Forging Friendship - Hebrews 10:24-25 (Aug 25) Mark Makary

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

The spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

Alright.

I can hear myself now.

So good to worship with you.

I don't think it's just looking to the corner, but I heard voices projected forward, and you guys all sounded so wonderful.

So so great to worship with you.

I'd like to start by taking you down memory lane for just a moment.

And I want you to reflect on this past ministry year.

Over the course of the year, we took up a series on the church where we studied who the church is, its mission, and its blessings.

We covered the letter to the Philippians, which essentially was an exemplification of what a thriving church looks like.

We studied how to live at one's faith, how to serve one another, what it looks like to be lights in this world.

And now we find ourselves studying the Ezra and some of the minor prophets about rebuilding God's temple.

All to say the Lord has been really intentional with what this church is being studying.

Right?

It seems very indicative of what this church actually has gone through over the course of the last two years, where it's a community of believers doing life together, all with God at center for gospel advancement.

And I want you to know this morning that this could only be possible through Christ-centered friendship.

Without Christ-centered friendship, there really is no community.

If Christ is not the center of your friendship, then what is fueling the practice of the one another's?

We are called to build up one another, care for one another, serve one another.

How do we truly do that without a Christ-centered focus to our friendship?

See, in our church series, we read that if one member suffered, the whole body suffers.

How is that possible without this close-knit friendship weaving through the fabric of this very church?

How do we know when a fellow Christian suffers?

How does your suffering become my suffering?

What words of encouragement do we provide each other?

Words of comfort, words of correction, if not grounded by gospel truth.

When we read the letter to the Philippians, we read that they were putting the interests of others above the interests of themselves.

How does that happen in a friendship that doesn't result in jealousy or anger or envy?

If it's not grounded in Scripture, if it's not grounded with the sacrificial love of Christ.

See, it is to this degree that Christ calls us to forge friendship, and yet it's to that same degree where I believe a friendship recession is amongst us.

See, we live in the most technologically savvy society and all of mankind.

See, the devices in our pocket have more computing power than the shuttles landing on the moon.

Right?

The same devices have us connecting to everyone anytime, anywhere in the world.

We've made six degrees of separation a possibility.

The idea that people are just six or fewer social connections to anyone in the world.

Like it that's a bit mind-blowing, isn't it?

Like, just think about the craziness of that.

That I can say I'm a friend of a friend of somebody's with just six or fewer hops anywhere in the world.

See, we have the capacity and the capability now to be connected to men to as many people now, to more people now than ever before, and yet now more than ever before.

We are experiencing a society that is struggling with anxiety and isolation and loneliness.

It certainly feels like with the advancement of technology, society prides itself with like a big fan base, right?

Our social media accounts, hundreds, if not thousands, of connections.

And yet, if we just scroll through that proverbial Rolodex of connections, we'd realize very quickly that we haven't had much of a connection with a majority of them.

In a culture where texting is predominant and coffee chats are inconvenient, we've ultimately traded deep communion for digital communication.

So why is that?

Like why is that just a byproduct of the busyness of our lives?

Whether it's family or careers or hobbies, is that just a byproduct that all that I have to do in life and all that I have to do in my day, I just can't fathom investing in other people.

Isn't seeing each other on Sunday service enough?

So let's turn to our text this morning for answers.

We're reading Hebrews 10, 24, and 25.

I'll start with verse 23 for some context.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.

For he who promised is faithful, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.

And all the more as you see the day drawing near.

See, this passage really exemplifies the foundation of friendship.

At its core, it brings forward three examples of the one another's.

And what it's really doing is giving us the necessary ingredients to cultivate a friendship.

And ultimately, what it's doing is pointing us to how to define friendship.

And so as I read this passage, does it describe the friendships in your life?

I'm not asking you, do you practice these things found in Hebrews 10?

I'm saying, as you think of your friends, your relationships, are they defined?

But we've read here in Hebrews 24 and 25.

Because if I'm going to be honest with myself, I struggled to connect the dots for my relationships and this passage.

And I think in many ways, we all to some degree struggle with friendship.

It's almost like we have to recalibrate our view on what friendship really is.

So what if what we thought of friendship wasn't really friendship at all?

What if it's not the busyness of our schedules that prevent us from forging friendships, but it's really our heart postures.

See, before we exposit this text, I really want to demonstrate and describe the gravity of the situation.

