Is It Really Possible to be a Friend of God?

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Serving is Good But Friendship is Better

Friend of God is a song written by Israel Houghton and Michael Gungor. I first heard it on the Let the Worshippers Arise recording by Phillips, Craig & Dean released in 2004. It quickly became a very popular praise song, especially in churches that worship very demonstratively. Although the bridge proclaims that God is almighty and the Lord of Glory, the main focus of the song is to proclaim that “I am a friend of God.”

When I first heard the song, I was quite uncomfortable with it’s focus on “my” friendship with God. I remembered that God called Abraham his friend, but I could not envision Abraham jumping and shouting in praise about that honor. And I couldn’t think of a scripture that referred to anyone else as God’s friend.

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Then I found it! In John 15:15 (NIV), Jesus tells his disciples, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

Jesus called his disciples his friends, not servants. If we are disciples of Christ, walking in relationship with Him, is it really possible that we are also friends of God?

Consider the definitions of friend and servant. A friend is someone who associates familiarly with another, a companion. A servant is a person who performs duties for others. But by metaphor, a servant is a person who gives himself up to another’s will. As applicable to Christianity, a servant is one whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing His cause among men.

In John 15:15, Jesus contrasts for his disciples being a servant and being a friend. Jesus assured the disciples that He calls them friends because He has shared with them everything Jesus had learned from the Father. As you read further, ask yourself, “In my relationship to God, am I a servant or am I a friend?”

Am I a Servant of God?

Be assured that being a servant is not all bad. Don’t assume that everyone wants to be a friend. There are those of us who prefer servanthood to friendship. In scripture, we find a lot of servants.

Jesus was a servant according to Matthew 12:18. When the Pharisees held a council against Him and Jesus knew it, He charged those He had healed that they should not make Him known and He quoted Isaiah the prophet saying, “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen ….” Also, Paul described Jesus as a servant, explaining He “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7).” Jesus was a servant. We are also to be servants as we become Christ-like.

Some of the writers of scripture identified themselves as servants, such as James (James 1:1), Peter (2 Peter 1:1), and Jude (Jude 1:1). In Revelations 15:3, Moses is identified as a servant of God. These are all servants. They were all obedient to God and accomplished great things. There is no shame if we analyze ourselves and find that we are a servant of God.

There are benefits to being a good servant.

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• Greater opportunities to serve and being blessed by the joy of the master. In the parable of the talents, after acknowledging two of the servants as being good and faithful, the master made them rulers over many things and invited them to enter into the master’s joy (Matthew 25:21 and 23).
• Basking in the master’s love and blessings. In Luke 7:2-3, the servant was a centurion’s servant. We might think there was little or no affection or respect between a master and his servant in Jesus’ day. However, in this example, the servant was very dear to the centurion. When the servant became ill, the centurion sent for Jesus; he sought the blessing of Jesus on behalf of the servant.
• Communing with the master. The parable of the watching servants (Luke 12:37) teaches us that the servants that are prepared and eagerly waiting on and watching for the master will be blessed by him. The master will commune with them by eating with them and serving them in return.
• Receiving the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:18, the Apostle Peter quoted the Prophet Joel: And on my servant and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. As servants of God, we will receive the Holy Spirit.
• Receiving an eternal reward. According to Revelation 11:18, servants will receive an eternal reward of dwelling and reigning with Jesus in Heaven.

As you can see, there are great benefits to being a servant. If we are obedient to Jesus — our Master — we will be blessed on this earth with honor, greater opportunities to serve, God’s love and healing, and His Spirit. We will also receive our heavenly reward.

There is no shame in being a servant.

As a Christian, a person who has entered into a relationship with Jesus, accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, and is currently striving to walk with Him according to His teachings, each of us can have different motives for doing these things. If we are doing them merely to be saved, then we are servants.

A servant is generally not given a reason for the work assigned to him; he must perform it because he is obligated to serve. On the other hand, a friend is a confidant who shares the knowledge of his superior’s purpose and voluntarily adopts it as his own. Through Jesus’ life on earth and through God’s word, Jesus has taught us everything we need to know about Him. From that perspective and according to John 15:15, Jesus calls us and treats us like friends. However, it is our response that determines if we treat Him as a friend.

Am I a Friend of God?

Have you ever been in a one-sided friendship? You find yourself being the one extending the invitations, calling to talk, supporting the other person in prayer. The only time the other person calls you is when they need something. Contrast that with a healthy friendship, where the invitations, calls, and prayer support go both ways, not always coming from the same person to the other person.

Is it possible that the friendship Jesus grants us is one-sided? Do we reciprocate? Are we in fact friends of Jesus, as determined by our responses to Him, or are we merely called His friends because He has shared with us everything we need to know?

Jesus called us friends. And we praise Him for it, some of us by singing, dancing and shouting praise to Him. What is different about entering into a reciprocal friendship with Jesus?

Again, each of us can tell whether we are being a servant or a friend by our response to Jesus. Jesus tells his disciples in John 15:14 that they are His friends if they “do whatsoever I command you.” Well, this doesn’t sound much different than being a servant. A good servant is obedient. He does what he is commanded to do. So, what is the difference between a servant and a friend?

Consider John 15:15 again and continue through verse 16. In verse 16 Jesus explains, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. (NIV)” When we add verse 16, we see that the communication begins to flow two ways. Jesus shares Himself with us, telling us everything we need to know. And we obey what He commands us to do and ask whatever we need according to His will.

Generally, servants do what is asked of them. They don’t usually question the master. But Jesus invites us, as His friends, to call upon Him and ask for whatever we need in order to bear fruit.

But there is more to being a friend then just obedience and two-way communication. In John 3:25-30, John’s disciples were arguing with someone apparently about the merits of Jesus and John. Both were baptizing and John’s disciples were concerned that everyone was going to Jesus.

John’s reply to his disciples shows us how a friend responds to another friend. The bridegroom is Jesus. John is the friend of the bridegroom. What does the friend do? He waits and listens for the bridegroom. When he hears the bridegroom’s voice, the friend is full of joy. The friend glorifies the bridegroom and de-emphasizes himself.

As each of us analyzes our own relationship with Jesus, do we find that in addition to striving to obey and serve Him we are excited and thankful that He calls us friend and are reciprocating and being a friend to Him?

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Consider your prayer life. Is two-way communication occurring? Are you seeking His voice and asking Him according to His will for all things that you need in order to bear eternal fruit?

Consider also your response to hearing God’s word. Do you experience joy when you hear God’s word? Do you eagerly apply God’s word to your life, being a doer of the word and not a hearer only?

Remember, a friend is someone who associates familiarly with another, and one who shares the knowledge of his superior’s purpose and voluntarily adopts it as his own. Do you seek to know Jesus more intimately; to know his purpose and will? Have you voluntarily adopted that purpose and will as your own?

Confidence in Being a Friend of God

It is really possible to be a friend of God? We can be confident that we are a friend of God by analyzing our relationship with Him to determine if we treat Jesus as a friend by striving to obey and serve Him, establishing two-way communication with Him, and adopting His will as our own.

I hope you will reflect on this word and consider if you are a servant of God or a friend of God. If not yet a friend, then make it a matter of prayer, opening two-way communication, listening for His voice and voluntarily submitting to His purpose and will so you can have confidence in being a friend of God.