What does it mean to you to experience Jesus as a friend?
I have been thinking a lot about that question. I know Jesus as my Savior and Lord. But sometimes I wonder what it really means to know Him as a friend.
I would love to hear your thoughts. What does it mean to you to have Jesus as a friend? How have you experienced His friendship in your own life?
Jesus is our saviour, but he is also our brother, since we have been adopted into Gods family.
These are legal positions, they do not mean that our relationship is close, but being someone’s friend, that is choice, a choice made by both Jesus and by us.
Being Jesus’s friend is shown by how we interact with him.
@Shalom asks “What does it mean to experience Jesus as a friend?”
I have been thinking about this too; it is an interesting question. One way it’s interesting is in the implication that most modern Christians speak of Jesus being their “friend”, but rarely do I hear anyone speak as a purchased slave, of Jesus being their “Master”.
Shalom does say:
It seems this subject is well addressed in a portion of God’s word found in the gospel of John.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
These things I command you, that you love one another.” (John 15:12-17)
Here the word translated “friend” is GK:”philos”, and it literally means “loved one”, and that is the point Jesus is making here. A stunning characteristic of true followers of Jesus is their supernatural love for one-another. This love is best seen when one lays down their life for a “loved one”; the very act Jesus was preparing to do for His “loved ones”. Jesus as our friend is demonstrated by His selfless sacrifice so we could be raised from the dead condition in which we were currently existing . We are His friends when we “take up our cross daily”, and “lose our life for His sake”. To know Jesus as a friend involves considering Him more important than yourself - more important than your own temporal life.
Another interesting teaching in this passage is when Jesus says “no longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing.” Implied in this statement is that His disciples have been His servants (GK:”doulos”) up until this point. They served as they obeyed, even not knowing what Jesus was doing. They operated by faith; they lived consistently taking Jesus at His word. But Jesus shows His love for them by telling them everything The Father has told Him. They began as servants only, but eventually became servant-friends by paying attention to everything Jesus told them. We are His friends when we pay attention to everything Jesus says, and follow it “to the letter”.
A third interesting aspect of this passage is how it has important bookends: “This is My commandment, that you love one another” on one end, and “These things I command you, that you love one another” on the other. To have Jesus as a friend involves 1. self-sacrifice, and 2. paying close attention, but it also involves 3. loving the brethren. We are no friend of Jesus if we fail to love (GK:agape) His Holy body.
If we are asking ourselves “What does it mean to experience Jesus as a friend?” we have to look no further than the explanation Jesus Himself offers. We begin by recognizing we are slaves of righteousness (Romans 6: ) that we were bought with a great price (1 Cor 6:20 & 7:23) to serve wholeheartedly, and to bear much fruit of The Kingdom. A good and faithful servant (Matt 25:21 & 23) obeys without hesitation (John 15:14), sacrifices himself on the altar of service (Romans 12:1), and truly loves (agape) the brethren, the Body of Christ. This kind of servant-friend is a fast-friend of Jesus, and Jesus is his friend too.
KP
Goes much deeper than this @shalom.
The New Testament’s picture is therefore considerably richer than “Jesus is my friend.”
He is our Saviour - Matthew 1:21; Luke 19:10.
He is our Lord - Romans 10:9; Philippians 2:11.
He is our Shepherd - John 10:11; 1 Peter 2:25.
He is our High Priest - Hebrews 4:14.
He is our Advocate - 1 John 2:1.
He is our Mediator - 1 Timothy 2:5.
He is our Brother - Hebrews 2:11.
He is our King - Revelation 19:16.
He is our Teacher - Matthew 23:8.
He is our Master - John 13:13.
He is our Friend - John 15:13–15.
He is the One we follow - Matthew 16:24.
He is the One we obey - John 14:15.
He is the One in whom we abide - John 15:4–5.
He is the One who disciplines us - Revelation 3:19.
He is the One who intercedes for us - Hebrews 7:25.
He is the One who gives us eternal life - John 10:28.
He is the One who brings us to the Father - John 14:6.
He is the One worthy of worship - Revelation 5:12–14.
So I would put the central point this way, if I may…
Jesus really is our Friend, but biblical friendship with Jesus is not casual familiarity with Him. It is a relationship of love, trust, loyalty, obedience, fellowship and submission to the One who is simultaneously our Lord and Saviour.
And John 15:14 is crucial here.
“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
That verse prevents us from turning “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” into a sentimental slogan detached from the rest of Scripture.
The biblical Jesus is a Friend who laid down His life for us, calls us to Himself, commands us, disciplines us, keeps us, intercedes for us, and ultimately brings us into eternal fellowship with God.
…and so much more.
J.
a relationship is two way, unfortunately we are so very bad at showing by how we live, just what Jesus means to us.
You are so right @Who-me
DISCIPLES
Introduction. “Disciple,” from the Latin discipulus, translates the New Testament μαθητής (mathētēs ), which at its root means “learner,” or “apprentice.” The word is used 261 times in the New Testament, all of which appear in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles (72, 46, 37, 78, 28, respectively). in addition, the word for “fellow disciple,” σνμμαθητής (summathētēs ), is used in Jn 11:16, so as to show the closeness of the disciples with Jesus, “and on this basis their fellowship with one another” (Rengstorff, 460). The feminine form μαθητρíα (mathētria ) is used once, in Acts 9:36 (cf. below). in addition, related verbs fill out the rich disciple-related vocabulary (see, e.g., Rengstorff): μανθάνω (manthanō ), “to learn” or “to direct one’s mind to something”; καταμανθάνω (katamanthanō ), “to examine closely,” “to learn”; maqhte›w (mathēteuō ), “make a disciple”, or, in the passive, “become a disciple.” After treating possible background for the term μαθητής (mathētēs ), its New Testament usage, related terminology and distinctiveness will be investigated. Finally, some reference to the employment of μαθητής (mathētēs ) in Jewish and early nonbiblical Christian writers of the first and second centuries a.d. will be offered.
…and not to bog you down with “theology” I’ll share this link with you sister.
I think we in the West have forgotten how to think Eastern. The Messiah was and is Jewish, and I’m increasingly convinced that I need to read my Bible and the Tanakh through a more Eastern, Jewish lens, rather than continually imposing Western categories upon the text.
You may disagree.
Johann.