When we gather together as Christian believers on the Lord’s Day to meet with God in public worship, we can consider those meetings to be something of a covenant renewal ceremony.

In many Reformed liturgies, a worship service will include a reading from God’s law, a confession of sins, and a declaration of pardon. When God’s law is read and proclaimed, his people are reminded of the obedience and holiness that he expects from us. In response to God’s law, we then confess our sins and our need for God’s mercy and forgiveness. We have not been perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. But graciously we then hear the promise of the gospel: Jesus Christ died for our sins, the curse we deserve has been paid by another, and Christ has been raised from the dead. Finally we respond in song, recounting God’s mighty deeds and declaring that the Lord alone must be praised. Whenever we come to worship, there is a very real sense in which we come to hear God’s promises and recommit ourselves to obedience in the light of his faithfulness to us. We don’t come to worship primarily to see friendly faces. We come to meet with God, to hear the proclamation of his law and gospel so that the Holy Spirit might work in us to increase our faith and lead us in obedience.

Regular covenant renewal was necessary for Israel to keep them persevering in their faith. Regular covenant renewal is one of the means by which God seeks to keep us persevering in our faith.