The 5 Ways of JESUS: 5 Days to Knowing Jesus BetterSample

THE WAY OF THE FRIEND

In John 15:15 Jesus said, “I don’t speak to you as my servants, I speak to you as my friends.” This is part of what makes Christianity unique, the idea that we could have a friendship with God.

It is a distinctive concept. This is not found in Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, or Hinduism. No belief system or world religion has this message of a personal relationship with God, that one could be a friend of God.

It is remarkable to think that we could be friends with God. Of course, it is contingent. Everyone is not automatically a friend of God. We can choose to be friends, just like any other friendship. We're not friends with everyone, but we can choose to enter a friendship relationship with someone. We need to understand what friendship means to Jesus and what it can mean for us.

Jesus Christ wants to be our friend. God entered the world to open the door to friendship. We need to realize how Jesus views friendship. Jesus sees friendship based on love.

This is not in and of itself a novel concept. But there is more to it. We're not forced into a relationship. We’re invited into a relationship. The relationship is based on love, our love for Jesus, and Jesus' love for us.

Jesus understands friendship as action. We must do something. He initiates, and we must respond. Love is shown by action. Jesus showed the greatest act of love: He laid down his life for us.

Jesus recognizes friendship is based on communication. If there isn't communication, a friendship cannot develop. You can't develop a friendship if you don't communicate. He communicates to us through the Bible, the words of God to us. We communicate with him through prayer.

Our friendship with Jesus can be hindered by a lack of true communication. If prayers are just a laundry list of needs, then that is not communication. It's not a two-way communication. The other part of communication is listening. One way God talks to us is through the Bible. This is what happens when we read the Bible: God speaks to us.

Jesus sees friendship as evidenced by obedience. “You are my friends if you obey me" (v.14). If is the keyword, it is a conditional word. So, our friendship with Jesus involves communication and action. It is based on love and it requires our obedience. This is how Jesus defines friendship.

We can hinder our relationship with Jesus by busyness. We must guard against being so busy that we don't have any time to spend with Jesus. If we don’t prioritize our schedule so our friendship with Jesus comes first, we can get so busy it will come last.