Covenant Grace

Over the next three weeks, we will see that God has designed his church to grow up into full maturity in the faith by means of graciously working together as a unified and Spirit-empowered community. While this certainly sounds like a beautiful picture (and it is!), it doesn’t take long to realize that for a group of diverse and sin-prone people, this is no easy task. Although we have already been given a new identity in our salvation and stand completely forgiven in Christ, we now must learn to live out our new identity by walking in a manner worthy of the calling we have received (4:1). The first steps along the path of this new life in Christ are comprised of a charge for us to cultivate the kinds attitudes and actions which promote the unity of the church. These heart and life postures include such things as humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. These Christ-like characteristics are the threads that, when woven together, create a bond which is not easily broken. As o