Relationship that is built on love. It's the foundation of love, this idea that's sacrificial, that you're actually looking out for the interest of others and not yourself. Jesus says as much when he says, I didn't come to be served, but to serve. And so if you're my friend, then take on the exact same posture of friendship that I've displayed to you. You come. Go and serve like I have come to serve. If there's anybody in all the cosmos that should be served and worshiped, it's king Jesus. And yet he says, I didn't come to be served. I'm mindful of you. I think about you constantly. I know what position you're in, and I'm going to raise you up out of the pit. I know that each and every one of you are slaves to your sin. And I want to break your chains, and I want to set you free. And you will become my friends. That's what Jesus is saying. But he just doesn't stop there. He continues on. He talks about friendship, and he says, friendships have these acts of joyful submission, not forced service. Look at verse 14. He says this. You are my friends. If you do what I command, you, no longer do I call you slaves. For slaves do not know what the master is doing. But I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard from my father, I've made known to you. Here's the idea of friends, is that there's no object, obligation to serve your friend. If eddie were to call me and says, dude, I need you right now, I can't explain anything to you, and don't call the cops, they'd be like, I'm there, right? I'm there for him. He can call me. And it's not out of obligation. It's not like, melissa, I gotta go see eddie. I hope this doesn't take very long. I get to run to my friend's aid. There's a difference between. I have to do something. That's what makes you asleep. Let me just help break this apart. Like, what is the difference between somebody that's kind of obligated in a relationship versus somebody that's free and enjoys the relationship like a friend? It's because love comes first and it flows naturally into obedience. When you have love first, then obedience flows from that, and it's a free in relationship. There's no obligation. It's because out of the love that you do for each other other. But if you reverse that and you have obedience first and then love, is given. That's what slaves do. It's an earning of love rather than a grace. Given love, one leads to friendship. The other feels like enslavement. And let me just challenge the parents with this. How is it that you stir the hearts of children? I have to admit, sometimes I'm obedience first and then, bo, if you act right and do this, I want to pour out my love on you. Now, I don't intentionally want that to make him feel like a slave. He's my son. I don't want him to feel like a slave. But sometimes my actions can move him. Like, well, if I want my dad's love and affection, I guess I have to behave a certain way. I have to earn his love. Never. God says, none of us deserve to be loved. I only love you because I am love, God says, and I've freely given you my love. And if you love me, it'll be demonstrated through obedience. But if you love your children and you want to stir that love up for them, demonstrate to them that your love is not conditional. It's not merited. It's not earned. Regardless, buddy, you're always going to have my love. There's nothing you can do to ever strip our love that we have. I have to confess this. I remember in junior high, my father. My father's passed five, six years ago. And growing up, he's a little bit of a rough guy. He was one of those guys where I would work hard to earn his love. I remember in junior high, we were in a pop up camper down in Brunswick, Georgia. And my dad had been married before, so I had a. I think it's called a half sister. Yeah, yeah, half sister. She was in college, and she had become pregnant. And I remember that phone call in the middle of the night. And my dad says, you're no longer my daughter. He disowned my half sister. And I remember the fear that came into my life listening to my dad. Because regardless, that's your dad. And I knew then that I would forever, when I become a dad, there would be nothing my child could ever do that would separate him from my love. Because my love is given freely. It's not earned. And you know where I learned that from? I learned that from right here. God the Father has spared no expense. And you can't earn his love. Cause he freely gives it, and he gives it through his son, Jesus Christ. He's demonstrated his love for us and that he gave you something. His only son in your life was purchased with the precious blood of his own son, so that you can be adopted and brought into the family. So friendship is all about joyful submission. And haven't we seen that in Jesus? With the joy set before him, he endured the cross. You ever wondered what's in the mind of Christ as he's being led to be hung on the cross? A real sobering moment where we're told in the scriptures, we're told that with the joy set before him, as he was passing by, being led to the cross and looking at all those who were weeping, all those who were jeering, Joy was in his heart. That's what the scriptures tell us. Joy set before him, a joyful submission. I get to lay my life down for those who are desperate need of it. What I'm about to accomplish in my death, burial and resurrection is going to accomplish salvation for those who can't save themselves. With the joy set before Christ, he endures everything so that you can be made his friends. And right when you think, wow, Jesus, this is amazing, I get to have this type of friendship with you. He takes it to the next level, that deep level, and he informs the disciples, he says, you're not slaves because I've called you my friends. And you want to know another reason why I call you my friends is because I've shared the most intimate knowledge with you. What I've heard from the father as the father spoke to me, I now share with you. You know it all. It's intimate knowledge that Christ has shared with his disciples and says, see, we're friends. I've shared with the father what the father's will is. Not only that, not only have I shared with you the special knowledge, I've also provided you access to the resources that I have. I've been given everything from my father. The love that flows from the father has filled me, and I've lived this human life before you, overcoming every obstacle and enduring the cross because of my father's love, because if I needed anything, I know my father has my back. And now as my friend, I'm going to open up those doors to you so that now, as you seek to live the life like I lived, as you seek to go and spread the love that I've demonstrated to you, there's nothing that you can't handle because you have access to my father. You have his ear, you feel weak. Come and get strength in me and ask God, my father, to give it to you, and he'll tune his ear to you. You feel like you don't understand what's going on. And you need some wisdom. Ask, and he'll give it to you. Why? Because you're my friend and I share my resources with you. You have access to the father. That's what he says in verse 16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you. That you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of my father in my name, he would give to you. You have access to. That's my resources, because you're my friend. And lastly, he