Friendship with Christ
5 May 2013 PM – John 15:12-27 – Scott Childs
Introduction: Friends are important. Bad friends will ruin you. Good friends will edify you. In youth, your parents ought to be your best human friends. [Parents, we must work diligently to that end.] Once married, your spouse ought to be your best human friend. [If that is not true, your marriage needs help. Seek counsel.] Our best friend of all ought to be Jesus Christ. That is easy to say, but all too often it is not reality in our lives.
Transition: This evening we are going to look at the requirements, the rewards, and the results of a friendship with Christ.
I. Requirements of this Friendship
A. We must love other Christians as Christ loves
1. We must love each other as Christ loves us (12).
Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
a) Christ’s love is kind, tender, patient, and forgiving.
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
b) Christ’s love is sacrificial, humble, caring, and edifying.
2. We must be willing to sacrifice for others (13). Jesus was saying that we ought to be willing to die for Christ as He did for us.
B. This friendship depends on our obedience to Christ
1. We must obey Christ’s commands (14). If we do not obey Him, we are not His friends. He is not speaking about salvation here. He is talking about friendship, abiding in Christ, intimate fellowship, and true discipleship.
2. We must learn what He has taught (15). The Bible records what Jesus taught. The whole Bible is His Word. A Christian that does not daily study the Bible is not interested in being a friend of Christ. Friendship requires time with the friend.
II. Rewards of this Friendship
A. Friendship with Christ yields answered prayer
1. Jesus wants us to bear fruit continually (16). This requires that we abide in Christ (John 15:5). Friendship and abiding cannot be separated.
2. The better we know Christ, the better we will know what He will authorise. God will answer our prayers asked in Jesus’ name – those things He authorises.
B. Friendship with Christ enables us to love others
1. Jesus commands us to be His friend and continue to bear fruit (17). Remember the fruits we found in Scripture last week?
a) Fruit would include winning others to Christ (Ro 1:13), personal holiness (Ro 6:22), good works (Col 1:10), righteousness (Php 1:11), thanksgiving (He 13:15), and the fruits of the Spirit (Ga 5:22-23)
b) Our fruit bearing must remain or continue.
2. Doing so will enable us to love one another – lit. “in order that ye might love one another.” Do you see the connection? You must abide in Christ to produce fruit, and you need spiritual fruit in your life to love others as Christ loves you. You cannot do it on your own.
III. Results of this Friendship
A. The world will hate you
1. The world hated Christ before it hated Christians.
2. The world hates Christians because they are not of the world.
a) Christians are no longer part of the world.
(1) Sadly, many who profess to be Christians act like they are of the world. In his epistle, John warned,
1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(2) Consider what James wrote:
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
(3) If you are truly a Christian, God has changed you from the inside out. He has given you a new heart and a new nature.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
b) If Christians were still of the world, the world would continue to befriend them lovingly.
(1) The world’s love is not agape but just a friendship love. The world enjoys those who enjoy their sin.
Luke 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
(2) They befriend those who are like them. If you are a Christian, you are to be a light for Christ. The world will not like your new life.
John 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
c) Christ has chosen believers out of the world. Because of this, the world hates Christians. If you live for Christ, your worldly friends will no longer like you. Christ has taken you from the world and made you a new person for His glory. Do not be ashamed of your new life in Christ.
B. The world will persecute you
1. As a servant of Christ, we are not greater than Christ. We cannot expect any better treatment than our Lord received from the world.
2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2. Jesus said that if the world persecuted Him and they will persecute Christians. He also said that if the world follows His teachings, they will follow teachings of Christians. Some unbelievers will turn to Christ if you will let your light shine for Christ.
3. The world persecutes Christians who represent Christ because they do not know the Lord.
4. The world hated Jesus because He revealed their sinfulness by His sinless life and holy preaching.
a) Jesus was not saying that His coming to earth caused men to sin, but He uncovered their sin by His perfection and His preaching (22). He may have been speaking specifically of the sin of rejecting Him as the Messiah and Saviour.
b) Those who hate Jesus really hate God the Father as well (23).
c) Since Jesus did miracles that only God could do, all who do not believe on Him are guilty of consciously rejecting Christ and hating both Him and the Father for no good reason (24).
d) This fulfils another prophecy from Psalms.
Psalm 69:4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: . . .
C. The Holy Spirit will testify through you
1. Jesus does not leave us on a negative note. Though the world will hate us because we are friends of Christ, God the Holy Spirit is our Comforter (26).
a) He is the Spirit of truth.
b) He comes from the Father.
c) He will testify of Christ in your heart.
2. As a friend of Christ, you can witness for Him with the help of the Holy Spirit (27).
Conclusion: This evening we have looked at our Friend and our enemy. Jesus wants to be your best Friend ever, but you must work at the friendship. You must be willing to love others as He does, starting with those closest to you. You must obey His Word and spend time daily with Him.
If you are a friend of Jesus, the world will be your enemy. They hate Him and they will hate you. Expect it, accept it, and depend on the Holy Spirit for comfort.
Song: 378 Stand Up for Jesus