A Friend
Proverbs 18:24
I want to tell you that we are fortunate to have a mayor of the Christian caliber that we have in Mayor Doc Eldridge. He has a heart for people and also the things of God. How many of you read the full page article about our mayor? I am going to keep that in my files. I want to say something that I really feel in my heart. We are a city blessed of God to have a person at the helm of our city government in these turbulent times. It is nothing short of an answer to our many prayers for this city.
And of course I don’t have to tell you how much Dr. Cummings means to me. He received a word from God concerning providing a place in Athens where children could get a Christian education and he has successfully seen that vision become a firm reality.
I you have your Bibles I would like for you to turn with me to Proverbs 18:24 , "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."
I would like to take the last phrase, "...there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."
Indeed, Solomon in a prophetic moment, not only was talking about close friends, which they tell us that a man only has a few people in his life that are that close to have a closer friendship than that of a brother. He was talking also about the closest, and the dearest friendship a person could ever have in their lifetime, and that is for a person to be able to call Jesus Christ of Nazareth his Friend.
Let’s bow our heads in prayer for a moment:
Heavenly Father, we pray for your blessing upon the reading of Your word. And we pray God that you would speak to us in the next few moments to your glory and honor we pray. Amen.
INTRODUCTION:
1. STORY OF THE DISCOVERY ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S POCKETS:
A. Several years ago I was watching The Public Broadcasting Station, sometimes they have some very inciteful broadcasting. Some times it is very boring. During this period of time the Library of Congress was doing a series. The program I was watching featured the National Archives. They were going to open sealed drawers in which had been deposited the evidence of famous crimes. Very dramatically they opened a drawer that had in it a sealed plastic bag with the effects of Abraham Lincoln from the night he was assassinated in Ford’s Theater, April 9, 1865. He was watching a presentation of Our American Cousin, when from the rear of the Presidential Box he was shot by the best-known actor of that day, John Wilkes Booth. Booth jumped from the box onto the stage but ironically his boot spur got caught in the American flag draped in the front of the box. This caused him to fall onto the stage braking his leg. What he said when he limped to center stage gives you an understanding of that time. He said, Sic se per tyrannis(Thus always to tyrants), the motto of Virginia.
B. They put the box on top of the cabinet and opened the plastic container. It had not been opened since the trial of thew assassines. They pulled out some keys, a handkerchief, a little pen knife, and a piece of paper all folded up. and as the program went on they unfolded that paper. Remember it was being unfolded for the first time since the trial, on May 10, 1865. It was a newspaper clipping. And as they looked closer it was discovered that this was a newspaper clipping that was about Abraham Lincoln. As the commentator read the article it was discovered that Lincoln had underlined with a pencil the positive comments that were made about him. It was commented that he had read that paper and then cut it out with his penknife and stuck it in his pocket to read. Also, from the age of the paper it looked as if Lincoln had carried this article in his pocket for some time. Many people do not know what Abraham Lincoln went through during his presidency. First of all he was elected by only a 40% popular vote and then he had to virtually turn the presidency into a dictator ship for the first four years of his presidency to keep the country together. He had many enemies and he was looking for friends. You would have thought that this dearest of all our presidents and the most integral to the thriving nation of America today would not have had a problem getting encouragement. Could you see there in the dimly lit theater box Abraham Lincoln pulling out this little article and glancing at it to gain encouragement.
C. Perhaps Abraham Lincoln needed a friend when he did not have one.
2. You know sometimes we feel that people in public office don’t need friends like us. But it appears that even the most noted man in all of American history could have used another friend at the very time he was about to lose his life.
SERMON BODY:
THE BIBLE TELLS US MUCH ABOUT FRIENDSHIP. There are many friendship relationships recorded in the word of God. Friendship is help in very high regard in the Holy Word.
I. The friendship of David and Jonathan in the Old Testament is legendary.
A. It is an example of close friendship.
1) We live in a day when the homosexual lifestyle and terminology is so in vogue that we tend to shy away from close friendships.
2) David had to have a friend like Jonathan. David was a man destined for the throne of Israel. At an early age God’s hand was upon David. He had been anointed to be king of Israel.
a) Jonathan’s father, King Saul learned very quickly that God’s hand was upon David to be king. He did every thing he could to kill him to discourage him, to run him off.
b) One passage of scripture, I Samuel 23:16 says, "And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went into the woods and strengthened his(David’s) hands in God."
