Friends

Introduction- Friends, How Many Of Us Have Them?

Friends

How many of us have them?

Friends

Ones we can depend on

Friends

How many of us have them?

Friends

Before we go any further, let's be

Friends

Is a word we use everyday

Most the time we use it in the wrong way

Now you can look the word up, again and again

But the dictionary doesn't know the meaning of friends

And if you ask me, you know, I couldn't be much help

Because a friend's somebody you judge for yourself

Some are okay, and they treat you real cool

And some mistake your kindness for being a fool

We like to be with some, because they're funny

Others come around when they need some money

Some you grew up with, around the way

And you're still real close to this very day

Homeboys through the Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall

And then there's some we wish we never knew at all

And this list goes on, again and again

But these are the people that we call friends

1st Single off of Escape- the second studio album by American hip hop group Whodini, released on October 17, 1984, by Jive Records.

Various literature on friends and friendship (especially in this post Covid-19 era) all agree that we all need friends

Friendship makes life more enjoyable and enriches one’s everyday experiences

Beverly D. Flaxington, who teaches at Suffolk University in Boston, MA has written:

A good friend lifts you when you are blue, gives suggestions when you need them

Many people, especially as they get older, lament the lack of friends in their lives.

Being a friend means taking an interest in someone and regularly reaching out to them

One of the most important friendship in our lives the one we have with our romantic partners.

First criteria one should look for in a spouse is someone who is ultimately a good friend to them.

Pre-marital Counseling Session on Friendship

Finding friends can be challenging but can often be achieved by approaching others with mutual interests

Then There’s Facebook...

December 6, 2022 Kinsta.com statistics wrote a report concerning Facebook which said the following:

Though the average Facebook user has 338 friends, they only consider 28% of their friends to be genuine or close friends. Another crazy Facebook statistic is that the average Facebook user is connected to fewer genuine friends than people they've never met in person, which comprises 39% of users' connections.

Yet we can lose all our friends quickly

Commit a heinous crime and go to prison, and your friends will deny you

Be the guilty party when you have an affair with a married person… and become a pariah

Get really sick- we are a death-denying culture, except for entertainment with videos and films. Similarly, we do not like serious illness. It is an intimation of mortality.

Retire- one minute you are somebody, with friends and colleagues. Next, you are a nobody. Friends? Gone. Never heard from again

Transition To Body- Scripture & Jesus Would Probably Agree With All This Literature On Friendship

New Testament 15:9–17—Abiding in Love

There were different kinds and levels of friendship in antiquity, and Greco-Roman writers often commented on the topic. Friendship could involve political or military alliances and was often pursued in self-interest; kings or lesser patrons who supported dependents called clients were (especially in Roman circles) said to be engaging in “friendship”; Pharisees also met in circles of “friends.” The traditional Greek concept of friendship emphasized equality among companions, and some philosophical schools like the Epicureans especially emphasized such friendship.

The main ideals of friendship in ancient literature included loyalty (sometimes to the death), equality and mutual sharing of all possessions, and an intimacy in which a friend could share everything in confidence.

Abraham Was God’s Friend

Isaiah 41:8 ESV

8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend;

Moses Was The LORD God’s Friend

Exodus 33:11 ESV

11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Friends Full of Jesus’ Joy

John 15:9–11 ESV

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Jesus’ New Commandment!

John 13:34 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

John 13:35 ESV

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Body- Friends

Friends Love Sincerely

John 15:12 ESV

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

This type of Love (Agape) is

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 25.43 ἀγαπάω; ἀγάπη, ης

to have love for someone or something, based on sincere appreciation and high regard—‘to love, to regard with affection, loving concern, love

The United Nations Universal Declaration Of Human Rights (ratified on December 10, 1948) as Result Of The Atrocities of World War II

Article 1- All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

dignity wasn’t something that people earned because of their class, race, or another advantage. It is something all humans are born with. Simply by being human, all people deserve respect.

Westminister Confession Of Faith (Drawn Up in 1646)

God has ascribed dignity, sanctity and worth to all human life from conception until death and requires all human life to be accorded respect and to be protected from harm (Genesis 1:27, Psalm 139:13-16, Exodus 20:13).

But in the Year 0, Day 6 God said: “Let Us...”

Genesis 1:26–28 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Fearfully (awesome & great) & Wonderfully Made

Psalm 139:13–14 ESV

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Friends Love Sacrificially

John 15:13 ESV

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Lay Down

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 23.113 τὴν ψυχὴν τίθημι

‘to die willingly’ or ‘to die without resisting.’

