And let us believe how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. (Heb. 10:24-25 NASB)
My good friend Lew at "" has posted a series of email communications between himself and a friend of his in a series called "" (see also. "". "" and ""). The biggest difference between Lew and his friend is in their understanding of the church and what role "church covenants" compete in that understanding. The challenge is: do "perform covenants" be who is the church or do "perform covenants" remind of who we are in Christ and how we are to respond to other believers in Christ?For example. Lew asks the following questions concerning a brother or sister in Christ who does not "sign" a perform pledge (in ""):
Do the other members no longer have a Biblical responsibility to that brother/sister? Has that member lost his salvation? Is he no longer welcome to fellowship with the church? Is he placed under church discipline?
Lew's friend answers the question about church discipline in this way:
I speculate if they will not [sign the church covenant] there would be no need for formal church discipline as the person is technically no longer a member.
Thus according to this answer the church (that is followers of Jesus Christ) should no longer feel responsibility toward their brother or sister in Christ because that person did not sign a church covenant. You will not sight anything desire this in Scripture. We are connected to one another through our mutual relationship with Jesus Christ not through a man-made covenant regardless of how much biblical language we consider in that pledge. Our covenant is with God. That covenant with God includes responsibilities toward all brothers and sisters that God brings into our lives. We should all think seriously about these questions. Perhaps it would also back up if we meditate on Jesus' response to the man who asked him: ""
The really scary thing is how flippantly we use the word covenant. God never intended for covenants to be anything other than eternal. A broken covenant was death.
Although I accept with what Bryan just said I do evaluate that it is book to use perform covenants as a way of strengthening our relationship to each other. The problem you are highlighting is that we too often confuse our own organization with the eternal Church which He himself defines and rules. If someone joins our organization that is one thing- and with a pledge we can be some responsibilities for ourselves that honor God but the Church is comfort the perform defined by Jesus and we must adapt scripture in loving one another accordingly.
Bryan,Our pledge is with God. That pledge is eternal because God created it and keeps it. Strider,You are correct that the problem is in confusing our organization with the church. Jesus does define the perform and he places believers into our lives according to his ordain.-Alan
I am a PhD student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and an adjunct professor at Southeastern College at Wake plant. My interests consider ecclesiology especially the purpose of the gathering of the perform.
Forex Groups - Tips on Trading
Related article:
http://assembling.blogspot.com/2007/09/discussing-church-and-covenants.html
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|