FRIENDS INDEED

  Languages are barriers to communication and to love one another. Admit the obvious; it is hard to display love to those who cannot understand your language. Perhaps God confounded communication for several reasons. The first was to prevent the nations from organizing against God. The second is perhaps to demonstrate camaraderie rather than to merely mouth it.

  The Bible speaks of friends and friendships. In English, “friend” is when one person is emotionally attached to another (Merriam-Webster Dictionary. “Emotionally” means with feelings of admiration, love, or camaraderie. For Christians, Jesus would be the ultimate friend in that He is to be admired as the Glorious One; and loved with all the hearts, minds, souls, and strength of Christians.

  It does not end there. The Tower of Babel proved that loving others from afar and those with different cultures is extremely hard. “Camaraderie” is “a spirit of good fellowship.” (ibid).

  Thus, a “friend” is closeness among those of the same spirit. It is not only a familial attachment but a spiritual one. “Our Friend” is Jesus with whom Christians are attached in Spirit and in love, and also, in walk. Friendship with Jesus is the ultimate servant; He walks, and Christians follow wherever He may go. The problem with “cheap grace” is that the spiritual attachment with Jesus is not one of camaraderie; Jesus walks His Way, but those who call themselves “friends of Jesus” walk away from Him.

  The first and best example of cheap grace is creation in the Garden Paradise. Adam and Eve were created in a “heaven” on Earth. That was grace because they deserved habitation outside the Garden. In the beginning, trees were their friends, as well as the docile beasts. In Paradise, there was camaraderie among man, beast, plant life, and God. God had dominion over all, for He loved them so (John 3:16).

  God gave Adam directions: (1) to have dominion over the Garden and its produce, and (2) to dress and keep the Garden as if it is his own. Adam could eat of all the fruits of the trees of the Garden, but none of its meats. He could not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil whose fruits looked tantalizing but were ruinous. Thus, Adam could walk either one of two paths.

  Adam followed the path of the woman and walked not the Way to the Tree of Life (Gen 3:24). Adam chose the way of the wayward woman rather than the Way of God. His friendship was found under the evil tree but right there in plain sight was the Way of Good to the Tree of Life. Adam followed his second love rather than His first love, and Hell was revealed to him. Soon God sent him out to Hell in earth and ever since tribulation has been the climate of all adams.

  Adam was generated by the Father but degenerated by the influence of Satan in the Serpent. He still loved Father God but became the servant of Satan. Rather than enjoying the grace that he had from God, he flouted it away for a few tastes from evil. Satan did not tempt evil angels but good Adam. He remains that way to this day. If his “children” are evil, Satan is content. He pursues the good and faithful to have them as his own.

  The consequence of sin is that Adam and Eve were no longer one. Satan had “impregnated” Eve with his evil seed. Cain was “of the Wicked One” (1 John 3:12), and as such, all children of Eve are sons of the Wicked One. In the Parable of the tares, there is a strong message: “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one” (Mat 13:38). The “children of the kingdom” are those who, “because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:14).

  Adam lost a friend that day. He lost camaraderie with Eve; and to this day friendships between  males and females is on hazardous territory unless it is on the solid ground of Holy Matrimony. Satan first destroyed the family unit, then attacked the camaraderie between the only two living human beings.

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. (Prov 17:17) 

  “Friend” in that passage is rea’ in the Hebrew. Obviously, a friend is a lover at all times. Not a “lover” in the sense of eroticism, but spiritual love (agape in the Greek.) Just what kind of love is spiritual love? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16; that none should perish! — that none should go to hell but have eternal life.) Hence, “Go to Hell” is damning another of God’s creatures to suffer for eternity. Christians would not want that for their enemies, let alone their friends; yet even Christians, usually because of spiritual arrogance, turn on their friends!

  Job experienced that isolation from those who were his friends: “My (Job’s) kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me” (Job 19:14). Job felt as if he was alone with only God but persevered because he retained God. God neither left Job nor forsook him but left him alone to test his faith.

  Losses of friendships are great tests of faith. When all is said and done, life is a matter between you and God. During the Great Tribulation, just as with Job, friends will walk the way of the Antichrist. Like sheep, they will follow evil-doings and abandon their walk with God. The Great Tribulation is to reveal whose friend the Christian truly is! Jesus lost all his Flesh for mankind, but will even the friends of Jesus follow him to death, or like they did before; stand silently by?

  To whom is that verse dedicated? “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9). That is prophetic of Jesus and his friend, Judas. Jesus did not pick an enemy to lift-up his heal against him, but a friend — one who loved him, but as it turned out, loved money more so.

  Jesus lost more than His life. He lost His friend, Judas, to the love of money; and not only that, all but Peter stood still as Jesus died for them. Note that Peter initially would risk his life for his friend, Jesus, but soon he too cowered when he saw the consequences of disobedience to the authorities. Even Peter valued his own life to His Friend’s and Savior’s!

