God's Relationships

KiDZ Sermon

SLIDE - KiDZ Sermon

Jonah was a man God told to go talk to the people in Nineveh. they had been really bad.

Jonah didn’t want to go because he was afraid God would be nice to them.

So he ran away. but God still wanted to teach Jonah to do what he said.

a big storm came Jonah ended up inside a big fish

Then turn it to the kids:

God cared about the people in Nineveh

God cared about Jonah too

and God cares about the people around you

maybe that is someone in your class, someone on your team, your brother or sister, a friend, someone who feels left out

even someone who is hard to be around

SLIDE- KiDZ Big Idea

God wants us to show everyone what he is like

and that means everyone, no matter how we feel about them

What do you think God is like? (let them answer)

God tell us to show that to everyone in the way to interact with them

Whaddaya say? Want to do that with me?

Prayer

God, thank You for caring about people

help us show You to everyone around us Amen

Main Sermon

› SLIDE - Title

On-Ramp

Last week: time - a full life can still be a misaligned life if it is not aligned with God

Week 2: talent - God often sends us past our current strengths

This week: relationships

When most people hear “steward your relationships,” they think:

be nicer, improve communication, fix a broken relationship, be a better spouse, parent, or friend

That may be part of it But I want to push deeper

This series has been teaching us:

The time you have belongs to God, steward it intentionally for him. (adjusting you priorities and making wise choices)

The talents you have belong to God, steward them intentionally for him. (using your natural abilities AND growing where you need new abilities in order to do what God has assigned you)

The relationships you have belong to God, steward them intentionally for him.

Some relationships are already present: family, friends, coworkers, church relationships, neighbors

Others are relationships God places before me or sends me toward

Either way...

SLIDE - Big Idea

The relationships in your life are not your emotional private property

They are people who God loves and who God has sent you to play a role in their life.

You are a steward of the relationship. A steward of the role you play in it.

And a faithful steward takes that role seriously, manages it the way the owner would want them to, for the good of the owner’s property.

on the other hand, and unfaithful steward makes one of two mistakes.

They steal the owner’s belongings. Using them according to personal desire rather than according to the owner’s wishes.

They neglect the owner’s belongings. Ignoring responsibility and assuming the owner will care for it if they don’t.

Today we are going to spend some time in the story of the prophet Jonah who made both mistakes, and ask the questions.

SLIDE - Core Question

Am I stealing, neglecting, or stewarding the relationships God has assigned to me?

That is the confrontation this morning: Am I wisely stewarding the relational world God has entrusted to me? or am I falling off the path toward theft or neglect?

Exposition

So let’s step into the story of Jonah. Turn to the book of Jonah in the OT

And even if you have heard of Jonah before, most people only know the headline:

Jonah ran from God

Jonah got swallowed by a great fish

Jonah got spit back out

But the fish is not the real point of the book.

The book of Jonah is about a man who wants to retain control over his role in the lives of other people… and a God who doesn’t give up on him.

Jonah is a prophet of Israel. That means he belongs to the people of God and knows the character of God. He is not confused about who God is. And that is what makes this book so confronting.

Because Jonah is not resisting God out of unbelief. He is resisting God because he does not like where obedience will take him and he does not like who it will connect him to.

That is why Jonah matters for this morning.

Because stewardship of relationships is not just about being nice to the people you already like. It is about recognizing that the relationships God places before you, and the ones He sends you toward, are not yours to control. They are yours to steward.

SLIDE - Big Idea

The relationships in your life are not your emotional private property

They are people who God loves and who God has sent you to play a role in their life

SCRIPTURE - Follow along

Jonah 1:1–2 “1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.””

That is the setup for the whole book. God gives Jonah a relational assignment. Nineveh is not random. Nineveh is the capital of Assyria. Assyria was cruel, violent, and wicked. These are not Jonah’s people. These are not people he naturally wants to care about or associate with.

Pause: I wonder who is your Ninevah?

political rival

difficult family member

person who betrayed you

person whose values offend you

person whose sin disgusts you

person you believe deserves consequences more than compassion

And yet God sends him toward them and that is the first thing we need to see: Jonah’s problem is not simply that he has been given a hard job. - His problem is that God has assigned him to people he finds repellent.

That is what makes Jonah's story so insightful for us today.

Because many of us still assume that we should be the primary decider of our relational world.

who gets our time, energy, compassion

who falls outside our concern, who is “not my problem”

But from the opening lines of Jonah, God challenges that assumption.

Jonah does not get to choose the people. God does.

And when Jonah realizes that, he runs.

SCRIPTURE

Jonah 1:3 “3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.”

Jonah is not merely running from a task. He is running from people. He is running from the role God assigned him to play in their lives. And later in the book, Jonah tells us why.

SCRIPTURE

Jonah 4:2 “2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”

That is one of the most revealing verses in the whole book.

Jonah is not mainly afraid of Nineveh. He is angry at the possibility that God might show mercy to Nineveh. He does not want to participate in that.

