Community: The Four Commitments of Spiritual Friends
John 15.12-17
Commitment One: Presence (1 Samuel 18.1-4)
“True friendships are not relationships we control but adventures we enter into; indeed, friendship is more a surrender than a conquest, more a loss of control than a calculated plan. Friendship is a matter of mutual affection, of reciprocal love, care, and concern.” - Paul Wadell
Proverbs 18.24 (NIV): “One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
Commitment Two: Honesty (Proverbs 27.5-6)
Proverbs 24.26
Proverbs 17.9 (The Message): “Overlook an offense and bond a friendship; fasten on to a slight and—good-bye, friend!”
Commitment Three: Encouragement (Hebrews 10.24-25)
“Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Commitment Four: Mutual Pursuit of Christ (2 Corinthians 6.14-16)
Commitment One: Presence (1 Samuel 18.1-4)
“True friendships are not relationships we control but adventures we enter into; indeed, friendship is more a surrender than a conquest, more a loss of control than a calculated plan. Friendship is a matter of mutual affection, of reciprocal love, care, and concern.” - Paul Wadell
Proverbs 18.24 (NIV): “One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
Commitment Two: Honesty (Proverbs 27.5-6)
Proverbs 24.26
Proverbs 17.9 (The Message): “Overlook an offense and bond a friendship; fasten on to a slight and—good-bye, friend!”
Commitment Three: Encouragement (Hebrews 10.24-25)
“Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Commitment Four: Mutual Pursuit of Christ (2 Corinthians 6.14-16)