With Is Our Favorite Word

 “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.” Revelation 21:3 (NLT)

‘With’ is one of our favorite words… yes, it’s a small word and one that at first doesn’t seem like it carries much information. It’s just a little preposition. But this little word ‘with’ is a word about relationship. With means us. With means we. With means together. It means community. More and more, we see that ‘with’ is the word we need. Being together feeds our souls. There’s something about ‘with’ that is transformative.

‘With’ has been God’s intention all along. He created the world in five days. He said it was good. He created Adam on the sixth day. And he said it was not good for Adam to be alone. And so God made Eve. And then he said it was very good! God crowned creation with a partnership, a relationship, a togetherness, and a belonging. And on the 7th day, they all rested together, with one another, with God.

With Means Relationship

With is side-by-side. It is next to. It is among, it is together. When we are with one another we are in relationship, and relationship is the foundation of reality. Think about it. Before there was anything that we would call real, there was God. Father, Son, Holy Spirit were together — the ultimate with, the ultimate relationship. With them was distinction, acceptance, belonging, intimacy, and love. And from this place of ‘with-ness’, God said, “Let’s make humans in our image, so they can enjoy all this with-ness with us!”

The more we follow Jesus, the more aware we are of how much we need to change. When we’re with others, when we recognize our acceptance, and feel our belonging, then we can change. This Christian life isn’t only about resisting our sinful nature. It’s a lifetime of becoming like Jesus. And this doesn’t happen unless we are with Him and with other people. We need each other to show us who we actually are and who we can be. We need to be known, and we need to know others. It’s in this with-space that Holy Spirit moves in us and continues the transformation. Are you with us?!

A genius named Skye Jethani wrote a book called “With”. He laid out how With is the only way God wants to relate to us.

• So many in our culture put themselves Over God. They say there is no God, or if He exists, He’s out there somewhere, and we should take our lives in our own hands and do what we think is best.

• Others, find themselves Under God. They’re crushed by the weight of their guilt and they try to take responsibility for their holiness by working hard to become worthy.

• Still others position themselves as From God. They see Him as a kind of giant slot machine, that if they do the rituals just right, then the payout we deserve will come — kind of like doing the rain dance with just the right techniques and fervor so that the gods will send the rain.

• And many of us are in the place of For God. We do all sorts of things For Him. We stack up the good works. We give it all with generosity. And similar to the rain dance, we expect that God owes us, that He needs to fulfill his end of the contract.

We have found ourselves functioning in all these spaces at one time or another. And the reality is, God is patiently waiting for us to set aside all our striving, all our over, our under, our from, and our for and simply join Him and be With Him. If you find this at all intriguing, get yourself a copy of Skye Jethani’s With. It opens with a scene from a mausoleum in Italy that is so illuminating, you’ll be captivated and want to finish the rest of the book!

We find With at church. The big celebration all together, hearing one another sing, listening to the message is a space where we can be with God and with one another. There’s an awakening of our spiritual lives when we are with one another in this way. The big room is the space where we get the Word of the Lord.

But how many times have we walked out of church saying, “That was a wonderful message, marvelously given”, but when it comes to life change, not much really happens?

We know there’s more, and we know it has to do with the word, with. Getting the message while sitting in rows is only the half of it. When we gather together in circles, that Word of the Lord can become real in our lives. God uses those others in the circle to unlock our growth.

There are three passages in the gospels that have been named ‘Great’. We are betting you’ve heard of two of them — and it’s the third one that is the key to them all.

1. The first is the Great Commandment. This is the one where a teacher of the law (confirm this) asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is. Jesus then sums up the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures with this: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is this, love your neighbor as yourself.”

2. The second is the Great Commission. This is the mandate He gives us to spread His message and his love all over the world. Mark records it as, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”, (Mark 16:15). Matthew records it as, “All authority has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always until the very end of the age.” Mathew 28:18-20 Kay Charlotte and I have dedicated our careers to this commission.

3. The third is sometimes called The Great Collaboration. Have you heard of it? It’s found in Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. After submitting himself to the Father’s will in going to the cross, Jesus prays for his disciples and for all who would believe in Him. He says, “Father, let them be one as you and I are one.” Think of that kind of one-ness — that kind of with-ness! We are to be bonded together like the Father is bonded to the son. Our with-ness is to be a reflection of the Trinity. He continues, “so that the world will know you sent me.” How powerful is that? It turns out that our with-ness validates His message. Our togetherness, our unity, our oneness shows a divided world who Jesus is and what He is about.

So let’s collaborate. Let’s work together. Let’s be with one another in a way that Jesus’ gospel will go forward around the world. Let’s create a partnership, a ‘with-ness’ that makes an impact. Kay Charlotte and I have gone and are continuing to go. Will you send us? In this way, together, we become partners in the Gospel. In this way we are co-laborers. In this way, we are with one another and God will bless our partnership.