A
Study of the Book of John
“That You May Believe”
Sermon
#41
“He
Calls You Friend”
John
15:12-17
The first eleven
verses of chapter fifteen dealt with the relationship between the vine and the branches.
And now in verses 12-17 Jesus introduces a new level of relationship available with God,
that of “friend.” There have only been a few men down through the centuries that
have been called the friend of God; both Abraham (James 2:23) and Moses (Ex 33:11) where
called friends of God. This title is unusual and speaks of the highest relationship
possible between God and a human being. Now Jesus calls his disciples friends, but this
friendship is not our doing, but his, which provides us with tremendous security that His
affection for us will not change.
Life is made up of a
series of relation-ships. From the time we are born until we die we go from one human
relationship to another. First is the parent-child relationship. Then there is the
inter-family relationship between sibling, the brother and sister relationship. Then there
is the extended family relationships; grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Eventual
most of us move into the intimate relationships of husband and wife. But there is one
relation-ship that begins very early and extends throughout or lives, that of friends. The
relationship between friends is different from the others. It is unique.
The parent child relationship grows and it
changes. The child matures and at some point moves out on their own. The difficult thing
for parents is about the time you learn something about being a parent everything changes
and your children are grown. Statistics tell us that next year three million children will
turn sixteen in this country and seven million parents will turn pale. The point is that
the parent- child relationship is always changing. Most of our relationships change, but a
true friendship never changes.
Friendship is such a precious thing that we
cannot put a price upon it. Dollars and cents can never measure the treasure of
loyalty and trust-worthiness we find in a friend. C.S. Lewis puts it, “Friendship is the
greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of
life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I
would say, “Sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.” I
know I am very fortunate in that respect.”
Friends are a wonderful resource in our
lives. People have childhood friends, friends from our school days and we even have
friends that we talk to scattered all around the world. We have friends that have to
move away from us and we sometimes gain friends in the most unlikely of
situations. But the thing that amazes me is how our Lord, and Savior calls us “friend.’
When we think of friends from the
standpoint of the Lord Jesus Christ, He stresses that the lines of communication are wide
open. He “no longer
calls us servants, for servants do not know what his master is doing.” I have heard individuals say, “I don’t have a friend in the world!” But
that doesn’t have to be true you can always have a friend in Heaven who loves you.
Now read with me beginning in verse twelve,
“This is My
commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (13)
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (14) You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. (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.
(16) You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you
that you should go and bear fruit, and that
your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (17) These things I command you, that you love one another.”
Jesus
discussed four characteristics of the kind of friendship He offers.
First, Friends Are Willing To Make Personal Sacrifices (v. 13)
“Greater love has no one than
this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
Sacrifice is essential
to genuine friend-ship and love. Verses twelve and thirteen are a re-statement of the
“new
commandment” which was given in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one
another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” The idea of
sacrifice is found in the phrase “as I have loved you.”
The old commandment
had been to “love God with all your mind and
soul, and your neighbor as yourselves.” The story of “The Good
Samaritan” was the explanation by Jesus of that kind of wonderful love. But
the new commandment requires us to love others as Jesus has loved us. How has Christ loved
us? He has loved us sacrificially. His sacrifice is our model.
Not
Only Are Friends Willing To Make Personal Sacrifices but…
Secondly, Friends Are Guided By Mutual Goals.
(v. 14)
“You are My friends if you do
whatever I command you.”
The words of Jesus in verse fourteen speak
primarily of obedience but they also suggest a mutuality of heart, the disciples obey
Jesus because they share the same outlook and goals. Close friends agree in the heart. The
use of the present tense here has the meaning of “keep
on doing” tells us that friendship depends on mutual goals and aims.
In the New
American Standard Bible translation of Phil 2:19-20 the Apostle Paul says, “But I hope in the Lord
Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of
your condition.
(20) For I have no one else of
kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.”
Paul described Timothy as being “a
kindred spirit” or it is translated “like minded”
in the NKJV but either way it literally means “one
souled.” We think of “soul brothers” as a modern term from the
sixties, but actually it is a biblical term. The point is that Paul is saying that his
friendship with Timothy was friendship of the soul. That is how close Paul and Timothy
were – they had the one-souled quality that all true friends have. In friend-ship
there is a kinship of the soul.
This usual kinship also existed between David
and Jonathan in the Old Testament. Jonathan was Saul’s son and heir to the throne of
Israel. In 1 Samuel 18:1 we read that right after David’s victory over
Goliath, “Now when he
had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and
Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” The scripture says that their souls
were knit together.
Not Only Are Friends Guided By Mutual Goals
but….
