Reconciliation: Friendship with God

Reconciliation:  Friendship with God.

“We are speaking for the Anointed One now; we are speaking on His behalf… Make your peace with God and be reconciled to Him! Become friends with God; He is already a friend with you.”(2 Corinthians 5:20, NIV and MSG).

“Reconciled”: The heart of the good news, the Gospel of Jesus, is reconciliation. The nuanced meanings of the word include: (1.) To cause to be friendly and to restore to friendship; to bring to agreement; to reunite and bring into harmony; to settle matters in a way that results in full communion; (2.) The Greek term was used in diplomacy for a peace treaty brought to the table by a mediator in a political or personal dispute. Paul transformed this term to refer to God (the offended party) graciously sending the Mediator (Jesus) who then pays whatever penalties were due to the offended party. In other words, God wants so badly to reconcile with the wrongdoers in the dispute that He not only sends His Son as His special Mediator, but He has this Mediator atone for the broken relationship and pay the costs of the peace treaty; (3.) to restore what was broken, bringing back together what was once in one piece; (4.) to mutually change in a decisive way down to an exact point, such as agreeing to change from enemies to friends; (5.) a term used for the exchange of coins and broadened to mean to exchange commitments of peace with another party, or to exchange our sins for Christ’s righteousness, our guilt for a clean slate, or our certain spiritual death for God’s eternal life. . The Cross of Christ is the centerpiece of reconciliation… the vertical reconciliation with God in heaven and the horizontal reconciliation between His people on earth. “While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God.” (Romans 5:10)

“There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24).

Gaither, Joe Ligon, Richard White, Isaac Whittman – Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus (Live)

The World’s Most Basic Question. Why did God create mankind? He didn’t need to, because He is utterly and eternally complete within the intimate communion of the Trinity. So He doesn’t really need us as if we could complete Him in any way. One simple way to look at this basic question is this… God created humanity because God is love, and He wanted to multiply that divine love and boundlessly spread it around. He is so full of love that He wanted to create people in His image with whom He could enjoy friendship. God created us to have deep fellowship with Him, and He gets great joy out of that fellowship with each of us. He didn’t create us because it would complete Him in some way, He created us knowing that friendship with Him would complete us! The Trinity is so full of love that they couldn’t resist sharing their love with beings made in His image. There is a divine impulse to reconcile, a godly inclination, to restore what was broken, in his relations with the people He created in His image, and also in all of creation itself. God will get what He wants, make no mistake. As Peter said in the Temple one fine day in Acts 3:21, there will in the end be a “universal reconciliation.”

• A Friendly Stroll in the Garden of Eden. Creator God tipped His hand right from the start after Adam and Eve were created. He could have simply gone rogue and kept a distance from His creation. He could have been a basically impersonal caretaker of the universe. But He didn’t. God made the universe, and then He wanted to get personal.  God personally keeps track of everything in the world, including us, with whom He desires a friendship, a meaningful personal relationship. In Genesis 3:8, we find an amazing passage, “Adam and Eve heard the sounds of God’s voice as He was strolling through the Garden in the cool of the day with its fresh breeze. But the man and woman hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the Garden.”  It is truly astounding that Creator God simply wanted to enjoy Himself with His friends. He wanted to have intimate fellowship with them and develop a deep friendship. That’s what He has always desired from the very beginning.
• Hiding in Shame. But the parents of all mankind knew they had disobeyed God by listening to Satan and doing his bidding. So they hid from God in guilt and shame. They knew they would be fully exposed in their sin before God, and they hid themselves from His presence. God then mysteriously called out, “Where are you?” Of course, God knew very well where they were hiding, and He wanted to give them a chance to voluntarily come to Him and confess what they had done. Adam and Eve were well aware of what they had done… They broke God’s trust, they were unfaithful to the One who made them. The result of their disobedience was an indelible stain in their relationship with God, it was a loss of the intimacy they once enjoyed with their Lord. No longer will they enjoy a friendship with God who was like a loving parent to them. And God expelled them from paradise. But God didn’t give up on them, He actually exiled Himself and followed them out of the Garden in order to remain a presence in their lives. God loved them too much to desert them when they were at their worst.
• A God Who is Poised for Friendship. Looking at gods that were worshipped down through the ages, one can see that they were not exactly trusted by the believers. The gods were capricious, unpredictable, angry, and usually very unfriendly. Even the believer in the Judeo-Christian God might misunderstand how the mind of God, in all its mystery, works, and assign the same traits to Him. In fact, though, as evidenced in Scripture, the one true God is decidedly different than the ancient gods. The Christian God is undoubtedly the friendliest Person in the universe. That should come as no surprise, since the Trinity has enjoyed an intimate friendship together between the Three of Them for all eternity. The thrilling fact is that God wants to enlarge His circle of friendship with those creatures He has made. God is always on the lookout for friends, for people like us who might discover the innate friendliness of God. God’s nature is such that He is always poised to develop budding friendships with those who are open to an intimate companionship with Him. God has already provided what is needed for this relationship, we just need to discover Him with His arms wide open. He wants to be our close companion, and He yearns for more than a one-sided friendship.
• Our Purpose and Meaning. Relationship with Creator God is, then, the whole point of our existence, our friendship with the Lord is the center-point of mankind’s life purpose and meaning. We humans can find our significance only in a relationship with God, and He has set in place our destiny to be in union with Him.