John 13:37–38 ESV

37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

Luke 9:23 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Friends Love Submissively

John 15:14–15 ESV

14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

We normally think of submission as just only...

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 36.18 ὑποτάσσομαι; ὑποταγή, ῆς; ὑπείκω

to submit to the orders or directives of someone—‘to obey, to submit to, obedience, submission.’

But submission also includes...

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. ὑποτάσσω

Of submission in the sense of voluntary yielding in love

Ephesians 5:21 ESV

21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Context was: Looking Carefully How You Walk

Ephesians 5:17–20 ESV

17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Keeping Jesus’ Commandments i.e. submitting to Jesus’ LORDship over your life

John 15:10–11 ESV

10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

This here Abide thing

John 15:4–5 ESV

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

What Loving Jesus Leads Too- Inward Dwelling Help of the Holy Spirit

John 14:15–17 ESV

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Submission between friends is mutual (Out Of Reference for Jesus Christ)

John 15:15 ESV

15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

Friends Love Selectively

I told you earlier in the introduction that

Beverly Flaxington at Suffolk University stated that:

“Being a friend means taking an interest in someone and regularly reaching out to them”

Additionally, according to Dr. Robert Puff,-host and producer of the Happiness Podcast:

“Finding friends can be challenging but can be often achieved by approaching other with mutual interests.”

John 15:16 ESV

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Choose- to make a special choice based upon significant preference, often implying a strongly favorable attitude toward what is chosen

Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996) 360.

Bishop Marvin Sapp would later sing:

He saw the best in me When everyone else around me Could only see the worst in me Does anybody have their testimony?

When folks wrote you off Said you would never make it What did he see? He saw the best in me

Said he is mine (He is mine) (I am his) Said it doesn't matter what I did He only sees me for who I am

These Things I Command You...

John 15:17 ESV

17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Transition To Close- Thank You for Being a Friend

I use to love to watch the Saturday evening TV shows on NBC- during their 1987-88 run...

Facts Of Life (Kim Fields) @ 8pm

227 (Marla Gibbs & ) @ 8:30pm

The Golden Girls (Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McLanahan and Estelle Getty) @ 9pm

Amen (Sherman Hemsley) @ 9:30pm

But that show “The Golden Girls”

This is the show that ignited the Saturday night lineup and was massive hit.

The Golden Girls was probably put on Saturday’s because historically the only people watching TV on a Saturday are people with salt pepper & pepper hair or who wore wigs. But this show was so well written and so well acted that it attracted a large audience outside that demographic.

Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McLanahan and Estelle Getty had the kind of chemistry casting agents only dream of. They were four pro’s who always knocked it out the park. I can’t talk enough about this series, one of the best shows ever.

But what about that theme song

A cover by Cynthia Fee was the theme song for the NBC sitcom The Golden Girls.

It was Cynthia Fee we heard every Saturday evening, during the mid-eighties through early nineties, singing the theme song for NBC’s hit sitcom “The Golden Girls.”

She would sing, at the beginning of every episode, a cover of Andrew Gould’s song- Thank You For Being A Friend

Thank you for being a friend

Traveled down a road and back again

Your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidant

I'm not ashamed to say

I hope it always will stay this way

My hat is off, won't you stand up and take a bow

And if you threw a party

Invited everyone you knew

Well, you would see the biggest gift would be from me

And the card attached would say

Thank you for being a friend

Thank you for being a friend

Thank you for being a friend

Thank you for being a friend

Close- Thank You LORD!

John 15:12 ESV

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 ESV

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

Proverbs 17:17 ESV

17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Proverbs 18:24 ESV

24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 27:9 ESV

9 Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.

Job 6:14 ESV

14 “He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

No Greater Love Than This...

John 15:13 ESV

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Romans 5:6–8 ESV

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The Georgia Mass Choir Sang

Verse: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. The Son gave His life for me, when He died on Calvary. There is no greater love, no love nowhere, no greater love; than a man would lay down His life for a friend, no love nowhere, I've searched all over. Chorus 1: There is no greater love, there is no greater love, there is no greater love, no greater love. Bridge: No greater love, than a man would lay down His life for a friend. Chorus 2: No greater love, no greater love, no greater love, no greater love. No greater love, no greater love, no greater love, no greater love. Jesus went to Calvary to save a wretch, like you and me; that's love, that's love. They hung Him High They stretched Him wide He hung His head, for me He died; that's love, that's love. That's not how the story ends, three days later He rose again; that's love, that's love. source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/g/gmwamasschoirlyrics/nogreaterlovelyrics.html