Today’s Bible Study, Authored by Arthur
Cincotti. 01/07/2024
Listen to our Bible
Study Discussion at: Friendship Podcast
Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube:
Friendship
“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.” Jn.
15:15
I fear that friendship is a neglected
topic in pulpits and Christian doctrine. One reason may be because its seems so
worldly. There is little distinction between friendships we see in the church
and friendships that we see in the world. As a matter of fact, it may well be
that the world outshines us. That’s embarrassing.
Friendship is a dynamic of
life that God has ordained and that Jesus participated in. The element of
choice stimulates a richness that both identifies and sustains. Prov. 17:17
says, “A friend loves at all times,” and Prov. 27:17 says, “As iron
sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet,
Polonius, advice to his son Laertes before he departs for schooling in France
is, “Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them unto thy
soul with hoop of steel, But do not dull thy palm with entertainment of each
new-hatched, unfledged courage.”
A beautiful account of
friendship in the Bible is the one between David and Jonathan, Saul’s son.
Surely they met in the court, perhaps as early as when David was brought in to
play the harp for King Saul when he was in distress. As David advances in favor
he is given to marry Saul’s daughter Michal (I Sam. 18:20) So Jonathan became
David’s brother in law. Surely their exploits together in battle bonded them as
it often does. I Sam. 18:1-4 describes the love they had for each other. 1. “Now when
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.”
This is just one example of
the soul ties that form in what we call friendship.
What are some of the elements
that constitute a good and Godly friendship?
I sometimes like to say that
the three pillars of a love relationship are choice, sacrifice and trust. These
must always be reciprocal. In our relationship with Christ, “He chose us in
Him before the foundations of the world…” Eph. 1:4. But we also made a
choice when we confessed with our mouth and believed in our heart. Rm. 10:9.
Regarding sacrifice, we know Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for us, but we are
also called upon to, “offer the sacrifice of praise” Heb. 13:15 and also
be a “living sacrifice,” Rm. 12:1. Finally, we, “Trust in the LORD
with all your heart…” Prov. 3:5, but God also trusts us with the gospel; II
Co. 5:20 “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were
pleading through us.”
Friendship is a vital
component in a marriage relationship. In his book The 5 Love Languages, Gary
Chapman, drawing from Eph. 5:22-33 points out that a man’s primary need is for
respect, where as a woman’s primary need is for love. This is why it says,
25. “Husbands, love your wives,” and 33. “let
the wife see that she respects her husband.”
From this we also can grasp
that, in male friendships, respect is an important element, and I assume that
love is an important element in female friendships.
In our opening verse, from
Jn. 15, we quickly notice that this is during Jesus upper room discourse. It is
near the end of His earthly ministry and the cross is very soon before Him. He
has walked with many of these men for as long as three years, discipling them
and building their friendship. Therefore, we can gather that a progression is
necessary in order to build toward, what Jesus called friendship. This
magnifies the calling of friendship. It is noteworthy to consider that Judas
was among those He called “friend.” In Mt. 26:50 Jesus even says directly to
Judas, “Friend, why have you come?”
Because these bonds of
friendship are so strong, often woven over time and through adversity, the hurt
is magnified when they are violated. Ps. 55:12-14 “If an enemy were
insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide.
But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I
once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the
worshipers.”
The Christian faith has a
pathway for reconciliation, through forgiveness; foremost with God, but also
with one another.
I Cor. 13:4-7 says, “Love
is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it dies not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the
truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
This is a blueprint for
healthy friendship, but as I said, to truly qualify as friendship, it must be
reciprocal.
At the end of I Cor. 13, vrs.
12, it says, “Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am
known.” I believe that this is truly the desire of everyone’s heart, to be
genuinely known, and still loved. Friendship is a horizontal platform for this.
Friendship calls for common
bonds that bind people together. I would cautiously suggest that apart from a
mutual, genuine friendship with Christ, friendships on the horizontal plane are
compromised. Js. 4:4 says, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know
that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” Whoever therefore wants to
be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
To end on a positive note,
Prov. 18:24 says, “A man who has friends mush himself be friendly, But there
is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
—–Join us for another Bible Study Next Week ——-
or
Join our “Victory over the
Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, “Freedom in Christ” series of
Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on
Apple podcasts
(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247
podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify,
iHeartradio, and Audible.com.
These teachings are also
available on the MT4Christ247 YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247
Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class
materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.
My wife, TammyLyn, also
offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ), her Facebook
Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask,
Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
“The views, opinions, and
commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and
do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers,
artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included
in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of
any entities the author may represent.”
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
Leave a Reply