FRIENDS
WITH GOD
Pastor Barnett,
Oklahoma
The night was wearing on. Jesus knew it was His last night with the twelve whom
the Father had given Him. He celebrated the Passover supper with His
disciples and had washed their feet with such love and humility none could
understand it. The words He imparted to them at that time set in place a level
of relationship that dwarfs all others – the covenant relationship.
The life and ministry of Jesus the Son of God accomplished much in those few
years on earth. He brought salvation to mankind. He fulfilled the Law. He
defeated the works of the devil. He demonstrated the nature of God the Father.
He fulfilled many prophecies, but certainly one of the most significant ones
was the one made to Abraham.
“Now to Abraham
and His Seed were the promises
made. He dos not
say, ‘And to seeds,’ as if many, but as
of ‘one,’ ‘And to
your Seed,’ who is Christ.”
God
promised to bless all the families of the earth through his descendant Jesus;
but this statement was not some loose promise made to Abraham, it was covenant
talk. Later God established covenant with Abraham and that set in place forever
the relationship that would exist between God and his descendants. (Genesis 15)
In the upper room after the celebration of the Passover Jesus made a bold and
poignant statement to those twelve men. Look at what He said to them…
John 15:15
“No longer do I
call you servants, for a servant does not
know what
his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all
things that I
heard from My Father I have made know to you.”
He calls them
His friends.
This statement probably does not mean that much to us who seem to use the word
‘friend’ with such ease. Actually, the use of that word is to simply refer to
someone we know or with whom we are acquainted. It holds little weight to the
Western mind. But to Jesus and those twelve disciples, to make such a
pronouncement was a powerful and weighty thing! Why? These Jews understood the
concept of covenant very well. And they knew that what Jesus was saying to them
were words meant to establish covenant. He was essentially referring to them as
His equal! Up until this time, the relationship between Jesus and the twelve
was Master / disciple, Lord / servant, Teacher / pupil but Jesus was
rearranging things right before their eyes. He was now calling them His friend!
Friendship is a pure form of relationship in that the friends view the other as
a partner or as an equal. Friendship has no pecking order. One friend is not
greater or more important that the other. And as absurd as it may seem to our
carnal minds as we read this passage, Jesus was raising His relationship with
these mere mortals up to the highest level possible.
Friendship has strong demands placed upon it. See what Jesus says in John 15:13
“Greater love has
no one than this, than
to lay down one’s
life for his friends.”
As you can see
from this verse, friendship requires the ultimate sacrifice of one’s life. But
the basis of such a level of mutual commitment between friends is not a sense
of, on the contrary, the basis for true friendship is love. Just like
Jesus says in this verse. Of course, Jesus demonstrates this truth about being
a friend when He died in place of His friends.
Please read once again John 15:15
“No longer do I
call you servants, for a servant does not
know what his
master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all
things that I
heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
There is one
thing about two people who are genuinely friends, and that is there is full
disclosure between them. Honesty is one of the foundation stones of a covenant
friendship. Jesus practices this aspect of friendship with these twelve men
that He calls disciples. As friends, they are privileged to know. To know what?
Friends know everything. Notice Jesus says that He has told them everything His
Father has shared with Him. Full disclosure is a characteristic of true
friendship. Open and honest exchange of information cements the relationship as
nothing else can. It says to other friend, “I trust you implicitly!”
In our friendship with God through Christ Jesus, we are told that He has freely
revealed to us the mysteries of God…
I Corinthians
2:9-10
“But as it is
written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
nor have entered
into the heart of man the things which God
has prepared for
those who love Him. But God has revealed them
to us through His
Spirit. For the Spirit searches all
things, yes, the
deep things of God.”
Once again, we see that our Friend has revealed to us (His friends) all that we
need to know. Holy Scripture is the source of that knowledge. This truth of full
disclosure is further supported this verse:
II Peter 1:4
“As His divine
power has given to us all things
that pertain to
life and godliness, through the knowledge
of Him who called
us by glory and virtue.”
Did
you catch the truth that we have already been given absolutely everything we
need in life? How wonderful is this thing called friendship! Notice how this
divine provision happens – it happens through knowledge; that knowledge is of
God’s word. That’s right. Everything that pertains to life and godliness is
there in your Bible and it is yours if you are His.
What we are beginning to understand is that
our friendship with God carries with it the privilege of access to heaven’s
treasure chest of truth. Just think about it, since God knows everything and it
is His treasure chest of truth we are talking about, by virtue of our
friendship with Him He has made all of this knowledge available to us. It
therefore behooves each of us to apply ourselves to the study of the Word,
feeding on it daily in order for us to know our Friend better, to know what He
likes and dislikes, and how we can better please Him.
