My Best Friend—Part 1
Scripture Ref: Romans 5:11 Psalms 145:5
2 Corinthians 5:18 Psalms 1:2
John 15:15 Joshua 1:8
Acts 17:26-27 1 Corinthians 2:7-10
1 Thessalonians 5:17 Psalms 25:14
Psalms 143:5
Additional References: The Bible Knowledge Commentary
The Purpose Driven Life, Chapt. 11, Rick Warren
1. Introduction
a. If someone were to ask you to describe your best friend, how would you do it? Not describing the person, rather describing the qualities that make them your best friend.
b. Certainly your friendship could not be described like this.
Two men were out hunting in the northern U.S. Suddenly one yelled and the other looked up to see a grizzly charging them. The first started to frantically put on his tennis shoes and his friend anxiously asked, "What are you doing? Don’t you know you can’t outrun a grizzly bear?" "I don’t have to outrun a grizzly. I just have to outrun you!" (Author unknown)
c. Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines a friend as: (1) one attached to another by affection or esteem, (2) a companion, and (3) a favored companion.
d. Bits and Pieces, in the July 1991 issue wrote this:
A British publication once offered a prize for the best definition of a friend. Among the thousands of answers received were the following:
"One who multiplies joys, divides grief, and whose honesty is inviolable."
"One who understands our silence."
"A volume of sympathy bound in cloth."
"A watch that beats true for all time and never runs down."
The winning definition read: "A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out."
e. There is one who wants to be your best friend, but it takes effort on your part to establish that relationship.
f. God wants to be your best friend.
2. In the Beginning
a. In Eden the ideal friendship existed.
(1) Adam and Eve experienced and intimate friendship with God.
(2) No rituals, ceremonies, or religion—only a simple loving relationship between God and the people he created.
(3) They didn’t have to seek Him, He came to visit and talk with them.
b. Other Old Testament Friends
(1) Noah, Moses, and Abraham were called friends of God.
(a) Noah, because of his love for God and his value of their friendship, spent 120 years building a ship in the middle of the desert because he believed what God told him.
(b) Moses took on the mighty Pharaoh and led his people out of Egyptian captivity because of the value he placed on his friendship with God.
(c) Abraham became the father of many nations for the same reason.
(2) David was called “a man after God’s own heart.”
(3) Job and Enoch also had intimate friendships with God, all because of the loving relationship they had with him.
c. Unlike these mighty predecessors of ours, we don’t have to spend hours preparing to meet Him. We can approach Him in our time and on our terms.
Read Romans 5:11—Now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God. (NLT)
(1) Our wonderful new friendship is possible only because of His grace and because of what His son, Jesus Christ did for us.
Read 2 Corinthians 5:18—All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
(2) We sing the great old hymn What a Friend We Have in Jesus, but God invites us to be friends with more than just His son. He invites us to be friends with the entire trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Read John 15:15—I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you.
(a) The word translated friend in this verse does not mean a casual acquaintance. It means a close, trusted relationship.
(b) The same word is used to refer to the best man at a wedding and a king’s inner circle of intimate, trusted friends.
d. Surprising as it may be, God deeply desires that we know him intimately.
(1) He planned the universe and coordinated history, including the details of our lives, so we could become His friends.
Read Acts 17:26-27—He made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark, but actually find him. (MSG)
(2) The privilege is ours and the pleasure is His—knowing and loving God.
e. What does it mean when God wants me as a friend? By looking closely at the lives of God’s friends in the Bible, six secrets of friendship with Him are revealed.
3. Mortal Enemies to Best Friends
a. Frankie Valley and The Four Seasons had a huge hit with the song Silence Is Golden. That thought is not true, however, if we hope to cultivate a close, personal friendship with God. We must talk to him—constantly.
(1) A close relationship is not cultivated by weekly church attendance, or even a daily quiet time. It’s built by sharing all of our life experiences with him.
