Relationship Principles of Jesus ~ Love as Jesus Loves

Jesus is gathered together with his disciples in the upper room where he has just set them an example of love and service by washing their feet and sharing with them the Passover meal. It is the night Jesus will be betrayed and arrested, and the night before he will carry and then die on a cross, so Jesus knows this will be his last chance to speak with his disciples. In these last few moments, this is what Jesus says, John 13:33-35.

Jesus takes this final moment to share with his disciples the most important teaching of all. It’s as if Jesus saying, look, if you don’t remember anything else – remember this, love one another. If you can’t do anything else – do this, love one another. A new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Last week we saw that the first relationship principle is to simply see the value of relationships in our lives. If we want to improve any relationship we have to first value that relationship so that we will want to invest the time and energy needed to make it better. Jesus shows us that relationships are ultimately the most important thing in our lives by saying that the first and greatest commandment is to focus on relationships, or to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. So the first relationship principle, the most important thing is to value our relationships above everything else.

The second relationship principle builds on this because it helps define what it means to love. Jesus says, a new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. The first thing to notice is that loving one another is not an option. Jesus doesn’t say think about loving one another, he doesn’t even say you should love one another. It’s a command – you MUST love one another. We will not grow in our relationships if we are not willing to love. Love is the essential ingredient into strong relationships and this may not seem like anything new, but look at what Jesus says, a new command I give you, love one another. What does Jesus mean here? Hasn’t God always been calling us to love one another? Isn’t the entire teaching of the Old Testament based on loving God and loving others?
The law we find in the OT was given so that God’s people would act in loving ways toward others. If we look at the 10 commandments we see that they are really boundaries given to protect relationships. The reason we don’t murder, steal, or covet our neighbor’s things is because we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. The reason we do not commit adultery is to protect the love relationship of marriage, and the reason we don’t’ worship idols or any other god is to protect our relationship of love with God. Many of the commandments and laws found in the OT were given in order to protect relationships and they help define what love looks like. So if the command to love is not new, what is new here? We know there is something new here because Jesus says, a new command I give you and this is the only place in the entire gospel of John where Jesus uses this word new. It’s as if Jesus wants people to stop and hear what is being said. So what’s new?

What’s new is that Jesus doesn’t give a list of rules to follow. Unlike the OT which outlined in great detail what love was to look like in every situation and every relationship – Jesus just holds himself up as an example. As I have loved you – you must love another. In other words Jesus says do what I do, love like I love. Instead of a list of laws, we now have a living savior to follow. We don’t need to interpret the rules written on stone, we just need to walk and talk with the one who is love himself. So to figure out how to love one another as Jesus loves us we need to ask ourselves what does the love of Jesus look like?

What I usually think about when I think about the love of Jesus is the cross – the ultimate reflection of Jesus’ love for us is seen in the ultimate sacrifice of his life given on the cross. Jesus himself said, greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. There a saying that goes: I asked Jesus how much he loved me and he spread out his arms and said “this much”, and then he died. When I think about the example of love Jesus gives us I immediately think about the selflessness and the sacrificial example of Jesus dying on the cross and while that is the ultimate sacrifice and the ultimate expression of love, it is not the only example of love Jesus gives us, and I would say it is not the place to start. Jesus gives lots of example of how we need to love one another and we need to start with some of those other examples and build up to the ultimate gift of love seen in the cross. So let’s look at some of the other ways Jesus loves us and learn some relationships principles there.

The first place the love of Jesus is seen is in the first decision Jesus makes. A couple weeks ago we looked at the first recorded choice of Jesus and saw that at 12 years old Jesus chose to have fellowship with others in the Temple. While his family left Jerusalem to head home, Jesus stayed in the Temple and was part of a small group where he learned from others and shared with others the truth and the love of God. Jesus chose to have fellowship with one another and part of what it means to love as Jesus loves means choosing to have fellowship with one another.

Now when I talk about fellowship, I’m not talking about a cup coffee after worship. Fellowship isn’t small talk once a week after the last hymn. Fellowship is making the choice to be in relationship with one another. It means sharing our hopes and dreams with one another as well as our doubts and fears. It means growing in faith together through small groups and serving in the world together through mission teams. Fellowship means spending not only quality time together, but also a certain quantity of time as well. I’m not sure we can have real fellowship with one another in just a few minutes a week. It takes time to build relationships which is why Jesus called people to leave behind their businesses, families and communities to follow him. Jesus knew the disciples needed to spend time with him so they could listen and learn, so he called them to leave behind their lives so they could enter into a new life and a new fellowship with him.