I really want to spend some time articulating the friendship crisis that we find ourselves in today.

So I imagine when we think of our friends, we think of a number of people, right?

We think of those we talk to on Sunday morning, those we tend to gravitate towards for a friendly chat, perhaps our coworkers, our neighbors.

I imagine we think of the people we've known for so many years, our childhood friends, our family friends, friends that we've met at school and we've done well and just held that connection for so many years.

But how how do we measure the depth of those relationships?

How do we measure the health of those relationships?

A healthy relationship can't just be a relationship that we've had for many years.

And more importantly, how do we measure if those relationships, those friendships, are Christ-centered?

Do we confuse friendship with acquaintances?

Where our conversations are held shallow with how's your week going?

Talks about the latest sports highlights or news headlines.

See, nothing's wrong with any of those conversations at all.

In fact, they're frankly very normal things to talk about.

There's nothing wrong with them.

But if that's the extent of our conversations, then how do we really get to know each other?

Care for one another's struggles, be cared for for ourselves.

See, if water cooler talk is as deep as our conversations go, then the reality is our relationship's probably a bit superficial.

See, we fall into a trap of living lives as friends to many, yet friends to no one.

See, I remember I was asked by a friend how I was doing, and I answered the question like any normal human being would, right?

The typical answer, you know, good, how are you?

Good good, how are you?

Right?

I thought I was being polite.

And I remember my friend's reaction to this date, where he just stopped and said, No, no, no, no.

How are you doing?

And then I and then I got it, I got the assignment.

I understood that he wasn't looking for this superficial response back, but he was gonna engage in some soul care.

He was looking to have a mutually edifying conversation with the both of us.

See, one author said friendship should be more like a submarine holding a few and going deep.

But we've made it more like a cruise ship filled with lots of nice people we don't know well at all.

See, what we tend to do with friendship is stay shallow, keep surface-level acquaintances, and not going deep, fostering deep relationships with a few.

So, what is it then?

What prevents us from forging friendship?

As I ask that question to you, what's the first thing that really comes to mind?

What prevents us from forging friendship?

Is it time?

Is it like if we think of everything we do day in and day out, all that's on our plate, week in and week out, we just think, I just can't fathom.

I can't fathom investing the time to have meaningful connections.

Yet the truth of the matter is we always make time for what we value.

Or perhaps it's transparency.

Is transparency what's preventing us from forging friendships?

Right?

That it's no one's business to know my business.

See, true friends know our greatest joy, our deepest sorrow.

They know our failures, our accomplishments, our sin struggle, our temptations.

They they know our accomplishments, they know us.

JC Ryles says, friendship has our trouble and doubles our joy.

Friendships have our troubles and doubles our joy.

Isn't that so true?

Like when something joyful comes into our life, what do we all do?

We all want to share that joy, and so what we do, we we run to a friend to share the news, and a good friend doesn't get envious.

It doesn't, they don't get bitter, but they know exactly what this news means to you, and they're super joyful.

They double your joy.

And the same is true with dealing with trouble in your life.

So when you're faced with hardships, periods of trials, difficulties, who do you turn to?

Do you recoil in silence and despair and in isolation, or do you turn to a friend and seek comfort and counsel by a close friend of yours?

Do you have someone in your life that you can share your struggles, your temptations, your failures with?

This is what it means to forge friendships.

I'd go as far as to say we were made for friendships.

I was reminded of a TV series, Alone.

Anyone watch Alone?

Show of hands?

I'm getting a nod, one person.

All right, so we have an advocate here.

It's so I'll describe it to you.

It's essentially a survival competition, like amongst 10 competitors, they're placed in like the wilderness with limited supplies, they have no interaction with one another, hence alone.

And it's just them and the wilderness.

And the the the competition is who can survive the longest.

Right?

And I want you to envision the harshest of uh of conditions.

If you if you haven't watched this series, just think of like the worst place on earth to live in, and that's where they're filming this place.

It's it's it's bonkers.

And this is not a competition for days, it's not even for weeks, it's it's a competition that lasts months and months, and I think months.

Right?

And listen, I know as I say this, I'm probably creating division in this church, okay?

I I feel like there's gonna be two camps with the with understanding this show, okay?

There's gonna be camp number one that I certainly am part of, and all I can think of is like there's no amount of prize money that you can pay me to ever be part of the show.

Like, no, thank you.

It's not my form of entertainment, I'll pass.

