Three Things That Mark Our Friendship With the Lord

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Now let’s look at this same passage in John 15 and see three things that mark our friendship with the Lord Jesus. These three things that we are about to look at show that there are conditions connected with this relationship.
1) Obedience
In John 15:1414Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. (John 15:14) the Lord said, “Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” This shows that we prove our friendship with the Lord Jesus by our obedience. True friendship is not shown by what we say, but by what we do! The “if,” in this verse, makes this friendship conditional; if we are truly His friend we’ll walk in obedience. And if our heart is right, we will be happy to do those things that are pleasing in His sight, because obedience works by love. The Lord said, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:1515If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15)). The Lord’s commands are not the Ten Commandments that God gave to Israel through Moses, but His loving instructions for us as His disciples. They are called “commands,” because when the Lord makes known His will to the heart that loves Him, it has the power of a command.
Furthermore, we prove that we love God when we obey the directions of Scripture. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:33For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (1 John 5:3)). For the heart that loves Him, to do what He asks is not a burden; it’s a joy. It’s “the perfect law of liberty!” (Jas. 1:2525But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. (James 1:25)) People sometimes ask, “What is the perfect law of liberty?” It is a contrast to the law of Moses which is occupied with restraining the old nature in man. The characteristic phrase in the Mosaic law is, “Thou shalt not ... ” It is very negative. “The perfect law of liberty” has to do with guiding the new nature. Our new nature loves and delights to do the will of God. When the Word of God sets out certain positive things that we are to do in our Christian lives, the new nature delights to do it. It’s called “the perfect law of liberty” because to be asked to do something that you want to do is not bondage; it’s liberty. A. Barry used to say that it’s when the Lord’s commands and the person’s desires are one. Let me illustrate it this way; to ask a dog to eat hay is bondage, but to ask a horse to eat hay is perfect liberty!
Conversely, if we are not walking in obedience, it calls into question whether we truly are a friend and companion of the Lord Jesus, because if a person were truly His friend, he wouldn’t habitually do things that grieve Him. A true friend keeps His commands and delights to do so! Obedience puts our profession of being His friend to the test. The Lord said, “Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:4646And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46)) A person may say one thing, but their life says another! If a person says that he loves the Lord Jesus, and that He is his Friend and Companion, yet goes on with sin in his life, he makes a mockery out of the Christian life, and calls into question the reality of his profession. Scripture says, “Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:1919Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. (2 Timothy 2:19)). If a person names the Name of the Lord—in professing that he knows the Lord—but he doesn’t depart from sin, then we have reason to question whether he is truly saved; maybe it’s just an empty profession. This shows that there is such a thing as putting a person’s profession to the test. I trust that we all are true to our profession of being the Lord Jesus’ friend.
2) Fruit in our lives
John 15:1616Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (John 15:16) says, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” The Lord wants us to be fruitful in our Christian life, and that will be the case if we are friends and companions of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s intention, even though the Lord has gone back to heaven, that there would be a continuation of His moral beauty seen in this world in His people. Fruit-bearing is not service, but the reproduction of the moral features of Christ in the saints! In the measure in which we abide in fellowship and communion with the Lord, the moral features that marked His life will be seen in us. The Lord said earlier in this chapter, “He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit” (vs. 5). In other words, we are going to become more and more like Him, and it’s going to come out in our lives. People will notice it, and they will see Christ in us! This is the result of living in nearness to the Lord Jesus and of having Him as our nearest and dearest Friend.
We prove the reality of our friendship with the Lord Jesus by being like Him. The more time we spend with Him, the more it will be so. Perhaps we could say that His character rubs off on us. This is what caught the eye of the Jews when they looked at the disciples of the Lord Jesus in the early chapters of the Acts. It says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:1313Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)). There was something about the way in which the disciples deported themselves that caused the Jews to identify them with the Lord Jesus as His friends. The apostle John said, “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:66He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (1 John 2:6)).
3) Love for our brethren
John 15:1717These things I command you, that ye love one another. (John 15:17) says, “These things I command you, that ye love one another.” A third way to prove our friendship with the Lord Jesus is that we love others who are His friends. The apostle John said, “Every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him” (1 John 5:11Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. (1 John 5:1)). Furthermore, we prove our love for our brethren by our obedience to God. John also said, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments” (1 John 5:22By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. (1 John 5:2)).
This is not a plastic love. The same kind of love that the Lord has for us is to be in us toward one another. It was a love that would go all the way to death for us! John said, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:1616Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)). The danger is that we tend to love only in word, and not in deed. John said, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:1818My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:18)). If we say that we love our brethren, but then go on holding a grudge or an unforgiving spirit toward them, our love is in word only. A tell-tale sign of love for our brethren is that we will want to be with them. It’s normal to want to be with those you love! If a person has no interest in being with the saints, it calls in question whether he or she is truly a friend of Jesus, because the friends of the Lord Jesus love one another, and they want to be together. We are glad that so many of you wanted to be here this week at Lassen. We trust that it is because you love the Lord Jesus.
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A quick summary of the three things that will be evident in the life of every true friend of the Lord Jesus is: obedience to His commands, fruit in our lives in the way of moral likeness to Him, and love for our brethren.