When we look at the early church we see that they were also committed to this kind of fellowship. In Acts 2 & 4 it says the first followers of Jesus, the first church, met together, they ate together, they prayed together, they worshipped together, they served together, they shared what they had with one another, they gave to each other. The fellowship Jesus created and the fellowship we see in the church was a commitment to live in community with other believers and to grow together in love. To love like Jesus means to develop strong relationships with one another right here in the church. What’s interesting about this new command of Jesus is that Jesus says love one another. Jesus is only talking to his disciples here, he’s not talking to the crowds and he doesn’t say love your neighbor or love the stranger, or even love everyone. Jesus says love one another, in other words, let love start right here in this group, for Jesus it meant around that table with his disciples, and for us it means in the life of the church. We need to learn how to love here first. The church can be the best training ground for learning how to develop and strengthen relationships because this can be a place to learn about grace and forgiveness and speaking the truth in love. This is the place where we can learn about how God calls us to treat one another and so we need to commit ourselves to the fellowship of believers and learn how to love one another here first, but we can’t let your love here end. To love as Jesus loves means to choose to build relationships with one another in the church but then to reach out to those around us. So let’s forget about dying for one another right now and just ask ourselves if we are willing to meet with and have fellowship with one another and learn together how to relate better to those around us.

Jesus not only chose fellowship, but he also chose forgiveness, so to love as Jesus loves means we have to choose to forgive. In Ephesians 4:32-5:2 it says…

While this passage ends by talking about loving others enough to be willing to sacrifice for them, that’s not where love starts, love starts by being willing to be kind and forgive one another. Paul says that we are to forgive one another because God in Christ has forgiven us and the reason God has forgiven us is because God loves us. So if we are going to love as Jesus loves, we must be willing to forgive. Forgiveness is vital to all relationships because forgiveness brings healing and restoration when relationships are broken. Every relationship will go through difficult times. Because we are human we will all say or do things that will strain and maybe even break a relationship and the only way to bring healing and wholeness is to forgive, but too many times we aren’t willing to forgive. Marriages break apart because people aren’t willing to forgive. Business partnerships and ministry teams dissolve because people aren’t willing to forgive. Friendships end because people aren’t willing to forgive. Where there is no forgiveness there is no love and where there is no love there is no relationship, so to strengthen and grow in relationships we have to be willing to forgive. To love as Jesus loves means being willing to forgive.

Now when we talk about forgiveness let’s be clear about a few things: to forgive does not mean that we will forget. The reality is that we may never forget the pain and hurt of betrayal – I’m not sure our minds even work that way, but just because we can’t forget a painful situation doesn’t mean we can’t forgive. Forgiveness means being willing to let go of bitterness and a desire for revenge. A number of years ago I was hurt by a friend and found it very difficult to forgive him. For the longest time I said I had forgiven him, but I was still holding on to bitterness and I hoped that my anger would in some way hurt him. The sad truth was that my reluctance to forgive and to let go of the anger wasn’t hurting him at all, he didn’t even know I was angry, the only person I was hurting was me because the bitterness I was holding on to was eating me alive. Forgiveness doesn’t mean we forget, it means we let go of the anger and our desire to see someone hurt because they have hurt us.

Forgiveness also doesn’t mean we suddenly trust someone who has hurt us. Rebuilding trust and rebuilding relationships takes time and while forgiveness can open the door to healing and restoration, it will take time for relationships to become strong again. We need to give ourselves and our relationships and God the time to bring healing. So to love as Jesus loves doesn’t mean we talk about laying down our lives for someone first, it means laying aside our own self interests enough to forgive, and not just once or twice, but again and again and again. Loving as Jesus loves means dying to our selves enough to let go of our pain and our need for revenge.

Forgiveness was a choice Jesus made. He forgave his disciples when they failed him. He forgave the crowds when they mocked and crucified him (what does Jesus say from the cross), and he forgives us when we turn away to follow our own selfish and sinful ways. And Jesus forgives us because he loves us and values the relationship he has with us above everything else. Is there a relationship in your life where God is calling you to offer some forgiveness and love? Is there a hurt that you need to let go of? Bitterness and anger you need to give over to God? Take the first step in restoring a relationship by simply saying to God, help me to forgive – it’s the first step and choice we have to make if we want to love like Jesus loves.

Forgiveness was a choice Jesus made. Fellowship was a choice Jesus made and accepting people was a choice Jesus made. Jesus reached out in love to people that no one else would accept. He ate and drank with prostitutes, tax collectors and lepers who were all considered the unacceptable people of his day. Jesus offered everyone the grace and love of God and if we are going to love as Jesus loves then we also need to accept everyone. In Romans 15:7 Paul says, Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you. Accepting one another means welcoming people who are different than we are into our church, our homes and our lives, and let me be clear that accepting one another doesn’t means waiting for people to come to us, it means going out to build relationships with them. Do we seek to build relationships with people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds? Do we seek to build relationships with people who come from a different economic class? Are we open to loving people who think very different than we do either socially, politically or theologically?

