Feb. 23, 2014
Eph. 4:1-6, John
13:31-35
A son asks his mother; “Mom, if dad should
happen to die, do you think there’s another man in the world just like him?”
His mother replied, “Maybe, and it would be just my luck to get him.”
Prayer
We continue in our
series, “Walking in the Way of Jesus, 6 Values of Followership.” We’re learning
that values are an important part of being a faith community and we’re learning
that the 6 Values were focusing on in this series should be the values of every
church community. In truth, these values should be the model of how ministry is
carried out. So far… we’ve focused on the values of Prayer… Worship… Learning…
Serving… and today our focused value will be on…
“Relationships”
From the beginning,
God has wanted to be in relationship with all of creation and most especially
with humanity.
To get started… I’d
like you to open your bibles to Gen.
2:18
“The Lord said, “It isn’t good for the man
(Human) to be alone. I need to make a suitable partner for him.”
Let’s look at the
word “Man” some translations “Human”
Hebrew word used… “Hu-mmis” meaning Ground,
Dirt, Earth…Literally… “Dirty Being” or Earthling…
Vs 7… God took a handful of soil…
picture that in your mind… God bending down to pick up some soil with his hands…
and Quite literally… God breathed life
into the human… Literally… Blew Air into him.
To be fair… Eve means “HelpMate” or “Partner”
So guys… don’t get any big ideas.
What’s important to
understand here is that God created Humans as a valued part of his creation, and at
the center of God is a value of all creation.
In our gospel story
Jesus says, “You must love each other,
just as I have loved you”
How did Jesus love us?
Well… quite simply… Unconditionally,
we are loved as a response to a relationship with God. Jesus is demonstrating I
believe a core value of God. When God blew air into us… a loving relationship
formed. And, I believe this is important for several reasons, and I’d like to
share 3 of those reasons I believe God desires us to be in relationships.
The First Relationship is to God… Duet.
10:12… Matt 22:37
Duet. 10:12 Moses says, “People of Israel, what does your God want from you? The
Lord wants you to respect & follow Him, to love & serve Him with all your
Heart & Soul.”
Matt 22:37 Jesus is challenging the Pharisee’s on the most important commandment
by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, Soul, and Mind.”
God created humanity
to be connected to him and to each other. For us today, one way to understand
this connection is thru baptism. At our baptism God grabs hold of us… (Go grab some ones hand) and doesn’t
let go. We may want to go in a different direction, but God is still hanging on
to us. Despite our propensity to do what we want to do, God is not letting go
of us. That my friends is a sign of God desiring to have a relationship with
us. Furthermore, that’s why our first response to God is to have a relationship
with him.
The Second Relationship is to One Another…John4...Acts
2:43-46
There are several
stories in the bible that illustrate this, but I will share 2 I believe
illustrate this the best…
-
Acts 2…People
Gathered Together… Spent Time Learning… They Prayed Together… Broke Bread
Together… Shared Everything with Each Other… and were Generous Together.
-
John 4…
Not only did Jesus and the Samaritan Woman have a relationship, but she brought
her whole town to experience Jesus.
Desmond Tutu was asked about the term
“Ubunto.” He says, “Ubuntu is the essence of being human… we say a person is a
person through other persons. You can’t be human in isolation. You are only
human in relationships.”
One way to build
relationships is to be in a small group.
You do have small
groups here at Cana.
You have music groups … are small groups. Tues morning bible study is a small group.
Sunday morning learning groups are … small groups.
Your worship team, learning team, council, property team and others… are small groups.
You’re doing some of
this all ready and I want to encourage you to develop more of them. The point
of a small group is to be in relationship with others for spiritual growth,
friendships, encouragement, and loving care.
Small
groups have 4 elements…
Have Fun Together.
Learn Together.
Pray Together.
Serve Together
That’s it…I believe
if you’re in a small group living out these 4 elements consistently, you are
growing your faith.
Lastly, The Third Relationship is to those
Outside the Community
Luke 19:5-7… Mark 10:17ff… John
4:9…. Acts 10:27-28
It seems today that
we tend to isolate ourselves. Tell me if this is true for you… in the morning
you leave the garage door goes up to leave to go to work or school & when
you come home in the evening the door goes down and you occasionally come out.
That’s how much of
suburbia lives. Many of us don’t know our neighbors… I know my neighbor to the
East of me a little bit, but my neighbor behind me I rarely see and when I do I
just wave or say hi when I’m cutting the grass… but for many, we don’t know
them, which, I suspect is much different from how many of us grew up.
While we are
connected more so today than ever, digital devices, yet it seems our
relationships are ever more fractured. It’s difficult for many of us to build
relationships with those whom we don’t know or don’t want to know, even those
who may be closer to us than others. If you look closely at the bible passages
I’ve listed there is a common theme. You see…Jesus spent most of his time with
people outside of his sphere of friends and most of the time, Jesus was
spending time with “SINNERS”. If you look at much of the church today… it
resembles the church of Jesus’ day in many ways… back then only the righteous
can be part of the church. The people who were clean… gentiles and sinners need
not apply. Even Jesus’ friends argued with him about associating with unclean
people.
Luke 19….Zachaeus… Tax Collector…. SINNER
MARK 10… Rich Guy… wouldn’t give
up wealth… SINNER
John 4… Samaritan Woman… SINNER
Acts 10… Cornelius… Roman Soldier… SINNER
One could we even say…
Dennis…. Pastor…. SINNER!!!!
I met a truck driver once who told me and if
you know anything about truck drivers they speak with colorful language. So…
this is not a direct quote… he said, “People spend more time trying to figure
out God, rather than just inviting God in.”
Closing:
A few years ago was a movie titled “Into The
Wild.” Perhaps you saw it.
It’s the true story
of a man named Chris McCandless. The movie is about him graduating from college
and feeling restless about his life. At his graduation dinner with his family
his dad offers him a new car for his work and graduation. He and his dad didn’t
have to good of relationship to begin with. He turns down the offer and he and
his dad part angry with each other.
So he decides to
leave everything behind…literally… he burned his drivers license and SS card
and heads out to Alaska. He journals his travels from the deep south, to the
Midwest, down the Colorado River, to Mexico and up the West Coast, and finally
to Alaska where he finds an old abandon bus which becomes his makeshift home,
and begins life anew.
One day he wasn’t
feeling too well as he looked through one of his survival books he bought along
the way. As he perused the book on eatable plants he discovers he has eaten
some that were poisonous, and begins to die. He chronicles his last days and
his thoughts about his life. As he writes in his journal for the last time he
begins to recall all the relationships he has had… the movie shows this as
flashbacks from all the people he’s met along the way back to his family
including his dad. He writes,
“There is Real Happiness Only When It Is
Shared.” Then Dies…
Ultimately… life
come down to relationships… nobody says on their death bed I need more money…
it’s about our RELATIONSHIPS.
My Friends… I pray
that Cana can be a faith community about relationships…
-
Relationship
to God.
-
Relationship
to One Another.
-
Relationship
to Others.
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