My Sole Friend
The Reformed Doctrine of the Friendship of Christ
CONTENTS
1. Sacrifice and Friendship: A Little Study of John 15:13
2. Obedience and Friendship: A Little Study of John 15:14
3. Not Servants But Friends: A Little Study of John 15:15
4. Praying for Your Friends: A Little Study of Job 42:10
5. Friendship and Brotherhood: A Little Study of Proverbs 18:24
Chapter 1: Sacrifice and Friendship: A Little Study of John 15:13
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Christ is the ultimate friend of friends: He came and laid down His life for His people, because He intended His sacrifice to atone for the sin of His people. There is an unseparatable connection between sacrifice and friendship. The Lord Jesus knew of this sacrifice and how it was the key to defeating Satan, because at the Cross there is redemptive victory and spiritual triumphantness in the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus knew the cost of true sacrifice, because He submitted to the will of God the Father. He knows each of us by name, and He calls His people friends. Those for whom He sacrificed Himself are the ones who are His beloved friends, because His sacrifice that is applied by His Spirit in the second birth is what makes us friends with God. Before we were born from above we were at enmity with God the Father, but the Son has shed His blood so that we might know Him and have our sins washed away. Christ chooses to save His people because of His inherent goodness and mercy to the ones who He intercedes to the uttermost. To have and know Christ as our sole friend is to know that He is the only One who is all-acceptable to God the Father to pay for the sins of His elect sheep. It does not mean you do not have friends, but it means that Christ alone is unique and separate from ordinary men, because He alone has the ability to save us in a spiritual sense. Behold the friend of friends!
Chapter 2: Obedience and Friendship: A Little Study of John 15:14
“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
Christ commands righteousness to be accomplished, because we are His friends. The very commandments of Christ are the essence of obedient righteousness, because He knows the best for us. Christ is our greatest friend, because He commands us to be instruments of Christian fruit by His Spirit. If we are His friends we will do works of righteousness in accord with the plethora of His commands. The commands of Christ are not a prescriptive message, but a descriptive message. Christians show themselves true Christians when they obey His commands, and we show our duty is to do His commands in worship, delight and love of Him. This practical righteousness does not add to the unified work of the Blessed Savior, because His work was sinless, matchless, and altogether pure. Our acts of His commands are always tainted with sin, because we are corrupt in a spiritual sense. The very life and death of Christ is intended for His elect ones, because our good deeds have an element of badness to them. The question we must ask ourselves is, are we obedient? Do we know Christ as the friend of friends? Do we show it by our lives?
Chapter 3: Not Servants But Friends: A Little Study of John 15:15
“Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”
Christ called His disciples friends, because they know what the Lord Jesus does. He works the works of God. He lived a perfect life for them. He died a perfect death for them. He rose again for them, and He ever lives to intercede for them. The Lord Jesus has made know all that the Father declared to Him, because He loves His ones whom have been given to Him by His Father. Servants are a hired hand, but friends do things out of the riches of the Spirit that is rooted in their hearts. Friends are beloved of the Lord, because they act out of genuine love; however, servants act because they merely have to. Friends act because every command is an opportunity to worship the Triune King Most Holy. The question is, are we accomplishing the commands of Christ because of pure motives? Have we studied what God has revealed in His Word Most Pure? Friendship with Christ is enmity with the world, but friendship with the world is enmity with God.
Chapter 4: Praying for Your Friends: A Little Study of Job 42:10
“And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”
Job prayed for His friends because they had failed in advising Him, and God was gracious because He gave Job twice of what He originally had. The Lord Jesus prayed for His friends who were not of the world but of Christ in John 17. Friendship means prayer for each other, because God uses it to bring to fruition His acts of goodness, mercy and judgment. The prayers of Christ never cease to go unanswered, because He always accomplished the will of God in a perfect sense. If sin is seen, prayer can be used to ask God for repentance, because God has us pray as instruments of righteousness. Job and Christ prayed for their friends, and in both cases God blessed them. We would do well to pray in the name of Christ and for His sake.
Chapter 5: Friendship and Brotherhood: A Little Study of Proverbs 18:24
“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
The friend that is closer then a brother is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One who sacrificed Himself for the redemption of His sheep. We would do well to imitate Him, because we should care as He cares. Christ fulfills the ultimate Friend and Brother, because He never ceases to stop forgiving and cleansing us from sin. Some people abuse grace in light of this divine truth; however, we should not commit intentional sin. God gives us grace to live uprightly, because in light of God’s presence is the holy standard of utter perfection. We ought to live in knowing that God’s full presence is before us. There is no where we can turn where His presence is not. Peter sinned by betraying Christ three times, but Christ did not fail to restore him back to the righteous way (John 21). Christ was the friend of friends to Peter, and John rightly asked who it was that betrayed Him (John 21:20). John says thus because the sin of Peter was no longer in existence, because Christ forgives and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Once a sinner is forgiven, He will always be forgiven until He is perfected in glory. This doctrine must be used with great prudence, because the honor and laud of Christ is at stake. Christ understands our just reasons, and He is truly a Friend who is closer then a brother. Amen.
