Jesus: A Friend Who Loves and Corrects

For the last couple of weeks I have talked about Jesus being our Friend.

Kind of a HUGE concept — IF you have a correct understanding of friendship — a BIBLICAL understanding of friendship.

In fact I urge you to allow the Bible and the Friendship of Jesus to redefine the word “friend.”

Jesus is a REAL friend, not like some (MOST?) friends we will have here on earth.

He is better than the BEST friend we have ever had here in this life.

And He is certainly the Friend you and I need for the challenges of this new year.

As I have said, there are Biblical principles that define TRUE or REAL friendship.

A REAL FRIEND LOVES

One of those Biblical principles is love.

As we mentioned last week…

Proverbs 17:17 (BBE) [says] A friend is loving at all times, and becomes a brother in times of trouble.

Now I know that sounds a little different than most of the translations, but I also believe it gives us a better picture of what a friend is — not just someone who loves us when we are unlovable — but someone who becomes a brother, a sister in times of trouble.

A true friend can have a stronger bond than a biological sibling.

Those are the kind of relationships we need to initiate and nurture.

We need to look at how Jesus loves us — and OH! How He loves us!

He loves us according to Biblical guidelines

We need to read about that love, ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand that love.

We need to pray about that kind of love

And seek to love others in the same way.

Here we go again!

5 years ago I began the year with a series of messages based on:

Philippians 2:3–5 (LSB) [that tells us] do… nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regard… one another as more important than yourselves, 4 not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

My messages were titled from the Bible verses from which they were drawn:

Members of One Another (Romans 12:5)

Devoted to One Another (Romans 12:10)

Honoring One Another (also in Romans 12:10)

Being Like-minded towards One Another (Romans 15:5)

Building Up One Another (Romans 14:19)

Accepting One Another (Romans 15:7)

Being At Peace With One Another (Romans 12:18 & 14:19)

That’s what it means when the Bible says a friend loves at all times.

These are the things that a TRUE friend does.

A loving TRUE friend is OTHERS-centered.

THESE Biblical characteristics should form the foundations of our earthly friendship.

Not like the world’s understanding that I talked about last week:

They define friendship as using, manipulating for selfish gain, self-centered — NOT others centered.

Too many relationships today are AT BEST superficial.

Even biological relationships can be (and often ARE) superficial.

But beyond any earthly relationships, we need to nurture our relationship with Jesus.

One characteristic of true human friendship is an undying love that is unaffected by problems, misunderstandings or harsh words.

It is a love that transcends all these things and continues to function as if nothing ever happened.

A love like this between two human friends is almost nonexistent!

Jesus, on the other hand, displays this kind of love without wavering!

Notice His promise in

Jeremiah 31:3 (NCV) And from far away the LORD appeared to His people and said, “I love you people with a love that will last forever. That is why I have continued showing you kindness.

Notice that the term of this love is eternity — a love that will last forever.

Notice what flows out of this love — kindness.

There is nothing which humanity can do that can alter the love of God for us.

Thank God!

Even though we are undeserving and horribly flawed at our best, He loves us with an unchanging, everlasting love!

As Romans 8:31–39 (NLT) [asks… ] What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one—for God Himself has given us right standing with Himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus is a real Friend because He loves us unconditionally.

He places no limits on His great love for us.

If you remember nothing else from any sermon you ever hear in this church, please remember this, “God loves you!”

Robert Ingram tells of the time when he and his wife first had the opportunity to go snow skiing.

They were only going to have two-and-a-half days on the slopes and hoped to spend the whole time learning how to ski.

When they arrived at the resort, they decided to call some friends who lived about 150 miles from there.

When they told them where they were, the friends said, “Why don’t you come and see us? We’re only three hours away.”

Robert knew that if they did that it would take up a whole day of their skiing time, so he rather flippantly said, “No, you’re not a six-hour friend.”

A little while later their friends called back to say they had hired a babysitter, were packing up the car, and would be there to take Robert and his wife to dinner the next evening.

Robert was embarrassed when the friend closed the conversation by saying, “You are six-hour friends for us.”

