{"id":90701,"date":"2021-03-11T12:54:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T17:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/non-christian-friendships\/"},"modified":"2023-10-06T22:18:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T02:18:27","slug":"non-christian-friendships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/non-christian-friendships\/","title":{"rendered":"Non-Christian Friendships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201c<strong>Can two walk together, except they be agreed?<\/strong>\u201d <strong>Amos 3:3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A Christian\nshould relate to non-Christian friends the same way Jesus related to those who\ndid not follow Him. We can look at a few of the ways Jesus related to people\nand imitate Him as we relate to our non-Christian friends:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>1.<\/strong> <strong>Jesus was\nkind, even when people didn\u2019t understand Him.<\/strong> The people were perpetually\nconfused about who Jesus was and why He was in their midst. Yet <strong>Mark 6:34<\/strong> records that, when He \u201c<strong>saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them,\nbecause they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many\nthings.<\/strong>\u201d The arrogant challenged Him; He responded with kindness (<strong>Luke 10:25\u201326<\/strong>).\nThe needy drained Him; He responded with compassion (<strong>Luke 8:43\u201348<\/strong>). Roman soldiers and\nreligious zealots killed Him; He responded with kindness (Luke 23:34).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Jesus was\nprepared to be misunderstood, so He could have patience and kindness with\nnon-Christians as He explained how to have a relationship with God. We need to\nremember that as His followers we, too, will be misunderstood. Jesus warned us,\n\u201c<strong>If the world\nhates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you<\/strong>\u201d (<strong>John 15:18<\/strong>).\nEven when hated or misunderstood, we should always respond with compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>2.<\/strong> <strong>Jesus always\nspoke truth. Even when His life was at stake, Jesus always spoke the truth (Matthew 26:63\u201365).<\/strong> When we are surrounded by\nnon-Christians who do not worship God or hold to our values, it is tempting to\nremain silent or compromise Scripture in order not to offend. We sometimes see\nthis happening with famous Christians when they are asked about homosexuality\nor abortion. Rather than stand solidly on the truth of God\u2019s Word, some cave to\npeer pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The magnetic\npull toward pleasing those we are around is a universal human problem. But, as\nChristians, we are to be \u201c<strong>salt and light<\/strong>\u201d in this dark, flavorless world (<strong>Matthew 5:13\u201316<\/strong>).\nWe are not to beat people over the head with our views (see number 1, above),\nbut we are also not to compromise truth. Jesus spoke what was needed in the\nmoment regardless of personal cost. He spoke what people needed to hear. We\nmust do that, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>3. Jesus never lost His identity. <\/strong>Although surrounded by non-Christians\nevery day, Jesus did not allow culture or its opinions to alter His identity.\nEven Satan could not shake Him<strong> (Matthew 4:1\u201310).<\/strong> Jesus knew who He was and why He\nwas here. As Christians, we must be secure in our identities in Christ so that\neven the most vocal opponent cannot shake us. Jesus ate, drank, and journeyed\nwith non-Christians every day, but He never set aside His identity as the Son\nof God and could, therefore, say truthfully, \u201c<strong>I always do what pleases [the Father]<\/strong>\u201d\n(<strong>John 8:29<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>4. Jesus knew His purpose (Mark 1:38). <\/strong>A great threat to our own souls in befriending non-Christians\nis that we can easily lose sight of our purpose. The world does not share our\nbiblical values and is eager to draw us away from devotion to Christ. While we\ncan enjoy friendships with non-Christians, we must do so with the awareness\nthat we are citizens of another kingdom. We are here as ambassadors for the\nKing (<strong>Ephesians\n2:19<\/strong>; <strong>Philippians 3:20<\/strong>; <strong>2 Corinthians 5:20<\/strong>). We can participate in\nactivities and relationships with unbelievers, but only to a point. We must be\nready to say a polite, \u201cNo, thank you,\u201d when asked to step outside our purpose.\nIt may not be outright sin we are encouraged to pursue, but many other things\ncan lure us away from pure devotion to Christ (<strong>2 Corinthians 11:3<\/strong>). Materialism,\nsecular assessments, temporal values, leisure, and entertainment: all can\nthreaten or topple a Christian\u2019s pursuit of purpose. When we keep our eyes on\nthe prize\u2014as Jesus did\u2014our relationships with non-Christians can be enjoyable\nand fruitful for both them and us (<strong>Hebrews 12:1\u20132<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>5. Jesus was selective about His\nclosest companions.<\/strong>\nDespite the fact that Jesus interacted constantly with non-believers, He\nreserved His most intimate connection with His hand-picked disciples. Even\namong the disciples, He chose three\u2014Peter, James, and John\u2014to share the most\nprivate times in His life. Only those three witnessed His transfiguration (<strong>Matthew 17:1\u20139<\/strong>).\nIt was those three who accompanied Him to the Garden of Gethsemane the night of\nHis arrest (<strong>Mark\n14:33\u201334<\/strong>). The model Jesus gave us is that of selective intimacy in\nrelationships. While we are to be kind to everyone, serving every way we can,\nwe should be careful about those we allow to get close to us. Our closest\nfriends carry great influence and can lead our hearts away from God\u2019s plan for\nour lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">If Jesus had\nto be careful about those He allowed to get close to Him, we must be careful,\ntoo. We need to seek out those who share our faith and our love for the Lord,\nremembering that \u201c<strong>we are the temple of the living God<\/strong>\u201d (see <strong>2 Corinthians\n6:14\u201316<\/strong>). We can love and serve our non-Christian friends as a way\nof honoring God and demonstrating how much God also loves them.&nbsp; Through our courtesy, thoughtfulness,\nhelpfulness and provision in times of turmoil the Holy Spirit works through us a\ntestimony of the goodness and sufficiency of our Savior.&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cCan two walk together, except they be agreed?\u201d Amos 3:3 A Christian should relate to non-Christian friends the same way Jesus related to those who did not follow Him. We can look at a few of the ways Jesus related to people and imitate Him as we relate to our non-Christian friends: 1. Jesus was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[534],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Non-Christian Friendships - Grace Evangelical Free Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Non-Christian Friendships - Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cCan two walk together, except they be agreed?\u201d Amos 3:3 A Christian should relate to non-Christian friends the same way Jesus related to those who did not follow Him. 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