Covenental Commitments Underlying Our "Togetherness"

Let me, let me introduce what we're doing, this month. our, our theme for the month of December, with the exception of our Christmas service, which will be December 23rd, is Together for the Gospel, and we're gonna be focusing on the theme of togetherness, throughout the entirety of, of this, month. I don't know if you've noticed, there's, there's been in recent years within evangelical Christianity. a resurgence of the word together.

There's Together for the Gospel. I think it's a conference that happens every other year, and I was able to go to one of those conferences in Kentucky, I think in 2006. More recently, there's Together for Adoption, people that Christians who are moved by the gospel and God adopting us into His family. who are passionate about adopting others, and they want to encourage that in the church.

And so they started a movement called Together for Adoption. They recently had a, a conference. David Platt recently wrote a book entitled Radical Together. And I think this type of emphasis is great and it's beautiful as long as the togetherness is being enjoyed by those who theologically or are orthodox in their belief and in their practice, and the truth is, guys, that this, this focus.

On togetherness is really simply a return to an old idea. In fact, one of the earliest characteristics of the ancient church in its most primitive form, is the characteristic of togetherness. In fact, very quickly, because we got a lot of ground to cover this morning. Look at this in Acts chapter 1, just reading the first two chapters of the book of Acts.

Jesus gathered his followers together and commanded them, Don't leave Jerusalem until you've received the promise of the Father, which is the Spirit. and Acts 1:6, and when they had come together, they began to ask Jesus a question and, and a conversation was started that culminated in Christ being ascended up to the Father. And Christ obviously chose this venue of togetherness. He wanted the experience of seeing him ascending up to heaven.

To be enjoyed by these believers in community with one another. He wanted his ascension, as it were, to be a communal experience that they all witnessed together after he ascended to heaven in Acts 1, they go back into Jerusalem. And Luke tells us that these all with one mind were were together, and he speaks of a gathering of about 120 persons who were there together, and they were praying together and looking at scripture together and making decisions about leadership together as they waited for the coming of the Spirit.

And then on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 verse 1, this is the birthday of the church.

And we observed that when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, and it was in that context of togetherness where the Spirit fell upon them. They began to speak in tongues. A crowd was gathered and the gospel was preached, and 3000 people were saved. The church was birthed in a matrix of togetherness, so we're not surprised as The chapter unfolds, and Luke pulls back the curtains on the practices and the lifestyle of these very earliest believers in Christ in the church to read Luke saying and all those who had believed we're together.

Apparently, the gospel of Christ, when it is at work in the hearts of those who have put their trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the gospel creates this, this pull towards one another. He brings believers together. And we see that all who had believed were together. And Luke goes on to unfold this togetherness in Acts 2:46.

where he says, and day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having literally having grace toward all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day, those who were being saved. We see these early believers, They were eating together, they were being glad together, they were praising and worshiping God together, and they were showing grace to outsiders.

They were evangelizing together, they were doing life together.

This is one of the clearest traits. Of the ancient church as we see it presented in the early chapters of the book of Acts, and that theme even continues beyond that. And so we want to focus this month on On the idea of our togetherness in Christ. Our purpose for this winter seminar is to encourage ourselves with reminders of the transformation that can take place, the spiritual wealth that can be attained, and the epic deeds that we as Christians can accomplish together, when we are living in community, together with, with one another.

We can all go farther together than we could ever go by ourselves. David Platt in his book Radical Together says it this way, as long as individual Christians journey alone, no matter how radical they are, their effect will be minimal. But as men and women who are surrendered to the person of Christ, join together in churches that are committed to the purpose of Christ, then nothing can stop the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth. It's a very true statement.

Christ said the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. on this rock I will build my church, my ecclesia, my assembly. Even the word church implies the idea of togetherness, and he says the gates of hell will not prevail against my assembly. So if you want to live a prevailing life as a Christian, you'll want to locate yourself in that entity that Christ promises the gates of hell will never prevail against.

