Friends...Pt 2 of 2

friends

Jesus works to sustain life in the present world, even as the sign points

toward the ultimate life he alone can offer. We are covenant friends with

Jesus and as such our obedience is of faith knowing the tables were the work

of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables and

that the work of God is that we believe on him whom He hath sent. The costs

were unavoidable if Jesus was to do the work God set before him. The world

could not come into being without the work of Christ in the beginning. The

world could not be restored to God’s intention without the work of Christ on

the cross. Our work may also call for costs that are not fair to us, but which

cannot be avoided if we are to complete our work. Jesus worked to bring true

life to others. As faithful friends of Jesus we do not depart from the pattern

set for us by the Lord Jesus. The attitude of humble service should

accompany all we do. We work for God, but in a spirit of friendship and

collegiality. It is in the fullest sense of the term a family business. We are

family business

active participants in the world creation/restoration that fuels the loving

relationship between the Father and the Son. We do the work of the Son and

Father, and we join the intimacy of the Son and the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The Father shows His love for the Son by allowing him to share in the glory

of world formation and re-creation. The Son shows his love for the Father by

ever and only doing His will, making and remaking the world for the Father’s

glory according to the Father’s biddings in the power of the Spirit. The

discipled friends enter into this ever-flowing love of the Father, Son, and

Spirit, not only by faithful reflection but also by embracing the Son’s mission

and working as he did. The call to share in the love is inextricable from the

call to share in the labor. The prayer, I in them, and thou in me, that they may

be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,

and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me, is matched by, as thou hast sent

me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world, and it issues

forth in lovest thou me,…feed my sheep.

The creation memory is to become the means of our spiritual connection as

being who work alongside one another, and in so doing enter into God’s labor

to bring creation to its fulfillment. The promise of effectiveness echoes Jesus’

words; verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I

do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go

unto my Father. Greater works than these would then mean more converts

than he himself made. Jesus is speaking to his friends so this must refer to

the whole range of work to which believers are called. Service is the active

service to others

form of love. Through God’s grace, our work should be the arena where we

live out our relationship with God and others through loving service. However

humble or exalted it may be in others’ estimation, becomes the place

where God’s glory is displayed. By God’s grace, as we work, we become

living parables of the love and glory of God.

Remember the two immutable things –God’s covenant and God’s oath. In

Christ this brought the new covenant, a new commandment that is the same

yet with now the human divineness is displayed not in a servile obedience,

but a friendship obedience. Those who are Jesus’ friends obey His

commands; it is what characterizes them. The whole of this is filled with

salvation-historical meaning. Jesus is telling us that we are recipients of the

blessings of Abraham, the forever friend of God, through the new

covenant. The relationship is not one where God is dependent upon the

spiritual Israelites, but the relationship functions the other way around. To be

considered a “friend of God” is different than something like the relationship

between David and Jonathan. The intimate aspect is there, but being a friend

of God means that He has dedicated Himself to securing our redemption.

Though there is definitely an element of companionship within friendship with

Jesus, that is not the primary emphasis here. This is connected with

everything Jesus said about our need to “abide in the vine”. What makes the

new covenant so essential…by blood Jesus is dedicating Himself to our

redemption. No longer just servants…friends! So what of the salvation-

historical meaning. We are the seed form, making large what Jesus was

talking about. He is speaking about the change of relationship. This is a

reference to what new covenant obedience looks like.

abide in the vine

Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a

servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the

time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in

bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time

was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption

of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son

into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant,

but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Howbeit then,

when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no

gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God,

how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire

again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Brethren, I

beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.

Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at

the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor

rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where

is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been

possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to

me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They

zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might

affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing,

and not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail

in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you

now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that

desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that

Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the

freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the

two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage,

which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to

Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem

Mt. Sinai

which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of

the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman,

but of the free.

When we reason with this truth, we see that what Jesus is saying is that the

disciples and all new covenant true believers relate to God not just in a

servile relationship, but in friendship. He has dedicated Himself to our

redemption. This is what he means when he says for the servant knoweth

not what his lord doeth. In times past God’s covenant people were not

informed of God’s saving plan in the full measure now accorded Jesus’

chosen election. Although there is much we still have not grasped, within that

constraint Jesus is telling us everything he has learned from his Father.

