Friendship – John 15:12-17
In a society where friendship is networking, a strategy for career moves, a transaction, where you can be lonely in a room full of people, Jesus-followers can demonstrate a friendship that reflects Christ's wholly undeserved and self-sacrificial death. To live as Jesus did, to practice resurrection, we must be in community. We have to have friends. You cannot preach the Gospel alone. You cannot love alone. You cannot follow Jesus alone.
“[Loneliness is] proven to be worse for health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day.” - Mark Robinson
The CDC states on their website that there is a strong correlation between loneliness and increased health risks for those over the age of 50:
Social isolation significantly increased a person’s risk of premature death from all causes, a risk that may rival those of smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity.
Social isolation was associated with about a 50% increased risk of dementia.
Poor social relationships (characterized by social isolation or loneliness) was associated with a 29% increased risk of heart disease and a 32% increased risk of stroke.
Loneliness was associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide.
Gallup states, “Experiencing significant loneliness is entangled in a larger global issue of mental health and emotional wellbeing. Recent Gallup research estimates that over 300 million people globally don’t have a single friend, and one in five don’t have friends or family that they can count on when needed.”
According to a Gallup poll conducted in January of 2023, 17% or 44 million American adults experienced significant loneliness, reporting they felt lonely “a lot of the day yesterday.”
Young adults under the age of 30 account for 24% or around 10 million adults who experience severe loneliness in America.
David Brooks, opinion writer for the New Yorker, argues that we have shifted from identity politics that emphasize our common humanity to identity politics that emphasize a common enemy.
To follow Jesus is to be community, to have friends.
Practicing Resurrection:
Our God defeated death; The central message of our faith is that Jesus died, was buried, and came back to life in the flesh (Mark 16:9, John 20:18, Matthew 28:9, Luke 24:34, Luke 24:13-31, John 20:19 and 26, John 21:1, etc.).
Easter is everything. More than a day or a celebration of Spring, Easter is the climax of the Christian story. It is God’s invitation to belong to a new world, his kingdom.
We practice resurrection. In the words of Eugene Peterson, “The practice of resurrection is an intentional, deliberate decision to believe and participate in resurrection life, a life out of death, a life that trumps death, a life that is the last word, Jesus-life.”
“The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” - Matthew 10:2-4
“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. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” -John 13:34-35
“This is where we as Christians have such a beautiful story to tell. They will know you are Christians, how? By being friends.” - Professor Dan Hasse
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants,[a] 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. 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. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another. - John 15:12-27
“The named people remind us that the resurrection takes place among men and women like us—puzzled, bewildered, confused, questioning, and even stubbornly doubting friends. And yes, also singing and believing and praying and obeying friends.” - Eugene Peterson
To follow Jesus is to be in community, to have friends.
2 Barriers, 3 Suggestions:
Barrier 1: Hurt
Barrier 2: Hiding
Suggestion 1: Intentionality
Suggestion 2: Trust
Suggestion 3: Hospitality
Rosaria Butterfield: “In a post-Christian community, words can only be as strong as your relationships. Your best weapon is an open door, a set table, a fresh pot of coffee, and a box of Kleenex.”
