Sermon Notes: What are friends for… (7-3-22)

James Weidner III   -   July 3, 2022

Title: What are friends for…

Introduction:

  • Friendship.
  • What a powerful word. 
  • To be called a friend. 
  • What a powerful tool.
  • When one knows He has a friend it makes walking through life that much more bearable and productive. 
  • My best friend for the past 22 years has been my wife Christina. 
  • But even more important than my friendship with my wife is knowing that I have a friend in God. 
  1. Moses spoke with God as a friend.

Exodus 33:7-11 (ESV) 7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. 10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. 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.

  • Face to face friendship.

Exodus 33:11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

  • Our Lord God desired to have His tabernacle among us. 
  • God would come close and speak to those whom He desired.
  • God would later begin speaking in similar fashion to Joshua. 
  • Even before Moses was Enoch…
  1. Enoch walked with God

Genesis 5:21-24 (ESV) 21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

  • Something happened at 65 years old that changed the path Enoch was walking. (3319BC)
  • There was something special about Methuselah. 
  • For the next 3 centuries Enoch walked with God. 
  • In these simple yet profound scriptures there is depth of insight into how one can have a relationship with God. 
  • God and Enoch were friends… yes there needs to be a respect and giving due honor but friends none the less. 
  • In the time when people were living well into their 900s.
  • Methuselah was the oldest person to ever live at 969 years. Methusalah out live his son Lamech by 5 years. Methusalah got to witness the building of the Ark by Moses. He died only around 20 years before the earth was destroyed. 
  • God did not want to wait that long before He could spend every moment with Enoch.
  • So one day God just decided “I am going to make Enoch no more on earth so that He can be all the more with Me in Heaven.” 
  • And so Enoch vanished. He was translated into Heaven. 
  1. This is a friend that sticks closer than a brother… 

Proverbs 18:24 (ESV) A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 17:17 (ESV) 17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

  • Jesus is so very close

Does not leave us or forsake us (Due. 31:6)

  1. One may have many companions but does one have many friends. 
  • To sharpen one another as iron sharpens iron…
  • Carrying one another’s burdens. 
  • One can only shoulder so many friendships. 
  • Many will be our part of our body but only a handful of friendships. 
  • Decide wisely who your friends will be because friendship comes with much responsibility.  
  1. The purpose of friendship. 
  • David’s friend Hushai.

2 Samuel 15:32-34 (ESV) 32 While David was coming to the summit, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and dirt on his head. 33 David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me. 34 But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father’s servant in time past, so now I will be your servant,’ then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.

2 Samuel 16:16-19 (ESV) 16 And when Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” 17 And Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?” 18 And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, for whom the LORD and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. 19 And again, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you.”

  • To be there for one when the world comes crumbling down. 
  • A friend feels the weight. 
  • To run interference when necessary. 
  • To send word and keep one informed. 
  • When you look at a friend like Hushai you ask yourself what kinds of friend are we?
  • Ela… There is one friend the Lord gave us that for 15 years put their name on the line for all that we have done. 
  1. What kind of friends are we…?
  • I made up my mind a long time ago there were certain friends in my life whom I would always do all I could for. 
  • I always wondered if the Lord would ever give me the same type of committed people in my life. 
  • And He has. 
  • I could have never imagined that sort of dedication. 
  1. Let’s not be like the friends of Job
  • Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar
  • Talk about a peanut gallery.
  • These guys have plenty to say, and Job isn’t their biggest fan. He calls them “miserable comforters” (16:3), and he spends almost the whole book arguing with them.
  • Accusing him 
  • Pulling him down
  • With friends like Job’s who needs enemies. 
  1. Instead let’s be friends like that of the paralytic…

Mark 2:1-5 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

  • This story demonstrates the importance of friendship.
  • To have faith for another when faith has seemingly run out. 
  • Willing to carry him
  • Willing to rip of the roof
  • When he saw their faith
  • Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralytic

Conclusion: