True Christianity is focused on a relationship, not a religion, on a person, not a teaching. Eternal life is knowing God in the person of Jesus Christ and having a relationship with Him (John 17:3). People experience healing and restoration by encountering Jesus, not by merely knowing about him. The Christian life is about receiving our full rights as sons, and entering into the relationship with God as our heavenly Father (John 1:12). It is relationship that heals and brings life; it is relationship that turns information in the mind to revelation in the heart.
God first wants to restore our relationship with him (Mat 22:37-38) and then to restore our relationship with one another (Mat 22:39). We gather at church to nurture this relationship. When we connect with God, the source of love, we end up loving one another. And that will bring about the end of crime and other social ills, because love is the fulfillment of all the Law and the Prophets (Mat 22:40).
The inability to love is sin, because sin is defined as missing the mark (Romans 3:23). When Jesus came to remove our sin and our sin nature (Rom 6:11), He effectively removed our inability to love, and enabled us to love God and to love one another. He empowered some people to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Eph 4:11), not to perform the work of the ministry but to equip the saints to serve (Eph 4:12). This is God’s plan for maturing his people (Eph 4:13) and becoming like Jesus (Eph 4:15). Every part of Christ’s body has to do its work, in order for the body to grow and build itself in love (Eph 4:16).
It is only in the small group setting where we are able to encourage each other daily to keep sin’s deceitfulness from entering anyone’s heart (Heb 3:13). We are commanded to exhort one another every day and thus become God's instruments for the preservation of each other's faith. This will allow us to hold firmly to the confidence we have and thus share in Christ (Heb 3:14). We, as the people of God, are to encourage each other and to spur each other on toward love and good deeds (Heb 10:24-25) and that requires that we be in fellowship with each other.
Love will lead to action. Jesus said that if we love him we would do what he commands (John 14:15). God himself showed his love by his actions, by his giving (John 3:16). Therefore we are commanded to carry each other’s burdens (Gal 6:2) and that requires that we are in vital relationship with each other, trusting each other enough to disclose our burdens to each other. Much of God’s healing, provision, restoration and guidance comes to us via community living because God has made us this way. We become fulfilled through relationships. Paul was accepted by the disciples because of Barnabas (Acts 9:27), Peter was led to Christ by his brother Andrew (John 1:41) and Andrew himself was brought to Christ because of his relationship with John the Baptist (John 1:36-37).
Points to Ponder:
- In what way have you been blessed or connected with the right people because of godly relationships? Share your testimony.
- Do you feel encouraged or challenged by the command to carry each other’s burdens? Why?
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