And that is the church in its various local expressions, and Cornerstone is one of those. And so we're going to be talking about a variety of topics this. this month, doing missions together, practicing the values of Acts 2 together, hearing the preached word, together, doing church and family, together, like how the family and the church work together and accomplishing mission, doing evangelism together, experiencing the fullness of Christ together with all of our giftedness and deficits together in community with one another, how we experience the fullness of Christ doing life.

And doing mission together.

So we're going to go in different places with that over the course of this month, as we seek to tease out the ramifications of the gospel, and what that means for what God can do with us doing life and mission and worship together. My job today, though, is to speak to you on the subject of covenantal commitments underlying our togetherness., it would be a little hasty and naive on our part to say, hey, we're all together. And now, here's all the things that we can do, we can be transformed and experience the wealth of Christ and, and let's go do these epic things that God says that we can do together.

It would be naive to begin to go in that direction without first.

spending some time contemplating. the covenantal commitments that lie at the foundation of our togetherness in Christ. You see, there's basically 3 kinds of relationships. I don't know.

There may be more, but, but there are 3 that we'll talk about this morning briefly. There's, there's casual relationships, and our society abounds in casual relationships, and I'm not even saying that that's necessarily a bad thing, but a casual relationship is a relationship. Where two people can come and go as they please. There's no obligations, no expectations whatsoever.

If you meet up with somebody at a party that you've never met before, and you find out their name and you have a nice 20 minute chat, it's a very pleasant chat. It's time well spent, but you probably don't think you're ever going to see that person again, and they think the same about you. And a month later, you're not feeling hurt because that person has not called you. That's a casual relationship, no obligations, no expectations.

Then there's another level of relationship that some would call the consumer relationship. And with the consumer relationship there is some degree of obligation. And expectation. I, for example, have a relationship with the people at Ralph's grocery store in Moreno Valley, and every week or two, I will go there with some of my children, and almost always when I go there I go there for one reason, and that is to get ice cream.

And I go there with expectations. I expect to find a particular brand of ice cream for a particular discounted price, and if I ever go there and that ice cream is not there, I'm ticked. I'm disappointed. My expectations have not been met.

Or if I see that ice cream but it's not at the discounted price, 2 for $5 then, then my expectations have been disappointed. And when I go to the checkout, There's a person typically standing there and there's expectations. I put my items there on the counter and I give to that person $5 and I have an expectation that they're going Give me my ice cream. Don't mess with me on that.

So we have a relationship in that moment it's a consumer relationship and that person expects, if I want that ice cream, well then you need to give me $5 for for that. And so there's give and take, there's expectation, and there's obligation. But here's where the consumer relationship. finds its limits if the day comes that I find a better tasting ice cream.

For a cheaper price at Winco, I will just stop going to Ralph's. I won't call them and say, I just, our relationship is over. I'm not going to be coming to Ralph's anymore. I'm going to Winco.

I don't involve them in the process of decision making. I don't go meet with the people there at Ralph's and say, listen, I'm really weighing this and I'm thinking about going to Winco from now on. And can you have some input into this decision? No, I just up and decide I'm going to Winco from now on.

This sermon is brought to you by Winco, by the way. and what, I don't owe them any explanation. I unilaterally make a decision that my relationship with Ralph's is over, and I now began a new relationship. Now that's the way we operate in the realm of the marketplace.

But here's the problem. We are so infused with marketplace mentality. That we bring that marketplace consumer mindset even into our relationships with other people. We're bombarded.

every hour of television viewing we're hit with 2021 minutes of commercials where When we're being spoken to as consumers. Someone's trying to get us to buy or consume their product when we're in the car listening to the radio, the billboards that we see, the magazines. We are in a unique way in our culture today bombarded. With advertisements speaking to us as consumers and so we bring that marketplace consumer mentality into our relationships with other people.

