God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Almighty God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17:2, “I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly.” Later, in verse 7 there is the promise of an everlasting covenant to you and your descendants forever.
Our God is a relational God. He seeks for a people that keep His covenant. The reason God gave the law was to teach us about relationship. The first four commandments are all about honouring Him who is jealous about the relationship. The rest of the ten commandments deal with honouring and caring for one another.
Just like a schoolteacher teaches values that help us to lead our lives in fullness, He gave the commandments to His people to be different to the rest of the nations. Jesus is the fullness of that relationship who completed the law. He did not only come to release us from the clutches of sin, but to give us life everlasting.
When a prisoner is released from his prison his status is still ex-prisoner. That is how he views himself and that is how others view him as well. But when Jesus declares in John 8:36 “The Son will set you free”, it implies a recreation where the old status is wiped out. You become a completely new person in Christ and you see yourself as such. You are in the position of sonship and partner in God’s purposes.
When we are in this new relationship with God by the Spirit of sonship we desire to represent the Father well. We are no longer slaves or servants to work for a wage, but we have an inheritance.
This truth is underlined in Matthew 7:22-23 “Not everyone who says Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven but he who does the will of my Father in heaven”. Some people point to performance as a means to enter His kingdom, but He continues to underline relationship, “I never knew you”.
We are partners in the Gospel, followers that use His name which means we are to represent Him well. That means our relationships need to be sound, not each one looking after his own interests or ministry.
We misrepresent God when we do things outside of His authority and do not have the brotherly love He expects from us. John 14: “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another”. We are a team that do not just work together, but trust each other with their lives. Partnering with Him and one another. This month’s NamEquip 2016 “Partners in the Gospel”, is the perfect time to grow together in His purposes.
