All relationships are messy. But they don’t have to be! So, how do we uncomplicate things? It will take some work, but placing Jesus instead of ourselves at the center of our key relationships is a great place to start.
Notes 📓✏️:
“Relationships are the stuff life is made of.”
We need to understand that life is relationships and it requires a lot of work.
“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” -Theodore Roosevelt
Two things we must deal with our whole lives….
1. Relationships
2. Money
(One will make you rich)
What really holds the structure together is hidden.
Jesus must be the center of our key relationships.
2 Corinthians 6:14 (MSG): “Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark?”
For any key relationship to have real health, Jesus must be a glue that holds it together.
Colossians 1:17 (NIV): “He [God] is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Jesus holds things together even when they feel like they’re falling apart.
Before you can have a Christ-centered relationship, you need a Christ-centered life.
Romans 12:9 (MSG): “Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good.”
Who is at the center informs and directs your life.
“What’s best for me?”
John 15:12-13 (NIV): “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV): “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
How do you put Christ at the center?
1. Declare He is in charge, and you are not.
2. Submit to His Word and not your will.
James 1:22 (NLT): “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”
3. Use God’s Word as your guide in how to live.
Matthew 6:33 (CEV): “But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what He wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.”
4. Invite Jesus into the middle often.
Discussion Questions 📝❓:
- Why do you think the idea of a strong foundation is so important, and how do we apply this idea to our key relationships?
- What are some practical steps you can take to ensure that Jesus remains at the center of you life and relationships?
- Discuss the quote from Theodore Roosevelt about getting along with people being essential to success. Do you agree?
- In the sermon, Pastor Jeremy talked about the complications that arise in relationships based on our flaws. How can acknowledging these flaws lead to stronger relationships?