And so we have a relationship with someone and as long as we are getting what we expect from them, great, but when we stop getting what we want from them or expect from them, we're out of there. There are people who have a marketplace consumer mentality when it comes to the church. They shop. churches, they attend a church, they settle at a church, and there's no commitment, no, no obligation, there's no covenant, but we're here, we think for the time being, let's see how things go, and then when something happens that disappoints their expectations, they unilaterally decide to move on to some other body of believers.

That's the consumer. Mindset. One of the drawbacks to this consumer type of relationship is the fact that it may seem free and to involve a lot of spontaneity and freedom. in relationships, but it actually is a great hindrance to intimacy.

For example, if in our society today there are people who say, Well, we don't want to get married. Love doesn't need a piece of paper to be valid to justify itself. We're just going to live together without any strings attached and no commitments, and so they try to do that and they think they're free, and it's the married people that are bound with some lesser thing. But think about it.

If you're in a relationship with no commitment, it is a consumer relationship. And that at any point something can blow the deal. At any point you can walk away. that at any point this other person can walk away from you.

And so in a consumer relationship you're always selling yourself. You're always marketing yourself. You can't put some foot forward. There are things about yourself that you can't really allow to be seen because it may blow the deal.

And so relationships without commitments actually are great hindrances to community. One writer says when living together you have to prove your value daily by impressing and enticing. You have to show that the chemistry is there and the relationship is fun and fulfilling, or it will be over. We are still basically in a consumer relationship, and that means constant promotion and marketing.

It's not the way to live if you really want intimacy. There's a third type of relationship, and that is a covenant relationship, a committed relationship, and to illustrate this, let's go to the most intense human relationship that exists, which is marriage, a relationship between a husband and wife. In that relationship, God calls upon a man and a woman to, to come together and experience oneness, body, soul and spirit, spiritually, emotionally, and, and physically. He wants true intimacy on every level to take place.

And so what does God impose upon that relationship to foster that intimacy? Covenant. Covenant actually is something that God puts there, not as a hindrance to intimacy, but as something that fosters that That intimacy. Timothy and Kathy Keller in their book The Meaning of Marriage say it this way The legal bond of marriage creates a space of security where we can open up and reveal our true selves.

We can be vulnerable no longer having to keep up facades. We don't have to keep selling ourselves. We can lay the last layer of our defenses down and be completely naked, both physically and in every other way. You see, covenant creates a safe space.

Between two people to which they can really be transparent and intimate, they go on to say this love needs a framework of binding obligation to make it fully what it should be. A covenant relationship is not just intimate despite being legal. It is a relationship that is more intimate because it is legal. Because finally a man and a woman find a safe place that they can go, and they don't fear that one or the other is going to abandon them on the next day after some discovery is made.

There's a commitment, a binding commitment, and in that covenant context there's freedom and there's intimacy and vulnerability and a transparency that no other non-covenant relationship could ever sustain. Covenant is vital. And so as we think about our togetherness in Christ, and where we go with that, we need to ponder what lies at the foundation of our togetherness in Christ. And what I want to try to do as we break this down is to just walk you through and savor together with you three commitments that underlie our togetherness in In Christ.

And the first of these commitments is God the Father's covenantal commitment to us in Christ. See, it's not so much I don't want to first go to our commitment to each other at the bottom of our togetherness, our unity as brothers and sisters in the church is God the Father, and his covenantal commitment to us individually, and to us as an entity called the church. In Ephesians 2, Paul urges us to remember that you were at that time, separate from Christ, excluded from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants, a promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

God had entered into a covenant relationship with the people of Israel.

And so he had a relationship with them. He related to them as a husband would to his wife. God says in Jeremiah chapter 31, and we as Gentiles, we were excluded from that covenant relationship. We were strangers to the covenants of promise.

But what God says to the people of Israel and Jeremiah 21, there's a day coming when I'm going to make a new covenant with you. And in that new covenant, I'm going to put my law into your hearts, and you're going to obey me because you want to, and I'm going to be your God, and you're going to be my people, and every one of you from the youngest to the oldest are going to relationally know me. You're going to have a rich relationship with me, and I will forgive all of your iniquities and never, ever, ever remember them against you for all of eternity.

