Living in Covenant with One Another

Living in Covenant with One Another 1 A man called a pastor s office at a church one day to inquire into membership in the church. He stated that he would not be able to get involved or anything, but he felt it was important to have some religious affiliation. The pastor advised this man that the church he pastored might not be the best fit for him, but he knew of a place where he would fit in quite nicely. The man asked about a phone number, but the pastor only gave him an address. On Sunday morning, the gentlemen followed the directions and pulled up into the yard of a dilapidated building. The roof was falling in, the doors were locked, and kudzu was growing into the windows. This gentleman called the pastor and told him that he had given him the wrong directions. "Oh no," the pastor replied. "Not at all. That is the place. That church has a membership roll filled with people who did not want to get involved or committed. That is what will always happen to a church whose members do not care about its Kingdom success." Let me begin today by asking you a question. What does it mean to be a member of First Baptist Church? What does it mean to join our church? Years ago, the old timers used to say, I belong to such and such church. They were telling you that their membership at that church meant something. It meant that a part of them literally belonged to the congregation that made up that church. I suggest to you that membership here means a lot of things, but among the most significant is the fact that we are a covenant people who live out that covenant in how we relate to one another. Let me put that in terms of what I have been sharing for the past three weeks. Our Purpose statement is the essence of our calling as a church. Basically it describes who we are. It describes our reason for being here. Let me remind you of that purpose statement. We believe we exist to glorify God by attracting and winning people to faith in Jesus Christ, 2 by nurturing them in our Christian family, by bringing them to Christ-like maturity, 3 and by involving them in meaningful ministry. That is our purpose statement. Our Baptist Faith and Message states what we believe. That is our doctrinal statement. You may not know this, but I have been preaching systematically through our cardinal doctrines for four years now. I don t call it that, but you have been schooled whether you realized it or not. Our doctrines are what we believe. So, our purpose statement tells us why we are here and our doctrinal statement tells us what we believe. Our Covenant explains how we behave. Based on who we are and what we believe, our covenant describes how we live together as a family of God. Having said that, let s look more closely at our covenant. Your Constitution and Bylaws Committee worked diligently on this statement for months. We presented it to you for consideration and discussion. Then you voted overwhelmingly to adopt this as the official expression of how we relate to one another in this body of Christ. A copy of our covenant is on the insert in your bulletin, or in WITH it is on the back of your bulletin. The first matter they dealt with is the fact that we are covenant people. That word may be strange and new to you, but you will recognize the concept if not the word. Our Church Covenant beings, God established a covenant relationship, first with His people Israel, and then a new covenant with His people, the church. 1 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:15) In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. (1 Cor. 11:25)

2 That explains that we are living under the new covenant, but what does it mean to live in covenant with one another? To answer that question, we need to look back at the ancient covenants and learn what they meant. It is a strange scene for modern eyes to behold, but one that was familiar in ancient times. Animals have been sacrificed, then cut down the spine, and separated by a bloody path. The ground appears to be soaked in blood. A covenant was being cut. Two men stand opposite one another along the path. Each one removes his robe and hands it to the other, then puts on the other s garment. Symbolically and verbally each is expressing, I am putting on you. We are one. They draw their weapons and each hands the other their sword and bow. By their actions they communicate to all who witness, Your enemies are my enemies, and mine yours. They remove their belts and exchange them, demonstrating their commitment of strength. When you are weak, my strength will be there for you. They exchange places along the path multiple times, walking through the death that surrounds them. In so doing they demonstrate that they are dying to their own rights and independent living and choose to live for the sake of the other. A covenant is being cut. Pointing to heaven and to the bloody carcasses, they swear an oath: God do so to me if I break this covenant. Reaching into his garment, each would remove a pouch of salt. Each would pour the contents into a common bowl. Then they would shake the bowl to thoroughly mix the salt, and divide it equally between them. Then they would each take a pinch and cast it on the carcasses, demonstrating that one s original salt could never be reclaimed. This salt covenant states: What is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine. Our lives cannot be separated. Our covenant is forever. Then they would exchange new names; names symbolic of who they were in covenant. Because of the covenant they had a new identity. Then they would break bread, place a pinch of salt on it, and literally place the piece in the mouth of the other. I am partaking of you and you of me. Finally a memorial would be set up as a testimony of the covenant cut between them declaring, We are one! A covenant has been cut. Does that sound like something out of a science fiction movie? Maybe it sounds more like from the Middle Ages. Actually it is much older than that. What I have just described is the cutting of a covenant. Covenants were not signed they were cut! The phrase to cut a covenant describes the sacrifice of animals and the aspect of the promise that it was do the death. No one entered in to a covenant lightly. The promises cut in covenant were absolutely binding with God as witness and He was the One who would punish any breach of covenant. To enter into covenant was to bind oneself with another person, to their successes or failures, to their triumphs or their destruction. The fate of that person became your fate as well. Covenant cutting was serious business! God is the author of covenant cutting. To be sure, some covenants He made with mankind were eternal and absolute, while others were conditional. For example, His covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15) was absolute and irrevocable. It was totally dependent on God, His faithfulness and His grace, and in no way conditional on Abraham s faithfulness to the covenant. The Mosaic covenant (Ex. 24) was conditional: God would bless if they would obey, but if they rebelled the blessing would turn to cursing. There is never any variableness in God s part of a covenant. He is the constant. His actions will always be consistent with His covenant. It reflects His nature, His character, and His Word. When He makes an absolute covenant, one that is totally on Him to keep, you can be as certain that He will keep

