Sermon
God Desires Relationship
December 21, 2003
Pastor Leighton Sheley

Now normally week after week we as a congregation are used to gathering together and examining the Scripture in an expository fashion, that as we take a portion of the Scripture and we study it in depth, but I thought it appropriate at this Christmas season to step back and see the big picture. So I don't have a particular passage that I can direct your attention to today, but I will be referencing many passages. I think that it's important for us to step back and see the big picture of God's salvation.

You know that the Bible is the number one bestseller, not only in America, but in the world, not only in this year, but for centuries. There is no comparison. It answers questions like, Who am I? Why am I here? Where did I come from? What is my purpose? Where am I going? What should I do? How should I live? No wonder it's the bestseller.

The Bible's name actually means book of books, and it's not only one book but it's 66 books in one written by approximately 40 different authors, living on at least three different continents, in three different languages, the first and last writers being separated by some 16 centuries, and yet, the Bible tells one story from beginning to end.

James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe in their book entitled 'What If The Bible Had Never Been Written?' write, we begin in the book of Genesis in a garden in paradise, we end in the book of Revelation again in a paradise of God. In the beginning man is driven out because of his sin and forbidden to eat of the tree, at the end he is invited to come in and partake of the tree that he might live forever. The same doctrines are taught throughout the Bible. The same person Jesus Christ is the central theme of the Bible. It's all about him. It builds to his coming, describes it, and interprets what it means. The golden thread that runs through Scripture is the redemption of sinful man by the grace of God through faith in the shed blood of the Redeemer.

Now the Bible, these 66 books, is organized into sections. For instance, the first five books are called the Books of the Law or the Pentateuch, and each one of these sections relates to Christ. The law gives the foundation for Christ. The history books show the preparation for Christ. The poetry section expresses the aspiration for Christ. The gospels record the historical manifestation of Christ. The book of Acts relates the propagation of the message of Christ. The epistles give us the interpretation of Christ. And Revelation describes the consummation of all things it Christ.

The Bible describes God's plan for man's salvation. Centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, God foretold many details concerning his birth, life, ministry, mission, death, resurrection, an ultimate culmination. When the wise men from the East came to Herod asking where to worship this newborn king, Herod summoned his religious advisers and asked them where to look, and they knew where to look for the prophet Micah had recorded for us in 5:2, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times. "

Now even the non-believing Jewish religious leaders knew this passage referenced the coming Messiah, but for some inexplicable reason their belief was so pronounced they refused to travel the six miles separating Jerusalem from Bethlehem to check and see for them self about the birth of this Messiah. Now the passage in Micah was written centuries before Christ's coming and it speaks of one who would become ruler over Israel. It could not refer to King David who was also born in Bethlehem as his lifespan had concluded many centuries previous. It had to refer to another king who was going to be born in this tiny little village, and tiny it is; I think the population today is only around 10,000. I believe the population of San Bruno is more than 30,000.

It's a tiny little village. And this king who would come, born centuries after the writing, would have origins centuries in the past. That could not be a description that could apply to any human. It could only apply to someone divine. Now there's a small group of people who promote the idea that Jesus never claimed to be God. That is wrong. Jesus very clearly declared he was God. In fact, that was the reason the non-believing religious leaders tore their clothes, called him a blasphemer, and demanded his execution by Rome. Jesus declared himself to be God.

In John 14:8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

And if that were not clear enough, Jesus declared in John 10:30, I and the Father are one. Now Jesus was not just a great man, a great teacher, a great leader, he claimed to be God. And either Jesus was God or he was the greatest fraud to ever walk the face of this earth. If you do not believe and accept and receive that Jesus Christ was God in human flesh, you have not accepted or received the true Messiah, the true Christ.

The writer of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 1, "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being." The Son, Jesus Christ, is the exact representation of God's being. And that verse continues, "After he," Jesus, "had provided purification for sins." That is a reference to what Jesus accomplished at Calvary.

We are told, in even the Old Testament, the soul that sineth, it shall die, Ezekiel 18:4. And Paul reiterates that in Romans 6:23, for the wages of sin this death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. God's plan of salvation is repeated throughout the Scriptures, and perhaps one of the most clear and concise and elegant expressions is found in John 3:16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God...

It was God who initiated the only true plan of salvation. Now there are many religions, man made, who purport to have a plan of salvation, mostly based upon works or church affiliation, but Jesus said I am the way, I had the truth, I am the life. No one comes onto the Father except by Me. There is no other path of salvation. There are not many roads that lead to God. There is only one. For God so loved... The motivation for God's plan.

Now there are many words in Greek for love and the word agape was chosen here which describes the highest and purest form of love. A loved that is self sacrificially giving and not self-serving. God so loved the world -- the recipients of God's love. There are some who mistakenly believe that God only loves good people or people who are saved, but the Bible teaches that God is not desirous that anyone should perish.

