All right, I have three passages
from the scripture today. The first I offer to you as an
opening prayer to the sermon, and the following two after that
will actually be the text of the sermon. The first passage
that I would like us to look at and consider again is a prayer
as an opening to the sermon, and that is from Philippians
chapter four. verses four through eight. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let
your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.
Let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God
which passes all understanding. guard your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is
true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any
excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about
these things. It is my hope and my prayer that
today during this time that we will be thinking about these
things. Second passage today is from
Proverbs, chapter 18, verse 24. And there the scripture tells
us, a man of many friends may come to ruin. But there's a friend
who sticks closer than a brother. The third passage is from John,
chapter 15, verse 13 through 16, greater love has no man than this, then a
man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if
you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants,
for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But
I have called you friends for all that I have heard from my
father I have made known to you. You did not choose me But I chose
you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and
that your fruit should abide. So that whatever you ask the
Father in my name, he may give it to you." Those are our texts
for today. Let me begin with some opening
comments. This is the Memorial Day weekend.
And on Memorial Day and on Veterans Day, my mind races. My father was career military.
He entered the service shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor,
as did many men in this country. He served 30 years in the United
States Army, retiring as a bird colonel. Most of my childhood
years were spent on Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. Fort
Sam Houston is the military's foremost burn and amputation
center. And on Memorial Day and Veterans
Day, as I said, my mind races with remembrances. I remember
from my childhood the years of the Vietnam War. Our home was
a block and a half from the main heliport in front of Brooke Army
Medical Center. During those years, our boys
were coming home from Vietnam. They were coming home broken,
battered, Torn up, but alive, thankfully so. During those years,
the helicopters never stopped. 24 hours a day, helicopters flying
over our house to land, bringing in young boys who had lost limbs,
had their flesh burned off, and who were damaged in so many ways
as they fought in Vietnam. On the other end of Fort Sam
Houston, is the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. And sadly
enough, our boys were coming home there too. And just as the helicopters never
stopped, the funerals never did either. The sound of 21 gun salutes and
taps echoed through Fort Sam Houston. And on these holidays,
these holiday weekends, I remember. I think back on those in the
armed forces and those who are in the armed forces even now.
And I remember those who are living and those who are dead.
And I am thankful. I am thankful that a few sacrificed
a lot. Maybe some sacrificed all. that you and I could lead better
lives. That's my remembrance for Memorial
Day weekend. This kind of leads me to another
thought. A little bit different direction,
but I went to Texas A&M. I was in the Corps of Cadets.
And as a freshman in the Corps, you are required to know what
we call campusology. facts about Texas A&M, its history,
all that has gone on there, all that's going on there now. Part
of what we had to know was the inscriptions on the cornerstones
of all the buildings on campus. And when an upperclassman would
ask me, Fish McNamara, what is the inscription on the Memorial
Student Center? My response would be briskly
and loudly, Sir, greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends. John 15, 13, Sir. At the time I was not a Christian.
I did not really know the story of Jesus except in very general
terms, and I understood that verse in the context of one man
sacrificing his life for his country. That's why that verse
was attached to the Memorial Student Center. It was in recognition
of the many Aggies who had gone into the service and had died
in service of our state and nation. Later, when God called me to
Christ, I would come to understand the real meaning of that passage. And what a wonderful verse that
is, that Jesus Christ gave his life for his friends. And this is what I'd like us
to take away today, that Jesus Christ gave his life for his
friends and indeed says, in verse 14, you are my friends. This is a real powerful statement
when taken to heart. It's an encouraging statement,
Jesus telling you are my friends. As with most, if not all statements
made in the scripture, this one is loaded with meaning. There is a meaning we can take
from this scripture if we read it lightly and superficially.
Thank God that even at a low level, we can understand and
be encouraged by the scripture. But there is so much more to
this verse if you dig into it, if you will study it and prayerfully
meditate on what God is saying in the passage. And that's what
I would like to do today. Let's see if we can dig a little
deeper. and mine from this verse. First, let's look at the friends
of God. Jesus says, you are my friends. This may seem like a basic statement,
but really it's not so. We tend to apply the title friend
of God or friends of God to Bible heroes. And that's a right application,
I wouldn't deny that. But we do not generally think
of it or apply it to common people, to ourselves. We see the same
principle in terms of the word saint. Because of many, many
years of church history, we think of the saints, that's those who
have been recognized by the church as being special believers. Above and beyond you and I. But
that's not what the scripture says. The scripture says that
if you believe, you are a saint. Well, scripture says we are friends
of God, but rarely, rarely do we apply that to ourselves. We will indeed apply it to the
patriarchs. We'll apply it to the prophets.