Third, Friends Are Privy To Privileged
Information (v. 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 a sense that up until now the
Disciples were more like slaves than friends to Jesus. It was not so because he treated
them unkindly, but because they were incapable of being anything else. A “friend”
is one with whom you can share what your thinking, what your goals, your motivations and
reason for doing things are. Up until now the disciples had simply not been able to
understand any of these things about the Lord, even though He had communicated many of
these things to them. But now with the coming and abiding of the Holy Spirit they are
ready to move to a new level of relationship that of “friend.”
For example, a mere servant or employee is
not given details about direction that the master or employer is taking the company. For
example, a number of our congregation are employees of the Axiom Corporation. There are
over 7,000 employees of Axiom who are glad they can keep coming to work. On any given week
rumors abound about the fate of this company and what direction the corporate powers will
take the company. But it would be different if you were on close personal terms with the
big boss.
The word translated “friends”
in (v. 15) literally means “a friend at court.” “The courts of eastern
kings held an elite group of men called “friends of the king.” They had
unrestricted access to the king, Having the right to even come into the king’s
private (bed)chamber, they often met with him informally before he saw his political,
economic or military advisors. Think about the incredible offer Jesus gives – to be
no longer slave but friends. We need no gaze at Him from afar. We are no longer excluded
from His intimate circle of confidants. Friends? Incredible but true.” [Charles Swindoll. Study Guide. (Insight for
Living). pp. 12-13]
No longer are the disciples to be in the
dark, they are to be fully enlightened as to what Jesus is doing.
Earlier we expressed that Abraham and Moses
were both referred to as “friends of God.” And in
both case we see that this meant having access to information not revealed to others. God
called Abraham his friend and when he was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah he would not
keep this information from his friend. In Genesis 18:17-18 we read, “And the LORD said, “Shall
I hide from Abraham what I am doing, (18) since Abraham shall
surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed
in him?”
The same kind of intimacy can be seen in
the life
of Moses we read in Exodus 33:9-14, “And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle,
that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at
the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD
talked with Moses. (10) All the people saw the pillar of cloud
standing at the tabernacle door, and all
the people rose and worshiped, each man in
his tent door. (11) So
the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would
return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart
from the tabernacle. (12) Then Moses said to the LORD, “See,
You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You
will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found
grace in My sight.’ (13) Now therefore, I pray, if I have
found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find
grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” (14)
And He said, “My Presence will go with
you, and I will give you rest.”
Note if you would that both Abraham and
Moses are called the friend of God and in both cases God revealed things to His friend
that He does not reveal to others. And in both cases on the basis of what God did reveal
to His “friend,” this “friend” appealed to God on the behalf of others
and the appeal was granted.
Not Only Are Friends Privy To Privileged
Information but…
Fourth, Friends Have A Desire To See Their Friends Grow
and Succeed (v. 16)
“You did not choose Me, but I
chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you
ask the Father in My name He may give you.”
In this verse we see the Lord’s desire
to help His friends succeed:
“I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” The optimal desire in any friendship is to
see that friend succeed. Friends rejoice in each other’s successes.
I want to once again refer to the friend-ship
of David and Jonathan. In 1 Samuel 18:3-4 we read, “Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he
loved him as his own soul. (4) And Jonathan took off the robe
that was on him and gave it to David, with
his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.” I don’t know
that I ever stopped to realize just what this gesture on the part of Jonathan meant.
Everything that Jonathan gave to David represented that he was surrender His own station
in life to David. After all he was Saul’s son – the heir to the throne –
but he committed himself to see that David became the next king. Jonathan was committed to
seeing David reach his God-given calling in life, even though it meant surrendering his
own right to be king. That is a sacrificial desire on the part of Jonathan for his friend
David. In the same way, and even more so, the Lord Jesus is committed to us reaching our
God-given potential.
Conclusion
You may be saying to
yourself, “I
wish I had a friend like that!” Well
I am so glad you asked! The second half of Proverbs 18:24 says, “… But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
Secondly, Jesus deserves to be your best
friend because He has done more for you than anyone else. (John 15:13) "Greater
love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
Third, Jesus deserves to be your best
friend because, He will always be there when you need Him. The words of the old
hymn, “What
A Friend We Have In Jesus” says it well,
“What A Friend We
Have In Jesus,
All Our Sins And
Griefs To Bear
What A Privilege To
Carry
Everything To God
In Prayer
Oh, What Peace We
Often Forfeit,
Oh, What Needless
Pain We Bear,
All Because We Do
Not Carry
Everything To God
In Prayer.”
For those of you who cannot honestly say today that you have experienced a relationship with Jesus Christ I want to extend an invitation for you to do so today. I want to introduce you to someone who will be the greatest friend you have ever had. He is a friend who has already accepted you just and you are. He is a friend who has already paid your sin debt on the cross. He is a friend who is always accessible and who will never leave you.