THE BEST FRIEND
John 15:13-15
Pastor Greg Mc Donald
I would like to take this moment and welcome all visitors and thank you for coming and worshiping with us today. We welcome you here today on our Friendship Sunday.
Some are here this morning because you where invited by a family member and others where invited by a friend. This mornings message is on Friendship. So let me ask you what is a friend? One Dictionary: defines it as "One who is personally well known and for whom one has warm regard or affection".
A friend is one who knows your faults and loves you regardless. This morning let us take a look at our main text for today, and that is found in John15:13-15(READ)
In this scripture Jesus has opened the way for a new kind of relationship among His disciples. He calls them friends,"Not servants". The love of Jesus had broken down the wall which separated the Master from the slave, and the rich from the poor. But also a love that latter was expressed even more, when Jesus laid down His life for His friends and those friends are us.
In the eleventh chapter of John there are three characteristics that qualify Jesus as a Best Friend. Instead of reading the eleventh chapter this morning I’m going to just go through and give you a picture of what is taking place in this chapter, then share with you the scriptures that point out these three characteristics.
In the beginning of this chapter, word is sent to Jesus, "that the one you love is sick." This person is Lazarus, who is from Bethany, and is the brother of Mary and Martha.
But when Jesus received this message he didn’t hurry up and go to were he was, He waited two more days before gathering His disciples and telling them, "Let us go back to Judea again", to see Lazarus.
When He told his disciples about this they were worried because the last time he was in Judea they tried to stone him there. And now he wants to go back.
But Jesus was not worried,. And He said to His disciples, our friend Lazarus is asleep and I must go and wake him up. Bit His disciples did not understand. They just thought that he was ill and that resting would do him better.
Then Jesus went on to tell them, that they didn’t understand. Lazarus was not sick in the way they thought, He told them that Lazarus had died. So they all went to the town of Bethany.
Mary and Martha at this time were being comforted by many Jews. And when Jesus arrived, Martha went to meet Him, and she said to Him, Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.
But Martha had so much faith in Jesus that she said to Him."But even now I know whatever You ask of God, He will give you." Jesus just simply told her, "Your brother will rise again".
Martha then left and called for her sister Mary and told her that the Teacher has come and is calling for you. As soon as she heard this she got up and quickly went to Him.
When she reached were Jesus was she fell at His feet, saying to Him, just like Martha did, "Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her and the Jews with her weeping, He was moved and asked her "Where have you laid Him."
When they reached the grave there was a stone at the entrance of the grave and Jesus told them to take away the stone. But Martha was worried about the smell because Lazarus had been died for four days, And Jesus said to her "Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"
So they removed the stone and Jesus looked to heavens and prayed to the Father, then shouted "Lazarus come forth." Then Lazarus came out of the grave and Jesus told them, "Remove his grave clothes.
As we are going to see there is no other friend like Jesus.The first characteristic that I would like to point out is the fact of what a mighty friend Jesus is. In verses 37-44 one of the Jewish men that was with Mary and Martha asked the question, "Could not he who open the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from ?"
Even the people around Him that day knew the mightiness of Jesus. He could have obviously kept Lazarus alive, but he chose to let Him die so that His mightiness would be revealed.
Jesus is a mighty friend who performs miraculous things when we meet his requirements and conditions. What I mean by requirements and conditions is, in verses 39-41 Jesus commanded them to take away the stone.
It wasn’t until they met this condition that He required of them, that His mightiness was revealed. How many here this morning need Jesus to reveal His mightiness in their life? This same Jesus that was a mighty friend and raised Lazarus from the dead is still just as mighty today.
He still heals the sick, comforts the brokenhearted, and restore broken relationships. This tomb is the same as our hearts. Inside it is felled with darkness, death, and sorrow.
The stone was the door to the tomb, Jesus was standing at that door and this morning He is standing at the door of your hearts. In Revelations 3:20 Jesus says, "Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him. If we meet His conditions He will give us life, that is eternal life.
Many times I set and think how wonderful it is for me to have such a mighty friend. A friend that can do the impossible. But it doesn’t stop there Jesus is also
a compassionate understanding friend.
We can see in verses 33-35 that He was a compassionate friend. (READ) It says that "He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. We can see that Jesus was obviously saddened by the death of Lazarus also, that even He wept with Mary and Martha and the Jews that were with them.
There are times in our lives when we need such a compassionate and understanding friend. That time came for me June 30th 1998 when my family lost my brother "Billy" to an accidental shooting. Just like Mary and Martha our friends and family poured out their love to us, and I thank each and everyone of them. But it wasn’t until I went to my Best Friend "JESUS" that I was able to feel real comfort.
Ask yourself this morning,"Do I need a compassionate and understanding who will be there for me. Jesus is that friend who is understanding and sympathizes in our deepest sorrows. (READ Isaiah 53:4 - Explain)
This morning I have showed you that Jesus is indeed both a mighty and compassionate friend, but there would be something greatly lacking if these were the only characteristics Jesus possesses as a friend. What we need is a friend who is not only mighty and understanding, "But also loving", Which I believe is the greatest characteristic of a best friend.
In our main text for today in John 15:13, It’s says "Greater love has no one than this, that lay down his life for his friends, That’s exactly what Jesus did for us, In Isaiah 53:5 KJV, But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed:
He was wounded... it sounds like such a simple statement. But do we really grasp the significance of these words??? So often we think of the Hollywood version of these events... Jesus of Nazareth... even the best of these fails to accurately portray what really happened.
