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3. The Biblical model for relationships.
a) Like a family.
* Membership in one body, interdependence, unity, common life.
* Loving relationships (brotherhood and sisterhood), sharing.
* Authority and order.
b) If so, there are practical needs:
* Need to express commitment and love to a specific, concrete group of
people.
* Need for such group of people to learn a specific set of relating and living
out their commitments
4. The nature of our commitment.
a) We are to love and serve God.
* We are to be God's own servant people.
b) We are to love and serve one another.
* We are no longer our own masters.
* We are to lay down our lives for one another.
* Practically, we should be willing to meet our brethren's needs with our
personal resources.
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c) We are to live our lives in true righteousness and holiness.
d) We are to be a people that the Lord can use as a body.
* Have unity, order, peace, and support for our common life.
e) We are to be light and leaven to the world.
1. The Old and New Testaments are God's old and new efforts to establish a
relationship with His people.
2. CFC is a vehicle, an opportunity by which we can respond fully to God.
E. Our response.
1. Jn 13:34-35. Commandment of the new covenant.
a) But in the Church today, there is a tendency to interpret this as a call to love
all men and women.
b) True we must love everyone, but the New Testament distinguishes between
love for those who are not Christians and the covenant love of Christian
brethren.
* Gal 6:10. It is important to note the distinction and have a special love for
our brethren.
D. New Testament teaching.
1. God wants to make a covenant with us and enter into a personal relationship
with us.
a) Jesus came to bring about a new covenant.
* Lk 22:20. Jn 6:56.
b) The New Covenant is not merely a matter of obeying a set of laws, but of
entering into a living relationship with Jesus.
2. As with the old covenant, the new covenant is not an agreement between equals,
and is not done on our initiative. Rather, God acted first by sending Jesus.
3. All that God asks of us flows from what God has already done for us.
a) 1 Jn 4:19.
b) God's commands are taken in the light of His action in Jesus.
* Jn 13:15,34. A new commandment of love. Jesus' example.
4. There are also blessings and curses. Our response has eternal consequences
* Always have Jesus at the center of family life.2. Many Christian groups are unsuccessful because:
a) Their models are secular in nature.
* Democratization of personal relationships. Majority rule.
* Aim is self-fulfilment. Promotes selfishness.
* Priority of personal independence, of individual freedom.
* Relationships proceed from feelings.
b) Relationships are not based on a covenant.
c) There is no authority to oversee the relationships.
d) There is no common life, no significant relationships within the body.
Practical considerations.
When people agree to put their lives in common, the following are necessary:
a) Clearly spelled out commitments.
* Thus our written covenant.
b) An authority to govern the body and oversee the set of relationships.
* Our pastoral structure of household, unit and chapter leaders.
* Our overall governing and pastoral authorities: the CFC Council and the
Board of Elders.
3. Covenant agreements do not just bind persons to something outside themselves
(e.g., a business contract). Rather, the parties are bound in a personal way.
What is established is a significant family-like relationship between the agreeing
parties.
* Gen 15. God with Abraham.
* Gen 31:44-54. Laban and Jacob.
B. What is a covenant?
1. A covenant is a solemn agreement between parties through which they commit
themselves to certain relationships, tasks, obligations or ways of living.
2. Two types of covenant relationships.
a) Between parties equal in power and position.
* Gen 21:22-32. Abraham and Abimelech.
* 1 Sam 18:1,3-4. David and Jonathan.
* Marriage partners.
b) Between parties unequal in power and position.
* In this case, it is unilaterally bestowed by the greater on the lesser.
* E.g., a conqueror with his new subjects. He provides military protection
After the CLP, as a condition for membership in CFC, we entered into the
"Covenant of the Couples for Christ