  Jesus died for silent Christians as well as sinners. He died for His friends although His friends would not die for Him. During the Great Tribulation, those tests of friendships will be there again… it will be either your head to retain friendship with Jesus, or your hand to walk the way of the Beast and live a little longer… and to forget, “To live is Christ; to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).

  “Cheap grace” is not cheap. It cost God His Flesh. “Great grace” is the willingness to lose our own heads in gratitude for God serving His “Bread” — the Bread of Life. Remaining a friend to Jesus despite great threats is the reasonable service of Christians, as we ourselves are the reasonable living sacrifice!

  Jesus is a friend of His brethren. But unlike Jacob’s sons who were no friends of their brother. To be part of the inheritance, like the brothers who came to love Joseph, even wicked brothers must come to love Jesus. Since Jesus is our Friend, Christians must be His friend. They must walk as Jesus walked.

  Christians who know the Great Grace of Jesus, should want to share that grace with them. Our Friend died that we Christians need not, and true friends demonstrate ultimate love. Study the key verse below:

KEY VERSE: Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. (Mark 5:19)

  You can tell who values God’s Grace. They tell their friends “how great things the Lord has done!” Who is a friend of Jesus? Those who tell others how great God IS.  How is it going with that? How many Christians tell others what great things that God has done for them? Rather, most show what great amusements Satan has made for them! Cheap grace is giving or crediting the wrong “god” for what God has done.

  Friends are forever. Friends agree on one thing; to love one another as they love themselves, and that is tremendous amounts. Once friends, always friends, or there was no friendship from the start. Friends are friends regardless just as Jesus is our Friend despite our many failures.

  Satan uses animosity for his purposes, and those purposes are to diminish God and others. Satan is quite successful at that!

  “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (Jas 4:4). “The world” therein mentioned, is priorities. Those with animosity have priority on themselves. They are “As God” (Gen 3:5) but are not God. They exalt themselves and diminish God. God does not decide who is acceptable and who is not; they do that themselves.

  The Holy Cross is an example of that. God esteemed the malefactors. President Biden would call malefactors “really bad dudes.” No one was concerned about those two bad guys on crosses with Jesus, except Jesus. He was a friend of his enemy even though the malefactor, as a sinner, was His enemy. Jesus had no animosity for neither the repentant thief nor the unrepentant. The choice was theirs: both could be friends of Jesus, and He would be their Friend. Jesus would never say, “Cannot be done, because you are too bad to be My friend!”

  That day Pilate and Herod, once enemies, became friends (Luke 23:12). Evil people can befriend each other, but for nefarious purposes. It is a shame that evil people can be friends, but brothers and sisters in Christ harbor grievances to keep them from being friends. Herod and Pilate were government officials; governors in two entirely different cultures. They could be friends, yet on that same day, Peter would deny his Friend three times.

  It was hard for Pilate and Herod to be friends, but they put their differences aside. Because of their common enemy, they became friends. Contrast that to Christians who claim to have a common Friend in Jesus but refuse to be friends.

  With that said, many Christians are no longer friends with me. The same may apply to you as well. In the past, it was difficult to discern who is a friend and who is not. Now with Facebook, it is more obvious. More on that shortly, but for now, consider a case in the real world.

  I had a friend; call him “James.” At one time, we did everything together. He declared my wife and me his “only friends.” For some reason after years of friendship, this man was “too busy” (so James said) to find time to do things any longer. That was untruthful because he found time to do the same things with others.

  In other words, he lied to rationalize his absence as a friend. Now, after several years, he has not communicated with us at all. It seems that we are no longer his friend. He surely does not hate us, but for some reason, unknown to us, Satan has destroyed a friendship. Why would Satan do that? Because we were friends in Christ. It was a Holy Friendship, not one of pragmaticism like Herod’s and Pilates.

 The goal of secular friendships is enjoying the things of the world together. Secular friendships are a triumvirate consisting of friend A, friend B, and Satan. Christian friendships are friend U, friend B, and Jesus — U B my friend in Jesus. Secular friendships exist until A and B no longer need each other for their common purposes; perhaps to even golf together. Christian friendships have as an essential “Element” — Jesus Christ.

  Speaking of marriage, Jesus said, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mark 10:9). Friendship is like a marriage. The unity that Adam and Eve felt was one under God. The multiplication factor was for others to be bound together under God. The paramount importance of Eve was not to procreate but to be a “help mate” (friend) of Adam as he had no friends of his kind.

   Eve missed the point. She was not meant to experience Epicurean pleasures but contented friendships with Adam and God in the manner of God of whose image she was made.

  Eve became a friend of Satan. Then Adam did. The three together somehow produced a Cain, the son of the Wicked One (1 John 3:12). With that, Abel, the son of Adam, would not be a friend to the son of the Wicked One. They were both sons of Eve but with different fathers.

  Friendship under God was broken the day that Abel died. To this day, sons of repentant Eve still battle as if they are Cains against Abel. Rather than the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the saying goes, the friend of my Friend is my enemy. Only in politics is the lack of friendship so obvious!

