Teaching

What we call "relationship" today in our culture, the Scripture calls covenant. Back in the days when God's prophets and apostles received His Word, the modern idea of a being "in and out of a relationship" would have sounded rather strange to most people. You were either part of the tribe or you were not. You were either part of the covenant or you were not.

Now here's the key to covenant being a blessing, not a curse. It's covenant minus the control (forcing of one's personality, will, etc. onto another). Most people today cringe at the idea of over-committed relationships simply because they have been burned by a controling friend, relative, fellow student, boyfriend, girlfriend, co-worker, pastor, fellow church goer. The list goes on and on. We can all do just fine without people who take advantage (knowingly or not) of other people who happen to be softer, more friendly or complient. People have junk, it's true. Therefore it's our responsibility to be aware of and protect our boundaries - even with the closest people in our lives!

But this doesn't mean we ditch the Biblical revelation of covenant. God's idea of covenant comes as part of the greatest covenant of all - life itself! It has nothing to do with our idea of controlling relationships. It in fact is God's highest form of freedom because covenant was always within the context of warfare. You don't need covenant if you don't understand the cosmic warfare. Covenant was the greatest form of liberty a powerful royal could offer to a weaker partner. It guaranteed your life, the freedom of your movement and your property. Sounds good to me!

Fast forward to Abraham.

When God rolled up his sleeves and decided it's time for Him to move back in and claim some ownership on the planet, he sought for a man with whom he could cut a covenant. It was really the only way for the Lord to legally re-enter man's domain.

The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, but the earth He has given to the sons of men. Ps. 115:14

That wasn't just a "relationship" God initiated with Abraham, it was covenant - bloody, gory, real-life covenant. You can read about it here:

Gen. 15:7 And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.8 And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

Today we have this very loosey-goosey, sanitized idea of "relationships", which is really an 18th century [rather modern] term somewhat reflecting the Western idea of contractual based association, with much less committment and of course with much less consequences in a case of default. Failure and the right to fail without losing your life is an important part of liberty and free societies. Totalitarian and primitive societies have very low tolerance toward faliure, which is why they never experiement and progress. The cities of refuge in the culture of the Hebrews was an incredibly sophisticated and the prototype of the modern system of allowing people to experience faliure and still get another chance in life.

So I'm not against faliure, neither is God. What is grace if not allowing someone to fail without striking them dead?

At the same time, the idea of no-committement relationships is not Biblical.

The same can be said of concepts such as "friendship" and "happiness". As someone pointed out, back in the days when the founders penned the Constitution of the United States, the pursuit of happiness was the pursit of honor, goodness and nobility. It had nothing to do with the hedonistic nature of what so many people view today as happiness.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to make this over-dramatic, pompous and self-righteous to a point where it becoms a turn off. But I don't want to feel guilty about trying to raise the bar, either.

Consider the following:

Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 NASB

I want to encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ today - you and I are fully capable of cutting the covenant of the Lord with him and with one another. It's the only way the glory of God can rest once again in the earth, which is His footstool. He's looking for a Body which is one in covenant, for him to fill with his presence, power, healing and manifest wisdom. It was always meant to be real, tangible and expressed through each and everyone who is part of the Body.

This is a different view of what "church" and "Christianity" were ment to be. A far cry from the pre-Reformation formula of "a holy man in a holy building, performing a holy ritual on a holy day of the week." This is a call to return to organic, covenantal based, Kingdom centric, Christ-like life. [Nothing wrong with live, vibrant expressions of the Body which involves "services" as we know them].

The idea of being "one spirit with the Lord" is a covenantal Hebraic concept. You can never grasp the heart of what the Scriptures mean through the mindest of the Greek thought. All Scripture was given within the context of the Hebraic worldview. Covenant has a pretty significant place in Hebraic thought. All and any relationship God has ever had with man is based on covenant. There are not kind-of-sort-of covenants. You're either in or you're not.

But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 NASB

The idea of sharing a cup and bread is a Hebraic covenantal concept.

1 Cor. 10:16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.

Let's press forward and continue to pursue the things that are real - Christ in us, the hope of glory!

George Bakalov