We'll apply it to the apostles, but generally not to me personally. I don't tell people, well, I'm
a friend of God. whatever reason I may or may
not be comfortable saying that. I don't generally apply that
term to me. It's interesting to note that
there is only one person in the scripture that is called a friend
of God and that's Abraham. There are others in the scripture
where it is implied but not clearly stated. Abraham is called God's
friend. Now let's look at from the Old
Testament at the words that we translate as friend. There are
two words from the Hebrew that are translated as friend. One
is ahab. That's my East Texas pronunciation
of that, and it is probably horrible Hebrew. But this word means an
intimate relationship, the most intimate of relationships. It
is in the scripture found 64 times in the Old Testament texts. 52 of those times it is translated
as lover, beloved, or lovely. The majority of the translation
is as lover and beloved. So this word is a heavy word. It's not used generally to indicate
a casual relationship. We should hold to that. This
means a very intimate relationship. The second word translated as
friend is rea. And this word is more generic. It indicates a variety of relationships,
anything from a neighbor down the road to a family member. But it does not indicate an intimate
relationship, a close, close, close, deeply personal relationship. It is more casual. It shows up
in the scripture 189 times and only twice Does it by context seem to indicate
a close relationship? Now, if we look at the passage
that I mentioned from Proverbs chapter 18, we can see both of
these words in the verse so that you can see how they're used
and the distinction that is made. A man of many companions or many
friends, and I say companions, I'm reading from the ESV, a newer
translation, and it actually makes the distinction here. Rhea
being translated as companions. King James says friends in both
places. A man of many friends may come
to ruin, but there is a friend, that's a hob, beloved, lover,
who sticks closer than a brother. In this passage, in this verse,
we have both words used and both concepts of friendship demonstrated
and laid in contrast one to the other. A man may have many, many, many,
many associates, but there is one, a beloved,
a close, deeply personal friendship. Here is that one who sticks closer
than even blood can. The contrast is made here. Associations
can and are many, but those who love us, deeply love us, are
few. That contrast is made in this
passage. The Bible, from the very front
to the back of the text, is full of stories of the falsities and
failings of casual relationships. Both Old and New Testament tell
of cheatings, betrayals, even murders among those who were
thought to be friends, but ultimately were not. The experience of our
own lives, I think, demonstrates that to be true as well. I know
from my experience that I have been hurt and misused
many times by people who called themselves my friends. Turns
out they were not true friends, but associates. Jesus himself
suffered betrayal by one who was within his close circle of
confidants. An associate, not a true friend,
certainly not a lover. The proverb tells us of these
companions who are not really close friends. Then it tells
us of a friend who is closer than even a brother. And of course,
the verse speaks ahead to Jesus Christ. Even closer than a brother. We tend to think of family ties
as being supreme. Blood is thicker. Talk about
blood kin. Those who are part of our own
family are supposed to be the closest. The bond is unbreakable. But again, the scripture is full
of stories of bitterness and hatred and worse within families. It's in the Bible. The Bible
is full of it. And again, if we look in our
own families and in those families that we know around us, we see
the same thing, the same thing. Blood kinship does not necessarily
indicate love or loyalty. If you don't believe that, get
close to a family when a member has died and they're dividing
up the stuff. The fight is on. But there is
a friend, there is a friend who is closer than any companion
and closer than even family. And again, I say the verse, the
proverb leads us to look ahead to Jesus Christ. And that brings
us to John 15, 13, and 14. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are
my friends. Now let's put this passage in
its time and its place. This was spoken by Jesus in the
upper room. This is that final evening before
the crucifixion. Now, of course, Christ knows
what is happening. It's not a mystery to him, but
to the disciples it is a mystery, and they do not know the horrible
events that will unfold within the next 24 hours. But this is
that last time that he will spend with his disciples this side
of his death. Jesus is telling the disciples
of his ministry, his betrayal, his death and resurrection. All
the parables are gone now. All the flowery language is gone. The teaching of Jesus is direct,
clearly stated. It's important to note at this
time that Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, is gone from the room. He has left already to do his
dirty work, to betray Jesus. Jesus is now with the 11. And at this time, he explains
the relationships that he has. God loves Jesus. Jesus loves
God. God loves the disciples. Jesus
loves the disciples. And in this love, Jesus is active. It is not mere emotion that is
driving Christ. All of this is love that will
