Publisher: CEP ISBN: Item #: 9443

Binding: CD Chapters: Page Count:

2009 Mercy Conference Plenary Session 2 Tara Barthel-PCA.

Living the Gospel in Relationships: As the PCA Book of Church Order guidelines for mercy ministry remind us, Christians in the local church are called to maintain a holy Christian fellowship that abounds in love (BCO Appendix T; cf. 1 Thess. 3:12). Such a call may sound lovely and even pleasant in theory, but we all know that the working out of genuine Christian love always comes at a great price. It takes time and effort to wisely discern the best way to counsel and help people in need; and even more time and effort to purposefully enter into their lives and actually help them. But such is the ministry of Christian mercy we manifest our love for God when we obey Him and love our neighbor. Our growth in grace is shown in the brotherly love of our covenantal relationships (1 Peter 1:22) and our outreach efforts are strengthened by the testimony of our gracious mercy even to our undeserving enemies (Matt. 5:16, John 17:20-23, Rom. 5:8; Matt. 5:43-45). This is what it means to live the gospel in our relationships out of gratitude to God for His saving mercy, we live mercy.

Publication Date: 2009