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John 15:12 "I Have Called You Friends"
"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 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. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit shall remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another." (John 15:12-17)
Do you have a famous friend? A powerful friend? A rich
friend? A beautiful friend? A faithful friend? My wife and I watched
the movie "Notting Hill" the other night. In the movie a normal
British man, a bookstore owner, is suddenly befriended by a world famous
movie actress played by Julia Roberts. Of course everyone wants to be
her friend, there are plenty of reasons why people want to get close
to her. What is far harder for this poor Englishman to understand is
why in the world she would be interested in him. We have been befriended
by someone far more beautiful, giving, and powerful than any movie star.
The Son of God, the Prince of peace calls us "Friend." Now
we know that He has been a friend to us. He has laid down His life for
us on the cross and "greater love has no one than this, than to
lay down one’s life for his friends." He is everything that
a friend should be. According to the Psalms, a friend loves at all times
and a brother is born for adversity. Sure enough even when we are down
Jesus is right there for us. When we are taking a beating by this world,
Jesus fights for us. He sticks closer than a brother, with us even when
our family cannot be around. This is not the movie star’s heroics
on the silver screen or the politician’s smile and handshake extended
to the masses. He is not a "Friend" of everyone and therefore
"friend" of no one at all. Jesus does not ride in on a white
horse to save us only to ride out again before we can touch Him or tarnish
His image. He truly calls us His friends. He wants to be with us! He
wants us to be with Him. This is hard to believe. Why in the world would
Jesus want me for a friend?
In the Old Testament God only called one person His friend. Abraham
was called the "friend of God." James tells us that it was
because Abraham believed in God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
(James 2:23) But James was using this story of Abraham to make a point.
He wanted to show that our faith is nothing unless it is combined with
obedience, doing the works that God has commanded us to do. Abraham
was so obedient to God that he was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac.
He was called the friend of God because he had enough faith to keep
God’s commands. Jesus says the same thing to us, "You are
My friends if you do whatever I command you." Now this is different
than what we normally think of as friendship. We usually think of friends
as equals who enjoy being in each others company and don’t command
each other but instead find it easy to ask each other for help. But
it is pretty obvious that Jesus is not our equal. He is God. He was
there in the beginning when God created the world and He is the one
who died on the cross to set us free. He is our Commander in Chief,
to borrow a military phrase. And yet He calls himself our friend.
I just finished reading a book about the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
In 1804, Captains Lewis and Clark led a team of men across the continent
of America to the Pacific Ocean in what is now my home state of Oregon.
At that time, no one knew what dangers awaited them or if they would
ever make it back home alive. The relationship between these captains
and their men is intriguing. At times they had to use very harsh discipline
on the men, laying on 50 lashes of a whip to those who fell asleep on
guard duty. But it was necessary because while that man slept the whole
party could have fallen into the hands of hostile natives. At times
they had to push the men to the very edge of their endurance, forcing
weary men to march for days through snow and rain with heavy loads and
little food. On the expedition the men were not equal, the captains
led and the men followed orders. And yet the level of trust that developed
between them was hard to find anywhere else. The men knew that the captains
would undergo any hardship, endure any suffering that they commanded
the men to do. Whatever the task, the captains were right beside them.
The men knew that their lives depended on the decisions that their captains
made and they trusted them with those decisions. In return the men gave
their captains their all, far more than grudging obedience or reluctant
service, these men put muscle and endurance to the test. They were more
than just soldiers and officers, they were friends. The men gave their
all for their captains, and from the time they stepped off the edge
of the map, to the time they got back the captains took care of their
men. Out of all the hardship and thousands of miles, only one man died.
Jesus calls us friends when He can put His trust in us, when He knows
that we believe in Him and what He is doing. He doesn’t want us
to obey simply because we must, but with our whole hearts. Jesus said,
"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." We talk
a lot about having a servant heart and being a servant of each other
and Christ. That is the right attitude for us to have. But Jesus does
not treat us as servants. Instead He treats us as friends. Jesus has
shown us His own example of obedience to the Father. He has shown us
what love is all about. He doesn’t just command us because it
is right, instead He has become our model of what the Father is doing
in this world. His command to love one another is based not on some
great philosophical principle, but on His example. "As I have loved
you." We know what the master is doing, we have seen it in Jesus.
We know that God is love and are eager to obey and become part of the
force for love in this world. This is why Jesus wants us for His friends.
