Growth 04: Friends are Important
Orientate
I was in the middle of a challenging season of ministry – leading a rapidly growing church with a large staff team. I remember vividly waking up on a Monday morning after a busy Sunday, and I realised that I had absolutely no gas left in the tank. I was done. I was finished. I was burnt out. I didn’t think that I would ever preach or lead again. I was sitting on the kids’ trampoline feeling very despondent when a pastoral mate turned up and sat with me. He didn’t say much, just spent hours listening to me. When the pastoral team leaders (my friends) heard about my exhaustion, they told me to take a complete break for a few weeks and they would handle everything. By God’s grace, after two weeks of recuperation I had recovered and was ready to go again. It would have been so much harder without my friends. Let’s see what happened to Jesus.
Explore: Matthew 26:36-46
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Journal
Journal for a few minutes on the following questions:
1. What is God saying to me? Which verse is most significant?
2. What do I want to discuss/explore further?
3. What do I need to do?
4. What should Jesus’ friends have done?
Reflect
This is a sad story. Jesus was left alone without support at the very time he most needed his friends. It would get worse. Within a few hours, they would desert him completely. But the reason I chose this passage to study is not to expose the slackness of the disciples, but to show the longing of Jesus for the support of his friends. If anyone didn’t need human support, it was Jesus. He was God. He was in control. He forged his own path. He knew how broken and ordinary his friends were. And yet in this dark hour, he is longing for them to share his pain and his prayer. Now that’s surprising.
If Jesus needed support from friends, then you certainly will. God has designed us to do life with others. We can never be lone rangers. In the good times, we need friends to encourage us and challenge us and pray for us and keep us accountable. And in the tough times, we need friends to support us and believe in us and comfort us and stand with us. It is so much harder to live for God and grow with God without good friends, as this story testifies.
You may have lots of Christian friends or just one or two. You may spend a lot of time with your friends or just catch up every now and then. But if you are going to continue growing in your relationship with Jesus, there will be many times (as I experienced on the trampoline and continue to find) that friends will make it so much better and easier. That’s how God designed us. Our friends have a key role in our spiritual growth.
Pray
Thanks for my Christian friends [name them] who care deeply about me. May they love me enough to challenge me when I need to change and to care for me when I need support. May I listen carefully to them. I can’t do this by myself. May I also be a good friend to them.
Respond
Send an email or text to (or ring) a Christian friend today, thanking them for their support.
