Covenant Unto Death

*Disclaimer – this is a personal reflection and presents my own opinions and beliefs, not anyone else’s.*

The call to follow Jesus is not one that we can put down when the going gets difficult or when life becomes complicated. When Jesus commands us to come and follow him, it is a demand which transforms every other element of our life. This is part of what it means to make a covenant with God. It is more than a promise or an agreement. It is an event that changes things, which changes us, permanently.

Making a Covenant

We are subject to multiple covenants throughout our life. Every human is already part of the covenant that God made with humanity after the flood. When we become a follower of Jesus we actively participate in the covenant that Jesus made with humanity. If we are soldier, then we have made another covenant with God. Then for those of us that become officers, we make another covenant.

When I made my covenant to become an officer, it was a commitment made until my death. Now, I’m reflecting again on what that means.

There are some covenants that we might enter into for a short time, or which are only for a season. Increasingly we see people who will enter covenanted ministry for a specific period of time, or for a season of mission. We are developing our acceptance and understanding that covenantal vocation is not always for life. However, in Scripture, the covenants we see are almost always for life, and not only for one’s lifetime, but often for multiple generations.

What is a Covenant?

What actually is a covenant? It is a promise, a kind of commitment, that is made between God and at least one other person. A covenant is part of a vocational call from God to the recipient of the covenant. Whether that is part of the broad vocation of humanity to be the image of God, or the vocation of an individual to do something God is asking them to do, or it could be made with a particular group who are called to act and live in a certain way. Covenant and vocation go together. To be obedient to the command of God, to respond to the call to vocation, means entering into a covenant. There are a couple of different types of covenant we see in the Bible.

There are covenants which God makes directly to humanity and every living thing, such as after the flood when God promises not to flood the world again, to give humanity dominion over the Earth, and to make humanity multiply and flourish. This covenant is made without asking humanity. God is entirely the only active participant in making that covenant.

Then there are covenants that God makes with individuals, such as with Abraham and David, where God promises to do something, and in return, the person has to behave in a certain way to maintain the blessings that come from God.

There is the covenant that God makes with Israel through Moses, in which God commits to being their God, and in return, gives the Israelites the Law. When they keep the Law, they will be blessed; when they walk away from it, they will be under a curse.

Then there are covenants that humans make to God – a kind of consecration – when a person or a nation recommit themselves and re-covenant themselves to the promises that God has already made to them. This is similar to the covenants we might make when we become a soldier or an officer, or enter into another form of covenanted ministry. An interesting example are the Nazirites from the Old Testament, where it was often the parent who made covenant for their child that the child would live a certain way in return for being blessed by God and being available for particular kinds of ministry.

Finally, there is the new covenant through the sacrificial death of Jesus. This covenant is made with all humanity and is open to anyone who chooses to enter into it. This is the covenant we accept and enter by becoming a follower of Jesus.

Are Covenants Equal?

By their nature, a covenant made with God is inherently characterised by unequal reciprocity. That means God will always give more than we can, and what we can do will never earn or merit what God gives; it is always and only a gracious and loving response to God’s call and blessing. To enter into a covenant with God is to enter into submission, to die to self in order to live for Christ. In submitting to covenant with Christ, we recognise that our own demands are subsumed into the life and death of Jesus, as we open ourselves to the transforming grace of Jesus. Being in a covenant does not make a person special.

Entering a covenant is not simply making a deal, accepting a job offer, or making a promise. It is something deeper and wider than any of those things. The philosopher Slavoj Zizek talks about an experience which he calls an ‘Event’ after which everything is changed because of that moment. This Event may not lead to a change of feeling or a tangible shift in a person’s behaviour. However, the nature of that person, their ontological existence, is altered because of it. When I make a covenant with God, or when I enter into a covenant that God is inviting or calling me to join, I am changed because of it. This is more than a job.

When I became an officer, I made a covenant with God. It was made in the context of The Salvation Army, and was contingent on my call to Salvation Army officership, but it was made with God. My relationship with the Army, through my agreement to the undertakings of officership and my willingness to be subject to orders and regulations, is dependent upon that covenant, not the other way around. That is why my covenant begins by stating what I commit myself to, and concludes by explaining that by doing these things, I will prove myself to be a worthy officer. The Army is part of my covenant, but my covenant was made with Jesus. As such, my commitment to maintaining and upholding my covenant is not contingent on the behaviour of the Army.

