Vineyard Church of Knox County
True Biblical Friendship
Sermon Audio from Sunday, January 23, 2005 — It's that time of year: New Years resolutions time - in which we make an evaluation of who we are, what we are doing in life and what our purpose is in life. Each January we want to do that as a church, ask who are we, what are we doing, what is our purpose? What should we as people in the Vineyard church resolve to do in 2005?
Last we looked at the heart of worship, resolving to ask God to make us into heart-to-heart worshipers, those who freely worship in spirit and truth. Today we're talking about fellowship. Let me start by making a statement that I've made before about the Christian life. It is this: The Christian life is a connected life. Those Christians who do not live a life that is meaningfully (emotionally, mentally, physically) connected to other Christians are not living the life that Jesus died to give them. Instead they are living a poor copy of the eternal-kind-of-life that is available to them in Christ. The eternal-kind-of-life that is available to us in Christ includes deep, meaningful connection with others, what I'm calling Biblical Christian friendship. Biblical Christian friendship is different than just a friendship between Christians. There can be a friendship between Christians that is not a Biblical Christian friendship. I don't mean to be critical of such a relationship; they are inevitable between kind, Christian persons who don't have the opportunity to develop their friendship into a biblical Christian friendship. A biblical Christian friendship is one that goes deeper than simple kindness and cordiality. Even non-Christians experience those kinds of friendships. Biblical Christian friendship is the kind of relationship that deepens your understanding of yourself and deepens your experience of God. Our experience of God is tied to our experience of Christian friendship.
