TRAVIS AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH JOINING GOD IN DEVELOPING PASSIONATE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST.

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1 Text: John 13:34-35; 15:9-15 Title: God s Blueprint Real Relationships INTRODUCTION God s blueprint for your life and mine is to follow Jesus, and in doing so, to become like Him. So we look to the teachings of Jesus and see the life He intended for His followers, His disciples. The Blueprint for Spiritual Formation is a summary of the things that the Word of God teaches will be manifested in the life of a passionate follower of Jesus Christ. TRAVIS AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH JOINING GOD IN DEVELOPING PASSIONATE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST. BUILD CHRIST-CENTERED RELATIONSHIPS Live as followers of Christ in their families resulting in healthy relationships, strong marriages and effective parenting Experience the love of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit through fellowship with other believers for mutual growth, encouragement, service and accountability in Christ Participate in the life of the local church, striving to enrich and maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace God s blueprint for your life, and the Blueprint for Spiritual Formation, will not become a reality for any of us in isolation. All these things are developed in Christ-centered relationships Sunday School classes, or Community Groups that come together for prayer, or sharing, or accountability or service. And God intends to develop these qualities in our lives in the course of the Body of Christ working the way it s supposed to work. INTERVIEW WITH MONICA WARD AND BETTIE JOHNSON Mike: Church, I wanted you to see in very practical terms what happens in a Christ-centered relationship, in this case, between two women who shared the love of Christ in a dark hour. This is Monica Ward and Bettie Johnson. Both of these special ladies work in our church offices and that's how they came to be able to walk side-by-side through a difficult experience. Monica, tell us what brought you to a place where you needed a friend like Bettie. Monica: (Take about a minute to say whatever you want to say about the circumstances of your husband leaving you, and the devastation it brought into your life.) Mike: Thank God, in His family, we don't have to walk through experiences alone. Monica there was one day when God just sort of threw you and Bettie together. Tell us about that day? Monica: (Again, take about a minute to describe how you poured your heart out to Bettie.)

2 Mike: Bettie, Monica tells of how God used you in that dark moment in her life. What does it mean for you to have Christ in the center of a relationship like you ladies enjoy? How does the love of Jesus flow in relationships like this. Bettie: (Take a couple of minutes on these two questions. Share anything you like from your side of the relationship.) Mike: Monica and Bettie, thanks for being vulnerable before us today, showing how the love of Jesus flows through relationships. Open your Bibles with me to John 13:34. Chapters concentrate on His teachings on that fateful night in which He was arrested. John 13:34 (NIV) - A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Followers of Jesus do what He commands. And in this instance the command couldn t be any clearer: Love one another. What s new about the commandment to love each other? This is a new command because there is a new power and pattern available because of what Jesus was about to do on the Cross and in the Resurrection. The power to love in the Person of Jesus Christ comes to live in us by the Holy Spirit. So a new command comes because of a new presence in our lives. John 13:35 (NIV) - By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. Amazing! Think of all the ways Jesus could have said would distinguish a person as a disciple, a follower, of Jesus. By this will all men know that you are my disciples that you worship a certain way that you stand up for this value or that value that you if you listen to a particular kind of music. No, Jesus said, Here s how you and others will know that you are a follower of Mine you have love for one another. 1 John 3:14 (NIV) - We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ILLUSTRATION - We really are better together. Stacey King played basketball at the University of Oklahoma before going on the play for the Chicago Bulls back in the Michael Jordan years. Stacey remembers his first NBA game in which he scored one point. That night Michael Jordan happened to score 69 points. Stacey King fondly talks about the night that he and Michael Jordan combined for 70 points in a single game.

