| Introduction Christ is to be supreme in all things. He is to be supreme over his church, over our lives, over our minds, our bodies, our hearts. Christ is to be supreme over every area of life including friendships. One of the exciting things about camp is to see the friendships that are started and cultivated there. As I observed those friendships, I started thinking about what God had to say about friendships. I want to share these thoughts with you today. You might ask, "Why spend precious time talking about such a mundane thing? Couldn't we spend this time talking about something more profitable?" Well, possibly. But the idea and practice of friendship is not a mundane thing. Friendships or the lack thereof is something we cannot escape from. As we are going to see in a little bit, desire for relationships is part of being created in God's image. We all are going to do it. But most of us are going to do it wrong because the Fall really threw a wrench into our ability to relate to God and to one another. The wonderful thing is that even that ability to relate to God and to one another was redeemed by Christ on the cross. So, we need to look at the Scriptures and see how is it that people for whom Christ is the greatest king do friendship. Let me ask you this question. Do you have friends? I am not talking about your spouse. Guys, do you other guys that you consider close friends? How about you, women? Do you have other women that are your friends? I don't make friends easily. I have a hard time letting people into my life. Yet, I deeply crave friendships. Why do we desire friendships? Why do we sometimes even ache for a friend who will be with us through thick and thin? Because we were made that way. I. The Basis of Friendship: Imago Dei. Genesis 1:26-28– Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." A. Part of being made and bearing the image of God is to desire fulfilling relationships. B. Our God is a relational God. 1. Not in the sense that he needed us to be complete. 2. But in the sense that he is always in perfect relationship with himself. C. The doctrine of the Trinity shows that to us. 1. One God in triune existence perfectly relating to himself. 2. The Father loving the Son, the Son loving the Father and the Spirit loving and being loved by the Father and the Son. a. Look at Jesus desire to be with his Father in our passage this morning, 5. b. God the Son's state before his incarnation is described as a state of richness which includes his relationship to the Father and the Spirit. 2 Cor. 8:9– For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. c. Time and again the NT speaks of the love of the Father for the Son and vice versa. Jn. 14:31– But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here. Jn. 15:9– As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. d. The NT also speaks of the unity between Father and Son Jn. 10:30– I and My Father are one. e. The OT speaks of the Father and the Son fellowshipping together. Dan. 7:13-14– I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. 14Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. D.This is a part of God's nature that was communicated to us in our creation. E. Adam in a perfect state needed someone like him to relate to, so God created Eve – wanting a relationship was not a fault in Adam, but a good thing. II. Friendship: The Fall's Impact. A. But the Fall took place and in Adam's first sin we all sinned, and all humanity was alienated from God and from each other. 1. The husband/wife relationship was desecrated (they were ashamed before one another). 2. Brother turned on brother. 3. And implicit in all that is the distortion of all human relationships. B. It is a result of sin that people use each other. C. It is a result of sin that the desire for friendship becomes an idol of our heart. 1. "I want friends and you owe me to be my friend." 2. Sin distorts the desire for friendship to the point that we may be willing to do whatever it is required of us to gain a friend or to be accepted by a group or a person. d. All types of ungodliness. D.It is a result of sin that some people refuse to seek friends. 1. "I have tried to have friends before, but I was badly hurt by them, so I am not going to allow anybody into my life, into my heart so that I am not hurt." a. I don't need any friends. b. It takes too much work to befriend people and I don't get anything out of it, so I am not going to bother. 2. This self-sufficiency and self-protection are as sinful as the desire to have friends at all costs. 3. Both the needy and the proud are outside of God's design for friendships. III. Friendship: Redeemed by Christ. A. But God did not leave us in that state. B. Shortly after Adam sinned, God promised a redeemer who was going to come and restore all things to their rightful places. C. And all of history from that point was in anticipation and preparation for the coming of that one who was going to reconcile all things to God: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. D.And when he came, he reconciled man to God. Rom. 5:10– For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 2 Cor. 5:18– Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, E. And he also came to reconcile man to man (all part of the same vine.). Jn. 15:9-14– As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. 11These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.14You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 1. Think of all the one anotherpassages of the Bible. 2. Think of all the times that Christians are called brothers and sisters. F. True friendship is possible because of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ – Love as I have loved you! IV. Friendship: Do We Really Need it? A. Jesus Christ the perfect man made sure he was surrounded by friends. 1. He often had his thousands, but he knew that he couldn't really know all that people, so he called 70 to be with him. Lk. 10:1– After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. 2. But even seventy is too many people for one to actually have a relationship and know well and share life. 3. So, he called 12 to be with him so they could be closer to one another. 4. From the 12, he chose three men to be his closest friends to be with him in the highs of the transfiguration and the lows of Gethsemane. B. He shows that friendship is part of the redeemed life. V. Friendship: What Is It Supposed to Do? 1. It should point all involved to God. Jn. 15:15– No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 2. It should involve selfless giving of oneself. Phil. 2:5-8– Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. a. What Paul illustrates for us with Jesus's example looks as follows: Phil. 2:1-4– Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. b. Christian friendship involves like-mindedness in the Gospel. B. Friendship is the result of redemption. Acts 2:42– And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Heb. 3:13– … but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Heb. 10:24– And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works…. Conclusion
I pray that we, as a church, would be able to treasure Christ together. It is part of our fabric. We were made for that and re-created in Jesus Christ for that. I can't wait for the day when all of us are completely committed to one another because we are all committed to Christ.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2019/07/do-you-want-to-be-my-friend-john-171-5.html
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