says, friendship. We can ask each other anything, and we'll do it. He says, you know how I know? You're my friends. Verse 14. You are my friends if you do what I command you. So now he kind of flips it a little bit. He's demonstrating like, this is what friendship is. I'm inviting you into being my friends. But if you want me to be your friend, you got to do what I ask, the way I've done what you ask. Ask, seek, knock, and it'll be given to you. And what more does Jesus need to do to answer all the things that we desperately ask of him? He's done it all for us. The question remains, will you do it for him? Will you do what Christ is asking of you to do? And you're saying, what is he asking of me? What is required of me to be a friend of Christ? There's two shining examples, and I'll close with this. There's two shining examples in the Old Testament that were given. There's only two people in the Old Testament that were specifically told in scriptures that were friends of God, Abraham and Moses. And there's these two scenes. One's in Exodus 33. I'm not going to read it to you. I want you to go back, and I want you to see it through the lens of friendship with Moses and what made Moses and how we knew that Moses was a friend of God. It's a beautiful interaction between him and God. It's in Exodus 33, but the one I want to point out is the one with Abraham in Genesis 18. It's an interaction of friends, and it has everything that Jesus speaks about in John 15 that I just walked you through. Let me give you the cliff notes version. What happens is Abraham is sitting at the doorway of his tent in the middle of the day, in the heat of the day. The Bible says he's sitting there, and he sees three men come. And he looks and sees the scripture says, these three men, and he identifies that one of them is the Lord. And he goes up to him and says, men, come and eat with me. Dine with me. Let me prepare a meal for you, and let us eat together. And these three MEN seem to be going somewhere, but they stop. They look at Abraham. They go in, and he prepares the meal. He runs to SArah, and he says, sarah, I need you to make right now bread. I'm gonna get a calf. We're gonna get curds of milk and all this other stuff. And he creates this amazing feast. One of the identifying features of Abraham is the fact that he's super hospitable. Super hospitable. And so he makes this meal. The three men sit down, and the lord speaks to Abraham. He says, where's sarah? And Abraham's like, oh, she's right over there on the other side of the tent door. And so they're sitting there eating under the oaks of mammary, and they're dining with. And he says, hey, this time next year, SArah is going to have a son. And Sarah overhears this. Ladies, don't pretend like we know what you guys do when we're sitting there having conversations. You guys like to listen in. Sarah is very similar, and she listens to this conversation, and she laughs to herself. The scripture says, laughs. You know what the Hebrew word for laughing is? Isaac. She's isaacing in herself, right? And the Lord stops and looks at Abraham, why is your wife laughing? Why is she isaacing? Abraham's like, I didn't hear a thing. And then Sarah comes in, very fearful that we're told, and she says, I didn't laugh. And the Lord goes, no, you indeed laughed. The scene stops, and then the three men get up, and Abraham escorts them out to send them all on the rest of their journey. And where these three men are going is Sodom and GomOrRah. And something very special happens. And this is the key. This is what tells you that Abraham is the friend of the Lord. Because the Lord says, should we let Abraham know what we're about to do? Should we give him the special and secret knowledge that we have heard the cries coming out of the wickednEss, Sodom and Gomorrah, and we're about to destroy it. Should we tell him? The Lord says, we should, because all the generations that come from AbrahAM are going to be blessed. And I have made covenant with him. And so he tells Abraham, we're going to Sodom and Gomorrah, and we're going to destroy the cries. We have heard the cries. We're going to go see Sodom and Gomorrah to see if these cries are true. And we're going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And Abraham enters into dialogue, right? This is God. And he says, are you going to destroy the righteous with the wicked? Surely that's not of you. That's not who I know you to be. If there were 50 in Sodom and Gomorrah that are righteous, will you spare them and not let them die with the rest of the wicked? And the Lord says, if there are 50 righteous people in Sodom, Gomorrah, spare the whole city. Then Abraham humbly suggests, okay, maybe that's a little much. So what about 45? The Lord says, if there's 45, I'll spare them all. You're a good, great God. I can't believe I'm speaking to you, but let me just speak to you again. What if there's 30? What if there's 25? What if there's 20? What if there's ten? He's engaging in dialogue. He's a friend of God that just entered into God's counsel. God has decided to go and execute justice on Sodom and Gomorrah. And he stopped by his friend Abraham on the way. He had a meal with him and then invites him into his council. And Abraham's able to go and say to him, would you consider, because I know you, but you consider saving what righteousness there is there? And out of that dialogue, God says, there is ten righteous. I will save them. And that's the end of the scene. They go on to Sodom and Gomorrah. The whole scene is telling because that's what the church has become friends with Christ. And he says, I have seen the world and it's passing away. I have seen and heard the cries of the people. I have made preparations to save them. And one day I'm going to come with justice and execute justice on the wicked. And us, being the friends of God, should be like Abraham and say, but if there are any that can be saved, will you save them? He says, I will. If you go and tell them about me, if you will go and give them the good news, if you will go and befriend them like I've befriended you and invite them to come and be my friend, they will be saved. So when Jesus says, you are my friends, if you do what I ask you to do, that's a room full of Christ's friends. What we ought to be doing is looking out there, having the special knowledge that Christ is returning to execute justice and that we hold the good news to give to them, that we possess the love through Christ to give to them so that they might be saved. That's what needs to define this church. That's what defines true friends of God. So the question is, would it be said of you that you are the friendliest of friends of God? Are you a friend of Christ? And if so, are you doing what he's asked you to do? Are you reading about all the ways and all the things that he's revealed to you about himself and hold it dear to you because it's your friend who's speaking to you the deep things about himself? Are you reciprocating that mutual love and giving yourself over to others? Are you extending his friendship because that's what he wanted the disciples to do. He wanted them to know that they are his friends and to go and make more friends. That's what we must do. Are you a friend of God? Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you for these words that we can cling to, to remind ourselves that you have made us your friends.