Sharpened By Relationship
Sharpened by Relationship
Proverbs 27:17
Big Idea: God designed us for relationships that sharpen us, and he provides those relationships through the church.
“Iron sharpens iron, as one man sharpens another.”
Proverbs gives us a simple picture of what relationships are meant to accomplish. Just as sharpening a blade makes it more capable of doing what it was designed to do, God uses other people to sharpen us—to strengthen our character and make us more capable of living as he created us to live.
Yet we live in a strange moment. We have greater opportunities for communication than any generation before us, while often experiencing increasingly unsatisfying relationships. We can communicate instantly with people around the world, but much of that communication happens without actually sitting across from another person, looking them in the eyes, listening to them, and knowing them.
The church is meant to offer something different. God has created his people to be a community of personal, redemptive relationships where we know one another and help one another grow.
I. God Is Eternally Relational
The foundation for human relationship begins with God himself.
The Bible reveals one God who eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Before anything was created, God already enjoyed perfect relationship within himself. The Father, Son, and Spirit did not need creation in order to experience love, fellowship, or relationship.
Jesus speaks of this eternal relationship in John 17 when he prays about the glory he shared with the Father before the world existed.
God did not create because he was lonely or incomplete. Relationship did not begin when God created us. Relationship has existed eternally within the Triune God.
This means relationship is not simply a human need or social convenience. It is rooted in the character of the God who made us.
II. God Designed Us for Relationship
Because we were created in the image of a relational God, we were created for relationship.
First, we were designed for relationship with God himself. In the opening chapters of Scripture, Adam walks with God in the garden. Humanity was created to know God, enjoy him, and live in fellowship with him.
Sin broke that relationship, but the gospel restores it. Jesus says in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
Eternal life is not merely living forever. It is knowing God.
But God also created us for relationship with one another. In Genesis, after repeatedly declaring his creation good, God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone.”
Human relationships allow us to experience something of what it means to know and be known, to love and be loved. At their best, they give us a glimpse of God’s love. Even their disappointments remind us that no human relationship can ultimately provide what only God can give.
God has designed relationships to be personal and redemptive. They are meant not simply to make life more enjoyable, but to help shape us into the people God created us to be.
III. God Gives Us the Church for Relationship
God has provided a particular context where these sharpening relationships can continually grow: the church.
The church is not fundamentally a building or a weekly event. The church is the people of God living together as a family.
Like our biological families, church relationships are not always easy. There will be misunderstandings, disagreements, disappointments, and relationships that need to be repaired. Iron sharpening iron necessarily involves friction.
But God uses those relationships to shape us.
Through conversations, friendships, small groups, older believers, younger believers, encouragement, correction, shared wisdom, and ordinary life together, God rubs away the rough edges of our lives. Other Christians help us see things we could not see on our own and become more capable of living faithfully.
This is why we need more than attendance. We need a community of Christian people who actually know us.
The church is meant to be a place of personal and redemptive relationships—people knowing one another, walking alongside one another, and sharpening one another toward greater faithfulness to Christ.
Conclusion
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
God is eternally relational. God created us for relationship with himself and with others. And God has given us the church as a community where those relationships can shape and sharpen us.
In a world where communication is increasingly fast but relationships are increasingly thin, the church should be different.
We should be a people who move toward one another, sit across from one another, listen to one another, know one another, forgive one another, and help one another grow.
We were not created to live the Christian life alone.
We need relationships that sharpen us. And we need to become the kind of people God can use to sharpen others.
Questions for Reflection
Who are the people God has used most significantly to sharpen and shape my life?
Do I have relationships in the church where I am genuinely known, or am I primarily attending without being known?
Where might I be resisting the friction that God wants to use to shape my character?
Are my relationships helping me become more faithful to Christ, or are they dulling my spiritual life?
Who in the church could I intentionally pursue a deeper relationship with?
Whom has God placed in my life that I could encourage, strengthen, or sharpen toward greater faithfulness to Christ?
