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This morning we’re in the sixth week of a series that I’m calling Practical Christianity, in which we’re taking a look at how believing the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, shapes our day to day life. The general idea of the series is found in Paul’s words in Philippians 2:12-13 - work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. We do not work for our salvation, but once we have been saved and come into a relationship with God, we spend the rest of our lives learning to work out the implications of our salvation, of the gospel, into every aspect of our life, as God works in us. So far, we’ve looked at your love life, parenting, and work, and today we will be looking at how the gospel shapes our friendships.

When I look back on my salvation, one of the biggest impacts was on my friendships. As I got involved in a Christian fellowship group at UConn, I found greater depth, greater heart connection, and a deep love for my brothers and sisters in the faith, something I had never experienced with my high school friends.

Let me begin by reviewing the three elements of the gospel on which I have been focusing:

1) Salvation and justification by grace – Although we have been created in the image of God, we have all been separated from God by sin, and all around the world people are trying to connect with God. But the gospel teaches us that our acceptance before God is not on the basis of what we have or have not done, but only by repenting of our sin and trusting in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Key passages we looked at included Romans 3:20-24 and Ephesians 2:8-9. Essentially, this means that you are accepted; therefore you obey, as opposed to you obey in order to be accepted.

2) New life – The gospel means that we have been born again (see Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3), and the rest of our life is about learning to live into this new nature. When we are born again, we are given God’s Holy Spirit in us, the power we need to overcome the struggles of this world.

3) A certain hope – Our deepest desires and needs are met not in anything or person in this world but in Jesus Christ and the hope of eternal life. We have been adopted into His family and are now heirs of all that is His.