God so loved the world that He gave. God's payment for redemption. He didn't have to give, but He chose to give anyway. What did He give? He gave His Son. You know there's nothing more dear to the heart of a good father than their child, and God gave at which was dearest to His heart, His Son, His only begotten Son. Jesus was unique in all the world. You see, we are called the children of God in the Scriptures, but we are children by adoption according to Ephesians 1:5. God has chosen to adopt us, but Jesus was God's only begotten Son. Jesus shared His Father's nature completely.

That whosoever...without exception, without exemption, whoever you are no matter what race or religious background, age or gender, slave or free, rich or poor, whoever believeth in Him -- believes in who Jesus claimed to be, the Son of God, believes in Jesus' full payment for the debt of our sin, believes in Jesus as Lord, believes in salvation through God's only begotten Son completely and exclusively. Now this excludes believing in good works or believing or trusting in group affiliations.

Let me be clear. You cannot receive salvation by being a member of Church of Highlands or the Lutheran Church or the Baptist Church or the Presbyterian or the Pentecostal or the Episcopal or the Roman Catholic or any other organization. Salvation comes through believing in Him, Jesus, the Christ, the only begotten Son of God.

Shall not perish...apollumi -- to destroy, to put out of the way entirely. Shall not suffer eternal damnation or separation from God but have eternal life - aionios -- without end, never to cease, everlasting. And not just a longer life, but a better life. This salvation is not based upon our own efforts or works, in fact, our efforts or works are evaluated as rubbish, filthy rags, in terms of being negotiable currency for salvation. Isaiah 64:6 says, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." If all of our efforts at righteousness, our righteous acts, have the value of filthy rags, how then can we be saved?

And the answer is found throughout the Scriptures and in this passage in Ephesians 2:8-9, "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. This salvation is based upon responding to and receiving God's salvation. Romans 10:5 says, "If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Salvation is a very personal decision. No one can make that decision for us. We must make our own decision.

Now why did God save us? For what purpose, to what end did God save us? God is not satisfied with simply and solely saving us, He wants to have a relationship with each and every one of us. God created in mankind His image that we could enjoy relationship with Him. Relationship is based upon having something in common with another. It may be no more than standing in the same line waiting for service at the bank, having that much in common can be the spark or the initiative of a relationship; not usually anything more than brief and shallow, and usually not anything more than giving an opinion, but something is in common. It may be something greater like a declared commitment in life in a marriage relationship and so forth.

Relationship is based on having something in common with another. That's one of the fundamentals of our outreach program in men's ministries. What is it that men in the church and seeking God have in common with men on the fringes and men in the world? It may not be a mutual pursuit of God but they may have a mutual interest in hunting or fishing or biking or hiking or wherever it might be, and our goal in these outreaches is to find some bridge to bring these men to an opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Relationship is based on having something in common with another.

Now you say, and rightfully so, well isn't it presumptuous of us to think we have something in common with God? How can we suppose that we have any right to have a relationship with God? When you think about how great God is, and awesome, and powerful, and intelligent, and wise; created the universe, put all of the planets, gave them a shove and put them in the right orbits. There's nothing that He can be taught because he knows everything. He's fully self-contained. He doesn't have a bad day. What can we possibly have in common with God? Wouldn't it be presumptuous of us to think that we have something in common with God? And the answer to that is, yes it would be presumptuous to the nth degree. However, God has declared that we have something in common with Him.

In Genesis 1:26, "God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." God declared that we have something in common with Him, we were made in His image.

Now what is that image? I haven't fully grasped what that means. I know one thing, it doesn't mean a physical resemblance to the Lord because the Lord is not physical He's spirit. But God's word says we have something in common. God declared we have something in common, and that description is not shared by any other creature described in the Holy Bible. Nowhere does it say that there's a plant or animal that's created in God's image. I haven't founded any Scripture that says the angels were created in God's image. It's a description that is unique to mankind and somehow it's that which we have in common with God that allows a very special relationship between mankind and God not shared by any other creature.

God desires to have relationship with us. He has put within us the capacity to have relationship with Him, and this runs very contrary to what many of us have been taught or many of us believe, that God just kind of -- okay I've healed you, all right, I've saved you, now just stay away from Me you're not holy. God desires to have relationship with us.

God didn't save us so that we could be one little member in this gigantic choir that He's assembling of worshipers on that day. God didn't need one more voice. Now God didn't just save us so that we could be a little cog in a very big machine far removed from the source of power. God didn't just save us because He needed to fill a quota and we happen to be in the right place at the right time. God didn't just save us so that He would have another face hanging on His exhibition wall, saying, look at this one, you'll never believe where I saved this one from.

