THE BIBLE IS CLEAR ABOUT THE ONLY REQUIREMENTS FOR FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD: FAITH FOLLOWED BY OBEDIENCE.

[Jesus said,] “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.” - John 15:14-15 In February I received an invitation to a “Galentine’s” luncheon hosted by a woman who lives nearby. Having recently relocated, I’ve struggled with the loneliness of starting over and making new friends. To be invited to a social gathering gave me hope that I have a place here after all. Someone knows my name!

Invitations are at the heart of social networks, too. Who doesn’t want to be included, to have our presence desired at an event? We issue friend requests or accept them. We follow, post, and tweet to engage with those we know or would like to know. We’re invited to watch live events taking place thousands of miles away. At the center of it all is the desire to experience community, to have friends.

The most important invitation in history is at the heart of the gospel: Whoever believes will have eternal life. Ask someone to quote a Scripture reference, and you’ll probably hear John 3:16. Athletes have painted it on their foreheads. The passage has been preached with passion from a million pulpits. It’s an invitation not only to live forever but to enter a life-changing relationship.

To be a friend of God

Both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts are addressed to a man named Theophilus, which means “friend of God.” Does it sound arrogant, even irreverent, to call God “friend”? He’s not a buddy or boyfriend. The Creator of the universe is someone we address as Father, or by the affectionate Abba as Jesus did. But a parent’s love includes discipline, training, and rebuke, actions that don’t characterize most friendships. Can God really be friend as well as Father?

In John 14:9-11, Jesus said that those who had seen him had seen his Father. He took on flesh to come to our poor planet and experience our limitations and temptations, pledging to never leave us. Someone who enters your world, identifies with you, and promises never to leave you alone is one awesome friend.

What qualifies us to be considered friends of God? Let’s think about some of the people God called friends in Scripture. There’s Abraham, for one. And David was famously called a man after God’s own heart. Yet Abraham lied about his own wife and had sex with her servant, while David one-upped that by not only sleeping with another man’s wife but ensuring that Bathsheba’s husband would meet an untimely death. So, yep, that rules out moral superiority or exemplary performance as a friendship qualification.

Jesus had a wide circle of friends during his public years of ministry: the multitudes, the seventy-two, the twelve disciples, and the three in his most trusted inner circle: Peter, James, and John. What encourages me personally though, are his recorded friendships with women.

Sisters Mary and Martha of Bethany used the phrase “dear friend” to describe their brother’s relationship (and theirs) with Jesus (John 11:3).  He gave his devoted follower Mary Magdalene the privilege of being the first person to bear witness to his resurrection (John 20:14). For a Jewish rabbi to even speak to a woman outside of his family circle ran counter to culture, but that’s exactly what Jesus was. Radically countercultural.

The kind of friend I want and desperately need

The Bible is clear about the only requirements for friendship with God: Faith followed by obedience. The apostle Paul writes, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory”(Romans 5:1-2).

And Jesus put it plainly: “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” John 15:14-15.

Jesus is the only friend who can give us true peace with God. He’s the one who invites us into this intimate relationship: access by faith into grace. As his friends, we get the privilege of following where he leads. And with peace and privilege comes the lasting promise that we’ll be perfected at the last day.

If you’ve never accepted his invitation to enter his family, he may be speaking to you right now: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” Revelation 3:20.

It’s what friends do.

And I guarantee you, Theophilus, this one will change your life.

Maggie Wallem Rowe is an author, speaker, dramatist. She will be the keynote speaker at the first Definitions (Women’s) Conference in May. 

This article was taken from her book, “This Life We Share” and is used with permission.

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