May 16 Your Friend’s Business

John 15:15-16 “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”
 
MOST of us have often heard and been assured, “Jesus is your friend.” “What a friend we have in Jesus” is a popular hymn as it reminds us Jesus bears all our sins and grief. The song teaches us we can take our needs to the Lord in prayer. The hymn was written to draw us into a closer, trusting relationship with the Best Friend ever!
   Thus, Jesus words here may seem to be of little impact to his disciples. “Of course. He’s our friend!” they might affirm.
   But in truth, for the Master to call his disciples “friends” is a significant change in the way God in the future will relate to his disciples in that upper room and to us forever. Consider that God has spoken many times in the law and the prophets to declare his holiness and majesty. He has formed the world. Then he set apart one nation in ancient times to worship him with very specific laws and structures. The Lord God has even warned and judged the Jews against casually coming before him.
   God is holy. His name is not be profaned, spoken informally. Devout Jews never spoke the name of God for fear of blaspheming his name. But then Jesus, the Son of the Holy God, says, “I have called you friends.”
   Why? Well, let’s understand what a friend is. Look here: Psalms 55:13-14 But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, 14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God. We understand then, that God-centered friends are alike. They have similar thoughts and desires. Friends experience true fellowship as they care for each other in many ways. Sometimes they correct one another. Often they praise and support each other. You can say that good friends know each other’s business – their thoughts, deeds and desires – because they are likeminded.
   In this manner, the Son of God has elevated his disciples from servants to friends. This is the result of Jesus’ transforming their minds to know God’s business. Think how gracious our Lord is to have told his disciples “everything that I learned from my Father.” This is evidence of his friendship. This is why we know he bears our sins and grief, why we can pray to him. His intimate revelation of the Father’s will is God’s revealed kingdom truth. Think of it! God did not isolate himself from his creation. He came to be your friend, so you will know his mind. In response, you will live as he did – to make the Father known to His world.
   From that night on, it was the disciples’ responsibility to do Jesus’ business. They would live as their friend Jesus to transact kingdom business. Because of their new knowledge, they are equipped, as their friend Jesus, to do the work of God on earth.
   We can be sure that our friendship with Jesus does not give us the ability to tell Jesus what to do. Instead, friendship with the Lord draws us into one mind with the Lord’s teachings. We learn his business of salvation into the world, so we can transact that business.
   For the second time, Jesus promises “Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” Remember that this refers to your prayers being as Jesus would pray. You will know what to pray when you trust, “What a friend I have in Jesus.”
 
Prayer: Thank you Jesus for telling me the Father’s business. I pray to be about his business on earth. Amen.