1. True Friend
Proverbs 18:24, NASB
A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Social media has redefined the concept of a “friend.” In the early days of the most prominent social media platform, people accumulated “friends” by the hundreds. Often those “friends” were people they barely knew—an acquaintance of an actual friend or a long-lost childhood playmate. Yet they were called “friends.” Participants soon realized what psychologists have said: No one can manage more than a half-dozen actual friendships.
True friendships take time, part of which is spent recovering from the disappointments that come with all human relationships. Maybe that’s why Solomon wrote that having lots of friends is dangerous but having “a friend who sticks closer than a brother” is a good thing. Note, it is “friend” (singular), not “friends.” It’s rare to find a friend who is there through thick and thin and who will encourage us in our walk with Christ. That is, a friend like Jesus who was a friend to His disciples.
2. John 15.12-17 (ESV)
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
I. The Command – Love One Another – vv. 12, 17
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
A. It is the Master’s Place to Command
1. Here he revises John 13.34-35
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
2. Illustrated by Jesus – Washing Feet; Cross
3. He never commands us to do anything He has not done.
B. It is the Servant’s Place to Obey
1. Why do we act like the commands of God are optional?
2. If we were to practice the teachings of Karl Marx we would be identified by our actions.
3. Following the teachings of Jesus displays who we are – disciples – especially loving one another
a. Love neighbor as self
b. Do unto others . . .
c. Love your enemies
II. The Calling – “Friends” – vv. 13-15
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
A. Friends of the Kings
1. Inner circle of the King’s Servants – in on His Plans
2. As a Presidential Cabinet or Advisors
3. Pilate – John 19.12 If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend.
B. Abraham – God’s “Friend of the King” – 2 Chronicles 20.7; Isaiah 41.8; James 2.23
1. “My Servant Abraham” – Genesis 26.24 (serving the “3” – Genesis 18
2. Considered “Friend” – Genesis 18.17
17 The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do . . .
3. Abraham Loved as God Loves – Interceded for “others” in Sodom
C. You are on the “Inside Track” with Jesus – Friends of the King; You Know:
1. Jesus is the Son of God – Matthew 16.17
2. To be Born Again – John 3.3, 5
3. Jesus is coming to Judge – 2 Timothy 4.1
4. No condemnation in Christ – Romans 8.1
III. The Choosing – Disciples – v. 16
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
A. The Unusual Choosing – Matthew 4.19
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
1. “Walk after me”/”Behind me”/”Walk this way”/Imitate
2. Normally Disciples chose their Rabbi. [R. Akiva in second century was said to have had 24,000 disciples. Gamliel and Paul]
3. Mishnah: “Provide for yourself a Teacher/Rabbi and get a fellow disciple.”
B. Chosen to Bear Fruit
1. Lasting fruit of Converts
2. Lasting Fruit of Character
3. Can’t have the first without the second – John 13.34-45 – by this. . . .
1. Oswald Sanders: “Each of us is as close to God as we choose to be.”
2. How close of a friend do you want to be?
3. Jesus demonstrates and we imitate
a. He Commands us to Love as HE loves
b. He Calls us to be Friends as He is a Friend
c. He Chooses us to follow as His Disciples
4. How shall we respond?
