Relationships

• Good Morning

 

• The world around you is briming with relationships. Some are temporary like the morning dew.  Others are like great oak trees and stand firm through the roughest of storms.

 

 

• What is the true nature of relationships? What does God our father and creator say about relationships especially since He is the original creator of them?

 

• Let’s look at the book of

           Genesis Chapter 1:26-28 

26 'Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”'

 

• The first relationship God was a DeVine Relationship with Him.  This is the light we must examine all our relationships.  Including our relationship with the Church.  All too often in our relationships we Settle for something that is easy and requires little to no work but leaves us feeling empty and alone.

 

• Like church to be honest with you. In today’s world we want a church that lets us just come and go with out holding us accountable anymore.

 

• We want to come in and say amen and Hallelujah then go home or on to whatever the next temporary thing in life is.

 

• I am reminded of how the Bible describes Adams relationship with God.  They walked and talked daily.

 

• Adam didn’t just go to God when he wanted something or needed something. He took walks with God talking about everything.

 

 

• Do we do that in our relationship with our Heavenly Father today?

 

• No, we want a microwave relationship with God and the Church. We don’t want to put in any effort in either of those relationships.

 

• I Thessalonians 5:16-22 says Rejoice always, pray without ceasing in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

 

• These verses say pray without ceasing in everything give thanks. If we are praying without ceasing and in everything giving thanks, then we are having that walk with God in our garden of life.

 

• Now my question is how we can have a lasting relationship with our spouses and others in our lives if we are not basing them on the perfect plan God laid out for our relationship with Him?

 

• The first Relationship you see in the verses of Genesis was the divine relationship with God

 

• In this our fallen world we are too willing to settle for temporary relationships that do not fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. We settle for relationships that are safe, but not enriching.    
• We want relationships that tickle our ears and make us feel good verses ones that make us better people and help us to grow closer to God.                                                                                                       
• God wants more for us I believe. He wants us in relationships that reflect His love and His grace.                                                                                                                                                                                                   
• He is calling us to relationships that reflect His love and His relationship with us.                                    
• God created us in His image. This is something we must get straight in our heads.  We are created intentionally by God for a reason to reflect His image. 

 

• He created us to fellowship with Him all the time, not just on Sunday. He gives us everything we need to improve and grow to be more like Jesus. 

 

• This must be the foundation we develop all relationships on. It is the blueprint from which all others should be drawn.

 

• When God created mankind, He said “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18

 

• From the very beginning, God designed us to be in relationship with others. We are not solitary beings, but social ones.  We are not meant to live in isolation, but in a community.

 

 

• This is not just about marriage, although that is certainly part of it. God created man and woman in the next perfect relationship bound together in His will.  We are meant to base how we treat each other there in the same way.  We must look back to the first foundational relationship and see His will for us.

 

• Unfortunately, even there in life we want to jump in and out of that relationship like it is a swimming pool. Just like church today.  This doesn’t feel good today.  Then we comment something like, well the pastor said something I didn’t like. 

 

• Like our blueprint for relationships did we look back at the scripture and see if he was lined up with the word of God. Or are we going on nothing but what we feel and not what is true?

 

• In relationships are we looking back at the original and seeing how we are living and treating others and does it line up with the original relationship, our relationship with God.

 

 

• Our relationships should reflect God’s rule and perfect way. They must be highlighted by love, righteousness, justice and peace because these are the basis for God’s kingdom.

 

• They should by all means bring glory to God and display Him to the world!

 

• They require us to work at them, they require effort and sacrifice. We must take care of them and invest ourselves.

 

• This means you can’t just come to church when you feel like and use excuses like I overslept. Just like with your relationship with God and others you can’t just think about it when it is convent for you.

 

• You have to invest yourself in it at all times!

 

• Investment in the Church relationship is a commitment that goes well beyond our comfort zone of how we feel.

 

• It is a commitment that requires to love, and to grow together as a body of believers. How can we grow if we are not together.  Remember do not forsake gathering together. 

 

• The church relationship should reflect the very heart of God, who Himself is in a perfect relationship with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

 

• I will close with something A. W. Tozer said,

“Has it occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same tuning fork are automatically tuned to each other?  The are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow.”

All our Godly relationships, church, family and friends should be tuned, not to each other, but to Jesus

God didn’t design us to do life alone.  He created us for relationships that are rooted in His love, that draw us closer to Him and help us become more like Him!