Jesus is the source of our life and the source of our love. He is God. The fruit

that we reap comes from Him. And that fruit will be shown as his friends love

one another as he loves us. New covenant love lays down life for the sake

of friends. And we are Jesus’ friends, so we are willing to lay down our lives

for him. Don’t look for something we have to “do” in this truth, it’s not there.

There are no imperatives for us where God’s love is. We are the recipients

of the friendship of Christ and all the blessing which He bestows. We are the

ones who have been brought into Jesus’ “all that I have heard from my

Father”.

All that I have heard from my Father

But this is what we “do”…abide and love. We remain in Christ and

as we do this, we find that we are motivated to love one another. We are

friends. Jesus is absolutely dedicated to those who are His friends. He is

dedicated to those whom He has called and those whom He has chosen.

We rest in this! By his knowledge and by his own life, Jesus loves without

limit, and he makes it possible for us to be like him, transformed by

everything he shares with us. For Jesus, friendship is the ultimate

relationship with God and one another. Only those who love can willingly

suffer for, die for another.

The aspect of ancient friendship is important for understanding friendship in

ancient

the context of the word. To lay down one’s life for one’s friend is completely

unprecedented today. Frankness of speech, by common report and belief, is

the language of friendship. The bible writings were not created in a social

vacuum. These two dimensions of friendship in the world - the gift of one’s

life for one’s friends and the use of truthful and open speech - provide the

words to describe and name who and what Jesus is, for he did both of these

and as a friend he gives us every word that he has heard from his Father.

How much of the Holy Spirit’s revealing to our mind do we open up to others.

In sharing we enable our friends to participate in the intimacy and trust that

reasoning with God reveals to us. Jesus did not merely talk about laying

down his life for his friends. Jesus enacted the ancient ideal of friendship -

he laid down his life for his friends. What Jesus teaches, he lives as an

embodied promise and gift. The love that led him to do this can be replicated

and embodied over and over again by his followers. To keep Jesus’

commandment is to enact his love in our own lives. Jesus affirms the

significance of this commandment by stating that his followers become his

friends to the extent that they keep his commandment. Our life of faith must

be reassessed. If we take Jesus’ commandment to love seriously, and if we

long to be called “friend” by Jesus, then the believer is to give love freely and

generously without counting the cost and without wondering and worrying

about who is on the receiving end of our limitless love. Because this, too, is

how Jesus loved. What counts most is the embodiment of God’s love in the

count the cost

world, not the character of those who receive this love. What will be asked

of us and what may we be able to give in Jesus’ name. Jesus loves his own

“to the end”. “To the end” means simultaneously “to the end of time” and “to

the full extent of love.” To love to the full extent of love means that Jesus

loves perfectly, and that in Jesus’ act of love we see love perfected. The

faithfulness of a friend is transformative love, when in conversation, nothing is

held back as the speaker risks herself in the speaking; the listener risks

himself in the hearing. The next time you hear the word "friend", think of Jesus.

He calls you His own; he knows everything about you - and still

chooses to love you; who desperately longs to spend time with you and listen

to you; he is always there for you; he never stops thinking about you; he is

someone who cares deeply for you, and prays for you.

God has designed us and chosen us for intimate participation in love. We

are not the best of ourselves alone. This is why friendship is not extra but

essential. Friendship expresses principles of Christ’s own affection for us.

Friendship is a form of communion, where we meet Christ's own love for us.

This is why friendship is not extra. Friendship reminds us that we are not

alone, but that love is at the core of who we are. Friendship is a mirror to

remind us of who we are. Friendship reminds us that we are acceptable, that

we are able to love and to be loved. Acceptance liberates us to face the truth

about ourself, the full truth about who God has made us to be. We gain a

deeper level of context about who we are purposed to be for God. Friendship

reminds us that love is gratuitous and surprising. God gives us to one

another, and He knows what blessing we will be to each other. These new

bonds require intentionality and effort to blossom into love that is familial in

nature. Family is built on trust, love, and friendship. Some friends we wouldn’t

have picked for ourselves are given to us as gifts from God. They cross

denominational, socioeconomic, racial, and national lines. They will be our

family. We will look like what heaven will be. Move forward in faith in

friendship. The blood of Christ commits us to God and to one another, not

only now but for eternity. Jesus calling us family is an honor we should strive

to live up to. Dare to believe that we can help someone be perfect in Christ.

FRIENDS & FAMILY