3 His covenant as you are that He is God! When He makes a conditional covenant, you can be sure that He will keep His Word and do His part. He is the constant in the covenant process. But to sum this up, a covenant is a solemn, sacred promise with God as the witness as to how two people are going to live in relation to one another. That is why marriage is a covenant not a contract. If we were to use the typical language of a marriage covenant as it would relate to joining a church, it might read like this. Will you Fred Lodge, take First Baptist Church to be your church; to live together in the holy covenant of membership? Will you love, comfort, honor, and keep your church and be faithful to your church as long as you live? Do you Fred Lodge, take your church to be your family, from this day forward, for better or worse, in good and bad times, when the treasury is full and when it is empty, when it is healthy and growing and when it is weak and struggling? Will you love it and honor it and serve it until death, as God is your witness? Is this language beginning to sound familiar? It is covenant language. God is the originator of the concept of covenant. He has established a covenant first with His people Israel, and then with the church. In this covenant relationship, God s promises are as certain as He is. God is the constant in every covenant He enters into. He is unchangeable and will always hold up His end of the covenant. As such, He calls us to live in a covenant relationship with one another. What does that mean? More to the point for this morning, what does that mean to us as First Baptist Church? It means when we unite with this church we enter into a covenant with one another to live according to the Word of God as we relate to one another. Our church covenant is actually taken almost entirely from the one another passages in the Bible. Look in your bulletin and you will find a copy of our church covenant. Will you read it with me? God established a covenant relationship, first with His people Israel, and then a new covenant with His people, the church. 1 Having been led, as we believe by the Spirit of God, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and, on the profession of our faith, having been baptized by immersion in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and accepting the Bible as our authoritative standard regarding our belief and behavior, we do now in the presence of God and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ. We believe we exist to glorify God by attracting and winning people to faith in Jesus Christ, 2 by nurturing them in our Christian family, by bringing them to Christ-like maturity, 3 and by involving them in meaningful ministry. 4 Therefore, as members of God s covenant family known as First Baptist Church of Blairsville, we commit ourselves to God and to one another to be Christ-like 5 in our lives and relationships through the presence, guidance, and power of God s Holy Spirit. We will love one another as Christ loved us, 6 honor one another above ourselves, 7 be kind and compassionate to one another, 8 encourage and build up one another, 9 comfort one another, 10 and offer hospitality to one another. 11 We will have a spirit of unity based on our common bond in Christ, 12 be united in mind and convictions, 13 meet together regularly, 14 have equal concern for each other, suffer when one suffers and rejoice when another is honored, 15 and let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. 16 We will use our God-given knowledge to instruct one another, 17 use our spiritual gifts to bless one another, 18 use the Word of Christ to teach and admonish one another, 19 and nurture one another toward spiritual maturity measured by the life and ministry of Jesus. 20

