Tag: friends

  • 5 friends, a few mentors and family

    5 friends, a few mentors and family

    Paul – Barnabas and other Friends

    Recalling our journeys with friends


    How many friends have you had in this brief journey of your life?

    • Who are the first friends YOU remember?
      • And where are they NOW?

    In the cover photo from my copy of “Friendship” Emerson suggests that we miss much and mostly undervalue those dear souls we briefly encounter in life.


    Acts of the apostles’ friends

    Acts Apostolos - Acts 1 of the Apostles begins a 28 chapter account of the chronicles of Christ's Apostles - a history of Christ's Church

    Barnabas, I remind us here, was also an apostle (one sent out), from the Greek word indicating the authority of a delegate or messenger sent forth with orders.

    The mission of apostles sent by the Holy Spirit does not diminish any importance of their individual relationships — men maturing together as brothers of the family of Christ.

    The apostle Paul

    Chronologically the apostle’s account (from later in Acts) will recall what Luke recorded previously in Acts 9 and illuminates the timeline of Paul’s journeys as I noted last time.

    “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

    Acts of the Apostles 22:3 ESV – Paul recounting his pervious conversion to Christ ~ AD 37

    We will return to Paul’s second mission shortly & proceed observantly ahead from our half-verse of Acts 16:1a near the beginning of the apostle’s 2nd missionary journey.

    Yet something about the recent split between Paul and Barnabas still bothers me..


    39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 

    Acts of the Apostles 15:39-40 ESV

    What was it about the friendship of Barnabas and Paul breaking up that I found somewhat disturbing?

    WHY did these friends separate after this second argument?

    • Was it how Barnabas insisted on John Mark joining them — a young man who deserted these friends previously now replacing Paul as Barnabas and now has departed for Cypress with Mark?
    • Did the apostle simply expect loyalty to a co-worker in the Gospel?
    • Or perhaps loyalty of Barnabas to Paul who had witnessed the risen Christ Jesus?

    Recall from earlier, just before their first missionary journey:

    So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.

    Acts of the Apostles 11:25-26a ESV

    We know that Barnabas had been Paul’s mentor. And now this ‘son of encouragement’ seems to abandon the apostle for a new and younger co-worker in the Gospel?

    Did Joseph of Cypress now choose John Mark or perhaps witnessing to his family on Cypress over his long-time disciple and friend Saul of Tarsus?

    (‘How dare he,’ we mistakenly think while not considering roles best-known to the Holy Spirit.)


    We all question former choices of a friend when something goes amiss in the relationship don’t we? ESPECIALLY when something does NOT go according to plan.

    Yet the Apostle knew his Scripture well:

    And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

    Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV

    SO did Paul ask himself,

    ‘Might I need more than one friend to walk alongside and encourage me on my next journey life?’


    Reflections on Friendship

    What ever happened to ___?’

    Not that you want to hear any stories of my missing friends, but this lament of mine for Paul’s loss of the companionship of Barnabas leads me to share such common wonderings. Perhaps my reflections could help us answer unasked questions of our own hearts about the roles of Very Important People in our lives.

    SO allow me to answer my own opening QUESTIONS.

    1. How many friends have you had in this brief journey of your life?
    2. Who are the first friends YOU remember?
    3. Where are they NOW?
    I would love to hear about YOUR friends in a COMMENT at the end of this post.
     
    Reminder that no PRIVATE comment will be posted publically.
    I may repost your PUBLIC comment as 'anonymous' if you include any identifiable information along with your COMMENT about your friend, mentor or anything else. - RH
    1. I thank God for more than a handful of close personal relationships over many years with several who at one time I cherished as a close friend, a near brother or a beloved sister.
    2. Several I first counted as a friend were classmates in school. Others in college. And still other first encounters of a best friend in a new workplace, local neighborhood or a new church. (I have recalled some recently: some in quiet times, others on a visit home with frequent memories recalled at a wedding or funeral.)
      • 5 friends who God brought to encourage me include:
        • a family friend from our church who mostly journeyed with me from elementary school through high school in the same class
        • a boy who moved to our school and became my best friend as we participated in the same things – in and after school, school and community groups, memorable journeys with other friends in the formative years of our early lives.
        • a mutual new friend who moved into our town whose affable intellect intrigued us
        • another young man whose seat landed alphabetically near mine and whose humor and wit brought joy to my heart. (I later asked this best friend to be the best man at our wedding.)
        • a mentor – actually several of a group of older friends in high school connected by mutual activities and interests who were close and valued friends of my earliest journeys toward commencement.
    3. Mostly, I have lost track of these friends, some with whom I hope to renew an even more glorious friendship in our eternal time together with the risen Christ Jesus. Now most are retired, a few working in places far distant from my everyday mortal life, some I have not and will never see again and others perhaps I might briefly touch before the inevitable failing of the moral flesh.
      • I might add that the mentor-friend who gave me the Friendship book married another friend of this mentor group and another played ‘taps’ a few years back at my father’s funeral.