Now in society today were used to being considered a number. We go to the bank and we don't matter as much as the number of the dollars that is posted in our numbered account, and we stand in line, and we move up in numbers until we're number one in line. In our world we're used to being treated as numbers, not so with God. God chose each and every one of us individually. In fact, the Scriptures tell us in Revelation before the foundations of the world He wrote our name in the book of life. Before we were born, before we sinned, before we responded to His invitation of grace, he chose Leighton Sheley and wrote Leighton Sheley's name in the book of life. To God I am not a number and neither are you.

My son is not 570551234, he's Sterling, and my daughter is not 570551231, she's Crystal. We are not a number to God, we are a name, and God does not desire to deal with us as a number or a business associate, as a hireling or as a slave or servant, He wants to be our friend. Now that's a description of an intimate relationship. Jesus said, John 15:15, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." Jesus desires to have a relationship, a friendship, with us.

In fact there are several human relationships that God uses to describe the kind of relationship that He wants to have with us. Not only does He use the friendship concept of relationship, but He talks about the parent-child relationship. When the disciples asked Jesus, How should we approach God? How should we address God? Jesus said, address Him thusly, our Father who art in heaven. We should address God as our Father and God is a Father unlike any other.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:11, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" If you then being evil...now I try to be a good Father. I try to make sure that my children have food, they have clothes, they have all of the needs, they have a good education, that my discipline and my expectations of their performance is very reasonable, and so forth. But you know what? Compared to God, the Father, I am an evil Father. I am not perfect, but God is perfect.

I am not always available for my kids needs. Sometimes Crystal and Sterling both ask me at the same time to help them with homework. Guess what? I can only help one of them at a time because I'm corporal. God is spirit. God is omnipresent. God has promised He will never leave us nor forsake us. He can be with you, and with you, and with you, and with you, and with you, and with me all simultaneously and give us 100 percent of His attention. Only God can do that.

I'm not always able to meet the needs of my kids. I've got limited resources. I only have so many hours in the week. I only have so many dollars in the pocket, and sometimes I can't meet the needs of my children. But Luke 1:37 says, "Nothing is impossible with God." And sometimes I make promises I cannot keep, usually out of ignorance. I didn't know Marine World was going to be closed the day I told my children I was going to take them there, but nothing surprises God. God already knows what's next week, next month, next year, the next decade, the next century -- whatever it is, God already knows. There are no surprises to God.

"God is not a man, that he should lie," Numbers 23:19. God doesn't lie. He doesn't need to. He doesn't need to give excuses. He always keeps His promises. Now in this world natural children can be unplanned, adopted children are by choice. God has chosen to adopt us. Ephesians 1:5 says, "He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will." We have been chosen. We aren't accidents.

And God uses many other examples from the realm of human relationships to try to describe the intimacy of the relationship that He wants to have with each and every one of us, and some, quite frankly, are a little embarrassing to talk about in polite company. God talks about us being the bride of Christ. He wants to be one with us even closer than a happily married man and wife. In fact Jesus prayed in John 17, "My prayer is not for them alone," speaking to those who were in the room, but "I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message," that's us, "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...that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me." Complete unity.

And then He says this, He says, "I want those you have given me to be with me where I am." Jesus said I want to be with these people. He likes our company. How different this is to the concept that some of us have that God is somewhere out there and wants to stay out there and be aloof and distant from us. And it's not based on how intelligent we are. Remember the children coming up to Jesus and some of the adults around there saying, just go away, He doesn't have time for you. I mean you're not even old enough to hold an intelligent conversation. Now Jesus, let's talk about...

Do you realize who they were talking with? The Son of God who created everything, as though they could be more intelligent than a 4-year-old in the presence of almighty, all knowing God. God enjoys our company. He wants to have relationship with us, and true relationship is reciprocal. True relationship is not one-sided. True relationship is a mutual commitment to the goals of a given relationship. For us to experience relationship with God requires our participation. God has already done His part. He's dealt with the sin issue that causes separation by shedding His blood on Calvary's cross.

Hebrews 9:22 says, "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" for sins. He has taken care of that issue. Hebrews 1:3 says, "After he had provided purification for sins," on Calvary's cross, "he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." Now Jesus sat down because His work was finished, once and for all it was accomplished. All of the sins that have been committed in the past, all of the sins that were being committed as He hung on that cross, all of the sins that were going to be committed in future, all of the sins that you have committed, all of the sins that you will commit were all covered under the cross. The work of salvation is accomplished.

Now does sin still cause separation? Yes, but not in terms of severing a relationship but rather distancing a relationship. Case in point -- my son was threeish, maybe three or four, something like that, he was sitting on my lap. We were waiting for dinner in the kitchen. There's something sitting in front of him. He reaches out, and I say son, don't take that. I can still remember to this day his hand stayed out there. His face looked up at me...looked at what was on the table...looked at me...looked at what was on the table...looked at me and withdrew the hand. I knew what was coming next. You know what's coming next is you're a parent. A few minutes pass and they think you forgot.

