He Calls Us Friend, When!
Truths to Enjoying the Lord’s Friendship
In John 15:10-17, Jesus presents the truths to enjoying being a friend of Christ. Our Lord spoke forth the elements of being a child of God which, involves living in a reverent fear of God, living as Jesus is their Friend and walking in step with the Holy Spirit of Christ. The Bible says, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
Richard Baxter quoted a poem written by an unknown author, “Lord, it belongs not to my care whether I die or live. To love Thee is my share. And this Thy grace must give. If life be long, I will be glad. That I may live long to obey. If short – yet why should I be sad, to soar to endless days? Christ leads me through no darker rooms than He went through before me. [Too anyone] that God’s Kingdom comes, must be maintained through [obedience.]” (Galaxie Software (2002) 10,000 Sermon Illustrations Biblical Studies Press,)
Jesus Sets the Example
Jesus begins with telling us a truth He lived by, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. In a modern-day phrase – Jesus lived out on this earth what He commands us to do so we may enjoy what God and Christ’s had in their relationship. It is a relationship which is founded on being obedient. Jesus lived out what He taught and we are expected to do the same. No obedience – no joy – Obedience is a key element to living a joyful life with Christ. The Lord is not moved by our successes or our proclaimed motivations, but by our trusting and seeking Him to enable us to walk in obedience to His call upon our lives. In Philippians we read, “And being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8) The prophet Isaiah wrote, “Therefore, I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (NIV – Isaiah 53:12)
If the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead resides in us (Romans 8:11), then living a life of obedience is a possibility for us.
Chosen and Appointed
Enjoying the Lord’s friendship is not like us choosing a club house, us choosing a group of people we like hanging out with or us deciding – I will try this Christ movement ideology out. Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…”
Holy Spirit revelation leads the children of God to understand life in Christ is more than privilege, it is also finding your purpose. The word “abide” (µ??? méno) means to remain and live [out what we are called to do in our service to the Lord and mankind]. (Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.) Jesus said we are to love one another. Love here (??ap?? agapáo) means finding our joy in something or someone [and it may require us disciplining our thoughts and actions.] When exercising our Spiritual gifts for the good of all of mankind in 1 Corinthians 12-14 the love there is a different Greek word (???p? agápe) which means an affectionate regard for the good will of whom we are serving. Both these types of love are in reference to God loving through us, doing what is best for those we are serving, not necessarily what that person desires. (Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.)
Practical Application: Our joy comes when we are enabling others to do well, not when they see we are the person blessing them. There is a fine line between being happy when we see those we are helping succeed and when we are excited about them telling others about all we have done. Doing to be seen is sin, doing to enable others is a blessing to them and gives honor to the Lord. Exercising our Spiritual gifts enabled through God’s love does what is best for everyone we are serving. It does not enable the lawless to continue to break God’s heart and serve the sinful flesh.
If we are truly serving in God’s empowerment we are patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered and keeps no records of wrong. We do not find delight in evil but rejoice in the truth, we protect, we trust, always hoping and we are steadfast. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) When we are serving under our own initiatives we will not enjoy what we are doing, our language and attitudes will be apparent – the Lord will be saddened and those around us will take note of it. We will miss out of the joy of the Lord. When we are serving under the Holy Spirit’s enabling, we will not enable the unrepentant, we will simply find joy in leaving it in God’s hand. The mature in the Lord have seen God time and time again deal with their enemies and critics – seeing God turn them over to themselves, cursing their efforts in living.
Christians through faith in Christ are adopted into Abraham’s line of the people of God. (Ephesians 1:5; Romans 9:4; Galatians 3:7) Thus, the promise, “…I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3) The heartbeat of Abram’s call is the heartbeat of the Christian’s call in fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20)
Fulfilling Our Appointed Calling Enables the Promise
Jesus said when our fruit in service to Him and mankind abides, we may enjoy the promise, “so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you.” Our Lord Jesus also said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it.” (John 14:12-14) In John 16:23-24 we read, “…I tell you the truth, My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. …Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”
The fruit may apply to the fruit of the Holy Spirit of which is manifest in our lives as we feed on God’s Word. Here it refers to the steadfastness of communicating the entire Message from the whole counsel of God’s Word. (Borchert, G. L. (2002). John 12–21 (Vol. 25B, p. 151). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.; Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). St. John (Vol. 2, p. 273). London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.; Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Jn 15:16). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.) Our Great Commission is clear. Matthew wrote, “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18-20)
When we place our hearts and lives to be in right service to the Lord, we may ask in a prayerful heart for everything we need. (Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). St. John (Vol. 2, p. 273). London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.) As long as our prayers are not the proclaiming of our own ambitions, we can expect God to enable and provide us with everything we need.
