Friend of Jesus?Are you a friend of Jesus? Who is a friend of Jesus?
Christians love to talk about their relationship with Christ. They talk about accepting, receiving and loving Jesus. It is from this relationship that they draw their feeling of security.
Indeed we are in a deep personal relationship with Jesus. He considers us His friends. He is friend of sinners [Luke 7:34]. He came to save sinners. It is for sinner that He died.
1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;
What does that mean? Does Jesus care more for sinners than righteous people? What does friendship mean to Christ?
We are all sinners [Rom 3:23] and by our sins we earned death sentence [Rom 6:23]. But Christ love us so much that He willingly laid down His life so that we don’t have to die [John 3:16f]. But He calls sinners to repentance [Luke 5:32] in order for them to partake of His gift [Acts 2:38]. In other words, He wants us to repent! But is that all what it means to be a friend of Jesus?
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John also wrote:
1Jn 3:16 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.
Jesus expects us to also lay down our life for our friends. What does it mean? Does Jesus want us to die for our friends?
It simply means putting others first and treating their need more important than our own. In other words, we are to give deference to others, instead of insisting our own.
Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Jesus loves the humble. Being humble is a tough attitude to maintain.
Now, there’s one more thing that Christ expects of a friend:
Joh 15:14 Ye are my friends, IF ye do whatsoever I command you.
As Christ’s friends, He expects us to obey Him and the Father. That is His own word.
Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
As friends of Christ we are not merely at the receiving end. Real friends of Christ are those who truly love Him. Those who truly love Him would humbly “lay down” their lives for others AND do His commandments.
