God is Relationship
The Son
Christianity without Jesus is a hollow trap
Have you ever reflected on the fact that the Gospel message is not merely that God has made a way for humans to reconnect with Him, but that He initiated the process by being incarnate as a human Himself? Our faith does not rely on shrewdly interpreted ancient proverbs or the esoteric visions of hermits and seers. To ensure that we saw clearly what God was like, He was born as a human and lived in our midst (cf. John 1:14).Â
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Western culture has taken much from the vast treasury of Jesus’s life and teaching. However, as we continue into a post-Christian world, people advocate more and more for divorcing the principles of Christianity from the person of Jesus. We, Christ’s beloved and His disciples, must not fall victim to that influence.Â
Jesus transcends our social categories and calls us to do the same.Â
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Do you find yourself following a principle, or a person?
In this teaching, I advocate for loyalty to Christ above loyalty to the principles we ascribe to Christ. The Good News was not new tablets with 10 Commandments on them, it was a call to relationship with God through Jesus. The story of Christ told in the New Testament and the demonstration the character of God by Jesus when He walked among us gave birth to emancipation movements, advocacy for women and children’s rights, economic stability and prosperity, and much more. But we must be very careful to pursue the cause rather than the effect if we want to avoid stripping Christ from our faith. Â
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Relationship with Jesus can (and often will) result in that and similar fruit, but we need to trust Him to have the impact He wants in our life, relationships, and circle of influence. If we chase the results we assume He wants, we open ourselves up to error. The antidote to all this? Make intimacy with Jesus your highest and constant goal.Â
Test Yourself
Answer
Talk it Through
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1.7 God is Relationship: Son
Read John 3:1-21. Imagine yourself having a conversation like Nicodemus did. What questions would you ask Him? Which ones would He brush aside and which ones would He answer different from what you expected? Post the questions and answers you think might take place in that conversation.Â
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7 Replies
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I try not to get caught up in politics. I don’t even watch the news anymore I find that it’s a rabbit hole for spiritual destruction. I am going to challenge myself and study the Sermon On The Mount!
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@hope_dealer Good point, stating that you don’t like getting caught up in politics. Imagine if you only had one chance to talk to Jesus and you spent it talking about some political issue. Nicodemus was right to focus on the spiritual. Having said that, when we do follow Christ, our lives automatically become political–or perhaps better, as some Christian teachers like to say, anti-political. One of my favourite expressions for this is that the church is an anti-politic: it demonstrates different values than the kingdom of this world.
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excellent, I also try not to get caught up in politics and want to start my study of Sermon on the mount🤗
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I think there would be two general types of questions that I would ask Jesus:
1) I probably would bring specific people and circumstances to His attention–asking for His intervention. I would ask if there were any specific things that I (or someone else) needed to do in order to bring that person closer to Christ (e.g. for those who do not yet know Jesus)–I would want more insight about the specific things (spiritual/mental obstacles) that prevent people from receiving His revelation. In particular, I would be curious about asking Him about how He might be working in the lives of people who have never had the chance to hear His name (e.g. unreached people groups).
2) I would ask some questions that begin with “How” and “Why?” — just because I am a curious person and I know He would have the answer to these questions.
I have the feeling that if I asked Jesus all of these questions, He would listen patiently and then, at the end, He would sidestep most of my “how” and “why” questions and focus on the issues that are the biggest priority for Him. He would be Lord of the conversation–many of my questions would be left unanswered [with the unsaid answer of ‘Just trust Me, and you will see’ OR ‘Now is not the right time for you to know these things…they are mysteries that I will disclose when I am ready]. The primary focus would be on what’s goin on within our hearts and His command that we need to love God and love one another as Christ has also loved us.
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That would be so amazing, I think I would ask similar questions because it’s hard to understand the concept of being born again, because as humans we automatically think a physical birth but it’s a spiritual birth. I would hopefully just trust what Jesus is saying and then move on to another question. Jesus uses lots of metaphors when He speaks and maybe it’s the time they were in and the culture but I don’t think I would fully understand what He is saying unless I broke what He said down and really thought and prayed on it.
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Imagine i have a chance to ask Jesus one question, definitely, it won’t be about Politics, i will rather focus on Spiritual matters only.
Because, I try not to get hooked -up in Politics, I discover it’s a trap for Spiritual destruction.
Rather, I want to start my study of Sermon on the mount.
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