Relationship Principles for Life (Part 3)

Just a review…

Truth #1: It’s Not About Me!
Truth #2: We Should Speak the Truth in Love

In America, we have an incredibly individualistic focus. We tend to fix our gaze on the achievements of the one, whereas ancient and more remote cultures tend to focus on the larger family unit. Because of our individual mindset, we miss out the depth of meaning in this phrase from Ephesians 4:25, “…we are members one of another.” So here is the third truth in our series of relationship principles for life…

We are responsible for each other.

Cain learned the hard way that yes, he was his brother’s keeper. David’s sins caused harm to a whole nation. Achan’s hiding of the Babylonish garment cost Israel a military victory. My actions and decisions affect others. This is not a choice.

A few years ago Charles Barkley, the basketball player proclaimed, “I am not a role model.” The problem with that statement is htat being a role model isn’t a choice. We don’t get to choose whether our lives influence others or not – influence is virtually inevitable. What we do get to choose is how our lives influence others.

Let me be blunt: Nobody sins in private for very long. The light of God’s holiness has a way of exposing our darkness, and my life matters to others. For those who are members of God’s family through a relationship with His Son Jesus, we are “members of one another.” We’re connected, like different parts of the same body. We don’t function well without each other and when one of us hurts, we all feel the pain.

I hear people talk quite often about how the church should stay out of the personal business of its members’ lives. I agree to a point, but when it comes to someone falling into spiritual trouble, not only do we have the privilege of approaching the fallen, it is even our responsibility.

Another thing that complicates this for modern Christianity is the plethora of churches available. If you were a member of the church in Jerusalem and had some conflict with another member of the church family, you were forced to work through the issue. Today in the Bible belt of America, if you get upset, you just go to one of the other 50 similar churches in town. I’m all for church planting and I think we still need more churches, but we have to come back to the idea of responsibility toward one another.

What’s my instruction as a member of Christ’s body? I think they are spelled out in the “one another’s” of the New Testament, such as…

• “…Be at peace with each other” (Mark 9:50)
• “…Wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14)
• “…Love one another…” (John 13:34-35; John 15:12, 17; Romans 13:8)
• “Live in harmony with one another…” (Romans 12:16)
• “…Stop passing judgment on one another” (Romans 14:13)
• “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you…” (Romans 15:7)
• “…instruct one another” (Romans 15:4)
• “…Serve one another in love” (II Corinthians 13:12)
• “Carry each other’s burdens…” (Galatians 6:2)
• “Be kind and compassionate to one another…” (Ephesians 4:32)
• “…forgiving each other…” (Ephesians 4:32)
• “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:19)
• “Bear with each other…” (Colossians 3:13)
• “Encourage one another” (I Thessalonians 4:18, 5:11; Hebrews 10:25)
• “Confess your sins to each other… pray for each other” (James 5:16)

The New Testament is abundantly clear – a commitment to Christ requires a commitment to God’s family. Faith is not merely a personal matter – it connects me with my forever family. And this life is the trial run… what kind of brother or sister are you becoming?

photo credit: Kevin N. Murphy