One of the sad things about were we are as a nation today is that we have deep political, social and racial divides that we don’t seem willing to cross. I’m not even sure we want to cross them. We are comfortable where we are and with our circle of friends and since building relationships with people who are different than we are is hard work, we don’t really work at it, but God calls us to work at it. To love as Jesus loves means working to accept others just as Christ Jesus has accepted us and think about what Jesus had to do to accept us. Jesus left heaven and even went to hell to establish a relationship with us. Being willing to accept people who are different than we are helps us in all of our relationships because accepting people teaches us to offer grace and grow in patience and understanding. This will help us in all of our relationships.

Our relationships with others will grow when we learn to love as Jesus loves and this means choosing to fellowship, choosing to forgive and choosing to accept all people and while these are all places Jesus shows that we can start learning how to love, they are not places to end. To love as Jesus loves means that we have to go deeper and grow to that place where we care so much for others that we willing give all that we have and all that we are. To love as Jesus loves means growing to the place where we willing and joyfully lay down our lives for others. 1 John 3:16

While we must love one another enough to be willing to die for them, I would say this is not the beginning of love, it’s the goal of love and it’s a goal we will reach only if we are willing to commit ourselves to fellowship, forgiveness and acceptance first. But just choosing fellowship, forgiveness and acceptance will not bring us to a place where we can love as completely and fully as Jesus loves, that will only come when we are willing to trust in the power of God to help us. As we think about loving as Jesus loves and as we strive to live out this principle in all of our relationships, we have to be clear that we will never be able to live this way and love this way on our own, we can only do it with the strength that God gives us.

Do you remember the story of Peter walking on the water? Jesus tells Peter to get out of the boat and come to him on the water. Now on his own, Peter can’t walk on water, no one can, but in faith and trust Peter gets out of the boat and begins to walk toward Jesus on the water. Peter’s walking on water – he’s doing the impossible, but it says that when Peter noticed the wind and the waves, he started to sink. In other words when Peter took his eyes off Jesus, when he started to trust in himself and in his own strength, he failed. The only way we can love as Jesus loves, the only way we can love in selfless and sacrificial ways is to trust in the power and love of God to be working in us.

Loving others as Jesus loves us is not a matter of trying harder – it’s a matter of trusting Jesus. Loving as Jesus loves only happens when we allow God’s love to strengthen and equip us. It’s being willing to say, God on my own I don’t have the strength or the ability to love as Jesus did, but I’m not trusting in myself, I’m trusting in You to help me I’m trusting in Your power to help me love others.. If we will look to Jesus for the strength to love, the power to love will be there and our relationships will experience healing, vitality, direction and life. So let us look to Jesus and find in him the strength and power to love.

Relationship Principles of Jesus ~ Place the highest value on relationships

Today we are going to begin a series looking at the relationship principles taught to us and modeled for by Jesus. . Whether it was his family, his disciples, and the crowds who loved him or the critics who opposed him, Jesus was an expert in relationships and he shows us the way God wants us to relate to one another. As we begin this study, I want to be clear that the principles we are going to look at are not just for husbands and wives, or parents and children, the principles we are going to look at are ones that can improve every relationship in our lives. From family to friends, from co-workers to our church family, all of our relationships can be strengthened if we will be willing to put into practice these basic principles. As part of this series we are offering small groups that we hope you will take part in because the best way to learn about strengthening relationships is in relationship with one another where together we can not only dig deeper into the teaching and example of Jesus, but where together we can begin to live out these principles.

The reason we are taking six weeks to look at relationship building is because the most important thing in our lives is not our money, it is not our job or career, it’s not even the mission and ministry we do in Jesus name, the most important thing in our lives are the relationships which make up our lives. We were not created to live in isolation. After God created Adam he said, it’s not good for man to be alone and so God created Eve. We were created to be in relationship with one another and with God, so at our core we are relational beings – we were created for relationship. The first principle in building strong relationships, therefore, is to simply understand that there is nothing more important in our lives than these relationships. It’s important to see the value of relationships because if they are not our top priority, we will invest the time and energy needed to strengthening them. Let’s face it, relationships are hard work and if we don’t see the value of them in our lives, if we don’t see how fundamental they are to who we are, we will never take the time and work hard at strengthening them. So the first relationship principle is to place the highest value on our relationships, and Jesus makes this clear to us in Mark 12.
In the Old Testament there are over 600 laws that the Jewish people were to follow each and every day, and there were constant conversations among the Jewish leaders as to which of these laws were the most important ones to follow. When Jesus was asked which of all the laws was the first, or the most important, he said, Mark 12:29-30. Notice that what Jesus says here is that the most important thing in our lives is relationships, our relationship with God and others. We are to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. The most important thing in our lives is our relationships, which mean they need to be our top priority.

