with you personally. Trust Him to take care of your needs. Rely on His direction. The Tabernacle exhibits God’s Word, it exhibits obedience to God’s Word. It provides God’s presence among the people. Despite the diverseness of the people so many focused their eyes on the one flame—the one sign of God among the people. As the trumpet sounded, all was set aside to complete the direction of the move of God. When the cloud or column of fire moved the people dropped everything to follow God’s lead. So should we.
The heavenly realm waits for all who turn their eyes of Jesus and then follows him. Sometimes the Way of the Cross seems too hard, too harsh, but Jesus has led the way for us. His word shows us how to follow. Do not lose this focus when there is much to do and you will not fail.
A covenant is different than a contract. If one person breaks a contract it becomes null and void. Not so with a covenant. It remains valid. Marriage is such a covenant. The two become one. Even if one of the spouses is unfaithful the marriage is still a covenant and the two are still one. God calls us into a covenant with the Body of Christ through the sacraments. We become the adopted children of the God and the Bride of Christ.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains our covenant as Church.
CCC # 796 The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. The Lord referred to himself as the “bridegroom.” Scripture speaks of the whole Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride “betrothed” to Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him. The Church is the spotless bride of the spotless Lamb…
CCC 823 “The Church . . .is holy… because Christ, the Son of God, loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her; he joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God.”
CCC 1617 states, “The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church.”
Our commitment as the Bride of Christ is to let him be in charge. One definition of submissive love is “receiving love”. We have to open ourselves to receive love from Jesus and be vulnerable, submissive to the will of God. Whatever he says goes! We pledge ourselves to love, honor, and obey.
“The Church is the unblemished bride of the unblemished lamb. She is the bride whom Christ loved and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her. The covenant by which he has tied himself to her is indissoluble.”
You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit. For more information about some of the references we’ve made today as we discussed “Covenant and Commitment”, we invite you to visit our TOS Podcasts menu or our YouTube channel and listen to our episodes on The Tabernacle of the Lord, The Patriarchs of the Old Testament, The Sacraments playlist, and our Basics of Faith playlist. And then come back for more; with the Holy Spirit there’s always more! Amen.