B. We need friends like that.
1) I have a friend like that. He lives in Oklahoma City. His name is Bane James. We have been friends since we were young men together at Emmanuel College. We have gone our separate ways to enter into different fields of ministry but in times of need we always stay in touch with one another.
a) Just a few years ago, in 1994 we launched a church planting project in Gwinnett County. Several people here today were part of that work. When we began, we thought we would have 12 people going with us as our core group. We met with these people just prior to the end of my final term as Georgia Conference Superintendent. We bought a home and moved by faith to begin this new church. We felt the call of God to begin a new church in this area.
b) It had been 12 years since I had pastored, so I was thrilled that all of these people were going to help me get this church off the ground. Every church planting Manual tells you that you need a core group to begin a church. We had our first year’s salary pledged and so with all of my plan books my Bible and my family we were ready to start so I called all of my group to tell them that I was ready for them to come for our first meeting. Well so much for that. They all faded into the woodwork. It seemed that whatever prestige and anointing that accompanied being superintendent had evaporated in the morning sun of real life.
c) But when I couldn’t bring people together God did.
d) If you know anything about our denomination, you know that while it is a growing group we are not large enough to support many church planters on a full time basis. So after the first year my support terminated.
e) Well here I was in the Atlanta Georgia Metropolitan area in my 50s having to launch a new tent making career selling copiers. Well in my tent making careers I had worked in a few factories like General Time. I had worked at Advocate Press as an assistant editor. I had been a schoolteacher in Bibb County and at Athens Christian School. (I invested at least one year in teaching Susan Beacham when she was a sophomore or a junior at Athens Christian High School.) But now I had been in full-time ministry to the point that my teaching credentials had expired. So I had to do what I had to do. Believe me I got discouraged at times. Some days I would have to drive 100 miles to give one demonstration and then not sell the copier. You see I was hired to sell copiers to churches. Have you ever tied to sell anything to a church? Do you know how many board meetings you have to appear at. How many competitors you have to outbid. Oh yes every board must have at least 3 bids and then they have to try the copier out for several weeks.
e) And then there was the church. One Sunday we would be on top of the world because we would have 50 or 60 people. And then the next week we would be looking for mice to count. or passing stray dogs and of course my first cousin Bill was always there. We worshipped in the exercise room of a tennis center. So our Sundays began on Saturday night when we put up church signs coming from every conceivable direction. We loaded my van of course first taking all unsold copiers out first. Then we loaded all the chairs, dividers, our synthesizer and PA system. Following this I would get my sermon up since I had been working all week late into the night. You have to remember I had to travel every morning from Buford to Marietta to be at work at 7:30AM. This meant that every morning I had to be ready to leave by 6AM ready to negotiate the worst traffic lineup you could ever imagine. First there was the infamous 316/I-85 junction and then the equally infamous Plesanthill Road junction followed by the Jimmy Carter junction. Why they named that road after such a mild mannered President I will never know. But wait then there was Spaghetti Junction and awaiting me beyond that was the I-285 loop all the ways to Powers Ferry Road. If I was lucky I would pull up to the back of the copier office with all copiers still quivering in the back of my van at 7:28. The area I covered was from Cartersville to the north to Jackson on the south.
f) Sometimes I would suffer from discouragement. Rita, my beautiful wife, said to me, "John this is the only time in our married life that I have ever seen you depressed." Well, I didn’t realize I was depressed. But I knew that I felt bad. And I would be sitting along the road in my van some days after a dismal showing and just praying and thinking. I would wonder, "Why in the world am I out here anyway?"
g) Then I would get out of my van and get on a pay phone and call my friend out in Oklahoma. (Of course I knew the 800 number for headquarters you know.)
And after just a few minutes I would feel so good. Bane would listen to me tell my story and then he would give me some scripture and he would say "John you ’ve got to keep at it, God is going to help you. You can make it. God has called you to plant this church and he will provide." And you know He was right. He did! But I needed to hear it from somebody else. Another voice to verify. I even got an award for selling the most copiers one month. It is in my office if you want to see it. By the end of the conversation we would both be crying. But I felt better to have a friend to talk to - to encourage me - to build me up in the Lord.
