Jesus, My Friend

13 Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.      JOHN 15[1]

Just recently I passed an anniversary. You can tell it ‘s an anniversary that goes some way back, because I tend to forget the exact date.  In August 86 my father passed away.  A lovely man of God.  I remember the occasion but not so easily the date. I sang to him one of our favourite hymns in the corner of the hospital ward in the old hospital here in Weston that has been turned into homes.

How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
’Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary, rest.

Dear Name, the Rock on which I build,
My Shield and Hiding Place,
My never failing treasury, filled
With boundless stores of grace!

Jesus! my Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
O Prophet, Priest and King,
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
Accept the praise I bring.

Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see Thee as Thou art,
I’ll praise Thee as I ought.

Till then I would Thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath,
And may the music of Thy Name
Refresh my soul in death!

This afternoon I want to share a few thoughts about Jesus, My Friend.

I’ve brought a picture with me :

This is a picture of Bosley (the dog with special needs) and his friend Max. I gave it the title “Friends”.

What a difference friends make, don’t they?

Here in John 15, Jesus talks to His disciples and three times he uses the word FRIENDS.

13 Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

    My Friend loves me

    My Friend expects obedience

    My Friend confides in me

  My Friend loves me          v 13

13 Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

All friendship begins with love – which may deepen or fade as time and circumstances pass.

    My Friend loves me unconditionally.

    He knows my sin – yet loves me

    He loves me deeply enough to die for me!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

    My Friend loves me and if I trust Him NOTHING separates me from Him

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.    ROMANS 8  38

  My Friend expects obedience          v 14

14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

The mark of any lasting friendship is the way in which two lives converge and work together.

My LORD is such a Friend – closer than a brother – loving me in spite of all.

But although it  is an unconditional love it is not an unconditional friendship.

He expects my obedience.

He gives me instructions – about sin and salvation, for example,

    because He knows better than I do, and

    because He is the LORD

    so that I may become more like Him

The measure of our friendship is my willingness to OBEY

If I obey – then I repent of my sin, I trust Him and my life is changed

I have       hope

                Companionship

                Purpose

                A future in glory with Him.

  My Friend confides in me           v15

15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Very often we look for friendship so that we may share confidences. We want someone to talk to.  That – as Jesus says – is what makes a friend different from a servant or an acquaintance.

My Lord takes me into His confidence – what an astonishing privilege!

    He makes my life meaningful               explaining its purpose

                                                        Revealing its end

                                                        Sharing His plans with me

    He reveals a deeper purpose in the crises of life

“What I learned of my Father I have made known to you.”

    In such a Friend I have                               help in trouble

                                                                Consolation in grief

                                                                Purpose in insecurity

Of course I have other friends – but none like Jesus.

Have you met my friend?  We ask as we introduce someone else.

It’s an important question – especially as you begin this new session of meetings

If you read again that lovely chapter (and the one before it) you will see even more of the privileges of being HIS FRIEND

A friend who loves me

A friend who expects my obedience

A friend who shares with me His plans for our future together.

Have you met My Friend?

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[1]The New International Version - Anglicised, (London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.) 1984.