The Relational God
Relational • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Today, we are starting a brand-new 5-week series called Relational.
Your life is only as good as your relationships. You can have the best job, the most money, and the healthiest body, but if your relationships are broken, your life feels broken.
You can be going through some of the hardest times financially or physically, but if you have deep, supportive, loving relationships around you, you can get through anything.
The Problem: We live in the most digitally connected era in human history, yet we are statistically the loneliest generation to ever live. We have hundreds of “friends” online, but very few people we can call at 2:00 AM when our world is falling apart.
Vision of the Series: At our church, we have a simple four-part vision. Be Found, Be Changed, Be Known, No Go!
You can Know God in a crowd, but you can only Be Changed and Be Known in a close face to face relationships. You cannot do life alone. Over the next five weeks, we are going to look at why relationships are not just a nice addition to your life, they are essential to your spiritual health and growth.
1. Jesus reveals the heart of the Father.
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
Philip is asking a question we all ask: What is God really like? Is He distant? Is He angry? Is He keeping score?
Truth: Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. If you want to know how God feels about people, look at how Jesus treated people.
He didn't just deliver theology from a distance; He entered into relationships. He ate with sinners, He washed His disciples' feet, and He invited people into His life.
Contrast two ways of getting to know someone. One way is reading their resume or autobiography (dry facts). The other way is sitting down across a dinner table from them, sharing a meal, and watching how they treat their spouse or a server if you are out eating.
Jesus didn't just send us a rulebook from heaven; He sat at our table. He showed us that God’s heart is relational.
If you want to grow close to God, you have to understand that He isn't looking for a transaction; He is looking for a relationship.
2. God has always been relational.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Focus on the plural pronouns: Let us make mankind in our image.
Before there was a universe, before there were angels, before there was a planet Earth, there was God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God has never been lonely. He didn't create us because He was bored or needed friends. He has always existed in perfect, loving community.
Truth: God is not just relational; God is a community.
The echo of community Ill: Think of an echo. An echo cannot exist without an initial sound. In the same way, our desire for community is the echo of God’s own nature inside us.
Because God has always existed in community, community is baked into the very fabric of every human. When you feel a deep ache for connection, that is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of your design.
3. We are created in His image.
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
If we are created in the image of a relational God, then we are wired for relationship. You cannot fully reflect the image of God by yourself. It takes “us” to reflect “Him”.
Problem with self-sufficiency: The enemy wants to convince you that you are safer alone. Isolation is the enemy's playground. If a predator wants to attack an animal, it doesn't attack the herd; it waits until one gets separated. Isolation is dangerous to your spiritual health.
Rows vs. Circles:
Many people think that going to church on Sunday satisfies their need for spiritual community. But sitting in a row looking at the back of someone’s head is not the same as sitting in a circle looking into someone's eyes.
In rows, we worship. In circles, we grow and heal.
4. Rows are great for content; circles are necessary for connection.
5. Healthy relationships reflect God’s design.
This is the night before Jesus goes to the cross.
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—
How can we be one if we don’t have relationship with no one?
23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Complete unity is community in relationship.
Of all the things He could pray for us, He prays for our unity and our relationships.
Jesus says the greatest proof to a watching world that the Gospel is real is not our buildings, our music, or our preaching. It is the way we love and relate to one another.
Connecting the dots to small groups
We believe that God’s design for your growth happens in the context of community in small groups.
You need people who will pray for you when you are sick or struggling.
You need people who will hold you accountable when you are drifting.
You need people who will celebrate with you when you win.
Definition of a healthy relationship: Is one that helps you move closer to God's design for your life.
The next step: Get in a group
As we launch this series, we are also preparing to launch our small groups. I want to challenge every person here. Don't just sit in the row. Get in a circle.
I know it can be intimidating. I know you've been hurt by people in the past. But don't let a bad experience with a person rob you of God’s perfect design for you and your growth. Step out in faith.
Pray for those feeling lonely or isolated. Pray for courage to take a step toward community. Pray that our church would reflect the relational heart of God to our city.
