Growing Relationships Part 2
We must Grow in our Relationships
How to Grow in relationship with God
Have faith
Confess sins
Obey Him
Part 2
How to Grow in relationship with God’s People
Consider one another
Meet with one another
Encourage one another
Failure to Grow is Evidence of a Lack of Relationship
Relationships are Costly…yet Rewarding
Introduction
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We were at Ignite Chicago yesterday.
Great music and great message to get out and go with the gospel of Jesus.
While there, there were a few college age kids in font of us. We got to talking about college and how easy it can be to be drawn into the college party scene.
One guys brother was a strong Christian and then went to college and really didn’t get connected with any other Christians or Christian organizations and got sucked into the party scene.
That did not happen to the guy I was talking to because he got hooked up with Intervarsity Christian fellowship and it really helped him to stay focused. The others there echoed that sentiment and even in their dating relationships, they saw how essential it was to be in relationship to other Christians.
Well, we are continuing our discussion on relationships this week as well.
Last week, in our study of Hebrews, we began talking about our relationship with God and how that needs to be growing.
We saw How
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We need to
have faith,
confess our sins, and
walk in obedience to Him.
To be in a growing relationship to God.
Well the author now tells us that to grow in our relationship with God, we need to grow in our relationship with God’s People and he even tells us
How we Grow in our Relationship with God’s People
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I cannot stress enough the importance of
how our relationship to God’s people affects our relationship to God.
It is through our relationship with God’s people that we show the reality of our relationship with God.
Jesus tells us in the gospel of John
John 13:35
35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
It is through
our love,
how we relate and love each other,
that the world will know that we are followers of Jesus.
John tells us in his first letter that it is through
our obedience and
our love for others
that we show what we truly believe about God.
1 John 3:10
Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
Our relationship to others is so important that Jesus points it out when He was not even asked about it.
In Matthew 22:36-40
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
So it is vital that we have a growing relationship with God’s people.
Now turn with me to Hebrews 10:19
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and let’s see how we can have that growing relationship with God’s people.
I am going to read again last week’s text to give us the context of today’s study.
Hebrews 10:19-39
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
We are going to stop here and discuss this before moving on.
The first thing we see here about how we are going to be in a growing relationship with God’s people is that we need to
Consider One Another
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Hebrews 10:24
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (from New International Version)
Another version (NKJV)
Hebrews 10:24
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works
To be able to grow in our relationship with other people, we need to think about other people, to consider them.
That is what people in relationship do.
They think about others.
Otherwise, we are just selfish, self-focused people.
And while we think that may be the way we are going to get ahead, that is not true and that is opposed to what the Bible has to say.
Paul says in
Philippians 2:3-4
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
If we are not considering others, loving them in fact, we won’t grow in our relationship with God’s people or with God
And as that happens, we hinder our ability to know God’s will for our lives.
And without following the will of the Lord, you will never live the best that this life has to offer.
Hard people to be in relationship with
Some of you may say, there are some of God’s people that are just hard to love or even consider.
That is true.
But that is how God teaches us love.
It is easy to love the loveable.
Loving the unloveable is what requires the Lord’s help.
So we need to consider one another and love each other
so we can grow in our relationship with God and
so we can help others to love and do good things for God’s glory.
Well, we not only need to consider one another, but we need to
Meet with One Another
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Hebrews 10:25a
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing
Christian fellowship is essential.
Gathering together is important.
Obviously there were some people who had stopped gathering together to
worship,
fellowship, and be
edified.
We are not sure what the reason was. Perhaps it was different reasons, but the author doesn’t really care what the reasons were, only that it was happening and that it needed to stop because he knew the danger it represented when we become unconnected.
Being Connected and Gathering together regularly for Worship and fellowship is essential to growing in relationship to one another.
Now what I am not saying here and what the author is not saying, is that it is a sin to miss a Sunday.
What I am saying, and what the author is saying, is that when we put other things ahead of regularly gathering together to worship as the church, we are heading in a direction that while we may not intend it to be bad, will be bad for us.
When we start to become unconnected from God’s people, we become unconnected from God.
I hear people say to me sometimes that they don’t need to go to church to worship God, they can do that on their own.
While there is some truth to that, the ones who are saying that usually are not the ones able to do that.
That is because to be able to truly worship the Lord when you are alone, you also need
to be worshipping together with the body and
fellowshiping with them and
connecting with them.
Listen to what John writes in
1 John 1:6-7
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Here John equates being in fellowship with God with being in fellowship with the church.
That is a pretty strong statement.
If you are not worshipping and having fellowship with the church, you will be unable to worship and have fellowship with God when you are alone.
If you are part of a church and are worshipping together with the body and fellowshipping with God’s people, you can truly worship also on your own apart from the body and in fact should be doing that.
True worship is found in your obedience to God and love for one another.
That is the verse we read earlier from John
1 John 3:10
Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
Paul tells us also that our worship is found in obeying God
Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.
Christ gave himself up for the church and left His church here to accomplish His will.
To grow in our relationship with God, we need to expend effort in growing in our relationship with God’s people and one way that is going to happen is by fellowshipping and worshipping together.
