Belonging

OLD TESTAMENT BELONGING

Israel was God’s holy nation, chosen by Him and belonging to Him. No other tribe or nation had this distinct status of belonging, and Israel was not evangelical, not required to bring other tribes and nations into Israel. Their purpose was to bring forth the Messiah and to give him to the world and to be God’s living witness to the fact that God did exist and that He showed Himself strong on their behalf. God was known as the ‘God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’ and in order to keep belonging they were required to honour the covenant of the Law and the sacrifices given through Moses. When they disobeyed there were consequences of ‘not belonging’, many times, Babylon included.
So Israel had to behave (faithfulness to the Law and sacrifices), then believe (The prophets), then they belonged, (experienced being His People).

NEW TESTAMENT BELONGING

Belong, believe, behave.
Now everyone belongs to the Father through Jesus. All of creation has its meaning in Him. The process is now reversed. We all now belong, in Christ, including Israel, because everyone is included. It is when we know that, that we can believe, and when we believe and trust we can lovingly behave. If we don’t know then we can’t believe, or experience true belonging. Acts 17:28, 2Corinthians 5:14, Ephesians 2:4, 1Timothy 4:10.
We believe we belong by hearing His Word (Romans 8:16… who has believed our report?), and we can then live by faith, believing and trusting in a loving God. We can then respond to God in love and then become free to love one another.

We can tell people they belong – that is evangelism – that is ‘calling - inviting’ them.
We can tell people what to believe – The New Covenant – that is ‘faithing’ them.
We can show people how to lovingly behave, by example – that is discipling them.

The Holy Spirit transforms them. 2Peter 1:3