and lead to action on behalf of the disciples. Jesus will
give up his life for his friends. And stating that, he then tells
them, you are my friends. Just as we looked at the word
friend in the Old Testament, we must now do so for the New
Testament. because we're dealing with a
different language and we need to understand how this word was
translated. The Greek word here in this text
that is translated as friend is philos. It is a form of the
Greek word phileo, which means love. There are four Greek words for
love. Three of them are used in the
New Testament. We have the word agape, which
means the most intimate and deeply personal love. This is the closest
of all relationships possible, agape. We have phileo, which
can mean a variety of relationships, but they're non-sexual relationships. That needs to be said. relationships of the heart where
people have bonded and melded together in heart. The closeness
of this relationship must be determined by the context because
phileo can indeed cover a variety of relationships. The third word
used in the New Testament for love, storge. And this is a relationship
a love, if you will, based upon association. It is like family,
like community, like race. The word shows up only one time
in the New Testament. Paul uses it in Romans chapter
12, and there it is a compound, actually, of phileo and storgate. And what Paul is saying there
is because you are one body in Christ, there's that relationship
based upon association. Because you are one body in Christ,
therefore love one another. So we've got a coupling here
in that instance of storge and phileo. The fourth word And I
mention this because oftentimes you hear people talking about
the words for love in Greek. And the fourth word is Eros. And this is a sensual, physical
love. Now, it's important to note that
Eros does not show up in the New Testament. And I think there's
good reason for that, because in the flesh, we don't really
need any encouragement to practice Eros. It is sensual. It is physical. Eros instead
is covered in a negative sense as a prohibition by the use of
the word pornea. And it is used to indicate immorality
in many forms. That is Eros gone astray. But Eros itself does not show
up in the scripture. The importance of this discussion
of the words translated as friends. Jesus is not making a casual
statement about friendship here. That's very important. In English,
we throw the word friend around to mean all kinds of relationships,
and in doing so, we diminish its value as a word. A guy that
I have met at the coffee shop and had a cup of coffee with
maybe twice in my entire life, I may say, well, I've got a friend
I drink coffee with. I use the word friend. Now, those people who I share
my life with, I call friends as well. So you see there's this
variety, variety of words that we call friends. And a casual
reading of what Jesus is saying can diminish its meaning. So
it's important we look at this. As we review the teachings of
Jesus, He never talks about friends casually. He calls very few His
friends. There is no casual relationship
with Christ. You don't find that in the scripture.
We don't find that in the scripture. And here in the verses, John
15, 13 and 14, we don't find a casual relationship either.
This is a life sacrificed for those he loves. This is not for
servants, but for the beloved. Note also that the relationship
is completely active on the part of Christ. He chose these friends. At one point he said, you did
not choose me, I chose you. Here he again says that he chose
them. And beyond that, he has ordained
or appointed them. And beyond that, he has entrusted
them with his ministry. This is not a casual relationship.
These are not mere associations. These are not coffee buddies. These are people that Jesus has
a serious, intimate love relationship with. Now it may be said, look
at the context. Jesus here is speaking to the
disciples, the 11. Yes, they're his friends. And
I agree, that is true. He is speaking to the 11th. But
further in the evening's discussion, Jesus broadens all of this to
include those who will follow later. Those who will believe
the message of Jesus. And brothers and sisters, that
is where we come in. That is where we come into this
discussion. Because we are definitely those
who follow later. The events that we've talked
about so far, this evening in the upper room, happened 2,000
years ago. We are without question part
of those who will follow later. What was true for the 11 that
evening, Because Jesus has broadened the scope of the discussion to
include us. It's true for you and me. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are
my friends. Brothers and sisters, take this
to heart. This is powerful. This is meaningful
beyond meaning. We are friends of God, friends
of Jesus Christ, beloved of God, beloved of Christ. He chose us. He ordained and
appointed us, and even now He stands with us, upholding us. We have all, at times, been misused,
we've been abused, we've been betrayed by associates, by companions,
by so-called friends, even by family. That is the experience of our
lives. But there is one who is closer
than even a brother, than even blood kin. And that one gave
his life for his friends, for those he loves. Brothers and
sisters, we are his friends. We are the beloved of Christ.
Hear this. Take it into your hearts and
hold on to it. Hold on to Christ. Jesus tells
us, you are my friends. Thank God for that. Thank God
for that.