HOW WE RELATE TO GOD AND JESUS CHRIST

It’s lovely to be able to come together each week to share and spend time with one another in worship, in encouragement, in prayer, in friendship. In London we’re particularly blessed to have a large congregation where we can get to know Christians from different cultures and backgrounds, and get to know old friends better. We can even get together during the week if we wish. Hopefully it’s a relaxed environment and we can enjoy one another’s company.

I first gave a version of this message in Portugal last year. In Portugal the WCG only has about 20-25 members in total, in the whole country. That means that apart from a small congregation Lisbon which meets about once a month most members only get to see each other a couple of times a year. This helped me really value and appreciate what we have here - it’s easy to take for granted but many of our members don’t have this. I hope we all value being able to meet together here regularly, value the diversity and value each other.

Because there’s something very special about getting to know other Christians as opposed to regular friends. It’s also helping us get to know God and Jesus Christ better, as they live in each of us through the Holy Spirit. If God is living in Christians, then as we get to know one another better we will also begin to know, understand, value, honour, and love our great God and Jesus Christ more. And getting to know God and Jesus Christ is very special, because God desires to have a close, deep, intimate, personal relationship with each one of us. You and me.

In fact he desired it so much that he gave up part of his divinity to come to earth as a human so we could relate to him as one of us. Jesus died and was resurrected and now is alive - alive in us - and wants us to have a closer relationship with him than any relationship we humanly have.

John 14:23, one of my favourite scriptures, says that God and Jesus Christ want to make their home with us.

So how do we relate to them, really get to know them and build this relationship? This relationship that’s part of a wonderful never ending adventure that is our new life in Christ. It’s the only life that’s really worth having, because it lasts forever - everything else comes to an end and dies.

Some people say the best way to get to know people is to tell them you’ve won the lottery. Suddenly you find a whole load of friends you never knew you had!

But I’m not sure that’s quite what God wants - I suspect most lottery friendships are rather superficial! So how does God want us to relate to him? The Bible gives us a whole variety of titles for God and Jesus Christ that act as clues to help us understand more about who they are and how they want us to relate to them.

God and Jesus Christ reveal themselves to us in roles we can relate to. As father, brother, son, baby, child and adult; as prince of peace, counsellor, comforter, saviour, king, redeemer and high priest; as bridegroom, servant, apostle, ever-lasting creator, sustainer and friend.

Every one of those aspects of God’s character and personality help reveal to us who he is and also more about ourselves and what God’s will is for us as we are made in his image and being renewed everyday to become more like him.

So let’s spend a few moments thinking together about just two of these ways God wants to relate to us, and let’s be encouraged to work hard everyday to really build the wonderful, close, life-giving relationship he wants us to have.

1) God as Father

God wants us relate to him as a father. Let’s think about what a father does.

A father endeavours to provide for his family - he works to provide food, shelter, clothing and other needs of his children.
A father wants his children to have the best - he takes his children out, plays with them, teaches them, sometimes has to discipline them.
A father tries to bring stability and security even in difficult times - he looks to protect and provide strength and reassurance.

God is very much like this with us. He protects us and provides for us - he gives us bread from heaven everyday, and showers us with gifts. Matthew 7:11 says: “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” God showers us with his gifts. We can think of it as a bit like if I was to throw some sweets that landed on you.

So God is very much like a human father. But there is a difference. The difference is he does it perfectly - in perfect love. Human parents can’t do that - they have their own problems, their own experiences, things from their background and upbringing that have shaped them and their attitudes. Often they’re trying to juggle too many things so don’t always have enough time. But God is perfect. He always has enough time. He always works for our good. And he always looks on the heart. Matthew 7:11 said he will give us far more gifts than a human father ever can.

What about when it comes to discipline? Like a human father God also sometimes needs to discipline us. He allows us to go through trials to help us grow in the way he wants. He needs us to allow him to work with us, talk to us, help us overcome our human frailties - the pride, resentment, anger, envy, pain, grudges, hurts, prejudices, bad attitudes, stereotypes, and selfishness we all tend to have.

How do we feel about this? I know sometimes when I go through problems or things don’t work out the way I think they should I start to feel a bit frustrated - even annoyed - with God. But we need to trust him. He says he won’t test us beyond what we can bear. And he will only ever discipline us in love. He can only do it in love because he is love.

Humanly a father might give a young child a smack for doing something wrong - maybe for going too close to the fire or throwing toys at a brother or sister. And the child will probably cry. But often a loving human father will then pick up the child and give it a big hug and cuddle and explain that he still loves the child very much, even though the particular thing they did wasn’t good because someone could get hurt. And God is like this too. God still loves us even when we do something wrong, so he disciplines us in a loving way to help us to be able to love him and other people more and more.

One more thing whilst talking about God as a father. I believe one of the reasons some people find it difficult to relate to God is because with so many families where fathers aren’t present, people don’t understand the true role of father or know how to relate to a father. But when Jesus tells us to pray to the father, it does mean a personal relationship in a very similar way to with a human father. We can call him Dad. So even if we haven’t really known a human father, or we’ve had very negative experiences of a human father, let’s trust God to fill that gap and be the perfect human father we can only dream of.