Now let me ask the tough question: Do we value our relationships over everything else? Is our top priority working on the relationship we have with our spouse, and parents, and children, and friends, coworkers, neighbors and even strangers? Are we investing our time and energy into our relationship with God? If you aren’t sure how to answer these questions, reflect for a moment on where you spend the bulk of your time and money. The priority of our lives is usually seen in how we spend our time and our money – so where do we spend the bulk of our time? How many hours do we spend watching tv compared to talking to our spouse, children or parents? How much money do we spend on ourselves compared to the money we spend helping our friends, neighbors, or family members who are in need. How and where we spend our time and money can reveal the priorities of our lives.

At a conference this week I heard Bishop Schnase tell a story about meeting a shuttle driver at an airport. It was late on the weekend and the bishop was the only one on the shuttle to the hotel and so he struck up a conversations with the driver and found that the driver was actually a college professor who was driving the shuttle on weekends because his brother had died and he was working a second job to help raise money to send his brothers children to college. That is a commitment to relationship – he was investing his time and money into his nieces and nephews. Do the choices we make reflect our commitment to God and others?
As we look at the life of Jesus what we see is that he was constantly making choices that reflected his commitment to relationships. What’s the first thing Jesus would often do early in the morning? Look at Mark 1:35. While everyone was searching for Jesus wondering where he was, Jesus was off in a quiet place keeping strong his relationship with God. Now if Jesus, who was constantly and intimately connect to God, needed to take time to keep his relationship with God strong through prayer, how much more do we need to invest time and energy into our relationship with God? Jesus shows us that not only is our relationship with God to be a priority, but building relationships with others must also be a priority. Again and again in the gospels we see examples of Jesus choosing relationship over mission, and ministry, over his schedule and agenda, and over the expectation of others.

In Mark 10 we find Jesus teaching the crowds and in the midst of this important work people were bringing little children to Jesus asking him to bless them. While the disciples tried to keep the children away from Jesus because they would distract him from his work, Jesus said, “no, let the little children come to me, do not stop them.” Jesus chose to reach out to the children – he chose to establish a relationship with children over the expectations and even criticism of others. Nothing was more important than relationship.

In Mark 5 we again find Jesus choosing relationship over ministry. One of the Jewish leaders comes to Jesus and asks him to come to his home to heal his daughter. As Jesus is on his way, a woman reaches out to touch the hem of Jesus robe with the hopes of being healed herself. As the woman touches Jesus she is healed and Jesus knows that someone has touched him and received power. Now Jesus could have just kept going, but he didn’t. He stops and asks “who touched me?” Jesus doesn’t want to scold the woman – he wants to deepen his relationship with her by reaching out to heal her emotionally and spiritually.

It’s important to understand that the illness this woman has suffered with for 10 years has made her unclean – which means that for 10 years she has not been able to be an active part of her family, her church or her community. Her illness has literally cut her off from relationships with God and others so the words Jesus chooses to speak to her when she comes forward are powerful because they are words which establish relationship. Jesus says to her, “daughter, your faith has made you well.” Of all the words Jesus could have used to address this woman he chose daughter because it was a word that told her she was back into a relationships with God. She was once again a daughter of Abraham. It was also a word that reminded her she was part of a family, maybe even had a daughter herself. The use of the word daughter shows us the importance and the value Jesus places on relationship. He not only stops to build a relationship with this woman, but his healing helps restore her relationships with others.

Jesus valued relationships over everything else. Jesus made his relationship with God a priority, and the choices he made in life show us the value Jesus placed on his relationships with others. If we want to grow stronger in our relationships, then we need to make them the priority of our life and we need to start with our relationship with God. It is our relationship with God which builds a foundation on which all our other relationships are developed, so we need to take Jesus seriously when he says that we are to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. Loving God with all our heart means loving God with all our emotions. Loving God with our soul means loving God with the very breath and passion and personality of our lives. Loving God with all our mind means using our intellect to learn more about God’s character and will, and loving God with our strength means living out God’s love in the world today. The best example of a person who did all of this and strived for this kind of loving relationship with God as King David.

The psalms are full of David living out his love for God and they model for us the kind of relationship we can have with God. We see David loving God with all his heart
Psalm 51:1: David cries out to God for mercy:
Psalm 18:1: David cries out to God in love and praise and joy

David loves God with all his soul as he shares with God all his passions and desires, all his hopes and dreams look at Psalm 38:9.

David loves God with all his mind as he talks about the importance of reflecting on God’s word and will for his life, Psalm 119:44 & 19:14.

And David also shows us what it looks like to love God with all our strength. Look at Psalm 18:1 again. This is not just a cry of love from David’s heart, it also shows us David’ understanding that to love God with all our strength doesn’t mean trusting in our own power to faithfully serve and follow God. Loving God with all our heart means trusting God to be working in us. It’s faith and trust that God shares his power and strength with us. If we try to follow God in our own strength and power – we will fail. David understood this, David experienced this. Loving God with all our strength means trusting God to give us his strength so that we can live lives of faith. Paul says the same thing when he says, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

If we want to improve the relationships that make up our lives we have to start by improving our relationship with God because that relationship is primary. Since every other relationship in our lives will flow from our relationship with God, as our relationship with God deepens so will every other relationship. It makes sense if you think about it: as we understand and receive more of God’s grace and forgiveness - we will be able to share more grace and forgiveness with others. As we learn to walk more faithfully with God - we will also learn how to walk more faithfully with others. So the first principle in building stronger relationship is to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength so that we can learn to love our neighbor as ourselves.

