An Introduction to Biblical Relationships: Fitly Joined

What purpose the Christian walk, if the image of our God and His Christ is not seen in even the smallest of our interactions with others? Didn’t Isaiah tell us we were to be His “Glory?”[1] The way God is seen through us determines how others see our God; and the way we treat our fellow man is a reflection of the way we treat our God.

What purpose the “Cross” if there is no “Resurrection?” What purpose repentance if there is no evident change? Paul says we are to become “new creatures”[2] when we join in the likeness of His resurrection; a person unlike the one we were before. This is the purpose of the cross; to mortify those things in us that are unlike God, and bring forth those that are like Him.

Do you desire to know what things exhibit God in us? Look to the “voice” of Paul again:

“Love is patient and kind. Love knows neither envy nor jealousy. Love is not forward and self-assertive, nor boastful and conceited. Love does not behave unbecomingly, nor seek to aggrandize herself, nor blaze out in passionate anger, nor brood over wrongs. Love finds no pleasure in injustice done to others, but joyfully sides with the truth. Love knows how to be silent. Love is full of trust, full of hope, full of patient endurance. Love never fails.” [3] Yes, the Apostle is telling us about love in this passage, but also, and foremost, about whom God is. In his first letter, John goes so far as to use love to identify, not only God, but those who are in union with Him. [4]

Love is the element that ties all things together. Love is the sinew and tissue that connects the whole “body of Christ” together.[5] It is love that identifies the mature child of God and differentiates him, or her, from one who is a “baby.”[6] It is the “childish nature” of the modern day church that turns the lost away. The “my doctrine is better than your doctrine” battle is no different than children fighting over which one has the bigger dog. The writer of Hebrews even goes so far as to identify this “childishness” and identify it by name.[7]

Example: Baptism is not a matter of a formula of spoken words, but a matter of the heart and its understanding of God. This “heart knowledge” leads one to recognize the Biblical command for the baptism, yet, today, it has caused a major rift in the church because of some peoples “childish” obsession with it. Whether or not to lay hands on others in accordance with Biblical illustration and the commands of the Christ has caused warfare of gigantic proportion between the “classical” Protestant churches and the modern day “charismatic,” but is, again, identified as foolishness. And how, when, and where the Christ will return isn’t of any importance whatsoever, but whole ministries have sprung up just for the purpose of arguing the point, when the real matter should be getting the church ready for Him no matter the specifics of His return. On that, all denominations agree; He will return.

How can we expect others to desire a relationship with God when they see, in and through us, how we really feel about Him? Can we have reverence for God and gossip endlessly about others? Can we possibly have respect for our God and lash out in anger and hate when we suffer a real or even an imagined, injustice? Do we walk in union with God when we exhibit nothing of the kingdom of heaven, but all of the worst of the world and it’s “prince?” What example do we expect them to follow; when on any given day one can turn on the major Christian broadcasters and get three conflicting doctrines from three consecutive programs?

God desires us to have genuine bonds of relationship with Him; and through Him, with others, but where do we start? To this end is this work dedicated; finding, and defining, the Biblical path to healthy relationships. It is unfortunate that this work becomes necessary. Unfortunate, because its necessity means that the church has not fulfilled it’s obligation to developing healthy relationships between God and man. Had it done so, the body of Christ would be fully operational in the perfect Love that expresses the character of God, rather than the “cut and run” attitude that makes it as immature and just another childish extension of the world.

This attitude began with the, now mostly discredited, but still followed by many, “Name-it-and-Claim-it” teachings of the 1980’s that taught the Promises of God, but paid no attention to the responsibility necessary to receive those promises. This, of course, instilled an aura of greed within the church that is still prevalent in many major circles. All too often leadership credentials are based on status and wealth, rather than holiness and humility before God. Is it any wonder that denominations that were, before this time, perfectly willing to worship together in city wide revivals and fall on their faces before the Almighty God, were now becoming bitter enemies?

False prophets and ministries that spent more time in taking the offering than preaching the word began to come to the forefront. They were allowed to do so because the wealthy wanted more wealth and the poor were suckered in by promises of immediate answers to their problems just by sending in the appropriate check to the ministry at hand. Now, we’ve come to a time and place where 90% of pulpit time is spent in reinforcing the “company policies,” in the interest of keeping the “sheep” at home, rather than preparing the church for entry into the kingdom of our God and His Christ. The supposed “fivefold ministry” has been placed on a level above the common churchgoer by (Guess who?) those recognized as the “fivefold ministry.” Ironically, since all believers are called into a ministry of some type, this passage was meant to include all at one level or another.

With this for an example, it is little wonder that the church has reached this place and time in history. It is evident that this is a time for much needed revival. Pam Clark of Trumpet Wind Ministries says, “There are many elements that form what the House of God is to be. For many, today it just seems like a slick presentation where you can go and hear a slick message designed to pierce your soul and give you a zing. But does it give you a change? Or does it just inspire you to go into business?” [8]

But this “time of revival” was expected in God’s scheme of things, and the Prophet Hosea was prompted by the Holy Spirit to announce the long distant remedy: “Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” [9]

To understand fully this prophecy of a “last days” or “latter rain” revival, we must turn to Peter’s second letter to the church where he reminds us, “… that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” [10] In this, he attempts to remind us that, as creation took six literal days, we must count the millennia of the house of Adam as comparative “days” for the proper prophetic understanding of the completion of God’s plan for us. As the genealogies of Matthew and Luke show us,[11] there are 4,000 years accounted for from Adam until the birth of the Christ. Using the timetable of Peter, four “days” had been accomplished. Hosea, though, speaks from the time of the Christ forward, thus two “days” brings us to the 21st century. Notice, this is the time when God has promised to “revive” us.

If we can take the analogy of a “week” one step further, then six “days” have now been accomplished, and now, with this new millennium, we step into the “Sabbath day” of God’s prophetic week. Would it be too great a leap to expect this to be the 1,000 years where God’s people get back to the basics of true relationships with God and man? Could this be the time Paul spoke of where the revealed sons (and daughters) of God restore creation?[12] It is with certainty the time appointed for us to fully walk back into the role of “dominion” that Adam abdicated with his disobedience, and reign as equals with the Christ in the Kingdom of His (and our) God.

Much has been said, and speculated, about the sin of Adam in the garden. It has been called pride, lust, jealousy, and a myriad of other things. Hordes of “Biblical Scholars” have spent extended time, discussion, and writing concerning this “original sin,” when the chain of reference in God’s word is much simpler and easily clearer than that. Look into the words of both the “Old Covenant” and the “New Covenant” and one finds that the single most important item between God and man is obedience ! It is the failure to “obey” that destroys the relationship, and the decision to obey that restores it. Jesus came that this relationship might be fully recognized and restored, but, as with most things of the Almighty God, the enemy has clouded the ability of the Believer to effectively accomplish this task. I am hopeful that this work will carry the anointing of God and enable the body of the Christ to, once again, be “fitly joined together” for the work of the kingdom.

[1] Isaiah 43:7. All Bible references will be taken from the King James unless otherwise indicated.

[2] 2 Corinthians 5:17

[3] 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, Weymouth translation

[4] 1 John 4:8, 16

[5] Ephesians 4:16

[6] ibid. 4:14

[7] Hebrews 5:12-6:3

[8] “What Happened to the House of God?” The Journey List, Rev. Pam Clark, pamclark@prophetic.net

[9] Hosea 6:1-3

[10] 2 Peter 3:8

[11] Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:24-38

[12] Romans 8:18-22