Luke 5:1-11
Matthew 28:16-20
John 4:13-19
Matthew 10:5-14
If you weren’t with us on Sunday, you missed an unusual (but I think good) one. Due to a combination of illness and the movement of the Spirit, instead of the sermon I’d been preparing, I presented a version of what I’d presented at the Leadership Enrichment Event the day before. The material I was presenting was the culmination of many things God has been teaching me, in some ways, my entire life—but more-intensely over the past year. I have come to understand that the life Jesus calls us to is a life of deepening relationships. It is arguably the most important thing we do. And that is precisely the argument I make.
Because it was more of a “presentation,” it wasn’t scripted, as I usually do. So the following is the combination of what I remember saying, my brief notes, and a couple of things I’ve thought of since then.
To begin with, I think the Spirit drew me to present this instead of the original sermon I had in mind is that this is, by far, more important. Over the past couple of years, we’ve been talking with Rev. Dr. Stan Wood about being a “missional” church. That relationship has unfortunately come to an end—I found his insights and personal support to be a gift from God. However, if I have one criticism of his approach to helping us be a missional church, it is this: he kept using the word “missional.” What I think he meant was “relational,” because building and deepening relationships is the most important thing we do as the church. Last Sunday we talked about love (1 Corinthians 13). Last week we heard the Apostle Paul say that love is even more important than faith and hope! This week we ask: how is that love expressed? It is through our relationships; first with our Savior, then with one another, and then with those in the world around us.
So we begin, as we all do, with our relationship with Jesus. We all have our own unique journeys with Jesus—all have our own stories of how we came to faith, and all have our own journeys that led us together as a congregation—but we’re all on the same road. We look to Luke 5:1-11 and see some similar patterns with our life in Christ: first, that he comes to us. Peter and the rest weren’t looking for Jesus; they weren’t looking to become disciples; Jesus comes to them. He begins the relationship with us by coming to us and setting relationships as our pattern of life. Along with that, it’s an imposing kind of relationship: Jesus doesn’t just sit at coffee with us (although he certainly does), he puts us to work. “Let’s go fishing,” Jesus says. “We just went fishing,” say the professional fishermen, but they go anyway. We know the rest of the story.
The next common pattern we see from this story is Peter’s reaction (v. 8): “Get away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” The holiness of Jesus compels us to notice that we are not. Of course it does. But how does Jesus respond? Does say, “Oh really? Okay then. Never mind.” Does he say, “Oh you’re not so bad; I’ve seen much bigger sinners than you.” Nope. He looks right past Peter’s sinfulness. He says, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” Apparently, Peter’s sinfulness does not disqualify him from becoming a disciple. Of course, it didn’t disqualify us either.
And of course, we know the disciples’ next choice too. Upon hearing our Savior’s invitation to come catch people, we do what they did: we leave behind what we can and we follow him. We enter into relationship with Jesus.
But of course, Jesus doesn’t just call us into relationship with him; he calls us to be in relationship with one another as well. As disciples, as fellow followers of Jesus, we walk alongside one another as well. We look to the pattern of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) and see that it is all about our relationships: we make disciples; we baptize in the name of Father, Son, & Spirit (even our God is about relationship!); we remember that the Spirit of Jesus is with us always. We are meant to walk together with Jesus.
But what does that mean? Is there a difference between belonging to a church and belonging to one another as fellow disciples? This is and has been a very personal question for me. This is an illustration that I didn’t use on Sunday: Google the phrase “yubba lubba dub dub.” Did it ask you if you meant, “I am in great pain, please help me”? It is from an adult-themed (and rather inappropriate) cartoon, where one of the main characters uses it as a catch-phrase. It isn’t until much later in the series that we find out its meaning. In other words, this character has been walking into rooms yelling, “I am in great pain, please help me!” and no one has heard him. In the cartoon, because this character is rather unlikable, that revelation is meant to be funny; but in the church, it is certainly not. How do we know if the person sitting next to us every Sunday is crying out for help if we don’t understand the “language” they are speaking.