What he had intended as a joke turned out to be a valuable lesson.

He learned that friendship has a price.

His friends were willing to sacrifice in order to spend time with him.

Think of the sacrifice Jesus made to be able to spend time with us.

What grace!

What love! What a Savior!

A REAL FRIEND OFFERS CORRECTION

Jesus not only loves us — He changes us — He transforms us.

Some of which happens through just spending time in His Presence.

It’s like the glory that illuminated Moses after he had spent time with God on Mt. Sinai.

That glory “wore off.”

So will ours if we don’t continually spend time with our Friend — with Jesus.

But other changes come about in our lives through His correction.

We see an example of this in Luke 9:51-56:

Even though James and John were in Jesus’ “inner circle” — meaning He spent more time with them — their hearts had not been fully transformed to the heart of Jesus.

So we read that…

Luke 9:51–56 (GW) The time was coming closer for Jesus to be taken to heaven. So He was determined to go to Jerusalem. 52 He sent messengers ahead of Him. They went into a Samaritan village to arrange a place for Him to stay. 53 But the people didn’t welcome Him, because He was on His way to Jerusalem. 54 James and John, His disciples, saw this. They asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?”  55 But He turned and corrected them. 56 And He said, “You don’t realize what your hearts are like. For the Son of Man has not come to destroy people’s lives, but to save them.” 56 So they went to another village. 

He corrected James and John…

Not just because He loved the people of the Samaritan village

But because He loved James and John

He loved them so much He wanted them to see things in a different light — the RIGHT light — HIS light.

I like a meme I found a week or 2 ago:

If it looks familiar, it’s because I’ve had it posted on our digital signage.

Jesus didn’t eat with sinners to become like them …call to a changed life.

Even though Jesus loves us at ALL times — even when we are unlovable — He doesn’t leave us the way He finds us.

He loves us like we are, but He loves us too much to allow us to stay like we are!

Rare is the friend who will come to you face to face to tell you when you have made a mistake.

A friend who will come to you in love and will tell you that you are wrong is a friend indeed!

Proverbs 27:6 (NLT) Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.

Yes! That is Jesus!

A sincere Friend

It is no friend who will allow you to go on in evil and not say anything for fear of hurting your feelings.

Real friends will reach out in their love for their friends.

Proverbs 27:17 (NCV) As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other.

Jesus is that Friend who will correct us when we are wrong!

Hebrews 12:6–11 (TPT) For the Lord’s training of your life is the evidence of His faithful love. And when He draws you to Himself, it proves you are His delightful child.” 7 Fully embrace God’s correction as part of your training, for He is doing what any loving father does for His children. For who has ever heard of a child who never had to be corrected? 8 We all should welcome God’s discipline as the validation of authentic sonship. For if we have never once endured His correction it only proves we are strangers and not sons. 9 And isn’t it true that we respect our earthly fathers even though they corrected and disciplined us? Then we should demonstrate an even greater respect for God, our spiritual Father, as we submit to His life-giving discipline. 10 Our parents corrected us for the short time of our childhood as it seemed good to them. But God corrects us throughout our lives for our own good, giving us an invitation to share his holiness. 11 Now all discipline seems to be more pain than pleasure at the time, yet later it will produce a transformation of character, bringing a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who yield to it.

Are We Open to this Kind of Friendship?

But are WE open to this kind of friendship.

We WANT the unconditional love.

But do we want the kind of love that corrects us, changes us — transforms us?

That makes us into a New Creation?

Because that is what the friendship of Jesus will do.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (LSB) Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Romans 12:2 (NLT) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Worship Team to platform

Have you experienced the fullness of God’s love AND His correction?

If not I encourage you to surrender to God’s will for your life.

Repent of your sins — not just say you’re sorry, but turn from your sins — with God’s help stop doing them.

Surrender to God will, God’s control of your life.

Prayer

Carr, A. (2015). I’ve Never Had a Friend like Jesus (Matthew 11:16–19). In The Sermon Notebook: New Testament (p. 363). Alan Carr.