Small Groups Gives Relationships

The sum is better than the parts. That’s why there isn’t an “Ocean’s 1.” A team that works together, people that know each other, that push forward together, that pull in the same direction together its a powerful thing!

What’s true of a band of thieves and con artists is true of Christians. We work better together. When we get into small communities, when there are four, five, or six of us working alongside each other, the results are more than four, five, or six individuals. We are better together. Not just because other believers pouring into you the promises of a risen Savior brings rest, but also because believers coming together around the promises of God bring relationships.

But that might be a little overwhelming. Because, let’s be honest. Making connections, real connections is hard. It takes time. It takes investment. It takes risk. It takes doing things that might be outside your comfort zone. It’s dangerous! I mean, what if the person you are trying to build connection with ends up not reciprocating and holding back on their struggles and joys? What happens when that person ends up being fake? What happens when they end up betraying your confidence? What happens when their needs become just so overwhelming that you just can’t do it anymore?

Share about a time when you enjoyed a really deep, meaningful connection with someone.

Jesus knew how difficult meaningful relationships would be. I mean, he was about to be betrayed by one of his closest friends. A betrayal that he knew was coming. So, he gets it. In fact, meaningful connections are so important to him, so top of mind, that the night he was arrested, the night before he died, he spent time praying for them. More specifically, he prayed for your relationships.

Listen to this prayer from Jesus:

John 17:20–26 NIV

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 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.”

Judas had left to sell Jesus for 30 coins. The disciples had eaten the final passover with Jesus and watched as Jesus began a new, one-sided contract with them where they ate and he gave them forgiveness. This section is the last in a prayer that fills all of John 17. First he prays for himself. A good prayer. Since in the next 24 hours he would face Satan’s worst, he would bear the sins of the world, and God himself would turn his back on Jesus. He then prays for his disciples. They would face temptation and persecution. Jesus, their guardian, friend, and protection, would soon ascend into heaven and leave them behind. They would go out into the world: continue the work that they had begun under Jesus’ direction. And then he prays for people who would never see him face-to-face.

Notice this phrase, . “Those who believe in me through their message.” That’s those who would come to faith because of the gospel record in John, through the writings of Peter, John, James, even Paul. One commentator says this about Jesus,

The eye of Jesus scans the centuries, and presses to his loving heart all his true followers, as if they had all be saved at this very moment.

List at least three observations that comfort you as you consider that Jesus scanned the centuries and pressed you to his heart.

List at least three observations that comfort you as you consider that Jesus scanned the centuries and saw you so that he could press you to his heart.

And what is the purpose for which he prays? To what end? . Three things stand out there as Jesus’ purpose.

John 17:21–22 NIV

21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—

John 17:21 NIV

21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

John 17:21 NIV

that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

They may be one.

They may be in us.

So that the world may know.

You’ll find those three destinations throughout these seven verses. He says them each in different ways. But, here’s one way to think of it. We can be one, only because we are in God. The world sits up and takes notice, not because they recognize Jesus - it’s one of John’s themes that the world did not recognize Jesus (, ) - but because they see the

John 1:10 NIV

10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

John 1:10 NIV

10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

John 17:25 NIV

25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.

John 1:10 NIV

10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

unity of believers. That unity is powerful enough to draw people into Jesus so that they might know that he was sent by God.

Which is why division among believers is so heartbreaking. It’s not that we wish that there were tens of thousands of people in one church so that we could really belt out Amazing Grace. It’s not just that we wish that there weren’t all these different buildings and different divisions so that we could come together. The real problem with division among believers is that it robs God of glory that’s due his name. . Have you ever been in that conversation with

John 17:22 NIV

22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—

someone who is asking about faith and they reply, “If God is so powerful, if this message is so important, why are there so many Christian denominations?” And it just takes the wind out of your sails. There’s no good answer to that. It breaks God’s heart, too. It robs him of glory and it is an abuse of the love .

