Covenant!

cov·e·nant

 - Law . an incidental clause in such an agreement.  Ecclesiastical . a solemn agreement between the members of a church to act together in harmony with the precepts of the gospel.  The conditional promises made to humanity by god, as revealed in Scripture.  The agreement between God and the ancient Israelites,in which God promised to protect them if they kept His law and were faithful to Him.  Formal agreement of legal validity, esp. one under seal.  To enter into a covenant.  To promise by covenant; pledge.

2 Kings 23:3

3 The king took his place of authority beside the pillar and renewed the covenant in the Lord's presence. He pledged to obey the Lord by keeping all his commands, laws, and decrees with all his heart and soul. In this way, he confirmed all the terms of the covenant that were written in the scroll, and all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

Heb 10:16-17

16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," 

NKJV

 I will say this and set the record straight form the beginning!  If we were even a tiny bit as FAITHFUL to others as God is to us, we as His church would be incredible at relationship! (1 Tim. 2:13)  Covenant is not an agreement to be kept until you are no longer willing to do the work of relationship, it is not a pledge that is only good until you come to a disagreement.  It is a vow of relationship made between God and man!  Not to be broken or taken lightly.  It is this covenant that we make with God that should govern or dictate how we do relationship with one another! My question I ask myself and you is this: "What does God say about this other person and if they were my kid, how would I want them treated?"  I believe if we were all mature enough to ask that question we would see a lot less hurt in the church and world.  I also believe if we held each other accountable for the choices we made in relationship, and worked all issues out with the heart of restoration before we acted, we would find that the world would come in throngs to our services.  Instead we have a history of hypocrisy, judgmental attitudes, and broken people who have now defined Christianity to the world.  Our wounded example is the only example of Jesus the unchurched person has, and because of this, men and women who are looking for The Answer say, "I want nothing to do with that ........"(you fill in the explicit blank)!  I am by no means an expert and a have just a few more things to learn (or a few million more) about the covenant we make with others.  I do have a desire to do all in my power to do relationships right, and this desire runs as deep as my passion to serve Jesus Christ!  

As I preach this next month on relationships I will lay out some God given Kingdom principles which should govern how we do relationship with each other! What does God have to say about Grace, Truth, Transparency, Boundaries,  Faithfulness, Accountability, Confidentiality, and other Biblical principles in relationship?