But I imagine there's a amen, yes, yes.

But I imagine there's another camp that, like, as I describe this, they're at the edge of their seat, and all they can think of is like, is it too late to sign up to the next season?

All right?

I just want to say one of our camps are a bit crazy.

I don't think it's the first one.

But do you know what after several seasons the common theme has been?

When when when contestants when contestants quit and that post-interview happens, you know what the common theme is of why they just couldn't do it?

It it wasn't the negative 40-degree weather, it wasn't the harsh conditions, it wasn't being constantly wet or starving or not eating for days or weeks.

You know what it was?

It was isolation.

They said they could not bear it another day.

The lack of a relationship, a lack of communion, a lack of friendship, it was just too much for them.

And you can tie the need for this type of friendship all the way back to creation.

See, when in Genesis, God creates the world in six days, and after each day, God says it is good.

He's affirming that his creation is to the original design and intent.

But on the sixth day, we read of the very first occurrence of something not being good.

And that was man's, Adam's isolation.

We read God saying, Let us make man in our image.

See, one person alone could not reflect the fullness of God's communal image as a triune God.

Our God is a relational God.

This is why we see God saying, It is not good that man should live alone.

And so God created Eve so that both Adam and Eve can enjoy the gift of friendship through marriage.

This demonstrates to us that a world without friendship is incomplete.

Eve met Adam's need for companionship, yes, as a wife, but also as a friend.

And if I can if I can just turn to the married couple for just a moment and say, view your marriage as the primary form of forging friendships.

You have committed your life to one another.

You should know everything about each other, your accomplishments, your failures, your temptations, your struggles, and still love one another.

And so I can encourage the married couples in this room to forge that friendship together.

And if I can also turn to the singles and say there's so much blessings in being single.

You have the capacity to forge friendships beyond any capacity of a married couple.

There are so much blessings and kingdom work being done by a single individual.

And so I hope I've taken some time to address the friendship crisis, but now let's turn to our text for guidance and how to address it.

Let's turn back to Hebrews 10.24.

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.

The first one I want to draw your attention to is if I want to forge friendship, I need to be reciprocal.

See, in this passage, we see three examples of the one-anothers.

We are instructed to stir up one another, to meet one another, to encourage one another.

And if we just jump right into the text to see how this practically looks like in our life, we would miss the main thrust of the command.

We would miss the main objective, and that objective is before the list of the one-another's.

And that could be found in the early words of consider.

Let us consider.

See now, in English, we've kind of diluted the translation there a bit, right?

We use the word consider as like a mere suggestion, don't we?

Like, have you considered eating healthy?

Have you considered going on to this route of the road?

Right?

But here, the command to consider really means to contemplate.

This is God's call for us to look at one another, to think about one another, to focus on one another, to study one another, to have our minds occupied by one another.

Another way of saying this really is stop only considering yourself.

Stop being so self-focused.

Stop being so self-centered.

Like, isn't that the cause of all friendships falling apart?

Like when friendships don't take flight, isn't that not the cause?

Like when relationships sour, don't we inevitably just say, you know, they kind of failed us, or this is how they wronged us.

Don't we instinctively place ourselves at the center of our relationships?

See our hearts default to a posture of self-focus.

Whether we recognize it or not, we start weighing questions like, what's in it for me?

What do I benefit from it?

Right?

And see, the answers to those questions, if not sufficient, then the amount of time invested in that relationship is indicative of our attitude towards it.

We need to be constantly aware that we are not the main characters of our lives, that life is bigger than ourselves, and this is our call to focus on community.

And the goal of this focus is to stir up one another, to stimulate one another towards love and good works.

And notice how the author of the uh of Hebrews ties those two together: love and good works.

How can I possibly do good works towards you if it's not rooted in love?

And how can I possibly love you if not the outpour of my love be demonstrated by my good works towards you?

See, friendship must be mutual.

But haven't we all been there before when it's not?

Haven't we all been there before when our friendships aren't mutual?

Where it feels like we're doing all the reaching out, we're doing all the care, we're doing all the follow-ups.

And if that's really true of your relationships or a relationship, if I can just encourage you to just hang in there a little longer, right?

Maybe your friend is going through a season of difficulty and needs that extra care.

And so I encourage you to press on.

But the reality is friendship must be mutual.

So that's why we read in this text, stir up one another.

In this text alone, there are three examples of it.

In fact, when you read throughout scripture, there's dozens of examples of the one another's.