(2) He desires to be a part of every activity, conversation, problem, and even every thought.
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:17—Pray continually.
(3) Praying continually does not mean praying without interruptions. Rather, it is prayer that continues whenever possible.
(a) Here Paul was speaking of maintaining continuous fellowship with God as much as possible in the midst of daily living, in which concentration is frequently broken.
(b) It means talking to God while shopping, driving, working, or any other of your daily tasks.
(4) We mistakenly believe that “spending time with God” means being alone with Him. We do need quiet time with Him, just as Jesus showed us, but, we can spend time with Him if we allow Him to be part of everything we do and we are continually aware of His presence.
(5) God’s standard today is just as it was in Eden—worship is not an event to attend; it is a perpetual attitude.
b. Paul told the Thessalonians to “pray continually.” The is, though, “How?” One way is to use breath prayers throughout the day.
(1) You can choose a brief sentence or simple phrase that can be repeated to Jesus in one breath, such as: “I know you are with me.” “I belong to you.” “Help me to trust you.”
(2) Or, you can use short phrases of scripture: “For me to live is Christ.” “You are my God.” “You will never leave me.”
(3) Pray these simple prayers as often as you can to cement them in your heart. The thing you will have to concentrate on, though, is motive. Make sure you are doing this to honor God, not just to get Him to come around to your way of thinking.
c. Great musicians get to be great musicians through practice. We must practice too. We must teach our minds to remember God.
d. Don’t miss the point. You are not doing this to experience the presence of God.
(1) We praise God to do good, not to feel good.
(2) We should be focused toward being continuously aware of a simple reality—God is always present. We should not focus on a feeling.
4. You Were Always on My Mind
a. Willie Nelson had a big hit with a song entitled You Were Always on My Mind.
b. Were we to put that in a religious vernacular, we could sing I Always Meditated on You. That is another way of building a strong friendship with God, thinking about His Word throughout the day.
(1) The Bible repeatedly urges us to meditate on the person of God, the deeds of God, and the words of God.
Read Psalms 143:5—I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.
Read Psalms 145:5—They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.
Read Psalms 1:2—But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Read Joshua 1:8—Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
c. A simple cliché says “to know me is to love me.” The same is true of God. The antithesis of that, though, is that you can’t love Him without knowing Him; and you can’t know Him without knowing His word.
d. Meditation
(1) Is not a difficult, mysterious ritual practiced only by isolated monks and mystics.
(2) Is a skill anyone can learn and use anywhere at any time.
e. If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate.
(1) Thinking about a problem over and over again in your mind is worry.
(2) Thinking about God’s Word over and over in your mind is meditation.
(3) Switching from worry to meditation simply involves a shift in attention from problems to Bible verses.
(4) The silver lining? The more you meditate on God the less time you have to spend worrying about problems (perceived or real).
f. Friends share secrets, and God is no different. He shared his secrets with Abraham, Daniel, Paul, the disciples, and other friends.
Read 1 Corinthians 2:7-10—No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
g. Shut the door to one ear so that when you hear a sermon or a good teaching tape you don’t let it just pass through unhindered. Review it in your mind until you understand what it is saying to and for you.
h. The more time you spend revisiting what God has said, the more you will understand what it means to be God’s friend.
Read Psalm 25:14—Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence Him. With them alone He shares the secrets of His promises. (LB)
5. Summary
a. God does not want us to see him like the Wizard of Oz.
b. Just as Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion had a friendship with the Great Oz after they saw him and knew him personally, we too can have the same relationship with God.
c. This relationship, though, has its price. The price is time and effort on our part. Much like we cultivated friendships in school, we must cultivate our friendship with God.
d. We cultivate that friendship in two ways—always talking to Him and always thinking about Him.
e. It may not be easy the first few times we try it, but the more we practice the easier it becomes. Eventually we will not even be aware we are doing it. It will just be second nature.
6. Invitation