While we will are going to look at this call to love others in more depth next week, I want to think about what it means to love our neighbor. When Jesus says we are to love our neighbor he’s not just talking about the person who lives or works next door, when Jesus says we are to love our neighbor he is really saying we are to love everyone. There is no limit on who we are to love. Jesus reached out to love and build relationships with everyone –the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the socially acceptable and the social outcast. Jesus reached out to Jew and Gentile, Romans and Samaritans. There was no one beyond the reach of Jesus love and there is to be no one beyond the reach of our love. God calls us to love everyone, those we like and those we don’t like. Those who look like us and act like us, and those who don’t. Those who believe the way we do and live the way we do and those we don’t. The command of Jesus is to reach out and build relationships with everyone.

Tom Holladay says, there is to be no limit on the extent of our love (which means we are to love everyone), but (he says) there must be a limit on the expression of our love (which means we can only practically reach out and love the person or the people God has placed in our lives today). Sometimes we get so caught up in thinking about how we can love those in need around the world that we forget to love the person who is in our lives today. Who has God placed in our lives today? As we look around, who is it that God says, “this is the one I want you to reach out and love.” Is it a neighbor or coworker? Is it the person sitting next to you in the pew? Is it a new person you may meet in a small group this week? There are people in all of our lives that God is calling us to reach out and love and we can’t overlook them as we think about loving someone else. While Jesus called people to love everyone, he always loved the people who were in his life at any given moment: children, sick women, distraught fathers, even criminals who hung on the cross next to him. Jesus reached out in love to build relationships with the people God placed in his life at any given moment and God places people in our lives every moment of every day and those are the people God is calling us to love. Will we make those people and those relationships our top priority?

If we want to grow in our relationships, if we want stronger and healthier relationships with our family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and church family – then we have to place the highest value on those relationships so we will see the need and have the desire to invest the time and energy needed to make those relationships strong. If we want to strengthen our relationships we also have to place the highest priority on our relationship with God because it is from that relationship that we will receive strength and power for every other relationship. So let us work today to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength so that we can more effectively and powerfully love our neighbor, our friends and our family.

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Luke 2:41-52

I have to confess that most of the time I read this story; I never look to get much out of it. While it is the only story outside of the nativity that gives us a glimpse into the early life of Jesus, I never think about trying to gain any deep theological or spiritual insights from Jesus staying behind in the Temple. When many people read this, the question that seems to come up the most is how it could have taken Mary and Joseph a full day to realize their little boy wasn’t with them? Of course the answer is that Mary and Joseph weren’t travelling just as a family. Many times extended family groups would travel to Jerusalem for the Passover and as these groups travelled they would often divide into age groups with young children travelling with their mothers and older boys with their fathers or with other children. Since Jesus was 12 at this point, he fell into that awkward stage of being too old to be with his Mom, but maybe too young to be with his Dad, so each parent could have thought the other one had him, or that he was travelling with the older children. So it wouldn’t have been until the end of the first day that they would have realized Jesus wasn’t with them.

While this might not usually be a passage we think about getting much out of, today I want to challenge us to think about this passage in a totally different way. What if this passage is fundamental to how we live out our faith? I want to propose that this story is really one of the most important stories for us to consider in the life of the church because maybe this is the key for us to understanding what we need to do to grow in our faith, and here’s why. The story of Jesus in the temple shows us the first recorded choice of Jesus. Think about it, up until this point, all that has taken place in Jesus life has been at the direction of God, angels or his parents. God chose the moment and the method and the location of Jesus birth. Angels gave direction to Mary and Joseph before and after Jesus’ birth and they were the ones to announce the birth of Jesus and gather the shepherds. And once Mary & Joseph settle in Nazareth, as Jesus parents, they would have been the ones making the decisions about Jesus physical, emotional and spiritual development. So up until this point everyone around Jesus has been making decisions, but in this story Jesus makes his first decision and in I believe that in that decision Jesus makes a statement about what is primary and foundational to our spiritual development.

The very first decision Jesus made was to stay in his father’s house and be about his father’s business. 2:49 is translated, I must be in my father’s house, but Jesus isn’t just saying that he wants to stay in the temple. The deeper meaning of Jesus statement is that Jesus must be about the work of his father. In the KJV this is translated, I must be about my father’s business. In other words, Jesus wants to make God’s priority his priority, and he wants to be doing the things that are of upmost importance to his father in heaven. So God’s priority and the work that is most important to God is what we see Jesus doing in the temple and what Jesus is doing in the Temple is sitting with a small group of people learning and sharing with others. So beyond all the teaching of Jesus that is to come, beyond all the words and examples about how we are to love, forgive, serve and sacrifice for God and others – what forms our lives of faith and the primary business God is calling for us to engage in is small group discipleship. God’s business for us first and foremost is to learn and grow together in small groups.

