Friend of God

“I [Jesus] have called you friends” (John 15:15).

Jesus came to bring life. He came so that we can experience life the way it was meant to be. Through Him we can have deep fulfilling relationships, contribute to the world in meaningful ways, have joy that isn’t dependent on circumstances, and live a life free from guilt and shame and condemnation.

Connected to the Vine

In John 15, Jesus describes what being friends with Him is like. It’s described as a close connection, like branches growing from a vine. His description of friendship centers on an invitation: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (v. 4). Do we know Jesus like that?

We want intimacy. We want to be known. We want this kind of friendship that Jesus is describing, but it is also terrifying, because every one of us has been hurt before. Friendship with Jesus is different. What He says in this verse is that He isn’t going anywhere. The ball is in our court. If we stay, we will experience intimacy. That’s not the way a lot of human relationships work. You can do all the right things, you can try your hardest to please someone, and they still might end up walking away.

Abiding in Jesus

But Jesus tells us that if we abide, He will abide. That’s a huge promise. What does it mean to abide in Jesus? How do we do it? Jesus isn’t like my friend from college. I can’t call Him up and watch a movie with Him. But friends always find ways to spend time together. My friendships all look different depending on the other person. There are different activities that I do with different friends.

Growing your relationship with Jesus means finding those things that work for you. Sometimes in Christian settings you can get the feeling that it’s always supposed to look a certain way. I think that idea has done a lot of damage to a lot of people trying to follow Jesus. The beauty of it is that your friendship with Jesus will look different from mine. That’s how friendships work. There are a few elements that should always be there. Every friendship involves some form of communication. The Bible is the clearest way God speaks to us. Prayer is our chance to respond. But outside of those two things, your relationship with Jesus will look different than mine.

Fruit

What happens when we abide in Jesus? “Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (v. 5). Jesus describes the process here: His identity, our abiding, and finally, what comes of our relationship. Just like a healthy vine grows grapes, a healthy friendship bears fruit.

This model of the Christian life is really different from how we often think about it. We tend to understand our spiritual life in terms of knowledge, performance, and achievement. We learn about God. We do great things for God. We work hard, don’t give up, and make great gains. But fruit is completely different—fruit just happens. Of course, there is a bunch of other stuff involved: water and sun and nutrients and stuff like that. But the branches don’t worry about it. How can they? It’s the job of the vineyard owner to figure out all those other things. And that is God. He is the vinedresser. He is the one that ensures that fruit happens. All the branches need to do is to stay.

What Jesus is offering in this passage is unheard of in every religion that I know of. Honestly, it is what makes Christianity seem silly and ridiculous to some people. Other religions have followers. They have disciples. They have servants. But no one else talks about being a friend of God. Yet, Jesus invites us to be His friend.

The Gospel says that you are broken, but Christ heals you. You are dead, but Christ gives you life. You can’t make yourself alive. If you think you’re managing your life just fine, you need to wake up. You need to deal with the brokenness inside. When you accept the forgiveness that Christ secured for you on the cross, you are saved and repaired and set on the path of life by the grace of God through Jesus. He is the vine. He is the source of life. Accept His offer. Stay with Jesus.

—Paul Taylor, adapted