Friendship a wonderful blessing

‘Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends’

Friendship is a wonderful blessing, just to have a true friend.

Do you remember your first friend? Is he or she you friend to this day? Friendships maybe lost by death or maybe through lack of contact over the years. Of course if Jesus is your friend there will never be a loss of His friendship.

In light of the friendship Jesus offers consider the foundation, the faithfulness and the freedom of this ever faithful friend, Jesus.

True love is the foundation of friendship. John 15:13 - Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Jesus is speaking to his disciples and he calls them his friends. Now the Word of God makes it clear that all people who do not trust in the Lord Jesus are enemies of God. Rom 5:10a - For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son. So we were enemies under the wrath of God. But God in his infinite mercy offers salvation in Christ. For God showed his own love for us in this that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

This is the wonderful soulsaving message of the Cross. This is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. So are you a friend of God today? You can be by looking to Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Therefore, the Love of God in Christ is the foundation of a true friendship.

We can also say that friendship means you are faithful to your friend. John 15:14 - You are my friends if you do what I command. As followers of Jesus we are called to be faithful. We are, as the hymn writer who penned these words said, “Trust and obey, trust and obey there is no other way to be happy with Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

We have become a new creation in Christ with a new heart having new motivations and attitudes. Our affections are turned toward the Lord Jesus Christ who bore the wrath of God for our sins and we want to obey him. Oh, we fall short, yet the grace of God in Christ is abundant. We strive to be faithful to our ever-faithful friend. We seek to be faithful to our earthly friends, how much more do we need to be faithful to our heavenly friends, who is in Heaven for us. “What a Friend we have in Jesus.”

Friendship means you have freedom with your friend. John 15:15 - 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.

Jesus while he was on the earth and during his earthly ministry spent most of his time with his friends, those men and women who were near to him and dear to him. They had many blessed and happy times with Jesus. There was a freedom in this friendship. Jesus said I no longer call you servants, but I call you friends.

We do experience something special when we are with our friends, a freedom to enjoy their friendship. It is fun! So it is fun to have Jesus as a friend. He teaches us about God. For everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. The greatest blessing in this world is to know God. And you can only know God through faith in Jesus who is an ever faithful friend.