It's All About Relationship (John 15:9-15)
Gary McManus, 03/05/2023Part of the DCC Basics series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
March 5, 2023 Second Sunday in Lent
John 15:9-15 It's All About Relationship
With America’s Top Ten Fears (Chapman University), we noted that many of those fears focus on death. Therefore, we have spent some time looking at what the Bible says about death. Since, Pastor has done a number of funerals outside the church family, Pastor has had the responsibility and the duty to explain to people in their pain and their grief that the God Pastor serves cares about them. Pastor explains some beliefs about God according to the Bible
—God as creator. . .God as giver of life. . . God as ordaining the uniqueness of each individual person.
Pastor recommends that people turn to the Bible because the God Pastor serve wants to communicate with us.
Some people who do read the Bible, may find parts of it tough going. Different aspects of God’s Word make God’s Word hard to understand. Pastor emphasizes the relationship aspects of God
and people. But we are moderns. People of the Bible were not.
--no science
--no books
--read and write?
--agricultural based living
--different geography
--different view of astronomy/cosmography
--how much is “culturally bound”?
Be careful how you consult your Bible (story).
Is John’s Gospel a good starting place?
Here are some of Jesus’ last earthly words: John 15:9-12. And then Jesus prays in chapter 17:23. . .
“You, [Heavenly Father] sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Is this easy to understand?
. . .SO, fast forward to Easter morning. . .(John 20)
What were the disciples thinking? They were afraid. . .Jesus came to them. Jesus wanted to see them. Jesus wanted to meet with them and offer “peace”.
Jesus declared that there remained harmony and accord between Jesus and the disciples.
One might notice what Jesus DID NOT say. . .
What Jesus did say was, [I’m keeping all of you as friends and missionaries.]
The disciples failed to maintain their relationship to Jesus when Jesus was arrested. They said they would, but couldn’t.
Most of our loves are reasonable. God’s love is not reasonable. God wants to love us and therefore God does love us. God’s love is greater than our loves because God is God—King of Kings, Lord of Lords, incomparable, wise, limitless. . .which means that God’s love would be limitless. . .
Our love is limited because we, as creatures are limited.
It makes it hard for us to understand God although we can still believe in that which we do not fully understand and we can receive a love that we can barely fathom. Amen.
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