That's the new covenant, and Israel has not yet entered into that new covenant that is still to come.

But we as Christians, have been ushered into many significant and meaningful aspects of this covenant that serves as a pointer to the fullness of the new covenant that is still to be played out in all of its fullness. In the days to come, especially in the millennial kingdom. The point is that God has entered into a covenant relationship with us, a committed relationship with us, a relationship in which God goes very public and makes a ton of promises to us. That's a beautiful thing.

You even look at the gospel as we've seen it up to this point. The gospel is not just the story of God doing saving acts on our behalf. It is a story of God making many promises to do saving acts and then carrying out those promises in doing those saving acts that he promised that he would do. God promised that he would send the world a Savior, and he did.

He promised as early as Genesis 3:15, God promised that His Son would die. And he did. God promised that he would raise his son from the dead, and he did that. God promised that he would give his son a seat at his right hand, and he did that.

God promised that he would send to us His Spirit, and he did that. In fact, we learned in Ephesians 1, that the Spirit himself is a pledge of God's covenant fidelity to us. Paul says in Ephesians 1, in Christ, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance. The basic upshot of this guys, is this, that God says, I want a relationship with you.

And it's going to be a covenant relationship with you, where I commit myself to you. And I publicly make promises to you about what you you can expect from me now and in the age to come. And I want to give you a ring. And that is my spirit to dwell in you.

And he himself, his presence in you is a pledge of my covenant faithfulness to you. Therefore, we have a relationship with God now that's characterized by commitment. We're not afraid that tomorrow he's going to abandon us because he failed to get something from us that he wanted. Imagine coming to God and saying, God, the gospel is amazing, and you tell me that you love me, and I've been walking in that love and I appreciate your love so much, God, but I have one question.

Will you love me tomorrow? Will you love me forever? Imagine that God said, Don't make me make pledges. Love does not need a piece of paper.

I'm not going to pledge myself to you or make any promises or commit myself to you. In answering that question, just stay in the present. And let's just enjoy our relationship and see how things go. How, how would we think about it, guys, if that was the nature of our relationship with God, how would we relate to him?

We would be afraid to be real. With him. We would be afraid to be truly transparent and to take our masks off in front of him. None of us would confess any sins to him.

For fear that he tomorrow will choose to stop loving us. Do you realize that the reason we can have a rich, transparent relationship with our God is precisely because there's a covenantal context. In which God has pledged Himself to us forever. Forever And this provides a safe place for us.

To come to God and confess the worst about ourselves. The things we discover, oh God, I see further depths of sin that's working in my heart, or I failed in some way, and, and I come running to you to confess because I know you've promised you will forgive. You promise that nothing will ever separate me from your love, and it's in the safety of that covenantal context that I can come to you and throw myself into your arms, knowing that you have pledged yourself to always receive me.

The commitment, the first commitment that lies underneath our togetherness is God the Father's commitment to us in Christ.

There's a second commitment that lies underneath our togetherness, and that is Christ's covenantal commitment to us, His church. Christ's covenantal commitment to us, His church. Christ relates to us as individuals. He also relates to us as an entity, the church.

And it's interesting that Christ actually relates to us inside of the marriage motif in Ephesians 5. Paul says he quotes from Genesis 2:24 about marriage and says, For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh and a covenantal union. And Paul then says this mystery is great. But I'm speaking with reference to Christ in the church.

Yes, I am talking about human marriage. But I am also ultimately talking about Jesus Christ cleaving, committed, covenantal relationship with his bride, the church. So we observe that Christ is not in this casual relationship with us. He's not in a consumer relationship with us.

Maybe you've had people in your life that related to you for a while, and they used you and abused you, and then when they were fed up with you and didn't get what they wanted from you, they were gone. Jesus never does that. He says, I know everything about you. I know all that you have done, and I know all that you will ever do.

And I pledge myself to you forever. And that's the basis of our relationship. He cleaves to us with the commitment of a husband to a wife. And now we have a safe place in our relationship with Jesus.

