Sermonette: The Purpose of Relationships
Learning to Love
#1691s
Ryan McClure
Given 28-Jan-23; 18 minutes
description: God the Father and Our Lord Jesus Christ have had an intimate relationship for eternity (John 1:1-2) and have desired to increase the members of the God family by creating mankind (male and female) in the image of God. The marriage covenant (Genesis 2:24) was designed to bring incomplete components of the God image together in one flesh, from which the husband-wife, parent-child relationship (the building blocks of society and government) was developed. Presently, family relationships increased to include grandparents, siblings, cousins, etc., as well as neighbor, community, business, etc. Jesus reminded the Pharisees that the Great Law (Matthew 22:34-40) commanded intense love for God and their neighbors, strengthening all relationships by learning to behave like Almighty God. The scriptures identify significant failed relationships including the fall of Satan because of excessive pride (Ezekiel 28:14-17), Adam and Eve failing to trust God (Genesis 3), and Cain's jealousy of his brother. On the other hand, positive examples included the Patriarch Isaac, refusing to take vengeance on his enemies, Paul's refusal to offend his brethren (I Corinthian 13:9), and Jesus' command to love one another (John 15:12-17), as well as their enemies (Luke 6:27-31, 35-36), extremely difficult instructions, but instructions Jesus Christ has already modeled for us. We should reflect on our relationships, learning to love as God does.