Following Jesus transforms our lives so that we would gladly lay down our lives for our friends precisely because we love them. This message was given on August 9, 2015 at New City Church in Calgary by Pastor John Ferguson. For more info, please visit: www.newcitychurch.ca

2. “My primary question, over
time, became a question
about love. Where was I to
find love? Where was I to
give love? If Scripture and
the Christian tradition were
right that I shouldn’t try to find
a husband, surely the
apparent corollary couldn’t be
right—that I was therefore cut
off from any deep, meaningful
form of intimacy and
communion. Could it?”

3. I would be such a
friend to someone.
The Invention of Love,
by Tom Stoppard
“

4. Eros
(romantic love)

5. Eros
(romantic love)
Agape
(selfless love)
Philia
(friendship love)

6. “There is, in fact,
a place for love,
and it’s called
friendship.”

7. crowded
l o n e l i n e s s

8. Could we be the
first generation
that knows
nothing about the
meaning of true
friendship
?

9. No Greater Love
image: mafleen
~ The Gospel of John 15:12-13 ~

10. This is my commandment, that you love
The Gospel of John 15:12-13
one another as I have loved you. Greater
love has no one than this, that someone
lays down his life for his friends.
Leader: This is the Word of our Lord.
Unison: Thanks be to God!

11. This is my commandment, that you love
The Gospel of John 15:12-13
one another as I have loved you. Greater
love has no one than this, that someone
lays down his life for his friends.

12. “See to what limits love
should reach among
friends, namely to a
willingness to die for
each other…. Though
challenged, though
injured, though tossed
into the flames, though
nailed to a cross,
a friend loves always.”
~Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167)
On Spiritual Friendship

13. “Ruth and Naomi”
by Herbert K. Bourne

14. “Do not urge me to leave
you or to return from
following you. For where
you go I will go, and where
you lodge I will lodge. Your
people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and
there will I be buried. May
the LORD do so to me and
more also if anything but
death parts me from you.”
“Ruth and Naomi”
by Herbert K. Bourne
~ Ruth 1:16-17

15. David & Jonathan

16. David & Jonathan
1 Samuel 18:1, 2-4
“As soon as he had finished
speaking to Saul, the soul of
Jonathan was knit to the soul
of David, and Jonathan loved
him as his own soul…. Then
Jonathan made a covenant
with David, because he loved
him as his own soul. And
Jonathan stripped himself of
the robe that was on him and
gave it to David, and his
armour, and even his sword
and his bow and his belt.”

17. David & Jonathan
1 Samuel 20:41-42
“And they kissed one another
and wept with one another,
David weeping the most.
Then Jonathan said to David,
‘Go in peace, because we
have sworn both of us in the
name of the LORD, saying,
‘The LORD shall be between
me and you, and between my
offspring and your offspring,
forever.’”

18. “I am distressed for you,
my brother Jonathan;
very pleasant have you
been to me; your love to
me was extraordinary,
surpassing the love of
women.”
~ Gustave Doré, 1832-1883
~ King David’s Lamentation
in 2 Samuel 1:26

19. “There is a friend who
sticks closer than a
brother.”
~ Proverbs 18:24
“…your friend who is as your own soul….”
~ Deuteronomy 13:6

20. Jesus’ Friends

21. ?
If Jesus was the perfect human
being, and if Jesus desired friends
and loved them deeply, then why do
you think that deep, sacrificial
friendships are optional?

22. “And he answered them,
‘Who are my mother and
my brothers?’ And looking
about at those who sat
around him, he said,
‘Here are my mother and
my brothers! Whoever
does the will of God, he is
my brother and sister and
mother.’”
~ Jesus of Nazareth in
The Gospel of Mark, 3:33-35

23. “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or
brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or
lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not
receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and
brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”
~ Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospel of Mark 3:33-35

24. •FORGIVES One Another
THE NEW FAMILY OF JESUS
•SHOWS HOSPITALITY to One Another
•ENCOURAGES One Another
•LOOKS OUT for One Another
•PRAYS for One Another
•SERVES One Another
•WELCOMES One Another
•LOVES One Another
•DIES One Another

25. Following Jesus transforms
our lives so that we would gladly
lay down our lives for our friends
precisely because we love them.

26. Follow Jesus into deep,
loving friendships.

27. “For one will scarcely die for a
righteous person—though
perhaps for a good person
one would dare even to die—
but God shows his love for us
in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.”
~ The Apostle Paul in Romans 5:7

28. “By this we know
love, that he laid
down his life for us,
and we ought to lay
down our lives for
our brothers.”
~ The Apostle John in
1 John 1:3-4

29. “Having purified your
souls by your obedience
to the truth for a sincere
brotherly love, love one
another earnestly from a
pure heart.”
~ The Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1:22

30. “Now concerning brotherly love, you have
no need of anyone to write you for you
yourselves have been taught by God to
love one another. But we urge you,
brothers, to do this more and more.”
~ The Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

31. Ask yourself…
Could I be such
a friend to someone?

32. Theen Moy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/theenmoy/14138348137
contemplative imagining: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomas-merton/8686694887/
flickr images courtesy of:
other images:
http://gilsonsantos.com/2013/07/12/rute-e-noemi-ary-scheffer/
Christopher Brown: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/
Will Foster: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mazakar/2777932633/
Jason Mrachina: https://www.flickr.com/photos/w4nd3rl0st/5350465341/
Used by permission: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
http://christianimagesource.com/david_and_jonathan_g223-david_and_jonathan__image_7_p1281.html
http://christianimagesource.com/david_israel_g306-david_israel__image_5_p1973.html