{"id":1178,"date":"2011-03-30T12:35:56","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T16:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fbclafayette.org\/?p=1178"},"modified":"2017-11-03T21:25:57","modified_gmt":"2017-11-04T01:25:57","slug":"what-does-a-real-friend-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/what-does-a-real-friend-look-like\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does a Real Friend Look Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In order to determine how many “Real Friends” you have<\/a>, you really need to ask another very important question: What does a “Real Friend” look like?<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m not talking about if a guy is ‘good looking’ or if a girl is ‘pretty,’ and I’m not referring to what kind of clothes the person wears.\u00a0 I’m referring to the kind of person they really are on the inside \u2013 their character, their inner man, the heart of the person that drives their behavior.<\/p>\n

As the Lord said to Samuel, “\u2026man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).\u00a0 I’m asking how they respond when you are going through times of trials or suffering. \u00a0How do you respond to your friends when they are suffering and hurting?\u00a0 What does your friend do when either you, or both of you, are facing a temptation to sin and do something that might be fun, but would be selfish and would not be pleasing to God? What does your friend say to you when he or she knows that you have sinned? How would they respond to you if you had to confront them about something they did that was wrong? How do you respond when you are confronted?\u00a0 These are some hints to what a “Real<\/em> Friend<\/em>” looks like \u2013 both in the kind of friends you have<\/em> and the kind of friend you are<\/em>!<\/p>\n

“<\/em>Real Friends“<\/em> Are First Connected to Jesus<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In order to really ‘get it,’ I want to remind you of the context in which Jesus spoke these words.\u00a0 In John 13, Jesus is meeting with the disciples in the Upper Room the night of His betrayal \u2013 just prior to going to the cross and dying for us.\u00a0 Although He knew they were going to forsake Him and deny Him, He still washed their feet.\u00a0 Jesus also had an interchange with Peter about Peter denying Christ three times before the rooster crows twice.\u00a0 In John 14, Jesus offers comfort and explains the role of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Then in John 15:1-11, Jesus teaches them (and us) about our relationship to Him.\u00a0 He’s teaching us that He is the Vine<\/em>, and we are the branches<\/em>, and how the ‘fruit’, the ‘more fruit’, and the ‘much fruit’ flow out of our relationship with Him.\u00a0 Jesus put it this way in John 15:5, “without Me, you can do nothing.”<\/strong> A “Real Friend” starts with a connection to the Friend of all friends, Jesus.\u00a0 He was the “Real Friend” of all friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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“<\/em>Real Friends“<\/em> Love Each Other<\/strong><\/h2>\n

All of us need to think about what Jesus said in John 15:12, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” In fact, if we translated this statement literally, Jesus said it this way: This is my commandment that you be continuously loving each other<\/em> . . . I’ll be honest with you, the ‘love one another’ part is understandable, to a degree, and reasonably achievable.\u00a0 However, it’s the “<\/em>love one another as I have loved you<\/em>” that is humbling, challenging, convicting, and reveals our weaknesses!\u00a0 It also reveals how desperate we are to be connected to the Vine<\/em> to help us produce the fruit of love to others the way Jesus loves people.<\/p>\n

The word that Jesus uses is the strongest love possible, and is God’s kind of love.\u00a0 Jesus uses the word, agapa<\/em>.\u00a0 God’s love is a self-sacrificial kind of love \u2013 the exact love He was about to demonstrate on the cross.\u00a0 It doesn’t get any better than that.\u00a0 To simplify this, I can say it this way:\u00a0 Our love for people flows out of God’s love for us and our love for God.<\/strong> If we don’t love God much, we’re probably not going to love people much.\u00a0 And if we love God a lot, it’s going to show up in the way we love each other.<\/p>\n

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“Real Friends” Demonstrate Godly Love<\/strong><\/h2>\n

You can’t ‘bluff’ at this level.\u00a0 People know if you really care about them or if you really love them.\u00a0 You might get away with a lot of things, but you can’t really fake godly love because godly love demonstrates itself in ways that can be interpreted.\u00a0 Real love is not about ‘talk’, it’s about action.<\/p>\n

Stop and ask yourself, what does ‘loving each other’ look like on a day-to-day basis?<\/p>\n