Introduction: Play Video Clip #1
You and I were meant to live in community. God has designed us to be together in community. Go back to the creation account in Genesis
In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. Over the course of the next 48 verses in the Bible, God completes his creation, rests on the Sabbath and places Adam in the Garden of Eden. In those 48 verses, God refers to all of his creation as good or very good.
Then we come to verse 18 of the second chapter of Genesis and note what God says… The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone”.
Imagine the God who had the ability to create light with a spoken word, form both mountains and seas, and create all kinds of animals – looked over his creation and announced something was not good. What was not good – man’s loneliness.
The world despises loneliness
Mother Teresa – The biggest disease today is not leprosy or cancer. It’s the feeling of being uncared for, unwanted-of being deserted and alone.
A Jewish Proverb states – Loneliness eats at one’s soul
Loneliness is no respecter of persons everyone has experienced loneliness. You can be in a room full of people and still experience the pain of loneliness.
God designed us to live in community with one another. It is through relationships our…
Faith is developed
Friendships are deepened
Love is demonstrated
Jesus understood the need to have relationships – study the life of Christ and you discover his life was one of community with other people.
The 12 disciples
Mary, Martha & Lazarus
The times he was a lone he was in community with the Father.
When it came to living in community, Jesus gave his disciples a command regarding how to relate to one another.
John 13:34-35
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
This command is probably the most difficult command in all of scripture. I believe this command is more difficult to obey than the command to pray, serve or even evangelize.
Did you catch what Jesus said?
A new command I give you – Love one another
It would be great if he would have stopped right there. Love one another! We can do that – we can love one another – CONDITIONALLY
I will love you if you love me
I will love you as long as you agree with me
I will love you as long as you make me happy
I will love you as long as you do as I say
Jesus is not asking us to love conditionally
Note the next part of the command - As I have loved you (Jesus is the example of love) you must love one another. TRANSLATED – You must love one another regardless of the circumstances. Remember Jesus is calling us to live in community and in this community we are called to love one another
Finally, he gives the reason for loving one another – by this (your love for one another), all men will know you are my disciples. The Message puts it this way, This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.
Jesus says it is love that gives your identity – this is how people know you are my disciple.
Jesus says the world does not know you are a disciple by…
the type of church you attend
the kind music you have on your IPOD
the way you choose your entertainment or clothing or vocation.
The world knows we are a disciple of Christ by one simple fact the way we love…ONE ANOTHER
Over the next several weeks, we are going to talk about this subject of relationships in the body of Christ. My goal is for us to learn how to live in genuine community with one another.
In the video clip, the narrator made this statement; EVERY RELATIONSHIP ENDS UP SOMEWHERE, FEW RELATIONSHIPS END UP SOMEWHERE ON PURPOSE
My desire is that PBCC will have purposeful relationships. The kind relationships, which will enrich our fellowship with one another and deepen our relationship with God.
The text for this series of messages comes from Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount. In the greatest sermon ever preached, Jesus gives us 8 statements which help us to relate to one another.
These eight statements foster genuine community and banish loneliness from the body of Christ.
Let’s discover what it means to have true community through Jesus’ teaching on the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:1-3
1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,
2 and he began to teach them saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Before we get started, it is important to understand whom Jesus is speaking to on the Sermon on the Mount
Vs. 1 begins with Jesus noting the crowds, by the time this message is being delivered Jesus is attracting many people to his ministry. 3 to 6,000 people were following Him. But this sermon is not delivered to the general population – While many may have heard the words the last part of verse 1 and verse 2, tells us the audience of the day. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them
Matthew is saying these words are meant for the disciples – the committed – the ones he had called.
Interesting to note the word in the NT for church is the word ecclesia – the called ones, therefore if you are part of the Christ’s church – Jesus words are for you today.
Jesus begins this sermon with the…
The Gateway to Blessings
The concept of blessing for the people of God goes back many centuries.
God’s promise to Abraham was that if Abraham would follow God he would be a blessing to many nations.
Children looked forward to receiving the Blessing from their fathers – it was considered a disgrace if your father did not give you a blessing before he passed away.
Jesus begins his message by telling his disciples they too can be blessed. But Jesus blessings are different
Jesus begins his teaching by telling his disciples they will be blessed if they become poor in spirit and the result of their poverty is will be the kingdom in heaven.
Now imagine for a moment that you are hearing these words for the first time. All your life you have been told about this coming Messiah. This messiah when he arrives will overthrow the Roman tyranny and restore Israel back to a place of prominence, back to the days of David and Solomon. Upon hearing Jesus could be this new messiah you are almost giddy with anticipation for his coming kingdom.
Then you hear Jesus utter the words of his first sermon – Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.
If you are like most people in Israel, you were probably hoping for more. For you understand what it means to be poor and you know it is not a blessing.
