“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:12-15, NKJV).
Friendship is shared love. It is a love-based relationship that brings the people involved at par with each other. Unshared love is like an orphan – lonely and barren. Being a community virtue, love craves for companionship. In its very nature, love does not occur in abstraction or in isolation. It is intensely relational. Love is all about what you think of others, how you see others and how you interact with them. It is therefore only meaningful when it is jointly experienced. The platform that facilitates sharing of love is what we call friendship. Aristotle, an ancient Greek Philosopher, succinctly captured the essence of friendship when he defined friends as “a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” Our Lord made a similar point when He declared to the apostles: “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” Our Lord understood the elevation of the status of the apostles from servanthood to friendship, to imply seamless access to divine revelation. This reality unveils the weight our Lord places on true friendship. True friendship is a communion of kindred minds.
Friendship with God is the ultimate reach of faith.
Friendship with God is the ultimate reach of faith. Man has nothing higher to aspire to beyond the actualization of friendship with God. Our Lord dropped a hint on how we can become friends of God when He said to the apostles: “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” Total obedience to divine commands is the way to achieve His friendship. It was so for Abraham. The Bible testifies that “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God”(James 2:23). Believing God implies reception of His word and complying to its demands. Here is the testimony of Abraham’s obedience, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). Recall that there has not been any prior meeting. This was their first encounter and God called him to leave his family to a destination he had not known. Again God asked him to offer his beloved son, Isaac as a sacrifice on a certain mount Moriah, he promptly obeyed and God did not hide His delight: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son -blessing I will bless you…” (Genesis 22:16-17). The dividend of friendship with God is earned through the equity of obedience.
Pursuit of friendship with God is a spur of personal revival. God grants His friendship only to those who obey Him. Revival occurs as a result of consistent life of obedience to God. Charles G. Finney appropriately observed that “revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.” Revival is sure to come when we wholeheartedly obey God’s command to be christlike in our lifestyle, to pray without ceasing, to eat the scroll of His word, and obey the command to make disciples of all nations. According to Eric Liddell, “Obedience to God’s will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God’s will that brings certainty.” Our Lord is clear in His position that friendship with God is reserved only for those who obey His commands. God provides the best opportunity for effective friendship. We welcome our friends to church today and do sincerely pray that each of you will encounter God and thereby strengthen the bond of friendship that holds us together. It is our fervent prayer that you join us to pursue personal friendship with God and make a fresh commitment to live daily in obedience to His commands in Jesus’ name.
Happy Friends Day.
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