CHRIST THE BELIEVERS FRIEND

[nChrist]

CHRIST THE BELIEVERS FRIEND
by J. C. Ryle - Written About 1887

"Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends." -- St. John 15:15.

In the passage I have quoted from St. John 15:15, there is a marked and obvious contrast between the words " servants" and "friends." By the latter our Lord expresses the very near and intimate relation in which He stands to those who do His commandment. For there is no union of loving sympathy so close as that of a friend. It is the climax in the order of influences which may be exerted over a man as set out in Deuteronomy 13:6, "If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul;" and so in Proverbs 18:24, " There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." There are other passages which I might quote, such as that declaring the love of Jonathan for David, who loved him as his own soul, all implying that there is a bond of deeper and more intense affection in the idea of a friend than any other relationship can express. Hence it is that Abraham, the father of the faithful, is more than once called the Friend of God; and not only so, but the Almighty Father speaks of him as "Abraham, my friend." And in Isaiah 56:4-5, the gracious promise is made to those who keep His Sabbaths and choose the things that please Him and take hold of His covenant, " Even unto them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters, I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." The disciple, the servant, the child, or the brother may have their endearing bonds of love, but Jesus is not content to reveal Himself as the Master and Lord, as the Saviour and Brother alone, but also as the Friend: -- "Henceforth I call you not servants: I have called you friends."

Notice the moment at which these words were spoken. It was after the Paschal feast. Jesus had instituted and partaken of the Lord's Supper with His disciples. He had broken bread and had given the cup, and had sat with them upon terms of most holy and loving communion. He had washed their feet, He was one with them and they with Him, and so, in the discourses which followed, there was an unfolding of His heart of hearts to them; He calls them henceforth " friends," illustrating and expanding what He had said before, John 15:13-14, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." And here He lays down love as the true and all-absorbing principle of obedience to His holy will: " Henceforth I call you not servants," etc.

But our Lord adds the reasons for giving this title of privilege to His disciples, for the term servant implies

(1) That he is ignorant of his Master's motives and designs. He receives the command to do this or that, without knowing the reason for which or the object for which it is given. He is in a condition of comparative ignorance and distance.

(2) He is under the law of bondage, for the word, as in the Revised Version margin, is " bond servant;" and he is, therefore, actuated by fear and by compulsion. There may be a sense of duty and of righteous obligation, but there is no liberty.
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[nChrist]

CHRIST THE BELIEVERS FRIEND
by J. C. Ryle - Written About 1887

(3) He is influenced in his efforts to obedience by a mercenary and therefore by a self-righteous motive, for if he performs his appointed task he looks for his wages; if he does more than this and does it in a manner exceeding the ordinary standard of work, he looks for the reward of praise from his master; and if he obtains this he sets it down to the merit of his own performance, and not to that master's generosity and goodwill. In a religious point of view, therefore, it cannot be said that such a state of mind would be favourable to the cultivation of those graces which adorn the Christian character; the lack of fellowship, the condition of bondage, and the spirit of self-righteousness, are all opposed to the privileges and liberty of the Gospel. As St. Paul expresses it -- " Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father." " And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ " all is grace and love. But now let us look at the terms upon which a friend stands to his friend.


(I) He has free access to him at all times.

He has the entry of his home, and of his ear, and of his heart. He does not go to him as an official having to make a special appointment as a matter of business, or to seek some favour at his hands in return for service rendered; but in the conscious confidence of reciprocal love he feels that he needs no excuse for intrusion or plea for claiming the attention and interests of the moment. The friend loveth at all times, and this is just what Jesus teaches when He says," I have called you friends." For while He is the one Mediator between God and man there is no mediator between man and Christ; all have access to Him at all times, " Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." He is the sinner's friend; true friend of publicans and sinners, how much more the friend of those who love Him and keep His commandments? Nothing stands between the soul and Christ; His invitation is that of a friend -- "Come unto Me at all times, and under all circumstances, I will hear your prayer, I will sympathize in your sorrow, I will give you rest." And this involves: --


(II.) The fellowship of friendship; for there is a real participation in joy and sorrow.

It is not simply that He has compassion upon us in our affliction or takes pleasure in our rejoicing, but He participates with us in it. Jesus could not do otherwise, for He took our nature upon Him that He might be made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted. Thus He is touched with a feeling of all our infirmities. In all our affliction He is afflicted. " Jesus wept," and they said, "See how He loved him." The bitter persecution of St. Stephen pierces the heart of Jesus; every stone hurled at the martyr strikes the heart of Christ. "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" testifies to the oneness of Christ with His people. And compare the warning, " Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm." So complete is this fellowship that the friendship of Jesus involves a degree of sympathy which no one else in the whole world can exert. For He is a perfect man; and it is in the perfection of humanity that we have perfect sympathy.
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[nChrist]

CHRIST THE BELIEVERS FRIEND
by J. C. Ryle - Written About 1887

(III.) But this friendship is communicative.