And I'm just gonna read a few here on the screen.

And the purpose for this is I want you to see how community-focused the list is, how subtle notes of friendship come out in each one of them.

I'm just gonna read right through them.

Love one another, be devoted to one another, build up one another, be like-minded towards one another, care for one another, serve one another, bear one another's burdens, forgive one another, be patient with one another, teach one another, comfort one another, encourage one another, and show hospitality towards one another.

Now, of course, this is just a small sample of the one another's in scripture.

And of course, we need to, as Christians, practice this towards other Christians in our community, but this must be especially true amongst friendships.

The deepest, most edifying, the most satisfying friendships are the friendships that mutually practice this list.

In good times and in bad times.

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

This verse is one of the most popular Bible verses in Scripture about friendship.

It signifies the unconditional love and relationship of a true friend.

Notice how the writer of Proverbs ties friendship and brotherhood or sisterhood together.

See, a friend who loves at all times is a friend who loves at hard times.

See, a fairweather friends come and go.

In fact, fair fairweather friends are no friends at all.

But when difficulties arise, your true friends are there.

One author said the currency of friendship is honesty and truth, not silence and complacency.

See, a true friend loves you too much.

A true friend loves you too much to sit on the sidelines and let you do what you want to do, but instead he speaks a biblical truth that are hard but necessary.

We've I'm sure heard of the analogy of the sword and the scalper here before.

A friend does not wield a sword carelessly making gashes, being being insensitive to your their speech and their tone and what they're saying.

Doing inflicting the greatest amount of damage, no.

A friend picks up the scalpel and lovingly and gently makes incisions.

Yes, that hurt.

Are meant for healing.

Simply put, a sword is used to slaughter, and a scalpel is used to heal.

And so we all need friends that are willing to pick up that scalpel who tell us what we need to hear, not what we want to hear.

The second point I want to draw your attention to is if I want to forge friendship, I need to be intentional.

Let's look at the first part of verse 25.

And not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.

See, the writer of Hebrews is addressing a concern he has that habits have formed for some and they stopped meeting with one another.

And I want to put this in perspective to the greater context of Hebrews for you, okay?

In the context of Hebrews, the writer is dropping biblical truth bombs on his audience.

He's touched on the supremacy of Christ, the founder of salvation, how Jesus is greater than Moses.

And for a Jewish audience, that would have been earth-shattering enough.

He goes on to explain how one can have full assurance of faith.

He lists out men and women of the faith, which is typically referred to as a hall of faith.

He speaks about Christian suffering.

In the midst of all this, he brings up his concern over some neglecting to meet one another.

And I want you to know he didn't do so because he thought this was a little too much.

And so let me throw in like a secondary or tertiary issue.

No, in fact, this is as important, as big of a topic.

That's how concerning it was to this writer.

The Apostle Paul shares some of the similar concerns.

In many of his letters, he says, I long to see you face to face.

For the Apostle Paul writing letters just wasn't gonna cut it.

Nor should us the modern-day text message.

The Apostle John in his letters, some of it end, though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper or ink.

Instead, I hope to come see you face to face so that my joy may be complete.

There's something to be said about intentionally meeting each other face to face.

The author of Hebrews is drawing out that to truly practice the one another's, you must be face to face.

Hospitality is kind of difficult.

Practicing remotely, is it?

See, and I'm not saying that you can't practice the one another's remotely, don't get me wrong there.

But what I'm saying is for it to truly permeate through your life, for it to really flood your relationship with your friends, then it must be face-to-face.

These individuals who are attracting from their community and the Hebrew writer showing their concerns for it, we're referring to the people who would be avoiding them the same way they're described in Acts 2.42.

Right?

So think of the community as what's going to be up on the screen here, as one that's thriving.

And so what they're doing is pulling away from this thriving community.

It just shows their spiritual health.

And so as I read Acts 2.42, again, I want you to just look at the notes of friendship, the community language, the practice of the one another's.

Acts 2.42.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer, dropping to 43.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing them the proceeds to all as any had need.

And day by day, standing the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all people, and the Lord added to their numbers day by day those who are being saved.

Church, if we can if we can just model one thing, if we can just model one thing I've said this morning, let's model this text here.

This is a community of believers that are just thriving together.

You can just see they love one another, they serve one another, they're devoted to one another, they have like-mindedness towards one another, and you get this sense of doing so with such joy in their hearts.