C. And you know there are people who work around you who are discouraged, despondent and depressed. They need a word from you. God may be sending you as a Jonathan to lift somebody up.
1) It may be that someone right next to you in this assembly needs just a word of encouragement. And like Abraham Lincoln it wouldn’t take much to encourage them. Just a word. A letter, a phone call or today an e-mail. It would mean so much. As a matter of fact it could make the difference between success or failure in their lives.
2) Parents, when we send our children off every day and when they come in they need encouragement.
30 people need to be encouraged today. We live in such a fast paced society that we fail to say the words that mean the most to a persons life and future. Words of encouragement.
3) David had to have it. And so do you and I today.
II. JESUS HAD MANY FRIENDS.
A. He was a man that encouraged friendships.
1) He not only was a man who spoke to the multitudes but He took time to speak to the woman by the well with the shattered romances. it would be a long story but He had time for her. She needed help - to be drawn out of the shipwreck of her life.
2) He took time to get off the interstate and come to the little small country road that came though Samaria. He sat down in the heat of the day not for his pleasure but to talk and to give to her the help she so desperately needed. He drew her out.
3) This was a man that did not turn away from a friendship because of a person’s social standing. He was friends with fishermen. He was friends with tax collectors.
4) He was even friends with those who where planning to betray Him.
The two people who betrayed Him were Judas and who...Simon Peter, the disciple who said, "Though everyone else betray you I will not. You can count on me." I’ve been there before. Haven’t you?
a) There was no way that any of the disciples would have known that Judas was going to betray Jesus. he was from a wealthy district of Palestine. They elected him treasurer. He was educated. Only later after his death did they discover when they were balancing the books that there was money missing. There were misappropriated funds that they knew nothing about.
b) Jesus even reached out to Judas in the closing moments of His life when He washed the disciples feet. He was reaching out to His friend. He was also reaching out to Simon Peter. He was trying to tell them that they were entering desperate moments in tier lives.
c) Of course Simon Peter thought he could handle it. He said, "If they all leave you you know you can depend on me." Of course Simon Peter learned a lesson. "Pride goeth before a fall."
d) Later in his ministry he tells us that Satan was after him and that he had the bite of a roaring lion. He had teeth prints to prove it. He was standing by the fire.
e) He didn’t have to be in that compromising position. When He knocked on the door to com e into Pilate’s Judgment Hall that door was opened by one who had already gone in and declared his allegiance to Christ. Who was it. It was John the Beloved. Simon should have said, "John thank God you opened the door for mew. It was providential. I need for you to pray for mew. I am about to go under. Will you?" Hey we would have had a completely difference story. But Simon just went right on by him like he did not know him. Has that ever happened to you.
You knew that friend needed prayer but he went right on by you like you were not there.
f) The Bible says that after the cock had crowed three times and he had seen Jesus pass from one side of the hall to the other there eyes met. Simon’s heart was broken and he ran out of Pilate’s Judgment Hall weeping profusely. He knew that his side of the friendship had fallen short.
g) But that was alright Jesus forgave him and proved it on the shores of Galilee as He asked Peter if he loved Him. Peter said. "Lord, you know that I love you.:" He did love Jesus.
B. And it may be that you have a friend that you have treated wrongly and you need to go to them and ask their forgiveness. It may be that some restitution needs to take place to restore that friendship. There is nothing wrong with that. That is one reason for the violence of our day. People let bitterness and hatred build up in their hearts to the point of violence. The house of God should be a place of healing for relationships. We need to understand that friendship is too precious to treat lightly. It is to hard to come by.
C. Jesus had other friends as well.
1) He had a timid friend named Nicodemus. He was the one who came to see Him by night. He was the one responsible for John 3:16, that Scripture that has led so many to Jesus.
2) He came to Jesus and he wanted to know how to become a Christian. he wanted the answer to the serious question of life. "How can I have eternal life?" And Jesus told him, ”You must be born again." Nicodemus said, "What do you mean I must enter my mother’s womb a second time?" And Jesus said, "No you have it all wrong. This is a spiritual issue. You must be born again of the Spirit."
