I began the message with asking everyone in the room if they had seen Kyle (Kyle is the Jr. High leader that does all the fun games at the beginning of class). Everyone said they did not know where he was. “Man, where is he at?” I exclaimed. Turning to the other leaders in the room, I said, “That’s it, I’m going to look for him.” As soon as I opened the door and walked out of the room the lights shut off, and a video projected on the wall of me in the hallway with the same clothes on. This video shot me running around town to get to Kyle’s house and wake him up for church. After finding him we drive back to the church, run up the stairwell and into the classroom. As soon as we get to the classroom the video shut off and the real Kyle and I walked into the class, “I found Kyle!”
After this act we played a game where you must work together in pairs blindfolded and build a structure that a third person without a blindfold is telling you how to build. This game was intense and difficult. The girls, thanks to Sarah Hughes’ leadership were the closest to finishing. Once the game was over I gave the message.
Matthew 7:7says, “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” There is a treasure. You must find it! This week we are on a quest for friends, just like Kyle and I in the video.
Imagine us being like one big family. Picture Emily, Kelli, Samantha, Ramey, Rhesa, Kaley, Katie and Sarah (these were some of the girls on Sunday) becoming more than just church friends, but instead becoming like one big family. Imagine Hampton, Derek, Cody, Jeffrey, Baily, Austin, Dylan, Tyler and Andy (some of the guys on Sunday) all hanging out every weekend. What if we had like 50 girls at movie night at Shelby’s with no cliques or insecurities? What if it was like having one gigantic family of best friends? Imagine paintball with 50 of your best friends rather than 50 church people acquaintances. It would be like hanging out with your best friend, except now it is 50 times better. There is no insecurities, no weirdness. You can be yourself.
I had this when I was in middle school. Every Tuesday night we would do a Bible study at our house with basketball prior to the study. We soon grew to 30 people on a weekly basis. To this day, I have never seen a group of Jr. High guys worship God so passionately and be so closely banded to each other. I can still call up these guys that I have not seen in 12 years and hardly miss a beat. God did something miraculous in my life at this age that I’ll never forget.
Frodo and Sam’s friendship shows what I am talking about (We played the clip from “The Return of the King” where Sam carries Frodo up Mt. Doom). Frodo is in turmoil from carrying the ring as it is eating away his soul. In agony, Frodo falls to the ground and tells Sam he can’t make it. Then Sam says one of the most powerful lines in movie history, “Mr. Frodo, I can’t carry this burden for you, but I can carry you!” Sam completely exhausted then picks Frodo up and starts marching up the mountain.
What can make this happen? What is the key to this miracle of friendships? Where can we find it? How can we get to it? The first step to any treasure hunt is you must first find the map. The Bible is a treasure map that leads to incredible treasures. There are three clues that I have found that lead to the treasure spoken of above.
The first clue is in Matthew 22:34-40. Jesus tells us the second greatest command is to love your neighbor as yourself. Okay, so to get this amazing type of friendship and unity in your life you must love others. But this is not all of it. This is a clue that leads to a clue. Clue #2 is found in I Corinthians 13. Here we find out what love is. Love is patient, love is kind, love is not self-seeking… Now we know what loving others is. We know what it looks like. It is patient, unselfish, kind... We are getting closer to the treasure but we are not quite there. In John 15:13 Jesus gives us the final clue which says, “No greater love is there than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” The greatest love is the love that is 100 percent unselfish; sacrificial love. This is perfect love. Perfect love is found in I John 4:18, which says that perfect love drives out all fear.
It is when we have perfect love, love that is willing to lay down everything we are for others that we find an atmosphere of friendships with no insecurities, no trying to impress others and no self-centeredness. There is perfect unity in this level of friendships and incredible joy. Once we attain this treasure we get the above which I spoke of.
