So...I Joined a Church (Part 2)

If we can KEEP a covenant then we can also BREAK a covenant.  The Scriptures teach us in Malachi 2:10 "Do we not all have one father?  Has not one God created us?  Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?"

To be in COVENANT with God also means that you are in COVENANT with every other believer.  In essence, it's a DUAL COVENANT... vertical with God and horizontal with one another.  We cannot separate the two.  We cannot separate the BODY (believers) from the HEAD (Jesus).

How we treat ONE ANOTHER, we treat CHRIST.

In Malachi 2, God has a serious issue with the priests because of the ungodly way they were treating one another.  The priests were disregarding the COVENANT that the Lord had started with their forefathers. 

Remember all the "One Another's" in Scripture?  Those aren't suggestions...they're commands.  Anyone who has entered into the NEW COVENANT in Christ are required to behave in certain ways toward one another.  Basically, believers are mutually obligated to one another in RELATIONAL CONDUCT on the basis of LOVE through the empowerment of the HOLY SPIRIT.

• Wash one another's feet; a servant's attitude (John 13:14)
• Love one another (John 13:34, 1 John 3:16-18)
• Be devoted to one another in brotherly love (Romans 12:10)
• Build up one another (Romans 14:19)
• Accept one another (Romans 15:7)
• Admonish one another (Romans 15:14)
• Greet one another (Romans 16:16)
• Serve one another (Galatians 5:13)
• Bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2)
• Show forbearance to one another (Ephesians 4:2) 
• Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32)
• Be subject to one another (Ephesians 5:21)
• Teach one another (Colossians 3:16)
• Comfort one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18)
• Encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13)
• Stimulate one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24)
• Confess our faults to one another (James 5:16)
• Pray for one another (James 5:16)
• Be hospitable to one another (1 Peter 4:9)
• Be clothed with humility toward one another (1 Peter 5:5)

Look at Malachi 2:10 again..."Do we not all have one father?  Has not one God created us?  Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?"

The Hebrew word interpreted “profane” means, “to defile, to pollute, to desecrate, to break one’s word, to dissolve”. 

The BLESSINGS or CURSINGS that flow to others around us are all dependent on our OBEDIENCE or DISOBEDIENCE to the COVENANT.  That's why it's essential for us to remain faithful to the COVENANT we have entered into with God.  Because, as the church goes...so goes the world.

Another definition for the word "profane" is "to bore through, to wound, to pierce”. To profane the covenant of God is to wound or pierce His Son, Jesus Christ. 

When we mistreat another brother or sister with whom we are in COVENANT, we wound the Lord. This is the original BODY-PIERCING that is taking place today within the body of Christ. Remember...what we do to one another...we are doing to Jesus.  We are ONE BODY.  Every time we mistreat one another...we are profaning His COVENANT.

The way we walk out, or manifest the HORIZONTAL aspect of the covenant, reveals to everyone, including ourselves, the true commitment of our VERTICAL commitment to the Lord.  A half-hearted commitment to one another is due to a half-hearted commitment to the Lord.

Jesus addressed the VERTICAL and HORIZONTAL aspects of COVENANT between God and man in Matthew 22:36-40...

• A Pharisee asked Jesus, “’Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ 
• And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind (the “vertical” covenant). 
• This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself (the “horizontal” covenant). 
• On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’”

More to come...