The Ministry of Reconciliation part 8-Relating to Believers

Prepare Your Heart: Read Psalm 133.  Pray about your experiences with other believers past and present.  Ask God to show you any correction needed in your relationships with other believers through our study today.

In my journey as a disciple of Christ, nothing has encouraged my faith more than knowing God’s word.  Second only to that is fellowship I’ve had through time spent with other believers.  Life is hard and we aren’t meant to go it alone.  Landing here in our relationship with other believers brings us full circle in our journey of the purpose of this study: developing our ministry of reconciliation.  Review 2 Corinthians 5 one more time but this time carefully read verses 11-16.  They may not seem like big verses at first reading, but they are at the heart of this study as they are pertain to how we are motivated to view and interact with others.  Note a few things you observe about relationships among believers from these verses.  This section ends with these words in verse 16, Therefore (as we no longer live for ourselves) we recognize no one according to the flesh. 

I don’t know about you but I make a lot of judgments about people about what I see on the surface.  With my flesh or worldly eyes, I also judge other believers.  Have you ever formed an opinion about someone at church based on their clothes, car, weight, maybe even their involvement in the church?  Their personality?  Yet Paul says in verse 14 that Christ’s love controls us and has caused him to see other believers apart from superficial and perishing matters.  The Greek word used for control is synecho, and its definition isn’t reflective of our common usage.  It means to hold together, to hold completely.  I love one description: “to hold together any whole, lest it fall to pieces or something fall away from it.”  Christ’s love controls us, hold us together in unity and He calls us to band together to stay closer to Him.  For our witness to the world, the proof of the words in our ministry are found in our love for one another.  Jesus says By this all men will know you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 15:35).  For anyone to listen to the gospel you wish to share with them, they must see your love for other Christians or nothing you say will ever be heard.  In this sense, we must live out the gospel for the world to see by relating as God’s word says we should. 

1.        Review your notes on part 5 of this study.  Are there any insights from 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 that apply to our “code of conduct” as believers in the same body?

2.       Look up the verses listed after each topic.  Write a two or three sentence summary of how we are to interact with each other in regards to what you learn after reading each scripture:

Conflict: 1 Corinthians 6:1-8, Matthew 18:21-35, 2 Thessalonians 3:15

Support for Life’s Trials: Galatians 6:2-3, Colossians 3:12-13, John 13:12-17

Accountability: Galatians 6:1, Matthew 18:15-17

Unity: Ephesians 4:3-13, 1 Peter 3:8, Colossians 3:13-14, 1 Corinthians 10:24, 12:12-26, Philippians 2:2-4

Christian Freedom: Romans 14:1-23, 1 Corinthians 9:7-13, Galatians 5:13-15

Generosity: Galatians 6:5, Romans 12:13, 2 Corinthians 9:6-13

Fellowship: Colossians 3:16-17, Galatians 6:10, Acts 2:42-47, Ephesians 5:19-21

Accepting Differences: Matthew 7:1-5, Romans 12:3-8, 16, 15:1-7

Love: Romans 12:9-10, Ephesians 4:31-32, 1 John 4:7-21

3.       Psalm 119:160 (NASB) says The sum of Your word is truth.  Review the list you made from my previous post of what you discovered about the relationship between believers on your own.  What things were the same?  What things did you discover that weren’t included in the passages we studied? 

The One Thing:  I hope that in studying about our relationships with other believers you were encouraged to find that many healthy relationships abound in your life.  Sadly, those of us who have received so much grace are sometimes hard pressed to give it to other believers as our expectations of them may be different.  Jesus describes the priority God puts in relationships this way-- if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the alter and go.  First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5:23-24).  The sacrifices He desires are steadfast love…the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6).   It is the hardest thing to humble yourself,  to seek out reconciliation and confess.   Is there anyone God is calling you to speak to, to be reconciled to?  To ask for forgiveness, to say things that for years may have needed to be said?  Without right relationships in the body of Christ, the ministry He calls us to will be diluted and ineffectual.