Friendship with Jesus is the main focus of today's discussion, emphasizing its profound significance and accessibility. We explore how this relationship is not merely an extraordinary concept but an attainable reality for everyone. Drawing from John 15:12-15, we reflect on the essence of friendship, noting that while obligations exist in our relationship with God, Jesus invites us into a friendship that is voluntary and deeply personal. By sharing our lives and interests with Him, particularly through prayer, we can nurture this friendship and grow closer to Jesus. Ultimately, we are reminded that despite our imperfections, Jesus calls us His friends and desires an intimate relationship with us.

Takeaways:

1. Friendship with Jesus is a remarkable concept that we often struggle to comprehend.
2. To be a friend of Jesus, we must actively choose to follow his commands and teachings.
3. Our friendship with Jesus grows through constant communication and sharing our lives with him.
4. Jesus desires a relationship with us that goes beyond obligation, rooted in companionship and mutual interests.
5. Prayer is essential in developing our friendship with Jesus, allowing us to share everything with him.
6. No concern is too small for Jesus; he welcomes all aspects of our lives into our friendship.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. www.bible805.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

1. Britannica
2. Bible805

Hi, welcome to the Hobo Soul podcast of Road advice from the Bible. And from me, Yvon Prehn, someone who's a little further down the road of life.

I'll talk to you every weekday for about five to 10 minutes, with periodic longer talks on serious Saturdays. Let's get started with our topic today, which is episode number 24, Friendship with Jesus.

I wasn't sure what to title this episode because when I thought about it, when I read the quote that I'm going to read you in a minute, the whole topic of friendship with Jesus seems too extraordinary to comprehend. But we didn't initiate it. Wonder of wonders he does, and today we're going to explore what that means.

"This is my command. Love one another the way I loved you. This is a very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.

You are my friends when you do the things I command you."

And here's our challenge

"To be a friend of Jesus. It is incredible that that's even possible. And to do that is not some out of reach impossible goal.

He simply asks us to do what he commands. And he gave us a very big book, the Bible, that spells it all out."

Let's talk about this a little bit more.

To begin with, I'm going to define friendship, and as I go through the definition, I'll also comment on how this applies to our relationship with Jesus. Britannica Online has some interesting definitions of friendship, and here's one of them.

It talks about how friendships have no formal duties or legal obligations to one another.

Now, our relationship with God has many aspects and some of them do have, you might say, legal obligations. To begin with, our salvation, the canceling of our debts owed to God because of our sin, that debt being paid on the cross. In many ways that's of a legal nature. And in First Corinthians 6 it talks about our responsibility because of that.

Now, we're not talking about friendship now, so hang in there with me.

But we need to realize that our friendship doesn't encompass all of the aspects of our relationship with God, because it talks about the whole idea of obligation when it says, don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price, so you must honor God with your body.

Now, this divinely legal transaction of God buying us with the death of Christ and our obligation to honor him with Our bodies. That's where we start. That is the foundation of our relationship. But Jesus calling us friends takes that relationship to an entirely different place.

Because Britannica even goes on to say, friendship is not obligatory. Two individuals choose to form a friendship with each other. It's almost always characterized by companionship and shared activities.

In fact, one of the primary goals and motivations of friendship is companionship.

Now, obviously, Britannica is not a theological textbook, but I love what it just described when it said friendship is not obligatory.

Two individuals choose to form a friendship with each other. Jesus chose to be our friend. He didn't need to do that. He does not need our friendship.

But somehow, in some unfathomable way, Jesus, almighty God seems to desire it. From the earliest days of creation, He didn't just create a world of cute little creatures and then leave it alone to go do something else somewhere else. It says the Bible tells us that he walked with humanity, in the cool of the garden. And even after humanity turned their backs on him, Taylor Stanton, in a book on prayer, talks about how God walked out of the garden with his people. He never turned his back on them. And though some turned their backs on him, many didn't.

And early on in the Bible, it talks about Enoch, a man who walked with God. And we assume in close friendship, because a little bit later it says that one day God simply took him.

Later in the Old Testament, we meet Abraham, who was later someone that was described as a friend of God. What makes us and God friends? As we read earlier, Jesus said, you're my friends when I do the things that I command you.

Now, let's think about that a minute. That it isn't just at first glance, it sort of seems like it's just another form of rules and legalism and regulations.

If we do this or that, that God wants, we'll be friends. But again, think a little bit more deeply. Every definition that I read about friendship talks about how friends share interests.

CS Lewis said friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another, "What you too? I thought that no one but myself." He also said it is when two such persons discover one another, when they share their vision.That is when friendship is born.

I think our friendship with Jesus grows when we become interested in what he's interested in.

In people, in caring for them, loving them, serving them, caring more about people's eternal destiny than how much money they have or how fun they might be to be with. When we share an interest with someone, we talk to them. Or as more often happens, these days. We text them frequently about every part of our lives.

Our friendship with Jesus grows in the same way when we share everything with him, from how our day is going to our concerns for our friends and families, to our concerns about the world. What I'm talking about, of course, is simply prayer.

And though there are times when formal prayers are appropriate, prayer is in reality simply non stop talking throughout our day with our best friend Jesus.

And just as human friendships develop from deep and open conversation, so too does our friendship with Jesus develop with constant interaction with Him. Don't be afraid that he doesn't have time for what you might consider the little concerns of your life.

I mean, we might say to ourselves, God must be super busy keeping the galaxies from running into each other and humans from destroying the earth and each other. And it might seem like God has far too much to occupy his time and concerns than with your little worries.

We couldn't be more wrong when we think like that. Because God has, if you will, unlimited bandwidth. He has more than enough capacity to hear it all, to deal with it all listening to you.

A friend he loves, loved enough to die for, does not take away from his galaxy balancing. He has plenty of power and love to handle it all. So rest and rejoice in your friendship with Jesus.

Care about the same things he does. Be involved in them. Talk about every part of your life with him and your friendship will grow and deepen. One more thing.

I found this somewhat humorous quote when I was looking up various ones on friendship with Jesus. I think in many ways it's a great definition of the grace that Jesus grants to us as his friends. And here's the quote.

"A true friend is someone who thinks you're a good egg even though he knows you're slightly cracked."

Now, most of us are a little bit more than slightly cracked, yet Jesus calls us friends--regardless of that.

That's all for this podcast, for transcripts, links to related material, and much more to help you learn, trust, apply and teach the Bible, go to www.bible805.com for now, let me end with this benediction and prayer.

May you walk each day surrounded by the gracious love of the Father, guided by the gentle wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and conscious of the astoundingly real presence of Jesus, who will walk with you until you're no more a hollow soul, no more a transient wandering heart, but at home in the kingdom prepared for you with your God forever. Amen.