A meditation for the Lord's Day, December 7th 2025
Reformed theology is covenant theology. It is not merely “Calvinism” and the doctrines of sovereign grace, commonly summarized by the acronym TULIP. Many Christians have a “Calvinistic” understanding of salvation but are not reformed in their views of the Church, Family, and Sacraments. What is distinctive about Reformed theology is its understanding of covenant as the organizing principle of creation, redemption, and society.
A covenant is “a solemn bond, sovereignly administered, with attendant curses and blessings” (Doug Wilson). It is not a business or social contract. It is not a voluntary and disposable connection. A covenant is a solemn bond, a serious relationship, with binding obligations. It is sovereignly administered. God is the author of the covenants that bind creation, the Church, and the family. His Law-Word organizes and governs human societies, whether in the home, church, or state. Consequently, every covenant has attendant blessings and curses. Covenants include both conditions and promises. Covenants require our loyalty. They demand certain things of us, rewarding faithfulness and punishing disobedience.
The framework of covenant demonstrates that we do not exist as individuals but as persons within larger groups: families, communities, cultures, nations, and, preeminently, the Church. When we gather on the Lord’s Day, we do not enter the assembly as many disconnected individuals. We come as families, as brothers and sisters in Christ, as those bound organically and covenantally to one another because we are all united to the Lord Jesus Christ. All other ethnic, social, and temporal distinctions fade in relation to the common bond we share in God’s Son. We are all one in Christ, and what we share in common as brethren in the Church is greater than anything that distinguishes or divides us in the world.
Lord’s Day worship is not about “me and Jesus.” We gather as the Bride of Christ, corporately, and we pray in the same way: Our Father, not “my Daddy.” This is why we do whatever we do in the assembly corporately and collectively. We lift our voices together, our hearts together, and our hands together before the throne of God. The ministers are robed because they do not stand before the congregation as individuals or private citizens. They are public persons, representing Christ before the assembled host. It does not matter who preaches, leads prayer, reads Scripture, or plays the piano. We are worshiping the Lord together, and the minister is merely the mouthpiece. The voice that we hear is Christ’s.
Every Lord’s Day each of us are “saved again” in the experience of the liturgy: called out of the world, cleansed of our sin, consecrated by God’s word and Spirit, invited to divine communion, and commissioned for mission in the world. But the service is not merely for each individual person. God is renewing covenant with his Church, as the Church. We are being re-enveloped in the Body of Christ, reminded of our union and communion with the risen and ascended Lord, and rediscovering the joy and peace of our salvation. Salvation is personal but never private. It is bestowed on every individual, but we receive it not as individuals but as a covenant community. We are chosen by God, holy and beloved, and on the Lord’s Day that relationship is renewed and strengthened so that we return to our work in the world in the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us all, both individually and corporately. So come, and let us adore our gracious Savior together. --JME
