HONOURS conferred by His Majesty seem to be much coveted and highly prized by men of the world. It is said that some are prepared to contribute in almost prodigal fashion to party funds if that will secure recommendation for a peerage, a baronetcy, or other distinction. Others are able to write three letters after their name as a result of having somehow or other secured royal favor. Then there are University graduates who as the result of hard grinding, burning midnight oil, and, in some instances denying themselves many luxuries, have captured the degree upon which their heart was set. “Honor to whom honor is due” we ungrudgingly say.
At the head of this paper we indicate an Honor of a very unique sort. Happy they who can truthfully add the letters F.O.C. to their name. It is an Honor given not by any person or corporation on, earth; conferred not by any monarch of this world, but heavenly in its origin, and bestowed by Him who is “King of kings and Lord of lords,” —our precious, adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Shall we open our Bibles at the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel according to John, and in the first place, try to visualize the scene. The Lord Jesus was journeying from the Upper Room, where the Passover had just been eaten, to the garden of Gethsemane. He was accompanied by eleven simple, humble, devoted men. He had been making some marvelous communications to them, but surely none more wonderful than this:—
“YE ARE MY FRIENDS!”
The “ye” comprised those eleven men. The “My” was “the mighty God, the everlasting Father,” “the Creator of the ends of the earth,” walking amongst them in the form of a Servant. The world was against Him. That very night He would suffer Himself to be delivered into the hands of His enemies, and the next day they would kill Him. In circumstances such as these He said to His few broken-hearted followers: “Ye are My friends.”
Alas! they showed themselves not worthy of that place, for that very night one who claimed to be most friendly, denied Him, and the other ten forsook Him. Still He did not withdraw what He had said, nor did He remove their names from Heaven’s Roll of Honor. As a matter of fact He had told them the unique position that would be theirs after His death and during His absence from them.
Let us see how they got this. He had been assuring them of His love. He had been telling them of the immensity of it. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for His friends;” (verse 13); and immediately He added “ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (verse 14). He, so to speak, said, “I have shown the greatness of My love by laying down My life for you, I want you to show your love by doing that which is pleasing to Me, and thus shall you be ‘My friends.’” But that is not all, for He adds: “I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you” (verse 15). He had told them that which He could not tell to the world. Divine secrets, which no others had heard, had fallen upon their ears. He had made known everything to them, had revealed what was in the Father’s heart, and thus had demonstrated that they were His friends.
We might be justified in concluding that this referred only to these eleven disciples were it not for John’s third epistle. It may be that when, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he penned that letter, he was the only one of the eleven that remained, but his last words are: “The friends greet thee. Greet the friends by name” (verse 14. N. Tr.). If Any inquire “Who are ‘the friends’?” there can be but one answer, they are those to whom the Lord Jesus says: “Ye are My friends.”
Let us see now how this may be reached. In the Old Testament we read of one man, and only one, who was called “the friend of God.” James lets us into that secret in the second chapter of his epistle and verse 23. It was however a matter of history, for centuries after Abram’s day, when King Jehoshaphat was pleading with God for the deliverance of Israel, he spoke of the land that God gave to “the seed of Abraham Thy friend” (2 Chron. 20:77Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? (2 Chronicles 20:7)). While still later God spoke of “Abraham My friend” (Isa. 41:88But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. (Isaiah 41:8)). What characterized Abraham? Faith, confidence, obedience, separation, devotedness to the interests of God. In the same way may we have this. Unquestioning faith; implicit confidence; willing obedience; uncompromising separation; and whole-hearted devotedness.
It is noticeable that when the Lord told the disciples that they were His friends, He warned them that they must be prepared for the enmity of the world. We cannot have the friendship of Christ and that of the world, therefore the Apostle James with characteristic plainness writes: “The friendship of the world is enmity with God.” James 4:44Ye adulterers and adulteresses, 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. (James 4:4)). The man of whom we read in John 9 was a friend of Christ, and got the enmity of the world. The dying thief was a friend of Christ. That timorous person, who, it may be, with a catch in the throat and a blush in the cheek, confesses the Saviour, is a friend of Christ. Those who are His friends are near Him; they cultivate His company; they enjoy intimacy with Him; they hear those secrets that He delights to communicate; they unconsciously shed the fragrance of His Name, His Person, His love, wherever they go; and it is apparent to all that they belong to Him. They will not require to write the three letters on their note paper, or put them on a brass plate on their house door, or in any way advertise them; for in comporting themselves as His friends they will “set forth the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness to His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:99But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (1 Peter 2:9). N. Tr.) Shall we go in for it, and pray that we may be known as FRIENDS OF CHRIST?
W. Bramwell Dick.