Look at 2:46-47. It says Jesus is sitting among the teachers listening to them and asking questions – so he is there to learn and grow himself, but he is also there to teach and share because it goes on to say that all who heard Jesus’ answers were amazed at his understanding. So at 12 years old, Jesus is not just learning from those around him, but he is also sharing his own insight and understanding as well. One of the things that this reminds us is that we have a lot to learn from our children and youth. Children can have amazing insights and understanding so it is important for us to open our hearts and our ears to listen and to learn from them.

I’ll never forget one Christmas Eve when I learned an amazing new truth from a child. Every year during the Christmas Eve Candlelight service I do a children’s sermon on the legend of the candy cane, I ask the children to share with me all the ways a candy cane reflects the life of Jesus. It’s a J for Jesus, it’s a shepherd’s staff, the red represents the blood of Jesus and the white reminds us that we are washed clean by his blood, and a candy cane is also sweet, just as Jesus is sweet and kind to us. Just as I was about to finish with a prayer the little boy next to me said, “And look, if you put them next to each other they form a heart.” And he held out his candy cane to me and when I held mine up to his – it formed a heart. I was totally overwhelmed by his statement because it was such simple and yet profound truth from a child. Think about it, the love of God really is only experienced in fullness and power when we are willing to come together with others. Maybe that’s part of what Jesus is trying to say to us here in Luke 2. That we can read all about God on our own – but we will never really learn of God’s love and experience God’s love and truth and power until we come together with others in small groups. God’s great desire for us is grow in our love for Him and each other which happens most effectively and most powerfully we share and learn together.

So in Luke 2, the 12 year old Jesus makes his first choice and what he chooses to do is make God’s business his business, and God’s priority his priority – and this work of God needs to continue to be the top priority for the church today. Learning, sharing and learning to love God and one another in small groups is the work God calls us to be part of through the church. Small group discipleship is the foundation to our faith – I would be so bold as to say that without it, we will not grow. Worship alone will only take us so far in our walk with God. Now don’t misunderstand – worship is important to our faith. In many ways worship comes first. Notice that worship is already a part of Jesus life. Jesus is in Jerusalem with his family in the first place for worship, they are there to celebrate the Passover feast. Passover is the most important worship celebration for the Jewish people, it’s like Christmas and Easter all rolled into one and because Jesus is in Jerusalem to begin with it shows us that worship is already a part of Jesus life.

While worship is the foundation on which we need to build our faith, our faith needs more structure and development, and that comes through small groups. In his book, the purpose driven life, Rick Warren says that the primary purpose of our life is worship. Bringing enjoyment to God, Warren says, living for God’s pleasure is the first purpose of our life, and bringing pleasure to God is called worship. So worship lays the foundation. Bringing glory and pleasure to God through worship is where we start, but it is not where we end. Rick Warren goes on to say that our second great purpose is to be part of God’s family. We were created to be part of God’s family and choosing to be an active part of God’s extended family is the choice we see Jesus making here in Luke 2. Jesus chooses to stay behind and be part of God’s family because this is God’s will for us. We were created to be part of this extended family of God which means we will not be complete and fulfilled in life until we are part of that family. This is why small groups are so important for us, because we were created to be part of this kind of extended family of faith. We weren’t created to just be a part of a crowd, and we weren’t just created to be part of our own biological family, God created us to be of his family and the way we become part of his family is to take the time to connect with others in small groups.

What’s interesting is that if we keep reading in Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life, we see that it is only after we become part of God’s family that we discover and live out the other purposes of our life. We only grow to become like Christ and serve God and discover our mission and ministry in this world through our involvement in small groups. It is important for us to understand that we were not created to discover or live out God’s purposes on our own – we were created to discover our purpose and live out our faith in small groups. So while worship is the foundation on which we build, worship alone is not enough.

On a personal note, one of the reasons I am so passionate about small groups is because my life of faith has been shaped and formed by the love and power and learning found in small groups. I was looking back on my life this week and realized that at every stage of my life I have been part of some kind of small group of faith. When I was in elementary school I loved Sunday School. I loved Sunday School so much that when I got to 6th grade and our church didn’t offer any Jr/Sr high Sunday School class, I asked if I could stay in the 5th grade class for another year. In High School, my church youth group was the small group that provided me with unconditional love and support which helped me develop a strong sense of self worth. It was as part of a small group bible study in college that I was confronted with the call of Jesus on my life and it was through that small group that I gave my heart and life to Jesus. It was part of a small group Bible Study in seminary that kept me focused and grounded during 3 years of studying and searching, and it has been being part of Sunday School classes, Men’s Bible studies and Sunday School classes in 3 churches that has kept my faith growing and alive as I have been a pastor. What’s interesting is that when I look back at my life, the time I struggled the most in my faith was when I was not part of a small group. The few years between college and seminary when I wasn’t part of a church or small group, was when I struggle the most with my faith.