But the same is true for our internal divisions, too. The divisions that happen inside of these walls. The gossip that so easily leaks out of our mouth and erodes the reputation of another believer. The anger that springs up when you don’t get your way or you don’t get to express your opinion. And on the flip side of the very same coin: the “unity” that comes from you never speaking up, never engaging. A “unity” that comes from sweeping differences under the rug and hiding them in a dark corner is just as corrosive to God’s reputation, his glory and so corrosive to our relationship with him. Division among believers eats away at our unity with Jesus. Until the only thing that exists is the division and not the unity.

There are real consequences to not addressing a sin that stands between you and another believer. There is real risk in letting that thing, whatever it might be, stand between you and one of our ministers here. Letting it sit and fester only proves the point. It tears unity apart. Imagine if Paul had not stood up to Peter when Peter was wrong. It would have continued to look like unity, like they were all getting along, but letting that sin fester would have eventually corroded unity until there was nothing left.

So, how do we get to the place of unity, a place of connected relationships? The quick answer is to jump into a small group. That’s the easy answer. It’s easy because you can hop from one small group to another - just like you can jump from church to church. When relationships in the one begin to break down, when you quickly move on to the next one, that’s a symptom of a deeper sin. If you find yourself not engaging in, not participating in, not longing for relationships with other believers that look like the relationship between the Father and the Son, if you don’t have #1, then can you really say you have #2? Jesus’ prayer here says, #2 cannot exist without #1. You are separating yourself from God if you are holding back in your relationships with other believers.

But, that’s why Jesus came in the first place. () Look again at the timing of this prayer. He doesn’t pray for you the night before he walks to Jericho. He doesn’t pray that we would be one as we are one in him the night before he preaches on the hillside. He prays for you the night before he dies. He prays that he would be in you, that you would be in him. That our relationship would be as close, as loving, as powerful, as transformational as his relationship with the Father less than 24 hours from when he would breathe his last. From when he would give himself in your place. From when he would prove his one-ness with the Father by being separated from him.

Romans 5:8 NIV

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Isn’t that the amazing thing?! Jesus cries out on the cross in unimaginable agony, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” For the first time, since before the foundations of the universe were laid, there was anything but perfect unity between the Father and the Son. In fact, not only was there a rift, some division, the relationship was severed, broken. That division a perfect expression of a united will between the Father and the Son. Father and Son wanting nothing more than to rescue his creation gone wrong. Father and Son willing to sacrifice it all to restore that creation. What unity even as they are divided. A division of necessity so that you might be united with him, united with each other.

That is his glory. It sets him apart. It makes him unique. The way he and the Father are so singular in relationship. And that glory he shares with you. () In spite of our fracturing, in spite of our divisions, we are counted as ones who are in perfect step with the Father in heaven.

John 17:22 NIV

22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—

Jesus was willing to be separated from the Father so that you might be united with God. Jot down at least 3 steps that truth leads you to take.

Where is that relationship lived out? Where is it strengthened? As we come together in relationships with each other. Someone looking in from the outside can’t see your relationship with God. It’s invisible to them. But your relationship with other Christians? What a powerful witness to the outside world that you give up your Sunday morning because you just have to be with other believers praising your God. What a powerful witness that you would willingly spend your Tuesday night in a small group. Why on earth would you do that? The world starts to see the importance of Jesus as Savior. It is the embodiment of the glory that Jesus has given. This group, small groups, they are the Son, who lives in us, living in this world.

Really, any time you gather with other believers with the purpose of learning more about Jesus’ work on our behalf, you fulfill the three requests Jesus makes in this prayer. Remember them?

That they may be one

They may be in us

So that the world may know.

One as close as we human beings can get (this is God, we’re talking about). With nothing hidden. With no guilt. With complete forgiveness and love. In God as you dig into his Word. Remind each other of Jesus’ resurrection and reiterate the promises of the empty tomb. And a witness to the world.

All three hallmarks of real Christian connection. Of deep relationships. Of Jesus’ prayer for you. All as we gather together. That’s the relationship a small group makes So, why would you go without it?

Father, we have heard your Word. May it work in each of us. We bow before you as we see your relationship with the Son. We long for that relationship with other people. Forgive us for allowing division to come between us. Forgive us and give us the courage, patience and trust to build the kinds of relationships you call us to in . In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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