In our previous message we looked at how we can love one another as Christ has loved us. We’ve seen that He gave His life to those He love – His friends – and encouraged us to do the same.
“You are my friends if you do what I command. 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 learned from my Father I have made known to you,” (John 15:14-15).
Who is a friend? Do you know the song ‘A stranger is just a friend you do not know’? Isn’t it true? Therefore the people we have mentioned in our previous message can all be our friends, can’t they. Jesus, the Lord of lords and King of kings left the glory of His Kingdom in heaven, lowered Himself to our level and started to walk this earth. At the beginning of His ministry, after He was baptised and tempted He chose to reach out to make some friends – He called the disciples (Matthew 4:18-20). At first He did all the reaching out to them, and as they learned to trust Him, they accepted His friendship. Their friendship reached such an intimate level that Jesus eventually served them by washing their feet.
Why do we have friends? Isn’t it because we want to serve one another, be there for one another and confide in one another? This is what Jesus wants – friends that would be there for Him as He is for them. If He has servants, they would just do His bidding as a duty and He would not have someone He could confide in, such as He did with Moses and Abraham.
He mentioned that we would be His friends if we do what He tells us to do. Isn’t that the sign of true friendship among humans too? If friendship only comes from one side, would it last? Friends need to meet one another’s need and Jesus’ need is to have friends that could help Him build His Kingdom. We have watched the Diamond Jubilee of the queen of Great Britain this weekend. She had a lot of people who served her in this and now that it is all over, they won’t see her until the next big occasion. They have done their duty faithfully, it was successful, but now their relationship is again distant.
How many of us serve the King of kings like this. On Sundays, maybe even every day, we pay tribute to Him, but we don’t really live in constant fellowship with Him, seeking how we can do what He expects of us, just as we would do what our friends expect of us.
Friendship also should lift one another up. There are, however, many people who don’t have friends that could lift them up and end up in crime, gangsterism, witchcraft, drug abuse, religious bondage, etc. because of friends. The only way they will get out of it would be by means of friends. Jesus was called a friend of sinners, indicating that He did not only reach them from a distance as we often do, but that He became very involved with their lives. As He reached out to His disciples, so He also reached out to these prostitutes and criminals. Since a stranger is just friend we do not know, why don’t we become friends to those who need to be lifted up to Jesus and not drawn down into sin? It would be a sacrifice, but anything we do in obedience to the Holy Spirit is a sacrifice, since the sinful nature doesn’t get along with the Spirit.
However, we would need to humble ourselves and get rid of our pride for if we would want to be like Jesus as we often claim, we would need to build a friendship base among such people, since Jesus told the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025:31-46&version=NIV1984) and concluded with these words: “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me,’” (V40).
Lord, I’d like to be friends with you and your not-so-acceptable potential friends.
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.
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