  Satan put the sanctity of marriage asunder with Adam and Eve, then put the sanctity of philio friendship asunder with Cain and Abel. To this day, Satan destroys marriages and friendships by putting animosity between mates and against brothers in Christ. Satan smiles all the while, and naïve Christians remain in denial.

  Facebook has done much to reveal faux friendships. First off, everyone should be your friend. Just empathize with those who think of themselves as your friend but are excluded from your circle of friends! That applies to many that you do not know as friends but excludes members of your own family and church. Even brothers and sisters exclude each other as well as children and parents.

  Just like real-life friendships, some fake it! They exclude you from their posts or even remain Facebook “friends” but “unfollow” you so that you think that you remain friends. Even close relatives are not your friends because they either judge you as unworthy of friendship or too different to be friends. How often does that close relative even say “thank you” or acknowledge your existence?

  Personally, I have great friends who differ from me greatly, but some of my own Christian family deny me. The same may go for you as well. Denying Christian friendship is denying Christ. He ate with publicans and sinners, but you will not even eat with Republicans or repenters. How pure you are!

  Jesus would call Judas His “friend” (Prov 7:7), and Judas remained a friend until the end. He cried because he caused the death of Jesus, but on the Cross, Jesus still died for Judas. However, Judas did not depend on his Friend for salvation, but himself. Judas was his own friend but denied the purpose of Jesus.

  I have several Christian friends who have ended our Facebook “friendship.” They cannot stand my politics, personality, beliefs, or whatever. It is not that they want to hurt me, but something about me is reprehensible to them.

  I am not alone. If you are on Facebook and think that you have hundreds of friends, you are delusional. You and I may have hundreds of acquaintances, but only a few inseparable friends.

  Friendship does not mean that you are alike, think alike, or have the same interests but that you would suffer rather than see your friend suffer. Those who have children know what that means. Children and parents are the second greatest friendships, but holy matrimony the first.

  How can anyone face God knowing that they are fake friends, or even obvious enemies. Those who “unfriend” declare the end of the friendship. True friends cannot “move on” as they say. That is adversarial — to move on because you cannot stand their company! That is pitiful.

  Jesus moved on with the malefactor who repented. They moved on together although the malefactor was more than a thief who deserved punishment, but a murderer. Jesus took that depraved man with him to Paradise because the man found a new Friend in Jesus.

  Jesus took him as he was! There was no coming-out party or a change in his way, but Jesus changed his nature because the man realized that Jesus IS God and can do that.

  So, Joe Citizen is not your friend? There is a reason for that. Somehow Joe’s sins seem to be greater than your own, or perhaps Joe is from a different culture.

  You may have problems with the culture, but that “alien” is much like you. He may have antipathy for your culture. You profess to be a Christian, but you have a hateful nature. Jesus hated the man’s sins, but he still loved the sinner. Those two aspects are the gospel story. Indeed, you can be friends with the most hardcore sinner, but not on yours or his terms, but the terms Jesus set out: to love your neighbors as yourself and your enemies the same amount.

  Jesus loved Adolph Hitler, and he was a man hard to love. “Love Hitler?” you ask. Yes, he is included in the “whosoever” that should not perish (John 3:16). Jesus loved him even as the bullet entered his brain. We must love others to that extent. Jesus loves all sinners, and all are among those that He loves. Yet you may have the audacity to avoid Joe Citizen because he has differences with your version of what is right.

  For myself, I hate godless socialism. It is not really “godless,” for the government has become their god. I do not hate the socialist, but his or her ways. Their way is not the Way of Christ. Because of that, I desire that none should perish. Socialism is the way of Satan and leads to destruction. My wish is that Maxene Waters look at the true Jesus as she lies on her deathbed and sees the truth. Just think of the profound affect if this hard-hearted person softened, even at the last minute.

  My wish is that Joe Biden would see the light. He is a man of faith, but his faith is in Karl Marx, himself, and those who praise him. My prayer right now is that Joe Biden be humbled much as King Nebuchadnezzar was in the Book of Daniel; he went from “pretend-king” to domesticated “beast” when he saw Jesus saving three men in the fiery furnace. Jesus turned his enemies into his friends. No longer were Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego his adversaries but friends of Christ and Nebuchadnezzar

  Jesus can do that for you. If you cannot stomach your friends, and prefer your enemies, Jesus can straighten that out in you. That is the new nature in the new creation which many Christian are lacking. Half-way to the Promise Land is not enough. The entire Way must be walked to the Tree of Life. There is only one entrance, and to get past the cherubim who guard the Way, you must walk as Jesus walked.

  So, you hate Mary because she seems so perfect. Perhaps you hate Jack because of envy. Whatever the reason is not reason enough! You must have it in your heart to love others as you love yourselves… and that is a tremendous amount!

  I hated Gerald and Lisa because they seemed to hate me. With open communication, I found out that neither hated me but perceived that I hated them. Once that “stage” was cleared, then I became good friends with them and them with me. I feel relieved because the truth made me free.

   Those who seem to hate you, may be your silent friend. I have made myself available to those “friends” who have rejected me. God dealt with me; I only await on them hearing Him.

(picture credit; The Guardian)