His hand goes out. Sterling, don't eat that. He looks at me...he looks at what's on the table...he looks at me... and this little guy three or four years old, something like that, has these really profound words to say: Daddy, you go there. Our direction was in conflict at that moment and he wanted a little distance in our relationship.

Sin causes distance in our relationship with God, but because of God's provision for salvation it's not a distance in terms of severing, but it's a distance that's caused in our relationship. What must we do to reciprocate the relationship that we've been invited to in God? Well firstly, we must choose to enter or begin the relationship.

Now there have been times when I have rejected an invitation to friendship that's been offered to me, most often because I was persuaded that the relationship would not be mutually beneficial, but the relationship that God invites us into is beneficial for all. But we must choose to respond to that invitation for relationship.

Secondly, we need to pursue the relationship -- pursue the relationship. Relationship has to do with thinking about the other person. It has to do with feeling for the other person. It has to do with communicating as possible with the other person. And God has communicated to us through His holy word. In fact, some of the scholars refer to the Scriptures as God's love letters to us. And I know we have a tendency to think that it doesn't count unless we are face-to-face with a person, let me suggest to you that some of the greatest love stories of all time have been recorded for us in the letters that went back and forth.

If you think that reading love letters doesn't stir the heart, try telling that to our soldiers who are in far off lands when they hear mail call. It stirs the heart. God's love letter to us stirs our heart. His love letters are living. You can read a passage, set it aside and come back to it, and something else jumps out at you and strikes you in your heart and your mind because His word is living and His word brings life.

What brings life to the cooling embers of a romantic relationship as much as a card or a note or an e-mail or a call? You say, well I have a problem. I don't understand God's word. You know, God wants relationship with us so bad, he's already provided the answer for that as well. You see He has placed within us God's Holy Spirit who not only seals our redemption, but also is there to teach us and lead us into truth. In fact, Jesus said in John 16:13, "when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." And if we're having a problem understanding God's word we simply ask God's Holy Spirit who lives within us because we're the temple of God's Holy Spirit, Lord, would you please open this up to me? Give me understanding of Your holy word.

Now let me also suggest to you that a healthy relationship is one in which neither party uses the other. We've all been in relationships that have turned sour because we felt used. We were there for the other person in their time of need, but somehow or other they never came through when it was our turn and we were in need. We felt used.

So I will ask you, in your relationship with God do you think there's a chance that God might feel used? God, I need You. Okay, thank you God, no that will be enough. Later. Or perhaps let's look at it from another perspective, in your relationship with God do you feel used? Perhaps you don't have a correct understanding of the invitation to relationship that God has extended, because His friendship, His invitation, is like no other friendship you can experience.

The primary purpose for which we were created and given life was to enjoy relationship with God, and if we don't pursue that relationship, we've missed our whole purpose for existence, our whole purpose in being. Secondly, we've got to pursue the relationship. Thirdly, we've got to protect the relationship. How do we protect relationships we have with people? Isn't it by being available, and supportive, and loving, and forgiving, and giving?

Now our relationship with God is somewhat unique because He wants to be our friend, but God is God. Let me see if I can explain it from this perspective. I love my children. I love being with my children. My children are fun to be with, and if you were to ask my children I would hope they would say Dad is fun to be with. In fact most of the time we look like three kids, one in an oversized body. But there is a circumstance under which I can no longer be friend, and that is when they choose by their behavior to force me to change by role to disciplinarian.

You see God wants to be our friend but He has a responsibility as our Father when our behavior calls upon it to be our disciplinarian. He doesn't want to be a disciplinarian. I don't find joy in being a disciplinarian for my children. I'd rather be enjoying them as friends, but it's part of my responsibility as their father.

How do we protect our relationship with God? By being obedient. Jesus said John 14:15, If you love Me, keep My commandments. If you keep My commandments I don't have to be the disciplinarian. I can be your friend. God didn't save us just so we could be part of His collection on an exhibition hall; He saved us so that we could have a personal relationship with Him. Let's pray.

Lord we thank you for Your holy word. From Genesis to Revelation it unveils for us the story of Your salvation, of Your love and Your provision for us, of the fact that You are a good God, and a holy God, and a just God, and a loving God, and a merciful God, and a gracious God, and how You accomplished both at the same time.

Lord, so many of us have so often neglected our relationship with You. Lord we are starting a new year. May it be in the year 2004 that we experience an intimacy of relationship with You that we have never before enjoyed. Thank you Lord for inviting us into this relationship, in Jesus' name, amen.