      Paul’s friends and Mentors

      What was it about the friendship of Barnabas and Paul breaking up that we find somewhat disturbing?

      I miss many friends whose paths have parted from my own journey in life.

      Certainly as I miss my grade school, high school and college friends of so many years ago, Paul will miss his friend, mentor and fellow apostle Barnabas.

      In fact, Paul has had close friends before including teachers such as Gamaliel and Ananias, called by Christ to lead the blind Saul persecutor of disciples to apostles and disciples of Jesus in Damascus, Antioch and Jerusalem.

      Gamaliel and Ananias had more importantly been mentors to Saul of Tarsus, but Paul is about to become a friend and mentor to many new disciples of The Way of Jesus Christ.

      Will Silas become an equal friend to Paul, even as Barnabas had proven to be over the past few years?


      Jesus’ friends, followers and family

      We do well to consider the preciousness of every friendship, relationship and familial connection to others even as the Lord Jesus gives clear instructions to His friends and disciples, the Apostles, His earthly family and any heart yearning for the love of God.

      Gospel of Luke

      5:10b-11 And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

      8:20-21 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

      No special place for family, even His mother Mary or half-brothers James and Jude.

      9 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.. 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

      Jesus is a mentor to his apostles, yet more than that – with the authority of God their Teacher sends them out to begin the healing of sin.

      Later Jesus, their Teacher, will warn his Disciples of the rejection they too will suffer.

      Their friend and Master is about to be delivered up as a Sacrifice on a Cross.

      21:16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.


      QUESTIONS for each of us to ask.

      Who is an apostle, a disciple, a brother, a mentor, a friend?

      .. he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:

      Luke 6:13b ESV

      A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

      Gospel of Luke 40 ESV – μαθητής – disciple or pupil; διδάσκαλος – a teacher

      Acts of friends & apostles of Jesus

      Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

      No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

      Gospel of John 15:13-15 ESV
      Friend, how will you ACT when a brother in Christ asks you to Talk of JESUS?
      
      Won't you comment about your friends? SHARE the Gospel with a friend by quoting my encouragement of friendship with you. Who is your friend who needs some Good News?

      Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

    • Loneliness in the Solitary Confinement || Distanced from Friends

      Loneliness in the Solitary Confinement || Distanced from Friends

      Security

      Story of a man awakened

      I’d like to continue from what I told you last time. You need to know what happened after a rude awakening from my dream of when my wife and I were in Eden walking with God as if HE Who Created All was my friend!

      You know of course that I awoke to this day and not a time before Abraham and you may have heard or read my story, but I wanted to tell you how I felt at the time.

      A Knock at the Door

      We lay intertwined embraced in warmth flowing from fingertips to toe. Our paradise shattered as I awoke to a loud knock on the door…

      “David! . . . Lend me three loaves!”

      Who is this at this late hour, I thought? Then as I recognized my neighbor’s outcry at our door,

      “Shaul, is that you?” I inquired.

      “Of course it’s me. Who else would it be at this hour?” my neighbor responded as he continued,

      “A friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.”

      We had just fallen asleep and I retorted,

      “Do not bother me. As you can plainly see the door has already been shut and we are all in bed.”

      “Come on, David, I have nothing to eat for my friends who have just arrived,” he replied.

      “I cannot get up and give you anything,” I again said even though my wife and I were awake by now.

      Shaul again began shamelessly knocking at our door as my wife looked toward me with that look.

      Alright, my friend,” I shouted over his knocks as I headed to the door.

      “I will give you your bread.”

      A Parable of Separation

      You know this story.

