Class Two ~ "Relationships"
(All Bible verses can be read by clicking on the links.)

Volunteer Lesson: Eric had two of the young people (one boy, one girl) come up to the front and stand a few feet apart each in their own circle in the dirt. Eric asked the boy to, without leaving his circle to get the girl out of her circle and into his. Being a 14 year-old boy he grasped her arm and commenced to try to tug and force her out of her circle and into his circle. Naturally, she resisted, but eventually was pulled out.

The Lesson for Us: The relationships we have with other people will have some form of influence on us. Either for Good or for Evil.

We looked at Exodus 32 for an example of people exercising their influence on someone. In verses 1 & 2 Aaron the brother of Moses and High Priest of the people is pressured to create a new god for the people because they are tired of waiting for Moses to return. Aaron fails to lead the people and instead is led by them. Verses 3-6 He makes them an idol to worship instead of encouraging them to be patient. The people rebel against God and get a pretty wild party going to celebrate their new god. Of course, Moses returns right at the height of the party and wants to know what on earth Aaron has allowed the people to get into!! Moses seems to know that Aaron was put up to it by the people and he questions what they must have done to be able to get him to do what he did. What do you think the reply was? Yes!! Whining!! Aaron blames the people claiming that they made him do it because they are "set on mischief".

While exploring what happened to Aaron the point was made that we participate in many different forms of relationships. The first relationship that we are aware of is the one we share with our parents. Second, we have our friend relationships. Third, a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Fourth, most of us will enter a marriage relationship.

Looking at marriage in Genesis 2:21-24 we learn about what is the best and most ideal example of it. It is a support system for the couple to cling together and anchor each other.

All relationships are like that. They are designed to give us support and an anchor. But what happens when we are involved with someone who is not Godly in character? Will they not undermine our supports and erode our anchors? Abraham knew this and when it came time for Isaac to enter into the most important human relationship in his life, he wanted to choose someone special. Abraham had raised Isaac to love God and he didn't want Isaac to lose that. Isaac was not to marry an un-Godly Canaanite woman but a woman who also loved God and was a part of the family.

Isaac learned the importance of this lesson so well, that when it came time for his son Jacob to marry he was also told not to be joined with the ungodly, but with the Godly.

For an example of what can happen when this advice is ignored, we can learn from the what happened to the ecclesia during the time of Noah. When the ecclesia (church) married the daughters of the ungodly ultimately the ecclesia was destroyed and corrupted with wickedness. And this is no over re-action!! Marrying into the world will turn us away from following God. Take Solomon for example. He intermarried with hundreds of women and they turned his heart away from following Yahweh.

Finally, we learned that joining in ANY relationship with the ungodly is like joining an Ox and a Donkey together to pull a cart. They can NOT work together. They WILL go in circles and therefore are not useful to the farmer. Applying this to us, we WILL go in circles away from God, and NOT be useful to give glory to God.

As a concluding example, Eric asked the boy and girl to come back up to the front and once again stand in their circles. He then asked for one more volunteer to come up and join them. The girl stood in the middle and the two boy both grabbed an arm. The first boy was told to try to move the girl out of her circle as before, and the second boy was told to keep her in the circle. With his help she succeeded and the first boy was not able to move her out.

I was reminded that all of our relationships are important to our life in Christ. Those who support and anchor us are to be developed and those that weaken us are to be discarded.