He wants to retain control over where his compassion goes and who falls outside the circle.

And that is where this book stops being only about Jonah. Because Jonah is not just one stubborn prophet.

Jonah is Israel in miniature.

Jonah is the people of God wrestling against the wideness of God’s mercy.

Jonah is also us

any time we believe we should get to decide who matters, who is worth engaging, or who we are free to avoid.

That is why this book matters today. Because this is what unfaithful stewardship looks like in relationship:

sometimes we steal the relationship by acting like we own it and get to define it by our preferences,

and sometimes we neglect it by refusing responsibility and assuming someone else can deal with it.

Jonah does both.

He steals by trying to decide for himself what should happen with Nineveh.

He neglects by running from the role God assigned him to play.

And that brings us right back to the question for today:

SLIDE - Core Question

Am I stealing, neglecting, or stewarding the relationships God has assigned to me?

Now before we move on too quickly, let’s make this really plain. Because most of us are not running to Tarshish on a boat.

We do it in much more socially acceptable ways.

That is why Jonah is so uncomfortably relatable.

Because Jonah is not a cartoon villain. He is a believer who wants to obey God selectively.

He wants God without surrendering control. He wants to follow, but with veto power. He wants the right to decide where his relational responsibility ends.

And that is where many of us live. Not in open rebellion. In selective obedience.

So I invite you into a bit of self reflection this morning.

Application

If relationships belong to God, and I am a steward of the role I play in them, then unfaithfulness usually shows up in two directions:

Example 1: Theft in the home

A parent can steal a relationship with their child by treating that child like a possession instead of a person entrusted to them by God

They love when the child makes them look good. They get embarrassed or angry when the child fails. They want the child to reflect well on them, obey them, impress others, and make them feel successful.

But they do not slow down to really train them. to listen to them, to disciple them, to patiently form them

The child is there to serve the parent’s ego instead of the parent embracing their calling to serve the child’s good

That is relational theft and neglect

Because the relationship is being used for the parent’s emotional satisfaction instead of stewarded God’s way

Example 2: Theft and neglect at work

A practical example of relational theft might be an employee with a boss who is harsh, critical, and constantly making absurd demands.

As a Christian, they are called to be a light and to steward every relationship as a representative of Christ.

But instead of stewarding that relationship before God, they decide: “This person is just a jerk”

So when the boss fails, they enjoy it When the boss gets embarrassed, they relish it They start feeding on contempt

That is theft

Because they have taken a relationship God entrusted to them and decided to handle it according to their bitterness instead of God’s heart

And honestly, it is also neglect

Because they are using the other person’s sinful behavior as an excuse to stop taking responsibility for their own calling

Example 3: Engaging in the church

A practical example of relational neglect shows up even in how we talk within our church

One of the things we have been saying at Valley Chapel is that partners do not say “they,” they say “we”

It is not: “They changed the music at church and I do not like it”

A steward says: “We changed the music at church”

A neglector says “they” A steward says “we”

Why?

Because “they” is the language of distance

“We is the language of responsibility”

“They” is how I talk when I want the benefits of belonging without the responsibility of belonging

That is neglect

Not because you had a preference or disagreed But because instead of stepping into your relational responsibility, you stepped back and acted like this body was happening somewhere over there without you

So this week, I do not think the invitation is to fix every relationship in your life.

The invitation is to stop treating your relational world like private property and to take one faithful step of stewardship in one relationship Christ has entrusted to you.

SLIDE - This Week

1. Name it What relationship am I most tempted to steal, neglect, or avoid?

2. Own it What role has Christ entrusted to me in that relationship?

3. Do it What one faithful step of stewardship do I need to take this week?

Then give a few examples aloud

Maybe that step is:

reaching out

telling the truth

apologizing

asking a real question

praying for someone instead of feeding on contempt

moving from “they” to “we”

setting a wise boundary instead of staying passive

Conclusion

So let’s make this plain

Relational theft overrides God’s way of relating. “I will handle this relationship my way” Relational neglect ignores God’s mission in our lives. “I am not going to deal with this relationship at all” Relational Stewardship intentionally engages with everyone we come into contact with as a representative of Christ

SLIDE - Big Idea

The relationships in your life are not your emotional private property

A follower of Christ is called to fully embody the role of steward under Christ’s Lordship.

He is Lord, we are his servants.

In Baptism, we die to self, and a raised again in Christ.

Today, will you take a step toward realigning your role in the relationships that Christ has entrusted to you?

Will you choose to return and relational control you have stolen?

Will you step up to take relational responsibility where you have neglected it?

Relational stewardship means taking responsibility for your God-given role in people’s lives.

Will you be an engaged steward?

Prayer

Gratitude for God’s patience with us

Repent

Encounter Christ

confess the gap

move toward Christ

Listen for instruction

obey

If someone is ready to make a decision to no longer be an owner or no longer neglect.

Help them to recommit their life to Jesus today