CMA: Morning Devo: Friendship

Friendship:

[Pray]

Friendship is one of the most important things we have been given by God. He created humanity with the need to be apart of something. From my talks with Gunny I have been so encouraged by the friendships that I taking place within CMA.

Friendship is something that Jesus has been teaching me about from a very early age. When I was much younger I remember the stories of David and Jonathan while I was a child and desperately desired to have a relationship like that.

My first friend was Jeremy and he was a neighbor. But then moved away.

Michael and Jacob, then they moved away.

Tenny moved away.

Jordan and Jesse… grew apart from them.

I would ask God why wouldn’t He allow me to have just one good friend.

The entire time he was teaching me that He wanted to be that person in my life… After all He would never leave me or forsake me.

Our passage this morning:

John 15:12–15 ESV

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 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.

It is crucial that we understand that God still wants us to be friendly and to have friends in our lives, but where I fell short was in this notion that these relationships were going to satisfy my heart… and the only way that I would ever find satisfaction would be with God and seeking His guidance and His friendship.

As our passage this morning points out there is no greater love then sacrificial love. Laying ones life down for another… Jesus would give us the greatest example of this:

Romans 5:8

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ would go to such great lengths to ransom you and I back to God. To be placed back into a proper and right standing before Him. Not only being our Creator, Savior, Redeemer, but also our Friend.

Point 1) Jesus needs to be your Best Friend

The Savior of your soul desires to be your friend. How cool is that? The love that He has for you and I is limitless. Loving us completely and fully in a way that we could never hope to grasp.

In fact while we are with Him in heaven for all eternity, we will be exposed to His limitless love and He could show us every day a new aspect of that incredible love, and for the rest of eternity we would never be able to even scratch the surface of that love for us.

Hebrews tells us that we are actually brothers and sister of Jesus.

Hebrews 2:11

11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,

Hebrews 2:17–18

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Why would we look for any satisfaction in worldly things to satisfy us, when what we really need is Jesus.

1 Corinthians 3:11 ESV

11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Jesus needs to be your go too before you call your friend. Before you complain to anyone about anything go to Jesus the author and finisher of your faith.

Hebrews 2:1 ESV

1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

Hebrews 2:3 ESV

3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,

2 Point) We need to be good friends

Jesus should be where we look for satisfaction.

I only know some of you, and an important truth that the Bible teaches us is that we need each other and that you should be in a local church no exceptions.

Jesus needs to be the King of our lives. But we are not to go through this Christian life by ourselves. We desperately need each other. No where in scripture will you find a lone wolf mentality. We are often compared to sheep and they are a herd animal.

Hebrews 10:23–25 ESV

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 3:12–14 ESV

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

Galatians 6:1–2 ESV

1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Application:

Allow Jesus to be your primary friend. And be a godly friend to the people in your sphere of influence. Love God and love people.

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Benediction:

Jude 24–25 ESV

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.