My obedience to the Army, my submission to the demands made upon me, and my willingness to engage in robust debate over important questions, while ultimately acknowledging that there is a limit to my self-determination, are all grounded in my covenant. This does not erase the distinction between God and the Army. They are not the same thing. But it does mean that my commitment to the Army is grounded in my commitment and faithfulness to promises that I made to God. Equally, faithfulness to my covenant means knowing that there is a difference between the people in the Army, the Army itself, and God.

The Officer’s Covenant

My covenant as an officer means that my role as an officer is not simply something that I have chosen to do. It is made in response to divine grace given to me. It is held and underpinned by the faithfulness of Christ. As such, my covenant as an officer does not make me special. It makes me dependent on grace.

Without that covenant, those things would be little more than a job contract. But ministry is not a job, and being an officer is not a career. It is a sacred vocation, a relationship between the person and God, a commitment to being obedient to the command of Jesus, and it is to enter into something transformative of self and the world. Ministry involved work, but even for employed spiritual leaders, they are bound by the covenants of discipleship and possibly Soldiership. We make the mistake of confusing work and employment as being less than or not including vocation and covenant. Ministry in general, and officership in particular, is not determined by my desires but always by God’s grace.

This means that I will not always have the appointment I want, I will not always live where I want, and there are times when my concerns and requests for my family may not be accepted. When this happens, I have a choice. Where is the limit of my commitment to the covenant I have made? Can I know that limit before I reach it? I can’t speak to others, or their choices and experiences. All I can speak to is myself. For me, and only for me, it is faith which grounds my commitment to covenant. Here, more than at any other time, faith becomes a choice. Will I continue to make the choice to trust God to carry me through in the difficult times, or will I walk away from the covenant that I made?

Here, I would remind myself that my covenant with God was not a generic covenant for ministry. It was specifically to officership. Can I still fulfil that covenant if I were to no longer be an officer? I don’t believe so. I could still be in ministry. I could still seek to answer God’s call on my life. But if it was officership I was called to, specifically officership and not just ministry in general, then I could not walk away from it and still be obedient to that vocation.

Again, this is not to say that it must be the same for everyone. For some people, covenanted ministry is just for a season. For others, they experienced a call to ministry, and then worked it out through the Army, but could equally do so on any other denomination. For some people, they are simply put into an impossible position where they must choose between giving up what God has called them to, or accepting something they believe to be wrong (whatever that might be). I am not judging anyone else’s choices. I am only speaking to my own understanding of the demands of the covenant I willingly made.

The unequal reciprocity of covenants ensures that there can be no cause for boasting or for puffery by those people who willingly accept and enter into the covenant of ministry with God. Being an officer, or any other form of ministry, is not about the individual’s capacity or abilities or willpower or courage, but only ever a matter of grace and faithful response to that grace. Our ability to be obedient and faithful to that covenant is entirely a matter of divine grace, poured out for us, and our willingness to be faithful to that covenant. To be an officer says nothing about me and everything about Christ.

To be a worthy officer is not about my ability or my capacity but always and only about the grace of Jesus at work in my life.

Faithful Unto Death

When I say that I intend to keep hold of my covenant in bad times and good, that is not because I think my faith is greater than anyone else’s, or because I think I am better than other people, or because I think I’m special. It is entirely about God and nothing to do with me. I trust God that even when I do not know what is going on, I will choose to trust where God leads me. This does not mean believing the Army is always right, or that everything the Army does is because God wants it to. What it means is that my commitment and trust in the God I made my covenant with, it geater than the fallibility of the Army.

This is the crux of the matter. Am I willing to allow myself to be dependent on grace, or am I still trying to feel safe by taking control of my circumstances? Am I willing to step out in faith, to trust where God is leading me, to take a radical commitment to following Jesus wherever he leads me, or am I still putting my own need to control, to feel safe, to take ownership, before the call of Christ to come and follow him?

When I made my commitment to become an officer, I was not playing a game. The promises I made are not an intellectual exercise or something to try and get around. They were not made only if things go well, only if I am blessed, only if the Army does what I want it to.

I made those promises to Jesus and because of them I’ve been transformed and renewed and made into a person I never thought I could be. There is always a cost to discipleship, but as Bonhoeffer wrote, only the obedient believe. I have had more blessings and more opportunities and more joy than I imagined, alongside the pain and the difficulties, and the costs of saying yes.

When I made my covenant with God it was not conditional. I committed my life to God, in return for trusting God with my family, with my wife and children, who must bear the price of a promise they did not make. I choose faith each day, I choose to trust in the faithful and loving God I have made my covenant with, and I intend to be faithful unto death.

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