SERIES: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 20:36-21:7
MESSAGE: “Forever Friendship”
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“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty — it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality.” – Mother Teresa
“Because of mobility we live in a culture where friends are taken from us faster than we can forge them…” – Timothy Keller
QUESTION: How do we forge forever friendships? Through a…(1. Sensitivity 2. Commitment 3. Commonality)
1. Sensitivity (v. 36-38)
“And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.”
“And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.”
“Paul and company now head to Jerusalem after tearing themselves away from their friends. The (Greek) term indicates the emotional difficulty of the departure.” — Darrell Bock
“Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.” – Proverbs 27:14
2. Commitment (v. 4)
And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.
And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.
“Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” – Proverbs 27:6
3. Commonality (v. 5b-7)
“And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed 6 and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.
7 When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day.”
“And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed 6 and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.
7 When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day.”
“In friendship…we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years’ difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another…the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting–any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends, “Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.” The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.” ― C.S. Lewis
TAKEAWAYS: What can we learn about friendship?
- There are seasons of friendship
- There’s a diversity in friendship
v. 5 “…we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city.”
- There’s more to friendship
“A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” – Proverbs 18:24
- There is a longing for eternal friendships
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” — Matthew 11:19