A Study In Nearness
The Friend
Jesus
Jesus does not only save people from sin. He brings them into friendship with God.
When you received the gospel, you received a Lord, a Savior, and a great friend.
The Ache
You can have attention and still not have friendship.
You can be in every group chat and still feel unknown. You can laugh with people all day and still go home feeling like nobody really knows you. A lot of us struggle to name that honestly. We call it tiredness, or stress, or one of those seasons.
But sometimes the problem is simpler than that. Sometimes you are lonely.
Loneliness changes how you think and what you settle for. Noise can start to feel like love. Proximity can start to feel like closeness. Being around people can start to feel like being known.
Not From A Distance
I am not saying that from a distance. I have lived with loneliness for a long time, and even as I write this, I still feel it sometimes. I am fresh out of a dating relationship. I was laid off from my job. There are other things in my life right now that I would not have chosen.
So this is not just an idea to me. I am writing from pain, but also from discovery.
The Claim
Jesus calls his people friends.
Many believers know him as Lord, Savior, and King. All of that is true. Many still struggle to live with another truth.
That line can sound soft if we rush it. It can turn into church language with no weight in real life. So we need to say the point carefully.
When you received the gospel, you received a Lord, a Savior, and a great friend.
The Beginning
God began with nearness.
Sometimes we talk as if God started far away and later decided to come close. The Bible tells us something different.
Nearness was there from the beginning.
Genesis 2 shows us a God who made man with care and placed him in a garden with purpose. This was life with God. It was fellowship, instruction, presence, and trust.
Then sin entered the world, and shame followed it quickly. When Adam and Eve hid, it showed that sin produces guilt and distance.
Genesis 3:8-9"And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, 'Where are you?'"
After the fall, God called first.
Across Scripture
God kept moving toward people.
God spoke in many times and many ways, and in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.
"Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."
"Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness" and he was called a friend of God.
"But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me."
God was inviting people into more than obedience. He was inviting them to know him. Friendship with God has a history. It has roots. We see it across Scripture.
The Center
Jesus says it plainly.
Then the life of Jesus makes it plain.
John 1:14 says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
God came near in a person.
John 15:12-15"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."
Jesus chose that word with care. He calls them friends.
The Reverence
Friend, but still Lord.
Jesus is still Lord.
This is where people can go wrong. If you hear that Jesus calls you friend, you can start shrinking him in your mind. You start treating him casually. You lose reverence.
Friendship with Jesus is intimate and reverent.
He draws near without becoming less than he is. He speaks openly, but he still commands. He loves warmly, but he is still the Son of God. His friendship is real, and he remains above us.
He draws near without becoming small.
The Proof
The cross proves what kind of friend he is.
John 15:13"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
Friendship becomes sentimental when we leave it undefined.
Jesus tied friendship to sacrifice.
This is what makes Jesus the greatest friend. His friendship led him to the cross.
Jesus' friendship rises above every human example. Ordinary loyalty falls short beside a friend who gives his life for you.
The cross is the proof. If you want to know what kind of friend Jesus is, start at Calvary.
The Shape Of Love
His friendship should shape how believers love people.
If Jesus befriends people this way, then Christians should stop treating people like projects, props, or categories.
That means genuine care. It means noticing people, making room for them, and treating them with steady kindness.
So love people well. Do good without demanding a return. Care for people without turning them into opportunities.
It means loving people enough to tell the truth without joining them in sin.
John 13:35"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Romans 12:15"Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."
The Door
Friendship with God comes by faith.
How does a person become a friend of God?
A person becomes a friend of God by faith. Impressiveness, cleaning yourself up first, and spiritual performance are the wrong place to look.
James 2:23 takes us back to Abraham: "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness" and he was called a friend of God.
Friendship with God is received by trusting him.
The Nearness
He brings his people near.
Some people have attention and still need true friendship.
Some believers know Jesus is powerful. They struggle to believe he is near.
The gospel answer to loneliness is this: the Son of God came near, spoke plainly, laid down his life, and now calls his people friends.
He brings his people near.