4 We will not talk negatively about one another, 21 not pass judgment on one another, not put any stumbling block in one another s way, 22 we will be morally pure in our thoughts, actions and language. 23 We will be generous in our giving 24 and we will be filled with the Spirit. 25 We will confess our sins to one another, pray for each other, 26 warn those who are disruptive, encourage the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with one another, 27 forgive one another as the Lord forgave us, 28 and gently restore those who sin. 29 We will let the light of our godly lives shine together to bring glory to God. 30 If we move from this place, we will, as soon as possible, unite with a sister church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God s Word. 1. Hebrews 8:7-13; 9:15 2. Matthew 28:18-20 3. Ephesians 4:14-16 4. II Corinthians 5:18 5. 1 Peter 2:21 6. John 13:34 7. Romans 12:10 8. Ephesians 4:32 9. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 10. 2 Corinthians 1:4 11. 1 Peter 4:9 12. Ephesians 4:3-6 13. 1 Corinthians 1:10 14. Hebrews 10:25 15. 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 16. Philippians 2:3 17. Romans 15:14 18. 1 Corinthians 12:7 19. Colossians 3:6 20. Ephesians 4:13 21. James 4:11 22. Romans 14:13 23. Ephesians 5:3-4 24. 2 Corinthians 9:5 25. Ephesians 5:18 26. James 5:16 27. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 28. Colossians 3:13 29. Galatians 6:1 30. Matthew 5:16 I know that is a lot to take in at one time, so I want us to let this statement of covenant settle in our hearts and minds for a while. Throughout the year I will be preaching on this statement or referring to it. As we have wonderful people come into our fellowship, we want them to know the lifestyle we are committed to here at FBC. Part of what we do in our New Members Class is to help folks know who we are, what we believe, and how we behave. We hold one another accountable to be true to the Word of God when it comes to our belief and behavior This covenant tells us how you can expect to be treated by your fellow members here at First Baptist Church. It tells you how you can expect to be greeted and welcomed. It tells you how you can expect to be treated when you are down and under temptation. It tells you that those you love and have entered into covenant with will challenge you when you go astray and restore you when you return to obedience. It tells you that you can expect your fellow members to pray for you, encourage you, and be there for you when times are difficult. It tells Joe how he can expect Steve to relate to him. It tells Sandy how she can expect Sue to respond to her. What it really tells us is that we promise one another to live by the dictates of Scripture when it comes to relationship with one another. Then, it gives us a yardstick to measure our spiritual growth. See, in the world people don t live this way. This is a part of our discipleship, our maturity in the Lord, to see a personal transformation in how we relate to one another. We are more patient and forgiving to one another than we were before we were saved and joined this church. We are more gracious and kind, helpful and thoughtful than we once were. We notice a difference in our thought life, especially as it relates to fellow believers. Finally, it provides a standard when we go astray. Because it is built on the Word of God, when a member strays, or what the old timers called backslides, then we have a covenant that has been threatened. Because it was entered into in a binding love relationship, we have a base to stand on to call that member back into fellowship. Of course we have the Word itself, and when you come to Christ you

5 enter into covenant with Him. That should be all we need to call us home when we go astray. But we all know that God has given His Word to His Church to call sinners to repentance, even if that sinner happens to be a church member! This document, based squarely on the one another passages of our Bible, tells us and all who will read it and study it how we are expected to treat one another, how we are to love one another. It describes what Christian love looks like here at First Baptist Church. I would not want to join a civic organization not knowing what it stood for, what values it espoused, or what activities they were involved in. Would you? Neither would I want to commit to a body of Christ that I knew nothing about their doctrines and practices. So we will do what our forefathers did years ago. They would periodically read their Church Covenant together, and in so doing they would commit afresh and anew to living that way in relation to one another. I want you to read this often. Open your Bibles and read the passages that are referred to here. Do like the Bereans of Acts 17 and see if these things are really true. They are! But you need to see that for yourself. As you read and study this covenant, I implore you to ask Holy Spirit if this describes the manner in which you live. Ask if this is the way you treat your fellow church members. Ask if there is any element here that you and He need to deal with. Author Jerry Bridges comments in an article on commitment, "As I have watched the parade of people through our church, and other churches, I wonder why so few commit themselves to a local body of believers in a significant way. Many sit and soak and do little else, and they flee at the first sign of trouble or pressure. They fail to become involved or to give; the priority for corporate worship falls far down on the list. They criticize all that is wrong with a specific local congregation. What can we do besides comment or complain? We need to accept the challenge to commit ourselves to responsible membership." Celebrate life together with your brothers and sisters here at First Baptist Church. Here we live in covenant with one another.