A Friend of God
Friend Sunday Sermon
Chuck Sligh
September 13, 2015
(Loosely adapted from “How to Be a Friend of God” by Bruce Howell on SermonCentral.com.)
(A PowerPoint presentation is available upon request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.)
TEXT: James 2:23 – “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.”
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – Back in the 1980s Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives, learned that one of his friends had just lost his teenage daughter. Early the next morning Rayburn knocked on his door.
“I just came by to see what I could do to help.”
The father replied that there was nothing to do.
“Well,” Rayburn said, “have you had your coffee this morning?”
The man replied that they had not taken time for breakfast.
So Rayburn went to work in the kitchen.
While making breakfast, his friend came in and said, “Mr. Speaker, I thought you were having breakfast at the White House this morning.”
“Well, I was, but I called the President and told him I had a friend who was in trouble and I couldn’t come.”
We all want and need that kind of friend—one who’s there when you need him or her most. That’s the kind of friend God wants to be in your life. That’s the kind of friend that a man named Abraham had in God.
But James said Abraham was “a friend of GOD”—not that God was HIS friend. This isn’t the only place that Abraham was called the friend of God. In 2 Chronicles 20:7, Johasaphat referred to him in a prayer to God as, “…Abraham, thy friend for ever.” And in Isaiah 41:8 GOD HIMSELF referred to him as “…Abraham, my friend.”
Think about that: The great, almighty, ever-present, all-powerful, all-knowing, self-sufficient God Himself calls Abraham HIS friend. This wasn’t ABRAHAM’S assessment of his relationship with God; this is GOD’S view of His relationship with this unimportant, insignificant nobody named Abraham.
“Friend” is a very interesting description of a relationship between a human and God. We all relate to the word “friendship” on a human level. What IS a friend? [SHOW VIDEO, “WHAT IS A FRIEND?”]
We can understand what it is to be a friend of another human. We can also relate to God or Jesus being our friend, as expressed in the old hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus." But what about US being the friend of GOD? Is such a relationship possible, that God would see you as HIS friend?—And can you enjoy that same kind of relationship with God that Abraham had?
The answers to those two questions are yes, yes and yes! To be the friend of God is the greatest privilege any person could ever have!
I. WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES OF ONE WHO IS A FRIEND OF GOD?
A. First, a friend of God HAS A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM.
All here know a lot about President Obama, but he’s not our personal “friend.” He’s not your friend because you’re not personally acquainted with him. But anyone who trusts in Jesus as his Savior is instantly changed from one who just knows ABOUT God to one who knows God PERSONALLY.
Paul was a person who made knowing God the chief end of his life. In Philippians 3 he told about being a very religious person who dotted all the right i’s and crossed the right t’s of the Jewish faith as taught to him.
But he discovered that he had religion without relationship. Paul said he realized that religion without relationship was a waste. In Philippians 3:7-8, he said that he counted all the religious stuff of his former life as LOSS, even referring to it as “dung,” which is nice talk for “manure.”
In other words, Paul was saying that serving God religiously without a RELATIONSHIP with God is no better than a PILE OF MANURE. Then he went on to say that he gave all up his religious effort and affiliation for one single-minded pursuit: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” (Philippians 3:10)
All true friendships are based on a relationship…that is, knowing someone on a personal level. Let me ask you: do you have a personal relationship with God? Is He merely a religious figure you revere, or do you really KNOW Him?
I hope you do, but if you don’t, what better time to become a friend of God than on Friend Sunday at Grace Baptist Church?
B. Second, a friend of God loves Him—and PROVES IT WITH ACTION.
The Apostle John—who just happened to be Jesus’ closest friend on this earth— puts it this way in John 15:13 – “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Our closest friends are those we trust with our most secret selves. They know us; they understand us; and they love us ANYWAY!
Sometimes we get a distorted idea about what love is.
Illus. – One day a man decided to show his wife how much he loved her. So after dinner he began to recite romantic poetry, saying he would climb the highest mountains to be near her; swim the oceans wide to see her, cross deserts in burning heat to be with her, and even sit at her window and sing love songs in the moonlight to show his love. After listening awhile, she asked, “But will you wash the dishes?”
