Christ's Friendship: Its Origin

Good morning friends! I hope you are ready to come into community this morning, to hear Your Abba Father speak through those whom He has placed to speak His word, for His glory and our joy.
 
Today’s reading comes from John 15:13 and is entitled: Christ’s Friendship: Its Origin
 
 Greater Love Hath No Man Than This, That a Man Lay Down His Life for His Friends—John 15.13
 
In the three following verses our Lord speaks of His relation to His disciples under a new aspect—that of friendship. He point us to the love in which it on His side has its origin (v.13): to the obedience on our part by which it is maintained (v.14); and then to the holy intimacy to which it leads (v.15).
 
Our relation to Christ is one of love. In speaking of this previously, He showed us what His love was in its heavenly glory; the same love with which the Father had loved Him. Here we have it in its earthly manifestation—lay down His life for us. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Christ does indeed long to have us know that the secret root and strength of all He is and does for us as the Vine is love. As we learn to believe this, we shall feel that here is something which we not only need to think and know about, but a living power, a divine life which we need to receive within us. 
 
Christ and His love are inseparable; they are identical. God is love, and Christ is love. God and Christ and the divine love can only be known by having them, by their life and power working within us. “This is eternal life, that they know thee”; there is no knowing God but by having the life; the life working in us alone gives the knowledge. And even so the love; if we would know it, we must drink of its living stream, we must have it shed forth by the Holy Spirit in us.
 
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man give his life for his friends.” The life is the most precious thing a man has; the life is all he is; the life is himself. This is the highest measure of love: when a man gives his life, he holds nothing back, he gives all he has and is. It is this our Lord Jesus wants to make clear to us concerning His mystery of the Vine; with all He has He has placedHimself at our disposal. He wants us to count Him our very own; He wants to be wholly our possession, that we may be wholly His possession. He gave His life for us in death not merely as a passing act, that when accomplished was done with; no, but as a making Himself ours for eternity. Life for life; He gave His life for us to possess that we might give our life for Him to possess. This is what is taught by the parable of the Vine and the branch, in their wonderful identification, in their perfect union. It is as we know something of this, not by reason or imagination, but deep down in the heart and life, that we shall begin to see what ought to be our life as branches of the heavenly Vine. He gave Himself to death; He lost Himself, that we might find life in Him. This is the true Vine, who only lives to live in us. This is the beginning and the root of that holy friendship to which Christ invites us.
 
Great is the mystery of godliness! Let us confess our ignorance and unbelief. Let us cease from our own understanding and our own efforts to master it. Let us wait for the Holy Spirit who dwells within us to reveal it. Let us trust His infinite love, which gave its life for us, to take possession and rejoice in making us wholly its own.
 
His life for His friends. How wonderful the lessons of the Vine, giving its very life to its branches! And Jesus gave His life for His friends. And that love gives itself to them and in them. My heavenly Vine, oh, teach me how wholly Thou longest to live in me!

Abba we do confess our ignorance of the depth of this friendship You have extended to us through the death and resurrection of Your Son! We confess our unbelief that You have given to us all we need to be in relationship with You! For if we truly believed it, always and continually, we would not strive to work for Your approval after we have a season of failure. If we truly understood and believed the depth of Your love for us in Christ, and through Christ, through His Spirit, we would run to Your throne of grace to receive mercy and grace to help us believe that we are Your daughters, and nothing can separate us from Your love, not even when You expose our sin and we see it for the ugliness that it is.

Abba if we truly believed that You have extended Your friendship, our adoption as daughters, we would speak with You all the time, we would delight in Your presence, we would remember we have nothing to give one another if we have not come to You first to receive it. Abba we strive to give to others the bread of Life when we ourselves are starving for it! We strive and earnestly desire others to drink deep of the water of Life when we ourselves are dying of thirst! Forgive us for our unbelief, forgive us our ignorance. We ask again, teach us to pray, teach us to believe and trust that You are who You say You are, and we are who You say we are. “This is eternal life, that they would know Me, and Jesus Christ, whom I have sent.” Abba, we confess we know a lot about You…. But we do not know You nearly enough. Forgive us for trying to impart eternal life to others by knowledge of You, rather than by sharing out of the power of the Spirit of Christ within us, the love which draws others to You. We cannot give what we do not possess.

So do what You will to bring us to drink deeply and eat heartily of You, satisfy us this morning with Your lovingkindness, that we may sing for joy the rest of the day, and days, and weeks and months and years. And let others see this food You have provided for us, and let them desire to be filled to the full in their own hearts as well. I ask this for myself and on behalf of my sisters dear Lord. We believe, help our unbelief. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.