Friendship

ICE-BREAKER QUESTIONS: Think of a close friend, how did you first become friends? What did you do to become friends?

SUMMARY: Today we will look at what the Bible says about friendship.

GENERAL DISCUSSION:

Briefly discuss the following questions, without going too deep.

Q: What kind of characteristics does a true friend have?

Q: How can we lose a friendship?

Q: What can be done to restore a relationship?

BIBLE STUDY:

1. Why is it important to have friends?

Proverbs 18:1 A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

2. How can we make friends?

Proverbs 18:24 A man who has friends must himself be friendly, ...
Proverbs 22:11 He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend.
Proverbs 19:6 ... every man is a friend to one who gives gifts.

3. List the characteristics of a true friend:

A. HAS A FORGIVING HEART

Proverbs 17:9 He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.
Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Colossians 3:12-13 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

B. GIVES GOOD and HONEST COUNSEL

Proverbs 27:9 Ointment and perfume delight the heart, And the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.
Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
Proverbs 27:5-6 Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

C. CAN KEEP A SECRET

Proverbs 16:28 A perverse man sows strife, And a whisperer separates the best of friends.
Proverbs 11:13 A talebearer reveals secrets, But he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.

D. ENCOURAGING

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
Job 6:1,14 Then Job answered and said: ... “To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. ..."

E. HELPFUL

Proverbs 27:10 Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.
Galatians 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Luke 6:31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

F. LOVING

Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;
John 15:12 [Jesus said:] This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

G. GIVING

Luke 6:30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back.
Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

4. List the kind of friends that we should not have?

Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
Proverbs 22:24-25 Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.
Proverbs 12:26 The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

5. What can we learn from the following verses about being friends with God?

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Romans 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
John 15:14-15 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
James 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.

Q: From your personal experience, is it easy to have true friendships? or is it rare? Why do you think that is the case?

PRAY

by: Vera V. Likhonin

References:

- The Bible, New King James Version

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