We as a church have a safe place. To go in our relationship with Jesus to be real and to be authentic and to be transparent and to confess our individual and our collective sins to Him, knowing, knowing His grace is there, and knowing he's committed to us for all of eternity. We have a relationship with Jesus that, that is full of many promises from him to us. Again, just listing off some of these Christ promised that he would build his church, and he did that.

Christ promised that nothing will destroy the church, and nothing has. Christ promised that he would die for our sins, and he did. Christ promised that he would be raised, and he was. Christ promised that he would ask the Father to send us the Spirit, and he did.

Like he told the disciples, after I die, and after I've been raised, I'm going to go to the Father, and when I get to the Father, I just want you to know right now, I'm going to ask him to send you another comforter. I'm going to ask him to send you the Holy Spirit, who's going to be with you and help you. and all the ways that you need. And so all of this happens, and Jesus dies and is raised and ascended to the right hand of God.

And when he gets there, he doesn't forget to keep his promise. And he asked the Father, To send us the Spirit. Christ also promised that the Father would say yes to his request when he asked him to send us the Spirit. And that's exactly what happened.

Christ promised that he will be with us always. He has and he always will. Christ promises that all those who come to Him by faith and believe in him as their Lord and Savior, that he will give to them the forgiveness of all of their sins. He will justify them and give them his perfect righteousness, and he will make them sons of God, and you could add many other things to that list.

And Christ has done all of that for us. Christ has promised to prepare a place for us in heaven. And he's doing that now. He's promised that He will come again, and he will.

Christ has made a covenant with us, and He sealed it with his own blood. He didn't slay an animal like what happened in the Old Testament. He allowed Himself to be slain. That's how committed he is to us.

I will die and seal this covenant I'm making with you with my own blood. And then Christ makes the central ordinance of the church, a remembrance of His covenant. Fidelity To us. Why, why, why, why does he want us to Remember that this cup is the new covenant in his blood.

Why does he keep putting covenant in front of us every time we celebrate the Lord's table? It's because he wants us to know that's how our relationship is. It's a covenant that I've entered into with you and I've pledged myself to you, and I will keep my covenant. And as long as we're mindful that our relationship with Him as a church and as individuals is a covenant relationship, we know that we have a safe place that we can go.

We don't worry about tomorrow. We don't worry about Jesus bailing out on us. That covenant relationship is a safe environment in which we can flourish and grow and lose our fears over time and confess our sins and become all that he wants us to be. At the Lord's table, Jesus says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness or remission of sins.

At the very least, the disciples would have heard that and said, covenant in his blood. Jesus is really committed to this. He's laying down his life for this. He's sealing it with his own blood, and this means we have forgiveness forever.

And everything else embodied in that all of the promises of Christ to us, we would say are inside of his covenant to us, sealed. With his blood. Christ is saying by this, I don't want a casual relationship with you, and I don't want a consumer relationship with you. I don't want to just use you and try to get things from you.

And when I stop getting those things from you, I bail out and I move on. No, I am in a covenant relationship with you, and you have me forever. That's the only reason. We can be safe with with Jesus.

And even think about his relationship to the church, Cornerstone, for example. In fact, let me ask it this way, I asked my kids this question this week. Who is the most important member of Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church? Think about that for a minute.

Who is the most important member of this particular church? I'll give you a hint. He's a pastor. I'll give you another hint.

It's not Milton. Or klos or Silos or mycos. Or any other elder. It's Jesus Christ who is the senior pastor of this church.

In 1 Peter 5. Peter refers to Jesus as the chief shepherd, literally the chief pastor. The senior pastor. And as the senior pastor of this church, he's a member of the Cornerstone body.

And what body part is he? He's the head, right? And what did Jesus do to become a member of the cornerstone body? He died To become a member.

He died to be a part of this church, to be a part of the universal church, and keep in mind when Jesus made that decision, just remember what the church looked like then. The church was a filthy, disgusting, defiled, stinky, wrinkled, spotted mess. And Christ said, I love that. And I want to be the senior pastor of that.