3) Jesus led his friend into the born again experience that night. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life"
4) He became on of Jesus’ staunchest supporters. When Jesus was hanging dead on the cross with no one to claim His body who do you think it was who came and claimed Jesus body. It was Nicodemus. along with his friend Joseph of Aramathea. They came at the time when all the other disciples had fled away. When every one was gone. When They were putting out wanted posters for Jesus followers. They came forward when Jesus needed them the most. Scripture must be fullfilled and these men saw to it that he was put in to a grave where no man had laid. How do you know it was a grave where no man laid. Because if it was Joseph of Aramathea’s grave and he was still alive. With great love and great dedication they saw to it that Jesus was taken care of. that DARK day.
5) You know there are people who are friends when we need them the most. T hey don’t say a whole lot. But in the desperate hours they come forward and stand beside us to really be the friend that we need. It is not he friend that talks the most that counts it is the friend that stand with you when you are in crisis and everyone else has left. That is Nicodemus.
III. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT JESUS CHIRST WAS THE FRIEND OF SINNERS. ( )
A. Jesus was not afraid to identify with those that society today would call cast outs. They called Him a wine bibber. they called Him the friend of sinners.
B. Jesus was not afraid to associate with people in their hour of need. As a matter of fact one passage in Luke 4:18 says, "I came to preach the gospel to the poor." He was saying that there was a special anointing of the Holy Spirit to preach to the underprivileged.
C. He also said in verse 18 that He had a special anointing "to set at liberty them that are bruised." Isaiah 53:5 says, He was bruised for our iniquities." The Bible is telling us that Jesus identifies with those who have been hurt in their lives.
D. We live in a day when people are hurting. A bruise is an area of our body that has been hurt - it has been damaged underneath. There is blood flowing under the tissue. There is pain there but you can’t readily discern it. But you know it is there. it hurts. Every time you move it hurts.
E. And while we are all assembled here and you all look very good. Th ladies are beautiful and the men are handsome, Let me tell you you are the most beautiful congregation I have seen since Wednesday night. But you see. I cannot see the bruises under those fine looks. I can’t see the wounds, I can’t see the broken bones and the joints out o f place. But I do know that in life there are times that people say things inadvertently. They may not mean to hurt us. But it has.
1) It may have been at an early age in life. and you have carried that bruise all these years.
2) It may have been an absent parent who had to work to keep you fed and clothed but in your little heart it was that they did not love you.
F. We live in a time of litigation when people go to court over everything and especially in divorce proceedings say things that hey would never want their children to say about each other.
G. We live in a day when corporations and municipalities go to court over minor things. People are slashed and cut. And they need a place of healing.
H. People need a place there they can come for respite. Have you seen the banner against the back wall on my right. The Balm of Gilead. He, that is talking about the healing power of Jesus. Your in that place today.
CONCLUSION:
1. I recently read an article by Michael Medville, a media specialist. And as he traveled around the United States he had noticed that there was a plague of pessimism among our young people today. He said it is sad to see the spark of hope gone form their eyes. When colleges like Harvard report that the most used facility on the campus is the psychiatrist and counseling offices something is wrong. Young people should not be lined up at the psychiatrist’s couch. Something is wrong with the values of a society that sees this. And this multimedia specialist is saying that the main reason for the pessimism and hopeless ness among many of our young people is the media’s satiation and obsession with violence. You see most of the themes of plays and films are of hopelessness. The end of civilization by a beast or a star or by evil spirits.
2. You see this is the first generation to come through their entire life in front of the TV. It is a generation that has been taught to laugh at Biblical values. to sneer at wholesomeness. To have no respect for the things of God.
3. The only good character that has come out of the media industry in years was Forest Gump who was going to live a good Christian life and have principles is depicted as an idiot. Something is wrong.
4. We need to see that our young people are being bruised and damaged. And we need to protect them. Something is wrong. I have been happy to hear that.
5. This morning if you are here and you have been bruised - you have been hurt and you are here this morning still held captive to these hurts, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE! JESUS SAYS THERE IS AN ANOINTING TO SET YOU AT LIBERTY.
6. But you say "Rev. Ingham I am afraid to venture out of my captivity. It has been years since I have trusted anyone.” Hey, you are in a place of liberty and a safe place. there is no one here today that will hurt You.
We are all friends here to day and your greatest friend Jesus Christ of Nazareth will lead you out of that prison and set you free. And you will never have to look back again.