Friendship is a very close form of
relationship. We have a close relationship with God. Just like friends share
special and intimate information with one another that others are not privy to,
so has God shared His deep inner secrets with us. That is why Paul tells us
that people who are not friends with God are not privileged to these secrets…
“But the natural
man does not receive the things of the
Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him; nor can he
know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.”
As a friend of God, you have access to His knowledge, His wisdom, His
understanding! Paul the apostle had special insight into this revelation when
he penned this verse under divine inspiration…
I Corinthians
2:16
“For who has
known the mind of the
Lord that he may
instruct Him? But we
have the mind of
Christ.”
From this verse, it is clear that God intends for us to think like Him. Perhaps
a better way to put it is that we are to think with His thoughts. Indeed,
friends are like-minded, which is one of the reasons they seem to fit together
well. So it must be with we who are friends with God. Since He is divine and
omniscient, (all knowing) it makes good sense for this friendship to lean
toward His direction in the knowledge category, doesn’t it?
Let’s return to Abraham for a moment to gain insight into this friendship
thing. The Apostle James refers to Abraham’s relationship with God as follows…
James 2:23
“And the Scripture
was fulfilled which says,
‘Abraham believed
God, and it was counted to him for
righteousness.’
And he was called the friend of God.”
The friend of God! What a lofty place to be. This man Abraham must have been
some kind of guy for God to call him His friend. Indeed, he was special. But
that “special-ness” was simply a matter of believing God. As a result of
believing, he was deemed by God to be righteous. That means he was deemed to be
worthy to stand in His divine presence. He had right-standing with God.
Abraham’s righteousness opened to him the right to be called God’s friend.
What Jesus was actually doing when He refers to the twelve as friends, is
continuing what Father God began 2000 years earlier with His relationship with
Abraham. One of the things about a covenant relationship is that it is
never-ending. What which the two original friends (God and Abraham) agree,
extends to all the descendants of each party. Jesus was the descendant of
Father God and the disciples were descendants of Abraham by virtue of physical
birth. So we see that friendship is perpetual once it is instituted within the
covenant relationship.
This truth is graphically illustrated in II Samuel 9. King David desires to
show kindness to an heir of his covenant friend Jonathon who had died earlier.
Jonathon had a son named Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth is then shown favor by King
David simply based upon the friendship that was established with his father
Jonathon. His family’s inheritance was reinstated to him and he was given a
standing invitation to dine at the table of the king.
This reveals the power of friendship to extend beyond the lives of the original
two friends. See this truth established in Proverbs 27:10
“Do not forsake
your own friend or your father’s friend,
nor go to your
brother’s house in the day of your calamity.”
To anyone who
understands a covenant relationship, even to the extent of maintaining your
father’s friends as yours. This notion of generational friendship reveals to us
how sacred and holy friendship is to God. Once established, a friendship is
meant to last forever. Such is God’s friendship with you and me.
Jesus did not merely establish friendship with twelve men, these twelve
represent every person who would follow them into the Kingdom of God through
the new birth. He was actually setting in place a friendship that anyone who
chose to accept Him as Lord and Savior could enjoy. These are our spiritual
forefathers. That is why He promises to each of us, “…I will never
leave you nor forsake you.” As our Friend, He promises that He
will always be here for us. Regardless of what happens around us He will remain
faithful to His friendship with us.
The theme John focuses on in John 15 is love. Love is the foundation for true
friendship. Notice what Jesus says…
“As the Father
loved Me, I also have loved
you; abide in My
love.”
This statement
precedes His declaration about His calling the twelve disciples His friends. I
believe this fact is crucial to a clear understanding of friendship with God.
The message that is sent is that this wonderful, close friendship with God
Almighty was His idea, and he initiated it as a result of His love for us. It
did not happen because of something we did. It is simply an initiative of love
on His behalf.
There is a comfort that arises from knowing that God is our Friend. But that
truth is even further heightened when we understand that it is He who chose us
and that selection was based solely on His love for us. Far too many Christians
fail to understand this truth. Their service to God is from a sense of duty,
obligation, or fear of His wrath. Even though they are friends with God because
they know Him as Lord and Savior, they fail to fully enjoy their Friend. Jesus
speaks of this…
John 15:11
“These things I
have spoken to you,
that My joy may
remain in you, and that
your joy may be
full.”
Notice that it is His desire that we live in a state of joy – fullness of
joy! Unless we recognize our friendship with the Lord and it is
understood, we can fall into the trap of religion in which is found no real
joy.
Religion is of the devil. Religion is counterfeit friendship with God. It is
conduct and practices based on adherence to manmade rules and regulations that
are intended to please God, pacify His wrath, and gain divine approval.
Religion attempts to drive us into a lesser relationship with God because it is
not based upon love. The Pharisees practiced religion, and as we know, Jesus
abhorred their ways. This alone should open our eyes to its evil and prompt us
to pursue genuine friendship with Him rather than practicing religion.
Pastor Randy Barnett
