Ep 73: Wounds, Kisses, and Echo Chambers

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Topic:

• ​What can algorithms and echo chambers teach us about being good friends?

Discussion Questions:

• Are we good friends?
• Do we surround ourselves with honest friendships, or do we seek the comfort of the echo chambers around us?
• Do we tend to give faithful wounds, or deceitful kisses?
• What were some of the hard truths Jesus spoke to his friends?
• What can we do to be better friends to those around us?

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, good morning, I'm Daniel Dalp and this is for your Sunday
morning drive. The short podcast with the goal
of providing some motivation, Dr. encouragement and maybe even
challenging you a little on yourway to worship and helping you
recenter your mind on those spiritual things on a hectic
Sunday morning. We are brought to you by the
Ministry League network of podcasts.
You can always check out the great podcasts and resources

(00:23):
that they offer through ministryleague.com or you can
download their app. Let's go ahead and get the show
on the road this morning. This is episode 73.
Wounds, kisses and echo chambers.
Let's go to church. Are we there yet?

(00:53):
Have you ever gotten stuck in anecho chamber?
I feel like all of us have at some point.
It is really easy to do because we surround ourselves, sometimes
even unconsciously and unintentionally, with people
that we mostly agree with, whether that is theologically,
politically, culturally, or academically.
We align ourselves in certain camps or with certain

(01:15):
individuals with certain mindsets.
We even tend to pick out which national news networks we watch
based on if we agree with what they tell us rather than if they
report what's factual. And then there's the digital
echo chamber, the one we are allstuck in, whether we want to
believe it or not. You see, we are primarily fed

(01:35):
the content that we want to hear, not what we need to hear.
And that's not a radical idea. In fact, test it for me.
When was the last time that yourtimeline, your FYP or your
Instagram page showed you something that you really
disagreed with? Let me say that another way.
When was was the last time the algorithm told you that you were

(01:56):
wrong? Probably not a ton of examples
coming to mind, right? I'm right there with you.
And if we're not careful, we cando the same thing with the
people in our lives, our friends.
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what it
means to be a good friend and what a good friend looks like.
And one of the things that I keep coming back to is that a

(02:16):
good friend is not an echo chamber.
Now we may share some fundamental beliefs.
So that is to be expected and, and it's a good thing,
especially if we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
But a good friend will tell us what we need to hear regardless
of if we want to hear it. In short, a good friend will

(02:37):
tell us when we're wrong. And we don't like that all the
time, do we? Because it can hurt.
It can hurt our feelings, our egos, but it doesn't have to
hurt our friendships. In fact, I'd say that Scripture
supports it. Proverbs 27 verse 6 says
faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the
kisses of an enemy. What are those wounds?

(02:59):
Hard truths. Maybe it's what Scripture is
designed to do according to Paul.
Second Timothy 316 says all Scripture is inspired for God
and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and
for training in righteousness. Maybe it's a rebuke.
Maybe it's simply being blunt and telling us to get our act
together. Maybe it's lovingly holding each

(03:20):
other accountable, especially when there's a recognition of a
shared struggle. And maybe it's a moment where we
see a friend drifting away from faithfulness and instead of a
betraying false word of affirmation, we offer instead a
loving and concerned word of correction.
Yeah, it might sting in the moment, but at the end of the
day, what truly makes a better friend now, it goes without

(03:43):
saying, or at least it should, that these wounds are not out of
malice, but are, for our friends, ultimate good.
And there are a few things I appreciate more in a friend than
when they tell me how it is for my own benefit.
Why is that? Well, I've come to find friends
that rarely are we as self awareas we think we are.
Sometimes we are blind or purposely ignorant to both hard

(04:06):
truths and the encouraging ones.A good friend will tell you both
those hard things that we don't want to see about ourselves, but
also those positive attributes that we might also ignore.
And the goal here, of course, isto love each other.
Like Jesus, that's what agape love is like that sacrificial,
unconditional love. The goal is always for the

(04:29):
benefit of our friend's best interest.
And of course God, not us or anyone else, gets to decide what
their best interest is. Proverbs chapter 28 verse 23
says he who rebukes a man will afterwards find more favor than
he who flatters with the tongue.The truth is always the best

(04:51):
course, even when it's hard. Yes, friends, echo chambers and
algorithms make for bad friends.The question is, are we willing
to be good ones? Are we willing to offer loving
wounds instead of deceitful kisses?
Because you know, deceitful kisses.
They were offered to Jesus too. Remember Matthew 2649 through 50

(05:11):
says immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, hail Rabbi and
kissed him. And Jesus said to him, friend,
do what you have come for. Then they came and laid hands on
Jesus and seized him. We see the betrayal of a false
and deceptive kind act. Ah, but then there's Jesus, the
one who we are supposed to mold our lives after.
A true friend. You know Jesus said many things

(05:34):
throughout his earthly ministry,and many were hard truths and
few, if any were accepted by allthat heard them.
But you know, every word He spoke was for the ultimate good
of His people. It might have been a teaching, a
rebuke, A chastisement, A condemnation, or a command, but
He still spoke them all the same.
If we want to be good friends, if we truly want to love one

(05:55):
another like Jesus, then let's take a page out of his book.
Speak the hard truths. Let our friendships not be echo
chambers, but instead let them echo the relationships modeled
by Christ. After all, a good friend always
points to Him. Well, those are my thoughts for
your Sunday morning drive. Now it's time to hear yours.
Our discussion questions for this week are, are we good

(06:18):
friends? Do we surround ourselves with
honest friendships or do we seekthe comfort of the echo chambers
around us? Do we tend to give faithful
wounds or deceitful kisses? What were some of the hard
truths that Jesus spoke to his friends, and what can we do to
be better friends to those around us?