RE-SETTING OUR PRIORITIES, Part 4: MISSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Galatians 2:8-17

Acts 8:26-38

The goal of this sermon series, Re-Setting Our Priorities, is to help us make sure we put importance on those relationships that give us life, joy, purpose and meaning. We have talked about our relationship with God, our relationship with ourselves through self care and our relationship with our families. Today, we're looking at our missional relationships.

What does missional mean? Missional is the way our actions, our beliefs and even our relationships reflect and are directed by God's imperative to go and make disciples for Jesus Christ and Christ's ministry of proclaiming the good news, curing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers and casting out demons, as discerned through our current context.

We usually think that those kinds of relationships are usually limited to ministries in and through the church. I believe that God gives us endless opportunities to develop those kinds of relationships in all parts of our lives. Where do we begin? Well, that's what we're going to learn about today.

It's all about relationships. That's what God's mission and Christ's ministry and mission are all about -- relationships based on God's unconditional love for us.

We see that in our ministry to our families, we develop missional relationships.  Parents, the first Christ your children meet is the Christ in you. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, the first Christ the children in your families meet is the Christ in you that you share with them. The first Christ your friends encounter will be how you share, in actions and words, the difference that Christ has made in your life.

In the church and out in the world, being missional in our relationships begins with friendship. My journey with Christ began with a friendship I had with a group of classmates I had known since my freshman year in high school. We were in the same classes, we hung out during lunch, and one of them was in the same 4-H club I was. In my senior year, they invited me to come to Sunday School with them. What they were saying was, “Come and meet the Jesus we know.”

You're probably thinking something like, “but all my friends go to church already.” It doesn't surprise me, because we tend to be preferential creatures. We are partial people who have similar beliefs, interests and lifestyles. Who would we have a missional relationship with?  Well, that means we have to look outside of our usual circle of friends.

We're also very preferential about staying in our comfort zones, thinking safely inside the box and avoiding possibly embarrassing ourselves. We close our hearts and minds to what can be. Too bad, because that means we miss out on endless opportunities to become friends with the neighbors we may not know the name of, people we work with or go to class with, the people who wait on us in stores and restaurants and those we we stand in line with in the grocery store.

When we keep our hearts and minds open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we discover the special friendships God puts in our lives.

From the outside, he didn't look like he lacked for anything. He was a high government official in a foreign country. He was dressed in expensive clothes, the best of bling and a fine set of wheels that came with a driver. Philip was nowhere in his league, so was there a basis for a relationship, let alone a friendship, but God had sent Philip to meet him.

Hear that? God sent Philip. God is going to draw us to people whom God wants us to be in relationship with.

Philip initiates an interaction with the Ethiopian and listens and observes him. Faith without works doesn't get involved like Philip did.  It doesn't take the time to listen and listen deeply nor does it resist going for a quick fix so it can be on its way to other things.

Centered on the needs of the Ethiopian, Philip asked a question, “Do you understand what you're reading?”   In other words, "What do you need?"

Ministry happens when are hearts and minds are focused on the other, when they are open to the needs around us.

In the course of the friendship that is developed over time, there will come a time to share our story. Not the whole story, but one that is similar to the story of our friend that tells them clearly what Jesus means to us and how Jesus made a difference in our life. Can we clearly tell the story of Jesus and His love in our own lives?

That's what Philip did. He told the Ethiopian the story that he had experienced first hand as a disciple of Christ.

The story we share is not a theological argument. We don't have to convince people, God through the Holy Spirit has been doing that already. Before my high school friends invited me to church and then later the lay mission revival where I gave my heart to Christ, God had been busy preparing my heart and mind for that night. The same is true of the Ethiopian. He was ready to say "yes" to Jesus. All he needed was Philip's story and an invitation.  When they came to body of water, he was ready to be baptized.

There has to be an invitation of some kind. Our story may lead to an invitation to accept Christ. It also could be an invitation to attend church with us, come to a special church event or to participate in a small group. In other words, an invitation to experience Christ with others in community in the body of Christ.

In all of this, trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit, Jesus will give us the words we need and guide our actions. That's what Philip did. And that's what my friends did,too.

It's all about relationships. That's what God's mission and Jesus' ministry begins with.  Friendship is the starting point for all our ministry, building those missional relationships. The Holy Spirit opens the doors to endless opportunities for making new friends and making a difference in people's lives, if our hearts and minds are open to the Spirit's Call and to the needs of those around us in the ordinary circumstances of our lives.

Who in our lives needs our friendship and to hear our stories. What opportunities is God presenting us with to build missional relationships that will make a difference in someone's life?