3 Now later in Jesus teaching here with His disciples before He is arrested, He went a little deeper about the relationship that they would enjoy. Turn forward a few pages to John 15:9-15. Read text. Jesus envisioned unique, supernatural relationships for His followers. He explains how these kinds of relationships are possible: 1. WE THRIVE ON THE LOVE OF GOD. Here s is where this is going. Jesus is saying, Guys, I live in a circle of love that you could never imagine in your wildest dreams. This circle of relationship is eternal it started before time began with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit Three in One. God exists in Three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I know, it s confusing, but that s the truth of the Bible. God is a Trinity Three Persons who relate to one another. The love that exists in this circle of the Trinity is agape love self-giving, self-sacrificing, otherfocused love. By the way, you may not understand the doctrine of the Trinity, but that doesn t mean it isn t important. Supposed your boss were to come to you and say, I ve heard you Christians believe that God is really three persons. That s weird. You ve got to stop believing that or you ll lose your job. What would you do? I mean, it s not exactly like you re denying Christ. And you don t understand the Trinity anyway, so what s the harm? ILLUSTRATION When we were in Rome earlier this summer we visited one of the catacombs where many early Christian leaders and martyrs were buried. As we walked through this underground maze of tombs we came to the tomb of St. Cecilia. Cecilia became a believer when she was a teenager, and she soon married a young man whom she led to Christ. During those days it was a capital offense to profess faith in Jesus Christ, so Cecilia was condemned to be executed. As she lay on the ground, before breathing her last, she found the strength to extend three fingers of her right hand and one of her left, testifying her faith in God One and Three to the very last. Centuries later they found her body in the tomb in the catacombs and her body was in the same position with three fingers extended on one hand, and one on the other. Her tomb is marked today by a statue depicting her last witness. So the Three Persons of the Godhead perpetually dwell in this circle of love. They never operate outside that circle. They each Father, Son, Holy Spirit live in constant and perfect union with one another. The each thrive on the love that exists in that circle. And that becomes the pattern for us. In the verses we just read, Jesus uses an unusual phrase three times: John 15:9-10 (NIV) - As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father s commands and remain in his love.

4 KJV and NASB say abide in my love just as I abide in my father s love. The word abide means to stay or to reside somewhere. John 15:9-10 (The Message) - I ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you ll remain intimately at home in my love. That s what I ve done kept my Father s commands and made myself at home in his love. And it is by obedience to Jesus that we make ourselves at home in this circle of love. It s not that we earn love by our obedience; it is that we enjoy God s love by our obedience. John 15:10 (NIV) - I have obeyed my Father s commands and remain in his love. Jesus means, I thrive on I live on the love of my Father by keeping my life in submission to Him. And the love that I find in that circle with the Father is the love that I pass on to you. John 17:26 - I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. Do you see how it works? There s this eternal circle of love, and Jesus has drawn us in to it. He chose us to be on His team! And we get in on the same love that has pulsated within the Godhead for eternity. In this circle there is UNIMAGINABLE LOVE. But also in this circle there is INDESCRIBABLE JOY. John 15:11 (NIV) - I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. There s joy in this circle deep, abiding joy that passes all understanding. This is an unexplainable sense of well-being. It is well with my soul. And if you jump down to v.15 you see something else John 15:15 (NIV) - 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. So there s not only UNIMAGINABLE LOVE and INDESCRIBABLE JOY. There s also INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE. There s nothing hidden complete openness. ILLUSTRATION It was a custom with the Roman emperors and the eastern kings to have in their courts a select group of men called the friends of the king, or the friends of the Emperor. At all times they had access to the king. They had even the right to come into his bedroom at the beginning of the day. He talked to them before he talked to his generals, his

5 rulers, or statesmen. The friends of the king were those who had the closest and the most intimate connection with him. So Jesus says, I new command I give to you love one another. And the reason that it is a new command is that there is a new power available to us. We are pulled into the circle of love where there is UNIMAGINABLE LOVE, INDESCRIBABLE JOY AND INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE. We thrive on this love live on this love make ourselves at home in this love. So hour by hour we make ourselves at home in this relationship. We are completely accepted in this circle we don t have to prove ourselves with God. Hour-by-hour everyday we rest in God s provision for us, that He will meet every need. And when we are confident that he will meet all our needs and never stop loving us, we are freed and empowered to humble ourselves and meet the needs of others. So we thrive on the love of God, then 2. WE LIVE OUT THE LOVE OF GOD. John 15:12 (NIV) - My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. We live in this love, and then we live out this love. Jesus repeated this in v.17. John 15:17 (NIV) - This is my command: Love each other. John 15:13 (NIV) - Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Why is it that we find ourselves So absorbed in ourselves So selfish in our attitudes Impatient or unforgiving towards other people ILLUSTRATION I went to a gas station not long ago to fill up my car and I noticed that there were yellow bags hanging on the nozzles at each of the pumps. I happen to know the lady who runs the store because I stop there often. I asked her what the problem was and she said, We had a busy week, and I forgot to call the gasoline distributor to come fill up our tanks. So we don t have any gasoline to sell today. That s the way it is for us when it comes to this kind of love. We know we are supposed to live out the love of God, but we find ourselves constantly failing to do that. So we try harder and harder, and it only gets more frustrating when we can t find it in ourselves to really love people. We can t live out the love of God until we have learned to live on the love of God.