So much so that I'm willing to die to be the senior pastor of Cornerstone. Wow. And when he comes to us, When he comes to us as a member of Cornerstone, he says, Here's my covenant. Here's my covenant.

In fact, we have in our Bibles, the Old Testament, literally the Old Covenant and the New Testament. is actually the new covenant. Everything we read in the New Testament is a laying open of His covenant to us, and he's very public about it. I'm going to make promises to you.

Here's what you can expect from me. Here's what I am going to do for you. This is my covenant to you, and you can be totally safe with me. Our togetherness in Christ is built upon the foundation of the Father's covenantal commitment to us, Christ the Son's covenantal commitment to us.

We can even add the Holy Spirit's covenantal commitment to us, because he expresses the heart of the Father and the Son, and we know that the Spiritel is a seal of the pledge of all of those promises of the Father and the Son to us. It is the covenantal commitment of the triune God to us as individuals and as a church that, that lies at the foundation of our togetherness in Christ. There's a third commitment that will ponder. as we turn this final corner in the message, that lies underneath our togetherness in Christ, and that is our own covenantal commitment to each, each other.

think about it. one fact, let's just read Acts 5:12 and 13. where we actually see this language being used by Luke, he says, and at the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were taking place among the people, and they talking about the believers. we're all with one accord.

In Solomon's portico, and literally verse 13 says, but none of the rest. So he says, here's the believers. As for those outside of the circle of Christians or believers, none of the rest of those outside of the circle of believers dared or were brave enough literally to cleave to them. And this is the same Greek word that is used in Ephesians 5, which speaks of a husband cleaving to his wife.

implied in Luke's language is this there's two groups of people. There is at the center of this circle of people that are in fact cleaving to one another in committed relationships. And then there are those outside of that circle who were not brave enough to cleave covenantally. To these believers.

That we see in Acts chapter 5. The nature of our relationship with one another is to be a covenantal, committed relationship. God doesn't bring us into a covenant relationship with Himself as a church, just so we in the church can have casual relationships with one another. It doesn't make sense, or consumer relationships with one another.

I ought to be able to look at every one of you and realize that if God the Father and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit deems you to be a fitting recipient of their very public promises, And the covenant that they've entered into with you, then I ought to deem you a fitting recipient of my promises and my commitment. If I want in my life to reflect the heart of God towards you and towards this church, Then I will want to be as open and public and pledging myself to a committed relationship with you as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have been in doing the same.

And so us as believers covenanting together is a beautiful expression of the heart of God, wonderfully consistent with that covenantal context that God has established. And think about it.

If we have committed relationships with one another in the church rather than casual rather than consumer relationships, we then together can create a safe place. Wherein in relationship with each other, we can be real, we can be authentic. We don't have to be consumers, we don't have to live in fear that, well, are people going to bail out on me? I don't have to always put my best foot forward because I know that you're committed to me.

As a church, we know that there's a commitment that is there, so we're free to confess individual and collective corporate sins and to learn and grow because there's a community of covenantal commitment that's here that provides a safe place for us to grow and be transformed. That's why when a person becomes a member of Cornerstone, part of that process is they read this document called a membership commitment, a commitment of fellowship, and they read through that and sign that, and that's a part of what they submit to the elders as they apply for membership.

And I want, as we close our time together this morning to just read through this commitment of A fellowship This will serve as a good reminder for all of us who are members, and I want you to just listen to these words just in the context of what we've been talking about and how it's not just me entering into this commitment with you, it's, it's enjoying the fact that you have entered into this commitment with me, and together we can create a safe haven of commitment. and covenant and in which we can grow and flourish spiritually and become all that God wants us to be and do all that God wants us to do.