Aretha Franklin 1972 – What a Friend We Have in Jesus

“Intimate friendship with the Lord is reserved for those who stand in awe of Him in reverent fear and who completely trust in His character; He will confide in them, tell them what is on His heart, and reveal to them His covenant promises of faithfulness.” (Psalm 25:14). The Hebrew word for friendship here is “sod,” which implies confidential conversation, secret counsel, the counsel of those who enjoy an intimate companionship. That’s the kind of friendship God will share with us when we acknowledge His greatness, we stand in awe of Him, revere and worship Him, and completely trust in His character. Bible interpreter Dr. Brian Simmons puts this passage this way, “There’s a private place reserved for the lovers of God, where they sit near Him and receive the revelation-secrets of His promises.” 

Friendship with God. When we become friends with God, the qualities of true friendship are of course present, since the whole idea of friendship was invented by Him. God is the original source of all the qualities that make a friendship, such as: Trust and Faith in each other; Loyalty and Faithfulness to each other; Transparency and Openness with each other; Mutuality and Reciprocity between each other; Sacrifice and Self-denial for each other; Patience and Intentionality when building a friendship together; the willingness to Listen to and Learn from each other; Willingness to Obey what the friend has requested to demonstrate the friend-love, the trust needed to serve the friend’s best interests. Abraham and Moses were both close friends of God, and now because of God’s Son Jesus, we too have the Way to friendship with the Father. “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). Scripture points to two special friends of God, Abraham and Moses. Both men did with God what friends do… remained loyal to Him; made personal sacrifices for Him; were eager to please Him; remained in communication with Him; walked intimately with Him through all the ups and downs that are common to human life. There were only two old saints in the Hebrew Bible that reportedly enjoyed a friendship with God: Abraham and Moses. Two different Hebrew words for friend were used with these two men: With Abraham, the word points to a person whom God loved deeply, a beloved friend. In the case of Moses, the word was the more common term for friend in Jewish Scripture (“rea“), and could mean anything from brother and lover to neighbor and husband to companion and fellow. With Moses, friend of God meant close companion or intimate neighbor.

• Abraham believed in God’s integrity, he took God at His word, and he lived accordingly. “It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named God’s friend.” (James 2:23, MSG). Abraham was specifically called God’s friend in two other Scriptures: 2 Chronicles 20:7 and Isaiah 41:8. These descriptions of Abraham’s relationship with God has stood the test of time in biblical history, and their friendship is an accepted fact in Judeo-Christian tradition. Evidently, God’s friends combine believing and doing in their walk with Him.
• Moses also had the profound privilege of walking with God over a long period of time, including his dependence on the Lord through every hour of that 40-year journey through the wilderness with the Israelites. God would descend in a dark cloud and Moses would bravely walk into that cloud to converse with Yahweh. He freely talked with God at the burning bush, on Mt. Sinai during the journey, in the first Tent of Meeting, and then the Tabernacle. At one point, Scripture mentions that “the Lord Yahweh used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to a friend.” (Ex. 33:11). The intimacy between Moses and the Lord suggests the relationship we all will enjoy with God when the New Day dawns. Friendship with God on this side of the pearly gates gives us a foretaste of our heavenly friendship, when we will see God face to face as eternal companions.
• Trusting God’s Heart. One crucial aspect of a thriving friendship is that the friends trust each other’s motives and instincts. Friends don’t suspect each of ulterior motives, but instead rely on what they know of the other’s character. If we want to respond to God’s friendly overtures, if we want to be friends of God, it is important to know and trust His heart, the essence of His nature, His unchangeable character. We need to trust God’s instincts to become His friend. Yahweh God provided an intimate glimpse of His core divine attributes in Exodus 34:6-7. Moses had asked God to reveal His glory. And so in a thick cloud Yahweh came to Moses, and “stood there with Moses as he called upon the Name of the Lord. Then Yahweh passed by in front of Moses and proclaimed His Name: ‘Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth, in mercy and faithfulness, who keeps mercy for a thousand generations, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.” Anyone wanting to be God’s friend can trust that profound Self-Description. In this proclamation to Moses, it’s as if God opened His chest and showed what His heart is made of. God’s heart pumps with the blood of mercy. God is love, and His friends find that fact trustworthy. One can invest in a friendship with God with faith and trust.