Let's model this text here.

See, forging friendship takes intentionality.

Just as some got in the habit of neglecting to meet each other, I worry we too have neglected to intentionally meet one another.

See, that there's not much community in attending church online, is there?

Yes, there's a time for and a place for it, and we're not going to go into any of that, but for the vast majority, if not all of us, I would challenge the fact that online service substitute attending service.

And I and listen, I get the irony.

I get the irony of being up on the pulpit saying that to a congregation that is in person.

I get the irony of that.

But the same can be said about those who show up late.

Those who have mastered the disappearing act, the moment service is over, they just vanish.

See, ultimately, what's being said is whether you intend it or not, is that you're not going to prioritize Christ-centered friendship.

That you don't have time to invest in your local community.

Many treat Sunday service as a drive-thru rather than a restaurant.

Rather than sitting and dining and eating the spiritual food and basking in its fellowship, we've treated it more like fast food where we grab and go.

See, friendships don't form themselves, they take intentionality.

And look, look, I get it.

It's not easy, right?

Friendship, we can all agree, friendship is difficult.

Amen.

Friendship is easy for most of you guys, apparently, but it's not easy.

Look, it's it's daunting at times.

It's it's awkward at times, and and I if I can just encourage you to embrace, embrace that awkwardness.

All right, yes, standing in the foyer and not having someone to talk to can be daunting, can be awkward, but it will get better.

It will get better over time.

And listen, I know said easier said than done, right?

You can say, hey, I'm an introvert, talking to people doesn't come naturally for me.

You know, I don't really know how to hold a conversation for someone I don't really know, or you know, my kids all consuming, they're dangling on my arms and my legs and distracting me.

It's so difficult for me to talk to people.

And I want you to know that is all valid.

That's all valid.

Every one of them.

And that's why forging friendship takes intentionality.

It's gonna be difficult.

It's gonna be difficult.

And for the extroverts out there, and like, look, I hate labels, so for the sake of simplicity, let's just call you extroverts.

Like, make it easy for us, right?

Make it easy for us, right?

Take that God-given charisma and just use it to someone in need.

See one just standing there, strike a conversation, help us out.

I genuinely, I genuinely believe, as I'm up here saying this, we're not, or at least I hope we're not thinking, you know what, Mark, friendship's not really for me.

Like, yeah, uh, thanks, but no thanks, right?

I genuinely believe we all want to forge friendship, right?

We all want it, some have it, and others just need to put in the effort to attain it.

So, what's that look like?

What's that look like?

What does attempting to forge friendship look like?

Let me ask you, do we exercise hospitality by inviting folks out to get to know them?

See, it's one thing to stay after service and socialize, and let's do more of that.

But if your interactions are confined to these four walls, we're just never gonna get to know one another.

What if we practice hospitality not with our kitchens and living rooms, but with our time and attention?

See, we don't need a nice house to practice hospitality.

In fact, we don't need a house at all to practice hospitality.

All we need is time and effort, and don't we have that to spare for one another?

Coffee chats, going on walks, or lending a helping hand.

These are ways we can get plugged in.

These are ways where we can start and strike a friendship.

What about serving a church?

What about serving a church?

You're working side by side with someone, worshiping with someone, praising with somebody, doing life together there, and if you have kids' ministry, you're surviving together.

All right?

Plug for kids ministry.

That is a service we need.

Right?

And like look, if if you if you are committed, if you are committed to this church, if I can just encourage you, if friendship is what you're seeking, then get plugged in.

Begin to serve.

And look, that friendship would be a byproduct of your service.

Ultimately, it is for the glory of God.

But if that's what you're seeking, that that is a means to help.

What about small group?

Like, is small group not the incubator of friendship?

Right?

If small group had a tagline, I would think it would be Proverbs 27, 17.

Iron sharpets iron, and one man sharpens another.

You're grouped together with people that you don't really know or otherwise potentially wouldn't talk too much, and you're seeing them week in and week out.

You're studying the Bible together, you're praying together, you're encouraging one another, you're confessing sin struggles together, you're holding one another accountable for your prayer life and your reading life.

See, it's not how good your small group leader is or who's in your small group that makes small group so amazing.

It's how much are you willing to pour into the lives of others and allow others to pour into the lives of yourself that makes small groups so incredible.

That's why two different people in the same small group, one can thrive and one could be completely checked out.

