BUILDING FRIENDSHIPS
with other Christians
1 John 4:7 “let us love one another
because love comes from God”
We
were made for relationships
We believe in the Triune
God who from eternity has enjoyed a deep, loving fellowship within himself
as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It makes sense then that when Jesus
enables us to share in God’s divine life that it too is thoroughly
communal (reflecting the communal life and nature of the Trinity).
· We
can only be whole in community.
An important part of the Gospel message is that we can only grow into the
people God made us to be by connecting on a deep level with others – as we
discover our true identity and purpose in life through belonging to the
Body of Christ.
· We
need each other.
You will only make it through the challenges of a pain-filled world with a
lot of help and support from other people. The belief that we don’t need
other people or that we can do it all on our own is one of the devil’s
most destructive lies.
· We
please God and fulfil our calling when we love one another.
We bring joy to God’s heart and reflect his loving nature when we share
Jesus’ love together in community.
The
New Testament is loaded with “one another” statements!
In contrast with our
instinct to privatize our faith, the Bible is self-consciously and
unapologetically
communal in
outlook. Over 50 separate times in the New Testament we are told to
connect with “one another” in love.
But
we can only truly love one another
if
we know one another!
God invites us to embark
on a new way of life. One that is self-consciously communal in nature. A
life where we build friendships
by loving each
other and where we build friendships
in order to
better love one another in Jesus’ name – empowered by Jesus’ love.
Adopting a genuinely Christian (Christ-like) lifestyle
Put as simply as
possible, a Christian lifestyle looks like this:
?
Love
God (trust in him
to save you, forgive you, help you)
Ť
Love
other people
(care for each other, share life together)
?
Follow Jesus
(embrace his love and grow to be more like him)
That’s it.
NOTE:
You are
not
saved by your lifestyle -
but
this is the lifestyle God wants those who are saved to follow!
This is not how we get
into heaven but it
is how heaven
(God’s kingdom) gets into us!
There is a deadly
spiritual sickness that infects so many Christians today: The scandal of
Christians gladly bowing down before the idols of
individualism and
self-interest.
Would Jesus say about all this? I think Jesus would say,
“You
can’t separate your spirituality from your day-to-day relationships! So
if you truly want to worship me, start loving one another in my name!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What can we do to build
friendships with other Christians?
1. Send time together. The greatest enemy
of relationships is busyness so you will need to
make
time for your friendships. Make this a priority!
2. Invite people over for a cuppa or a
meal. Take the initiative. Don’t ask, “Who can be my friend?” (or
complain that those people at St John’s aren’t very friendly) instead ask,
“Who can I be a friend to?”
3. Join a Friendship Group at Church. Even
better, offer to lead one!
4. Get involved in ministering to other
people. As you serve alongside other people, and get to know them,
friendships will grow.
5. Remember the aim is that you share
Jesus’ love with others and they share Jesus’ love with you and through
this we all grow closer to our Lord.
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