Message: “Safe Friends…” November 1st 2020 – John 15: 14-15
Over the months we have been advised to - stay home, stay alert, stay strong, stay together, stay apart, and stay connected, in touch, stay sane – and advice on how we should stay safe…
But how do we stay safe mentally and spiritually? How can we live when our plans have been scuppered? How can we sing (worship) in a strange land?
We’ve learned what anchors us; what offers us refuge and protection. Someone said the safest place in the world was not a bank vault but the shadow of the Lord! (Ps. 91)
How to stay safe? This is, I think, exactly the question that Jesus is posing to His Disciples on the night he was betrayed…
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NIV - The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them (Ps. 25: 14); NLT - The LORD is a friend to those who fear him. He teaches them his covenant.
Jesus is saying exactly this to the Disciples – Be a Friend. Continue being My Friend. “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I have learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15)
It’s as if He is saying that His disciples are in on a secret which NOW both makes them His friends and will enable them to survive and even thrive – even though the storm is about to hit them. Remember these words of Jesus are spoken as the dark clouds of Gethsemane and Calvary gather. He called these men his friends even though he knew only too well that (almost to a man) they would turn their backs on Him. “A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17) What a Friend we have!
But why say this? What makes them His friends?
Because He picked them! You did not choose me but I chose you…
He showed them what a friend was. A Friend to the fallen, the friendless, of tax-collectors and sinners…If you want to make friends…be one! That’s what Jesus did.
You are my friend if I choose you to be such…what a privilege! What Jesus is saying is that He is (absolutely) convinced of their worth to Him. You are my friends; you’re not perfect but I love you. I have chosen you. This-being-chosen is not a cause for boasting. It is simply that a friend-in-Jesus is (always and only) saved by grace through faith in Him.
He is saying to those who are his friends, STAY WITH ME…abide, dwell, remain – all sounds rather mystical (and at times our closeness to Jesus is a deep Communion), but often it’s much simpler than that. Stay in contact. Jesus often told His Disciples that He never did anything apart from the Father. (That was His secret).
Remain in Me. Every Day, stay in touch. A friendship with Jesus (a growing friendship) is not an erratic visitation. It is a constant conversation. It is daily sustenance through the Vine to the branches.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you…How did Jesus counter the devil’s attacks? The same way we do. With the Word of God.
You are my friend if you stay with me…
Being Friends with Jesus means I have access to God. I know His business. Unlike a slave or a servant who is outside the room, I am allowed into the inner circle, into the counsel of God. The veil in the Temple was torn from top to bottom, symbolizing for us direct access to God through the cross, through the death of Jesus Christ. He has made us friends of God.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5)
Ultimately, of course, the secret things (the mysteries) belong to the Almighty Himself but if you want to know his guidance (his business for you) then “never stop praying” (1 Thessalonians 5:17); meditate daily on his life-giving word.
Joseph Parker says ""The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." To such He can give advice, can guide, can say behind them as they walk the path all wrapped in mystery, "This is the way: walk ye in it."
NIV - The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them (Ps. 25: 14).
And then we hear words that make our hearts sink: “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
This sounds prescriptive and conditional. In a way it is – because Jesus is friend, he is Saviour – but at the conclusion of our prayers we call him, Lord. Friends need not be equals. We are not the equals of God. He knows best. His way of being a friend is best… and the toughest. Friends speak the truth in love. Real friends keep one another honest. (Do you let Him in on your secrets (your business)? Is He welcome in every part of your life?)
Real friends hold one another’s “feet to the fire”. Most “friends” are, in truth, only acquaintances! Real friends love those who disagree with them; love those who don’t like them…
We love him because he first loved us. Because we love him we want to serve him; because we love him we want to try to do the things he has given us to do. We can’t do it without Him – his power… without me you can do nothing…without His SPIRIT we can do nothing of lasting (eternal) value. We are never happier (never more at peace) than when we get somewhere near to that sense that we are doing what he commands us (his friends and followers) to do. He won’t manipulate the friendship we have with him or force us to obey or to do anything. Those who think God is a bully have yet to meet this friend…my Forever Friend…
“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…” (Dt. 33: 27)
Safe we may be. Friends chosen by Jesus we may be… But being connected to Jesus is not merely an end in itself. Branches produce leaves and fruit. Only by remaining connected to him, as a branch is connected to a tree or vine, can we bear the fruit of Christ’s friends. By the power of God's Spirit in us, we can bear the spiritual fruit of "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5)
When we are connected to the true vine, to Jesus himself, we produce fruit, glorifying God and drawing others to his love and mercy. We want others to be safe, too…
“But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life…Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy mixed with fear…” (Jude’s call to persevere)
MFR