'FRIENDSHIP'

Rev. Juliet Schimpf By Rev. Juliet Schimpf    Rev. Juliet Schimpf  is the Minister of  First Baptist  Church in Perth, Ontario: http://www.perthareachurches.ca/baptist_perth_A.htm

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LINK to CFRA broadcast of Sunday, January 13^th, 2013)
http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/10677/good_news_035_jan13.mp3

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Broadcast Notes:

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‘Friendship’

ON FRIENDSHIP:

1.       CHOOSING OUR FRIENDSHIPS

2.      CHECKING OUR FRIENDSHIPS

3.      CHANGING OUR FRIENDSHIPS

4.      CHERISHING OUR FRIENDSHIPS

Genesis 2:18  The first thing that is “not good” is that we are alone.  God wants us in relationship and community because that is how He exists—namely, in community.

In 1937, the number one nonfiction title was Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, and since then, millions of copies have been sold around the world.  Why?  Because just about everybody has “people problems” and needs advice on how to solve them. 

The book of Proverbs is the best manual you’ll find on people skills because it was given to us by the God who made us.

C.S. LEWIS  “The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.”

1.       CHOOSING OUR FRIENDSHIPS

Proverbs 12:26 NIV ^“The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”
 

1 CORINTHIANS 15:33  Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

TIPS:

a.    AVOID ANGRY PEOPLE  

·         PROVERBS 22:24-25  “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.”

b.    AVOID GOSSIPS:  

·         PROVERBS 16:28  “A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.”

c.    SEEK SOMEONE WHO BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN YOU:  

·         PROVERBS 27:17  “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

d.    SEEK SOMEONE WHO HAS YOUR BEST INTERESTS AT HEART: 

·         PROVERBS 18:24  “One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

5. SEE SOMEONE WHO LOVES YOU AS THEY LOVE THEMSELVES  

·         David and Jonathan  1 Samuel 18:1-3 “As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”

2.      CHECKING OUR FRIENDSHIPS

Proverbs 27:19   "A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses."

Proverbs 3:32

“You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.” 

a. FAKE FRIENDS

Proverbs 20:6  “Many describe themselves as people of faithful love, but who can find someone really to be trusted?”

Proverbs 19:6  “Many seek the favour of the generous and everyone is a friend to a giver of gifts.”

b. PAINFUL FRIENDS: 

Proverbs 25:18-20

^18 “Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow
    is one who gives false testimony against a neighbor. 
¹⁹ Like a broken tooth or a lame foot
    is reliance on the unfaithful in a time of trouble.
²⁰ Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day,
    or like vinegar poured on a wound,
    is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.”

c. EVIL FRIENDS

Psalm 1:1 ESV

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers…”

d. TRUE FRIENDS

Proverbs 27:6  “Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.”

Proverbs 17:9  “Whoever forgives an offence fosters friendship; whoever raises the matter again divides friends.”

·         Elijah and Elisha   2 Kings 2:2 “Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.’ But Elisha said, ‘As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’  So they went down to Bethel.”

3.      CHANGING OUR FRIENDSHIPS

NIV PROVERBS 12:15  “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice—let’s listen to the advice of Proverbs.”

AMOS 3:3  "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" 

2 Corinthians 6:14  “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial^[b]? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will live with them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”

¹⁷ Therefore, “Come out from them
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

PROVERBS 13:20  NIV “Walk with the wise and become wise,
for a companion of fools suffers harm.”

ECCLESIASTES 4:12  “And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken—in my friendships, there must be room for Jesus (I can’t a meaningful friendship in which I am ashamed to bring up His name).”

4.      CHERISHING OUR FRIENDSHIPS

HELEN KELLER:  "Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."

ECCLESIASTES 4:9 “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. ¹⁰For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDS”

One of the most thorough research projects on relationships is called the Alameda County Study. Headed by a Harvard social scientist, it tracked the lives of 7,000 people over nine years. Researchers found that the most isolated people were three times more likely to die than those with strong relational connections. 

People who had bad health habits (such as smoking, poor eating habits, obesity, or alcohol use) but strong social ties lived significantly longer than people who had great health habits but were isolated. In other words, it is better to eat Twinkies with good friends than to eat broccoli alone. Harvard researcher Robert Putnam notes that if you belong to no groups but decide to join one, “you cut your risk of dying over the next year in half.” 

For another study, as reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 276 volunteers were infected with a virus that produces the common cold. The study found that people with strong emotional connections did four times better fighting off illness than those who were more isolated. These people were less susceptible to colds, had less virus, and produced significantly less mucous than relationally isolated subjects. (I’m not making this up. They produced less mucous. This means it is literally true: Unfriendly people are snottier than friendly people.)   [Taken from Ortberg, John (2008-04-01). Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them (p. 33). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.]

PROVERBS 27:9  NIV ^“Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,
and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice.¹⁰ Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you—better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away.”

But of all the friendships we could possible develop, none can excel the one we can 

have with Him who truly "sticks closer than a brother" – our Lord Jesus Christ!

Romans 5:10  “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.” 

Have you become His friend?  Consider what He has done for us...

               "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life

                  for his friends." (Jn 15:13)

Consider what He asks of us...

   "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you."  

 (John 15:14)  

Let’s take a moment to pray:

Our gracious and Heavenly Father, we thank you that in your wisdom, and in your generosity, you created friendship. We thank you Lord for our friends; and we just ask this very hour, that you will continue to help us to choose our friends wisely.

We also ask that you will help us check our friendships from time-to-time, and not settle for mediocrity, to not settle for sinfulness, but to seek out friendships that are God-honouring.

And God, I pray for the listener who’s heard this message this morning and knows in the depth of their heart that they need to change their friends.

They know that they’ve been hanging out with bad company and they know that it is corrupting their character. I pray, right now, Lord, that you will give them the strength to cut those ties, to change their friendships. Would you help that listener, this hour?

And lastly, Lord we want to cherish our friendships. Would you help us to express that gratitude to friends this week, this month, this year?

And God, finally, we thank you that you have offered yourself to us. You want to be our friend, and I pray for the listener who has not yet made you their personal friend.

I pray for the listener who wants friendship with God; who wants friendship with Jesus Christ. I pray, Lord, that you will fill their heart this hour, and that you will become the lover of their soul.

We pray all this in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Amen.

Rev. Juliet Schimpf

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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/10677/good_news_035_jan13.mp3