What Are Your Friends FOR?

I once met with a an youth pastor who jokingly said, "If my kids make it out of their teen years withour getting pregnant, hooked on drugs, or arrested, then I'll consider it a success."  Now again, he said this jokingly...but to be honest, I think there was a sense of seriousness in his voice.

What kind of standards do you have for your closest friends?  Seriously.  Think about it.  Make a list.  Now look at your list...how many items on your list have to do with things that you want your closest friends to be against?  Really look.  Example:

I want my cloest friends to be:

- Nice

Okay, not bad...that seems good.  But think about it.  Are you really saying you don't want them to be mean?  Because when we do this, and we are using "being mean" as our standard, then being "nice" kind of becomes like a "ho-hum" type of word.

Can I be honest...I think most of us want friends who are against certain types of behaviors, attitudes, or ways of living.  Here is the problem, what do you want your friends to be FOR?  Being "for" something has movement...it has direction.  If you are just "not for" certain things, then you will become content with being "against" certain lifestyles instead of "for" something else.
What would it look like if our closest freinds were "for" the same things that we are for?  Then we would have movement.  You would work off of one another...encouraging one another to grow, mature, and set a new framework for how freindship should work. 

Use these questions below to help you go deeper this week with this topic of WISDOM on Freindship.

1. Read Phil. 3:7-21
- What is Paul calling the church of Philippians to imitate?

2. Verse 12...Why is it key for Paul to say that he hasn't "already obtained" his goal of becoming more and more like Jesus?
- Why is it key for us to have friends who desire to "move"...to become more and more like Jesus?  And encourage us to do the same?

3. Have you ever seen a "trikke" scooter before (see picture above)?  The way it moves forward is by shifting momentum back and forth between the wheels.  The wheels play off of one another in order to move forward.
- How is a Trikke Scooter a good picture for how Christian friendship should work?

4. Read verses 13-14.
- How important is it to have a goal in life friendship?
- What type of goals do you have in your closest friendships?

5. How have you been burned by bad friendships?  How have you been blessed by solid friendships?  What was the key factors that led to both?

Join us Thursday night at Matt & Amanda's at 7pm as we take these thoughts deeper together as a group!