Here's the commitment of fellowship, having been led by God, the Holy Spirit to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal savior and Lord, and desiring to unite in the worship and fellowship, and testimony of that portion of Christ's body, known as Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church, and having read and agreed with the statement of doctrine of this church, and understanding it to be the basis of its belief, And teaching. So I believed in Jesus. I want to unite with this body, and I am theologically in substantial agreement with the beliefs of this local church.

I, given all of that, do hereby express my desire to enter into membership and understand that I am placing myself under the authority.

And care of the elders, and I further understand that I am expressing a desire to grow spiritually in Christ and to be trained and equipped for the work of service in his body. I just want to encourage you, if you have your handout that has this commitment on it to underline the word care. That's the first of two times that the word care shows up in this church membership covenant. When a person becomes a member, he's saying, I'm submitting myself to the authority of the elders, but also to the care of the elders.

Here at Cornerstone we have, we have chosen to structure the care of the elders in a way wherein we have essentially divided up our membership into shepherding blocks of people called care groups. You say, Well, I know what a care group is. It's that meeting that happens, for 2 hours once a week. That's, that's something a care group does.

But that's not the care group. The care group is the group of people. That are involved in that group, it's the shepherding block of people who receive the ministry of the care of the elders as that is administrated through the ministry of the care group leaders and the members of that particular care group. And there are other churches that have decided differently how to structure their ministry of care.

This is how the elders, after many years of processing and praying and searching the scriptures, have decided just here in our case how to structure this ministry of care. And when someone decides to become a member of Cornerstone, they're saying, I jive with that, and I'm willing to be a member of a care group, a shepherding block of people who receives the care of the elders as it is administrated through the care group leader. Someone applying for membership is also in this covenant saying that I understand that I'm expressing a desire to grow, so to become a member of Cornerstone, you have to say I want to grow.

That's in this covenant in order to weed out people who don't think they have any growing left to do.

They already think they've achieved their glory selves, and Cornerstone is lucky to have me. And I'm really going to be good for this church, and Cornerstone is going to grow now that I am here. No, to become a member of Cornerstone, you need to basically admit I've got a lot of growing to do and I desire to grow. With this body of committed believers, and I want to be trained and equipped for the work of service.

By the help and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I covenant to. Number one, endeavor to be an example of Christ in my speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity of my life and to forsake the ways of sin. That's my pledge. And what you're basically doing in making that pledge is you're saying to the rest of the body, if I don't forsake the ways of sin, and I persist in unrepentant sin, I give you permission to confront me.

To practice Matthew 18 on me. Number 2, I covenant to exercise a mutual care of other members of the body of Christ. There's the word care again, which indicates that being a part of Cornerstone is not just being under the care of the elders as that is administrated through the care group, but it is a commitment to as a part of that care group and beyond. To give and receive care to and from my brothers and sisters and the Lord.

And again, this transcends just the relationships in your care group, but that's the core, the care group represents the core of the people that you seek to live this out with giving and receiving of care. Number 3, I promise to be slow to take offense but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the scriptures to seek it without delay. Tied to that. Number 4, to strive with others for both the peace and purity of this assembly as part of Christ's body.

You say strive with others. I'm good at striving with others, Pastor Milton. But the striving here is not striving against one another, it's striving together with your brothers and sisters for the peace and the purity of this body. This, the wording here is an acknowledgment that peace is difficult.

Unity is difficult. Reconciliation, when it is needed, is difficult. It's a recognition that there is sin around us and there is sin inside of us. There's indwelling sin, guys.

There's enough indwelling sin in me that could split this church in 100 different ways. If allowed to run amok, I could so easily split this church. And inside of each one of you is enough indwelling sin to split this church 100 different ways, 100 different times. And becoming a member of Cornerstone, you recognize that about yourself and realize that if there is going to be unity and if there is going to be peace and if there is going to be purity in our relationships, we're going to have to fight for that, and sometimes I'm going to have to fight against me.

In order for that to be achieved, 5. A covenant to attend faithfully the stated services of the church and obviously guys you can't become a member of a church and then never assemble together with your brothers and sisters as they assemble in any venue. That they assemble our Sunday morning gatherings are very important. This is where the word is being preached and vision is being cast and where collectively, communally, we're hearing the word of God together and seeking to grow in our understanding the heart of God and the word of God and the gospel of God and how to live that out.