Iron can only sharpen iron unless you bring it to the table in preparation to be refined.

The final point I want to draw your attention to is if I want to forge friendship, I need to be Christ-centered.

Let's look at the second half of verse 25 in Hebrews 10.

But encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

And the reality is when two broken individuals practice this week out, week in and week out, you're gonna get hurt.

You're gonna get hurt.

You're gonna hurt them, they're gonna hurt you.

You're gonna say something that they shouldn't have, they're gonna say something that they shouldn't have.

They're gonna take too long to respond to you, they're gonna ignore you accidentally or on purpose, they're gonna hurt you.

Friendship hurts.

Yet, despite our broken attempts at friendship, we are called to encourage one another.

And this can only be possible through the hope that was found in verse 23.

The thrust of our encouragement is found in the hope we have in Christ, that one day Christ will return to his own and wipe away every tear.

There'll be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more crying.

We'll just live in his perfect presence forever.

See, without this kind of hope sustaining us, how can we encourage each other?

How do we meet each other?

How do we stir each other up for love and good works with that hope, without hope found in Christ?

See, encouragement is found in God.

Encouragement is found in God's word, and God's word is often delivered to us through a friend who often tells us what we already know.

They tell us what we already know, but we need to hear it over and over and over again.

But perhaps the greatest encouragement is that we have a friend who knows us more than anyone else.

A friend who knows us more than we know ourselves.

And knowing everything about you, your greatest failures, your greatest struggles, your deepest of values, he still loves you.

And that friend is Jesus.

In many ways, it's surreal to think that Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the great high priest, the one who has the whole universe in the palm of his hands, that's who I'm calling a friend?

Seems a bit disrespectful, doesn't it?

Yet in John 15, that's exactly what we read.

Let's turn, let's let's read.

I think it'll be up, it'll be up at the front.

John 15.

John 15, 12 to 15.

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

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

You are my friend if I do, if you do what I command you.

No longer do I call you servant, for servants do 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.

See, here Jesus is talking to his disciple at the eve of his death, and he's demonstrating that the cross will not only be the greatest example of love that any man has ever seen or witnessed or heard, but the cross is also a cosmic act of friendship.

Jesus qualifies our his command by clothing it with sacrificial love, that we are not only just to love one another or love our neighbors as ourselves, but we also love one another sacrificially as friends.

See, when our relationship is right with God, it is He who fulfills our deepest longing for community.

When our heavenly relationship is right, our heavenly relationship will transform our earthly relationships.

When our vertical friendship is right, it transforms our earthly friendships, our horizontal friendships.

J.I.

Packer said, we have great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that for some unfathomable reason he wants me as his friend, and he desires to be my friend, and has given his son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.

So if you are here today, if you're here this morning, and you have not experienced the love and the joy that could be found in Christ, just know that there is a friend there who satisfies our every need, our every belonging for community, our every belonging for our need for friendship and need for a relationship.

This is a friend who loves us so much that he came down from heaven and lived a perfect life here on earth, and was rejected by the same people he came to save.

And despite his rejection, he still pursued his mission towards the cross.

And as he hung there, nailed to the cross, God poured his wrath on him for the sins, not that he committed, because Jesus Christ is the perfect Son of God.

No, this was the sins that he was bore for his friends.

All who believe that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords.

And I want you to know that there's no other relationship here on earth that will ever replace that, that can ever fill that void or want or desire for belonging than other than the Lord Jesus Himself.

As Jonathan Edwards once said, there's a covenant of mutual friendship and love that Christ offers to all that will accept his friendship.

I'll repeat that and let us pray.

There is a love, there is a covenant of mutual friendship and love that Christ offers to all who will accept his friendship.

Let us pray.

Lord, you've called us to many things.

And we can't do that alone, Lord.

And we need you.

Lord, you are one who bore the sins of your friends, Lord.

I pray, Lord, that you have called us to accept a mutual covenant, Lord, and we just turn to you and pray, Lord, that we see that you are a God of love.

A God who wants to befriend us.

A God who loves unconditionally, that love has covered a multitude of sin, Lord.

Lord, we're so thankful, and I pray that we just practice this.

Lord, we take that friendship attitude that you had towards your disciples, that you had towards the children of God, Lord.

And I pray, Lord, that the community of redemption thrives that way, Lord, with you at center for gospel advancement, Lord God.

I pray that you forge friendships, knit our hearts together, Lord God.

We love you.

Amen.