C. The Message Behind the Words
Jesus is not talking about being financial destitute – Jesus is probing deeper into people’s life. Jesus says blessed are the Poor in Spirit.
To be poor in spirit is to recognize one’s spiritual poverty apart from God. It is to see oneself as one really is: lost, helpless and hopeless. Apart from Jesus everyone is spiritually destitute no mater what his education, wealth, social status accomplishments or religious knowledge.
The Point behind this beatitude
The poor in spirit are those who recognize their total spiritual destitution and their complete dependence on God. They know they have no special merit and they know they deserve no spiritual reward outside of what God gives them through his grace and mercy. In short they stand empty handed before God.
The Gateway to Deep Relationships
What is true in the spiritual world is also true in the natural world. Jesus says the gateway to blessings is found when you realize you are spiritually poor and you must totally depend on God – it is at that point you will be able to enjoy the spiritual blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven.
WHAT DOES THIS BEATITUDE HAVE TO DO WITH RELATIONSHIPS?
We must come to the realization that we need one another.
Do you remember the first item God said was not good? “It is not good for the man to be alone”
Adam had the perfect environment – Eden
Adam had dominion over the animals – he was the master of all he surveyed
Adam knew no illness or limitations
He was created by a perfect God, who saw to his every need
Yet with all god had done for him, God said it is not good for Adam to be alone
We need one another! In spite of all we have individually, scripture teaches us one thing is lacking in a self-contained life – deep meaningful relationships.
B. This leads us to 2 problems
We live in a culture that denies the fact that we need one another. We pride ourselves on individuality and being a self-made man or woman. To admit that I need someone else is to admit weakness. The ability to say I NEED YOU is so counter to what the world and our culture around us displays. Let’s take a test turn to the person on your left or right and say those words “I need you”
Now say it as if you mean it!
Scripture is clear we are created for relationships with one another – in fact, 121 times in the New Testament we are told to interact with one another, by sharing, caring, baring and serving one another.
If we get close to one another, we get may hurt, disappointed or even be rejected
John Ortberg In his book, “Everyone is normal until you get to know them” speaks of this dilemma of getting close to one another without getting hurt. With the following illustration; The North American Porcupine is a member of the rodent family and has about thirty thousand quills attached to his body. The quills are designed to be driven into an enemy and the enemies own body heat causes the quills to expand and become embedded into the enemies body, soon the quills fester causing infection and if not treated the quills become fatal.
The porcupine is not considered a lovable animal. Books and movies have been written about all kinds of animals. There is Lassie the dog, Mr. Ed the horse, Arnold the Pig, Flipper the dolphin, Gentle Ben the bear, a killer whale named free wily, Even skunks have Pepe Le Pew – I do not know any famous porcupines and I know no one who has a pet porcupine.
Porcupines have two methods of relating others attack or withdraw. Porcupines travel alone. Except in the fall when a young porcupine’s thoughts to turn to love. But love turns out to be risky for a porcupine – so here is the dilemma, how does a porcupine get close without getting hurt? Though the miracle of creation, God has given the porcupine the ability to allow another porcupine to get close enough to have a relationship so the species will survive. For a brief, time every autumn porcupines give up the “withdraw or attack” mode for the joy of bonding in a relationship.
Porcupines understand they must get close to one another so they can survive.
It is the same way with us
We need to get close to one another so we can survive – no so we can thrive in relationships. See it is easy to withdraw and seek to be a loner or to attack others when they don’t agree with you or when they disappoint you. But that was never God’s design for us. God’s design for us was for each of us to relate to one another in community known as the church. In short, to say we need each other. We are to be people who weep with those who weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice. When we have that kind of relationship with in the church, it will give us our identity. That is the kind of relationship, which the world is hungering. And it is the kind of relationship they so desperately need.
The question this morning is what kind of relationships are you fostering?
Are you denying the need for relationships – Saying I need no one?
Are you like the porcupine withdrawing or attacking?
Maybe you are like the sentry of a guarded post not letting anyone in, keeping people on the outside.
Every relationship ends up somewhere, few relationships end up on purpose
As we begin this series I want us to be very intentional on building relationships with one another. I have a homework assignment for you today.
1) What relationship needs to be initiated?
2) What relationship needs to be nurtured?
3) What relationship needs to be restored?
4) What relationship needs to be severed?
Application – what are you going to do about your relationships?
Every relationship ends up somewhere, few relationships end up on purpose
I will initiate this relationship with _______________ by ___________ (insert date).
I commit to nurture my relationship with _____________ by _____________ (fill in specifics).
I commit to attempt to restore my relationship with ____________ by _____________ (write any specifics).
I commit to lovingly redefine or severe my relationship with _____________ until God shows me otherwise.
Consider what you need to do to build relationships with one anther as we watch this video clip, show Video #2
Every relationship ends up somewhere, few relationships end up on purpose
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the ones who realize they need god and they need one another
Invitation
