FUTURE CHURCH: Relational Health

Oct 11, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Loved Into Loving Through Tangible Community

We cannot manufacture love through willpower or abstract beliefs. Authentic love grows through embodied relationships where we experience being seen, heard, and fought for—like friends digging through a roof for their paralyzed companion. Just as God’s triune nature models eternal relational giving, we learn to love by first receiving love through imperfect but intentional community. This mutual shaping happens when we risk showing up—awkwardness, quirks, and all. [16:49]

"We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen."
(1 John 4:19-20, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you experienced “being loved into loving” through a specific relationship? How might receiving that love empower you to show up differently for someone this week?

Day 2: The Trinity’s Rhythm: Community as the Universe’s Heartbeat

At creation’s core pulses a divine dance—Father, Son, and Spirit in perfect self-giving union. This eternal community shatters the myth of solitary spirituality. Like a heartbeat sustaining life, God’s triune nature means relationship isn’t optional add-on therapy for loneliness, but the oxygen of existence. Our fractured connections find healing not in self-help strategies, but by joining the ancient rhythm of communal love that birthed galaxies. [11:56]

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus."
(1 John 4:16-17, ESV)

Reflection: How does the Trinity’s eternal community challenge your assumptions about “quiet time” spirituality? What one step could help you embrace faith as a team sport this week?

Day 3: Fighting Loneliness with Shalom’s Web

The surgeon general’s “loneliness epidemic” diagnosis reveals our starvation for shalom—the rich web of right relationships Jesus died to restore. Like a spider sensing broken threads, the Spirit nudges us to mend connections through inconvenient hospitality and shared root beer floats. True community isn’t about curating perfect friend groups, but showing up at 3rd Street’s Hub with chips, kids, and capacity to be both weirdo and witness. [30:54]

"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."
(Romans 12:18, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you settled for thin connections instead of fighting for shalom’s web? What frayed relationship—with God, others, or yourself—needs your intentional mending today?

Day 4: Neighborhood Communities: Where We Become the Weirdos

Real transformation happens not in sermon takeaways but in living rooms where dogs bark, toddlers crash small groups, and someone always forgets the gluten-free brownies. These micro-kingdoms—awkward, messy, glorious—are gymnasiums for practicing patience with the talkative member and courage with the silent one. Here, we become both the weirdo and the welcomer, learning to love actual humans instead of idealized projections. [24:30]

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."
(Ephesians 4:2-3, ESV)

Reflection: What relational “growing edge” (patience, forgiveness, courage) is God stretching in you through community? How can you lean into—not avoid—that discomfort today?

Day 5: Cheering Sections: Showing Up When the World is Nuts

When life feels like a losing game—bills pile, news cycles spin, parents age—we need handwritten signs held by friends who know our jersey number. The college students cheering at kids’ soccer games model shalom’s economy: love that notices whose knees are shaking and shows up with fizzy drinks and cardboard courage. This is resurrection in reverse—communities becoming living proof that no one gets left on the field. [34:22]

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."
(1 Thessalonians 5:11, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your circles needs you to “hold up a sign” for them this week? How can you create space to receive encouragement when you’re the one feeling benched?

Sermon Summary

John roots relational life in the love of the Triune God. God gives the Spirit, sends the Son as Savior, and draws people into life with himself. John therefore refuses the split between loving God and loving people. Love for an invisible God becomes visible in love for brothers and sisters who can actually be seen.

The loneliness epidemic reveals something deeply broken in the world. Human beings were made for relationship, to know and be known, to love and be loved. God exists as a perfect community of self giving, sacrificial love, and that means relationship sits at the heart of the universe. Sin cuts people off from God, one another, and even themselves, but Jesus restores the possibility of shalom right here and right now.

Shalom names right relationship with God, with other people, and with the rest of creation. Faith places relational trust in the Father, Son, and Spirit, not merely belief in correct ideas. John insists that true character cannot hold one posture toward God and a different posture toward people. Love for God and love for neighbor belong together because human beings are whole beings.

Relational formation happens in real relationships. People are loved into loving, not argued, coerced, or merely believed into loving. Relational health is not about collecting more connections, increasing social capacity, or trying to give everybody everything. Relational health means living in shalom within a limited capacity and loving the people in each circle well.