Romans 8:15-17 sums this section up well: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

1) Jesus as a Friend

For me one of the biggest things about the changes in the WCG and the greater focus on Christ is an awareness of the way we can get to know him personally as a friend. Growing up in the church God was always somehow distant to me - this almighty all-powerful creator of the whole universe who lives outside time and space.

But God himself has become a human being so that we can relate to him as a perfect, personal friend. And the thing about friends is that they stick by you, they are loyal, they are there for you even when you’re down or not at your best. They give you the benefit of the doubt when you say something slightly out of character. They help us, support us, advise us, encourage us, cheer us up. They understand us and what we’re thinking. Sometimes they even help us when we don’t know what to think! I’ve known my best friend from school since about age 14. He’s called Michael. I value that friendship a lot - we have shared lots of ups and downs. I’ve learnt a lot from him about generosity, courtesy, respect and service. We laugh at the same things. He’s never judged or criticised but he’s always been there in difficult times or just to add a bit of confidence and encouragement in new situations. I don’t see him very often these days but when I do we can always carry on like we’ve never been away.

Sometimes friends can be even closer than our own flesh and blood families. Proverbs says there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

And Jesus is the most special friend of all. Jesus is the most special friend of all. He wants to share every aspect of our lives, he wants to be there, to help us, to guide us and to live with us. We can talk to him as a friend even when all other friends have deserted us, when there’s no one else there, when we don’t feel there is anyone else we can talk to. It doesn’t matter who we are, young or old, rich or poor, black or white. Whenever, wherever, whatever happens we can always call on him, talk to him, live with him.

I think this is something particularly our young people can identify with - I’ve shared elsewhere examples they came up with in a youth meeting of things Jesus can help with - practical things in day to day life: exams, finding a job, moving to a new place, relationships including choosing friends and a marriage partner, health, finances, basic life needs - food, shelter, and knowing the right things to say in difficult situations. Whatever it is Jesus is and always will be our friend.

We need to move from just knowing about Christ to actually knowing him. He really is the centre of our personal relationship with God. That was the way God planned it. And that’s why more of our worship songs need to focus directly on Jesus Christ - to help build that relationship, that close friendship, with him. He wants to be our best friend. And I would venture to suggest that for many of us we’ve avoided that for too long. Someone pointed out to me recently that not one of the hymns in the WCG hymnbook has a title beginning “Jesus,” and only one has “Jesus” in the title at all. (It’s “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” before you start trying to guess!) Now I’m not suggesting that those songs are bad or that we should throw the baby out with the bath water - far from it. There are in fact quite a number that refer to “Christ” in the title. But we shouldn’t be scared to move on and sing some other songs and hymns from Mission Praise or wherever that help us build our relationship directly with Jesus Christ. We do need to move from just knowing about Christ to actually knowing him.

There is a lovely song by Graham Kendrick, number 799 in Mission Praise, that includes a chorus that says this: “Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You, there is no greater thing. You’re my all, You’re the best, You’re my joy, my righteousness, and I love You, Lord.” Maybe that sounds a bit too personal, a bit uncomfortable for some of us. It used to for me as well. But it says there is no greater thing than really knowing Jesus.

Philip Yancey wrote a book called “The Jesus I Never Knew” - it’s well worth a read if you have the chance. And the sentiment really is true - it is possible to know about Jesus Christ without actually really getting to know him as a friend. And if we do that we are missing out on something truly wonderful. We need to reach out our hand in friendship and put it in his palm which is already outstretched. We need to trust him to lead us and guide us and encourage us and support us and strengthen us everyday as the only perfect friend there is.

And you know it goes even further. Through following him in love, Jesus wants us to help widen his circle of friends. Bearing fruit and introducing him to more and more people so he can be their best friend too. Most of the people I’ve got to know over the years have been through being introduced by others who are already my friends. And that’s exactly what Jesus wants us to do for him. He wants us to value that friendship so much that we want others to experience it too.

Take a look at John 15:13-17: “Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. 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. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.”

So, in conclusion, our personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ is central to our Christian lives. It’s not meant to be just a distant, academic, impersonal knowledge but a living, active, emotional, ongoing close personal relationship everyday.

God and Jesus Christ give us many ways to relate to them and to help us get to know them better. Every time we come into contact with other Christians we are seeing more of God. We are to talk to God and Jesus Christ all the time - pray without ceasing - as we go about our daily lives.

So let’s remember and continue to think more deeply about what it means to have God as our perfect, complete, loving father - our Dad, always there for us, showering his gifts upon us, sprinkled with instruction and occasionally a bit of loving discipline. And let’s really take time to get to know Jesus personally as our best friend of all, serving one another in love, forgiving hurts and not throwing them back but instead sharing that love and life with others.

I can tell you from experience that when we do this it’s a fantastic blessing and brings a new, fulfilling, dimension to our Christian lives and the seeds of exciting spiritual growth. It’s a wonderful source - the only source - of life and hope and strength.

Let’s finish with Ephesians 1:17. Paul says: “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” So that you may know him better. Amen.