The Most Important Relationship
- Published May 14, 2001
Based on Ephesians 2:18-22
The Scriptures tell us in Proverbs 30 that every word of God is flawless. For this reason the Lord asks us to hear his words and to allow them to make us new. As Jesus says in John 3, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again which is to say that the kingdom of God comes to those whose spirit is informed and made new by Gods word. These words from Ephesians can make us new. This is what they say: Through Jesus Christ we have full access to God himself In Jesus Christ we have seen the will of God Almighty for our lives, and because of Christ we can no longer be strangers to God or to one another.
The point for us to hear is that there is no relationship of greater importance, there is no aspect of life any more important, than to know and to be in relationship with God. This is why God gave us Jesus Christ.
The rest of this reading in Ephesians goes on to underline this point. It tells us that we are all united through Christ and have equal access to God Almighty. And in Christ it says each of us, you and me, are being built together into one great body in which God lives. That is what we are -- a body that is being built together to become one great family in which God lives. Once Jesus was asked where the Kingdom of God was to be found and he said that it was to be found in our hearts. But our heart is only informed of Gods ways through a relationship with God himself.
Is there a longing in your heart to know and to be with God? Is there an urge to serve God? God has invited us into relationship with him. All are invited, but all must decide to accept. And what we accept is entry into a relationship with God in which God is our guide in whom we put all of our trust, to whom we go with all of our needs, and from whom we receive all our guidance.
Psalms 32 says I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go Psalms 48 says This God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end. Isaiah 42 writes as the voice of God, I will lead the blind by ways they have not known I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth; These are the things I will do, I will not forsake them.
So now is the time to commit to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. God will lead and has invited each of us to be in relationship with him To be guided and led, to be comforted and made whole To become part of the one great body in which God lives. There is no greater relationship than with God, which we grow through constant and committed prayer. This is the call that Christ has issued to each of us: To commit to him. To go to him each day and trust fully in him. To put the future of our lives, the future of our churches, of our careers, all in Gods hands and say God, I am committed to you.
Jesus has committed to us. In John 10 Jesus reminds us that he is the good shepherd and that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The reason that my Father loves me, Jesus said, is that I lay down my life -- only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. And the Scriptures say that we are to commit to Christ. Psalms 37 asks us to commit our way to the Lord and to trust in him. In Luke 9 Jesus bids us each to deny ourselves and take up his cross and follow him. All things we are to take to God in prayer, recognizing that God is our rock, our source of life and the most important relationship of all.
The Scriptures tell us in Proverbs 30 that every word of God is flawless. For this reason the Lord asks us to hear his words and to allow them to make us new. As Jesus says in John 3, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again which is to say that the kingdom of God comes to those whose spirit is informed and made new by Gods word. These words from Ephesians can make us new. This is what they say: Through Jesus Christ we have full access to God himself In Jesus Christ we have seen the will of God Almighty for our lives, and because of Christ we can no longer be strangers to God or to one another.
The point for us to hear is that there is no relationship of greater importance, there is no aspect of life any more important, than to know and to be in relationship with God. This is why God gave us Jesus Christ.
The rest of this reading in Ephesians goes on to underline this point. It tells us that we are all united through Christ and have equal access to God Almighty. And in Christ it says each of us, you and me, are being built together into one great body in which God lives. That is what we are -- a body that is being built together to become one great family in which God lives. Once Jesus was asked where the Kingdom of God was to be found and he said that it was to be found in our hearts. But our heart is only informed of Gods ways through a relationship with God himself.
Is there a longing in your heart to know and to be with God? Is there an urge to serve God? God has invited us into relationship with him. All are invited, but all must decide to accept. And what we accept is entry into a relationship with God in which God is our guide in whom we put all of our trust, to whom we go with all of our needs, and from whom we receive all our guidance.
Psalms 32 says I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go Psalms 48 says This God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end. Isaiah 42 writes as the voice of God, I will lead the blind by ways they have not known I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth; These are the things I will do, I will not forsake them.
So now is the time to commit to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. God will lead and has invited each of us to be in relationship with him To be guided and led, to be comforted and made whole To become part of the one great body in which God lives. There is no greater relationship than with God, which we grow through constant and committed prayer. This is the call that Christ has issued to each of us: To commit to him. To go to him each day and trust fully in him. To put the future of our lives, the future of our churches, of our careers, all in Gods hands and say God, I am committed to you.
Jesus has committed to us. In John 10 Jesus reminds us that he is the good shepherd and that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The reason that my Father loves me, Jesus said, is that I lay down my life -- only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. And the Scriptures say that we are to commit to Christ. Psalms 37 asks us to commit our way to the Lord and to trust in him. In Luke 9 Jesus bids us each to deny ourselves and take up his cross and follow him. All things we are to take to God in prayer, recognizing that God is our rock, our source of life and the most important relationship of all.
