Friendship With Jesus

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:58

The title of my sermon today is Friendship with Jesus. Let's look at John chapter 15, verse 12 to verse 17, and I'm reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. 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. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. Jesus has taken the initiative and has extended an invitation of friendship to you and I. Let's look at verse fourteen again. You are my friends. Verse 15, I have called you friends, and verse 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you. What a wonderful thing to be invited into a friendship with Jesus Christ. First Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 9 from the Easy English translation says this. What a wonderful thought that God has chosen you and me to be friends with his son, Jesus Christ. As parents, we know that our children are affected by their friendships or their relationships, and if we could, we would choose the right friends for our children. Friends who will inspire them and influence them for good. Isn't it amazing that you have been selected by God to be friends with Jesus Christ so that you can be influenced and inspired by Him as His follower? He's not just Lord, but He also wants to be our friend. Jesus extended this friendship or invitation to friendship through his death on the cross. In verse 13, we read, Greater love has no one than this, that someone laid down his life for his friends. And Jesus has extended friendship to you and I. How did he do this? Well, he did this by laying down his life for us on the cross 2000 years ago. That's how he invited you and I into a living relationship with God through faith in him. If you asked Jesus, how much do you love me? He would say, I love you this much and extend his arms out in the shape of the cross. Today we're going to look at four results of friendship with Jesus. So, number one, we have intimate access to Jesus. In John 15, verse 15, we read, 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. There's a difference between a servant or an employee and a friend. It's not what we do to get his approval, it's us developing that trust relationship. I love the way that verse says that he will show us things that the Father has made known to him. I think that Jesus wants to take us into his confidence. He wants to trust you with wonderful truths so that you can grow in your relationship with the Father and so that you can extend his love to others in your life world. What a wonderful thing to be invited into this friendship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So number one, we've seen that we have intimate access to Jesus as his friends. Number two, our lives bear fruit. In John chapter 15, verse 16, we read, You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide. Now, if we went down further in John chapter 15 to verse 8, we see Jesus said, By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. Our lives should bear fruit of our relationship with Jesus. And we see in these verses that that fruit should be much fruit or abundant fruit and abiding fruit. So two thoughts that we can consider with this point. Two words, both starting with an A, abundant and abiding. God wants our lives to produce abundant fruit and abiding fruit, fruit that lasts. I love that. I love the fact that God wants our lives to be fruitful. In Acts chapter 4, verse 13, we read that the disciples were seen to be those who had been with Jesus. Even though they were uneducated, ordinary men, there was something extraordinary about their courage and their boldness. And they said they have been with Jesus. Can people see fruit in our lives of love, grace, boldness, faith, hope, courage? Because we've spent time with Jesus. He wants his fruit in our lives to be abundant and abiding. Not just when we're feeling good and are in a good mood, but all the time. So number two, we've seen that our lives bear fruit, abundant fruit and abiding fruit. Number three, the third thing that is a result of a relationship with Jesus is our prayers are answered. In John 15, verse 16, at the end of the verse, he says, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. Friend, God always answers prayer. Sometimes he says yes, other times he says no, and other times he says wait. When he says yes, we rejoice. When he says no, we trust that he knows something we don't and he has something better in mind. And when he says wait, we need to wait for his perfect timing, trusting that he will bring it to pass when we are ready, when others involved are ready, and when it fits into his master plan. Now this really is a remarkable promise where he says, Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. But we need to understand this also in context. In John 15, verse 7, he says, If my words abide in you and you abide in me, you'll ask what you will, and it will be done for you. And when God's word abides in us, and when we spend time with him, our thoughts and desires line up with his will. We need to understand that we will then ask the right things. James says, you ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives. So this promise is not a blank check. It's us asking things that fit in with his will. In John 14, verse 13, Jesus said that we can ask for things where the Father is glorified in the Son. He says in John 14, verse 13, whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. So number three, we've seen that our prayers are answered in Jesus' name when we are friends with him. But we can trust him that when we don't see things go as we anticipated in our prayer, perhaps he's saying no because he's got something better in mind, or perhaps he's saying wait because we're not yet ready. When we look back in eternity, I believe we will thank God for some of the prayers that were not answered in the way that we had anticipated. Number four, as friends of Jesus, we should obey his command. In John 15, verse 14, we read, You are my friends if you do what I command you. Have you ever heard of the five love languages? Well, I believe Jesus has a love language, and that's obedience. If we want to demonstrate our love for Jesus, it's not how loud we sing, or whether we have a big Bible, or whether we have a fish sticker on the back of our car, or wear a cross, or have a fancy t-shirt. I believe that obedience is the greatest act of love. You are my friends if you do what I command you. Now I want you to notice today that his command is singular. He says, What I command you, not the many things that I command you or all of my commands. You see, that commandment is singular, and it's to love others as he has loved us. Let's look at John 15, verse 12. Jesus said, This is my commandment, singular, that you love one another as I have loved you. And then he repeats it in verse 17. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. Now the Bible teaches us in the New Testament that the whole law is fulfilled in one command. I think that's just so wonderful. It makes the Christian life simple, and that one command in our relationship with others is to love one another. The Ten Commandments can be divided into two segments. The first five relate to our relationship with God, and the second five relate to our relationship with others. God wants us to love Him and love others, to love God and love people. Let's look at Romans chapter 13, verse 8 to verse 10, which tells us exactly this. He says, Owe no one anything except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you will not covet, and any other commandment are summed up in this word. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. If you love God, you won't do anything to hinder your relationship with him. So you will obey him. If you love others, you will treat them in a way that Jesus would treat them. You will love them as you would like to be loved yourself. The standard is how Jesus loved us, he laid down his life for us. And we have the joy and privilege in this life of laying down our lives on a daily basis for others. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. Following the example and inspired by our Savior's love for us, choosing to honor, to cherish, to love, to encourage the wives that God has entrusted us with. So finally we saw that if we are friends of Jesus, we will obey his command, and that command is to love one another. Wow. So, in summary, we have intimate access to Jesus as his friends. Our lives bear fruit that is abundant and abiding. Our prayers are answered so that the Father is glorified in the Son. And finally, we obey Jesus' command to love others as he has loved us. Let's pray together. And as we do, ask the Holy Spirit what he wants you to do as a result of what you've heard in today's sermon. Let's pray. Father God, thank you that you extended a friendship to us through your Son Jesus Christ. Jesus, thank you that you said, I no longer call you servants, but I call you friends. Thank you that we have intimate access to you. That you take us into your confidence. And we ask you now, through your Holy Spirit, to speak to us, to reveal the things of the Father and the Son to us, to show us what you want us to do to live a life that pleases you. Thank you that we can obey your commandments as our response of saying we love you back. And that commandment is to love others as you love us. May our lives be fruitful, abundant, and abiding fruit. Lord Jesus, we thank you that we can see answers to our prayers in your name as your friends. And when you say yes, we rejoice. When you say no, we trust that you know something we don't, and you have something better in mind. And when you say wait, we trust you. And we will wait patiently for your perfect time. We thank you for what you're doing in our lives. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.