Seeing relationships as God sees them

(The following are the main points from the sermon preached by Michael Larsen on Jan 16, 2020.)

We’re in a series called “Seeing Through God’s Eyes.” We’re going to talk about how God might see relationships.  Two weeks ago we started this series with a message called “Seeing Yourself As God Sees You.”  When you learn how to live life based on how God sees you, it can change the way you live your life.  Last week we talked about loving other people.  How we interact with people on a daily basis in loving others, being kind – that type of thing.  

1.  Relationships are messy.  

2.  God created us to be in relationships.

What did Jesus do in these relationships?

1.  He served without recognition

You can read a biblical example from the life of Jesus in John 13.  It says, “Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave the world and return to His Father.  He now showed the disciples the full extent of His love so He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel He had around Him.  Then He said this, ‘I have given you an example to follow.  Do as I have done to you.’”  He’s given them an example to follow and He washed their feet.  

2.  He served with compassion.

After Lazarus had died and Jesus said he would raise him again, it says in John 11:35 that Jesus wept.  Jesus wasn’t sad about losing a dear fiend, because he hadn’t. Lazarus would be raised. He’s crying because he saw the pain in other people and He wept.  He was surrounded by sadness and He wept. God weeps for your pain. He understands your hurt.  He models compassion.  

3.  He served with truth.

 If you look at Mark 8 Jesus has His disciples, His followers, His friends together and He’s basically predicting His death. After He’s done saying to them what’s going to happen, Peter pulls Him aside and says, “Jesus, don’t talk like that!”      Here’s how Jesus responds in v.33.  “Jesus turned and looked at His disciples and then said to Peter very sternly, ‘Get a way from Me, Satan!  You are seeing things merely from a human point of view not from God’s.’”  Get away from Me, Satan.  

To sum up, serve without recognition, serve with compassion, serve with truth. 

The problem is that when you try to apply these on your own, you’re going to fail.  As a matter of fact you’re going to stay on the surface.  Without God’s presence and His power, you’ll stay at the surface level.  

Significant relationships are fueled by spending time with the one who created them, who knows how they work best.  Jesus summarized basically the Old Testament, all the commandments that had been written.  He kind of gives the Cliff Notes, bottom line version and this is what He says in Matthew 22:37-40, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is equally as important.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the other commandments and all the other demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”  He says you want to get it right?  Love God first.  The deeper you go with God, the deeper you can go with others.  You love God first with all your heart, soul and mind.  Then you love others.  Relationships work best in the context of a living, loving, growing, vibrant deepening relationship with God.  We get right with God—emotionally and spiritually—then that emotional health and spiritual transformation allow us to have healthy, meaningful relationships with others.