And at least partly because of that I think that we’ve lost our sensitivity to the message of the cross, and the power of the blood that was shed. It was on that cross that he who created that tree came and died on it so that you and I could have life and have it more abundantly.
First they tied Jesus up like a criminal and dragged him to a place called the Court of the Pavements. And in the middle of that court stood a tall column of wood, and in at the top of that column was a large metal ring. This was call a scourging post.
Then they took the end of the rope that tied Jesus’ hands and they put it through the ring at the top of the post, Then they pulled on that rope until they had Jesus suspended by his arms until nothing is touching the ground but the tips of his toes. This was to ensure that he couldn’t move either forward or backward.
Then they tore the robe off Jesus’ back and they checked to see that the skin was nice and tight...so that when the scourge hits it will be sure to wrip and tear the flesh, and it won’t just be a wasted motion.
This scourge was a whip with a handle and alot of leather tongues. All down the length of each one of these tongues was tied a piece of metal, or broken bones or something sharp... and the end of each one was tipped off with lead.
These lead balls, when they would strike the skin, would first form a blood blister and after repeated blows it would burst those blisters open. And just from the repeated action of the lead balls alone the skin would actually be torn to shreds.
And the tongues of that scourge they wrapped themselves around Jesus’ body, and they stuck into him and the piece of metal clawed at him, the lenght of each one of these tongues had been dipped in sheep’s blood, and bits or briken pottery had been kind of glued to each one.
So each strand just stuck onto him and clawed into his flesh. And when the man had a good bite on Jesus he would twist the whip and pull so that great big chunks of flesh were wriped off Jesus’ body and he was cut open.
The historian of that day said that Jesus was reduced to human rubble. The historian said that there wasn’t one inch of Jesus’ body that wasn’t cut, or bruised, bleeding, or gashed open.
Then half fainting Jesus was untied and was allowed to slump to the cobblestone floor, wet with his own blood and fragments of his own flesh.
After that they put a crown made out of thorns, which had thick sharp thorns, that were hard as nails. They stuck it on his head and beat it down around his ears. It was pushed down far enough to were part of it was gouging his face. And every facial motion, every movement of his head would cause those thorns to dig in and increase the already excruciating pain.
Then he was handed back over to Pilate, and Pilate brought him before the crowd. The same crowd that a week before had hailed him as Messiah and said they’d love him and stick by him.
Now since it was Passover Pilate gave them a choice, either Jesus or Barabbas. And they cried out free Barabbas, and crucify Jesus, Crucify Jesus.
Now on top of the scourging ,on top of the pain and the loss of blood, Jesus had to stand there and watch while the people he loved turned their backs on him and screamed for Barabbas. He had to stand there while he was deserted by everyone he ever cared for.
Then they took Jesus and put a nearly 200 pound cross on his back, and made him walk up the Via De La Rosa, the way of sarrows it’s called now.
They headed to Golgotha, to Calvary, the place of the skull. It was there that they took the cross and put it down on the ground, and took an 8 inch spike and placed it in the middle of the lower part of his hands-where the small bones are.
Then took that nail and put his hands against the wood put a foot in his palm, put the nail in the heel of his hand, took this big mallet and they drove that nail through his flesh and bones into the wood. They stretched out his other hand and did the same thing.
The hands that had lifted little children into his arms and blessed them, hands that stretched forth and raised the dead, hands that caused the blind eyes to open, and the deaf to hear, hands that I feel from time to time sustaining me, lift- ing me up Hands that will reach into your soul and cast your sins into the sea of forgetfulness,
The wooden beam was them lifted up and placed on top of the post in the ground and secured Then they nailed his feet. They took the left and placed it on top of the other, instep to sole. then they took a 12 inch spike, put it in the middle of his top instep drove it down through both feet and out the back of his heel, nailing him to the cross.
Most people envision Jesus with his arms spread out, but the Romans nailed prisoners with their hands only slightly stretched and their legs bent slightly at the knees.
Jesus hung between heaven and earth. As he hung on the cross in his weakened condition the pain was such that he world slowly sink down, putting weight on the nails in those wrist.
The nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the medium nerves, and between the metatarsal bones in the feet. As the arms begin to fatigue, great waves of cramps creep over the muscles...knotting them in deep, throbbing pain.
And with these cramps comes the end of his ability to push himself upwards. Hanging by his hands the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act, until finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and the bloodstream and the cramps partially subside. Air can be drawn into the lungs but cannot be exhaled.
And so the only way Jesus can get relief from that is to push all of his weight up on the nail in his feet, and pull down on the nails in his hands, and stand upright and grasp a couple of gasps of air.
Every breath was a horrible struggle and was crucial for his body to function. And yet it was during those times that He would push Himself upright to gasp for air that He said such things as "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
And finally He pushed Himself up for the last time and said, "It is finished." And as His head fell forward on His chest and He slumped back down on His hands for the last time...and He died.
Today we don’t serve the beaten, crucified Lord of Calvary...But we serve the risen, Glorified Christ...that is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Jesus paid that price for each one of use...because He loves us. The question this morning is..."How much do we love Him today? This morning may each of us not only realize the price that was paid for us...but let us each examine ourselves to make sure that the precious blood of Jesus has indeed cleansed us and made us whole.
CLOSING
(SONG) "He Was Thinking Of Me"
No matter what your facing today, Good or Bad. He (Jesus) wants to be your Best Friend.
