Reconciliation

Community is important

One of the best lenses through which to view everything about God and us is RELATIONSHIP

Mark 12:29–31 (NLT) 29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. 30 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

With God, family, and friends (including church)

We have to be able to nurture it

And restore it when it’s in difficulty

This is a learned skill more than happenstance or God-empowered grace magic

And it’s essential to good relationships

And to maturing as a Christian, or as a person, for that matter

Reconcile – to restore close relationship

Relationships get broken – all of us have experienced it

Examples

We learn what to do from what God did

He took initiative

John 3:16-17 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Made a way

Offered it

We take initiative

Take responsibility for our part (Matt 5 below)

Offer it

Cannot make them respond

So we keep healthy boundaries,

And refuse to be manipulated

Relationships need _____ to be healthy

Understanding

Ground Rules/Similar Vision

Truth

Integrity

Forgiveness

Grace

Standards

Both parties serving the other