True love is proven through loving ACTIONS, isn’t it? I think you wives will agree with me that your husband can SAY, “I love you” till the cows come home, but you don’t believe a word of it unless he proves his love through his ACTIONS.
Likewise, friendship is proven by actions!
Illus. – James S. Hewett tells of a neighbor he had who was trying to put a satellite dish on his roof, but was having a terrible time. So Hewett decided to give him a hand. He went over and took his best tools and had the dish up in no time flat. His neighbor asked him what he made with such fancy tools. Hewett replied, “Friends, mostly.”
Well, Abraham proved that he was God’s friend through actions. One day God said to Abraham, “Leave your homeland and all your relatives and your father’s home and go to a land I’ll show you and I’ll bless you and make a great nation out of you.” (Sounds like a PCS move doesn’t it?!)
I would’ve said, “Uh…you want to be a little more specific?” But God didn’t give him any more details than that. God said to just saddle up and hit the road—and without a single argument, Abraham and his immediate family trotted out into the desert to a land and culture that he was unfamiliar with. Later, he was even willing to offer his own son to God as a sacrifice.
As a believer in God, Abraham failed in many ways and made some spectacularly bad decisions, but you can’t discount his love and friendship to God. Folks, if you love God, you’ll do more than just talk about it or sing about it: you’ll prove it by your OBEDIENCE, fleshed out in ACTION.
C. Third, a friend of God SHARES GOD’S INTERESTS.
You don’t usually develop close friendships with people who have different interests than you, do you? In fact, most friendships are made when you meet someone while doing something of mutual interest to both of you.
In Abraham’s life, God had a goal: He was going to raise up a nation from Abraham’s descendant through which He would bless all the nations of the earth. Abraham shared that mutual dream and he believed God. In fact, according to God’s plan, Abraham would father this nation.
What are the interests of God in OUR lives? How do we discover them?—The answer is THROUGH GOD’S WORD. We’ll never understand God’s interests unless we search His Word. It’s in His Word that we discover THE HEART OF GOD. It’s in His Word that we uncover WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO HIM. It’s in His Word that we find out HOW TO GROW IN FAITH.
Good friends will often shoot text messages back and forth on a regular basis. Well, God has written you a great BIG text message called the Bible. Get into it; study it and learn to know what’s important to God. That’s what friends do.
D. Fourth, a friend of God is loyal to Him and stands with Him no matter what.
There were times in Abraham’s life when his example wasn’t the best, but in the area of “sticking with it,” Abraham shone.
God expects the same kind of loyalty from His friends today.
God wants us to stand by Him and for Him, no matter what.
Illus. – Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play baseball in the Major Leagues.
He broke baseball’s color barrier, but for a long time, he faced hostile crowds in every stadium he played in.
Once in his home stadium in Brooklyn, he committed an error. The fans began to jeer at him.
He stood at second base, humiliated, while the crowd booed. But then, without saying a word, shortstop Pee Wee Reese went over and stood next to Jackie.
He put his arm around him and faced the crowd. Suddenly the fans grew quiet. Robinson said that that arm around his shoulder saved his career.
The world GAWKS at God; JEERS at Jesus; and SCOFFS at the Spirit. A friend of God stands up for and is loyal to God, no matter what.
Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
God help us to stand for Jesus; to not be ashamed of Him; to be His true friend to the end, no matter what—because a true friend will do that.
II. NOW HOW CAN WE BE A FRIEND OF GOD? – Let’s think about that a minute.
A. You BECOME a Friend of God by FAITH.
Look again at the first part of our text: James 2:23 – “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.”
Let’s put that in modern-day English: “Abraham believed God, and God’s righteousness was credited to him, and he was called the friend of God.” The Bible teaches that righteousness—which in the Bible means to be free of guilt of ALL sin before God—is not something we EARN by works or religion. Righteousness is something that God credits to a sinner’s account!
Illus. – Suppose I go into deep debt by a number of foolish business decisions. So I call my rich uncle, Warren Buffet (who you may know, is currently the richest man on earth), and say, “Hey Uncle Warren, I’ve really messed up. I’m in debt up to my ears and it’s all my fault. I really don’t deserve it, but if you can help in any way, I’d sure appreciate it.” (Now that’s faith!)
