Learning to Live in Covenant - We’re Doing Life Together
Amos 3:3
Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?
Introduction:
We've all watched Charlie Brown try to kick that football, but every time Lucy pulls it away. Would Charlie be better off without having Lucy as a friend, or is life better when we choose to live life in relationship with others?
Charlie Brown is learning life lessons in trusting others, and yes, he is also learning about forgiving Lucy too.
Yes it is better to do life together!
God has brought us together.
1. No one is here by chance. Do you believe the Lord has a plan and purpose for each of us as members together of Life Church AG?
Our membership covenant begins saying, “We, the body of Christ at Life Church Assembly of God, believe the Lord has brought us together for His glory.”
As individual members of Christ’s body, we believe we cannot stand alone. Instead God has brought us together at this time and in this place. None of us are here by chance.
2. Have you ever thought about why we are here attending this church?
Our membership covenant begins by telling us why we are each here - can you see the reasons God brought you are here?
God brings us together as members of CHRIST’S BODY - the Church.
Notice what Paul says about the body - 1 Corinthians 12:14-18 ESV
14 The body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose.
God has arranged the body of Christ; it is the Lord who has brought you here!
It is possible that someone might attend our church but not be part of the body of Christ. If that happens to be you, then because we are in covenant relationship let me give you a word of caution: YOU WILL EVENTUALLY BE EXPOSED FOR WHO YOU REALLY ARE. It is possible for you to be a good religious person and attend a church for years and no one but Jesus will know you are not part of His body, but that can’t happen here because we are in covenant with each other. It’s also possible for those Jesus called wolves to sneak into a church pretending to be a sheep and go unnoticed, but be warned: covenant relationships will expose you as the wolf you really are.
Why will being in covenant relationship cause those who are not part of Christ’s body be exposed? - That’s the second reason why God brings us together:
God has brought us together for HIS GLORY.
We are not here to make a name for ourselves. God brings us together as His Church in order to glorify and make His name great!
1 Peter 4:7-11
7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
It’s one thing to believe God brings us together as the body of Christ for His glory, and it is another to act upon what you believe. We can believe all the right stuff, but faith without works is still dead right?
Knowing God brings us together is why we join together in covenant relationships.
Our membership covenant simply stated says: “We’re doing LIFE TOGETHER as we ENCOUNTER, CONNECT, GROW and SERVE.”
1. Even though we spent the majority of last year learning about covenant relationships, living in covenant is foreign to us today.
When we say we share covenant relationships with each other what does that mean? Or put simply - WHAT IS COVENANT?
Covenant is a agreement to an unbroken lifetime relationship. If the relationship is to be unbroken for a lifetime then THE AGREEMENT MUST BE REMEMBERED.
That’s why we want each of us to be able to state our covenant simply with only 11 words. Say it with me: “We’re doing LIFE TOGETHER as we ENCOUNTER, CONNECT, GROW and SERVE.” We discovered last week that even though our covenant can be stated simply we have lots of room to develop and improve how we live out our covenant relationships with each other.
2. The making of covenant is not the end but the beginning
It’s one thing to say the words and its another to live out the words.
If we say the words but don’t live them then the words become empty and meaningless. Our words take on greater meaning when we do what we say.
How we relate to one another gives our words meaning. We want each of us to be able to express what it means to do life together as we encounter connect grown and serve through the way live from day to day.
We’re doing life together.
What does it mean when we say, “We’re doing life together.” Perhaps the best example of two individuals who chose to covenant together in this way was Jonathan and David (1 Samuel 17-20).
Philippians 2:2-5 NET
2 be of the same mind, by having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one purpose. 3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. 4 Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. 5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had.
If we are doing life together then our relationships must be radically different from those in the world. We are to treat each other in the same way as Jesus.
This is our commitment to each other: We pledge to do life together by our unfailing love for Christ and the believers gathered here, and therefore, we freely make this lifetime commitment as covenant members one to another.
1. Our commitment to each other is based upon our unfailing love for Christ.
1 John 4:21 NIV
And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
2. Doing life together is a lifetime commitment - it’s our way of life.
Ephesians 4:25 NIV
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
3. As covenant members one to another, my life is not my own.
Romans 12:5 NIV
In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
What is the Holy Spirit Saying to YOU today? As God gives you ears to hear and eyes to see will we now allow Him to transform our heart and empower us to respond in obedience to Him?
1. Are you living in isolation or are you willing to be vulnerable and enter into relationship with others?
2. Are you here by chance or has God brought you into the fellowship of the church for a reason? In what ways can others be a blessing to you? How can you be a blessing in the lives of others?
