John 15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17  These things I command you, that ye love one another.

Friendship is a wonderful thing. Those who indulge themselves in platforms such as “Facebook’ can have many “friends”, so I am told. Personally I would never be a part of such a platform. The founder of Facebook is a creepy figure who uses his platform to exploit people. Those on the platform seem unaware of this fact and they seem to think they have a good thing going by being on it.
Jesus spoke of friends in an entirely different light. He showed us what a true friend is like. A true friend does not exploit others. He does not try to use others as stepping stones to get to some place else.

Proverbs 18:24  A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Jesus stated that the demonstration of true friendship is for a man to lay down his life for his friends. He was willing to lay down His life for His friends. Those who become His friends are those who accept His love. They are those who get saved. They believe in Him and they trust Him.
The Bible is clear that Jesus Christ laid down His life for all people. He did that in the sense that all people are offered His gift of salvation. However, only those who accept that offer are His friends. There are many who want the blessings of their imaginary heaven, but they do not want to submit to the lifestyle that is provided for those who are truly saved.
Jesus stated that those who keep His commandments are His friends. He did not say that to suggest that our works make us His friends. He stated that our works will prove whether or not we are His friends. A person that is a true friend follows the good advice of his friends. Jesus Christ always gives good advice. Further to that, He provided the only way of salvation. He laid down His life and shed His blood in order for you and I to be saved.
In verse 15 Jesus stated that He would no longer call His disciples servants. The servant is told what to do and does so because he is commanded to do so. He does not understand the intricacies of what his master is doing. He has no ownership in what he is doing. His master does not need to inform him of all the details. He just needs to go and do what he is told to do. Jesus took on a new relationship with His disciples because He took them in as His friends. He had invited them to follow Him early on in His public ministry. Eleven of the twelve chose to accept His invitation to friendship. One, Judas, chose to remain a servant and eventually lost all opportunity to be a friend. He took his own life and sealed his doom.
Jesus stated that He had told His disciples all that His Father had told Him to tell them. He and His Father are One and He did not withhold any good thing from the disciples.
In verse 16 we read that the disciples had not chosen Him. Several of them were fishermen. One was a tax collector. They were busy with their work and He met them and called them to follow Him. Being a friend of Jesus is always initiated by Him. We are far too “pre-occupied” with our own lives to consider Him as our friend. Jesus Christ is gracious and loving and invites all people to come to Him. In John 3:14 Jesus gave the illustration of Moses and the serpent in the wilderness. Moses was told by God to make a brazen serpent and put it on a pole in the midst of the camp. That serpent was clearly visible to the entire nation of Israel. When anyone was bitten by the poisonous snakes that were there, they needed to look to that serpent and be healed of that snake bite. If they chose not to look to that serpent, they would die of that bite.
The opportunity was there for all to avail themselves of that saving grace. Only those who would actually look to that serpent were healed. It required faith to believe that a brazen serpent on a pole could save them. Actually it was God that saved them. The brazen serpent on the pole was simply a type of His saving grace. That brazen serpent became an idol to the people prior to the days of king Hezekiah and he had it destroyed.
In John 3:16, Jesus used that illustration to explain how a person can be spiritually saved. It requires faith in His finished work in order to be saved. His offer of salvation is for all people. Every person has lacked the necessary faith to look to Jesus Christ for salvation at some point. Most people never turn to God and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. The few that do become the friends of Jesus from that moment on.
Those who become His friends are then capable of producing fruit to the glory of God. There is no friend of Jesus that can sit idly by and just slip into heaven. That is not what His friends do. We notice as well that the fruit that Jesus’ friends produce remains. There is no such a thing as a saved person losing their salvation. Salvation is a gift of God. Jesus never casts off His friends.
We see as well that when we become a friend of Jesus, we also have the privilege of asking anything of the Father in Jesus’ name, and receiving that which we ask for.
It is important here to note that we ask in Jesus’ name. This is a safeguard against the heresy of the Charismatic movement. They sometimes ask, but often demand things of God. They act more like spoiled children, than friends. If we are asking in Jesus’ name, we will ask for those things that please the Father. We have the assurance that the Father will give that which pleases Him. He offers eternal life, and peace and many other blessings.
In verse 17 Jesus reminded His disciples that He was commanding them to love one another. That is the nature of true Christians. There is a true love there that is unique to Jesus’ friends. Today is the Lord’s Day. It is another day where those who are Jesus’ friends can demonstrate their love to one another by meeting in a good local church to fellowship with other saints. It is a blessing to be able to meet with fellow believers and to rejoice with those that rejoice and to weep with those that weep. We have that privilege in our local communities. We can also pray for others that we cannot meet with personally. Jesus promised to build His church as the place where His friends meet to provoke one another to love and good works. Let us prove our relationship to Jesus by keeping His commandments.
Pastor Bartel