Relationships
Our relationships are the mission. Modified sermon from August 13, 2023
The world will know we are Jesus' disciples by our love For one another.
Jesus prayed, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 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. (John 17:20–21)"
Why is this so important to Jesus? The faith of the unbelieving world depends on the relationships of the people within the believing church.
“The church Jesus is building is an ever-unfolding revelation of these divine realities through the relationships of the people. If what people see in our relationships is a denial of what they read in the Bible we effectively give them a reason not to believe.
If our relationships are the mission, it makes sense that our primary work is in building these bonds as strong as we can. Relationships that are broken and in disrepair create barriers not only for the flourishing of the church but for the awakening of the unbelieving world." JD Walt Seedbed.com
When Pastor Monty and Lea met with us, they asked, why we love our church, and why we keep coming Sunday after Sunday and the unanimous answer was, "the people."
I started coming here almost seven years ago. I wanted to go to church with my neighbors, so I decided to try the little Methodist Church that Tony's grandparents, Jewel and Arnold Owens, attended many years ago. You all welcomed me. Do you know what kept me coming back? Relationships.
Martha, Cam Cheryl, and Dave. Every week in Sunday school discussing the Bible and life and what God was doing. Confessing our sins and praying for one another. I needed to plug in with people who were vulnerable, God-loving people if I wanted to grow in my relationship with God.
I felt like I belonged. I had connection. Connection gives meaning to our lives.
Have any of you looked at our church website? This is what is on the top of the first page: Sometimes life is hard. It helps to have friends that will walk with us on our journey. People to encourage and pray for and with us helping us grow in our relationship with Jesus. This is what church is about.
This is what people are looking for; vulnerable people to walk with them, encourage them, do the hard stuff with them, and here we are advertising that we do this as a church on the front page of our website for the world to see.
Is this who we are? Who we want to be?
It is a hard thing to walk with people sometimes. It means denying ourselves for the sake of someone else. Will you deny yourself for my sake or Cheryl’s? If we are gone for two Sundays, are you going to call and check on us?
I have been terrible at this and I ask your forgiveness. Do you know who is on the phone when I miss a Sunday? Darlyne. She never fails to call and see if I am okay.
A couple of Sundays ago, I was trying to decide what Scripture I wanted to read for today's sermon. I chose the story of Jesus washing his disciple's feet. Earlier that morning Dave made the statement that, "God asked him, "Do you see me, do you hear me?"
I prayed and said, God, I don't think I am hearing you as I should. Can you make your answers to me a little clearer?
The next day, I got a text from Cheryl with an article on Jesus washing his disciple's feet. Wow! This is what I am talking about God! Thank you for coming through loud and clear and letting me know I am on the right track.
Can we do this for each other? Pray for one another and if God puts something in our hearts for someone, share whatever it is with that person.
I've learned that my heart is softened and my love for all of you grows when I am intentional in praying for you.
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
How blessed are we that we can confess our faults and pray for one another and be healed?
Wouldn't it be something for Hamby Methodist to be a place of healing? A place where relationships are restored. Where we experience forgiveness and freedom from fear or bitterness or whatever we need to be free from? Where we are willing to be vulnerable, and God's love is evident in our love for one another?
If "relationships are our mission," what does that look like? It looks like a fishing net. Jesus called Peter, James, John, and Andrew (the fishermen) to fish for people. Did the fishermen use bait to catch fish? No, they used nets.
I remember when one of my favorite pastors said to me, "You have to catch the fish before you clean them, Barbara." I thought yes, you have to throw the bait out and "hook" people. Have a program, something shiny and new, to bring people in.
“A fishing net is made of knots. All of those knots are our relationships. "The knots are not just any relationships. They are covenant relationships. The knots are friendships in the tradition of the friends of Jesus. Yes, the knots are banded and bonded relationships, people learning to love one another with the very love of God.
It turns out this is how other people get caught up in the net. They become enfolded in our relationships, and in time, they become knotted in. JD Walt from the Wake-Up-Call (which I hope you will be reading or listening to tomorrow) said, "I believe the greatest biblical symbol of the New Testament church, the covenant community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the symbol we have largely left behind: the net.
The success of our churches will depend on the supernatural strength of our relationships therein. Are you seeing it? Our relationships are the mission. Awakening depends on the strength of the knots.
Bait fishing is trying to attract people to our churches with all manner of shiny things. Net fishing is about banding together and going out where the fish are, in the shallows and deeps of the real world” JD Walt Seedbed.com
When we practice seeking and loving God as Dave talked about and practice loving one another by confessing our faults and prayer, encouraging one another, washing each other's feet-meaning being vulnerable, serving one another, sharing what God is doing in our lives, not only will we say as Jeff said last week, "it is good for us to be here" we will become the net of relationships people want to be a part of. We will be known as Jesus' disciples by our love for one another.
Prayer
Thank you, God, for your Son the servant who washed the feet of his disciples. May we be willing to do the same for each other. Thank you for the way you sent your Son to catch fish, and how he started with fishermen and women, and how he tied them together in the knot of his relationship with you in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Teach us how to tie such knots in ways that become so unbreakable that others become caught up in the love we share.