I won’t rehash the journey away from and toward emotional health that I’ve been on this past year, but I’ve been there. When I was finally made aware that I was “not well,” it was coupled with the realization that I had no one I could talk to about it. Not that I was not cared for; I know I was cared for and I know it now more than ever. What I mean is: I had no one I could reach out to pray for me in the middle of the night. That kind of relationship is deeper than most. That depth of relationship takes a spoken commitment: “I’ll be there for you as you will be there for me.” Since then, I have surrounded myself with such a team of people. The treasure that they are to me has encouraged me to invite you to deepen your relationships with the people in the church: my hope is that you will create your “team” as well. We rarely know when a crisis will arise; but when it does, you’ll want your team on the ready.
These deepening relationships, as vital for us as a church as they are, are not just for us. Deepening relationships is how we bring Jesus to the world. We see how this might be done in John 4. You know the story: Jesus and the boys are traveling through Samaria and, the disciples leave Jesus alone by a well. Along comes a woman to draw water and Jesus (of course!) puts her to work: he asks her for some water and she points out how he’s not supposed to do that. They talk about water a bit and then the conversation turns to the woman’s husband. She says she has no husband and Jesus points out that, actually, she’s had five and the one she’s “with” isn’t her husband. Ouch.
Do we know this woman? Of course we do: we meet people like this every day; people we meet who are living with loneliness and shame; and God is calling us to care for them by entering into a deeper relationship with them. In our context, it might look more like this: maybe you’re at the coffee shop or the library. Maybe she’s on a computer and you notice something isn’t quite right. Nothing prophetic, necessarily; maybe you just notice something. Maybe the Spirit nudges you to ask, “Hey, are you okay?” Maybe that same Spirit nudges her to tell you the truth. “No,” she says, “my husband and I can’t seem to love each other anymore.” And so you enter into real and deepening relationship. Maybe you say something like, “Wow, that sounds really hard. How do you deal with not feeling love with your husband? Are there ways that you’re working on finding that love again?” And maybe most helpful of all, “Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe pray with you?” That is how the Kingdom of God has always grown: we meet them where they are, we walk with them, and we show the love of God along the journey.
The lack of deepening and real relationship is literally killing our society; and that is the one thing we are called to bring to our society. It is no accident that the most urgent thing our society needs and the thing we are most called to do are the same exact thing. Building relationships is not only how we’re called into discipleship, not only what we’re called bring to one another, but it is how we bring salvation to the world.
There is one final point from Matthew 10:5-14 that shows us, in an unusual way, that there may also be a specific kind of person God is calling us to walk with in this world. It’s an interesting story: Jesus sends his disciples out into the world to practice his relationship-building ministry (again, putting us to work). He gives them instructions on traveling light and then adds an interesting note on where to stay. He says, “Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.” What just happened there? Jesus sends the disciples into the world, looking for people in it who are not disciples, but who are “peaceful” to what God is doing. Then, Jesus has his disciples to for them the same thing that Jesus does for everyone else: put them to work. Jesus sends us into the world, looking for what my friend calls “people of peace”—people who are already working in the Kingdom of God, but don’t even know it. Jesus sends us to recognize what God is doing through them and walk alongside them in that work. To show them in your words and actions the miracle of our Savior’s love and them put them to work: let them take you fishing; let them give you water; let them fix you a room.
I’m reluctant to publish the illustration I used on line, but the gist goes like this: God called me a couple of years ago to begin walking with someone in our town who is obviously a “person of peace.” This person does not go to church, but knows we have had many opportunities to have spiritual conversations. I have had opportunities to tell this person, most importantly, that I see what this person does as God’s work. So the other day, this person was going through a difficult situation and asked me if I could pray about it. Of course I did. I don’t know if this person will ever set foot in a church, but that’s not my job. My job is to deepen that relationship, walk with people wherever they are, and keep the door open.
So in the end, I guess the big message is this: remember that everything we do is about building & maintaining relationships; first with the Savior who seeks us and calls us; then with one another as we seek to truly care for one another; and finally with those God puts in our lives as we go out into the world.
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