The other key venue is is that weekly gathering of the care group as brothers and sisters come together in the care group context to worship God and to pray and to celebrate the ordinance of the Lord's table and the fellowship together. Number 6, I covenant to cherish the word of God and the ordinances of the church, which would be baptism. And the Lord's Supper. Number 7, I covenant to contribute as a faithful steward such time, talent and money in the measure that Christ prospers me, that the responsibility of the local church and the worldwide ministry of spreading the gospel be faithfully discharged.

Number 8, I covenant to teach my children the word of God. Moms and dads, as a member of Cornerstone, you've made a promise to the rest of us that you will teach your children the Word of God. Yes, my children may go to Sunday school and be involved in the youth group and I and Children's Church, but I will embrace the calling God has laid upon me to be the instructor of my children. To teach my children the word of God.

That's your commitment. Our commitment as a church should be to equip you in any way that you need equipped in order to faithfully discharge that. Number 9, I covenant to seek the salvation of my family and acquaintances and to walk circumspectly in the world so that I can be a faithful witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. So many of you are so passionate about the salvation of family.

every week, some of you, almost every single week, put the same request on your comment card for the staff to pray over. Pray for the salvation of family members. And you're witnessing and sharing Christ and burden daily for The salvation and the sanctification of family members and loved ones. Number 10, I covenant to give and receive mutual encouragement in the blessed hope of our Lord's soon return and to engage in regular Bible reading and prayer so that I may be ready to meet Him.

I covenant to be side by side with my brothers and sisters as we look together to the blessed hope, waiting. And encouraging my brothers and being encouraged by them as we look ahead to that. Now that's the covenant. That's the membership commitment.

None of us can perfectly live up to any of those things. So about a year ago we added one final provision to the membership covenant, and you'll be relieved to hear this provision. Ready to the degree that I fall short in living up to these commitments. I will boldly take for myself the forgiveness that God says is mine.

And continue growing in faithfulness to Christ and to his church. I will not allow my failure to live up to these commitments to discourage me to the point where I quit or go to a place of condemnation. That is the commitment that we make to one another. We want ourselves to be a body of people who move beyond casual relationships, who move beyond consumer relationships into covenant relationships so that we create a safe haven, a safe environment in which we can be real, authentic, transparent, and humble and broken.

And let ourselves be seen without masks. So that we might be transformed and experience the wealth of Christ and do epic things together. Because of this togetherness that we have in Christ sealed. By God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit's commitment to us.

And our covenantal commitment to each other. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you. For your covenantal commitment to us.

None of us will ever speak of, yeah, I had a fling with God and we had a great thing going, but God, God left me years ago. He got tired of me. That'll never happen. Jesus, our human marriages are so far below.

Your love, and sometimes there's brokenness and there's divorce. In this broken fallen world, but we know Jesus. Even the most broken among us. Even those in this church who have experienced divorce.

They of all people most appreciate the fact that you, Jesus, will never divorce us. You will never divorce your church. And you will never allow the gates of hell to prevail against it. You are the greatest member of Cornerstone, and you paid the highest price, the highest price.

To become a member and the senior pastor of this church. What a savior And what, what a delightful member of this body you are. Thank you for your covenantal commitment to us, the commitment of your Father to us, the commitment of your Spirit to us. And in the spirit of that commitment we commit ourselves afresh to one another.

That we might create a space in this broken world of abandonment, brokenness, separations that here. There's covenant and there's commitment. There's safety. And hence there's transformation.

And real wealth in relationship with you and one another. We have so far to go to live this out, Lord, and achieve this. But we open our hearts to you and ask you to take us there. Take us there.

As only you can. Thank you for this opportunity to give up our offerings to you, Lord, receive these funds, do much with them for the glory of Jesus. We ask these things in His name, and all God's people said,