I am so passionate about small groups because I am convinced that God formed us to be part of his family and that means God created us to be part of small groups of faith in which we can learn, love and grow, and Jesus makes this his top priority. The first recorded choice of Jesus was to stay in the temple and be part of a small group. When asked why he was there he said, because I need to be about my father’s work – so God’s work, God’s business, God’s desire and passion for us is to be part of a group that will help us learn, love and grow deeper in our faith. If you are not part of a small group – make it a priority in your life. If you are not part of a small group, join one, and it doesn’t matter what kind of group it is. Join one of the new small groups that are starting next week. Join a Sunday School classes today. If you are a youth – get involved in the youth group which starts tonight. If you are a child – ask you parents to let you stay for Sunday School today. Get connected today.

Jesus and Zacchaeus (Labor Day Weekend)

In many ways, the Labor Day holiday has really lost all its original meaning. For most us, Labor Day marks the end of Grange Fair, the last chance to go camping or get away for a long weekend, or the beginning of school, but Labor Day began as a holiday to remember the contributions of the American worker. From construction to education to emergency and community service personnel to those working in business, labor day began as a time to recognize all that workers have done for the strength, prosperity and well being of our nation. To celebrate labor day this year, I’d like us to think about what our jobs might look like, or what we might look like at our jobs if we take Jesus to work with us. In other words, how can God transform our work, our places of employment, and most of all, how might God want to transform us when we are at work?

Before we go any further, however, let's pray for those who are unemployed, under employed & unhappy with their jobs but not able to really find something new because of the economy. (Prayer)

Let me also say that if you are retired – don’t stop listening, the teaching of Jesus we find in Luke can also help us in those places where we might volunteer, and those places where we interact with others in ministry, services and even fellowship. So no tuning out just because you aren’t working for a paycheck anymore!

What I like about this story of Jesus and Zacchaeus (Zac) is that there are two people working in this story and they each have something to teach us about how God wants to transform us at work. It’s easy to read this story and see Zac as a worker – we are told he is a tax collector. In fact he is the chief tax collector. His job was to collect the taxes from the Jewish people and send the money to Rome. Now most tax collectors would collect more money then was required, they would cheat and steal from people and keep the excess for themselves and this is what Zac did and apparently did very well, which is why he was so despised by the people.

So Zac is clearly one of the workers here, but there is another person in this story who is working and that’s Jesus. I have to say, that I didn’t really think about that when I first read this because we don’t think about Jesus having a job, but he does. People are supporting him with resources so he can travel around the region teaching and preaching, so he is also at work in this story. In fact, Jesus is working hard because he knows he has a limited amount of time to finish his task. Talk about deadlines and stress, Jesus has had three years to teach and preach all he can about the kingdom of God and how God wants us to live in relationship to him and to one another and those three years are quickly coming to an end. Jesus is a man on a mission here and he’s working hard at that mission because in Luke 19 it’s getting down to the wire. If we keep on reading in Luke 19 we find the story of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem and we know that the following week is the Passover which brings with it the crucifixion of Jesus. So this story of Jesus passing through Jericho is leading up to the final week of Jesus life – the deadline is fast approaching and Jesus had to be feeling the stress of his work.

So there are two workers in this story and let’s start by looking at Jesus – what does he teach us about how God wants to transform our jobs and our priorities on the job. Look at 19:1 & 5. Jesus is just passing through Jericho here, there were no plans to stop and teach, there were no plans to spend the night, they were just passing through, but Jesus stopped when he saw Zac sitting in the sycamore tree. Even though Jesus was busy and on his way to the most important and what he knew was going to be the most difficult week of his life, Jesus was not too busy to take the time to stop and notice a man in need. I’ve often wondered what it was about Zac that caused Jesus to stop. Was it just seeing a man sitting in a tree, or was it that Jesus could see something in his eyes, or in his heart? It doesn’t really matter what Jesus saw, what’s important for us to learn from this is that Jesus didn’t just see the need or the problem and keep on going, he stopped to do something about it.

We live in a world that is so faced paced that if we aren’t multi-tasking at all times – we feel like we are wasting time. We face impossible schedules and demands; we work harder and longer only to find ourselves more stressed out and farther behind. I’m sure that Jesus must have felt the same way as he passed through Jericho and yet he took the time to meet the needs of this one man. One way that God might want to transform our places of work and us while we are at work might be for us to slow down enough to see those in need around us.

