Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

 ¹⁴  “You are My friends if you do what I command you.

 ¹⁵  “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing;  but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

 ¹⁶  “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

 ¹⁷  “This I command you, that you love one another.”  John 15:12-17. 

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A friend is a recipient of love from another.  We see that point in this Scripture for today, particularly in the statement:  “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”  John 15:13.  We may not love all acquaintances, but those that we love, they could and maybe should be known as our friends.  How could we truly love someone and deny that they are our friend?!

OK, some of you don’t agree with that point.  Hold that point in consideration.

A friend is a recipient with whom we fully share our faith.  We see that point in this Scripture for today, particularly in the statement:  “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing;  but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”  John 15:15.  We may not love all acquaintances, but those with whom we fully share our faith could and maybe should be known as our friends.  How could we truly fully share our faith with someone and deny that they are our friend?! 

I find these thoughts convicting.  I am inclined to attend church and worship God and think I love others without reaching out and trying to be a friend to others in the church.  I am inclined to write daily devotions without picking up the phone to call the recipients of these emails.  Some of you may be relieved , but you get the idea.

Why?  There are a number of different reasons.  Here are just two.  First, it is easier to write a daily devotion and send it out than it is to take time to have lunch with them, or even pick up the phone to say:  “Hi!” and talk with them a little.  And, second, if I do take time to have lunch with someone, someone else may see me, and they may think that I am engaging in, or at least approving of that other person’s bad behavior.

So, what do I do?  I use verses such as James 4:4 as a shield and as an excuse.  “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?  Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”  James 4:4.  Now, certainly there is much truth in that statement, but we better be careful that we apply it correctly, because Christ has pounded the table repeatedly and clearly (even as bookends to this Scripture for today) that we “love one another”.  

Calvin in his Commentary on James 4:4 states in part:  “The friendship of the world.  He calls it the friendship of the world when men surrender themselves to the corruptions of the world, and become slaves to them.  For such and so great is the disagreement between the world and God, that as much as any one inclines to the world, so much he alienates himself from God.  Hence the Scripture bids us often to renounce the world, if we wish to serve God.”  Notice that Calvin defines “friendship with the world” as “the corruptions of the world, and become slaves to them”, not as friendships with sinners. 

Let us consider Christ.  Here was absolutely pure and all-knowing God Who is able to see in the darkest, most-hidden corners of the heart. 

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will hardly die for a righteous man;  though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  Romans 5:6-8. 

Christ was not afraid or hesitant to call us friends.  Christ was not afraid or hesitant to act as our friend.  And, he was slandered and persecuted for being friends with sinners.  Christ stated:  “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’  Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”  Matthew 11:19

Some clever one may argue:  “Well, He knew who the elect were and who were the reprobates, and He was only a friend of the elect.”  That may be true, but we don’t know who are the elect and who are the reprobates, and yet, we are simply but broadly commanded by Christ to “love one another” and “love our neighbor”.

In conclusion, I realize that this devotion is not going to instantly change the minds and behavior of many, including myself, but we better meditate more on what love requires, practically, as we encounter new situations in the future.  Even today, this devotion is so appropriate as last night I was disappointed with some friends and wanted to withdraw to some extent.  We better consider that love may require us to be a friend.  There is strong warnings about the consequences of failing to love others as we should.  “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar;  for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”  1 John 4:20.