RETURN TO THE SOURCE VII

FOREVER FRIENDS IN LOVE

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you.

John 15:13-15

There is a lot of theological and scholarly activity around the death of Jesus.  We have big words to describe it and books upon books to explain it.  We have become a people full of theological and scholarly debates about God, Jesus, and all that concern them.  Our libraries and book stores are overflowing with information and knowledge about God, as are out seminaries and churches.  If that is what it is all about, then why are we not a better people, better Church, better world?

I honor and respect theologians and biblical scholars.  I admire the time and energy they put into their work.  But it doesn’t satisfy me to have a full mind but an empty heart and a lonely life.  I don’t want to just know about God.  I want to know God in an intimate and personal way.  I want to be known by God as an intimate and personal friend.  That goes way beyond information; that goes to the heart of love.

When I read John 15:13 this morning a light went on in my heart.  Jesus believed he was laying down his life for his friends; simple as that.  Not for our Atonement, Substitutionary Atonement, Propitiation for Sin, or any other label. He loved the people he died for and saw them as friends.  The simplicity of that overwhelms me.  He believes we are friends and that touches my heart and fills it to overflowing with love.

Some would say it is pretentious to believe I am friends God; that is bringing the Almighty God down to a human level.  I used to be intimidated by people who sat in their theological and scholarly offices and their places of prestige and power.  I am no longer intimidated; now I simply feel sad for them.  I wonder how they read their Bibles and not see that God walked and talked with the saints of old and indeed, He did come down to human level to dwell with us and to be with us as friends.

Some would say it’s disrespectful to God to believe I am in an intimate friendship with the God who created and rules the world; who do I think I am?  Well, according to God who created and rules the world I am His child, a right He Himself gave to me because I received and believed in the name of His Son Jesus.  Children have intimate and friendly relationships with their parents.

God has always come and spoken with common ordinary people who would take the time to walk with Him and listen to Him.  Jesus came down and dwelt among us revealing a relationship of friendship and love with God.  The Bible is clear as it records story after story of how much God loves His people and wants to be friends with us.  That kind of love makes me want to obey Him and want to trust Him and look to Him as my Lord and Master.  How can I not submit to that kind of love with all of my heart, mind, and strength?