Think about the places you work or the places you serve as a volunteer, or the places you gather with others… who is sitting up in a tree? Who do you see around you that is in need? Who is hurting? Who is hungry for a moment of your time and attention? Who needs a listening ear or a helping hand? Can we give a coworker a few minutes of our time at lunch? Can we seek out those who might need some support because they are struggling at work – or struggling at home? Can we just stop long enough to give people the opportunity to talk and to share?

I’m afraid that in many ways listening has become a lost art. Too many times I know I want to have all the answers and share profound words of wisdom and insight when I’m talking to someone so more times than I would care to admit, while they are talking, I’m thinking of what to say. The problem is that as long as we are thinking about what we are going to say, we fail to really hear what is being said? Jesus was a master at listening because he practiced it, and he started by listening to God. Jesus sought times away from others to simply be in prayer and my guess is that many of those quiet times of prayer were spent listening to his father. We need to learn how to listen well so we can hear the needs of those around us. So one way God can transform our work is to remind us that the most important part of our job may simply be the impact we will make in the lives of those around us.

So that’s one thing Jesus teaches us about how God can transform our work, but what about Zac? Well the first thing that Zac shows us is that there is no hiding from God at work. As we read this story from Luke 19 there is an interesting detail that we can not ignore. Whenever you read a passage and find a very specific detail included it’s usually there for a reason. Why is it important for us to know that Zac climbed up into a sycamore tree? Well beyond the fact that sycamore trees had low lying branches that meant a short man could actually climb up into the tree, sycamore trees also have big broad leaves, so they were good places to hide. While Zac wanted to see Jesus as he passed by, he didn’t necessarily want to seen by Jesus, but Jesus saw him. There is no hiding from God.

The truth is that God sees us at work. God sees what we do, he hears what we say, he knows the decisions we make and the motivations behind those decisions. God knows how we treat people and what we think of others we work with. There is no hiding from God at work. I know that sounds simple, but it’s easy sometimes for us to compartmentalize our relationship with God. We visit with Jesus on Sunday and are willing to listen to him when we are in church and we might even allow God to shape how we love our families and those around us in the church – but when it comes to our jobs we either think Jesus isn’t interested, or we might hope he isn’t interested or watching, but he is. God not only sees us, but God wants to shape us so that we reflect his grace and truth and power when we are at work. That’s clearly what Jesus does for Zac – he shapes his life.

Jesus takes Zac to his house and while we don’t know all that is said, notice that by the end of the day Jesus has not only transformed Zac heart but his job as well. Not only is Zac willing to confess his wrong doings and make amends for the ways he had cheated stolen from people, but we begin to see the emergence of a new work ethic and business practices. Not only will Zac pay back anyone he has cheated, but the assumption is that he won’t cheat anyone from this point forward. Unlike the disciple Thomas who was also a tax collector but gave up his job to follow Jesus, we have no sense that Zac did that. Every indication is that Zac remained a tax collector, he just became the most honest tax collector in all of Judea and you have to believe that people heard about this and talked about how Jesus had made a difference in this man’s life and in his business. Zac shows us that God doesn’t just call us to be ethical and faithful in our relationships with family and friends, God calls us to do the right thing at work too.

Rick Cartwright told a great story about this kind of integrity at his dad’s funeral. For those that didn’t know Whitey, for many years he ran a clothing store for men and boys here in Bellefonte, and at one point when business was not very good a salesperson came in and told Whitey that he could have the exclusive rights to sell a certain type of coat in this area because they didn’t want to do business with the Jewish businessmen in town. How easy it would have been for Whitey to accept this proposal, and how tempting it was to get the extra money at time when it was desperately needed, but Whitey was a man of faith and justice and so as a follower of Jesus and as a businessman with integrity, he said no. If they weren’t willing to work with his friends who were Jewish, they weren’t going to work with him.

Everyday we face temptations to cut corners or make decisions that are unethical, unfaithful, and just plain wrong. We are tempted in so many ways to compromise and take the easy or most lucrative way out, but God calls us to higher standards. If you find yourself in a position where you are being asked to compromise your faith or your integrity I encourage you to first of all pray and then find someone to help you work through the situation. In today’s world and with the economy that we face, there aren’t always easy answers to the problems we face and we may not have the power or the ability to make the changes that Zac did so that we can do the right things, so we need to pray for wisdom and we need to seek the support and wisdom and prayers of others. What we can’t do is hear God calling us to change and simply ignore that call. If God is opening our eyes to situations that need to be changed in our places of work – we need pray and seek the wisdom of others.

God does want to transform our jobs by transforming us on the job. The real question is, are we willing to allow God to make those changes? Zac had to be willing to get out of the tree and allow Jesus into his home, and that’s where it all begins for us. God’s transformation of our jobs and God’s transformation of us in our jobs begins when we are simply willing to ask God to enter into our lives to show us the way. As we prepare for communion this morning, let us not only ask God to enter in lives, let us give him the ability to make whatever changes he desires.