Isolation often comes not from having no connections but from spreading energy too thin, getting overwhelmed, and checking out. Relationships also feel risky because people can disappoint, disagree, talk too much, stay too quiet, or expose the otherness that makes community difficult. Yet human beings were not made for separation. Connection requires the hard work of reconciliation, forgiveness, patience, and staying present through awkwardness.

Neighborhood communities offer a place to do that work. Community is not the cherry on top after worship, doctrine, and personal spirituality are handled. Community is kind of the whole deal: a place to eat, laugh, ask big questions, carry pain tenderly, learn quirks, and become known. The Hub offers another little picture of that same kingdom reality, where different kinds of people can share space and discover shalom together.

The table finally returns everything to God’s first love. Christ’s body and blood remind people that healthy relationships cannot be produced by effort alone. God’s love roots and establishes his people, so that they can grasp its width, length, height, and depth and become a cheering section for one another in a hard world.

Key Takeaways

1. Love for God becomes visible [15:41] John’s warning is not meant to create guilt through impossible standards. Love for God takes concrete shape in the way people treat those nearest to them. A spirituality that avoids actual people can become a way of avoiding the costly work of love. Christ forms a single, integrated posture of love toward God and neighbor. [15:41]
2. People are loved into loving [16:49] Love cannot be manufactured by pressure, arguments, or stronger religious effort. God’s love reaches people through embodied relationships where grace is received and then practiced. Healthy community gives people room to be formed slowly through tenderness, truth, and mutual presence. The table keeps that formation grounded in God’s love rather than human striving. [16:49]
3. Shalom lives within real limits [17:58] Relational health does not demand endless availability or a giant circle of friends. Shalom calls people to consider where their time, attention, and best energy should go in a particular season. Limits can become an act of love when they help people remain present rather than burned out and checked out. Faithfulness asks how many people can be loved well, not how many connections can be maintained. [17:58]
4. Do not go it alone [34:47] Community does not erase hardship, but it changes how hardship is carried. A cheering section can look like showing up, remembering a burden, celebrating a small win, or holding someone’s story with care. Neighborhood communities make room for that kind of ordinary, powerful presence. Love becomes believable when people know someone will stand beside them.

## [34:47]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:16] - Future Church and Multiplication
[03:46] - The Loneliness Epidemic
[09:58] - Love God, Love People
[11:20] - God Is Love
[13:05] - Sin, Separation, and Shalom
[14:45] - Trusting the Triune God
[16:16] - Loved Into Loving
[17:33] - Relational Health Within Capacity
[20:40] - The Risk of Real Relationships
[22:11] - Why Neighborhood Communities Matter
[24:30] - Embracing the Otherness of People
[27:26] - The Hub as Shared Space
[31:16] - Be Each Other’s Cheering Section
[34:47] - Remembering Love at the Table

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

1 John 4:13-21
“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” [00:57]

Mark 12:30-31
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.” [07:37]

Ephesians 3:16-19
“That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” [36:46]

Observation questions

In 1 John 4:13–21, what persons of the Trinity are named, and what actions are connected with each of them? [01:44]
What reasons does John give for connecting love for God with love for a brother or sister who can be seen?
According to Mark 12:30–31, what parts of a person’s life are included in loving God, and how does the command to love a neighbor stand alongside it? [07:37]
What pictures of healthy community are described: being known, eating and laughing together, carrying pain tenderly, working through differences, and cheering one another on? [22:42]

Interpretation questions

John says that people love because God loved first. How does that truth keep love for others from becoming an effort to earn God’s approval? [35:53]
Why might John speak so strongly about the inconsistency of claiming to love God while hating a visible brother or sister? What does this reveal about the connection between inner faith and everyday relationships? [15:41]
If shalom includes right relationship with God, people, and creation, how does Jesus make it possible to begin experiencing shalom now even when relationships are still imperfect? [14:03]
Ephesians 3 connects being rooted in Christ’s love with grasping that love “together with all the Lord’s holy people.” Why might believers need other believers in order to grow in confidence in God’s love? [37:17]