Suppose first of all that Uncle Warren pays the debt off in full. That’s like forgiveness of our sins; that’s God’s mercy. When Jesus died on the cross for your sin, He paid your full sin debt, making it possible for God to wipe the slate clean between you and God if you’ll simply believe it and accept it.
But suppose Uncle Warren does something else…. He goes to my creditors and says, “I’m placing all my wealth at Chuck’s disposal to cover all future debt he ever incurs.”
That’s what James is talking about here. Our spiritual bank accounts are not merely paid from a negative balance to ZERO: no, God credits to our account ALL His perfect righteousness so that God not only sees us as forgiven, but positively as having ALL the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself so that when God sees me, He sees me just as perfect and holy as Jesus. In theology, this is called the doctrine of JUSTIFICATION, which means I’m declared “just as if I’d never sinned.”
How do you get this cancellation of sin’s guilt and have all the righteousness of Christ credited to you?—By trusting in Jesus to save you; nothing more or less. The Bible concept of faith or belief reaches well beyond mental agreement to facts.
Literally, belief in God is to “trust” in Him; “rely” on Him for salvation. Are you trusting in Christ alone today—the one who died on the cross and rose from the dead to pay the penalty of your sin and mine? Are you relying on HIM for your eternal salvation—instead of a church, or your own good works and life, or religious ceremonies and rituals? If not, you can become His friend today by fully trusting in Jesus ALONE.
B. Second, we STRENGTHEN our friendship with God by OBEDIENCE.
In John 15:14, Jesus said, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
We saw earlier that friendship is based on love and love is shown by actions.
• Jesus says that to be His friend, you must obey his commandments.
• Jesus commands you to be baptized and to follow Him.
• He commands you to serve Him and others.
• He commands you to tithe to God’s work.
• He commands you to tell others about Jesus Christ.
• He commanded you to be holy and not be like this world.
• Are you obeying His commands?
• Are you strengthening your friendship with Him by OBEDIENCE?
C. Finally, friendship with God GROWS through FELLOWSHIP.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 18:24 that a friend is one who “sticks closer than a brother.”
• If you want an exciting relationship with God, then stick close to Him.
• Keep in constant contact through worship, serving and fellowship.
• Stay in His Word, and talk to Him every day through prayer.
CONCLUSION
The greatest opportunity afforded any person is to be a friend of God!
Illus. – An ancient kings of Persia loved to mingle with his people in disguise.
Once, dressed as a poor man, he descended the long flight of stairs to the tiny cellar where the furnace keeper, seated on ashes, tended the furnace. The king sat down beside him and began to talk. At meal time the furnace keeper produced some coarse black bread and a jug of water and they ate and drank together.
The king went away but returned again and again, for his heart was filled with sympathy for the lonely man. As the time passed, they became very good friends.
At last the king thought, “I’ll tell him who I am, and see what gift he’ll ask.” So he did, but the furnace keeper didn’t ask for a thing.
The king was astonished and said, “Don’t you realize that I can give you anything?—a city? a throne?” The man gently replied, “I understand your Majesty, but you’ve already given the greatest gift a man could receive. You left your palace to sit with me here in this dark and lonely place. You could give nothing more precious. You gave YOURSELF and that’s more than I deserve.”
If that isn’t an awesome illustration of the power of friendship, I don’t know what is. Oh, to be a friend of God! What an HONOR; what a PRIVILEGE.
What would God have you to do with what you have heard today?
• First, if you’ve never had all your sins—past, present and future—forgiven by trusting in Jesus instead of anything YOU have done, here’s what Jesus says to you in, John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
• Second, if you’ve done that and you’ve already experienced God’s full forgiveness, but you’ve not been a close friend of God through OBEDIENCE; if you’ve been disobedient and distant; here’s what He says to you in James 4:8-10 – “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
In other words, if you’d just come back to Jesus, your Friend, in humility; confess your sin to Him; and rededicate your life to Him, He would gladly draw near to you again and be your close Friend again. May God give you the grace to do that this very morning.
