Friendship with Christ

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have 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 should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another” (John 15: 12-17).

Right after He exhorted His disciples to stay closely connected Him, like a branch that bears healthy fruit by being deeply rooted in a vine, Jesus commanded them to stay connected to each other. He taught that the glue that would hold them together was love. But it was not any ordinary kind of love. They were to… “Love one another as I have loved you”. The love that binds disciples together, empowers them to bear abiding spiritual fruit, and guarantees an answer to their prayers is a special kind of love. Jesus described two unique characteristics of this precious, powerful love. He said it is the love of friends and it requires sacrifice. Then, Jesus welcomed these obedient disciples into an intimate and profound friendship with Christ.

Wow! Don’t you wish you were there? How cool would it be to see Jesus open His arms and call you His friend? He is the same today…  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). His invitation to friendship is the same today. Talk about having friends in high places! Consider the benefits of having well connected friends. How often have you seen that getting that special job, joining that unique club, or even just being accepted by others is all about who you know? Jesus calls followers to become disciples, and one of the primary blessings of maturing discipleship is becoming His friend! But today, our Teacher, the Holy Spirit highlights for truth seekers the requirement and responsibility of true friendship with Christ.

Jesus is clear about the requirement for friendship with Him… “You are my friends if you do what I command you”. The friends of Christ love and obey His commandments. They earnestly seek His voice and hunger for the truth of His word. The friends of Christ have a heart that is fallow ground, eager to receive His truth like an implanted seed because they have experienced the blessed fruit that it produces… “Therefore… receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). This is not a new thing. Jesus had recently taught His disciples about the relationship between keeping His word and intimacy with Him… “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10).

Jesus is equally clear about the responsibility of friendship with Him. Just before He said… “You are my friends” He said a real friend is willing to… “Lay down his life for His friends”. The primary responsibility of friendship with Christ is a willingness to lay down our lives for Him. The Greek word translated “lay down” here is tithēmi and it means give up, place in a lowly posture, set aside, ordain to, or appoint to a particular task or purpose. Jesus called His friends to surrender their lives and to live for Him. He called His friends to imitate Him by dying to self and living for Him… “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). Then He used the same word, translated “appointed” here as He called His friends to humbly live for and love each other in the same way. John remembered and reminded disciples of this responsibility in His letter to the church… “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:11-12).

As we grow up into Christ obeying His word, living for Him, and loving others, we’ll enjoy a growing…

Friendship with Christ.