Couldn’t you stay awake?

Introduction

Intro question — What’s one memory from your childhood? Why did you want to come this weekend?

Historically talked about biblical friendships at BR

Who would you talk to if …

you lost the person you loved the most?

you need to confess your greatest sin?

How would you respond if they turned on you in that moment?

Read Matthew 26:36-46; explain context

spring — overwhelmed to the point of death

now — can’t you keep watch

What Gethsemane says about friendship

I’m amazed at some of what Jesus does, knowing what’s coming

creating the trees, when he knows he’ll be killed on one

washing Judas’ feet, when he knows he’ll be betrayed

asking for friends, when he knows they’ll let him down

If the humanity of Jesus is on display anywhere, it’s here…he wants a friend

If even Jesus needed friends in his hardest moments, so do you (37)

Jesus had closer friends

the “I don’t trust people b/c girls are snakes” chick is so dumb

the mysterious, batman mode, gym bro arc is clown behavior

the sitting back out of fear is so detrimental

“It’s not good for man to be alone”

but singleness considered a blessing in the NT?

single or married, what you need is friends

If you want 2am friends, you need to live life together at 2pm (38)

If you wait until you need a friend, it will be too late

Ecc. 4:9-10 // “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 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!”

They spent time together (transfiguration)

not just a need for eyewitnesses

not just a discipleship moment

why?

because in the garden, he wants friends

they’re not there for physical protection (he denounces that soon after when one cuts off an ear) or spiritual protection (at his temptation, it was angels, not men that ministered to him); they’re there b/c he needs a friend

U Kansas — 200+ hours to become close friends

If you want depth in friendship, your friendships need to be about more than y’all

You need to be on mission

When’s the last time your friend group prayed for non-Christian friends?

When’s the last time your friend group prayed for someone (outside your group) who was hurting (and it wasn’t an excuse to gossip)?

When’s the last time your friend group hung out together by serving others?

Jesus didn’t call on Mary Magdalene, Lazarus, or Joseph of Arimathea in that moment

He called on the friends who had walked with him through every moment of ministry

You’ve got to decide that forgiving/being forgiven is better than never having friends who let you down to begin with (40)

Even Jesus’ friends failed him

Why should you be surprised when your friends let you down? Who are you to withhold forgiveness?

The ability to forgive starts with recognizing how much you’ve been forgiven

Encouragement

There is a friend who was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, who was truly left totally alone, and yet who still never failed! O, what faithfulness, might, resolve, and obedience.

If there’s ever been a moment when Jesus seemed like me, it was his pain at being let down when he needed a friend to help. 

But when Jesus was obedient even still, I see more clearly than ever that he and I are not at all the same. Praise God for that!