What a Friend – Lyric Video – Josh Garrels Cover

“I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant doesn’t know what the master is thinking and planning. But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father – I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.” (John 15:15). 

Friendship with the Lord Jesus. Consider that Jesus seemed to be everybody’s friend. He was so full of love for people that He couldn’t be otherwise. Christ was the friend of sinners and outcasts as well as the faithful few who followed Him. He was the pure Son of God who was perfectly comfortable touching all the untouchables in His society, purifying those considered unclean. He told stories about restoring friendship through forgiveness, such as the Prodigal Son. Jesus loved being the friend of the friendless, the One who accepted the rejected. He didn’t just blithely mention that there is no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. He knew only too well that in His immediate future was the Cross. As we follow Him in earnest, His Spirit is within us as our Friend, remaking us into people who would follow in Jesus’ footsteps.

• A Friendship that Endures. What does Jesus mean when He calls us His “friends” in John 15:15? For one thing, it means we have embarked on a new friendship with God. “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” (Romans 5:10-11, NLT). When friends are at peace and reconciled, their friendship endures. When they are not at peace, their friendship withers. Because of Jesus, we are peace with God and our friendship is restored.
• A Process in Christ’s Friendships. There is an interesting progression in terms of the relationship between Jesus and His disciples. He first calls them disciples/followers, then He calls them servants, then He calls them friends, then He calls them family. The disciples have gone from a loyal follower of Jesus, to His servant, to a friend of Jesus who hears His secrets, to a brother or sister of Jesus who has been welcomed into his family. His disciples went from being rather distant students of His rabbinic training, to following Him, to befriending Him, to being His siblings with the same Father.
• Family. Bible scholar and translator Dr. Brian Simmons noted that the Greek word for “friends” in John 15 implies intimate friendship, in which the friends treat each other like members of the family, like “those cared for from the womb.” Jesus has indeed been our friend since our moment of conception and done what is needed to become our bosom companion. And now we need to discover that life-long companionship and live into our friendship with God. And finally, isn’t it true that friends simply enjoy being together? May we bask in the friendly presence of God.
• Qualities of Friendship with Jesus. What goes into developing a friendship with someone? And then what in particular does our friendship with Jesus look like? The qualities of a committed friendship in general, and especially in our growing friendship with Christ, might include:
•      Trust in Christ’s motives, actions, and personal character;
•      Obedience of what Jesus asks us to do in order to demonstrate our love for Him;
•      Transparency and complete, honest openness with Christ, keeping no secrets from Him;
•      Loyalty to Christ, and our faithful relationship with Him in a covenant commitment to our friendship;
•      Sacrifices come second nature in our friend-love for Jesus, self-denial to the point of death;
•      Mutual relationship in our love for Christ and His love for us, not a one-sided relationship, but instead a       deep two-way sharing of the love between Jesus and each of us. We reciprocate each other’s love in a               deep give-and-take way. Jesus has already proven trustworthy in all the qualities that makes up a deep           friendship. The Holy Spirit continues to do so now for each of us.
•      Vulnerable in our relationship with Jesus, unafraid to reveal our weaknesses in his presence, willing to          confess and reveal all our flaws with Him as we approach His throne of grace;
•      Patience in the process of developing our friendship with Christ. Anything that goes this soul-deep takes       time, effort, ongoing trust, and an intentional desire to maintain intimacy with Him.

Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners (Hymn 206) | Grace Community Church Congregation & Orchestra

“This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:12-14).

The Big IF. The Greek word used here by Jesus for friends is “philos,” a word that denotes intimate friendship in the sense of brotherly love. Our obedience to Jesus is because we love and trust Him, which seems to invite a heavenly friendship in which there is a mutual indwelling, Christ lives in us and we live in Him. It would be difficult to find a more fulfilling and satisfying friendship, in which each is such a deep part of the other’s life. We do our part, we keep His command of love. Our friendship with Jesus is conditional, but His love for us is unconditional. Jesus does the rest when we obey what He wants us to do. The result of our obedience is a friendship with God!

The Holy Spirit is Our Dear Friend and True Companion. The paraclete was Jesus’ descriptive name He gave to the Holy Spirit in John 14 and 16. The Greek term means “called to come alongside of.” This rich term paraclete points to many different functions and personal ministries of the Holy Spirit after He comes alongside of us in love and friendship. The Spirit is the ultimate Helper to us as He lives out His personal character He shares with the Father and the Son. As Paraclete, the Spirit fulfills these roles in us as we grow in Christ. Jesus must have had a good reason to call the Spirit the Paraclete, of course. Unpacking the meaning of the term, we see that the Spirit’s helping style is fleshed out in ministering to us in these ways: The Spirit is called to “come alongside us” in order to point us to Jesus, advise and counsel us, remind us in order to understand, advocate for us, comfort us, listen to us, exhort us, teach us, and encourage us. That is the style, the method of influence that is intended for the benefit of every person being empowered by the Spirit. One Bible translator summed all these qualities up by simply naming the paraclete “Friend,” each believer’s intimate, supportive presence who befriends us on life’s journey.

“A friend loves at all times.” (Proverbs 17:17).

A Frank Friendship. One final aspect of an intimate friendship… Good friends don’t coddle each other. They are not the type of friends who hold back and merely pamper the other. Good friends love each other enough to speak the truth, to challenge the other when it is warranted. “Love rejoices in the truth.” (1 Cor. 13:6). Friends trust each other to say what needs to be said. “You can trust a friend who wounds you with his honesty… Faithful are the wounds of a friend… Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.” (Prov. 27:6). Honesty is an invaluable aspect of a healthy friendship, in which the friends are helping each other to become better people. “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” (Prov. 27:17). If sparks fly during the sharpening, may those sparks keep the holy fires of friendship burning. In our friendship with God, we can trust His willingness to sharpen us like a good friend would. Intimacy in a friendship demands it.

Trusting Our Distant Friend. God seems to be saying… Don’t expect me to be up close and personal all the time. Don’t presume that I am at your beck and call. Sometimes I choose to seem silent or distant, and yes, sometimes you might have a dry period in your spiritual life. So seek me when I seem close and intimate, but also seek me when I am distant. Call to me when I seem more available, and call to me when I appear to ignore you. God’s silence is a mystery, and as Isaiah says elsewhere in this passage, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, God’s ways are not our ways. God’s wisdom is far deeper and higher than our understanding could ever be. After all, how really do we know what is best for us? How do we know what will lead us to deeper growth and stronger dependence on Him? God knows these things, they are His secrets. When God seems distant or silent or unresponsive, we need to continue trusting that He is acting in divine wisdom. God may seem distant at times, but in His mercy He is still present. Because God is full of lovingkindness, He wants to enjoy intimacy with you.

The Last Word. So there we have it. God the Father had friends in the Hebrew Bible. The Son Jesus developed His friends with practically everyone He met. And the Holy Spirit is now our Friend as we grow in Christ. Do we need any more proof that our Creator has maintained a desire to build friendships with mankind ever since the Garden? Yes, indeed, we do have a friend that sticks closer than a brother, and that friend is God!

“If, when we were God’s enemies and at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God and reconciled with Him through the sacrificial death of His Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of His resurrection life!” (Romans 5:10-11).

Enjoy this amusing film clip from Jungle Book, and the meaningful lyrics that could be obscured by the comedic setting. Read/listen to the lyrics, and interestingly enough, we will get a pretty clear picture of the type of friend that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit desires to be for each of us.

That’s What Friends are For (The Vulture Song) (From “The Jungle Book”/Sing-Along)