Application questions

Where does loneliness show up most clearly in your life right now: a lack of connection, being unknown, spreading yourself too thin, or checking out when relationships feel hard? What is one honest step toward connection you could take this week? [19:42]
Consider the people already in your closest circles—family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, or this group. Who could you love more attentively with the time and energy you actually have in this season? [17:58]
Are there relationships where disappointment, disagreement, awkwardness, or fear has made you pull back? What might it look like to stay present with wise boundaries and take one small step toward reconciliation, patience, or forgiveness? [20:40]
Who has loved you into loving—through patience, welcome, truth, practical care, or simply showing up? How could you thank them or pass that kind of love on to someone else this week? [16:39]
What would help you become more known in Christian community: joining or returning to a group, inviting someone for a meal or coffee, sharing a burden more honestly, or regularly making space to be with others? [22:42]
Who in your life needs a cheering section right now? What specific action—sending encouragement, remembering an important date, celebrating a small win, offering practical help, or showing up—could communicate that they do not have to go it alone? [33:46]

Sermon Clips

51s

#LovedIntoLoving

“And so we come to the table to remember God's great love for us. We also come to the table to remember that God has loved us first. You know, sometimes when we we do future church type conversations, we're talking about our mission and vision and multiplication and all this great stuff. It can feel a little bit like, wow, I got a lot to do now. Thanks a lot, Steve. We cannot love people well through our own effort. We cannot multiply healthy relationships simply by trying harder. We are loved into loving. And so we must remember how much we are loved.”

49s

#ShalomAndConnection

“This is not what we were created for. We were not created for separation. We were not created for alienation or isolation. We were created connection. And to live and to thrive and to flourish in a very rich web of relationships. The the writers of scripture call this web of relationships shalom. Right relationship with God and with each other and with the rest of creation. And here's the other good news. We can still experience shalom right here and right now.”

44s

#ChooseConnection

“And in both cases, I get it. It can feel easy. Right? It can feel like I'm making a a a good decision or a healthy decision decision to check out. There are some communities that we do not need to be a part of. And that does need to be said, but I want you to hear this also very clearly. You were not made for separation. You were made for connection. We are loved into loving. So don't check out.”

63s

#RelationalHealth

“One of the things that I want you to hear very clearly today is this, relational health, what we are after here is relational health. Relational health is not about increasing our capacity. It's not about upping the number of friends that you have on Facebook. Relational health is about living in shalom within our capacity. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. I think sometimes that verse we hear the live at peace with everyone, and we think literally everyone. And we also forget about that as far as it depends on you part of it, you have a limited capacity. And the goal is not to necessarily up that capacity, it is to love the people within your circles as well as you are capable of.”

36s

#HealingFromSeparation

“Now the bad news is that when we rebelled against God's good ordering of creation, it broke those relationships between us and God and each other. One of the ways of defining sin, there's several different definitions, but one of the ways of defining sin is as separation. Sin is being cut off from God and each other and ourselves, and this alienation is the source of all sorts of issues, like a loneliness epidemic.”

51s

#LoveWell

“More important than how many people you are connected to is how many people can you love well. Now, for some of us, that might mean making some new friends, getting involved in a new thing, whatever that might look like. But for most of us, I think we actually need to think through those circles and make some hard decisions. Not to cut people off, although maybe you need to do that. I don't know. But I think we need to spend some time pondering, reflecting on how we are using our time and our energy. Where... What are the best ways to invest our time and energy well?”

62s

#CommunityWellbeing

“We are healthier in almost every way when we are connected in a community. The loneliness epidemic is defined by widespread social isolation and unmet needs for meaningful human connection. And it's that last phrase, unmet needs for meaningful human connection, that haunts me. Right? What a devastating statement that is. Because because we were designed for relationship. We were created to thrive, not just be in community, but to thrive in community. And as we just read, we cannot know God outside of relationships with people.”

60s

#RightRelationship

“We can experience shalom because of what Jesus has done on our behalf. Now, this experience of Shalom, it begins with right relationship with God. As John says, we must put our trust in this invisible God, which is kind of scary. Right? But it's also what faith is. Trusting Not just believing the right things, but placing a relational trust in this mysterious trinity. Trusting God, trusting the spirit, trusting Jesus' work on the cross to make us right. Shalom involves right relationship with God, but it also involves right relationship with people.”

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