Walking in Friendship With God and Others

August 2006

It is helpful to consider our relationship with God using the images the Scriptures use. In the last few articles, I have described this relationship using images such as disciple, child, priest and others (all are accessible on http://www.baptistdigest.com). Today, I consider the image of friendship.

If we are growing spiritually we come to a balanced view of ourselves in our relationship with God. On the one hand God is high and holy (Isaiah 6), on the other God lives with us (Isaiah 57:15). On the one hand we are servants of Christ, and on the other he is our friend. In our worship we sing “We bow down, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus” and also “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” We sing “Holy, Holy, Holy” as well as “Abide with Me.” In the interplay between familiarity and distance God’s friendship with us and ours with him grows.

This friendship is obviously not one of equals. God’s majesty reminds us of our creaturely status while his nearness or friendship reminds us of his desire for intimacy. That God can be both Lord and friend is unique to Christianity. That God became one of us is all-telling of this reality. Even before we are able to reason about God, there resides in each of us a mystery that at the same time frightens and draws us to God (See Rudolf Otto’s The Idea of the Holy). 

Jesus established a relationship of friendship with his disciples (John 15:12-17). He lays down his life for his friends; he tells his friends mysteries the father reveals to him; he opens up all the channels for his disciples to become the friends of God via his friendship with them; he loves them as friends, he cares about them even in their betrayals and denials! This is true friendship. He loves them as they are, NOT as they are going to be! Pause and take that in (paying attention to your friendship with Jesus). At the same time the disciples are often afraid when Jesus’ divinity leaks out in the walking on water, the calming of the storm, the transfiguration, the resurrection, the appearances, and the ascension.

As Isaiah reflects on the plight of Israel and how God will deliver them he is inspired to think of Abraham, God’s friend (Isaiah 41:8-10, compare James 2:23 and 2 Chronicles 20:7). The friendship of God with Abraham affects God’s loving action toward Abraham’s descendants. This is typically a Semitic or Middle Eastern practice: The friends of my friends or the friends of my children are my friends and I bestow on them the same privileges I bestow on my own friends and children. But it is only Semitic or Middle Eastern because it was first a heavenly reality. As Jesus’ friends, we receive all the favor of the Father of Jesus.

Reflect on these realities:

1. Jesus says to his friends: “You did not choose me but I chose you.” Does your testimony (what is currently happening in your life with God) include a healthy view of God’s choosing you? Is your image of yourself dominated by the image of the desire of God to be your friend? What freedom do you experience because God is your friend? His friendship with us sets us free to live beyond mere appearances.

2. Proverbs 18:24 says friendship can be closer than family relations. God is both family and friend. The intimacy God desires to have with us is an open invitation to every one who walks with the Master. Life in God’s kingdom now benefits from the familial and the friendship aspects of God. With Moses God spoke face-to-face as one speaks to a friend (Exodus 33:11). With us God finally spoke through his son (face-to-face). As you ponder these mysteries, let your thanksgiving rise to please him who condescends and risks friendship with us. Reflect on his loyalty, care, and communion with you. Now, reflect on your human friendships and friendship with God. Are they characterized by loyalty, care, and communion?
3. I read somewhere that 75% of pastors do not have even one close friendship. Yet when John addresses the people in 3 John 15 he views them as a society of friends. The disciples in Acts 2:42 were devoted to fellowship or spiritual friendship with other disciples. Deep friendship is the business of the church. Each member needs to be in deep friendship with some others. Doing life with God in friendship with others is one of the greatest evidences of health in the church. Is it time to intentionally relearn the science and art of deep friendship in the churches? Where would you start? Start with your own friendship with the trinity and ask God how to leak out this friendship into your relationships. Walking with the Master is walking in friendship with God and with others.

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