The Blessing of Relationships

That's what we're talkin about. The blessing of relationships and you know sweet think about God's blessing in our lives. I think we often think about things like hell right or provision in other ways that God might provide for you. In the last week, we talked about how salvation is the biggest blessing that God gives us the opportunity to be saved. If we believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ is our savior. But you know, there's another blessing that's often overlooked even though we interact with it every day and that is the blessing of relationships. Yeah, those are something that we can easily take for granted the relationships in our lives. You know, it doesn't matter if it's friendships or family or your community that you live in or your church or maybe your relationships with those you work with relationships are one of the most tangible gifts and blessings that we have from God.

And truth be told relationships are vital for our own well-being, both physically and spiritually it impacts you, the health of your relationships in your life. And today, we're going to explore that. A little bit of how God uses relationships to shape us, support us and ultimately grow us. And point us back to him. The author of all those relationships.

And in this series that were doing right now, you know, like I said, we're reflecting on relationships and it's talking about the communal nature of God's love. Cuz, you know, we have a lot of different relationships in our lives and for all of us, you know, sometimes I think we take it so much for granted that we don't realize that all the people that are in your life are not there by accident, it's not by chance. God has placed them in your life, in your path. For a reason sometimes that reason is hard for us to understand and maybe we don't fully get it. But if we have that attitude of gratitude, if we cultivate that within ourselves to really appreciate those relationships, Will not only learn to love other people deeper but in turn we will be able to reflect the love of Christ, better to them as we learn to love them deeper to love them. The way that God loves each of us. Because God, by his very nature is relational. We know that this is something we talked about a lot, you know, the father Son and Holy Spirit exists as the trinity in Perfect Harmony in that Divine relationship models for us, the importance of community.

In Genesis 1:26. God said let us make Mankind in our image.

Notice that he uses us and our, you know, those terms, reflects that whole idea of divine community and notice that he doesn't say, let's make them in my image, or your image, it's our image. So it reflects all of them. And it shows that. God exist in relationship for all of time. And so we are created to have those relationships as well.

I mean, if you ever thought about that that the relationships you have in your life, you know, your family, your friends, your co-workers, that those relationships are to be a reminder of that Divine relationship. And, you know, we all know that relationships are living breathing things. You have to nourish them, you have to exercise them, you have to do various things, you have to put effort into a relationship in order for it to survive.

But you know, we have to remember that we're not meant to live in isolation. Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verses 9 through 12.

I heard this paraphrase and it's good. It's just a shortened version of it all. It says two are better than one. If either of them falls down one can help the other up. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Not use that passage in some weddings in the past to talk about the importance of Christ. Being a part of that marriage relationship. Well really that's true for any relationship that we are involved in that. God has to be a part of it but it's also just a reminder that alone we are very vulnerable but together we are stronger. You know is a society sometimes we teach people that they need to be able to handle everything on their own. But that's just simply not true. But, you know, beyond all the Practical benefits of what we've been talking about. You relationships in our lives. Should be reminding us of God's love for us. Because the love we receive from others should point us back to the one who first loved us. You know the love for us that God has for us when we love others. Well we reflect that same love back into the world. You know, when they ask us, hey where is this coming from? Well, it's not just from you. It's the love of God that he has shown you being reflected back out to them.

I want us to take some time this week to think about the people in her life. You know your friends your family or co-workers, maybe someone you've considered a mentor in your life. These people are not random Their Blessings in your life. You know, their love their care and their support or all meant to mirror God's Own heart for you. And often, it's God using those people to minister to you in a very real way that he can show you his love through the interaction with other people that he's brought into your life that he's allowed to form relationships with you.

You know, it's a reminder all the time that God doesn't intend us to do life alone. Yeah. God in his wisdom knew that we would need one another. And if you'll remember in the Garden of Eden, after he had created, man, he said it is not good for man to be alone. That's what led him to creating Eve, so that man and woman could be together. So there would always be that relationship that companionship.

In Galatians 6:2 Paul writes carry each other's burdens. And in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.

You're one of the greatest blessings of relationships is that they provide a support system for us, they are there for us when we need them. So, when life gets heavy and we all know that it will, from time to time, we all know that it does, God often uses the people in our lives to help lighten that load. Yeah. That's why I like to spend that time every Sunday sharing our Joys and concerns as a church family because we should be bearing those loads together, not alone.

I mean, think about the times in your life, when you felt overwhelmed. Who were the people that stood by you? Who were the people that prayed for you prayed with you or even just sat and listened as you went on a rant about all that was going on. Those people are important, they're there to help you. They are a gift from God and we need to see them that way. And we need to have gratitude for that cuz he know these relationships aren't just meant for our enjoyment and our pleasure. They're meant to be there to support us. When we're not strong enough to do something on our own. That's what the relationships in our lives are therefore we are called to Bear one another's burdens.

But it goes both ways.

You're not only are we blessed to have people who help us out in our times of need, but we are called as Christians to be that blessing to other people. when they are struggling with something, we need to be the one who steps up for them, the one who is there, When no one else is and you know, Jesus Christ was the perfect example of this kind of love. He bore our greatest burden, our sin when we couldn't handle it. That's why he had to go to the Cross. That's why he had to die on the cross for our sins so that we would be able to live free from that bondage. The ultimate example of helping to carry someone's burden, and as followers of Christ, we are called to live like that, but it's not just live like that, but to love other people like that. Like Christ did, you know to show up for each other, especially when life gets hard, especially when we need help overcoming the mountains of life or The Valleys of life that are there.

So this week, you know, I want you to consider, how can you help bear? Someone else's burden, Do you know someone that's going through something that they need help with? Do you know something that they're struggling with? That you can come and walk alongside them.