      Perhaps the characters are purely fictional as in most parables; but like many of Jesus’ parables, He probably retold it in many places to different crowds in various ways.

      • Can you identify with the family behind locked doors in the darkness, separated from friends and seeking peace?
      • Or perhaps you can imagine that you are the friend of Shaul, who has traveled a day’s journey and arrived unexpectedly late.

      Your good friend didn’t even know that you were coming to him in person. And all of you were overjoyed for this personal reunion!

      Friends — no longer separated by distance.

      AND your friend is even willing to go to his friend and neighbor for something to eat while rejoined in communion with each other.

      Picture Paradise when Heaven’s Door | of Separation | is Opened

      I have just illustrated Jesus’ parable with names of appropriate symbolism as the Lord occasionally does. [i.e. Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham]

      שאול
      Shaul

      Shaul means, “borrowed.” http://blb.sc/000vVY

      “Lend me three loaves,” he begs his beloved friend.

      stone wall "city of David" in Hebrew and English

      דָּוִד

      David

      David means, “friend” or “beloved.” http://blb.sc/001ccS

      “This is my beloved and this is my friend,
      O daughters of Jerusalem.” – Song 5:26b NASB

      and behold, a voice out of the heavens said,

      “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

      says the LORD, the God of IsraelGospel of Matthew 3:17

      The Gospel of Luke 11:

      It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray…

      We know it as:

      The Lord’s Prayer

      Jesus’ Disciples were already isolated ‘in a certain place.’

      No show here for church friends

      or ritualized rote of memorized obligation.

      Father, hallowed be Your name.

      Your kingdom come.

      Give us each day our daily bread.

      And forgive us our sins…

      Gospel of Luke 11:2b-4a NASB

      Christ’s application in an isolated place

      Jesus, of course, is talking about prayer – petitions of a sinful man to a Father God | separated from man | by holiness.

      Here is a man alone secure in his home praying – spirit to Spirit.

      Perhaps he does dream of Paradise | personal relationship with the Lord God | as it was in the beginning.

      Jesus invites His followers to a place | separated and distanced from others in this world.

      The call to prayer is to the Father of His beloved children.

      a friend at the door | to a Friend inside

      I’ve told you this parable from a perspective of the FRIEND INSIDE.

      The Lord Jesus speaks to each SINNER as a friend knocking | adam knocking repeatedly on the DOOR | of Heaven through prayer.

      Jesus says of the FRIEND inside who I have just described in this parable:

      8 I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of his shamelessness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

      • You and I are Shaul, the borrower of bread.
      • Our Heavenly Father is David | our beloved friend with the bread of Heaven, which He now has given to us after having answered a knock at His door.

      It is His story I have just told!

      Our beloved Heavenly Father and Friend invites you to share the Bread that came down from Heaven – the Bread of Life, Christ Jesus Who IS the Son and | Door to eternal life.

      Jesus answers disciples asking about prayer with a parable of the Father | who once again desires the Personal Face-to-face fellowship of Eden.

      “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you;

      seek, and you will find;

      knock, and it will be opened to you.

      For everyone who asks receives,

      and the one who seeks finds,

      and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

      The Good News of Luke 11:9-10 NASB | Jesus on prayer to the Father

      NEXT: A look at Social Distancing of the Church in a 1st century world of violent upheaval.

      To be continued...
    • Lazarus – HELP from the grave

      Lazarus – HELP from the grave

      Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name;
      And deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name’s sake.

      עָזְרֵ֤נוּ אֱלֹ֘הֵ֤י יִשְׁעֵ֗נוּ עַל־דְּבַ֥ר כְּבֹֽוד־שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וְהַצִּילֵ֥נוּ וְכַפֵּ֥ר עַל־֝חַטֹּאתֵ֗ינוּ לְמַ֣עַן שְׁמֶֽךָ׃

      Psalm 79:9 – NASB, Masoretic Text

      Where does my help come from?

      I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

      My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

      Psalm 121:1-2 KJV
      map from Bethany ascent to city of Jerusalem

      Each year as the festival crowds approached Jerusalem, weary and faithful Jews making the pilgrimage would pause to rest in places nearby before their walking ascent up the hill leading to the Temple.

      Bethany would have been one of these places – a town where Jesus would stay with a good friend and later perform a sign the He IS the Messiah of Israel.