This is why we gather on Sunday’s and this is why we make efforts like our first Sunday Connections to get people together so they can be growing in relationship.
This should be a priority.
When we fail to make meeting together a priority, we are saying to God that He is not our priority.
Finally, we are to
Encourage One Another
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Hebrews 10:25b
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
This builds on the fact that we need to meet together to get to know one another.
The reason we are to know one another and be in relationship together is to be able to encourage and edify one another.
We need to know what is going on in each others life
so there can be
encouragement during down times and
accountability during tempting times.
Accountability is basically encouragement to do the right thing instead of the wrong thing.
Small groups starting back up in a little over a month
In the fall, we are going to be kicking off our Connection Groups ministry again. This is where we can give and receive encouragement to be knowing and following the word of God.
While it is vital to be in church on Sundays, it is also vital to be in a smaller group where people can get to know you and you can get to know others. That can happen in a small group.
Why Am I here?
This is one of the reasons that we are still here on this earth after becoming a Christian. We need to be sharing our faith with those who don’t know Jesus as Savior and we need to be encouraging one another so we can persevere in the faith.
So in these few verses the author is giving us encouragement to establish and grow in our relationship with God and His people.
But now he gives a warning again to the readers right after this passage.
Let’s read on and see what the author has to say.
Hebrews 10:26-31
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
These are some tough verses again that the author has to say and they, as many of the others, have been the subject of much debate.
But why does the author give this warning after these verses talking about relationship with God and with His people?
It is because
Failure to Grow is Evidence of a Lack of Relationship
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The author is talking about one sin that the Hebrews and each of us need to hear and that is the sin of not being in relationship with God.
This is the same warning he has been giving throughout, yet it gets a little more severe and straightforward each time.
He is saying that if you have a knowledge of the truth
that Jesus is the Christ,
that He is the one true sacrifice for your sins and
you turn away from that, you commit a sin from which there is no hope left.
Blasphemy of the Spirit
You are blaspheming the Spirit of God, the one sin from which there is no hope
If you fail to move forward in relationship with God and His people, it only shows the truth that there was never any relationship at all.
This is just what John says in
1 John 2:19
19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
There were people that looked like they had relationship with God’s people, but the fact that they did not continue on and grow in relationship with God and with His people, showed that they never really had established a true relationship. It was just fake.
Where are you in your relationship with God and his People?
Is this something that is a priority for you or could you really care less about being in relationship with God or God’s people?
If that is the case, the author or Hebrews is saying be warned. If you are just faking relationship with God and His people, it will become apparent by you turning from relationships with God and His people.
You are insulting the Holy Spirit who has shown you the truth of the gospel.
For the Jews, they could not sacrifice more animals and be cleansed. Even though it was hard to be a Christian sometimes, they knew and understood that this was the truth. They needed to receive that truth and move forward in relationship.
For us today, when we know and understand the truth of the gospel and see that it is the way, if we turn back after knowing that and don’t truly enter into relationship with Christ, we have blasphemed the Spirit of God and there is no sacrifice for sins left, only a “fearful expectation of judgment and raging fire.” (10:27)
But the author doesn’t leave them on that note.
Instead he offers them some encouragement.
Because he knows and wants his readers to know that
Relationships are Costly … yet Rewarding
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Hebrews 10:32-39
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You sympathized with those in prison (encouraged them) and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while,
"He who is coming will come and will not delay.
38 But my righteous one will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back,
I will not be pleased with him."
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
Persevere
He is saying here, listen, I believe most of you have come into relationship with Christ and He is encouraging them to persevere. He recognizes that Satan will attack and seek to rob them and each of us of the joy of our salvation. Don’t let him. He says to them, “Be encouraged,” doing just what God wants His people to do, to be an encouragement to one another.
I know that there are many people here who have faced all kinds of trials.
Yet you have persevered and stuck with it. Be encouraged.
I know that there are many people here today who are facing trials right now.
Financial
Medical
Relational
God has put people in your life through the church to encourage you and to be there to help you.
You need to take advantage of that.
You need to be taking the steps to grow in relationship with the people of the church.
It is through relationships with God’s people that God is going to help you overcome the trials and sins that hold you in bondage.
Then you will experience
the blessing of freedom,
the blessing of intimate relationships, as well as
the blessing of eternal rewards.
These rewards are not your salvation, but the rewards that are on top of the gift of salvation. The rewards are dependant on the things you do in this world.
Listen to what Paul says in
1 Corinthians 3:11-15
11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
(from New International Version)
Listen, it is through the Christian relationships that God helps us to stay focused on the eternal, not on the temporal.
Conclusion
There are some of you here today, that have some decisions to make.
Are you going to enter into relationship with the Lord.
Others of you need to grow in your relationship with the Lord by growing in your relationship with God’s people by taking a step to do that.
If you are not a regular attender of church, commit to coming regularly.
If you are a regular attender, commit to membership.
If you are a member, commit to a small group and serving where you can know others in a deeper way.
If you don’t look to grow in your relationships, you need to ask yourself, what the status of your relationship is.
Is it real or is it fake?
Let’s pray.
