Home Podcast Scott Sauls: Cultivating Iron-Sharpens-Iron Friendships in the Church

Scott Sauls: Cultivating Iron-Sharpens-Iron Friendships in the Church

Scott Sauls

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Scott Sauls is the Senior Minister of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Scott’s background includes serving as a lead and preaching pastor for Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, where he worked alongside Dr. Timothy Keller. He has also planted churches in Kansas City and St. Louis and is a frequent speaker at conferences, leadership retreats, and to university students. Scott is the author of Jesus Outside the Lines and Befriend. He lives in Nashville with his wife and two daughters.

Key Questions:

What do we lose when we have conversations over social media versus face-to-face?

How do we fight for friendship when we have been a little too abrasive?

When is it appropriate to end a friendship?

How does a pastor create a culture of friendship?

Key Quotes:

“When social media use goes up, and personal, face-to-face interaction goes down, depression and anxiety increase.”

“Many of us—especially those of us who are public people—we have a lot more fans and admirers than we do actual friends.”

“The definition of a friend is somebody who knows you and is known by you.”

“The goal in every friendship is to get ourselves and each other ready—more ready—for Christ and for knowing Christ, and that includes the refinement of character.”

“The very nature of the gospel is God coming and confronting sin in the world—not because he’s against us—but because he’s for us and he wants us to be healed and he wants us to live life to the full and part of that means rooting the sin and brokenness and dysfunction out of us so that we can be healed. God gives us that dynamic in relationships with one another.”

“The healthiest relationships are going to be filled with encouragement and, in many ways, include a willingness…to help one another be better versions of ourselves.”

“Real friendship happens when we move toward the people we are most tempted to avoid.”

“Friendship hasn’t reached the level of biblical friendship until somebody has irritated us or offended us and we decide to stay…The true test of love is when they offend you or you offend them and you move toward them instead of away from them.”

“The church is a family, and guess what? We don’t get to choose who our family members are. God chooses who our family members are.”

“The only person (in history) who should submit to abuse is Jesus Christ. None of us should submit to ongoing abuse.”

Mentioned in the Show:

Befriend