I call you Friend

“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.”
John 15:15

What or who is your friend?
What does it mean to be a friend?
What does Jesus mean when He says, “I call you friend?”

There are many people we call friends, but they are mostly just acquaintances, not a real friend.

A real friend is the kind of person who will stick with you through thick and thin. The kind of person you can talk to about anything. The kind of person who will tell you the truth, not just what you want to hear, that’s a real friend, what we might call a, ”Best Friend.”

Jesus is that kind of friend, He wants to be if you will let Him.

Before I was, what I have to call, “Born Again,” because that is the only way to describe it; I never would have thought I could be or truly have a friend like that in Jesus. He was just someone out there somewhere, maybe watching over us, but certainly not on a personal level.

I had learned about Jesus in church and Sunday school, like many of you did. But that did not bring me into a personal relationship with Jesus.

When I woke up to the truth about God, Jesus and the Bible, I was just beginning to come into that relationship with Jesus. Over time, that relationship grew into more and more of a friendship. He showed me over and over again that He was a friend I could trust.

Don’t get me wrong, I still go through times of not trusting Him when I should know better, we all do, we’re human. But He understands that, He’s been in our shoes. He knows what it is like to be human.

We all fail; we all fall short of the mark, which is what sin is, falling short of the mark.

If we let Him, Jesus will guide us on the path we should be taking. But He is the kind of friend who will, as the Bible says, “never leave you or forsake you.”

There are some friends who will drop you fast if you do something they don’t like or can’t forgive, not Jesus. There is nothing that you can do that He won’t forgive if you ask Him to.

You can even deny Him three times, as Peter did and He will still forgive you.

Paul was convinced of God and Christ’s love for us when he wrote in Romans 8:38-39,

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That is a true friend. One who will stick with you no matter what.

Jesus is also the kind of friend that will tell you when you are wrong, as He did with Peter in Matthew 16:23,

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Peter always seemed to be sticking his foot in his mouth, but Jesus always forgave him. Notice what Jesus tells Peter in Luke 22:31-32,

31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Even when Peter was getting it wrong, Jesus was at his side praying for him and encouraging him. That’s the kind of friend Jesus was to Peter and is to you.

Through our life time we all have many friends that come into our lives and then leave. Sometimes they die, sometimes they move away and other times we just grow apart. But if we have a friend in Jesus, that friendship will never die, He will never move away and we will never grow apart. When you have Jesus as a friend, you have a friend for more than life; you have a friend for all eternity.

How do you build that friendship with Jesus?

The first step is accepting His sacrifice for you on the cross. Accept that you are a sinner and need help. That you need forgiveness, we all do. Believe that He rose from the dead and is alive today and wants to be your friend. Invite Him into your heart, into your life.

If you do you will begin that friendship with the Lord of lords and King of kings.

Jesus is alive and He is waiting to become your friend, but He won’t force Himself on you. You must come to Him on your own. You don’t have to clean yourself up; He loves you just the way you are. If you need cleaning, He is perfectly willing and able to help you clean up any mess you’ve got in your life.

How do you start?

You start as you would with any other person you want a friendship with; you start by talking to Him.

There is an old Hymn titled, “What a friend we have in Jesus.” Read through the lyrics of that fine old hymn and you’ll have an idea where and how to start:

What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.

That’s good advice; Take it to the Lord in Prayer.

In prayer, in faith talk to Him, I know He’s listening, I know He’d love to hear from you and call you Friend.

Trust me, even though you can’t see Him or audibly hear Him, He is there for you and will make Himself known to you. He will comfort you, guide you and lead you in the direction you need to go in. Even when trouble comes your way, and it will come, He is there to lean on and to give you the help you need.

One thing you must always remember when you walk with Jesus as your friend, He will always do what is best for you and the plan He has for your life. That will mean that sometimes what He tells you to do or leads you to do, may not be the path you would have chosen yourself, but it will lead you where you need to go.

Jesus knows what lies ahead for you and what you will need in the future; trust Him He knows what is best.