At a preacher’s luncheon, a young word of faith promoter said he was asking God to make his church a place where thousands would attend. The town he lived in was only about four hundred people. The closes city was hundreds of miles away. Needless to say, the prayer was not answered yes to. Now if his prayer would have been, “Lord, give our church open doors of opportunity to realistically reach people with God’s Word on the issues of their day.” The young preacher would have enjoyed his work with the Lord. God’s will is not moved by our faith – He rewards faith which is based on the foundation of the whole council of His Word.
I cannot expect the Lord to give me a jet plane – when my work for the Lord at this present time does not require me to fly. All Christians can expect the Lord to give them open doors of opportunity and prepare the way as long as:
1.) Our ministry outreach for the Lord is for His glory and not ours.
2.) Do we sacrifice time and energy to get properly prepared for what God has called us to? Are we spending too much time in this world pleasures?
3.) Will it prepare others to walk according to God’s will?
4.) Will it equip others to do what we are called to do?
5.) If we are not seeing open doors of opportunity and have the Lord’s provision, are we willing to ask.
A. What do we need to change?
B. Are we making disciples and enabling others to benefit from what we are called to?
C. Are we trying to kick doors open – or are we like the Apostle Paul, able to discern the Holy Spirit’s leading?
D. Are the cancers of traditionalism, denominationalism, legalism and faddism blinding our vision for the future?
E. Do we have false gods in our life or are the things we enjoy truly stewardship for Him?
F. Do we have a church house or club house?
G. Do people who have God ordained ministries feel welcome to work among us or do we run them off?
H. Are we truly willing to pray, “Search our hearts, change us, mold us and enable us to be fully prepared for the work you set before us?”
I. Do we prepare with an expectation God is doing a work or are we just doing, waiting to see if something happens? Is there an investment or just setting idol?
In Genesis, Abram was told to leave and go to the place God would send him. (Genesis 12) The priest who were carrying the ark of the Lord, had to set their feet in the Jordan river before it opened up for them to cross. (Joshua 3:13-14) All the Apostles of Christ felt the heat of battle in their work for the Lord, then they saw the hand of the Lord fight for them. Many Christians have gone home to Lord in their service, knowing their blood poured out would raise up a church for Christ Jesus. Obedience to the call is what enables us to enjoy Jesus as being our friend.
In Closing: Charles Swindoll wrote in Living Above the Level of Mediocrity an interesting illustration: “Imagine, if you will, that you work for a company whose president found it necessary to travel out of the country and spend an extended period of time abroad. So, he says to you and the other trusted employees, ‘Look, I’m going to leave. And while I’m gone, I want you to pay close attention to the business. You manage things while I’m away. I will write you regularly. When I do, I will instruct you in what you should do from now until I return from this trip.’
Everyone agrees. He leaves and stays gone for a couple of years. During that time he writes often, communicating his desires and concerns. Finally, he returns. He walks up to the front door of the company and immediately discovers everything is in a mess--weeds flourishing in the flower beds, windows broken across the front of the building, the gal at the front desk dozing, loud music roaring from several offices, two or three people engaged in horseplay in the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered a great loss. Without hesitation he calls everyone together and with a frown, then he asks, ‘What happened? Didn’t you get my letters?’ You say, ‘Oh, yeah, sure. We got all your letters. We’ve even bound them in a book. And some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have ‘letter study’ every Sunday. You know, those were really great letters.’
I think the president would then ask, ‘But what did you do about my instructions?’ And, no doubt the employees would respond, ‘Do? Well, nothing. But we read every one!’(Charles Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, p. 24 - Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.) Christians are called to be doers of the Word, not just listeners.
In the Parable of the Two Sons, a spiritual truth giving a stinging rebuke to those claiming to be godly and are not. Jesus talked about the first son who said he would not do what his father asked, but later changed his mind and did as his father asked. The second son told his father we would do what was asked of him, however, he chose not to obey. (Matthew 21:28-31) The heartbeat of the teaching is – obedience is what is expected from God’s children, not lip service.
Obedience is the element for Christians to be called friend by Jesus Christ.