      John 11:

      Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany…

      John’s Gospel begins by mentioning the village along with details of Mary and Martha which do not happen until later, but of course have already happened by the time John writes his Good News to the churches and unbelievers.

      Although we have just read of a story from the festival of Hanukkah where Jesus may have also stayed over at Bethany (we cannot be certain), I remind us that John’s Gospel is not strictly chronoligical.

      The importance here relates to the characters – the real people of this family living in the village of Bethany outside Jerusalem. And what we are about to witness is not only a miracle and sign of Jesus, but the human love of true friends of this family by the Lord.

      A messenger asks Jesus to help a friend

      3 So the sisters sent a messenger to tell Yeshua, “Lord, your close friend is sick.”

      These friends knew where to find Jesus, where He was preaching.

      Jesus most likely had already been in this part of Judea, but departed for Samaria and other distant places as was His custom traveling from town to town preaching the Good News.

      4 When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

      John gives us an important background to their friendship without providing specific details of where Jesus was teaching, but he tells us something important about this family in Jesus’ earthly relationships.

      5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

      John 11:5

      It is the same description John uses so often to describe the Incarnate Lord Jesus – ἀγαπάω – agapaō ‘of persons to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly.

      Christians are to love the world in this same way Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. For John uses this same word to describe how God ‘loved’ humans made in his image.

      “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

      John 3:16 NASBagapaō

      Yet the messenger might have thought Jesus’s response to be somewhat dismissive. “This sickness is not to end in death…”

      6 Yet, when Yeshua heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. Then, after the two days, Yeshua said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”

      What do we fear?

      Even in the unexpected crisis of these last days what does man fear most?

      Death!

      It was the death of their brother Mary and Martha feared. And the Apostles also fear capture and death due to several previous attempts by Jerusalem’s religious officials to kill their friend Jesus. The Disciples fear death even though Jesus had demonstrated His power over nature time and time again.

      8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, not long ago the Jews wanted to stone you to death. Do you really want to go back there?”

      9 Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day don’t stumble, because they see the light of this world. However, those who walk at night stumble because they have no light in themselves.”

      Jesus again assures His own Apostles that He is the Light of the world and reminds that Jerusalem’s leaders have no light of God in their actions.

      Lazarus

      … and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.”

      Of course the Apostles continue in their regular banter questioning the Lord as to His motives. Yet before we proceed to Jesus’ sign, let’s take a closer look at His friend Lazarus.

      Λάζαρον –

      Λάζαρος
      Lazaros – Lazarus = “whom God helps” (a form of the Hebrew name Eleazar)

      Jesus also tells a parable of another man, Lazarus, a poor beggar who died and God helped.

      אֶלְעָזָר

      el·ä·zär’  – same meaning in Hebrew was the name of Aaron’s son, also a Levite Priest, as well as several others in this Bible.

      Clearly, if Jesus is going to help Lazarus it is God who helps the man close to death.

      Lazarus is dead

      Jesus has not spelled it out in His first mention to the Apostles as they attempt to convince the Lord not to return to Judea.

      12 Then the disciples said to him,

      “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”

      (The Disciples certainly do not care to risk returning to Bethany near Jerusalem.)

      14 Then Yeshua told them plainly,

      “Lazarus has died, but I’m glad that I wasn’t there so that you can grow in faith. Let’s go to Lazarus.”

      How does Jesus know these things?

      Can a mere man know such truths?

      Of course the Disciples had witnessed such knowledge possible only from God before. Yet like us, they lack faith that Jesus can take authority over the situation as it involves their mortal lives.

      16 Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to the rest of the disciples,

      “Let’s go so that we, too, can die with Yeshua.”

      Isn’t that how we feel when confronted by death?

      How will Jesus help us, we ask ourselves?

      Can the Son of Man HELP a man already dead?

      That’s the question lurking in the back of our minds when we pray to God.

      Can God help me even though I am dead? Will the Lord keep me from death?

      Jesus returns to Bethany and eventually Jerusalem to answer the immediate questions of Lazarus’ death, the soon-to-be asked questions about the Disciples’ deaths due to following Jesus and most importantly our eternal questions about death appointed to each mortal man and our only hope of resurrection to the Light of eternal life.

      To be continued, God-willing...
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