When someone becomes a follower of Jesus they become part of a family. In a previous post we explored the importance of covenant theology in our emerging generations. This covenantal experience is not purely an abstract reality of God keeping his promises, it is also the very real experience of us keeping our promises. We do this primarily through relationships.
Throughout the Scriptures we see the twin ideas of covenant and kingdom which play out as relationship and authority [1. I am indebted to the work of Mike Breen and 3DM for their help in developing my thoughts here. Check out his book, Covenant and Kingdom.]. God interacts with us in relationship through his covenant. His promises are kept and they hold true. Through his covenant we are drawn into relationship with him.
We model this as followers of Jesus. We are in relationship with one another and covenantally so. What does this mean? This means that when we commit ourselves to being a follower of Jesus we are also committing ourselves to being a part of his body. Whether we like it or not we are now in a family relationship with people who also call themselves Christian.
To be in community with people we need to realize that conflict is inherent in relationship. If there is no conflict then we cannot move deeper into relationship with one another. Conflict forces us to make a decision: "Do I withdraw and stay where I am?" or "Do I engage and go deeper?" Covenantal relationships require the latter. To be the church demands that we enter in covenantally with our family, the Church, and go deeper. We can be confident in doing this because we are bound through the promise of covenant.
Does this mean that we might get hurt? Yes. Because none of us live this out perfectly. However, if we are following Jesus, then we must follow him into relationship with those he calls his own and who are our brothers and sisters.
Relationships are indeed funny things.
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