Sep 30, 2017
I Love My Shepherd 25 – Chasing Freedom YA Bonus 2: Freedom in
Friendship without Fear
Questions to consider:
Do you have a friendship you wish you could get back? Reconnect
with again, go deeper, love more?
What is real friendship? What does it look like?
- List as many qualities as you can that make up a real
friendship
Who is a real friend to you?
Where have you found real friendship?
When have you struggled with a friendship, been ditched or
deserted?
Galatians 2:4-6 – false brothers, differentiating false/fake
from real
How can you tell if someone is fake? Do you have anything that
helps you discern real from false friends?
4 Characteristics of Real Relationships:
- Share truth (not gossip, making stuff up about themselves or
others)
- Don’t expect you to be a different person (does this friendship
help me grow or tear me down?)
- Impartiality (no choosing or judging friends on material
things, family background, etc.)
What are some things teens/young adults choose friends based
on?
- Offer love and forgiveness (tell each other the truth, but
offer care and forgiveness)
Christ does this best – friendship without fear, never afraid of
Him leaving us, ditching us
- Judas: Matthew 26:14-16
- Without distrespecting the plight of actual slavery: How is
slavery a good metaphor for junky friendship?
Fear in friendships -
- look like demands, put downs, over the top sarcasm,
expectations on things that don’t matter, constant suggestions that
are uninvited, “You should really” or hurtful comments followed by
“just joking”
- Internal fear in friendship – may have nothing to do with the
other person, but this relationship may not work for you if you are
constantly concerned what they think of you, want to make them
proud or unhealthy trying to impress
- God never asks us to impress Him, He asks us to seek Him,
converse with Him
- God’s friendship is sacrificial
Freedom in Friendship –
- Open conversation, exchange of topics and ideas
- No one looks the same, God values different races and
ethnicities, ideas and genders
- Challenge you, ask you to take risks, help you grow
- Offer trust, do not misjudge character, give people the benefit
of the doubt
- Include other people, willing to let others in, no
partiality
- Identifying fake v. real, heavy boundaries against fake
- look for friendship mentors, those around you doing friendship
well
Question of the week: Is this friendship offering freedom or
fear?
ESV Bible translation - Copyright © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved.
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