There is no reserve, no secret between friends all is open and naked unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. And if the servant knoweth not what his master doeth, the friend is admitted into his secret counsels. " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." The friendship of God for Abraham was manifested in this way. "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing that I do?" Again, we read that God spake to Moses as a man speaks face to face with his friend; and so it was with Joseph, and with David, and with Daniel, and Ezra, and Nehemiah, and with the disciples of Jesus. The gift of the Holy Ghost is for this purpose, that He might take of the things of "Jesus and show them unto us, bringing to our remembrance the things that He has said unto us, showing us things to come, yea, revealing to us what eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. Such is the measure of knowledge which the friendship of Jesus imparts. He that followeth Him shall not walk in darkness, but shall see the light of life. Jesus not only communicates His love but His light. He is the wonderful counsellor as well as the mighty God. And it is this which makes His friendship so unspeakably precious. There are times when we turn to the right hand and to the left; refuge fails us. We look for advisers and comforters, but there is none. To whom then should we go but unto Jesus? He has the words of eternal life, and He will not withhold the advice and the consolation we need. " I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way in which thou shouldst go. I will guide thee with Mine eye." The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom should I be afraid?

There is yet one other thought in the friendship of Jesus which we must not omit, and it is-


(IV.) That it is abiding and unchangeable.

We know how fickle and frail oftentimes are friendships here; how soon overclouded by suspicions or jealousy, and interrupted by prejudice and mistakes; and how it happens that chief friends are separated, the love cools down into indifference and even enmity. Out of our sins and infirmities it comes; the flesh is weak and we yield to impulses of temptation and passion. But the friendship of Jesus is superhuman, it is eternal, it is Divine. He has loved us with an everlasting love; greater love hath no man, and therefore whom He loves He loves unto the end. Once the friend of Jesus, always the friend. He would be untrue to His own name and nature if He could forget or forsake His chosen. " Can a woman forget her sucking child so that she may not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
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[nChrist]

CHRIST THE BELIEVERS FRIEND
by J. C. Ryle - Written About 1887

And now what is the lesson we are to learn from this?

(I) That Jesus is nearer to us than we are to Him -- that He loves us better than we love, Him. And this distance and coldness is what He desires to overcome by saying, " I call you not servants, I have called you friends. I am not come to you in the terrors and threats of Mount Sinai; I am come to you in the grace and truth of the Gospel. I am come, not to command with the arm of power, but to constrain by the power of love." How slow of heart we are to believe His love! Many think of Him as an adversary because they have sinned against Him and been at enmity with Him; they count Him to be a severe and hard Master because they must give an account of their stewardship; and thus they live on as though they were strangers, and only as upon sufferance to be reckoned in the circle of His acquaintance. But what Jesus would have us to realize is, that He is our Friend and the best Friend we have in the world; that we should recognise this and not be content to say, " I am the friend of Jesus and wish to be reckoned among the number of His friends," but should believe the fact that He regards our obedience to His will as a proof of friendship; that He calls us, and regards us, not as servants but as friends. There is, I admit, something startling and wonderful that Jesus should speak to a poor, sinful, ignorant creature; and that such an one, conscious of infirmity and sin, with many earnest prayers seeking forgiveness and peace at the foot of the cross, should hear such words as these, " I call you not a servant, but a friend; what I desire is, that you should know that I love you." Has not this thought passed through our minds? Yes; I have believed that Jesus would be my Friend and help me through my sins and failures, but that He should condescend to call me His friend, and admit one so utterly unworthy of His favour into such a blessed communion, that is indeed wonderful. The joyful wonder finds its expression in the words of the Apostle John, " Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God;" and yet we have only to turn to the Lord's Supper and we have the parable in our text explained. Jesus invites the guest to His feast, all things are ready, the sacrifice has been offered, the wine is prepared, the table is furnished, the messengers have cried upon the highest places of the city, "Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, He saith unto him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding." The King sitteth at the table, and the banner over him is love. There is a welcome for all who will come, there is fellowship and unity, there is the special communication of grace and blessing, there is the heavenly teaching and the abiding testimony of unchangeable love.