I mean, we all surely know someone who could just use a listening ear right now. You could just use someone to understand that they're having a challenging time right now. Or maybe they just need a helping hand.

And relationships are gift, not just to receive support, but also for us to give it to give that support to others. But relationships are reciprocal in through the process of giving and receiving. We build our faith through one another, You know, it's that giving and taking of help of encouragement of advice that builds the relationship, but that also can build our faith in Jesus Christ. As we share that together, as we figure out that we're not meant to do this alone. God gives me the people in my life so that we can do life together that when I need a real hug somebody's there to give it. That we can turn to others when we have those needs. I'm all relationships, provide love and support. Like I said, we also have to realize, they serve a much higher purpose in that they build us up in our faith. As so often, when we're going through something difficult, it takes a word from someone else to help us regain our Focus back where it needs to be to help us regain perspective. God uses people to sharpen us to encourage us and challenge us to grow in our walk with him.

Proverbs 27:17 says, as iron sharpens iron. So one person sharpens, another

And we don't like to think about that sometimes because, you know, the process of sharpening, something usually means you're scraping or grinding, something away, right. Able to clean that surface and sharpen it. You got to put it through some pretty tough things, you know, if you're grinding a steel blade, it's throwing lots of Sparks

And as that happens in our own lives, that's not always a fun process. The people in our lives or is there not just to support us, not just to love honest but also to help us grow spiritually. And that is not an always, a fun and easy process, but it's there for a reason. And the church as a community of Believers is perhaps. The clearest example, we have of this, you know, we gather to worship together to pray together to study God's word together and in doing. So that should encourage us all in her face as we gather together and worship. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25 encourages Us by saying and let us consider how we may spur one. Another on toward love and Good Deeds, not giving up meeting together, but encouraging one, another

Your God designed us to be part of a community where we can be built up and where we can build others up, or we can encourage others.

We're not meant to worship online. That's probably not a popular statement in this day and age, but it's the truth that was never God's intention. We Are Meant To Worship in community. That's what he wants. Is for us to actually see each other to be around each other, to speak to each other. That is what God encourages. And you know I think if we all take time to think about our own spiritual journey that we've been on, you know, we've all had those times when you know God has walked with us through those difficult times. if we really think about it, there's certain people that he brought into our lives during those times. Maybe it was someone to speak a word of Truth or a word of correction that helped us to grow. Both personally spiritually emotionally helped us to walk through something.

And in the end, even as we went through that difficult thing, it encouraged us in our faith. Cuz we saw how God worked through that. How he grew us through that, how he brought others to help us through that. And that is the beauty of relationships. And even though relationships can be frustrating and, you know, at times we wonder. Okay. Why is this going on in my life? Why is this happening?

Or sometimes we have certain relationships in our life that are just frustrated. And we think Lord, why do I have to keep dealing with this? Why is this relationship the way this relationship is?

It's frustrating, but it's going to be a Growing Experience. Yeah, and they're meant to help push us more towards what Christ is wanting us to be? Like I said, if you go back to the analogy that was used of iron sharpens iron It's not always a fun and easy process, but it is meant to grow us to sharpen us in our faith. So, my challenge is to each of us that as, we attempt to recognize the blessing of relationships that we commit ourselves to, you know, trying to make sure that we do the best on our end of loving others, in such a way that it reflects the love of Christ to others. You know, let's strive to be people who encourage, who up left to build up the faith of those around us.

Cuz like I said, you know, we all have those relationships in our lives, you know, we have those relationships that breathes, life into us that encourages and then we have those relationships that just suck the life out of you. That just suck the air out of the room when you're in the presence of that person. But you know, the way that you handled that relationship can still be a reflection of the love of Christ. And we need to remember that. Says, we wrap up week to hear and we reflect on the blessing of relationships, we need to realize that God and deed designed us all to live in community. You know, not to just meet our needs but to reflect his love and his nature to other people. Relationships are reciprocal, they go back and forth. Then we've seen that those relationships can do a lot to reflect God's love to others, and that's what we need to remember.

So three main challenges this week, first one is called have a an attitude of gratitude for the relationships in your life. Both those that fill you up and those that don't. And spend time thanking God for the people that he has brought into your life. The people, he's blessed you with and reach out to somebody this week and let them know how much they mean to you. How much of an encouragement? They are to you. Be intentional about bearing the burdens of others.

Now, I don't mean just to ask, so you can find the latest of what's going on with this person in this situation. But you know to seriously want to walk with them. You asked the Lord to make it appearance apparent to you, you know, somebody who's struggling underneath the burden right now, somebody who's about to buckle under the weight of the load, they're trying to carry on their own. And ask him how can I help them or better? Yet ask that person. How can I best help you? How can I assist you? How can I walk with you through this?

Because that's something that's not going to happen. If we aren't intentional about putting ourselves out there to help others. And the last one is simply to Speak Life. Be intentional in your efforts to build up others.

You know, we have a choice with everything that we say to people, it can either be something that builds them up and encourages them or it can be something that tears them down. Some just challenging us to make an effort. To encourage people. Make an effort to actively encourage people in their walk with Christ. You know, it might be just a simple good job. You know, or I was impressed with how you handled that situation. Maybe it's sharing a Bible verse with them or just asking them if you can pray with them quick. Be the iron that sharpen. Someone else's faith. Be an encouragement this week. Please pray with me.

Lord, we are grateful for the relationships, you have blessed us with Lord, for the friends, the family and the community who walk alongside us In our own journeys of faith. Or teach us to love as you love us and to be a reflection of your grace, in our interactions, in our relationships, with other people. When we pray this all on your most holy name. Amen.