He wants to turn this world upside-down through us. In fact He has chosen
us for a mission. We have been appointed, hand-picked, to join Him in
enemy territory. Our mission is to infiltrate this world that is ruled
by hate and fear, and plant resistance groups of love and peace and
joy. Each place that we plant these groups those unmistakable results
of God’s Spirit will remain and grow until the enemy must flee.
This mission is not without its dangers, so that is why Jesus wants
friends, those who know His heart, trust Him implicitly, and are willing
to obey His commands.
"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I have not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness because you have been with Me from the beginning." (John 15:18-27)
As Christians we are at war. Even though we have peace
with God because our sins are forgiven, the peace that passes understanding
that protects us from fear, and peace in our own hearts that allows
us to keep our cool despite the circumstances we find ourselves in,
we still are not at peace with this world. The world hated Jesus and
it continues to hate His followers. Why? Because they see Him in us.
Those distinctive results of His presence in us, love, peace and joy,
those fruits that cannot come from anywhere else betray His presence
in our midst. When the world looks at us and sees those fruits they
know that Jesus is with us. I am always surprised at the reactions that
I get from people when I tell them about Jesus Christ. I find that most
non-westerners will listen politely to the gospel and either accept
it with joy or refuse it without much animosity. But those from western
countries such as my own country, America, often respond very rudely
and even with violence. The reason for this is that most of them have
already heard the gospel many times in their life and have already rejected
it. Those from other cultures are usually hearing it, and choosing to
receive or reject Jesus for the very first time. Recent statistics state
that the average American hears the gospel at least seven times a year.
Over a lifetime Americans have hundreds of opportunities to make their
choice. In Japan, the vast majority have never heard the gospel presented
even once. They might have heard about Jesus Christ or even attended
a Christian school or university, but have never heard that Jesus died
for their sins on the cross, and if they believe that He truly is the
Son of God, and that He rose again on the third day that their sins
will be forgiven and they can have eternal life. Most Japanese have
never been given the opportunity to make that choice.
Jesus said, "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have
no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin." He is talking
about their perception of their own life. Most people do not consider
themselves to be sinners. They think that they are trying their best
to get along in a difficult life and that they are basically good. At
the same time they have lots of needs and hurts that they don’t
understand why they have. It is not until people compare themselves
with God’s ideal that they realize that their problems are their
own fault, that they have sinned and fallen short of what they were
supposed to be. The original word for "sin" in the Bible means
to "miss the mark". Like shooting an arrow at a target and
not reaching far enough, we don’t measure up to what we should
be. We are nowhere near perfect. It is not until you see Jesus who was
perfect that you realize how wretched you really are. For those who
reject Christ, each time they hear the gospel it simply reminds them
of their sin. No wonder they hate to hear it! For those of us who receive
Jesus, the gospel reminds us that we are forgiven. No wonder we love
to hear it!
For those who hear the gospel so often and cannot deny the sin in their
own lives that is exposed the only way to escape is to deny the existence
of God altogether. But Jesus won’t allow that either. "If
I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would
have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.
By His miracles, Jesus proved that He truly was God. It could not be
denied that He had healed the sick and brought Lazarus back from the
dead. No one else could do those things. The same thing is true today.
When the world sees the greater works that Jesus does through us, they
cannot escape that there really is a God whom they are rebelling against.
When people see Christians loving as Jesus loved, giving self sacrificially,
coming alongside the lost and hurting to help, they are seeing a powerful
witness to God. When people see the other fruits, joy and peace in our
lives they are seeing a powerful witness to the Father. The only way
that they can ignore it is to build up a wall of hate to keep it away.
Jesus Christ is our great Friend, who loved us so much
that He died for us so that we could have peace with God. He wants you
to be His friend as well. He has chosen you for a vital mission, to
share the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ with this world. You
are surrounded by millions of people who don’t understand why
they are hurting and have little hope that their lives will ever be
any better. They find it hard to trust anyone because they have been
lied to and taken advantage of. They find it hard to love because they
have never seen what real love is. You have two secret weapons in this
battle. The first is the word of God, the good news that Jesus spoke.
You must make sure that every person you know hears and understands
the message that they can be saved. It is their choice and you cannot
force them to accept what Jesus has done for them, but it is your responsibility
to let them know. Your friend, Jesus has entrusted this to you, don’t
let Him down. Your second weapon is the fruit in your life that comes
from abiding in Jesus Christ. The more that people around you see those
distinctive fruit the more convinced they will be that Jesus is real.
Your friend, Jesus has commanded that you love one another, abiding
in His love so that you bear much fruit. If you do this you will be
His witnesses in this world.
Copyright ý 2000 Jonathan Wilson
All Rights Reserved
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